Textures
Cedar fences are common in New Mexico and their textures are very appealing to me. This one is in downtown Santa Fe and the character of the posts is enhanced by the tracks left behind by a saw blade. Converting the image to black and white eliminates some of the visual distractions and brings attention to the extent of the scars left by the blade.
In this image there is more texture to the wood bark, the tones in the exposed parts of the fence are richer and match up nicely with the rusted wire holding the posts together. Color works better here to emphasize the impact of exposure to the elements. The interesting thing is that these two shots were taken in the same location on the same section of fence. They just happen to be about three feet apart and that distance allows a different story to be created.
Take an Engineer to Lunch
This past December was our three year anniversary of moving to Jacksonville. When we arrived there was construction on I-295, which is the outer beltway around the city, and sections of I-95 that cut through the downtown area. That construction continues as I write. By land mass Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S., and fortunately there is a good amount of economic growth in the area, so it is reasonable to expect road construction will be a part of that.
If I have any engineering genes, I'm sure they're recessive, so I marvel at the designs of the roadways and applaud the folks who turn those designs into expressways. In between the applause, I will continue to pray for patience and calm as I deal with the traffic delays.
The Hallway to Heaven's Waiting Room
Monica and I were walking between buildings at a design conference and our route took us down this long, dimly lit hallway with a frosted glass door leading outside. The sunlight coming through the glass overpowered the existing light in the hallway and created the illusion of an energy filled room just beyond the door.
Signs - Part 14
While I've been in countless restaurants and on numerous flights with infants who were having a bad day, this punishment seems extreme.
Upon closer examination, I discovered some joker had carefully removed the "C" from the sign. It's pretty doubtful anything like this would be found in the ladies bathroom. With the increase in unisex facilities it will be interesting to see what happens with the quality of graffiti.
Looking For Relics - Part 2
I'm not sure when getting baby shoes bronzed fell out of style, but my kids gaze at these with an expression that is equal parts amazement and WTF! They belonged to my Dad, who was born in 1913, and my grandparents chose to make bookends from them. When I came along, Mom and Dad opted to have my shoes tastefully displayed on the base of an 8 x 10 photo frame.
In the past couple of years bronzing baby shoes has experienced a bit of a resurgence. Starting at $89 a pair, that's good news for the American Bronzing Company (ABC), the folks who started the practice in 1934 and claim to have produced more than 14 million pairs. These days you can get nearly anything bronzed if you have the money: cowboy hats, pacifiers, dog collars, and all kinds of adult shoes. I've already made Monica promise not to have me bronzed. Spending eternity looking like the "Extra Crispy Colonel" from KFC would be too much!
Looking For Relics
Sometimes when in pursuit of a particular image, I come across something that turns out to be better than what I was looking for. My good friend and fellow photographer Geraint Smith and I were in southern Colorado looking for subjects when I happened on this old bulldozer parked in what appears to be its final resting place. Caterpillar produced the RD - 7 from 1935 to 1940 and it was the predecessor to the D - 7. I'm sure it would have some stories to tell if it could talk.
While there were several aspects of the dozer that were visually appealing, this is the one I liked most. I used a wide angle lens and positioned my self low to isolate the yellow of the tractor against the blue sky. The late afternoon light gave some nice shape to the various textures on the front and helped emphasize that the machine has been repainted multiple times during its long life. The size of the radiator and the vertical bars in front of the radiator screen let you know right away that this machine did serious work in its day.
Post No Bills
Located on a corner in the Five Points area of Atlanta, this utility pole has been a popular location for posting flyers of all kinds over the years. So many nails, tacks, staples, screws, and fasteners of various kinds have been used that there is precious little space available for any new ones. I thought the variety of sizes, shapes, and stages of oxidation served to create an interesting composition.
Shadow Play - 3
If you are aware, opportunities for the creation of something visually interesting often present themselves. You don't have to seek them out. Just be there and push the shutter button. Monica and I had just finished lunch with friends and were walking back to our car when I spotted this composition. It was taken in an alley around 2 P.M. with the sun high in the sky and the subject matter features a bent steel handrail and a shadow of a walkway on the back of an old building. So much for the idea that "good light" and compelling subject matter are necessary for a successful image.
There are great images waiting to be created all around us. Learn to look for them. You might find your next one in an alley or a parking garage.
Welcome to the Future...50 Years Ago
World's Fairs used to be truly fantastic events and none were more notable than the 1962 event held in Seattle. High speed "air cars," schools of the future with "electronic storehouses of knowledge," and climate controlled "farm factories" were all part of exhibits that emphasized we were about to enter a technology-filled world where our biggest concerns would be how to make the best use of all the leisure time we would have. Fifty-five years later there are still a couple of iconic elements of the fair that people still associate with the city: the space needle and the monorail.
Built at a cost of $3.5 million, the trains provided an important link between the fairgrounds and downtown. More than 8 million passengers rode the monorail during the six months of the fair providing the builders with a decent profit. Still in operation today, the Monorail carries about two million passengers a year and continues to be one of the few fully self-sufficient public rail transit systems in the U.S.
What Do Porta Potties Do On Their Days Off?
They stand in line waiting for customers.
Shadow Play - Part 2
As you may have noticed, I have a fondness for shadows and light. My favorite times are early and late in the day when the sun is close to the horizon creating elongated and often whimsical shadows like these, which I found on an early morning walk in Carmel, Indiana.
The Joy of Wandering
Over the past year, Monica and I have made a few changes to the way we travel with the biggest difference being slowing things down so we have more free time at our disposal. Sometimes that means we take a day off to just hang out and read or it might result in taking an unstructured trip through the area where we're staying. That's how this image came to be.
I was exploring a bit of countryside in central Georgia when I passed through a small settlement and spotted this composition. Once again, the light was pretty harsh, but it produced sharp shadows under the clapboards creating strong horizontal lines that clash nicely with the vertical stripes of the old awning. I also like how the greens in the door and awning are found in the frame and Coke bottle on the sign. For me, this is an image that needs to be in color.
All made possible by just wandering and going slowly enough to take in all the surroundings had to offer.
Shadow Play
I had just finished photographing some architectural details on an old church in Georgia and this image appeared to me while I was walking back to my car. My practice is to keep my camera "On" until I'm back in the car, which serves as a reminder to keep looking for other things of visual interest. Doing so allowed me to catch a glimpse of this out of the corner of my eye. The vertical lines are shadows from the fence protecting the stairwell and the high contrast of the shadows and handrail against the stucco wall made it a great subject for black and white.
Adults & Children
A few years back I was in Seattle for a conference and decided to visit Pike Place Market to take in it's unique atmosphere and see the Gum Wall, which covers a 15' x 50' section of the alley side of the Market Theater. Started in 1993, the Gum Wall officially became a tourist attraction in 1999. Some people have made small works of art out of the gum while others have placed coins in the sticky, sweet blobs. In late 2015 the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority did a total scrub down of the wall to prevent the sugar from further eroding the bricks and mortar. It took 130 hours to complete and the displaced gum weighed in excess of 2,350 pounds. Almost immediately, gum was re-added to the wall.
After making a few images, I stayed around to watch the responses of other visitors to this sticky shrine. A group of three mothers and six kids entered through a side stairwell. The kids appeared to be between 8 and 14 and their first glance at the mass of gum resulted in a collective, "COOL!" The moms' response was a synchronized, "Don't touch anything!"
The Importance of Encouragement
The very first photo workshop I took after switching from film to digital was held in Nashville and was led by Tony Corbell, a very talented photographic artist and one of the most knowledgeable lighting people around. There were a number of gifted photographers in our group and I felt a bit intimidated by the images I had seen them produce. One of the days our assignment was to photograph parts of downtown Nashville. As we rolled out of the bus, most of the group headed off in one direction, but I stopped to survey my surroundings and saw this garage wall a couple of blocks off the opposite way. The image immediately resonated with me and I jogged up the street to get there first. It only took an instant to get this composition and I expected to hear the sounds of other shutters going off behind me, but when I turned around I was alone. Later that evening when we were showing our best images from the day, Tony said, "I saw this when we got off the bus and was going to make an image of it, but I saw you hightailing it in that direction and didn't want to steal your shot. Nice work."
I doubt that Tony knew how much his encouragement meant to me, but it played a huge role in my continued development. The small act of kindness in letting me have the subject to myself was in keeping with his professionalism through the entire workshop. His love of photography was contagious and he continued to generously share his knowledge the entire time we were in the workshop. I learned a number of helpful technical things from Tony, but my biggest takeaway from the workshop was the value of being an encourager.
Shadow Play - Part 3
When our children were very young, and we would make the inevitably poor decision to go out for a meal at a restaurant that did not have a playground inside, one of us would get to the table early to confiscate all the place settings except those where adults would be sitting. This preemptive parental strike was designed to create a better dining experience for the unfortunate souls who were seated within shouting distance of our table. Based on previous disasters (most meals), removing utensils and paper items would minimize the chance that napkins and placemats would get shredded, creatively torn to create tribal fertility masks, or converted into stylish headwear. If there were diners who were disappointed they didn't get to hear dueling fork and spoon percussion solos coming from our table, none complained to me. I'm sure there were a few parents who felt cheated that the mom and dad at our table wouldn't play the pick up the utensil game with the kids. Since our boys would morph without warning into ninja warriors with terrible aim, we viewed all silverware as potentially lethal.
Any place that allowed us to return had a directive to seat us near the kitchen...and we were more than OK with that. I'm pretty sure that some people who passed by our table thought the barbarians had arrived. When a concerned gentleman stopped by our table one evening he directed a comment toward our then ten year old. "Isn't he a bit old to be eating with his hands?", he queried. Before my wife could respond, I shot back, "I suggest you keep your distance, sir. Otherwise he might puncture your lung with that chicken leg he's finishing." That was enough to get him going back to his table.
Flash forward twenty years and the kids are living on their own. My wife and I go to nicer restaurants with some regularity. The staff at these places are genuinely glad to see us and urge us to return soon. We enjoy the occasional adult beverage and the quiet conversation that ensues. It is a joyful experience. Yesterday was one of those days. We had a wonderful day together and decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Cap's On The Water, in Vilano Beach. Seated on the covered porch on a perfect evening, we were enjoying our drinks while watching the sun slip behind the trees. Things couldn't have been better. Then the sun glinting off my fork caught my eye and I looked down to see this very interesting shadow. Before I know it, I'm moving the fork around to see what kinds of shapes I can create on the cedar tabletop and out comes the camera phone. I'm totally absorbed in my artistic reverie until Monica says, "Do I need to take that fork from you?"
Even now, it's sometimes tough to be an adult.
The Impenetrable Woods
South of Ponte Vedra, Florida the eastern edge of the Guana Nature Preserve is often made up of stands of trees with thin, twisted trunks, and elongated limbs that are rarely straight for more than one foot at a time. Even when the leaves are absent, the multitude of branches at the top of the tree are so thick they block most of the light. The Brothers Grimm would feel right at home here. Even on a marked trail, I would not have been surprised to see a witch or a gnome. It's one of those places where you would be tempted to leave a trail of breadcrumbs, but wouldn't for fear that something would consider the morsels an appetizer and go looking for the main course. I found it to be scarier than any of the "fright houses" that show up this time of the year.
No Rain, No Fame
What is the difference between a redneck on the verge of committing a dangerously stupid stunt and a television reporter during a hurricane?
The reporter will be wearing a rain jacket that prominently displays the network or station logo.