There wasn’t much to do in the afternoon and there was no light, so I decided to go into the woods a try to photograph something that I had seen in the winter. At Oxbow Falls Park, there was a large and dark tree that I thought would look great when there was foliage on the canopy and this day seemed as good as any other to try to capture it. It is a HUGE tree (for the area) and I thought that the only way that I could possibly capture it was with the fish-eye. I was wrong, of course … the scene was unremarkable and the tree is too large and difficult to photograph (at least today it was). And then it started to rain. As the rain began to fall, I decided to try some ICM before stowing away my camera. I still had the fish-eye mounted […]
We had only driven 4 blocks down the road before Christine called and asked to be taken off of speaker. “Do you want me to turn around and come back?” they heard me ask, and they immediately knew. 20 minutes earlier they were holding Grandma’s hand or kissing her on the forehead and now she was gone. I parked the car on the nearest side street and we had a group hug on the sidewalk. After a short time, we decided to drive to a local park and sit at a bench before continuing our long walk home. As we returned back to the car, I quickly took out my phone, stepped a little to the right, and grabbed this quick snap shot. In hindsight, I wish that I had stepped to the right a smidge further and centered their hands in the space between them. Then again, that would […]
Some candles last an hourAnd others one full dayBut I, I wanna be like the sunThat steady flame that burns on and on from In the Passing Light of Day, by Daniel Gildenlow I know that know one would really want to live forever if they could. It sounds like a good idea compared to death only because life had value in the context of death. It would lose its value – and what little meaning it has – without the threat of nothingness. But still, when I saw that #wish was the theme for this weeks #FlickrFriday, this was my immediate vision. I captured images of a flame hovering over the glass and merged the images together in GIMP. I really enjoy how the reflections are all the way down at the bottom of the glass. I like the light and texture on the walls. The only thing that […]
I photographed the YMCA Triathlon as a “favor” to Christine again this year. It is a boring and all-too-long morning. This year, the morning clouds abolished most quality light until the runners began crossing the finish line, but there were still quality images to be made, and I think I captured the moments that could be captured to the best of my ability. I captured everything in JPEG and was careful (once the sun came out) to not blow out the highlights and capture as many images as I could before the runners crossed into the harsh light that was only a few short feet beyond the finish line. I was also wise enough to put the camera on a tripod at the finish line so that I could pre-focus and pre-frame the image; I only needed to blindly click the shutter button as people crossed the finish line. The […]
I arrived at 0715, but Geddes Bakery wouldn’t open for another 45 minutes, so I drove to the park with my cell phone to try to capture the morning light. The light was nice enough, but I found a strong composition to be a challenge. Even still, I liked these 2 images, even if I would never consider printing or hanging them on the wall. Both were captured and processed with the Pixel 3A (default camera app and Snapseed)
I had a really nice idea for this one: I was going to photograph the inverted traffic light at Tipperary Hill at night. I would blend a handful of captures together and I would capture the image from the small park and behind the statues that were pointing at the light. I would get all the lights lit, and some car lights streaming through the intersection. That was my plan anyways. The opportunity never presented itself, however, as I played the role of single father this week, so I will have to wait to execute the image on another date. I was left instead to try to capture a coin flip, which it turns out is not an easy task and (try as might) I could not get capture the perfect flip. But I was able to capture a variety of different flips that were okay-enough to include in a […]
This idea came to me quickly, which probably means that it isn’t such a good idea. I immediately thought of the idea “parallel lives” and then began filtering through ideas: varied reflections (especially with fingers to explicitly visualize lines), positive/negative images digitally reflected, color contrasted images digitally reflected … none of them worked in my mind. I wanted to include the idea of will/choice somehow and none of those images would suffice. A triptych could make sense, but how could I include visual parallels with the metaphorical? I thought about things that I look through that constrain my vision in some way: grates, rails, windows, doors. I recalled the images through doors that I had captured last year during my “6-feet apart” project and was immediately drawn to the idea of using the opening in a door as a metaphor for opportunity. The choices were fairly easy as they are […]
This one came to me quickly. My first thought was to take a picture titled Lip-Lock. I was going to take a bead of jelly-lubricant and place it along the margin between my lips and then take a container of lock-tite and bring it up to my lips for the image so that it looked like the adhesive/epoxy was being applied to my lips. In theory, it was simple. In practice, it was going to be a multiple person job, it would likely need multiple takes with many applications of lubricant on my lips, and (frankly) my heart wasn’t in it. So what could I use instead. I could use clothespins and play-off the idea of keeping secrets. I could still use the “Lip-locked” idea with a composite and a padlock. But once I opened the door to the idea of using a composite in GIMP, the easier idea in […]
I have learned a lot over the last 10-15 years, much of which I discussed at the Pain Summit a few years ago. The biggest piece of wisdom that I can offer any person who has the misfortune of asking is this: the “will” that we exert on our environment is far more limited than we think, and a greater percentage of lives are accounted for by happen-chance than most of us could (or should) ever be comfortable with. I considered creating a double exposure with a pair of dice up in my head with my eyes looking up and crossed to midline, but it seemed a little more complicated than I wanted, so I elected to use a long exposure only. The image slowly progressed from 2 to 5 dice, from 1 die in motion through 4 still-ones to all 5 moving, from exclusion of my hand to purposeful […]