January, 2010 Archives

This was one of those short series of images that I couldn’t get out of my head. It took 3 days of driving into town and retrying to get everything lined up to get it right. Timing the bus runs, weather, and getting the camera settings right to get what I thought I saw in my head.

No not an earth shattering set of images but they are something I wanted and it ended up with a little bit of added story to go with it in the image. Point is I failed the first few times I tried it and kept at it til I got what I wanted, bonus was I learned a lot in the process I wouldn’t have learned if it went right the first time.

Click the image and then go thru the rest while it is on screen. It was fun to shoot, I like being in that zone that you get to when you are going for something in your head. We have a hell of a bus system for a rural area and I have more ideas for them that I’ll publish as I get the images.



I don’t plan what I am going to post about very often it all just seems to happen when it does. Lately I have been reading a lot of blogs where the consensus is that text needs to go with a photo to add context and meaning. I feel that if it needs words it has failed. Universal ‘truths’ or stories shouldn’t need an explanation to prop them up. Photojournalism was cited as one example however all to often I see poor writing held up by great photos or poor photos held up by the writing.

We only get better if we reach for that one image that says everything so clear it doesn’t need anything else. I would like to believe that the Steve McCurry photo Afghan Girl would have the impact it does without the back story. I still don’t know the story behind the image but I feel every time I see it.

On another note there is some new stuff over on my flickr acct that some of you may like to see  and there is another photographer I have been talking to that does work I wish I could. Please take a look at http://whilestandingstill.com/ beautiful subtle work.

Not to mention that Jeff Lynch still has some openings for his Spring Safari in Tx. Jeff is a must read for those of you Canon shooters and for doing landscape work. And as long as you are cruising the photo web check in on K-man’s trip to Japan and part east, fantastic images coming out of this world jaunt and he is calling it work.

Go look there is a lot of inspiration out there and a lot of folks that are shooting everyday.

Diner101-007

A little touch of NJ diner goodness, 3000 miles from the diner capital.

The diner west of NJ

UndergrndCoffee-54

Saw this while trying out a new coffee shop that is under the street in PT. Had the G9 with me and plan on going back with the big guns some morning. Looks to be an interesting place with lots of couches and rooms for hanging out with coffee and friends. Looks to be pretty good for Jazz on friday nights as well. Now to buy some friends to hang out with….

G9 is a little rough for this kind of low light shot so I dropped the clarity and added a little vignette to go with how the image struck me. Braced the camera on a chair arm and let the slow shutter work its magic. Little different from the images I usually show but there are more in the works.

Underground Coffee

PT_Winter-52

If you make a little time the sun will peak out from the edges every once and awhile. My friend Chris over at Patterns of Light and Dark and Paul at Paul Lester Photography have been making a few beach images so when I was in town today I couldn’t resist and join the fray. Cold and windy and that seems to be the order of the day for these type of images no matter where in the country you are. The tower in the distance is on the Navy Base on Indian Island which stores munitions, that in itself is pretty ironic given PT politics and general outlook. The pier is one of several city piers for visiting boats, empty now but full in the summer.

Not my  usual type of image but I am trying to get out and shoot something everyday for awhile, just to see what happens when you go out for a walk with the camera and no idea of what you are after. That approach will probably change to going out with a vague idea of what I want to shoot, we’ll see how things progress. Slow and lazy time of year, short days and wet wet weather, counting the days til spring.

Winter beach