Welcome to the green room

There is a large, well cared for green room not far from where I live. Hedges, topiary, and other examples of manicured plant growth are fascinating subjects to photograph. I enjoy the changing light and textures of this place, and wish I could take a nap on the grass. But that is not an option as it is another person's yard. I would like to catch them napping here -- that would make a wonderful photograph. It would be a nice place for a sculpture, too, I think.

Shot as a jpg using the Fujifilm X30 point and shoot camera.

Wild chanterelles

One of the upsides of living in the Southeast is the wild chanterelles. Yes, that's right. I lived here for many years before I learned this. The local Chamber of Commerce really should talk up the availability of wild mushrooms in their advertising. At any rate, it has been a rainy few months and mushrooms are plentiful. After cleaning them up, there were about 800 g, probably $50 worth in a fancy market. Freshly harvested, they lose quite a bit of water during cooking, so this amount was just right as a side for two people.

State of flow

Sometimes, it seems like your creativity just flows, and you create a series of great images with ease. At other times, it is a struggle to get the camera to focus where you want it to, and you count yourself lucky when a few pixels are sharp. Yesterday, flow never showed up. It was a day of struggle. I spent most of the time just spinning my wheels and generating images that thankfully will never see the light of day. This morning, I was cleaning up an old hard drive when I came across the image above. I still remember the day I took the photograph -- things were really moving in a good direction. My wife and I set a bunch of old tool chests out on the driveway and just started shooting abstract compositions. It was fun and we each came away with a pile of nice images. I looked at the EXIF data to discover that I had shot this with an Olympus micro-four-thirds camera. It was a camera that I always thought was too small for my ham fists. But it sure helped me achieve my vision on that afternoon.

Foraging

This is the season to forage for mushrooms. Some, like the surprisingly abundant chanterelles, are good to eat. Others, like the one shown here, are more photogenic than delicious. Speaking of which, the files from my new camera are pretty yummy. I really enjoy working with images in black and white unless color would add to the photograph. Increasingly, when converting digital images to monochrome, I no longer seek to replicate the characteristics of film, preferring at this point to let the digital files to speak for themselves. It has only taken me two decades to get here. Ha!

Is symbolism an important aspect of your art?

Ravens, crows, and similar birds are powerful symbols for some artists. This kind of symbolism has never been a major driver in my image making, although I do have a fascination with dead and decomposing things (usually limited to non-toxic objects like flowers). That said, I immediately felt the impulse to photograph this poor creature when I noticed it lying at the edge of a parking lot. Who knows, at some point down the road, I may channel my inner Masahisa Fukase and composite it into an image laced with symbolism. It struck me right away that the black feathers were in reality comprised of multiple distinct shades, and I tried to bring that out in the monochrome version of the image.

Surreal dance

The weather has been quite changeable this month, seemingly unable to decide if it is Spring or Summer. On a recent Spring-ish day, I had the windows open and was enjoying the fresh cool air, when I became distracted by the crazy moire patterns generated as the sun passed through the double window screens. It was a downright surreal little dance as the patterns changed in concert with fluctuations in the breeze. The Fujifilm X30 was to hand on my desk, so I was able to keep a record as the performance unfolded.

I hope you have pleasant light this weekend!

Getting to know a place (and a new camera)

Although I like the figure-ground relationships in this photograph well enough, I think I will ultimately be able to capture a more satisfying composition once I get to know the location a bit better. Time will tell. In the meantime, I've been enjoying working with a new digital camera I was able to afford by selling off a bunch of gear I had accumulated over the pandemic. One of the properties of the modern digital files that I really like is the huge dynamic range. I've been able to get control of the way highlights roll off in a way that is reminds me a little bit of shooting with film. The other thing is the image stabilization system. The technology has matured to the point where I am astonished by some of the results that are possible. Under the right conditions, I can hand hold shots with a shutter speed of 1 second. That is just crazy to me. And bad news for my tripod :-)

A room with a view

 

I’ve seen homes with sleeping porches before, but I have never seen a set up quite like this one. The owner of this townhome has installed a fancy, and what appears to be, super comfortable bed for the dog right above the door. It looks like this little fellow spends most of the day chilling out and watching the comings and goings in the neighborhood from his high perch. A dog’s life, indeed.

Finding beauty in unexpected places

 

Sometimes you can be caught totally off guard by a beautiful scene like this wonderful oak in a vacant lot nearby. I would hazard a guess that I am the only person to photograph this particular tree for a very long time. The image was captured using the Fujifilm X30. The sky is blown out, but in a way that reminds me of the photographs of William Christenberry. I saw one of his images in the Philips Collection the other day. It is always worth it to look at the actual work of famous photographers. Christenberry made most of his photographs in Hale County, Alabama, but he taught photography at the Corcoran in Washington, DC for many years. He is known to have shot with a box Brownie in addition to an 8x10.

Seven Seven Zero!!!

 

One of the fun things to do with your Fuji digital camera, including the now long-in-the-tooth X30, is to experiment with the in-camera jpeg settings, in order to come up with a visually pleasing ’look’. If you really like the results, you can save the settings. Here, I was trying to get a Kodachrome feel, which is kind of funny since I never actually shot with Kodachrome all that much. Accurate or not, I still like the results I was getting here. I think it is best to go for an overall aesthetic and not try to exactly mimic a particular film stock. At any rate, I have no idea why the folks who live in this house needed or wanted to put up such huge numbers, but it certainly gets ones attention.

Not a subterranean creature

We decided to walk down to the Metro Center station rather than hopping on the train at Dupont Circle. In my opinion, it is always a good idea to stay above ground as long as possible. The experience of the endless escalator decent into the Dupont Circle Metro station is a bit like being swallowed by a whale. At any rate, it was nice to see the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on our walk. More and more folks are venturing out these days, but I would still characterize the crowds as pretty small. I am not complaining, mind you! It was very pleasant to experience the city this way. The Fuji X30 was in my bag and I also really enjoyed using the Black/White film simulation and trusting the camera to process the files well.

In need of repair

I was walking near Dupont Circle among the various embassies, when I came upon this scene. Half of the building appeared to be in pretty good shape while the other half languished in very poor repair. I guess that can happen when the embassy of a smallish country is housed in a somewhat large building. The wooden members near the roof line appear to be rotting out. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful structure that I hope gets the attention it deserves. It has been enjoyable walking around with the Fuji X30 shooting in the monochrome film simulation mode. The tonalities are handled very nicely and there is basically no post production required. In a pinch, the jpeg files have more latitude than I would have thought.

Going with my instincts

At the time I made this photograph, I was thinking to myself, “Don’t bother, move on and come back when the light is directly hitting the facade”. But the thing is, even at the time, I had a feeling that I’m probably not coming back to this location anytime soon, and if I do, the light might be less than ideal in a different way. So I went ahead and took the shot. And you know what, I was pleased enough with the results. The textures were rendered nicely by the Fuji X30 even though they are not in direct sun, and this particular image is about the shadow play anyway. And now I can cross this location off my list of places to photograph.

The Fujifilm X30 is a lovely little walking around camera

Many of our neighbors are what I would call serious gardeners. This year, because of the cicadas, many of the fruit trees in the neighborhood are swaddled in anti-bug netting. Normally, I wouldn’t stop to take a photograph of a little peach tree, but when it is covered in a translucent veil, it suddenly becomes much more visually appealing — and photographable. 

Lately, I’ve become fascinated with the low-resolution digital point-and-shoots from five to ten years ago. In their heyday, these cameras were positioned as state-of-the-art imaging devices and were designed to appeal to serious photographers. Now that they are old and the technology inside is out-of-date, it is possible that other, more aesthetic properties, are easier to discern and perhaps appreciate. I’ve certainly found that to be the case. And so, over the past couple of months, I’ve picked up a trio of these older cameras, the Olympus XZ-1, the Canon Powershot G11, and, most recently, the Fujifilm X30. Each has its own charms and can reward the shooter with very fine images and even prints if they are not too large. Perfect for self-published books or zines. 

I remember when the X30 came out. At the time, I thought it was an overpriced hipster camera. But recently, I picked up a barely used copy for pennies on the dollar, and I’ve discovered what a lovely camera it actually is. I particularly enjoy using the film simulation modes that deliver images requiring almost no post-processing. It’s sensor is only a little bit bigger than the one in my iPhone, with the same resolution. But the images tend to be much nicer, and that is down to the quality of the lens as well as the jpeg engine. 

Dining out

When I was in high school, I wanted to build a darkroom in the garage, and I was kind of surprised when my father said it would be okay to do so. I spent a good deal of time learning my craft in that cramped space. One of my favorite prints from that period of time was done on a paper that had greenish tint to it, and that was the look I was going for in the post production of this photograph. I sure wish I could remember the name of the paper, but I’m going entirely from old memories. At any rate, I came upon this scene on a recent walk. On the right, just out of frame, is a group of anonymous office buildings, and this looks like the most pleasant place around to have lunch, certainly preferable to the loading dock. Hopefully the work is important. 

Harmonious composition

After a couple of weeks during which it has rained most days, it was nice to have a few hours respite yesterday. The cicadas are still plentiful, but are past their peak. I’m ready for them to leave the scene! It was a beautiful morning and these sculptures made for a pleasant composition in the landscape. It is a good reminder that the man-made and natural environments can exist in harmony. I tried to make the digital file look a little like IR film to lighten the foliage and darken the tree trunk. I’m pleased with the result in this case.

Sculpture and photography

I think sculpture and photography are closely related pursuits. So, I was delighted to linger when I came across this sculptural ensemble in an underpass. The light was mixed, a combination of ambient and artificial sources. Although the color version of the photograph looks just fine, the subject does better in black and white, I think. Young sculptors probably dream of having their work installed in a beautiful sculpture garden or in front of a famous building. I can’t help wondering what this artist thought of being commissioned to make public art for an underpass? It looks like it was enjoyable to make, regardless.

A kind of mid-century pareidolia

We spent an hour or so walking around old Reston the other afternoon. I was idly thinking about how mid-century modern refers to the middle of the previous century, making it a somewhat confusing term anymore, since we are rapidly closing in on the middle of the 21st century. At any rate, the light was relatively flat under cloudy skies, but I knew that kind of illumination would be good for photographing some of the sculptures scattered about the grounds. This piece was tall and skinny, with vaguely human proportions, and had a bit of a curved surface, which made things challenging. I wanted a tight crop to exclude the sky. It occurred to me that this sculpture has been keeping watch over the grounds for longer than many of the current residents have been alive.

Common as cockroaches

When we were little, my brother and I always shared a bedroom. One night when we were living on the island of Guam, I remember getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and seeing at least a dozen large cockroaches crawling around on my brother’s shirtless back as he slept, blissfully unaware of the thirsty insects drinking his sweat. It really freaked me out! Soon though, I quit noticing the roaches because, on a tropical island, they are literally everywhere. It’s kind of like the little cicada in this image. They have been so plentiful this year that I didn’t notice this little guy until after the exposure was made. I had been concentrating on the ripple patterns in the bird bath. There was a pause in the rain and every time there was a gust of wind, water droplets fell from the trees and into the pools of water.

A congregation of crows

I was out photographing in the light rain yesterday afternoon around dusk. Birds of all kinds were active, but a group of crows were fighting with each other for the best position on the dead branches of this tree, and the action caught my eye. I could not discern their strategy, but I knew I wanted a classic ‘birds on dead branches silhouette’ image, if you know what I mean. I had a fast 50mm lens mounted on my professional rig, a digital camera with a boat load of megapixels. The focal length was kind of short, but I knew I could crop like hell in post, so I shot away.

Road trip photography

 

You never know what you’ll see when you embark on road trip. Most of the time, the scenes we observe out the windows of our cars just click by like the frames of a movie, soon to be forgotten. It is so easy to just drive through with the straightforward goal of getting to your final destination, kind of like trying to get to a new level in a video game. We are getting better at taking the time to stop and experience the best of the local areas we drive through. For this photograph, I just enjoyed the unintended pun of this sign for a foreign car repair place.

LIVE FISH

When it rains, it pours. That hackneyed old saying is based on generations of bad karma creeping up on folks when they least expect it, I guess. I am afraid it is my turn right now. After paying a huge car repair bill, the house air-conditioner just died, and that is an even more expensive fix. Well, I'm at least grateful that my run of bad luck didn't happen before I was fully vaccinated. Silver lining. Another hackneyed expression. Today is a travel day, and I hope to get some good photographs along the way. You never know what you'll see on the road, like a truck carrying a tank of live fish.

Magnolia blossoms

 

We had a nasty series of thunderstorms here the other day. For a couple of hours, it seemed as if the two battling fronts were pinned to our little area of the map. Late in the afternoon, though, the storms passed, the air cleared and I noticed that some intact magnolia blossoms had fallen to the ground due to the heavy rain. Usually it is just the petals that fall. The magnolia is a primordial plant and as such, inherently interesting to those of an artistic bent. There was just enough soft light left to make a decent exposure.

A rose from a friend’s garden

When I graduated from high school I thought I might become a physician. That concept lasted for about a month, if that long. But I took a number of biology courses my first year, my absolute favorite being botany. I did really well in the class, but I had the unfortunate knack of killing most of the plants I came into contact with. So I’m always impressed when folks I know are accomplished gardeners. Over the weekend, some friends came over for tea and brought one of the last roses of the season. It was on its last legs and the petals started dropping right away. I liked seeing the patch of color where petals were in the vase. The fluorescent coloration of the flower was captured accurately by the Pentax KP. I was using the wonderful 35mm macro lens set at f/8. 

Camera schleppin'

My favorite camera bag of the past few years is called the 'Seven Million Dollar Home' from Crumpler. I think it is one of their classic designs of a generation or so ago, and new ones have not been available for quite a while. I bought one in almost new condition from that famous used camera place in Atlanta. It is well designed yet does not scream 'cameras inside'. These days, I like to go out shooting with a digital camera, a film camera, and my EDC stuff in tow -- and this bag is perfect for that. The other day, I grabbed the smallish Pentax KP fitted with the 20-40mm lens and paired it with the largish Leica R9 with the 50mm Summilux. The Leica was loaded up Ilford Delta 400.

 
If I had a loft, I would surely have at least one of these big ass ladders around, and we might even own a his-and-hers set because my wife likes 'em too. Well, we don't live in a loft, so I took the opportunity to photograph this beauty on a recent visit to a museum (Pentax left, Leica right).

Camera KonMari

Over the past year and a half, I've picked up a few extra cameras and lenses here and there as a way to cope with things in the world. Nothing too crazy mind you -- I can still comfortably make my house payment each month -- but I sure have acquired a few extra goodies, there's no point in denying it. Cameras and lenses to facilitate experiments in seeing differently, to capture light in new ways, to allow me to try out things like pixel shift resolution, and to shoot with the film cameras of my childhood dreams. While there is absolutely no guilt, all this stuff does occupy mind space, and carrying all this mental baggage around with me every day has recently reached critical mass. So, I am in the process of thinning the herd. The most painful decision was parting ways with my beloved Leica Q. The fact of the matter is that I don't enjoy shooting with a 28mm field of view all that much. Red dot or no. In fact, my preferred use of the camera was in its macro mode. How crazy is that?!

I'm not a perfect Kondo-er though, because one of the biggest joys of the process for me was seeing the check at the end. That will help ease the pain of a recent car repair, too.

Digicam madness

I recently completed my twice yearly image archiving process, which is how I became infatuated with the low resolution images from old CCD-based cameras like the Canon Powershot G2. I thought about picking one up again, but ultimately decided a better strategy would be to get a more modern camera that I had never owned before. Something that I'd missed out on back in the day, if you dig. So I looked at the G9 - G12 series of Powershots, the most recent models with CCD imagers in them. At this late date, the differences in specs among the various models are of no particular consequence to the modern photographer, so after looking at the available inventory online, I ended up snagging an almost new G11 for about $125. That was also a nice way to satisfy the desire for a shiny new thing without breaking the bank. To boot, it produces surprisingly nice results, and I am thinking of using it on a project or two just for the extra spark of creativity it brings to the table. The 10 MP files are fine for a zine type of project and the old school color, noise and dynamic range properties give a pleasing and coherent aesthetic. No one need ever know the secret, either, which just adds to the fun. So, I've been taking the camera with me everywhere. 

Recently, I've made the decision to quit worrying and just trust science, and have been getting back out into the world a bit more. I don't think my friend thought I was being obnoxious at all when I pulled out the G11 to grab this shot from the outdoor patio where we were having lunch. It is a nimble little tool, far more nimble than I was after my plate of fried catfish.

Don't drive by!

 

Build a little extra time into your travel plans to allow for a few stops along the way. If you don't end up taking a photograph, you can do a little stretching. Street yoga. We were going to drive past this old wreck of a building but thankfully my wife insisted on stopping for a minute or two. And I am glad she did. It may not be a perfect photograph, but I am far less precious about these things anymore. The image may find its way into a future narrative, who knows. Meantime, I am happy that I took the shot! I used the Leica R9, the 50mm f/1.4 lens and a 36mm x 24 mm rectangle of Ilford Delta 400.

The passage of time...

Even though I have pretty much stopped making photos like this much any more, at least as stand alone images, every once in a while I see a remarkable old building such as this one, and I can't seem to help myself from grabbing a shot. In the right context, I think photographs like this one could actually become significant images. So, I thought to myself, may as well take the photograph. Leica R9, 50mm f/1.4, Ilford Delta 400. I do wonder what is going to happen to older towns as folks find opportunities elsewhere.

Ominous trees

A few years ago, I was starting a new role at work, and was unsure about the future. I was getting some training about how to be a decent 'team leader'. The Kool-aid sure was delicious, and after the day's indoctrination was over, I spent an hour or so wandering around Winston-Salem, NC where I saw these unusual trees. I still have no idea what they are, but I thought they would look kind of ominous in silhouette, so that's how I shot 'em. From the EXIF data on the file, turns out I was using the Fujifilm X-100S. Now, that was a camera that I really had a lot of fun shooting.