Inside/Outside

Sun passing through tree branches casts shadows through the north facing window onto our wooden closet. Shadow play. Always the basis of an engaging photograph or memory.

Hope you find memorable shadows this weekend, fellow traveler.

Publish Or Perish

My zine order from Magcloud came in; turn around time, less than one week. I think the quality is pretty decent, too. Good enough. Sufficient. And at four bucks for 24 pages, totally worth it, even for what essentially amounts to a maquette. The real learning point was finding relationships between my images, and that experience was spot on. And seeing work in print was rewarding too. They aren't so precious, our images, they're just work after all.

Tasting notes: Left: Leica R9, 35mm Summicron-R; Right: Canon R5, 100-400mm zoom.

Never Been To Dusseldorf

Although I spent a couple of years in Berlin, I never made it to Dusseldorf. Still, I do enjoy casually documenting the industrial decay around me. There aren't any major typological studies of grain hoppers in my future, though it was enjoyable to process this monochrome image. I'm slowly learning the behavior of a monochrome digital camera. I think the results are uniquely different from film and from conventional digital (color) photography.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens.

Cat TV

Nocturnal animals kind of freak me out, man. Nothing creepier than settling in for a movie or a show, only for a raccoon to show up in your peripheral vision, silently and in the dark. The cat, on the other hand, was having a great time watching the action, safely behind the picture window. I guess you could say he was watching widescreen cat TV. 

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

Growing On Me

I admit that at first, I pretty much hated this turkey sculpture thing. Whatever it is. But over time, I've sort of gotten used to it and have to admit that it sometimes, once in a great while, brings an ever so slight amount of joy into my grinch-like heart.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, 100 mm Macro lens.

 

Summer Mushrooms

Given the shear volume of rain we've had lately, I'm actually a bit surprised that there aren't more mushrooms popping up in the garden than this pair. These more or less perfect specimens were lurking in our wildflower bed and I decided to photograph them before the squirrels started snacking. Although taken with a monochrome camera, a slight sepia tone gives a pretty close representation of their actual color. 

Skeleton Leaf Wabi Sabi

I discovered this leaf skeleton on the ground as I was bringing the recycling bin back to the house the other day. For most of my life, I referred to these objects as rotting leaves, but during the height of the pandemic, I ordered a small packet of these things from Amazon. I learned that they are called leaf skeletons, and folks like to scrap book with them. Anyway, the fancy ones were just too perfect for my taste. As it turns out, there are plenty of naturally occurring specimens like this one lying about. Fortunately, the studio cat decided not to rip this one to shreds before it could be photographed. 

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome and the 35mm f/2.8 Macro lens.  

Sunny In ATL

It is kind of ironic that one of the best ways to escape the headaches of city life is to head to the center of town and the botanical gardens. There are an abundance of trails to walk and a good restaurant for lunch. And you don't have to spend hours transiting the suburbs. I was trying to photograph this tall sunflower when I noticed the skyline of Atlanta in the background.
Hope you can find a sunny place to escape to this weekend, fellow traveler. 

Gardenia In The Rain

At some point you just have to embrace the weather you have, and so I ventured out into the Blade Runner drizzle. The second flush of gardenia blooms was the most interesting subject matter at hand, the white of the flowers picking up the soft diffuse ambient light. I had just finished an hour long workout and my arms were shaking like a couple of leaves. Glad I had shake reduction on the camera. 

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, 100mm Macro lens.

Humpday Special: The Four Dollar Zine

It has been raining raining raining so much around here lately, that I decided to go through some of my recent images and pair them up as a series of diptychs. It was an interesting exercise to find relationships among my photographs, which of course was the main goal. To add a little spice, I decided to put them all together in the form of a small 'zine that I had printed at Magcloud. It is ever so slightly tedious to prepare the zine for publication, as each page is a separate document that you'll have to merge later. But... the upside is that each of the little booklets ended up costing only $4. So I ordered a handful of copies which I'll send to a few unsuspecting friends. Who knows, one day these little zines may spike in value to as much as $5.

A Splash Of Color

It is still too early in the season for fresh peaches, but they're coming. This photograph was taken a couple of years ago and I was really struck by the colors as I scrolled past it in my image catalogue. Photographers have been making images of their food since day one. Paul Caponigro's image of a peach comes to mind for me as an early example. 

Geometry

During the early days of the pandemic, before folks started ignoring the lockdown, I found myself drawn to photograph schools and other public spots in my area. The vacant ball fields and campuses were interesting, of course, as subjects in their own right. And they certainly looked different in their stark emptiness. But I also enjoyed being by myself in these open spaces. I never felt compelled to make a body of work with 'pandemic' explicitly in the title the way many artists did. Certainly, the pandemic influenced everyone's approach to making photographs. I guess it just takes me longer to process these things, is all.

Father's Day

Hope you are able to find a moment or two today to think about your father. My father died rather young, many years ago now, and his memory is kind of fading. My brother and I do share family stories about him from time to time and that helps us remember him. Like how animated he got when he was teaching us to drive. My god!

Retro Pans Out

An old friend of mine used to work at a well-known chemical company. His cynical view was that the company's operating philosophy was to sell customers as much water as possible. In a similar vein, I've long had a theory that film manufacturers sell their old expired stocks as 'experimental' or 'boutique' films. Sadly, I've been a bit of a sucker for these materials in the past, and am now trying to burn through a backlog of film so I can get back to shooting my favorite boring old standbys.

Anyway, this particular film is known for being low contrast and quite grainy, but this subject seemed to suit the material well enough. Plus, the grain will be mellower in the final print.

Tasting notes: Leica R9, Summicron-R 35mm.

So Over Me

I'm finally starting to get over it, I think, the whole self-conscious tourist thing that has plagued me for most of my life. Whatever you might choose to call it, I'm finally done with it. Photographically, what it means is, I'll go ahead and take the damn tourist shots, the same kitschy images that every other tourist makes. Just cuz. My personal Kodak Moments. And, as it turns out, this is a somewhat unique angle on the Matsumoto Castle after all, since most folks want to include the moat in their photograph.

Happy shooting this weekend, fellow traveler. Kitschy subject matter, or not.

RAD - Rain Affective Disorder

Some folks suffer from seasonal affective disorder, SAD. Not me. I'm more of a RAD person. Yeah, you guessed it, rain affective disorder. As our weather patterns slowly change, I've noticed that we are experiencing more and more severe storms. Like two straight days of severe thunderstorms.

The rain on the plain drives me insane. The rain on the plain drives me insane. 

Ugh. 

Hump Day Experiment: Multiple Exposure

The first exposure was of the orchids and the second was an out of focus image of specular highlights. It is fun to create these multiple exposures in camera, but two images can be combined in software, too. These images were captured in monochrome, so color was added in post, just as a further experiment. 

The Reason I Quit My Job To Do Art Full Time

Working with folks like this, is why. What a supreme asshole this person was! Anyway, I used to get paid a pretty good salary to manage and worry about the behavior of a collection of such individuals. After a number of years of being a good soldier, I realized that the money wasn't really enough to compensate for the man-breasts I was developing, the substantial beer gut I was transporting from meeting to meeting, the elevated blood pressure, et cetera. Fast forward a couple of years, and, in my slimmed down and chilled state, I've purchased a number of lots of found photographs on eBay, and to my great surprise, they are filled with images of my former colleagues! 

I Couldn't Help Myself...

There really is something special about ferns, in all their prehistoric goodness, that make them visually compelling and great subjects for photography. The black and white fern image might even qualify as a cliche at this point. So what? The complexity of this arrangement reminds me of a painting.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, Pentax 20-40mm lens. 

White Lotus

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is always an enjoyable way to spend a few hours, and yesterday's visit was no exception. The weather was mercifully on the cool side for this time of year. And I got quite a few decent images that will keep me engaged for a while. As you might expect, there are plenty of serious photographers with top of the line gear wandering the gardens, and I engaged in a little 'camera spotting' over lunch. I am pretty sure that I was the only photographer shooting with a dedicated monochrome camera. Of course, I missed a few opportunities by limiting myself to black-and-white, but I can always re-visit with a color camera should the impulse arise. 

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, Pentax 20-40mm Limited lens. 

Never Again Moment

 A never again moment I was happy to be able to photograph. 

Patchwork

We had a really good meal in this little town, at a genuinely nice restaurant, but the fact is, things are in pretty rough shape overall. That is what I was thinking about when I exposed this frame. We are probably looking at over a century's worth of additions and modifications, a patchwork of plans, dreams, and possibly a few regrets.

Here's to an enjoyable weekend, fellow traveler.

Its Always About Values

No, not those kind of values. Not today anyways. I'm talking specifically about luminosity values. In working with a monochrome camera, one must pay attention to tonal values. Cuz you can't easily fix 'em in post. The sign on this BBQ place featured two different reds, but in monochrome they rendered almost the same. You really have to look to see the letters. But what surprised me the most was how the double yellow lines in the middle of the road rendered almost the same as the asphalt itself. I was not expecting that.

Hump Day Fake Panorama

Back in the '90s, certain 35mm film cameras came with what was called 'panoramic mode'. Basically, the 35mm frame was physically masked off on the top and bottom inside the camera, and the exposed part of the film had a panoramic aspect ratio. In the case of this digital photograph, the bottom half of the frame turned out to be more interesting to me than the full recorded image, so I cropped off the top half of the frame. The photograph is not destined for the gallery wall, and I don't feel the need to refer to it as a panorama, but I do think the composition is improved and remember the time when this structure was being built. 

Attract, Capture, Digest

I've always been fascinated by pitcher plants. Ever since my first semester in college as a botany major. Meat eating plants, what's not to admire? They turn the standard paradigm on its head. The pitcher plant has a simple, winning, three-step strategy for survival: attract, capture, digest. Simple, and it works. Respect. Alas, there's no such straightforward algorithm for human survival, at least that I've come across. Photography, maybe... Anyway, the last couple of times I've encountered pitcher plants, I've only had black-and-white cameras with me, film and now digital. Luckily, they look good in monochrome.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii M, Sigma 30mm f/1.4.

When Form Follows Function

From what I can tell, no designers were involved in putting this old agricultural building together. The design school is 'willy nilly'. Still, with proper framing, you can get a pretty decent documentary photograph. Like Lewis Baltz and the other New Topographics photographers. 

I especially like the cinder block door stop. 

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii M, Sigma 30mm f/1.4.
 

Finding New Subject Matter

Sometimes you find good subject matter right under your nose, right in your own backyard, so to speak. I had a productive shoot at this location, getting to know the environment. I got some interesting preliminary images; perhaps this will lead to a small series of photographs, a mini-project. The big leaf magnolia was just icing on the cake.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, Sigma 30 mm f/1.4. 

Vertical Myrtles

Most crepe myrtles I see growing in yards around here have been reduced to mere decorations, yard ornaments coaxed into unnatural positions and growth patterns by yearly pruning. When granted their freedom, however, most crepe myrtles appear to want to grow tall, as high as 30-40 feet in some cases. I tend to prefer these vertical versions, actually.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Art lens.

Friday Still Life

The light was especially nice this morning and I was able to find a pleasing composition showing off this week's flowers situated among the mid-century furniture and a few art pieces. I used the monochrome camera that I picked up for my birthday this year. The most obvious property of the camera's sensor is the very low noise. This image was made at an ISO of 1600, extremely practical for handheld photography indoors.

Good light (practical or otherwise) to you this weekend, fellow traveler.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 iii Monochrome, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Art lens.

The Ungentle Art of Photography

When I was first learning how to play the upright bass many, many years ago, I came across a VHS tape called Slap Bass: The Ungentle Art. That title sure got my attention. You see, most of the time, playing the bass is a pretty nuanced affair, especially in classical settings, but in Rockabilly things can be different, a bit more intense. You'll need to tape up the fingers of your right hand for one thing. Anyway, photographing in harsh sun can be a little bit like playing slap bass. Ungentle, for sure, but still pleasing in the end. Still artful if you do it right.