Welcome to the Funhouse

I love me a good greenhouse. Always have. There used to be a nursery in our area where a photographically inclined person could wander around at length taking pictures with no hassles. The owner really didn't care as long as you bought a couple of plants before you drove off. Being married to a gardener, that was what the folks in suits would call a win-win. The old place is long gone and the new generation of nurseries are typically surrounded by chain link fences. While I generally make a conscious effort to line up my shots, in the heat of the moment, part of the fence can sometimes creep into the composition. Kind of like how your finger can wander into a cell phone shot, if ya dig. These days, it is pretty easy to photoshop those kinds of distractions out of the shot and end up with something useable in spite of your, er, sloppiness.

Tasting notes: Leica Q.

The power of sequence; the power of focus

I was in a hurry taking a photograph of this old mill. I was parked on a busy street in a rough part of a town I don't know very well. So I didn't want to faff about composing this image. For the frame on the left, I placed the focus on the barbed wire and let the background be controlled by the DOF at f/8. For the frame on the right, I focused on the building. When considered as single images, I tend to prefer the one on the left. But, in revisiting the images after the passage of a few months, I kind of like the interplay of the two versions when presented as a diptych. The change in focus can suggest a narrative, but in a very subtle way. Subtle = good, right? Shot on the Leica R9 using the 50mm f/1.4 lens. There was a time when I preferred the f/2 version of the lens, but now I'm digging the 'Lux. Delta 400 film with sloppy development :(. 

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 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.

Function over form

I've never heard of a street department before, but, as you can see, they have one in Lincoln, Ala. I sure am glad that I don't work for them, though, not only because there are not that many streets to manage, but because if I did, I would have to spend so much time in this building 'complex'. It's such a beautiful part of the country, I think I would prefer working for the parks department. 

Shot with the Pentax KP and the 20-40mm lens. The lens is terrific. I admit that it took me a while to appreciate the value of such a short range of focal lengths, especially in the modern era of lens design. I've come to think of this optic as essentially a 30mm lens with fine adjustments to the perspective.

If resolution and sharpness are important to your aesthetic, then the Pentax sensors and lenses would be right up your alley, I think. The files are pretty crunchy right out of the box, and it is taking me some time to get used to working with them. My tendency right now is to alter them as little as possible. In this case, I liked the monochrome version the best.

Christenberry's world is disappearing

I've always appreciated vernacular architecture, and truth be told, I wouldn't mind having a studio in a barn as long as there was air conditioning and perhaps a few more windows than this example. The roof really appealed to me and there is nothing better than listening to rain on a tin roof. And the scale of this structure is just right, too, nothing overly monumental here. A perfect example of a Southern barn. I saw this one on a drive through rural Alabama, and knew right away that I wanted to photograph it.