Looking Back Forward…Finishing touches

Oops…I said 4 posts, so just to keep my word, I will not call this Part 5…

     This, though, will be the last of it. What started to be a ve—ry long post, was concisely split up into 4….5 segments.

I think I read somewhere that you should try NOT to make any readers fall asleep while reading your blog posts…! 

     I spent a lot of time scanning these images and then working them through PhotoShop to make them look a way that I couldn’t do when they were originally shot on film and immediately turned over to the designer.  Actually, the only digital photography in these last 5 postings are a couple in this “Finishing touches”

Not digital photography, but certainly digital processing…    

      So, I suppose I have put my own ‘finishing touches’ to some images that had heretofore been relegated to the ‘out-takes’ pile.   

       That’s one of the things I love about digital photography. The photographer is able to turn in more of a ‘finished’ product….or ‘play’ with it until it either comes in line with the original intent, or…winds back up, or down, on the cutting-room floor…where it possibly should have stayed in the first place! 

And/or…

     The designer says, “I like  this shot, but, to keep it more in line with the rest of the project could you send me a version that’s not quite so ‘jacked up’?”  With a digital file that’s a fairly easy remedy…and I can still keep my version…

     Of course, it takes a lot more effort on the photographer’s part than simply taking the film to a lab, sleeving it and turning it in…

But, I gladly give up  give the time and effort to get what I want in an image.

     This Symphony Center project was fairly long-running, and when Opening night finally arrived, it was almost a let-down….simply for the fact that I knew ‘my work here was over’….(though the book, designed by Robertson Design, turned out wonderfully…)

     …And then there was the dance that was held after the concert on opening night.  It was attended by the, I suppose, ‘social elite’ of Nashville….the donors and patrons…

    

 There was more money in shoe leather on that floor than my income that year…or the next…or…nvm…

    

 Another thing that I have done with the 35mm images in the preceding posts, was to experiment with processing…as if you couldn’t tell…

Here’s Apollo with a little ‘HDR-age’…

     Did I find my ‘niche’ while going through these images?  Uh, not so much that I can tell.  I still like to do it all….!!!

     So, with that in mind, I leave Friday for Daytona to cover the 2012 Rolex 24 race.  Quite a bit different than a construction site, but that’s the way, unh- hunh, unh hunh, I like it….

(p.s. This one WAS included in the book)

Looking Back…etc…Part 4

The Pediment…or, How Orpheus got turned into stone AND lost the girl…

     At this point, having been on this construction site for quite some time, I was garnered a little special treatment by having the foreman call me and say, “The pediment is going up today, you might want to get down here!”

     I say a ‘ little’ special treatment because he didn’t actually call until about half of it was already up.  I mostly concentrated on Eurydice..not because she was naked, but because that’s the segment that was being raised at the time.

     I wasn’t very savvy on the myth of Orpheus until the segments of the Schermerhorn Center pediment began arriving on the site, and I figured I might want to get to know a little bit about it..

     I mean, I had heard of music halls called “The Orpheum” and such, but never really knew the background.

If you don’t know, here is a good place to find out,

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/eurydice/eurydicemyth.html

     As with all good myths, it’s a story of love and loss… gods and mortals…but this one is more about ‘The Arts’ than some others.

With a 3-headed dog thrown in…

     It just so happens that this story involves the greatest singer EVER… to put it into modern perspective, had Orpheus auditioned for “American Idol”, it would have been a one episode season….”Ok, this guy uproots trees and moves rocks…everybody else can go home!!!”

Orpheus falls in love with Eurydice….Loves the girl, loses the girl,

goes through Hades, gets the girl back, loses the girl again…

Sounds like a good theme for a country song, or better yet,

The Pediment for Nashville’s symphony hall….!!!!

(Especially since there were no trains or prisons involved….

well, you might could make a case for prisons… “stone walls do not a prison make..  Lovelace…stanza IV)

    Again, one of the great pleasures  I derive from working with, and around,  people who do things that I don’t do, is in getting to know them and asking questions about their work.

     I asked the artist/sculptor if Hades was modeled after anyone in particular.

     He just smiled and said that yes it was someone who played a major part in the entire Schermerhorn project….

     But he wouldn’t tell me who… of course, from that point on I kept a close eye on the physical AND personality traits of the people around me…

     This was another good spot for NOT looking down.  We raised and lowered my camera gear via rope and a bucket…I wish they had done that for me, but I think that would be kinda like hiking the Grand Canyon and halfway down calling for the donkeys….

And…the finished product again…

Looking Back…South

     Okay…time to take a break from  that construction job…

It IS the weekend after all, so I think a little Central Mexico might be in order…

     Again, as part of the Craft and Vision Community project, I have been going through some older images. I have definitely seen some areas for improvement, but I still haven’t stumbled over that ’niche’ yet. 

These are scanned 35mm slide images from Cancun and Playa del Carmen in Mexico.

     The distinct problem with going through past work is that there is quite a bit to look over…edit…re-invest time in..

     Some of it, I don’t even need to see again because I am all too aware of the photographic shortcomings…realized them a long time ago…Some images, sadly, as soon as I got the film back from the lab.

     This was so long ago that  I can’t even remember whether I noticed, at the time of shooting, that the point of view allows the wading pool to blend perfectly into the ocean, even to the point that there appears to be a boat floating in the pool.

     As I said, I honestly don’t know if I planned this…I think not…but I do remember seeing the film for the first time and being pleasantly surprised and immediately educated. 

     This one photo probably jumped me over a couple of notches on the learning curve…

Look at everything!

Line things up the way you want them to appear in a two-dimensional image.

What you see is what you get…and if you don’t ‘get’ what you see, look at it differently…

     Only one of these’ kids’ is still living in their parents’ home, and she is leaving next Fall to dance in Los Angeles.  Next to her is a cellist now in New York City: a musician in Nashville, TN: and a second year psychology major at the University of Tennessee.  Some of that I might have guessed way back then…some of it…not so much…

(BTW…the orange bathing suits were  strictly a coincidental plus…!)

(And….I certainly didn’t intend to have my lens shade mounted improperly.  That’s NOT an artistic vignette added in post-production!… That’s not paying attention)

      One afternoon I noticed a small crowd gathering on the beach just below our hotel so I wandered over…camera in hand…

another thing I have found to be true…

The moment that you don’t have a camera with you is the moment that you cannot ‘capture’.

     Turns out it was a beach wedding. 

     Now that I think of it,  this is the only wedding I have ever photographed…surreptitiously, of course…but my primary interest was in the band.

     I don’t know exactly what was transpiring here, but the body language and facial expressions tell me that SOMETHING was up….que pasa?

     We next drove to Playa del Carmen which is the ‘jumping off spot’ for Cozumel.

The expression on this woman’s face holds a lifetime of experiences…

And these ladies…

     I would have expected that they had been photographed thousands of times by tourists buying their dried papaya and mangoes, but somehow I managed to cause some embarrassment …

Not here, though…

THIS is how ALL law enforcement officers should be attired…

An AR15 (?) and a pork-pie hat!

And these cute little ‘critters’ were everywhere…

The iguanas were, too!!  

     Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you back on the construction site early Monday morning!!!

p.s. I apologize for the ‘travelogue’ type writing in these last four or so posts.  At the present I am concentrating more on improving and understanding my photographic craft than on being a ‘wordsmith’.  A time and place for everything, I guess…I hope…

Looking Back Forward…Part 3

Scaffold and the Welders…

(If you are just now joining us, go back a couple of posts to see what I’m rambling about….) 

     Navigating the scaffolding in a major construction project is like walking through some science fiction robot-spider’s web…just not as sticky….Hopefully!..

     Imagine a football field (or futbol pitch for those who are beyond the reach of the NFL) covered with metal Tinker Toys…seventy feet high.

     This particular day was when I became a believer in the necessity of wearing a hard-hat on a construction site.  These poles don’t ‘give’ very much and they can be VERY unforgiving…!!!

     The last thing I wanted to happen on this job was for work to be interrupted  by the need to transport the stupid photographer by stretcher…

Didn’t happen, I didn’t lose consciousness, but I still …

Would someone answer that phone…I’m a little busy here…!!!

As for the welders…

Again, there is something so very SciFi about them…

     I was told NOT to stare at the ‘arc’ for very long or my eyes would burn for the rest of the day…good advice…pass the Visine, please! 

     More next week on the installation of “The Pediment” . Read the myth of Orpheus while you wait…there may be a POP quiz…!!

Looking Back Forward…Part 2

The Steeplejacks…

     These brothers were a pretty amazing pair to watch at work.  Many times I would find myself having to remember to raise the camera to my eye…past my gaping mouth…to capture the ease of their movement as they performed a ‘dance’ on an eighteen-inch wide beam, high above the concrete ‘safety net’ below. 

I mentioned in the last post about “Not looking down”…

This would be one of those situations…

     To see them at either end of a massive roof girder, guiding the crane operator to place it in the exact location over the previously placed bolts, and then watch them both travel to the peak to receive the strut that connected the girders together, was…well…

I realized that it was something that I would never do…!!!

I never asked them what they like to do after work….

I was afraid I didn’t want to know…

Probably curl up with a glass of milk and a good book, right?

     But, I did find that if you allow yourself to be accessible to people, often they will do the same and maybe even pose for a traditional type portrait like the one at the top, or they might even ‘go out on a limb’ and give you something a little more unconventional… if you ask…

I think part 3 will be “Scaffold and the Welders”….

No, not a ’60′s Irish folk band…

Looking Back Forward…Part 1

     This is Part 1 of Four posts dealing with an ‘assignment’ put forth by the Craft and Vision Community.  The premise was to look back and study some older work to see what might be done differently and also to look for personal photographic trends…a niche…

     I started my homework by revisiting images from a book project (Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, TN) that encompassed, not only many varied subjects, but also marked the point when I came kicking and screaming into the digital world.

     None of the images in these 4 posts  were used in the book, and almost all were shot on 35mm transparency film (probably EPP) with a Nikon F3.

This first post will be “Construction”…followed by…well, whatever follows…

This was a fascinating experience, to see a large hole in the middle of Nashville become an absolutely beautiful, state-of-the-art facility.  I believe it also filled a cultural ‘hole’ in Nashville.

 

     I was allowed total access and once the workers realized that I wasn’t from OSHA…there to make their lives difficult… I found complete cooperation…as long as I knew my place and didn’t interfere…well, too much…with the work that they were doing

     I think the workers also appreciated the fact that I would be right there with them, climbing to the roof in the bitter cold of a February sunrise, or in the sweltering heat of a July drought.

     I noticed many things that I would do differently now. I might possibly be a little more apt to impose and ask someone to stand at a certain place, or re-create an activity…

     I’m fairly certain that I would be/am more skilled in my ‘captures’, and I can guarantee that I, if ever in this type of environment again, will at certain times….

Not look down!!!

Although, looking down does sometimes offer the best perspective…

Did I find a trend….my ‘niche’ …by going through these images?

….’fraid not.  Maybe somebody out there can see it for me….?

And finally, for this post…

I have no idea why, but this image is one of my favorites…

  

More to come….

A New Year’s a-comin’….

…A couple of HDR images from a recent trip to L.A.

The first from LAX during a 4 hour ‘mechanical difficulty’ wait and the other from Umami Burgers.  These are the sauces for dipping their truffle fries…

I don’t think HDR will be my signature processing style, but it’s interesting for some uses…

 

BTW…the truffle fries were GREAT!

Have a very Happy New Year…be safe and prosperous….!!!

Checkin’ It Twice…

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

PEACE ON EARTH!

The Light at the End of the…Tunnel Vision

  I originally wanted to do a photo similar to this after watching the  Robin Williams movie, What Dreams May Come. I’ll admit that this is not exactly what I envisioned, but I can still try again someday…this is the tunnel I was in, so it seemed fitting to make it the tunnel I worked with.

   I was impatiently flipping through radio stations while I was driving… (Hands-free, of course…)

when I  landed on … W  IDK..

     What I heard struck a chord because I have heard it in various forms quite often over the past year or two.

This is not a direct quote, but the writer being interviewed said something to this effect,

“Too often we set our sights on the end, the result, the prize, and we lose sight of the fact that the “process” is really what it’s all about.”

My interpretation of that was…

     The light at the end, though a worthy goal, is possibly less important than the method…the toil…the struggle…the accomplishment…of getting there.

So, does that mean the end DOESN’T justify the means, but vice versa?

     Sure, we need the light to provide inspiration and forward movement, but it’s the journey that matters, because the light will always be in the future…something ahead…

And the future never exists, in reality.

     The ‘now’ of the task to move towards the light is all that we really hold onto…until the next step.

     A step that leads us closer, or returns us to another starting point, with, hopefully a better game plan….or allows us to throw away recycle the old game plan …

At what point in Life do we start forgetting the important things?

Or,

when do we shift our focus from the now…to the end of the tunnel.

I suppose it is different for each of us.

Maybe it’s when we succumb to the

“Color inside the lines” rules

or the

“Everybody/Nobody is doing that!”, that we lose our grasp on what is actually real for us as individuals…I guess ‘us’ is wrong….for you or I as individuals…?

    I then managed to get a little bogged down with quotes from Hemingway, Lao Tze, Jesus, Buddha, and a myriad of others who point towards the light and help guide the way, all the while stipulating that it is YOUR feet that do the walking, the tripping, the skipping, the jumping…

So… I decided to skip all of the philosophy and just post a picture…

So…never mind…don’t even read this….

Take another step, though…

It’s what you DO

that matters.!

The light will be there when you are through…!

I’ve Looked at Clouds…

     Not exactly the same way in which Joni Mitchell describes, but having traveled quite a bit this year, I’ve looked at clouds literally from “both sides”…

Over and under…

     I can remember, as a child, finding bunnies, or dogs, or even monsters in the cloud shapes…

Ok…I’ll admit it…

I still do!

　

Clouds at sunset perform a daily rendition of the changing leaves in Autumn.

     A bright, dramatic splash, or shout, of color before the bleakness of night, or Winter.     Not that night and Winter don’t have their own unique beauties and dramas, but they are sometimes slightly more monochromatic….

or should that be less chromatic…?

     The problem with clouds, or more precisely, the problem with using clouds in photographs, is that they are so transient and somewhat unpredictable that often the logistical aspects of having a picturesque subject in front of the clouds is beyond the scope of planning.

      The opening photo might have been nice with a family picnicking in the foreground…or, say… a bluegrass band…?

(or something equally, or hopefully, less banal, perhaps)

but by the time you round up the family and stand-up bass and find a suitable location…

Oops…

Ok, how about a picnic under the stars…?

Or, I suppose one could create the scenario and wait….

For days and days, or weeks… until the ‘right’ clouds appeared.

     The following two pictures are of the same cloud bank in the opening shot but 10 minutes and 15 minutes later,

as the sun dropped until just the very uppermost tip was ‘set on fire’.

　

     I stayed in this spot for another 20 or 30 minutes because I had noticed that as the cloud match-tip was scraping across the darkening emery board of sky, deep within the billows, the sparks from Thor’s anvil were beginning to portend the echoing rumble that soon pushed the sizzling ozone rich air in all directions….

There is a certain excitement brought on by a distant danger.

     Having said, and shown, all of that, this post actually germinated with a scene from a morning in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago.

A scene that was not recorded in my camera, only in my memory.

     There was, as previously mentioned, nothing in my immediate vicinity that was, to me, adequate to juxtapose with the cloud formations to create an interesting photograph.

I decided that this picture would literally have to be actualized by words.

     The morning was vivid and brisk, as only daybreak in the desert of Autumn can be.

     We forget, here in Tennessee, that in locales lacking an abundance of grass and trees…and humidity……that a scorchingly hot day can quickly transform into a sweater hugged night and morning.

The air was penetrating and clean…

…as intense and biting as the metallic tonic of a mountain brook…

     And the sky was the shade of blue that causes a somewhat pleasurable pain inside one’s chest… Not unlike taking a long draught of that brook after a strenuous mountain hike.

     Mottled across the cerulean, for as far as the eye could see in any direction, was a most random collection of check-marks, unlike any cloud arrangement that I can remember ever seeing.

Each check was the thickness and texture of a contrail.

     My first impression was that some commercial pilot had gotten bored with his holding pattern and had intermittently toggled his engines on and off after making terse forty-five degree turns.

     Then it struck me that possibly God had grabbed the softest of sable brushes and was ‘doodling’ across the sky.

     This thought pattern seemed especially appropriate given my geographical location.

So God’s got His brush and a clear sky canvas..

And He gets an accusatory call…

“I’ve lost everything…!!!   I heard your voice say”,

“Put everything tonight on 17 Black against the house.”

And God makes a quick brush stroke while saying,

“Uh…that wasn’t my voice….swipe…I’ve got more important things to do than play games of chance…swipe…Actually, what I said was.

“Put everything on Flight 17 BACK to the house!…swipe… 

 But you didn’t want to hear that, did you?…”Swipe…

     And it must have been a bad night at the roulette wheels, because, as I’ve said…The sky was FULL of checkmarks.

     If it was actually the aforementioned pilot who made those marks, I would hate to have been at the gate when he landed….

     And now for something completely different…

Something a little more whimsical…?!

You tell me….!