Backyard Flower

Sometimes you do not need to travel very far to find a good subject for photography. This was in the back yard about 4 feet from the door. The light was right for a good image. The new class term starts on Aug 21st. You may sign up in the right side bar here on the site.

Fallen Tree In Fog

Fog has always appealed to me.

A unique and different reality. 

Time seems to stand still in the fog.

 Everything stops, as if to listen to an unheard song.

Mysterious, other worldly, silent, and wonderful.

Night Walk

Things look and feel different at night. The lights come from a different direction casting shadows that are not seen in daylight. Pathways, that in daylight have children running and playing on them, are now the stuff of dreams and magic. Doorways to the unknown. Paths to strange realms and new dimensions of thought. Perhaps a ghost or a spirit walks here with you as your personal guide on this journey. Welcome them for this is the time of exploration. 

Flagged

I usually work in black and white since I feel that it is more expressive than color. There are times however when at least some part of the image should be in color. A friend showed us his wedding album last night after dinner. The wedding photog had done some black and white portrait work with only the flowers in color. I know that it was done in digital......but, sometimes it just happens in "real life".

I have always liked old buildings, mostly for the texture and tone in the wood. As it weathers it takes on a personality of its own. Aging with the worry lines and laugh lines of a well spent life.

This one has a spot of color and with the color a bit of pride.

The Ferret Awakes

I have been in the darkroom all day exercising the ferret. Thought I would share this with you. I rather like the "beauty in chaos" that I am sure the original owner never saw.

 It helps to have a distance on things. Sometimes that is a spacial distance. Sometimes it is a distance in time. I am not nostalgic. I do not believe that things were better in the old days. I enjoy my modern cameras and my indoor plumbing. But sometimes I think that things may have been more picturesque in days gone by or maybe it just seems that way to my modern eyes.

OK, enough break.....back to the dark.

Going To Dinner

One evening in class my students were having a discussion about where to go to find good photos. Many of the national parks were mentioned, state parks,, city parks, and many areas in other states. The general consensus seemed to be that there was nothing around here to photograph. When I pointed out that we have a good selection of subjects right in this area what I heard was, "we've done all that". So, just for discussion, I went out to see what I could find in a limited time. What I did was what any man would do, I took my wife out to dinner. It is a 17 mile drive from our house to the restaurant. What could I find on this very ordinary 17 mile drive?

Well, it took about 2 hours to travel the 17 miles and I only stopped because my very patient (hungry) wife was starting to chew on the car seats and it was about to rain. Almost 3 rolls of Tri X and I still had not even come close to running out of subject matter. This photo is one that was taken that evening. It shows the storm front moving in........we made it to the Cracker Barrel just as the rain started.  A very well spent 2 hours, this "Going To Dinner" project resulted in 3 local shows over the next year.

The camera used was another interesting item. I had been talking in class about how the camera does not matter, about how it is just a tool and how it is the "grey filter" behind the eye piece that is the most important. My wife, having heard about this lesson, found the little gem I used on this project at the local thrift store. It cost all of $20.00! It is a Yashica GTN. A fixed lens rangefinder with auto exposure made in the 1970's and 1980's. The lens is very sharp and although you would not think that the meter would be any good in a camera this old it really works very well.

WOW, what you can do with an old $20.00 camera.