Friday, December 26, 2008
Christmas Eve- Through the Lens
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
...And So It.....Isn't?
Last week I had what my doctor described as a simple surgery....and maybe it was. For me, other than having my wisdom teeth removed, this was my very first surgery. I guess I have been extremely lucky, as I really haven't gone out of my way to increase my chances of being a healthy person. Though I suppose there are a lot of good reasons that I chanced this particular malady, I am convinced that the primary reason is simply my age. Let's face it, it ain't exactly 1985 anymore is it?
...And so, things change, places change, we all change...which really brings me to my point.
I remember this old coupe parked just off a nearby highway in nearly every era of my life. I had seen it before, but became extremely aware of it as a teenager. Dreams of hotrodding the old thing ran like fire through my adolescent brain. Vroom-Vroom!!!
...and yet at some point and time it was also someone else's dream. I now imagine the person who bought it new. Scraping his money together, kicking the tires, maybe a test drive, and then the pride he wore as he drove it home from the dealer. Perhaps he loaded his family into it and drove around town to show it off to friends and family. I'm sure it made many a trip to the grocery, and to church where these people worshipped God, and where they prayed in earnest that their own needs be met, and for their own health. I imagine the kids, of this family, eagerly waiting their turn to come of age, and learn to drive in this coupe. Maybe a few first dates as well. What a life this car had!!! This good and faithful servant!!!
I was so excited when I captured these images. I was sure the old thing was looking at me as I studied it from this angle, and that, but it cannot do it anymore. Unfortunately, the property where it sat all those years went up for sale shortly after my "camera-in-hand" expedition. Undoubtedly, the new owners have no use for a sculpture such as this on the premises, and it has been moved. Long gone. No retakes!
Things change, places change, we all change...and so....it isn't...anymore.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
"And So It Is".....thoughts on 2008
I feel like my photography has grown in leaps this year. I've lost count of the epiphany moments where some technique or other has finally found its way to my own understanding of it. Creating, bending, and shaping light has become a pre-occupation whenever a camera is in my hand. To that end, I have reached my goals for this year by beginning to use flash off of the camera, and in purchasing a fast telephoto zoom. It's been a wonderful ride for me this year as far as photogrphy is concerned. If variety is the spice of life, I might be a cayenne pepper. I had the opportunity to photograph everything from infants to a 90 year old...a New Mexico desert to a Louisiana snow....a birthday party and a funeral...from wine rooms to sandy beaches....from high school seniors to weddings. You might say I have just about seen it all in 2008 through the lens.
On a personal side much has happened as well. Highs and lows. Happiness and sorrows. We watched Kristina graduate from high school, and then a few months later drove out of town, moved her into her first dorm, then drove away. It was a very quiet trip home. We had a major hurricane named Gustov that turned Baton Rouge upside down....then last week the worst snow I have ever seen here...ever! Breanna, our youngest, got her drivers license. That'll make you feel old. My saddest moment was with my grandmother. We listened to her call out for my long dead grandfather in agony. I watched an uncle drip water into her thirsty mouth with a straw. The following week, along with her other grandsons, I carried her to a place beneath an ancient magnolia tree in the National Cemetary in Baton Rouge to rest, peacefully with my grandfather. Losing someone whose mere presence on this earth brings comfort is a tough pill to swallow.
My happiest moment, though, found me as happy as I have ever been in life. So high that the weight of all the rest that is wrong in this world could never tether me to the ground. Joy, so pure, at the sight of my son walking out of the assembly center at Southeastern Louisiana University with that diploma in his hand. I have never been so proud of anything in all my life. Man that felt good!
My hopes are that 2009 will be every bit as meaningful to me as 2008. My prayers are that my friends and loved ones experience that same kind of sweetness in their lives. That regardless of the joys and sorrows that we experience, God has orchestrated our paths as part of His perfect plan. He has given us this miraculous gift of life and promises us infinite life beyond.
..and so it is!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Congratulations Garrett!!!
High School graduation is a special time, and is perhaps the first milestone in a young person's life. It is also a time when parents begin to contemplate the fact that our kids are growing up...even if we cannot comprehend the speed at which that has happened. There are some major decisions to be made... Which school to attend? Career paths? What should I major in?...a time of excitment as well as uncertainty.
Congratulations Garrett, and may God bless you and your family at this exciting time in your life!
Telephoto Maximus
Friday, October 10, 2008
These Are the Days...
I have now had plenty of experience with high school dances. We usually begin in our own backyard, capturing photos of our own kids and their dates. Then, usually, we meet a large group of kids and their parents for photographs at some other pre-determined location. Here the kids get together for large group shots with friends, and I usually come away also with some nice candid photos from these gatherings.
Afterwards, the kids all leave for a resturant, and then on they go to the dance. The waiting begins...and if you are a parent you know exactly what I mean!
Overflowing
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Heavy Metal
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Up To the Minute...
The second competition I was involved with is at www.dgrin.com . Here I had qualified for this quarterly challenge with a photograph taken several months ago. This quarterly "Mega" challenge was made up of photographers who placed in the top 5 in votes for the photographs they entered in the qualifying rounds. The theme here was "The Elements". I chose to enter an image that was built in several steps, a layered composite. It followed a very basic and literal interpretation of the theme. When the final scoring ended, it had done well with the judges, but not well enough to win. Maybe next time!
"Tungsten No.74"
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Congratulations Claire and Danny!!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Claire and Chris....
Window Light
Most of the light here is natural light filtering through the windows. I did use a reflector for some of the photos, and also a flash unit on all of them to kick a little extra light into the shadows, but was able to control the artificial light well enough that it did not rob any of the ambience from the window light.
In the end though I can only take a tiny bit of credit for these images. Much of the success of an infant's photoshoot depends on the infant himself. Brooks behaved very well throughout the shoot and put on quite a show for us. His little face also has that classic shaping that lends itself very well to a classic style of photo processing.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Heart to Heart...
Removing plywood from a stained glass window.
On Wednesday, of our week in New Mexico, we began work at El Divino Pastor United Methodist Church. Located in Roswell, NM it is known by the locals as the Spanish Methodist Church. Sadly they have lost all but five members. In an effort to inspire growth, they invited us into their church to give it a facelift. The facilities at El Divino Pastor are not perfect, but are all intact. There is a mid-sized sanctuary, a large fellowship hall, several classrooms, and a small kitchen area. Nothing really is lacking as far as the buildings are concerned. Our work list here included patching some roof leaks, cleaning up the church grounds, and painting the interior of the church. I set out early that morning to show four teenaged girls how to spackle cracks and holes in drywall in preparation for painting the sanctuary(...and they did a great job!), but that was just my task. We were a group of nearly fifty, so if you can imagine a swarm of bees decending on this place and going to work at different jobs, then you will nearly have a picture of all of the activity of that morning. In the midst of all of this buzz I noticed on the back wall of the sanctuary near the peak of the ceiling a darkened stained glass window. I could barely make out a few details because of the darkness, but I was positive that it was of an intricate design...and quite old. I couldn't help but wonder why it had been covered, and then I saw the holes. The window had been broken.
An art project made with the plywood that was removed from the window.
After awhile, when I was sure that our sheetrock patchers could be left to their own devices I made a tour of the building to see what other work was being done. Eventually I found my way to the roof. There, I realized that the stained glass window had been covered over with a simple piece of plywood to keep the rain out. I thought that it would be pretty easy to remove the plywood and replace it with a thick sheet of plexiglass. Not neccesarily what the window really needed, and not on our worklist, but definately a way to allow light to pass once again through that stained glass. I suggested this "fix" to one of our other adults. He and I then convinced the other adults that we ought to at least give it a try. Everyone was onboard with the idea. A few phone calls later, I had located a local supplier of plexiglass who had enough of the stuff in stock to cover the window. All the supplier needed was the plywood covering to be used as a template to cut the right size and radius on the arch at the top. Three of us then went up to the roof to remove the plywood so that it could be taken to the glass shop. Removing it was simple work that required a screwdriver and a ladder. I remember picking up all the loose screws as well as a couple of small shards of the broken stained glass that were lying below the window on the roof and put them in my pocket to be thrown away later. I was later told that while I was away at the glass shop an adult woman who had come from Baton Rouge with us began crying at the sight of the window once it was uncovered. It was that beautiful.
Worship at El Divino Pastor with the window lit by the afternoon sun.
I would have liked to have been a part of repairing the window, but on Thursday I began work at the Boys and Girls Club of Roswell with part of our crew while the remainder went back to El Divino Pastor to complete the work we had started. I am told that the plexiglass installation went smoothly, yet I was unable to see the finished project until we held a worship service in their sanctuary on Friday evening, our last night in New Mexico. On that night it was lit very well by the setting sun, and later was a beakon to the surrounding neighborhood by light from within. Two of El Divino Pastor's members were present at that service, Carmen their lay pastor and her older sister-in-law. Carmen spoke to our group briefly through a shower of tears expressing her thanks, and telling the kids how much they have inspired her. She was without a doubt the most greatful person I have ever seen, and to show her gratitude she had us line up so that she could give us each a hug, a kiss, and a thank you. She wanted to be certain that she had not missed thanking us each and all personally. I had the feeling that the inspiration we had given her paled in comparison to what she had given us. Carmen had to leave for work before we were done with our worship time, but her sister-in-law owns a fireworks store, and we were to visit the store that evening and be treated to a box full of fireworks for our own enjoyment, so after the service, myself and another adult went to the fireworks store so she could show us the field that we could use to set off all the gizmos in the box. This is when I found out what the stained glass meant to at least one of the members of El Divino Pastor.
A Son who lives eternal.
On a gravel patch in the middle of a field on the outskirts of Roswell she leaned against the door of her car and said "thank you". " Thank you, thank you, thank you" over and over again as tears trailed from her wrinkled eyes. In her heavily accented and broken english she says to us " I have seen that window once before, but only once." "My son would have been fifty-two this year" she says "but he was killed young in a skydiving accident....but I remember that window". When he was seven, he was christened on Mother's Day. She had attended her own Catholic Church that day for the christening, and then gone on to her mother-in-laws church, and now her own church, El Divino Pastor for the Mother's Day service. She said that she never noticed the window until the service was over and it was time to leave and then "Oh, it was so beautiful, and the sun, and I could only stand there and stare, I could not speak". By my math that day was Mother's Day forty-five years ago. On this night the most beautiuful archetectual element of her sanctuary had been returned to her and it had ressurected long ago memories. Memories of her dead son's christening returned by gazing into a picture of a Son who lives eternal.
Later, while packing, I found the two shards of stained glass I had pocketed. I have always collected tidbits such as this to be tucked away into the box my Bible came in. It is full of cards and letters and other momentos from my experiences with our youth group. This may seem too sentimental for some of you, but the things in that box mean the world to me. On a whim, I offered one of the shards to Jill. She is the lady who travelled to New Mexico with us and cried at the sight of the uncovered stained glass. She didn't say, but I have a sneaky suspicion that her shard means perhaps as much to her as the rest of the window means to Carmen's sister-in-law.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Details...
Aside from our faces, there are many things that say who we are. A parent or loved one can recognize us just as easily from our parts as from our whole. As much time as I spend trying to set up a location shoot so it will look "just so", these detail shots do not depend on anything to do with the location other than the lighting. Straying from what is typically defined as a portrait and focusing in on details often results in photos that are more abstract in nature, yet they still portray us as who we are.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Family Photos...
A week or so ago, I was approached by a friend about doing a set of family portraits for her family. Sure enough, the question of locations arose. Although I can supply recommendations of great locations, I usually make certain to point out that a location that actually means something to those involved would be best. On this recommendation, it was decided that we would do their photos out of town on a beautiful piece of property owned by her father. With his barn and the golden glow of the afternoon sun as a backdrop, we were able to capture some very good looking photographs that will become even more valuble to the family over time. So, when booking for your on location family portraits remember....location, location, location!!!
"Released"
"Released"
I awoke the morning following graduation and immediately went to work on the image. My first step after minor adjustments and converting from the RAW file was to convert the image to black and white. I chose to use a LAB Mode conversion method which is by far my favorite method of conversion when working with portraits. It seems to offer the very delicate, crisp, smooth tones that I like in a good black and white photograph. The only ill effects of this type of conversion is that mid-tones are usually somewhat lost in the conversion, and it will magnify noise in a high ISO photograph. Since I was going for that richly toned photojournalistic look, I would need to take special care that I retained as much mid-tone contrast as possible. I achieved this by doing curves adjustment layers and masks in Photoshop to squeeze every drop of contrast that I could get out of several key areas in the photo. I had one layer totally devoted to pulling a shadow out that had gone inky dark between the feet of the young man at front left. This part of the photo isn't visible in the version I have posted here, but you can at least appreciate the trouble I was going through to achieve my end-goal. Another layer was entirely devoted to adjusting for contrast in the faces of the kids. The hats in the air were also treated to their own layer to adjust their sharpness and contrast. Once I had the tones I was looking for, I moved over to noise control. The well exposed foreground had very little noise, but the dark curtains on the back wall were another story. My solution here was to do two noise correction layers, one for the foreground and one for that back wall, to allow me to minimize the ill effects of noise removal in the important areas of the photograph and keep my image crisp. I then added a warm tint to the photograph to keep it from having that greenish grey cast that is present in many black and white photos. The final step was to sharpen the image using the high-pass sharpening method. I have found that this is an excellent way to sharpen the details in an image while having 100% control over sharpening the noise in an image.
The version here is one that I plan to present to our school board. They have only been in existence for one year and this was their very first graduating class. I hope that they can see and appreciate the sheer joy on each of the faces within the frame. So many dreams and ambitions together with relief are evident in every corner of this photograph. I think it speaks well to what the goals of the school board should set for itself. Congratulations to the class of 2008!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Devine Intervention-Live
The music was great. Very upbeat and modern. I know that Devine Intervention plays venues near and far at every opportunity. If they are in your area, I urge you to check them out. If anyone is interested in booking them for a concert let me know, and I can put you in touch.
Never having had the opportunity to photograph a concert I decided to give it a try last Sunday night. In addition to the existing light in the fellowship hall, I used a single speedlight that was fired wirelessly using the Canon STE2 transmitter. The speedlight was located on the other side and in front of the stage from me. It provided some additional light, but also threw many interesting shadows on the walls in some of the photos. For processing, I used some common Lightroom presets and then applied an assortment of textures in Photoshop to add an edgy grunge appearance.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Congratulations Courtney and Tommy!!!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Late Date...
I do like the idea of a prom for the photographic possibilities. A time when the girls have a chance to pretty-up and are actually willing to have their photos taken. Of course it just so happens that our climbing rose on the patio blooms every year for prom. That makes it even all the more better!!!
I know that many of my blog visits are by family and friends. Statistics, however, lead me to believe that most of my visitors are fellow photographers. Either way what we all have in common is that the majority of us are watching our children, grandchildren, or nieces and nephews grow up. So for the sake of sentimentalism I have a story to share about a photograph I captured on last year's prom night, and a bit of advice.
The first photo in this post is a shot of my daughter Kristina in the mirror. It was taken this year as she was preparing for her senior prom. I have always made it a habit to grab a few of these type shots as the girls prepare for such events. I chose to give this particular photograph an aged look, and I am pleased with the results.
The last photograph in this post(below) is a similar type one that I captured last year as she was preparing for her junior prom. Looking at it you will notice several things. First and foremost the photo was captured with an exagerrated tilt. I shot the photo through a 50mm prime lens in a fairly tight area. The tilt was needed to keep the elements of the composition inside the frame. All of the elements in this composition are important to the story that this photograph tells. Secondly, this photo is finished with an aged look achieved by processing it as a duotone. This was an easy choice at the time since the color of her clothing and all of the items on the counter were a distraction to what was really going on in this image. Lastly is the story itself. The photograph depicts Kristina applying make-up while sitting on the vanity with her feet in the sink. This, of course, used to be a common occurance anytime she was doing her hair or make-up. In fact, while I did make sure that the photograph clearly depicted her sitting on the vanity, the specialness of her action did not really cross my mind. As I said, we saw her doing this every day.
Now the sad part...
The day that I captured that photograph was the last time that I can remember seeing her sit like that while dolling herself up. The end of an era in my home. That simple fact makes this photograph priceless to me. It is another example of how fast our kids grow up. Their habits that are cute and commonplace could be only a memory as soon as tommorrow. My advice to you is to be absolutely sure that you are capturing these memories of your little ones. Words cannot even begin to express how thankfull I am that I was there on that day to capture this image of her. There she is...through the lens...for all time.
Help!!!...I Can't Keep Up!!!.....
A week or so ago the Army Corps of Engineers opened the gates at the Bonnet Carre Spillway. This is a flood control gate that diverts water from the swollen Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain just north of New Orleans. The last time this protection system was used was in 1997, eleven years ago. It so happens that eleven years ago I drove the family to downtown Baton Rouge and we walked up on the levee to witness the historic high water level. I did not remember bringing a camera, but I did.
I was charged, last week, with putting together a slide show for our church to honor our high school seniors. We do this every year. Among the sports and senior portraits we include photos of the kids that were taken at various stages in life. So I found myself digging through boxes of old photos when the photo above presented itself. That is Kristina in the center(our high school senior) and Josh just to the left (our college senior). At the very left of the frame is Kim and Breanna. I didn't include the photo in the slideshow, but brought it to work to show the guys how high the water was in 1997. It so happens that I was also planning my 10 year service celebration at work this week. I am treating the guys to boiled shrimp and fried fish next week.
It dawned on me, when all these various events of the week lined up together that it really seems as if I started that job yesterday. The photo was taken only one year before. My kids are sooo tiny in that photo, and now they are all but grown. What is going on? I can't keep up!!!