Photography

Hoping for a thaw.

2007-03-10T17:26:00.001-05:00

This is a photo on both my personal and "professional" Flickr pages because while it does work as a displayable photo for others to enjoy it is largely personal. Someone dear to me made a comment the morning this picture was taken that spawned the concept in my mind, so it's a love letter to them. Because of this it's currently one of my personal favorites - the first in a life's worth of many more. Yes, I've softened quite a lot in less than a month, it happens.

I hope you enjoy it. If you're a sap too then I'm sure you do.

"Candied..."

2007-02-09T18:55:00.000-05:00

It's snow. Wind swept snow to be precise, caught with a cheap macro lens during magic hour.

"Enkindle"

2007-02-03T23:32:00.000-05:00

As of this posting, the picture above is a pretty recent shot, taken during a long hike around a collection of lakes in Kalkaska county, here in Michigan. A thick layer of snow is keeping the ice insulated enough to prevent any trek much further than a couple of feet from shore so this was the best vantage point I could get. What worked to my favor was the grass coming up through the ice and snow at the shoreline here that I didn't even notice at the time because of the sunlight shining into my eyes.

Sunlight in my eyes is an issue at times because of my handy pair of sunglasses. When the lighting is opportune I often don't even wear the shades themselves because I'm utilizing them as a lens filter. I use them too often at times but I can't help myself due to the interesting effect they achieve. People have asked me a time or two why don't I just get a similar affect by playing with the photos on the computer. It's certainly a valid question and I feel like a completely pretentious jerk when I give my answer: I don't like playing with pictures much at all after taking them. If I develop prints in a dark room then that's a different story, but to me manipulating photographs on the computer feels like cheating. I get a rise out of being resourceful "in the field." If I can use the items or environment around me to better a shot then I'll do that in a heartbeat over capturing a standard frame and making it something it wasn't in the comfort of my own work station. As much as I love computers I can honestly admit that I get no artistic satisfaction from working on one (unless I'm editing a film together or writing a story).

Shoesies.

2007-01-27T21:18:00.000-05:00

Currently this is my favorite photograph out of any others that I've taken. Of course that list changes frequently but for the time being I'm most proud of this.

A day's worth of stratus clouds finally started breaking up just in time for the wanning sun to peak through during my first ice fishing venture of the season. There was no clever posing of inanimate objects here, my snow shoes and poles just happened to be in a good spot.

I dropped the exposure down to 1/1000 (also, it's a f4.3 aperture) and used a Rokinon 0.45x Wide Angle to get the most out of the shot without having to drown the subject in a field of unwanted landscape were I forced to back up to get the framing without the use of that handy little lens. This is where I would add a link regarding this particular type of lens but unfortunately I can't track anything down. All I can tell you is I picked it up at Meijer (it's a chain department store like Wal-Mart here in the general Great Lakes region, for those of you who "don' know nuttin'") for around $50. It's a three piece system. A ring fastens to the existing lens of your camera which the metal two-piece accessory holds on to magnetically. The lens itself is comprised of two units: the macro and the wide angle. The macro is the base lens and it works beautifully. It's threaded so you can screw the other lens unit on and both work together as wide angle. As I said, it's a handy piece of equipment; my fear is losing it because of it's size and if the lens is attached to the camera you have to be ginger with the whole set up as the magnet doesn't hold as well out in the cold than if you're using it indoors.

An opening note.

2007-01-26T15:55:00.000-05:00

The first photograph I ever took was a mistake. I found my mom's 110 camera at the edge of the kitchen counter when I was real little, so little in fact that I never could get it down from its perch. Enough height worked in my favor, however, and I accidentally hit the button and snapped a picture of the counter. My mother witnessed the whole thing and when she got the film back from having it developed she made a big deal to point out that I took that particular picture before she put it in the photo album. I only had maybe four years of life under my belt so I had no idea what the significance was but just a few years later my parents gave me my first camera (a new 110, it was a lime green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle camera that superimposed little watermarks of Michaelangelo at the bottom right of every picture...if you're a child of the late 80's/early 90's then give a shout out if you remember that particular piece of Turtle power!) I had shoved that one in a box after a year of using it and forgot all about it, but the hobby of photography carried on.

When I graduated 8th grade my parents bought me my Nikon N50. It's seen more than it's fair share of travel and accidents. It's scratched, dinged, chipped to hell but it works like it's fresh from the camera shop still and hasn't let me down yet. When digital broke big I eventually picked up a lame Vivitar point and shoot to see how I liked the medium. That led to a Nikon Coolpix 3100 and now my Pentax Optio S6. Some people scoff at the little cameras but when money's tight dropping 2-300 on something the size of a deck of cards is nothing to sneeze at. It's a beautiful little trump card and until I'm able to afford the next step up (to a Nikon D model, of course...I may shoot with a Pentax but my heart lies with Nikon) it's my primary weapon when I'm on the go and need speed.

Photography was part of the graphic arts course I took back in high school, so I spent the better part of that time period working in black and white and developing pieces on my own after hours. When I got into college the first order of business was taking a proper class in hopes of getting a minor in photo journalism (college never panned out, but I did get a certificate of completion as a Film Critic!).

For the better part of 20 years I've been composing, shooting, or developing photographs, all without serious thought as a possible career until summer of '06 after curiosity pulled me into many of the local galleries to see what was going on. Once it occurred to me that there was indeed a market for my kind of style it only became 100% forward momentum from there.

So this is my self-representation. If you're a passer-through then take a moment to leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions. If you're a gallery owner/operator/curator then chances are good I've pointed you in this direction; I can only hope you like what's displayed here or on my Flickr page, the companion to this corner of the internet.