A quiet time of day

I am always in search of a remote quiet location to do my photography. The stillness lets me take my time to connect with the environment that I am in. I don't like rushing around when doing landscape photography. Being rushed often leads to making numerous poorly composed images that just fill up a memory card. It is better to make a few good images that represents the emotions you feel about the subject and location, than just to fire away hoping that you get something that inspires. I learned to take a slow approach with landscape photography with my many years of working with a film and a large format camera. It is easy to fall into bad habits with camera that think too much for you. I pretty much use my mirrorless cameras in fully manual mode. I really don't bother to learn the multiple features that modern digital cameras offer. I find it too difficult to be occupied with many functions and settings that are built into these cameras for my style of photography. Certainly if I was still doing professional sports photography I would utilize many of the features these new cameras offer. This image is from a Canada trip around Lake Superior. It was long after sunset on a calm and quiet summers night.

While traveling in Canada last summer around the North side of Lake Superior. I found some interesting hikes that took me along some streams flowing down off the nearby mountains. It was a cool and rainy month of August and the waterfalls were full of energy. On my hike I noticed from a distance a rock that appeared to look like a profile of a face on the side of wall. I stopped and took out my rectangle viewing card that I always carry with me, and determined I would need a 400 mm lens to get the subject framed correctly. I found a good spot for my tripod and a comfortable big rock to sit on, and took my time just enjoying the rushing sound of the water and the solitude of the location. The rock figure looks like an Indian Chief or an old fur trapper that lived in the area centuries ago. As I was sitting there after making my photograph a young boy and his Mother saw me and wondered what I was photographing. I pointed out the face I saw on the rock wall and I could tell they didn't see it. So I let them look at the view finder of my camera and they were both astonished that they would have missed this scene on their hike. It is always gratifying to come upon the unexpected when our hiking and having my camera gear with me.

Winter time and bare trees

I always enjoy photographing trees without leaves. To me a tree with just bare branches has more presence. Certaily tree with their fall corlors make for a beautiful photographs, but I find bare trees have more charactor and therefor a more interesting subject. I made this image during the winter months in Florida when the Bald Cypress trees loose their leaves.

Another 3am image

The older I get the less I sleep.  At times it is frustrating dealing with insomnia but I find that the wee hours of the morning gives me the quiet time to work on an image without any distractions.  I think back of my many years working alone in the darkroom and it was a space of little noise or interruptions.  Once I entered the space I had a mind set and focus of working on printing an image.  I knew I had maybe three to four hours of a good concentration level before I tired out. After that I would mix chemicals or do other mundane task the darkroom work required.  The digital darkroom is much harder to maintain a steady concentration when working on an image.  There are frequent distractions that come with being on a computer and doing photography.  A simple notice of an incoming email message will take me out of my processing mindset and I end up just saving the image off to work on later.  If you take your photography seriously you will need to find a way to work without frequent interruptions.  The steps to processing of an image takes analysis, execution, and finalization in order to achieve a satisfactory image.  A disruption in any phase will most likely end up with falling short of achieving a successful image.  So, do I like working on my images when I should be sleeping? No, but it does help me produce some of my favorite images. 

Seeking quiet in a noisy world

 

We just returned from a road trip that took us nearly 6,500 miles of traveling backroads through parts of the U.S. and Canada.  We took our camper so we could spend several days in an area to explore around and learn some history of region.  Making a trip like this would usually require a lot of planning, but we decided to just drive and see where the road would takes us.  We met many fine people in our travels and received a lot of good tips on where we might want to go and what to see in those locations.  The most enjoyable times of our trip were spent in the quiet and open spaces.  For nearly a month while in Canada we had no internet, cell service, or TV, and soon realized how much our lives have become reliant on that technology.  When we returned to the States with being connected again we sort of felt like we gave up something to be back in the flow of digital information.  The freedom from noisy ads, news, and all the other stuff thrown at us each day was refreshing.  I realize few of us are going to be separated from the hustle of the busy world around us, but a roadtrip taking the backroads can give you a little break. 

When disaster strikes in the digital world

Lou Rovo Center for Brain Health

                                                          Florida Polytechnic University

 I recently started to do some architectural photography.  Finding an interesting build can be a challenge and then hoping for the right light when on location is always a concern. I made the first image last September in Las Vegas. It was located on a busy street with lots of traffic nearby. The building had trees and other vegetation planted around the structure.  The second image of Florida Polytechnic University I made this week.  In contrast it was a very quiet campus with classes out of session for the summer. The Florida summer clouds made for a nice backdrop.  Now for the heartbreak.  I was working on my photography a couple of days ago when one of our daily violent summer thunderstorms came rolling in.  I usually run to the computer and shut down all my devices and unplug from the UPS backups.  The next morning I fired up my computer and my couple of external hard drives only to find several folder completely gone from my external hard drives and other images gone from within folders that remained. These two images are just a couple that no longer exist.  I have searched and for days and there is nothing to find.  How this can happen is unknown to me.  I try to backup as much as possible but for some reason all the digital devils struck and took away some of my best images I have worked so hard on.  It is a mystery and the lost is devastating because now I only have a few jpeg images to haunt me of what I had.  

The Melting Building

Architectural photography is something I have never done a lot of.  I mostly have concentrated on landscapes and abstract subjects for most of work.  Recently I was in Las Vegas and visited the arts district. That is where I came upon a wonderful abstract building,  The Lou Ruvo Center for brain health designed by architect Frank Gehry,  and is often referred to as The melting building.  It has to be one of the most artist designed buildings I have seen.  Certainly it is a one of a kind and the abstract quality makes an interested building to photograph.  I always try to show a presence of light in my final image and it all starts with analyzing the light in the field before making the exposure.  Once I have an image with the proper light and composition then the real work starts to produce an image worthy of representing this wonderful structure.  It can take me days of working on a single image to get the desire look I am after.  Sometimes I am rewarded with an image I feel represents the inspriation I felt when in the field with my camera. 

Ebb and Flow

 I will be 74 years old next month.  My interest in photography started in high school when my small school built a darkroom and started a photography class.  In the first year the class was offered there were only two of us who were in the class.  I remember clearly the first time I watched a plain piece of white paper turn into a photograph in front of my eyes in the darkroom.  It was a magical life changing event for me.  I instantly connected with the process and the possibilities photography held for self expression.  So here I am 60 years later still pursuing the photographic process. During those years the equipment and process has changed numerous times requiring a re-education to stay current with the process. The changes always had a period of ebb and flow to the creative aspect of photography. New techniques and to be learned and equipment exchanged. It is more costly and time consuming in the electronic world of photography with hardware updates and digital procedures constantly changing. I still have the desire to create and explore with photography but miss the process that I fell in love with in the darkroom.  The AI technology that will soon be unleashed on the world will probably spell the end of the creative process of the individual and will usher in the the computer generated art that has very little heart and soul. 

Book Projects

I have spent the past several months sorting out and editing my photographic images I have made over the past five decades.  My photographic journey has taken me down many paths of creative interest.  As I go through the tens of thousands of images made on film or with a digital camera, it becomes apparent there are numerous images that can be grouped together according to theme and style.  I can clearly see how my interest with certain subjects grew while others faded.  My efforts with this project is to products books of images that I pulled from my files and organize them to be viewed as a theme.  This is a time consuming project that takes discipline to complete.  My first completed book is titled "Street Portraits".  It contains about seventy photographs of people I randomly met and photographed in their environments.  It is satisfying to see a complete body of work represented in a book format.  Currently I am sorting through images that contain a theme of what I refer to as visual rhythms in nature.  These are images that have common patterns with form and movement found in nature.  I first went through my plant life images, and then as the project grew, I found similar images of tree roots and rock formations.  As I work on old and forgotten images I became aware of how my photographic pursue developed a rhythmic visual style.

Style

 We all develop our own style in photography if we stay with it long enough.  We first start out trying to mimic other photographers whose work we admire. There is nothing wrong with this but at some point we need stop trying to reproduce another photographers work and create our own look.  It starts with an awareness of things that we are drawn to and putting together a body of work that represents our emotional response to what we see. There is nothing mystical or magical about the process.  It is simple seeing and putting your inner person into play. We all have jobs and commitments we have to deal with everyday, But deep within all of us is a hidden person that can create and present something that has meaning to us. The source of this creativity ebbs and flows with intensity and sometimes is not present at all.  It is not that is is not there, but because we have stopped seeing and listening to the things inside of us and take on other duties of the day,  Somedays I walk though the day and look for nothing. My eyes are shut because of negative news and other outside forces that occupy my mind.  Then for no particular reason I wake up and find everything has the potential of creating an interesting image and my mind is flooded with wonderful ideas.  I guess this is a normal and healthy way that the creative minds works.  The down times are frustrating but are periods of rest before a rush of new creative energy comes flooding in. Often my moods follow the same path as my creative and non creative periods.  The above image was made in Mexico of some banners hanging in a small church, 

A mule in front of a mural

 I was traveling around in the wonderful state of Nevada recently and came across this scene of a mule standing in a gravel parking lot in front of a large mural painted on a building.  I did my usual photographer's u-turn in my vehicle and went back to take a photograph.  The mural itself was an interesting subject but the mule added the element the photograph needed.  These mules were orginally left by the miners in the 1800's and their offspring roan free in the area.  After I made my photograph he came over for a hand out, so I gave him a few pretzels I had with me.  These types of images occur spontaneously and it is fun when they happen. 

Transition

Transition is the change from one state to another.  I prefer to photograph when the day is transitioning to night.  The last few minutes of daylight provides a soft glow on the subject and eliminates the harsh shadows caused by the midday sun.  During this time the winds cease and a quietness falls on the land.  In the stillness you become aware of the the changes in nature as the birds fly overhead to roost for the night while the bats come out of their resting place.  When alone in the wildness locations I feel the eeriness of the approaching night as a coyote yelps at the rising moon.  I stay at the location as long a possible before the darkness over takes me and I need to make the trek back to my vehicle or campsite.  These are special times and some of the most rewarding in making photographs and to experience the transition of the day into the night.  The above photograph was made in Nevada. I visited the location during the day to scout around for an evening photo session.  I am always amazed how different things look when I return after the sunsets. 

What makes a good photograph?

 Photography is a medium that offers many choices in how we want to use it.  What makes a good photograph?  It really depends on how you use photography.  For most people it is to record family events and create a history of cherished memories.  The ability to freeze a moment in time is unique to photography.  When I look back at old photographs of past family members, I can appreciate the true power of photography when use to record important people and events in our lives.  Photography also can provide a way to express a desire within us to create and explore the environment we live in.  This is the expressive side of photography that can make us stop and think when viewing an image that inspires us.  These types of images help us to connect to an object or scene in a way we couldn't have otherwise.  The stillness of photography lets us view and examine the object with great detail and emotion.  We all quit seeing as we grow.  We develop a learned recognition of things so we really never have to look at it in detail again. Such as looking at a tree or a chair.  Once we have imprinted our minds at a young age to recognize a tree we only need to glance at a tree a know what it is.  In a sense we stop really seeing and rely more on our sense of recognition. The gift photography can provide a way to persevere the cherished memories of our lives and to awaken our true sense of seeing.  So the good photographs are ones that impacts you the most. 

Nevada Ghost Towns

 In our recent trip to Nevada we searched out old mining ghost towns in the state.  Nevada has a rich history in mining that sprung up in the late 1800's when silver and gold was discovered.  Most of these mining town flourished for a few short years while the mines were productive.  Today there are plenty of the remains of these old ming camps and small towns scattered around the state.  One town we visited was called Berlin, and it is now a state park left in a state of arrested decay.  As is with most of these mining towns, Berlin is located in a remote area.  Another great little mining town and one of the best we found was Gold Point.  It is a well preserved town with a lot of left over mining shacks and equipment laying around to investigate.  The town has six full-time residents and we only saw one while we camped out there.  His name was Walt, and he and his partner own the town.  It was a cool place to hang out for a couple of days.  We pitched our tent out back of the saloon that had 60's music playing 24 hours a day.  It was sort of a surreal feeling because of the emptiness of the town and hearing the music from our youth coming from the old saloon.  As I was out photographing the night sky I would hear in the distance a song I had long forgotten about, and with it came a flood of memories of that time in my life.  Traveling these dusty old back roads and exploring is always rewarding.  The quest of "what's is up around the next corner" leads to discovery of new and exciting places, and a fulfillment dreams. 

Eastern Nevada

 We just returned home from a two week camping trip to Nevada. We have made many tips out west over the years to photograph and camp but never really spent much time in Nevada.  It is a big state with lots of empty land to explore. You can drive for hundreds of miles and never see another car or a town. We could get lost in the vast landscape and stop and pitch our tent most anywhere we wanted.  Most of the state is owned by the BLM - Bureau of Land Management, so you are free to hike and camp anywhere you please. Nevada is mostly a mining state and there are many old abandoned mining towns with ruins from the days of the gold and silver mines.  I made this image in the eastern part of the state and Cathedral Gorge State Park. It is a fascinating place with slot canyons with a moon like landscape. If are an exploring type of person and like quiet and remote areas you will enjoy what Nevada has to offer.  It is a place to get away and clear the mind and to be in a location that is desolate and void of people. It is a good to occasionally off load the concerns of today and reconnect with the things that really matter in life, and for me a place like Nevada is where I go. 

It is hard to take your own advice

I have been writing in this blog for a number of years. It has never received much attention as initially desired.  I question why I take the time to write things down and post it with one of my photographic images. Possibly I am writing to myself to express the things stirring in my life or to resovle some current issue. At the start I was hoping to inspire other creative people to engage in a dialog about things of mutual interest.  Sadly few comments were ever received but that has never been a real concern for me.  Occasionally I will read a few of my older post to look back on my creative ambitions and my thoughts at the time.  I find myself taking my own advice which is sometimes hard to do. We all have a weakness with staying committed to a purpose. If you write your thoughts down and revisit them years later you can determine how committed you were to your beliefs at the time. Taking your own advice can be hard. 

I made this image yesterday while out in the swamps here in Florida. I love the cypress tree and it's intriguing root system. I often find myself resting under the shade of the trees during the mid day heat.  The song of the Mockingbird over my head and the cry of the osprey circling high above is the music in nature. 

Wondering

  I am at a crossroads with my photography.  I have spent most of my life pursuing my passion.  I am now in my 70's and realize I have a huge inventory of fine arts prints.  I devoted forty years of working in the darkroom making exhibition prints ready for display in galleries.  As the years passed by I managed to make a thousand prints all archival processed and mounted. I had little awareness of the inventory I was creating because my drive to explore and photograph was insatiable.  As photography turned to digital I continue to produce new work and make more prints.  Recently I made an assessment of my inventory and decided to eliminate about half of all the images I have created so far in my lifetime.  Something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago now made sense.  I have found that you reach an age where you can see the end and with that realization you start to think differently.  Most of life is lived with the expectation of the future and mentally you are painting a picture in your mind of what that will look like.  Photography opened a world up to me that wouldn't have been there if I never picked up a camera in my youth.  Because of the camera I have traveled to destination I never would have gone. I have met people and made lifelong friends because of photography.  Photography also comes with the burden of long dry spells of the lack of feeling inspired, but still the desire is there to create that new image.

Finding a way

 It is somewhat disturbing reading all the news of late. It seems everyone is pitted against each other. There is very little harmony in the world or the country we live in.  Mankind has always fought each other since the beginning of time, and today is no different, even if we live in a more advanced culture of technology.  America is in a state of decline and it saddens me.  We have been a light of freedom to the world and many seek what we have taken for granted everyday day of our lives.  I am in my seventies and never have gone hungry a single day in my life.  That is a blessing many of us fail to recognize because we grew up with sense of security living in a free and vibrant country.  Now we face the prospects of a new culture in America.  It is one that limits free speech and seeks to destroy the foundation of our nation. America's strength came from being the melting pot of the world with the mass immigration of the early nineteen hudreds. People came here from every corner of the world and brought with them their traditions and skills of their home land.  We quickly advanced as a country because of the mix of diverse cultures and the desire of people to pursue their dreams.  We are a democracy with a representative government providing a voice for all concerned citizens to express their views.  When you consider America being a mix of many culture and compare it to an Autocracy style of government with one ethnic group, you have to marvel at how we channeled our strengths to create this great country with abundance of personal freedoms.  Big government with central rule has never been the friend of freedom. Sorry for the political nature of this post but it seems we can't hide from the overwhelming negative atmosphere in our world and our county. " Look up and lift your heads, because your redemption draws near" Luke21:28

Quiet Days

 The past couple of years have been lived in quiet solitude.  Hiding away and spending time in nature and just observing.  Too many days have passed by with a feeling of half holding my breath out of fear, life seems different now.  The mind and spirit of a person can be altered when bombarded with negative news and a sense that nothing is of value, and that all is being lost.  Viruses, wars, racial tensions, cancel culture. gender identity, and a mix of other things that we have forced on us.  I truly believe most people are good and just and are just trying to find their way thought life like everyone else.  The world is never going to be a perfect place nor are the people living in it. 

MATTHEW 7:1-5 (NRSV) 

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

Steve the walker

 

I was driving down the road a couple of days ago on my way to photograph in a nearby swamp when I spotted this guy walking.  I quickly did a u-turn and went back to talk with him. His name is Steve Fugate and he has been walking non stop for over twenty years.  He has crossed the country six times and has logged more than 46.000 miles on foot.  His journey started with the tragic lost of his son and then his daughter.  He takes his message of Enjoy Life by foot across the country.  His story can be found with a google search of his name.  Here is a video about him that was made over 12 years ago. https://vimeo.com/10692512