Old Jack

I have people ask me why and how do I take these charactor pictures of people.  Certain people just tell a story just with their looks.  I find them to be interesting and usually extremely friendly people when I stop to photograph them.  They often provide me with interesting life stories with a real down to earth perspective.  I have never considered myself a portrait or street photographer but when I force myself to do it I am generally very pleased with the results.  My approach in meeting a stranger and asking to photograph them starts with a smile and a real interest in who they are.  I build a sense of trust with them before ever lifting my camera.  When they agree to be photographed I move quickly and make a few images and then end the session.  I do a lot of planning while talking with them to determine composition, exposure, and proper lighting.  I have enjoyed the many people I have photographed over the years and usually try to get their names and address to send them a print a few weeks later.

The Oyster Fisherman

We recently took a couple of weeks and traveled up to the panhandle of Florida.  We stayed on St. George Island in our motorhome at the State Park.  We chose this location to be close to the towns Apalachicola and East Point.  These communities have a rich culture of fishing and we spent several days learning about the oyster fishing business from the locals.  The oyster fishermen from East Point are a rugged group of men and women that work long hard days out on the bay collecting oysters.  They fish from a simple flat bottom boat built out of plywood, using long pole tongs that act like scissor rakes to scrape up the oysters on the bottom.  The oysterman then heft the poles loaded with oysters up and sort them on a culling board according to their size.  Sadly the oyster fishing is in great danger in region.  Oysters require the right amount of fresh water mixing with the salt water to grow.  The Apalachicola River originates in north Georgia and flows down to the Gulf of Mexico.  This fresh water is the life blood that is required to spawn and grow oysters.  In recent years the state of Georgia has diverted water from the river to provide water to areas like Atlanta.  Each state has valid reasons for their use and need of the water from this great river, but hopefully a solution can be found to help save the oyster habitat.

http://seestgeorgeisland.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachicola,_Florida

Ice House - Sebastian Fl.

This year we moved into a new home near the small coastal town of Sebastian Fl.  We have been on the road living full time in a motorhome for over three years and decided we needed to settle down in a  home again.  We chose this area because of the closeness to the Atlantic Ocean and small town feel of the area.  I remember a photographer telling me that I wouldn't use my camera much living in Florida because there is nothing to photograph.  I realized with moving here there would not be the mountains or dense forest with waterfalls that I am use to living around, but I have found there are plenty of opportunities to photograph in a land of big skies.  Some of my best work in over forty years have been made here in the past year.  Yes it is easy to become bored with the flat and predictable landscape but if you are open to the possibilities there are many new an exciting images that can be made in Florida.  I made this image this morning in Sebastian of an old ice house that was used to keep the fresh fish for processing.  I used a -16 stop neutral density filter attached to my 40 to 105mm zoom lens.  The exposure was around 3 minutes at f11.  

Soft Light

I have always preferred to photograph in soft light when possible.  I enjoy working in the soft glow of light just after sunset or on a cloudy day to give added detail in my landscape images.  Sunny days often times are too harsh with the deep shadows to bring out all the tones and details that can exist in a landscape scene.  This image was taken in Texas along the Guadalupe River just after sunset.  The light from the western sky eluminated the tree roots to give a soft glow to the detail and texture of the twisted root structure.  When I visited the area earlier in the day the roots were in full sun and very contrasty.  When possible, I will visit a location numerous times to determine the best time of day for the type of light I prefer to make my exposure.

Crop Land

While travel on route 1 along the coast in California I can across some farm workers laying out an above ground irrigation system.  They were dragging long sections of plastic pipe into position with a large bulldozer.  It was near the end of their work day and they were just finishing up on this section of land.  I was attracted to the surreal and abstract look of the empty ground with the white lines going back into the sky area. 

Golden Gate Bridge

A couple of weeks ago we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge.  We were fortunate to have a clear day without the typical fog that covers the bridge.  As we were about a third of the way across I noticed this structure across the bridge highway and stopped to make a long exposure.  I setup my camera and tripod on the walkway and backed up to a support post to avoid the pedestrians walking by.  I made a three minute exposure using a -10 stop neutral density filter.  During the exposure hundreds of cars  crossed in front of me on the roadway going in both directions.  There was a steady stream a people walking in front of my camera during the exposure that never interfered with the image.  One thing nice about long exposure photography is that you can make moving objects disappear in the scene.  The other concern I had to deal with was the bridge vibration from all of the traffic crossing the bridge.  I knew if the camera and tripod moved up and down with the bridge motion, that the image would be sharp regardless of the long three minute exposure time.  This is what I love about photography,  the challenge of making new and interesting photos in difficult situations.  

Log in Rocks

I made this image recently along the Oregon coast.  The rugged coastline of the Pacific Northwest is much different than the Atlantic Ocean we live near here in Florida.  Walking the beaches along the Pacific is inspiring and there is something new with every turn.  When photographing in these locations it is easy to bypass some interesting subjects by concentrating on only the scenery of the ocean.  This log was jammed into the rocks most likely by a powerful storm.  The image was made close to sunset in total shade.  I used a 17mm wide angel lens on my Canon 5D11 camera.