"The ghost of Edward"

We visited Point Lobos a year ago and spent the day photographing.  This area has wonderful rock formations along the Pacific coastline.  This was a place where Edward Weston made many of his fine photographs.  I was attracted to photography at an early age when I first viewed his work.  I was fascinated with his artistic style of black and white photography using a large view camera.  I have to credit his work for my early interest in photography.  Certainly it is apparent that with the help of digital editing I enhanced  the human figure in this image.  I could have easily done so in the classic darkroom process by using a selenium toner solution painted directly on the emulsion side of the negative  to increase the density in that area of the rock.  Seeing this image was taken in an area that Edward frequently visited I guess I should title it "The ghost of Edward"

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/travel/29footsteps.html

Walking among the ruins

Walking among old ruins and graveyards always brings a sullen feeling and especially on a rainy day as in the case when this image was taken.  I guess it is because we can sense the mortality of our own lives in these places.  Life is never well served with frequent revisits to the past or the incessant worry of the future, but most of us spend more time there than we should.  Today is where life is lived and no place else.  We don't own one day from the past nor can we be guaranteed to have one more day of the future.  You need to ask yourself what things are you dragging around with you from the past and what fears are keeping you from the future, and discard them all.   We all have these three areas in which we live, the past, present, and future.  Where do you spend most of your time and why?  When I work on an image for numerous hours I usually find out why I stopped to take the photograph.   I don't take pretty pictures, I like to think I take interesting pictures.  I enjoy seeing pretty pictures of sunsets and beautiful landscapes.  They inspire us to travel and visit wonderful places.  My images are more personal and reveal some of myself and possibly might provoke a response in you.

Some pictures are hard to take

Some photographs are hard to take.  This one disturbs me because of the despair and sadness it reveals of the person.  When we were in Mexico I would often go to the the central plaza in the little town we were staying and have an afternoon cup of coffee mocha.  It was always quiet at that time of day because the local people were usually having a siesta.  On this particular day I saw this lady sitting nearby and noticed she never looked up or moved the entire time I was there.  She amplified the feeling I was having sitting in this quiet space.  I turned my camera toward her and made this one image, finished my cup of coffee, and moved on.  I didn't know her situation or life circumstances, but it reminds me of how blessed my life has been and how I need  to remind myself of that.

Land Use

Traveling around I am always intrigued with how we use the land.  This image was taken in upstate N.Y.  in the Finger Lakes region.  Most of these farms are owned and operated by Amish or Mennonite families.  Certainly the power lines are needed in this rural community to supply power to the region but quite a few of these farms operate without electric, especially if they are Amish owned.  I made my living constructing and engineering power lines in this region, and respected the relationship between the need to supply power to a community and honoring a lifestyle that rejected the use for electric.  Many of these lines were constructed back when bringing electric to the rural area was welcomed and the placement of the poles and wires were not much of a concern.  Today these lines and usually located along the roadways and not placed in the farm fields as these lines are. 

River boat

During our time at Cumberland Falls State Park in Tennessee we spent time hiking along the river and the falls area.  While photographing along the river I came across the little wooden boat tied up on the shoreline.  It was a shallow boat that was homemade.  As I walked along I discovered a few more tied in among the rocks.  To me they didn't look sturdy enough for someone to venture out on the river in.  A day later while visiting this same area I saw a couple of these boats out on the water with a couple of fisherman in each boat.  They were fishing at the base of the main Cumberland Falls area and strangely the current kept them in place as they fished.  As I travel around I enjoy seeing how local people have developed their own customs of doing things in their particular region of the country.

http://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/Cumberland-falls/default.aspx

Old Mining Truck

While traveling through Kentucky we came into the small mining town of Sterns.  The area was a boom town for the coal mining and the lumber industry in the early to mid 1900's.  We camped for a few days in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area.  As we road around exploring the area we found a privately owned coal mining camp that offered tours into an authentic coal mining camp, with a walk down into an old mine.  It was a fantastic place to visit and learn about the early coal mining industry in Kentucky.  The camp had all of the equipment left on site from the day it had shut down.  I spent a couple of hours just walking around and looking at all of the different equipment used in the mining industry.  While walking down the railroad tracks I saw this old mining truck sitting in the woods.  Immediately it caught my eye and I was fascinated by its rugged stature and the sense of abandonment it gave to me.  I am certain that it provided a lot of hard work in its day at the camp and now sits quiet as part of the past.  When I come across old things that have been abandon it always stirs a sad feeling thinking of the people and their lives of hard work that have all vanished from these places.

http://www.barthellcoalcamp.com/ 

Banjo Picker

When we were in Tennessee a few weeks ago, we came across this guy playing his banjo on a park bench.  I could see he was an interesting subject so we stopped and listened to him play.  We were his only audience at the time and we were able to strike up a conversation with him.  He had a long history of living in the Tennessee Mountains and the town he lives in was named after his family who settled in the area as pioneers.  He gave us a history lesson about the area and told us how he had built this banjo from a tree he had cut down years ago.  He would play awhile, stop and then tell a joke.  He had my wife singing along with him and it gave me the opportunity to capture him while playing and singing a song.  We always treasure the people we meet along the trail in our travels.  They will always stay part of the memories we have of our trips.