Snapshot Heaven

The other night when we were going through old photos I came across this one and set it in my own little pile. I wasn’t too sure what the man had in his hand until I scanned the print and saw what looks to be a nice looking box camera. Of course there were scratches, spots and fingerprints galore but I fixed the worst of them and left the rest. Those scratches show the passing of time and that this is an actual artifact and not some made up scene. There is no doubt that a decent snapshot can tell you worlds about a subject and at the same time it leaves plenty of room for the imagination. I don’t know these people and I’m not sure I ever met them in passing at a family party or wedding but they look like they would be worth spending some time with.

I love the way the hat mimics the lines of the car (or is it the other way around). There is a lot of style in this one frame. Somewhere in the city of St. Louis, MO but the exact location is unknown. Another image from the series shows the bride and groom (my in-laws) still in there wedding clothes sitting at a table in a local tavern. Maybe that was the reception. Things were a lot different back then. There is a wedding album but nothing can compete with snapshots taken by close friends. This is as close to real life as you are likely to get in a photograph.

I cropped this second shot because it was taken from a distance. Just imagine a large expanse of lake and sky behind them and a cobbled walkway in front. This photo is full of happyness and life. I wish I could have been there. It may not be a technical masterpiece but there is no doubt that this is a great photograph. I’ll have to find the time to scan a few more of the ones I picked out of the box. Other family members are working on the bulk of the project and I’m sure it will be a while before they are all done and divided up. The great thing about digital is that you can essentially have a photo lab sitting on your desktop. The scanners and cameras keep getting better and less expensive which is great. You could just about as easily use a point and shoot camera in macro mode to copy these old photos as long as you used a tripod and the self timer to avoid camera shake.

People took a lot less photos back in the days when film ruled photography but those few photos seem more iconic in many ways. There are fewer of them and I think they hold our attention longer for that reason.

I’ll be taking some snapshots of my own if the weather changes and it warms up a bit. This month’s assignment is to take portraits with the Brownie Hawkeye Flash (unconventional portraits). I don’t have any solid ideas for that project yet but I’ll be starting those soon. The Brownie is not what I would call an ideal portrait making machine so it should be interesting to see how those turn out. Last month I took photos with the Brownie I converted to a pinhole camera. The shutter on that camera jammed and I ended up with a bunch of partially exposed frames. They probably had a good laugh at the photo lab but I was actually pleased with the result. I’m happy to get any sort of usable exposures out of a fifty year old box camera.

I’m still snapping away with the iPhone and having fun inserting those images into text messages and other online media. The iphone camera is pretty low resolution so it does a good job of emulating fixed focus cameras with single element lenses. I have not been carrying my point & shoot camera since getting the iphone though the phone is really not a substitute and is a lot slower in operation. Even though there are limitations it is a blast trying different filter effects and being able to upload the images moments later for everyone to see.

World Famous

There is always a heated debate about who has the best pizza in town. Since we had other plans for the night all I got was a photo outside of Giordano’s. They do have good pizza though some of us lean towards Gino’s for our deep dish delight.

I took a series of hand held photos, trying not to shiver from the extreme cold outside. The idea was to get some sort of reflection in the foreground and since the pavement was dry, I tried catching reflections on the passing cars. Of course a tripod would have helped a lot but since I got my new lens I seem to keep trying to use it somewhere beyond the ragged edge of a decent exposure. I seem to keep taking shots at around 1/10 of a second at 24mm on my D300 at high ISO and of course I keep getting less than stunning results.

I am really longing for sunshine and warmth right now and it’s not happening. I thing I need some beach time but since I don’t have any time to go to the beach I guess I will have to dream of warm pizza ovens instead.

I just finished reading Joe McNally’s book “The Hot Shoe Diaries.” It is full of McNallyizms (see I can make up words too) and other interesting bits of knowledge. I think it would really be interesting to see a book written by one or more of Joe’s long-suffering assistants to compare (and contrast) his recollection of events. Joe points out up front that this is not a how-to manual and it is actually written more like a diary or even a blog with lots of short and to the point examples of what it’s like to be Joe and lighting stuff with small flash units. Sometimes there are a whole lot of small flash units so it’s not exactly about minimalist lighting, though there are some examples of one and two-light setups in there as well. Joe shoots with Nikon equipment so that is what he talks about and the equipment has a lot to do with his work flow. Joe talks a lot about iTTL and Nikon CLS in the book and how to make everything work together in different situations. There is also some good general information about different qualities of light and the use of light modifiers so it’s not just for Nikon shooters.

Light Snow Falling

While other parts of the country have been hammered, we were getting mostly flurries or plain old rain. It looks like the snow is now falling in earnest and since it is Sunday there is not likely to be much effort to clear the roads until much later tonight.

I am warm and happy, looking out the window at the chilly display and wondering if I want to go out for a walk before I go to work. It looks like I have to take Louis the Furtography dog out since his owner did not. The guy on the radio says it’s twenty seven degrees outside. Brrrr…

Louis decided he wanted to go for a long walk in the snow and ice and after a while he had big chunks of ice stuck in his paws and was doing his lame dance. He was about half frozen which is his own fault so I had to stop the photography and carry him all the way home trying hard not to fall down on the snow covered ice. Between the dog and the massive camera bag, I was breathing pretty hard by the time I got home. Now that I’m warm again I think I might run over to the market to get something for lunch and dinner.

While we were out Louis and I stopped at the dog park where he started barking at a painting of a dog on the side of a utility company junction box. That was pretty funny and Louis was a little embarrassed when he figured out it was not a real dog. A lot of these big green utility boxes have been painted over with interesting designs. One of my flickr friends who goes by “formica,” took Brownie Hawkeye photos of the ones where he lives in Asia. I have thought of photographing the ones around here before but have never gotten around to it. Today I took a couple of snaps of the ones at the dog park . I’m not fond of photographing other people’s art but since these are somewhat transitory I guess it’s not bad to have a photographic record of them. Most of the works are unsigned so there is no way to contact the artists.

I want to get photos at the park downtown but I guess that will have to wait for my day off. I’m still thinking of trekking up to Chicago for a day next week. I hope the airports are not on total lock-down because of the lame attack on the Delta flight the other day. That was a close call and I’m thankful that there was a positive outcome. This is not a political or social commentary blog so I’ll leave it at that.

I’m going to walk over to the store now…

When I returned from the store I dumped the morning photos to the laptop and got ready for work. I’m taking my camera just in case I decide to go outside at dinner time and grab some quick shots.

I have only been to a few holiday parties so far but I am in the minority. While I was sick with a cold everyone else was going to a steady stream of parties and having a grand time. It is now plain to see that all the parties are having an affect and people are starting to get worn out. Meanwhile… I am beginning to feel a little better but still on the tired side and wishing I could just hibernate for the next month or so.
I’t time to start thinking about getting some exercise so that when Spring arrives I will be able to fit into my traveling clothes and go somewhere exciting. I’m still trying to get out of town to Chicago or New York but the weather stinks right now and the flights are probably super crowded as well.

You can’t tell from this photo but I have gotten my hands on a new lens and I will be testing it out over the next couple of weeks if the sun ever comes out. The best reason for getting a new piece of kit is not just so you can say you have more stuff than the next guy but to give you an excuse to try new things or new ways of doing things. Most people will advise you to spend your money on really good camera lenses instead of the camera body because the lenses last much longer (at least in theory). I went the other way around when I got my last camera because I wanted a bigger viewfinder, faster focusing and more frames per second. The LCD display on the back of the camera was also a big improvement over the postage-stamp sized display of my old camera. My idea was to get a camera that was more user friendly for the type of photography I liked to do and I’m pretty happy with that decision. Fast forward a couple of years and in my typical wishy-washy style, I finally convinced myself to bite the bullet and buy a new lens which is actually worthy of the camera. I just hope I’m worthy of using it to take decent photographs. There is nothing worse than having a good piece of gear at your disposal and then finding out that you are a complete hack. Fortunately even hacks can learn and grow in time if they try hard enough.

I’m not suggesting that it takes a lot of money to make good photographs because in my experience some of the best photographs are produced with simple and inexpensive cameras that can be bought for under ten dollars. I just finished a roll of film in my Brownie Hawkeye Flash, that I converted into a pinhole camera. I somehow managed to get the shutter mechanism stuck and only one side of each frame was exposed. In fairness, the camera is over fifty years old so I could always blame my problems on that. The truth is that I had a lot of fun and it didn’t cost me nearly as much as taking photos with my ridiculously expensive digital camera.

I have also been having a lot of fun the last few days taking low resolution blurry photos on my ridiculously expensive iphone camera. My favorite application at the moment is called “Polarize,” which is a free app to make your photos look like old Polaroid SX70 photos. I have only had the iPhone for a couple of days but it is hard to imagine being without one if you are any sort of social person at all. It’s instant gratification times ten. Instant photos, instant messages, instant movies everywhere all the time. I don’t know if that is bad or good because the newness has not worn off yet and I’m still in the honeymoon phase. My only hope is that it lets me get more done instead of just wasting the little time I have.