Reflections

Still water with morning light shining almost parallel to water can create the most interesting reflections...
(Images from San Juan Island, Washington, Infrared with an Olympus 2000Z, Hoya R72 filter)

Morning Light Can Turn 2-D Into Almost 3-D

This image of steps leading into the US House of Representatives with the Capitol Dome in the background is an example of how light can increase dimensionality (is that a word?) of a photo. I took it at 7:30 AM, soon after sunrise, so that the light was coming almost parallel to the ground. This creates areas with bright highlights and dark shadows, adding to the depth.

US Grant Memorial

This dramatic memorial, at the base of the US Capitol steps in Washington, DC, looking out over the Mall, is in honor of Ulysses S. Grant. Built in 1902, it is the 2nd largest equestrian memorial in the world. The central figure is Grant on his horse, guarded by lions at the base of the statue. At either side is a grouping of cavalry soldiers seeming to leap out of the metal they are made from, charging into the middle (and perhaps down the mall for a swim in the reflecting pool). The high contrast between shadows and light in these photos are from the strong morning light shining almost perpendicularly.

How the seemingly ordinary can be extraordinary

Robert Adams, an American photographer, is the latest winner of the Hasselblad Award. Here's a story and some of his pictures on NPR. Adams photographed the "New West" as it was described in the 1970's when suburban sprawl started to become a dominant theme in previously sweeping landscapes and gas station signs began to compete with cactus. His images are a mixture of man made and mother nature's adornment to the landscape.
The award is from the Hasselblad Foundation,based in Sweden and a collection of his works will be on exhibit there this summer. Previous American winners include Ansel Adams, Richard Aveden, and Cindy Sherman.
Hasselblad's fame is in producing high quality medium format cameras that are a favorite of nature photographers, including Ansel Adams. Medium format negatives are 600 cm wide (compared to the 33 mm film size familiar to most). Advantages are images with great detail and little noise, but the cameras (and film if non-digital) are very expensive.

Photo show at the Marketplace at East Falls

My new website and a new logo...

I've finally made the leap from using Flickr and this blog as my websites. It's still under construnction and needs some tweaking, but here it is: Blue MoonBeam Studio

Photographing People - Exploitation or Celebration?

While walking through the medina in Marrakesh, Morocco, my new traveling friend Peter, encountered a man who was upset that he was taking a picture. Peter tells me that he takes photos of things to later paint. Peter tried to show the man that he was photographing a building and no person was in the shot, but the man was still upset.
Our guide explained that people sometimes feel that they are like animals in the zoo, with crowds of foreigners going by and taking their pictures. He felt that these pictures ended up in publications in the West making them appear exotic and other. We were also told that some of the people believed that you would bring them bad luck by singling them out to take their picture.
This conversation has really made me think about my photography. I take a lot of zoo pictures, so I had to consider how this was different, because it feels different. My feeling is that if someone doesn't want their photo taken, I certainly am not going to photograph them (even if it feels compelling artistically). My goal in photography is always to capture a feeling for someone viewing the image of having been there. Too few people have the chance to go to Morocco and experience the scenery, the light, the people. I think that without seeing through photos, it's easy for Americans to view Muslims and many foreigners as the enemy and potential terrorists rather than as just people like they are. The clothing may be different and they may have donkeys instead of cars in some places, but essentially we're all under the same sun on this rotating orb just trying to make our way. My photography is not about trying to find the exotic and point out the exotic, but instead to show the common humanity.
In the top picture, Berber Biker, substract the desert background and he could be on the Sahara or a boy down your street. In the bottom picture, Donkey Parking Lot, the gentleman by dress and surroundings is clearly not in the US, yet his face and his expressions, his sense of purpose seems so familiar.