Sunrise...a lucky catch.

Sometimes you get lucky.  Really didn't think I caught anything but low and behold...

B&W Roots

Two things influenced my love for photography.  Ansel Adams and the Darkroom.  From AA's 10 tonal shades of gray to stop bath and D76, I love B&W photography.  Could never ever grow tired of seeing great contrast, crisp white and coal black colors.  For me it was and will always be the best form of artistic expression this media has to offer.  Even Pablo Picasso preferred B&W photos over color.

So the focus and reason of buying, repairing and now learning to shoot the Hasselblad was for those influences.  Here are some nice, not great shots of the Jersey Shore.  Im getting more and more comfortable with the camera as I shoot.  Come Monday I start a fine art class in B&W that will get me some darkroom time as well.  Very exciting stuff ahead.

With the Boards under my feet.

Growing up and becoming a teen was shaped by many of the sights, sounds and events of Boardwalk life. No summer night was better than those spent walking the Boardwalk.  Your step was quicker, you moved with your shoulders squared and your head on a swivel.  The world just exploded around you and its was scene after scene of experiences that expanded who you would eventually become...who I eventually would become.  So many loyalties were forged.  So many dreams were envisioned, so many embolden moments and consequences that caused heartache only a young dreamer can imagine.

I recently purchased an old Hasselblad 501 c/m film camera.  These are some of the very first shots, old school print film, manual light exposure and shutter.  I think as I get more comfortable with the camera operations I will return at night to truly capture the spirit.  Because the lights of the Jersey Shore along the Boardwalk are as brilliant as the lights on Broadway or in the Hollywood hills.  The feel of the uneven boards under your feet was better than stepping out to the  green grass of a baseball field or the glamour of a red carpet premier.  The whole time the smell, sounds and strength of the Ocean just engulfed you.  Each wave breaking on the beach echoed in your ears and your heart beat to the rhythm of its crash.  With all of that, a kid from New York gained the experiences that shaped so many decisions that lay ahead.

Life in Jersey is good, I still have the splinters on the bottoms of my feet to prove it!

Add caption

"Dont forget what it feels like to capture life."

Rainy Days call for Umbrellas

Today, I officially submitted my first photo for a gallery show.  In NYC no less!  Seeing how I have not been published since my days with The Whit, pretty lofty expectations.  But they can't kill me, they can only say NO. Umbrella Arts will display 40 photographs on the theme "HOME".


The first shot I posted here was the frame I chose.  Just from a slightly different angle and with some subdued colors.  Inclusion in the gallery would be a huge acknowledgement of my work.  It may be premature of me to subject to such judging, but sooner or later, I have to step to the plate and swing.

Rejection will not deter my passion, maybe fuel it more...

UPDATE:

Oh well, just got to keep trying.  You miss a 100% of the shots you don't take.  Can't get on base if you don't step up to the plate!  (Is that enough sports metaphors for ya!)

Back to the Studio...

Round two was a little different.  Lots to like, but still lots to learn.

 


Now just what tempted me the apple or the...

Really appreciated the ladies and their styles!

Studio Light

A small break from posting but the photography work on several fronts remains in high gear.  New Web Site and Galleries will be posted in the Spring.  Very excited for that.  In the mean time I was back to ICP for a studio lighting class.  Starting with the very basics but I see how with the right imagination and tools dynamic captures can be created.  We worked on people but the techniques will boil over to food, objects, art, almost anything.  I have a few ideas for some object stills.  But in the mean time, people, people and more people.

Here are a few...

Lessons Learned

Photo class wraped up Saturday. Bittersweet. Good to be moving on but I will miss the classmates and guidance of our instructor. Our final assignment was to place together a string of pictures that formed the basis of a story. While I was happy with my final images, I think they were among the weakest. Several images and story lines were really well done. But at the end off the day the process was more important than the results. With time I am confident that I could expand and develop more compelling frames. But in the end my story is there.

It goes like this...

" O why didn't they let me live another century...

...I am lonely!

Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ

Been a small while since I posted.  But things on the photography front have been actually doing well.  Lots more done and with direction, so this blog post although still a newbie, is on a course.  Photography class has me finishing up a project of pictures with a theme.  I am pretty sure mine will be the sights of Asbury here in the winter.  The assignment should yield between 8 - 10 shots which I will add once complete.  My goal is before Christmas.  Also, I have recruited some help with the whole blog format and appearance, so by Spring we should have a whole new look and feel.  Which should better relate to my pictures.

In the mean time here are two pictures of my son.  The background mural is very interesting.  Back in September the artist Shepard Fairey went around the Boardwalk and created a number of very unique murals.  Wait you need to know who Shepard is?  Everyone has seen his work!  His most famous piece was the Barack Obama Hope poster.  Me, I am more of a fan of Andre the Giant has a Posse period,  but too each his own.  While this one is slightly weather and vandal worn, it was a good balance for my son's winter wardrobe. I am a bigger fan of number two.  I can live with out seeing the Vans on his feet.  I think a little more of the mural enhances the image.  It did wonders for a President!

Ballet at the Beach (Bay Head, NJ)

Pretty busy weekend with the camera.  Maybe a little too bit of a proud Dad, but good captures.  My teacher and classmates @ ICP have said I crop my photo's way too much.  So here all three images, full frames.

# Occupy Wall Street (NYC)

Saturday was spent in NYC for my photo class @ ICP.  After making a quick stop, I crossed Manhattan through Times Square and ran smack into the protest which moved out of the downtown business district.  I stopped grabbed a flash and shot what I could.  Here are a few newspaper shots...

Now, I am not going to dive into the politics of all of this.  But I do see some irony.  This movement is so dependent on social media and the Internet.  Well, I understand and agree that some executives are crooks, many of the tech gurus who have brought this technology to us, are clearly in the 1%!

I have been in many large and vocal crowds.  Football games, concerts, etc.  But this was different.  You could tell that there was an energy that could easily tip things ugly.  However, while I was in the crowd, I saw very little hooliganism!

My biggest impression was more cameras then protest signs!

I am stuck on Band Aids, cause Band Aids are stuck on me! (Hamilton, NJ)

"It's a small world after all..."

My bologna has a first name it's O-S-C-A-R..."

Those little jingles get stuck in your brain and well you just can't escape them.  So as I walked around the Grounds for Sculpture over the weekend, my internal iPod was stuck on one playlist as I began to just click off a few images.  If you have not visited, and you enjoy sculptures in many different styles, one really should go and spend a few hours.

One very disturbing note, while many of the sculptures are life size or bigger, I was upset to see a number of parents allowing children to use them like some kind of jungle gym.  Not preaching, but it is a museum people and not a playground!

This was my second visit and each time I really left with different views and impressions.  While there may only be about 250 pieces, its easy to see new things, literally, and old things in new light.

Truly amazing that Seward Johnson had such vision as an artist but also a vision to share in quite a different setting.  Saturday, was amazing weather.  Hot like 85 degrees, clear blue skies that just called you outside.  My only regret (not really...well maybe a little) I could have sat on the beach and enjoyed that too.  Boy can I be greedy!

Next trip I want to focus on some more of the abstract.  My vision and compositions were influenced by my latest read "The Greater Journey" by David McCullough