A day in Southern MD!

So back in November I spent the day visiting some good friends and doing some family portraits for them.  They were great sports and their two little boys were so fun to shoot.  We didn't spend too much time shooting, but hey when there are little ones involved if you don't get it in the first hour it's best to take a break and start again another day.  This is why I enjoy shooting for friends, they know that I will gladly come back again and again to visit and shoot if their little ones just aren't feeling it that day.  For those photographers that make a living at this I can't imagine how stressful it can be when you have a set amount of time to make the magic happen.  Me shooting friends is just as much about spending a day visiting with them as it is taking pictures.  I am still working through the images but here is a sample.

 

Now as I was editing this image I stumbled across something.  Might as well add a bit about my post processing here.  So the image you see above was shot digitally and converted to B&W (I know shocker that I would do that).  Anyway as is often typical, the sky doesn't always cooperate on the days when you have a shoot.  So when I converted this to B&W I created a duplicate layer and worked with the contrast on the sky using a curves adjustment layer.  Essentially I darkened the sky and increased the contrast to make it more dramatic and also give the image the impression it was shot near sunset.  In fact it was shot mid afternoon.  So then I used a layer mask to allow the adjusted sky to show through.  So then I accidentally turned off the layer containing the family in B&W and let the original color image show through and ended up with this:

So now I have the original color image (adjusted a bit with a slight sepia tone) and the background is in B&W.  I know I know!  I am not the first person to have color in a B&W image.  And yes in the scope of my typical photography this is just a nice family portrait.  But since that is exactly what I was attempting to create I am happy with the results.  The all B&W image is exactly what I envisioned while shooting.  All that said for some reason I have been stuck looking at the image directly above and I can't quite figure out why.

For some reason having the color foreground and B&W background give the image an enhanced feeling a two dimensionality (is that even a word) that I find interesting.  The color also enhances the "All American" family vibe if you will (I can't quite figure out how to really explain what I mean by that).  The background fades as a strong part of the image, unlike in the all B&W image above where the viewer is drawn to the image as a whole. 

Anyway I am just shocked that I am drawn to any color at all and I should probably go see a Dr. ASAP.  That said does anyone have any thoughts on the color, love it, hate it, why?

Delores Park Pano

Since all my friends are lame and don't want to go out tonight I decided to work on some of the images I haven't gotten to.  Here is another one from Delores Park in San Fransisco.  I found myself spending a lot of time there just people watching and enjoying the weather during my visit.  I wish there was something similar where I live,  While there are tons of parks and during the summer they can be packed with people, they are always full of people with a purpose.  They are there to picnic, or for family gathering, or to participate in organized rec sports.  Whatever, they are there for a reason and focus on that.  Delores Park is different, people just go to be, to hang out.  They come from all walks of life and just co-exsist.  I enjoyed just observing, maybe that's the photographer in me, or maybe that is why I picked up the camera in the first place.  I just love people watching.

"Park Beers!"

Holga

Lion Love

Here is a peek at some of the images I took of my good friends Gary and Diana at Penn State where they first met.  They are recently engaged, congrats!!! So these are kind of engagement pics if you will.  We plan on doing some more images in the DC area, but I couldn't refuse and exchange of pics for tickets to a home game in Happy Valley.  As my previous post shows, game day was cold and snowy but that didn't stop us from getting out for some proper Big 10 tailgating!

After a cold day and a football game that came down to the last second (with my feet frozen solid I had hoped the Nittnay Lions could have run up the score so we might have left early...) we woke up early and made our way to join a Penn State tradition, taking your picture at the Nittnay Lion Statue!

Next we made out way around campus to take a few images at the stadium.

Obviously since these pictures were taken, Penn State has found it's self embroiled in a devastating scandal that has rocked the college football community and the nation.  I think it is important to remember that the vast majority of people associated with Penn State are great people and in no way involved.  They are devastated by the breach of trust and failing of those who represented the university that they love.  I hope everyone can see these images and see the love of a young couple that meet at this beautiful university.  They have many happy memories from their time here.  I feel lucky to have experienced a weekend at this place they love so much before all of this sadness befell them.  They are Penn State and I have complete faith that they will be strong and do what is right and necessary to make sure those responsible are punished and in time find a way to become even stronger.

Next we made our way on campus.

Finally we went to the Engineering building where they first met.

Thanks for a great weekend Gary and Diana!  I hope we can do it again next year!

Penn State Tailgaiting - grab your lion coats this is serious buisness!

So my recent posts have been all over the place, a little bit from my recent west coast trip, some from the Rebel Riders rides, some from some potential projects, and now some from a recent trip to Happy Valley to take some photographs of my good friends at the place they first met.  Little did I know that the football weekend was going to turn into a blizzard.  Here is a first taste from Saturday Morning's tailgating.  Please note at Penn state they take their tailgating seriously you still must have your magnetic beer coozy even in white out conditions.

Anyway at least with the many varying posts I can say I have a decent body of work still to sort through and it is looking like I am finding my groove again.

"Nittnay Snow Lion"

Canon 50D

Not a project!

Ok so as with most photographers I like to give myself projects to shoot, themes to explore, yada yada yada.  But most of the time the minute I label something a project I stop shooting for it or find myself unable to figure out how to proceed.  Or just as often I decide to shoot a project with someone who them moves away or something.  Sometimes the idea are great but just don't reflect my "vision" so I decide to let them go.  This image is representative of an idea I have been thinking about for some time, but I am hoping to just keep shooting it and see if it evolves into something.  Maybe if I don't define it publicly something will actually come from it.  Feel free to tell me what this image says to you, it may help me refine my idea.

Untitled

Holga, Kodak Porta 400

I fear color...

As the title suggests I do not generally shoot in color, even when I pick up a digital camera I usually end up converting the images to black&white at some point during post.  I've always just figured some photographers shoot color and some shoot B&W, no big deal.  After having been in a creative slump, one that I'm still not really out of, I decided to pack mostly color film on my recent vaccay to mix things up a bit.

I have managed to get all of the color film developed and scanned (I still have 3 rolls of B&W to develop).  So here is the first image I started working on.  The focus is softer than I usually like (even for a Holga).  I should note that I took a relatively new Holga and obviously had done a piss poor job of making it light leak proof...but hey embrace the blur and light leaks right?  That's what toy camera photography is all about right? Anyway, while this is not the best image I've ever made it's one of those that I like in spite of all it's flaws and I decided to work on it first.

So for shits and giggles I decided to convert it to B&W and see if I'd like it better and wouldn't you know it, I do....sigh.  The whole point of shooting with color film was to try and convince myself that I liked it.  I can't say I don't like the color version, it's actually makes for a much different image if you ask me.  Anyway if you have any opinions other than "that image sucks!" feel free to weigh in with which one you like better and why.

"Skater Chic, Delores Park, San Francisco 2011"

Holga, Kodak 160NC

Liberty and Fixie's for all!

Here is another image from Lindsay and my Rebel Riders weekend jaunt through DC.  For those of you reading this blog but who don't really know me, Rebel Riders is a bike club Lindsay and I started up for the hell of it.  Basically I floated the idea and she made it happen.  We are a small group of non-competitive cyclists who combine our love for bikes, beers, and service all into one fun group.

Back to the weekend ride, for some reason the fixie's wanted to demonstrate outside of the Supreme Court.  I have no idea either...

"Liberty and Fixie's for all!"

Polaroid 180, Polaroid Chocolate

I'll never let go, Jack. I promise.

So I have finally finished scanning a ton of images from my recent trips to San Fransisco and Boulder, as well as some images from the Rebel Riders weekly happy hour rides.  I still have 3 rolls of B&W to develop and scan, but at least I should have enough material to work on that I should be able to start showing new images more often around here.  At least that is the plan as long as I can find the time these days to work on the images.

So this latest image was from a Rebel Rider weekend ride.  Lindsay and I just got on our Fixie's one weekend and decided to pedal our way through DC with no specific destination in mind.  We found ourselves riding along the south Waterfront just past the Maine avenue fish market (which by the way is a great place to grab a bite to eat!).  We are on a pretty bumpy part of the path and I am concentrating on the surface when Lindsay rides up to me and says "I'll never let you go, Jack!"  Being oblivious I just assume she's gone mental.  She then points out this odd statue up ahead and tells me it reminded her of the movie Titanic.  I continue to look at her, now fully convinced she is mental.  She pedals off ahead and starts bawling, when I reach the statue I discover why....it happens to be a memorial for...wait for it...yup you guessed it, the Titanic.  What the hell a Titanic memorial is doing along the Potomac river in DC is beyond me, but it was obvious photo documentation would be required.

"I'll never let go, Jack!"

Polaroid 180, Polaroid Chocolate film