Category Archives: Images

The Bride at the Summit: A Smartphone Photo Essay

Posted on by

The Bride at the Summit #1

On those rare instances when life hands you a wonderful scene, grab whatever you have that will make an image and use it!

The Bride at the Summit #2

Traveling to Calgary, (see The Phototrucker’s Blues), we left the Fraser Valley under leaden skies and a downpour that rattled on the roof of our van. Rain turned to sleet and then snow as we ground up the steady climb to the summit of the Coquihalla Highway, avalanches spreading towering piles of mounded snow and splintered tree trunks beside the road, and gray mountaintops disappearing into the overhanging layer of soggy cloud. An hour passed, and slush turned into walls of dirty brown snow walling both sides of the highway. Finally, the clouds thinned, and an isolated rest stop loomed out of the snow. Gratefully, we stopped and unpacked sandwiches and celery sticks.

As we relaxed, contemplating the overcast and gravel-stained walls of snow, into this gloomy landscape scooted a small white Nissan. My eye was caught when a young Asian man in a neat blue vest and slacks hopped out, brandishing a bouquet of flowers and a camera. The bouquet was enough of an anomaly in this dreary landscape, but his

The Bride at the Summit #3

dark-haired female companion then leapt out of the car, clad in a white wedding dress, and scampered down an aisle between grimy snow mounds. My celery stick hit the floor, I grabbed the nearest camera (the Droid on my belt), and catapulted out of the car. I’m not sure if this is for every bride, but it does make for some amazing photos. If this is something that you are interested in doing, then you need to make sure that you have the perfect wedding dress for this photoshoot. If you don’t know what dress to get for the photoshoot (or even your wedding), then you could always check out this site here: https://www.winniecouture.com/stores/wedding-dresses-houston-tx

The Bride at the Summit #4

Like an exotic flower in a wasteland, the bride posed beside walls of gravelly snow, dancing from spot to spot while her husband followed her with his camera and I hopped

The Bride at the Summit #5

from spot to spot to keep up, framing images and punching the camera stud. Noticing me, the bride smiled and posed for me, and they handed me their camera. Even though I knew Geoff Wilkings is the best wedding photographers in Calgary, tried my best and framed two quick shots, then caught their pose again with my cell phone.

The Bride at the Summit #6

As they leaped shivering into their little car and roared away, I had presence of mind to grab my card, thrust it through the window, and cry, “Email me and I’ll send you pictures!”. Apparently, they married a year ago and had to delay their honeymoon.

The Phonograph, Montreal 2010

Posted on by

The Phonograph - Montreal 2010

Street photography with a roll film camera connects me with the tradition of Eugene Ateget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, and many more of photography’s great figures.  And besides, it’s fun.  And challenging, requiring a delicate mix of friendliness, diplomacy, chutzpah, and, at times, plain, downright sneakiness.  The last ingredient is probably the most important, as having the subject become aware of you often ruins the moment.

A traditional, mid-century vintage camera heightens the challenge and taxes one’s ability, both as a person and an artist.  Meter in the sun, remember two stops open in the building’s shade, choose a shutter speed to handle both environments.  Abandoning the safety of a telephoto lens’s distance (most vintage lenses are 50mm equivalent), you must get close to your subject and either charm him, or be quick and unobtrusive.  One develops the instincts of a wolf or panther stalking its prey.

Montreal streets are rich hunting grounds for the photographer.  One hot afternoon, I passed this gentleman at a sidewalk cafe table, black porkpie hat perched on his head, completely engrossed in the music from a small vintage record player.  My Ensign 820 ready with its shutter cocked and exposure set for Quebec’s bright summer sun, I caught two images without being noticed.

This was a difficult subject, as the wrong angle (my first image) caught distracting reflections of passing cars from the window.  My second shot, more by luck than careful planning, included only dim images of the inside of the cafe.

Processing required cropping out a modest amount of distracting detail from the periphery: the subject’s and the table’s feet at the bottom, the top of the window, and part of the window’s lettering on the left.  An increase in contrast livened the overall effect.  The

The Phonograph, Original Image

greatest challenge was bringing out the white shirt’s detail in the slightly thin negative, and darkening the few window reflections and visible inner details of the cafe.  This was accomplished in Curves by delicately lowering the  spike in the highlights section of the histogram, thus bringing out the folds in the shirt, and slightly accentuating the darker values, thus obscuring the dark reflections and dim interior details of the restaurant.  There is still a mild amount of burnout in the details of the shirt, but this is acceptable given the harsh summer sunlight.  The mid-tones were altered slightly to minimize pale distracting reflections  behind the subject’s head.

The Moods of a Subject: Lakes Road Barn, Duncan, B.C.

Posted on by

Lakes Road Barn, Duncan, B.C.

A bag of M&Ms doesn’t last me very long.  Nor does chocolate – any species, type or recipe.

Many photographic subject as are as – or more – ephemeral than my bag of candy: rainbows, fleeting smiles, glimpses of sunset on a field of lambs.  However, there are some subjects that are persistent yet changeable.  These you can, and should, sample over and over again in their many moods.

I live within four miles of this lovely, century-old barn, and drive past it almost every day.  I first photographed it one lightly overcast winter’s day as the afternoon sun brought a glow to its doors, and diffuse light from the thin cloud layer perfectly filled in the shadows.  This soft, diffuse but slightly directional light is ideal for images of old buildings, lending personality and gently accentuating structure without losing detail in shadowed areas.  The lines of the roof and boards stand in contrast to the curves of the naked branches and the coarse bark of the firewood rounds.  This was captured beautifully on XP-2 by the f/6.3 Anastigmat lens of my 1928 Kodak – naturally, on a sturdy and stable Gitzo tripod with a cable release.

The Misty Barn

One early fall morning the next year, l awoke to find delicate veils of mist shrouding the hills and dense, cottony fog filling the valleys as the first rays of the sun filtered through the trees.  Grabbing my camera bag and tripod, I shaved while I drove past farmland and vineyards.  The mist thinned as I crested the rise where the barn sat, but there was enough to veil the farm and mute the distant trees.  The mist cooled the tones of the warm morning light, and the greens and orange-browns of the leaves called out for color film.  With Kodak VC160 in my newly-purchased 1950 Voigtlander Bessa I, I was able to capture this dreamy, softly-tinted image that is totally unlike the sharp lines of the winter black and white photograph.  With the rising smoke and trailer to the right of the barn and muted field and trees to the left, I elected to back away, including more of the surroundings, then in Photoshop cropped to a wider, more panoramic format.  Despite my love of sharp definition, I resisted the temptation to crank up the contrast .  Slight corrections in Curves accentuated the mist covering the distant trees and added to the diffuse quality of the whole image.

The barn and I are not finished; I am still awaiting next winter’s first snowfall, anxiously wondering how its blanket will soften the lines of the wood and erase the contours of the grass.  Will there be tracks in the snow?  Drifts piled by the door?  Crisp winter light or moody overcast?  I can hardly wait.

Praying for Rain: The Suzallo Library and Other Rainy Cityscapes

Posted on by

Suzallo Library, Rainy Night, University of Washington (digital)

The Comanche, Navajo, Osage and Zuni danced for rain.  Ancient Romanian rainmaking rituals survive into the 21st century.  City photographers – at least those who work at night – also pray for lifegiving rain, not for their crops, but for their images.  Consider this photograph of the University of Washington’s Suzallo Library.  Ablaze with light, the door’s multifaceted image is repeated in the wet cobblestones of the pavement, and adds a whole new dimension to this dramatic entranceway.  Taken on a dry night, a later  image was lifeless.

Benches and Street Light, University of Washington (digital)

Around the corner, a pair of quiet benches forms the focal point of a study of a single street light’s reflections not only on the pavement, but also on the rain-soaked bricks of the wall and the slats of the bench.  Given enough water, almost any surface can become a reflective mirror that takes its place in the image.

The Rainy Mall, University of Washington (digital)

A mall walkway offered the most dramatic shot of the evening, with brilliant post lamps bouncing off puddles and patches of melting snow, framed by the naked branches of the mall’s cherry trees.

The Quiet Bench, University of Washingington (digital)

However, not all “wet” images need be as dramatic as this rainy mall.  In this quiet shot of a corner bench, there are no dramatic reflections from spot light sources.  Yet the rain gently accentuates every surface contour and alters colors, darkening the concrete to accentuate the sprinkling of leaves, bringing out the shape and varying colors of the brick, and catching the highlights on the bark of the single tree.  Moreover, the focal point of the image, the highlight on the back of the bench, is a direct result of the rain soaking the dull wooden surface.  This image would have had little life on a dry evening.

Van Lear Diner

Posted on by

The Diner, Hot Summer Night, Van Lear, Kentucky

 
Van Lear, Kentucky: A magical summer night in a tiny Appalachian town. The best of bluegrass from the porch of a tiny bungalow, paint peeling like shavings in a carpenter’s shop. Meeting Loretta Lynne’s family, mingling with her friends and neighbors. One main street with white clapboard houses, and a small diner tucked beneath the boxy  old Van Lear Historical Society building.

Each year, Van Lear, birthplace of Loretta Lynne, remembers the first coal train rumbling away from the tipple at Consol Mine #151 by hosting Van Lear Days, a day of parades and celebration followed by an evening of down-home bluegrass. The town, situated in the middle of the Paintsville Coal Field, is tiny, nestled in a bend of the road across Miller’s Creek. Winding our way through Kentucky’s narrow, serpentine mountain roads, we arrived to find musicians in T-shirts and jeans setting up on the porch of an old bungalow, spotlights clustered amid traffic cones and tangles of cable across dusty Main Street. Visitors and neighbors perched in lawn chairs, opening coolers stuffed with Cokes and fried chicken. Campaign posters for the local election festooned the porch, luminescent in the glare of the lights.

Bluegrass on the Porch

The music was indescribable – bluegrass played in its home and at its roots. Peggy Sue, Loretta Lynne and Crystal Gayle’s sister, sang and told stories. We met Loretta’s neighbors, and listened as they reminisced about their local girls who had made good. After, I wandered into the tiny diner (Icky’s 1950s Snack Shop) beneath the Van Lear Historical Society.

Armed only with my Canon digital point-and-shoot with its f/2.8 lens (I had no vintage cameras that year in Kentucky), I saw this tableau in front of the counter and snapped one image. The original file was underexposed and of poor quality, but careful use of the Curves function in Photoshop, together with increasing contrast and saturation combined with the “Local Contrast Enhancement” function in Astronomy Tools pulled up a quality image.

Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” always comes to mind as I view this image: with Hopper, the diners are captured through the restaurant’s window; with “Van Lear Diner”, the  tableau is frozen as they wait, the woman rummaging in her purse and the youth, clearly come from work in his ragged shirt, stretching restlessly as they endure the stifling air of the tiny diner.

Here, the fast lens and enhanced depth of field of the digital point-and-shoot wins out over a classic bellows camera, with its aperture limited by the surrounding leaf shutter mechanism. CCD chips in digital point-and-shoots are smaller than negatives, making the effective depth of field greater than any film camera’s at an equivalent f-stop. This factor can be a disadvantage when trying to blur a cluttered background, but it is an asset when depth of field is needed with the lens wide open.

References:

Nicolas. 2002. WebMuseum, Paris.  “Edward Hopper.”  http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/.

Wikipedia Article: “Edward Hopper.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hopper.

Wikipedia Article:  “Van Lear, Kentucky.”  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Lear,_Kentucky.