little miss Sadi...

You know when you get that idea in your head...  You may have seen it somewhere, or if your the super-creative type, you may have imagined it yourself.  To me, one of the hardest things is to take this idea and make it a reality.  Especially in photography...  I love taking pictures, but I sometimes just can't get "that pose" that is trapped inside my head to come out in front of my camera.  I always blame the person in front of the camera, because the guy behind the camera knows exactly what this person should be doing.  Today was just another example of this...  Poor Sadi was the person in front of the camera.  I had this idea, but I was having trouble getting it across to her.  After a few tries, I was even starting to doubt that the idea was even really that good in the first place.  Well, today, persistence ruled in my house...  I wanted a picture that seemed extremely personal, in Sherri's words "it had to be vintagey", it had to have a bit of innocence coming through, it also should be one where she had to look comfortable (ie. natural) but stretch/lean forward as much as possible (ie. be very uncomfortable).  Oh yeah, I also wanted her to smile.  For those that know Sadi, she doesn't like to do this in pictures.  I think that I nailed it.  I love this picture of "little miss Sadi".

getting a handle on my photography...

Took these picture downtown Greenville.  Was needing pictures of architecture to enter in a photo contest.  What I found out was that I am not very interested in taking pictures of buildings, but when you break the building down into small bits, it starts to get fun.  Both of these doors had character around the handles. Modified the first one in Silver Efex Pro and the second one in Color Efex Pro.  Angled the shot and the camera to minimize reflections of myself in the windows and to get more of the interesting parts of the door in the shot using the diagonal.

park closed...

Took this picture on my way back from Salvation Mountain almost a year ago.  Going to this mountain in the desert became an obsession.  After reading so much about Leonard Knight and using things about him in several Sunday School lessons, I felt like I had to meet him.  I knew one thing for sure; he wasn't getting any younger (he was in his 70s) and every year that I waited was going to make it less likely that I would get to meet him.  Meeting him was definitely everything that I had expected.  It opened my eyes to see someone that supposedly "gave up everything" for God, yet was so incredibly happy with "nothing" but God and his purpose that God put him here to complete.  You can see details on my experience at this blog post.  The pictures of the visit are in a separate post following the text.  

This picture was taken along the Salton Sea.  There were many beaches/parks all along the eastern banks of this sea.  Because I was by myself, I stopped at almost every one of them.  I took several pictures, but didn't post any because, in a way, they are depressing.  Here is a National Geographic story on the Salton Sea.  There was also a documentary about the place.  In all of my stops, I didn't once have to fight for a parking place and I never had to pay for parking.  That is a far cry from my latest visit to Southern California this past August.  The bad part about this was the beaches and parks were ALL closed.  The area that once had great potential was now essentially dead.  This picture definitely gives you that feeling of desolation or lack of life.  In the horizon, you can see the fog that is floating on top of the Salton Sea and the clouds add to the mood. 


The story behind this picture definitely makes me reflect on my life.  God has given me so much potential...  I have been given so many opportunities...  It seems through all of the "stuff" that I have experienced, God has prepared me for something.  There is so much that I can do, if only I am willing...  The question is:  "am I at a point where I am ready for the opportunities that God has for me or am I essentially "closed" like the picture says?"   

can somebody give me a hand with this...

Here is a photo of Tyler and Maci's hands.  Always looking for something new to stretch my picture-taking abilities.  Taking pictures of people is easy, because the expressions set the mood or the make the picture interesting.  Taking pictures of landscapes or architecture gives you a chance to convey the beauty or majesty of something.  But hands...  How much can you portray with hands? Plus, it is awkward taking pictures of people's hands.  We laughed because they kept getting cramps in their arms and fingers from the "hand poses".  

I looked through the images afterwards and this one was "hands down" the best image.  I converted it to black and white using the NIK Silver Efex Pro.  After all of this, I would have to say that I do believe there is a mood to the picture.  The black and white with a dark contrast gives the picture a mysterious tone.  And the placement of the hands (after 10-12 tries) seems to leave you expecting movement.  Seems as if I may be over analyzing the hands...

listen to the music...

Met this guy at a music store in downtown Memphis, TN on Beale Street.  The name of the store was "Memphis Music".  The main reason that I went into the store was they had tons of old photos along the walls.  Very interesting history in this store (both the music and the pictures).  Stopped on the way out to talk with this gentleman.  He was part of the family of one of the owners.  He had been dancing around the store conversing with all of the customers.  He "posed" for a picture in front of the store and then I was on my way.  Alot of character in this picture...

manequins...

Another window shot from a previous night out in downtown Dallas.  The picture is interesting because of the realism of the women.  The anchors for the "tie downs" kinda give it away to reveal that they are actually manequins.  This was taken after dark, but the lighting in the store window was enough to make it look like daytime, hence the women were wearing sunglasses.  Took the photo with the Olympus E-P2 camera and converted to a sepia/black and white using Aperture.  

338 somewhere, memphis tennessee...

Another picture from Memphis.  Along with people photos, I wanted to get some pictures of the buildings in the area.  This one was interesting because of the single post in front.  I say it is a single post because if there was another, it was not interesting enough to include in the picture.  I also like the reflections of the buildings that were across the street and the fact that you can read the text that identifies it as "the memphis college of art".  Notice there is minimal distortion in the vertical lines of the picture even though I was fairly close to the building (this speaks very well of the Zeiss 35mm lense).  It is hard to go to a city one time and somehow capture the essence or mood of the city and its people or buildings.  I already feel like I could do better if I go to Memphis again.  I look forward to the opportunity...

a side of Sadi...

Took this one when we were leaving Stratton's baseball game.  Sadi was busy texting and unwillingly helped me make this shot...  Sadi is showing her talent in being able to walk and text at the same time!  Even though the background is busy, it doesn't really distract from the image because it is out of focus.  I love these non-posed type images!

Uncle Tom and Aunt Rachael...

A couple of weeks ago, we got to spend some time with Sherri's Uncle Tom and Aunt Rachael over in Grand Prarie.  We got to sit around and hear Tom wow us with his stories.  A fun time listening to him...  Rachael always has encouraging words that leaves us all inspired.  Look forward to more times in the future.  I couldn't let the opportunity pass without a picture to capture this "moment in time".  Had my Canon and Leica cameras with me but I used the Leica M8 for this one.  There was a lot of separation between them and the background so I knew the out of focus area would make them both really stand out.  Converted it to black and white to add character to the picture...

they call him Joe...

My first opportunity to take the Leica camera in a street setting amongst total strangers.  Memphis, TN seemed like a great opportunity...  I am absolutely fascinated by street photography, but definitely terrified of approaching people myself and knowingly taking a picture.  I see myself being the guy walking down the street taking pictures from his waist hoping that nobody notices.  This also has it's own set of challenges, focus and aim being the main ones.  Well I passed this guy several times and finally stopped to talk, trying to lead into the question "do you mind if I take your picture".  Joe was his name (so he told me), and he had worked on this corner at this restaurant for over 9 years.  He definitely was more approachable than his appearance might lead you to believe.  He was also overly receptive to "just talking" and even better when it came to the picture.  In retrospect, I think the camera around my neck probably let him know what I wanted even before I asked the question...  Took several more pictures around Memphis and of course every one has a story.  Hope to post them later.