If It’s Red Shoot It!

Last Winter I was downtown on a cold rainy day and noticed this line of bicycles.  The repeating lines and the color were too much to ignore.   

What to do with a Blue Sky

For the longest time I have avoided shooting a subject with a clear blue sky. Oftentimes I might find it to be a beautiful day but that does not mean the clear blue sky makes an interesting photograph. My friend John Barclay changed all that. John posted a picture on his blog last year that changed my whole perspective.


When I shot this skyscraper in Baltimore at dusk a few months ago, I knew that the creative use of texture would be just what I needed to finish the picture.

It’s Just A Picture

Pictured above is the St. Nichols Coal Breaker in Mahanoy City, PA. I heard about this place last fall and was even told there were not any “No Trespassing” signs. So a couple of weeks ago on my way to Ricketts Glen I decided it was worth a slight detour to do a little site survey. For someone who enjoys photographing decrepitude it just does not get any better. But as they say, “Houston, we have a problem”. Upon my arrival I noticed brand new “No Trespassing” signs all over the property. In photographing a place like this you already take on a fair amount of risk, mostly risk of injury. I was not willing to take on the risk of criminal charges.

Upon returning home I contacted the company that owns the property to seek permission to photograph. As expected I was told the site is off limits. I have always respected the property rights of others and while I would love to photograph this wonderful place, I just can’t disregard the wishes of the property owner as well as risk legal trouble. After all, it’s just a picture.

Cape May

           

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Tony Sweet invited me up to Cape May for a weekend of shooting.  Tony showed all of us the great sites and I can easily understand why people fall in love with this little beach town.   

Click here for a small gallery.

One more from the Car-nival

I wanted to post one more panorama from my recent trip to the Cape May. One of the challenges of shooting this location was the clutter and the harsh light. Shooting most of my shots in Infrared helped solve the harsh light problem. My other challenge was trying to simplify the clutter. I’m always thinking about the composition and I do not agree with people who say they will fix it in Photoshop, but this time I was able to use some techniques in post-production that helped simplify the scene. I shot 3 panoramas on this trip. I posted the 3rd panorama a couple weeks ago on Facebook. There is a link on the side of this page if you wish to join my Facebook Page.



Lately I have been in the habit of only posting a select image here on the blog. This time I decided to post a few additional pictures from this trip.

Click here for a gallery.

The Car-nival

 

A few weeks ago my friend Tony Sweet invited me to meet him after his Cape May workshop for a unique visit to a junk yard.  Spending the weekend at the beach with a side trip to a junk yard was just too good to refuse.  What was unique about this particular junk yard was the inventory of cars from the 30’s and 40’s.  I suspect there were at least 200 cars and trucks from this bygone era.  As with most photography subjects, I think it might take multiple visits to fully explore what this location has to offer.