What seems like a several months ago now, I was in Key
West taking a well-deserved vacation. It was not a photo vacation, but I
did take some equipment because I was hoping to visit the Dry
Tortugas. There are 2 ways to get there, by boat or plane. As
I recall the boat ride takes 2 ½ hours each way, the plane was about 40
minutes. I chose the sea plane and I’m really glad I did . The ride
was fantastic! I really enjoyed shooting Fort Jefferson but wish
there was a way other than camping that would allow me to shoot there for
either sunrise or sunset.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Fabulous Tuckers
A couple of weeks ago an article came across my desk about a
collection of Tucker cars in Alexandria, Virginia. I grew up in
Alexandria and was a bit surprised that I had never heard of this
collection. After reading the article, I started making some
inquiries and was soon put in touch with David Cammack who is the owner of this
impressive collection. That’s Mr. Cammack in the picture above with car
number 1001.
For those who are unaware the Tucker was the dream of
Preston Tucker who created 51 prototype vehicles of which only 47 remain
today. The Tucker was a revolutionary automobile for its time. For
instance, the center headlight turned with the steering wheel when making more
than a 10 degree turn. Only recently have some high end vehicles added
headlights that project into turns.
If you look at my photography you might notice that I shoot
old cars whenever I get the chance. That’s because I love cars! I
have spent my entire adult life working in the automotive industry and my
interest in cars is more than skin deep. I love design and color, but I’m
just as fascinated with the technical aspects. I spent 3 hours with Mr.
Cammack ,only about half the time taking pictures. As he gave me the tour
he kept asking if I had questions, but truthfully, I had few. I was just
trying to soak up everything he was sharing and marveled at some of the unique
engineering on these vehicles.
Photographing these cars was quite a challenge. The
cars do not move and photographically speaking I was not thrilled with the
distracting backgrounds. So I decided to turn out all the lights
and shoot with flash. This offered me a way to control the light
and minimize distractions.
If you want to learn more here is the link to the TuckerClub Website.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Shooting with the iPhone
When it comes to cell phone photography there seems to be 2
types of people. You either love it or just don’t get
it. I certainly fall into the “love it” category. The
other day I was listening to an episode of The Grid on Kelby TV and heard a
quote attributed to Jay Maisel. It was something to the effect
of “if you want to be a better photographer, you have to take pictures
every day”. That might not be the exact quote, but it certainly brings
home the point I want to make. The iPhone lets me take pictures almost
every day! That is something that is just not possible with my
DSLR.
In the shot above I was driving down route 7 in Tysons
Corner and the road was detoured under the new construction for the
Metro. Traffic came to a stop and with iPhone in hand I got this shot of
the massive horizontal crane they are using to construct the above ground
sections. After capturing the picture I later finished it with an
app called Painteresque.
I often post my iPhone pictures on my Facebook PhotographyPage and my Twitter account. If you want to see what I’m shooting
be sure to follow those accounts.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Tulips Under Ice
Two weeks ago I did a post on shooting tulips in a macro
studio. After spending an hour or so working on the tulips on my
workbench, I submerged them in water and put them in the freezer
overnight. Working with flowers in a block of ice is a lot of fun,
but at the same time it can be a little limiting. The composition in ice
is set, the only variables are camera angle and lighting. Still
this is something I really enjoy doing when time permits.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)