2012 Thanks

I don't have access to my computer so I haven't been able to upload any images lately. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who had been following my blog this year and over the years. I haven't posted as much this year as I have in the past. Hopefully I will be posting more in 2013..To more great images in 2013!

Cumberland Island Part 3

This place was full of old buildings that have been there since the mid 1850's each of them with their own character. These 2 buildings were the most minimalistic of the ones I saw. Its always hard photographing buildings and trying to make them more interesting. Standing a bit further and have the tree in the foreground gives them context to there surrounding environment. I also liked how the diagonal shadows break up the square shape of the buildings. 

Cumberland Island Part 2

Continuing on from my previous post about my visit to Cumberland Island. There was so much to see and photograph there. I feel that this image captures the essence of this place showing you the depth of the place. In the far distance you see ruins of an old mansion that burned down many years ago. The palm tree in the middle of the frame is what draw me to making this image. You can really feel the isolation of being on an island and having that centered composition brings that really home.... 

Cumberland Island

Its been awhile since I've last posted. I've been on the road a lot the past couple of months mostly for work. In one of the more usual places I've been, Cumberland Island used to be inhibited by the Carnegie family years back..I won't go into the whole history of this place you can google that. Its off the coast of Georgia a 40 min ferry ride from a town called St. Mary's. You get 5 hours or so to wonder as you wish. There was just so much to take in without any prior thoughts what I would photograph I photographed as I normally things that capture my eye. The way the light was falling onto subjects was really interesting and how it was highlighting and darkening of certain things in the landscape which made for this push pull relationship that made for a very dynamic scene. What is also revealed are all these layers of abstract shapes. The depth of the shadows and the little splashes of color just add these nice little touches to the image. I've got some images from the island to share in the near future...so stay tuned. 

Layers

Its been awhile since I last posted an image. Creativity and inspiration has been hard to muster these days. Once I get in a funk I look for anything that might break me out of it. These things just take time for them get sorted out. People these days just want this type of stuff just to happen over night. Creativity inspiration just take time sorry to break the news to you. You just can't have things now! I've done a few road trips of late because of work and I have been trying to take advantage of picture making opps in hopes of being able to break out of it. Nashville is on my radar screen in the not to distant future so stay tuned for hopefully a bunch of new images...This image came from a trip to the Iowa State Fair in which I made a few stops along the way. These types of things appeal to me where you can see layers revealing some history of this location and what once was and is not there anymore....

Gornji Milanovac, Serbia 2012

Its been a while since I've posted an image. Since I got back from a 2.5 week trip to Serbia to visit family, relax, and photograph its taken sometime to go though 10 rolls of film scan and edit down to the images I liked. This is an outtake image that didn't make the cut, but certainly could have had it been maybe a different or I might take one out of the edit and put this one in instead I don't know....This is from my mom's hometown where I spent most of my time and on this day we went into town because of a street fair that was going on. I specifically stood where I did to make this image because I wanted the church cross to intersect the light pole somewhat in the middle  I just didn't want the light pole to cover up the cross. This composition helps draw your eyes from the foreground to all the way in the background....If you would like to see the full set of Serbia images go to my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/35photo/sets/72157630290340736/

Maid-Rite Guys

One Sunday a few months back I went on a small little day road trip with a friend of mine to some towns about an hour south of Chicago along the Kankakee River. Its an area I've never been to so that was really appealing to me. This image was made in a random town that we ran into I believe it was called Momence, IL. I would say it was your typical small town business area, one real main area with a few storefronts. I seem gravitate toward photographing storefronts maybe because of all the stories that came be found in them. This storefront was no different, a few things drew me to make this image one was the light that was later afternoon type going though that store window..The light brought out that dusty rustic feel and the warm color just created a nice atmosphere. History was another thing that drew me to making the image. It seems like this town values history and it shows my creating this memorial like scene of a previous business that used to be there for all to see...

People

People, a set on Flickr.

Some recent portraits I've done...

Joan

So its winter time granted a really mild one in Chicago this year, but I tend to like to photograph more in the spring-fall months. Usually in the winter I try to do more indoors work which is hard because I don't do much indoor stuff its a challenge. Doing portraits is the perfect thing to do inside and can always use the practice since I don't do them too often...Its ironic that Joan who used to photograph myself and my family years back and here I am photographing her years later. She has always encouraged me to keep shooting when she knew I was a serious photographer...Enough though our styles were different her doing portraits mostly and I shied away from portraits early on. Over the years I've gotten more comfortable with the idea of doing portraits and have figured out ways of working them in. The thing I want out of portraits is that I want people that I photograph to be "real" or natural if you will which is harder than you might think to get. I think people are really afraid because the camera doesn't lie and your baring it all... Its still a work in progress no doubt....This was totally an impromptu shoot I was over at her place to show her some of my recent work. Of course I had a camera with me so I made a few images of her. This is one of few made I have another one posted on my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35photo/6932289119/in/photostream         

I hope she likes the progress I've made with doing portraits...

Bonfire

I've been working on this "Of The NIght" series slowly but steadily for over a year or so now. B&W night images are really interesting to me because of that glow from maybe one light source and multiple sources that creates a dramatic atmospheric feel. Hand holding exposures  @ 1/4 sec at f1.4 not an easy task, I do my best. I don't mind the sometimes soft feel in this series which adds to the whole image. In the case of this image here I don't mind the softness at all. Last summer I was at a backyard party with some friends of mine and we were just hanging out conversing having a few drinks.  It was a bit of an awkward night for me I didn't know many people. So later on in the night when the conversations died down I was just sitting back and observing. I'm always observing looking for that one moment that speaks to me. This image was one of those moments that I resonated with me. The guy sitting in from of the bonfire by himself just starring into that fire his face a glow sitting really awkwardly while you have this girl in the lower right hand side in engaged in conversation and the empty chair in the mid ground on the light side. All there elements work together to create this awkward dynamic tension....

The Beach

I know this blog is about my personal photography, but I have been dabbling with video over the last couple of years. Over the years the beach has become a subject that I have come back to to photograph...I've been playing around with video for a while now trying to figure out how to use it in a creative way. Once I shoot all this video how was I going to edit it. I wanted to keep it simple just use the existing sound and just go from one clip to the next trying to find a flow and dynamics Shooting video is a different animal than still photography in that with still photograph your looking for that one frame to say something with and with video your using thousands of moving frames put together that says something plus you have audio which adds another dimension still photography doesn't have.. So shooting video is still a work in progress and I'm sure I'll be shooting some more in the coming year...I shot pretty much all the footage on the beaches of Evanston, IL during the summer of 2011 originally for a exhibition which didn't happen. So I''m posting it for all to watch....Best if watched in full screen at 1080 resolution.