Best of the Bridge

Confounded by power lines, etc.  I decided that this was the best view of the Bridge.

Compare to Friday.

Saturdays Online: Exploring Sepia

We often see Sepia toned portraits, but let's explore  the Sepia Landscape and the Early Photographers in the American West did.  Isn't the photo above a little more interesting than the original below?

But those old Sepia Portraits are Nice too:

 Alice Howell (cousin) 1920's.

Views from Beneath the Bridge

Not Just Trash

Along the South Platte River, Denver Commons Park

Denver After Dark

Posting a bit late today.  So let's start with a night scene from Denver Commons Park:

Saturdays Online: The Importance of Selfie!

Yes they are annoying.  But I a recent blog article I read by Kim Ence, encourages us to Selfie and explains the importance of the candid family and friends photo.  So we aren't talking about that self-absorbed "This is me" at some event or special location, we are saying :  "photogaphers need to step in front of the camera from time to time".  Let someone else take that family photo and let us see who you are!

Selfie's can also be artsy if you work at it a little bit.

Arches Sunset

We say goodbye for now to Arches and Moab.  I will return in a few weeks with comparisons of film scans vs. prints.  Next Week we'll move on to a new subject.

Arches Color Crops

Only shot 2 rolls of color film.  Sunsets our last day in Moab.  I like this one the best:

I doubt if few people at Balanced Rock ever focus on the other rocks in the view finder.  But I like this perspective.  This also works, isolating the group of rocks:

See original full frame below:

Saturdays Online: Yes I Do Have Digital Projects

Lest you begin to feel after the past two weeks enties that I never would use Digital for anything.  I can admit to two digital 'projects':

First, Explorations with my phone camera:

 Dali Museum, St Petersburg, FL

Because it means that most of us always have a camera with us.  One of my photo groups here sponsors a phone camera workshop from time to time.  So next time it's offered I will try it. 

Second, I have been spectacularly unsuccessful at infrared film photography.  I still have one more roll in the freezer, and I'll eventually do something with it.

But by the end of the year we will have converted Donald's old Nikon D-40 to a Full Spectrum Camera.  You can also just have an infrared conversion.  The advantage of Full Spectrum being that you are not limited to infrared, and can select the spectra to work.

So that is my pro-digital take..........Of course, regardless of your camera choice, if you don't make a print, it's still not really a photograph!  So Print It!

Perhaps Another Shot at Cropping Options?

Full Scene or Cropped?  What would you do here?

Cropping Options: Part II

Yet another view of the original scene:

Crop #1

Crop #2

For me this is a tie.  Both versions have something to offer.  But why just flip it.  How about a side view:

Saturdays Online: Can't Stop Shooting Film

Often when I participate in Photography Workshops, someone has to ask why I shoot film.  I get tired of the question, mostly because what anyone of us does or doesn't do is an "Artistic Choice" and we should not be asked to justify what pleases us aesthetically.

So I'm not on a rant, but here is my short list:

• I like working in the dark room (its not a photograph until you print it!).
• I like film cameras, and am a collector (if you've got it, use it).
• Because of the survivability of real Print Images, I was able to make a wonderful photo book for my Mother's 90th Birthday.  This only applies to real photographic paper, not your ink jet image.  Also B&W survives better than color.
• I work on spectacular digital imagery as a satellite image analyst.  I do not care to spend my free time (aside from blogging) tied to Photoshop and my computer.  Nothing can compare to the 'photography' I work with professionally from "my employer's digital camera" 500 +km in Earth orbit.
• Also Read about our Blogger Friend Aubrey's recent experience with digital rot.

Please view this video from Amrit Vatsa.  It answers all the questions you've ever had regarding why some of us love film.  It's not a bother its a pleasure.  He makes an elegant comparison to painting.  Did we stop painting just because it's an old analog format?  Or is there actual pleasure in creating something with your hands that you will eventually be able to hold in your hands?  And how old are those paintings in the Egyptian Tombs?


And search through that old box of photographs and negatives that you found in your grand parent's attic.  Who knows what you might find?

Even this un-restored photo of myself, Mom, brother Kevin and our Dog Tessie brings back such vivid memories of the summer of 1965:

 

It's just soooo 1960's.

Cropped A Bit Differently

I think I prefer this view with bit a it trimmed off.

Cropping Options: Part I

Hmmm,

No one commented on which way is up, so I'm not going to tell you.  But let's explore some cropping options anyway:

Crop #1

Crop #2

I think I prefer #1.  What's your Choice?  And can you tell what this is actually an image of?

Which Way is UP, or Does it Matter?

Which Way is Up?  And do you have to print/frame and image in the same orientation that you captured it in?

View #1:

View #2

And is there anything magical about printing full frame?  I know that the objective is to 'crop in the camera' as much as possible.  But sometimes you know that there is something that you want to capture in a scene, but you may not know how you want the final print to look.

We'll spend the week exploring some different cropping options...........And we need to decide which way is up?