I’m entering a couple of photos for the Life Images magazine from Somerset. This is a nice photo journal style publication with inspiring photos and text, with image capture information. Submission dates are September 15th, December 15th, March 15th, and June 15th, the link is: http://www.stampington.com/html/wanna_get_published.html#lifeimages It was my wife Dorian who first brought me a copy of this magazine. She is a “Stamper” among many other things crafty and Somerset is the main publishing house for these types of magazines. So I will be very thrilled if I could make my way into this publication.
I made 4 submissions, each a photograph(s) and then some accompanying text. It was fun writing the text, but I tend to get corny about things and hope that this doesn’t show too much. It’s revealing to write about a photo, just as it is revealing to keep a journal (or a blog). All sorts of things reveal themselves when you start to write. Those thoughts and connected emotions just start to sneak out. Usually when I have an image I like, I post it and work on it in Photoshop, maybe I’ll print it and that’s it. But to write about it…that adds another dimension to the meaning of an image, at least what it means to you. It’s a great exercise and I plan on doing more “photo journaling.”
Here are the submissions (some you have seen before) and the accompanying text. Please, no smirks.
Silent Performance Cooper River Bridge, Charleston SC
As I approached the top of the bridge I could feel the power of the structure as it supported its own weight above the water which flowed below and the traffic which flowed across. The beauty of each essential element working in harmony reminded me of a musical instrument, tuned to deliver a precise function. The sounds of the traffic, the wind, and the water below were rhythmic, while the bridge stood silent in its performance.
Three Lotus Leaves Jardin Bontanique de Montréal, Montréal QC
Graphic, Simple, Revealing. Life should be as such.
Still Lifes from the Past Wing Lee Yuen Truck Farm, Jacksonville FL
As long as I can remember we visited the family farm once a month. It was a long drive across town, down a dirt road, to four brick houses situated in the middle of nowhere, a bit of civilization in what seemed to be fields that went on forever. Now those days are long past, the houses recently abandoned, and the last of the land up for sale to make way for warehouses.
As a drove up to the farm on a hot August morning the fog was covering the roads and fields. My Uncle Chan was leaving for an early errand and I was left on the property, completely alone, with my camera and a lifetime of memories. I had not returned here since my father died 14 years ago but nothing had changed.
As I walked around the big barn I began to see and notice what I had never realized in all my times here. The smells, the sounds, and the nostalgic feelings were all there, but the details of hundreds of still lifes unfolded around me. Each square foot of the barn was filled with actions frozen in time. A hammer left on a tiller, gloves on a spool of wire, a chain hanging from the rafters used to pull an engine, ropes and wires hanging on nails, the scale which weighed out countless boxes of Chinese produce which at one time were shipped out as far as Michigan and New York. All of these scenes were frozen in time, the dust settled over them, but the life in their arrangements only temporarily arrested.
I knew that it was my time to record these moments with my camera, for in a matter of weeks all of this would be gone, destroyed, and never to appear again. As an animal or plant goes into extinction, so too do these articles of a past time and life. My record would be the only one for the future should anyone want to know what it was like in the barn of the Wing Lee Yuen Truck Farm.
Autumn Start Parc National du Mont-Saint-Bruno, Montréal QC
The beginnings of autumn are often missed as we normally reserve time only for the peak show of color. It is the transition between seasons that often brings us interesting observations and contrasts. The subtle hint of things to come reminds us of our own changing nature and the brilliance that can unfold from within.
I managed to get a few shots inside. The camera performed admirably at ISO 1600. By the time we finished it was 11:30 and the sun was high and really lighting up the coral concrete structure. So we will need to do some shadow/highlight recovery on the overall shots from the walk.
I guess photographers need to be flexible. My employer needed some large fabric samples photographed so that they can be used to display on products for viewing on the web. We had 54 samples that arrived in a big box and we had to provide hi-res images at a constant scale. The sample sizes ranges from 24 - 40in in various shapes. After a lot of experimentation, we finally decided it would be easier to mount each sample (after it was ironed) on a 24x36 piece of illustration board with binder clips, position this at a standard location in front of my camera setup. We used two Speedlights for illumination. It ended up taking us a lot longer than planned (don't these things always turn out that way?), but we learned a few good lessons from the experience.
1) don't do these kind of projects unless you can charge by the sample (at least $50 each). Remember this is photography, and after the shoot requires post processing, color balance, sharpening, etc.
2) lighting is critical. It's difficult to get constant/flat illumination from 2 Speedlights, even on the small samples. We managed to pull it off because the lighting was not that critical on most of the samples.
3) to check to see the light falloff, shoot a BLACK background. You will be able to see exactly the light pattern, the hot spots and how the light falls off. This wasn't apparent to me until I shot a dark sample and noticed the gradient, then the black board told all.
Yesterday we attended a beautiful wedding service for Dorian's best friend. It was held at Amelia Island on the beach and it was just the perfect setup. Now when you get invited to these things you always wonder, do I bring all my camera gear or is this a job for the G7? Sometimes you want to be able to just enjoy the event, without have to schlunck around 30 lbs worth of gear. I wasn't the official photographer but Dorian told it it would be "nice" if I could take some pictures. Ok, exactly what does that mean, do I take my stuff or not...take your stuff.
We arrive early and it is a perfect cloudy day, soft breeze, and the "real" photographer must have loved it. I was trying to find the best strategic place to sit since I knew I was not going to be wandering around during the ceremony. We found a good spot, 2nd row and I plopped my stuff down. As all the people started coming in and filling up the seats one of the sons came over and asked us to move because there would be some relatives taking the second row. Geesh, no more seats left, glad I came early. So we relocated and I chose to move one row back but towards the far end. As the time approached we could see the wedding party approaching and everyone got up. There goes the view, shooting through 15 layers of bodies just doesn't work.
