“Increasing focus
Telescoping lines and forms
The tiny details
Come home come home come home.”
Yes, it’s been a while. Everything from this post is still true, with the addition of twenty-six weeks of not really shooting. So here’s some geometry.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX
Another from the “abandoned quarry,” which is apparently not at all abandoned.
Films aren’t “filmed,” they’re “photographed.” Early filmmakers drew heavily from the work of early photographers (particularly in the area of very careful composition, as any of the Lumiere brothers’ films will show you). I think some of my work is heavily infuenced by my favorite American films of the 1970s (Taxi Driver, The Warriors), particularly in their warm color tones and their persistent examination of the aesthetic decay of the American metropolis (typically, and in both of those cases, New York). When I watch a good film, I find myself constantly noticing things I could try to recreate or reinterpret in a photograph (and my criteria for what makes a “good” film have a lot to do with its aesthetic merits). To me, this instantly recalls the supersaturated tones and visual metaphor of Rear Window, though that film is neither urban nor from the 1970s.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8.
At least that’s how it looks to me.
I went out shooting with another photographer friend tonight, and we had plans to work our way into a freight yard to get some pictures of abandoned, decaying, or otherwise interesting trains and their accessories. Unfortunately, security was tight, so we found what appeared to be an abandoned quarry of some sort across the street. Fading light is always my favorite, but it’s a serious technical challenge for a photographer using a camera body that is mostly useless above ISO 640 and who left all three of his tripods in his apartment. The 35mm f/1.8’s huge maximum aperture was really the only thing I had going for me, but I did get a few shots I like that were free of motion blur. More from this shoot will be coming.
While I do love shooting with fast primes, I missed having a wide angle tonight. Perhaps an ultrawide is in my future?
Nikon D200, DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 G wide open (not too soft, eh?).
Sometimes art is chaos.
I guess this is the beginning of my catching up from the holidays. I was lucky enough to be in Chicago for the first time on New Year’s Eve, and what a city. We stopped in at the Art Institute of Chicago, which happened to be free for the afternoon. As nice as it was not to have to pay admission, the downside was that every exhibit was chaos. I quickly gave up on trying to take interesting pictures of interesting art, and decided it might be fun in the spirit of the place to try to represent my experience there. What followed was a series of long shutter shots in an attempt ot capture the chaos of the place. This is one of my favorites, but there is at least one more I really like.
This picture brings me to one of my favorite photography soapboxes: Photography doesn’t have to be still. At some point along the way. someone decided that images created by the photographic process needed to represent an infinitesimally small portions of time. While this is useful for most photographic situations, I firmly believe that photographers who never explore the possibilities of motion are missing out.
Those who have followed the blog might notice something new in the info below.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1.0s exposure.
Too many hobbies, too little time.
This bike is done, and it’s gorgeous (this picture is from the day I brought the frame home, which was probably four weeks ago. I finished building it about two weeks ago). Building it and riding it are two of the many things I’ve been doing instead of photography. I got back home Wednesday from a six day backpacking trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway area of western North Carolina (unfortunately, we were blown off Mt. Mitchell by a hailstorm, but nearby Linville Gorge is incredibly beautiful and has some of the most technical trails I’ve ever hiked), and spent that week surrounded by people who are enthusiastic about photography. This made me want to get back to shooting. Hopefully I will.
Apparently I’ve missed a few things since I’ve been, well, doing other things. I’m a bit of a gear nerd, and I’m working on catching up on the things I’ve missed. Most notable so far:
-Pentax’s K-x, which I can find precious little information about but has an impressive buzz (good for Pentax)
-Pentax’s K-7, which doesn’t seem that impressive to me (come on, Pentax, I thought a K#D would be a professional model, not a K20D with the zero dropped)
-Nikon’s D300s, which means my body of choice is now 1 1/2 iterations out of date
-Canon’s 7D, which is yet another violation of the number-of-digits-before-the-D-connotes-the-level rule (definitely not worth converting over)
I’m sure there’s plenty more that I’ve missed (unfortunately, this does not seem to include a $50 35mm f/1.2 Nikkor or a $75 10-20mm f/2.8, though I am still looking), but I’ll catch up eventually. For now, I need to start shooting again (and to get a Nikon lens that will go wider than 50mm. Or longer).
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D, ancient Minolta strobe somewhere off camera.
This is some sort of large machine.
Doing a little work for a racing team, and came up with this for their newsletter. I like it a lot, but I think it’s much too dramatic for the purpose it was meant to serve. Could a brooding black and white really work on a white and navy newsletter? I’m going to try, but I’m not holding out much hope.
Nikon D200, Nikon 50mm f/1.8, Minolta strobe triggered by remote.
This is one of the many places I’ve been instead of here.
Starting to combine my interests in music and photography.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, Minolta strobe triggered remotely bounced off the ceiling.
It isn’t often that I add a new category to my “categories.”
One of my goals (and the way I’m justifying the expense of digital gear) for this year is to become a confident portrait photographer. I don’t need to be Zack Arias (whose work is fantastic), but I want to feel like I know what I’m doing. Fortunately, I have roommates to drag to my bedroom-turned-studio for impromptu self-education sessions. I am fairly happy with the light here considering my constraints (one undiffused light, limited space and backdrop options), and I know where I need to work. More of these may appear from time to time.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, strobe that was free.
Filed under Black and White, Digital, Portrait
New equipment doesn’t provide new things to shoot at.
The sign on the door:
“KEEWAYDIN COMPUTERS and KEEWAYDIN AQUATICS We are undergoing an upgrade in our facilities and cannot operate our business here temporarily. Please call 237-5560 for further information. Deliveries remain here as usual.”
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 (which really is a razor at f/4).
Filed under Black and White, Digital, Street Photography
Around and around and around again.
I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
The exciting news is not that the camera body got here today (which was expected), but that the lens and CompactFlash card arrived a full four days earlier than UPS predicted. That was definitely a nice Friday surprise.
Nikon D200, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, off-camera flash (“Promatic FT700”) medium-high right with printer-paper-and-electrical tape barndoor assembly triggered optically with the onboard flash.
Anthony Hemming's Photography 
