by Gary Gardiner | May 16, 2013
Strong side lighting and odd composition for My Final Photo for May 16, 2013
Seven photos from today’s photo trek are categorized by the strong compositional emphasis of light.
A common element for many feature photos is the wait. find a spot where you think a photo will happen in the near future, stand in the right spot, and wait. I did and was rewarded with a smoker taking a break from Old Bag of Nails.
I began collecting the photos I’d hoped for.
First was the one above with the strong side lighting and lengthy shadows. I’d hoped he would move a little to his right placing him inside the triangle of shadows and sidewalk. but he never did.
Strong lighting in afternoon light
Next I moved closer and put the sun at my back for the photo at right.
There is also an iPhone Hipstamatic Tintype version at iPhoneography.us.
There is an earlier attempt but I never got past the iPhone phase as she kept moving limiting my attempts to one frame with the iPhone.
There is a third photo I liked but it is from a different spot. Late in the evening while the sun is still high in the sky to hit the building along the east side of State Street, several shafts of light reflected by the windows on the second and third floors of Old Bag of Nails fall on the sidewalk across the street. I’ve tried several times to shoot someone in this light but distracting backgrounds and the angle of the light makes it difficult.
iPhone portrait in reflected light
After stealing a couple away from shopping at Cinda Lou’s I positioned them in one of the light beams for another attempt. Shooting with the DSLR was again a failure, especially when your subject has only a few moments, the light is constantly changing position and location, and the first idea isn’t really working.
There is a time limit for shooting strangers. Each one is different. There’s no formula. Usually it is about a minute unless you can begin a lengthy dialogue that holds their attention and lengthens their stay.
I kept them just past the point where it became awkward. just long enough to grab the iPhone for a Hipstamatic Tintype portrait.
by Gary Gardiner | May 16, 2013
Strong side lighting and odd composition for My Final Photo for May 16, 2013
Seven photos from today’s photo trek are categorized by the strong compositional emphasis of light.
A common element for many feature photos is the wait. find a spot where you think a photo will happen in the near future, stand in the right spot, and wait. I did and was rewarded with a smoker taking a break from Old Bag of Nails.
I began collecting the photos I’d hoped for.
First was the one above with the strong side lighting and lengthy shadows. I’d hoped he would move a little to his right placing him inside the triangle of shadows and sidewalk. but he never did.
Strong lighting in afternoon light
Next I moved closer and put the sun at my back for the photo at right.
There is also an iPhone Hipstamatic Tintype version at iPhoneography.us.
There is an earlier attempt but I never got past the iPhone phase as she kept moving limiting my attempts to one frame with the iPhone.
There is a third photo I liked but it is from a different spot. Late in the evening while the sun is still high in the sky to hit the building along the east side of State Street, several shafts of light reflected by the windows on the second and third floors of Old Bag of Nails fall on the sidewalk across the street. I’ve tried several times to shoot someone in this light but distracting backgrounds and the angle of the light makes it difficult.
iPhone portrait in reflected light
After stealing a couple away from shopping at Cinda Lou’s I positioned them in one of the light beams for another attempt. Shooting with the DSLR was again a failure, especially when your subject has only a few moments, the light is constantly changing position and location, and the first idea isn’t really working.
There is a time limit for shooting strangers. Each one is different. There’s no formula. Usually it is about a minute unless you can begin a lengthy dialogue that holds their attention and lengthens their stay.
I kept them just past the point where it became awkward. just long enough to grab the iPhone for a Hipstamatic Tintype portrait.
by Gary Gardiner | May 15, 2013
Utility worker taking a break
is My Final Photo for May 15, 2013
Spent most of my morning monitoring utility work in and near the easement at the rear of my small plot of Westerville.
The city is upgrading underground power lines and as luck would have it a main transformer box sits at the corner of my much less than an acre piece of the city.
Several years ago the city moved power from overhead poles to an underground network that is insufficient to handle the current load and requires upgrade and redesign. I know it’s not up to what is required as our section of the grid fails many times during the year. Our normally quite cul-de-sac gets even more quiet with air conditioners silent. The neighbors behind me are on a different circuit and remain bright and cheerful. Our corner of the J-shaped grid goes dark throwing about 25 homes into a world where flashlights and candles light the night and neighbors stand in the street pondering what happened, why again, and when things will return to normal.
I’ve stopped reminding everyone of the 1960 “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” Twilight Zone where a neighborhood if thrown into darkness as an alien experiment in human behavior.
Our street has a dynamic set of families and home owners.
Young couples with toddlers, single mother, families with multiple grandchildren, divorcees, homes shared with adult children and their children, a family from the Arab Mideast, creatives, blue-collar workers, nurses and teachers, and owners that quietly keep to themselves with pulled shades, closed garage doors, and labored conversation. Previous neighbors include a mix-race couple, a single male who is rumored to have been the first love of a neighbor’s oldest, a family with a developmentally disabled child, families with “perfect” children, and families with arrest records.
The annual July 4 Rib Cook-Off and cornhole tournament draws nearly 100 from extended families, friends, and college mates. There’s even have a parade down the short street.
Few people sit in their back yards. Most have benches and chairs in front so they can see and talk with one another. An unknown car and driver are scrutinized yet pickers are eagerly greeted the night before Rumpke arrives.
We watch out for each other’s kids. We constantly harass the Pittsburgh sports nut who displays his favorite town’s most current sport’s flags and defends every loss and openly celebrates the victories.
There’s not a problem as father and son temporarily close the street to practice lacrosse tosses.
Everyone warmly greets returning soldiers with the exuberance of patriotism although most have never been in the military.
Births, deaths, graduations, police cars, new cars, and over-productive gardens become a shared experience among the 15 homes on my street.
It’s a great street on which to live. The diversity is complex, exciting, and at times confusing. There are touches of the fear and anger that might emerge in a Rod Serling story. As an observer I’m get excited to live in and witness this neighborhood.
It’s probably a lot like yours.
by Gary Gardiner | May 14, 2013
Blendon Township Community Garden – My Final Photo May 14, 2013
It’s that time of the year where the community garden at Blendon Township begins to take shape as the gardeners till, row, prepare, and plant their small plots for what they hope will be a great harvest of fresh vegetables.
There was a time where the fields adjacent to the cemetery were off limits out of respect for the dead. My son and I were once angrily tossed out when we started fielding practice almost in the same spot that is now home to a community feeding their needs with produce and a sense of community involvement.
When we were told to leave I thought to myself that a father and son playing baseball in an open field next to the cemetery would be looked upon by the neighbors as a joyous expression of the celebration of life, not disrespect for the dead.
I’ve always been a fan of Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town” and its exposition of our lives. I love the third act and its intention to demonstrate how most people don’t understand the value of the simple commonplace events that create the tapestry of their lives.
I thought about the third act as we left the field trying to remember the exact line when the stage manager responds after he is asked if anyone realizes how important life is.
“No. The saints and poets, maybe – they do some.”
There must be saints and poets working today at Blendon Township.
Note: “Our Town,” the movie, is on Netflix.
by Gary Gardiner | May 13, 2013
Prepping for surgery at the hospital is My Final Photo for May 13, 2013
One of the great things about having a photographer as a father or grandfather is you can always ask him to shoot you a new portrait for Facebook like Abigail did yesterday.
One of the bad things about having a news photographer as a father or grandfather is he always has his camera and shoots almost everything around him as you can see above.
My daughter explained to the doctors and nurses that I am a photographer, I shoot everything, she was used to it and they should just ignore me.
It was great.
