by Gary Gardiner | May 18, 2013
Mother and son at docks on Hoover Reservoir is My Final Photo for May 17, 2013
Today’s photo is slightly different than most I select for My Final Photo. At least it has a different treatment.
The scene is relatively ordinary. A mother helps her family lead their boat onto the trailer at a loading dock at Hoover Reservoir.
The unusual aspect is the brightly painted aluminum 1958 Starcraft with a 1959 Johnson 7-½ Sea Horse motor. The family has owned it for several summers but often have taken to the serene waters of Hoover in a pontoon boat.
As their son get older the pleasure of a water outing is more often towards the Starcraft. Even with the lowered engine limits on the lake, the family enjoys the speed and maneuverability of this boat.
This was the boat and motor of my youth. My father, a World War II veteran who revered life after war, built two houses. on Lake Hutchinson in central Florida. The first was nothing more than a foundation, concrete floor, a pedestal of block walls and old growth pine boards more like a work shed than a weekend retreat. No matter that the walls never kept our strong rain storms or hungry mosquitos.
A hand painted sign over the door named our weekend retreat “Jan’s Juke” after my mother. The family, especially my younger brother and sister, thought it a great name. My mother took it in stride despite the somewhat sinister and illegal operations of a “Juke joint” just over the county line where alcohol could be served.
The structure was later replaced with a normal lake house with bedrooms, a bathroom, screened front porch, and running water. Running water no longer meant running down to the lake with a bucket for water. The old house became storage for our summer supplies, still with the sign over the door.
iPhone version of the mid-century family
As I studied this family returning from their excursion I remembered my youth and the joy of family on the water.
Even as I shot the photos I knew I wanted to use a Photoshop plugin and smart layers to add a retro look as a visual reminder of those times. My father was an avid photographer shooting Kodachrome for the important moments so I ran the photo through onOne Perfect Effects for the grungy slide look and added a contrasty, warm color lookup table for the final color.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 25, 2013
Soccer practice fields at Hoover Dam – My Final Photo for April 25, 2013
A steady flow of runners, walkers, athletes, bikers, and small kids led their parents on a trek across the dam at Hoover Reservoir while I waited for the afternoon clouds to part for just a few minutes at the right time.
Ten frame multiple exposure
There were many other photos to shoot while waiting for soccer practice to begin with the hope the clouds would then separate throwing a rim light across the freshly green trees and active youth on the fields beneath the dam.
The photo trek, on my bike, included a brief trip off the dam but most of the time for about two hours was traveling end-to-end on the dirt, asphalt, concrete, and steel span observing early shafts of light and the people and places it illuminated. Or failed to illuminate as often one end of the dam would be in shadow and the other in full sunlight making me wish I’d the ability to float over the scene to show the natural variety of light in such a small space.
Recumbent bike with slow shutter speed
Even later as the clouds began to thin and light more often fell across the plain below the dam I’d have to scamper to the shelter to get out of a brisk rain shower preceding the brightness.
The wait allowed, or forced, me to try a variety of techniques to shoot a unique photo from the dam. I’ve been there many times and am always looking for something even slightly different from before.
The soccer fields are a previous subject although I’d not shot them with the trees so early in their spring growth.
I used my D300 on the multiple exposure setting for a faux blurred motion photo of the water below the dam and the clouds above. Without a tripod I jammed the camera against a concrete post and a galvanized steel railing to keep it from moving between exposures.
The blurred recumbent bicycle is standard slow shutter speed choice.
There were more bikes, silhouettes from inside the shelter on the eastern end of the dam, overheads of people running along the roadway, more blurred action of cyclists and joggers, and a fisherman at the end of the day.
Not bad for two hours of bad weather.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 23, 2013
Sparring partner in Huber Village Park
Every now and then I stumble on a scene that takes me a moment or two to begin to understand. It happened today while I was on my bike for a late afternoon ride through Huber Village Park.
Alon the norther peremiter of the lacrosse field stood a young couple boxing. Both wore red gloves. She wore protective gear as a barrier against the much large boy she competed against.
I watched for a few minutes as I shot more bikes being stored in the nearly full bicycle rack next to Planet Westerville.
The pair continued to spar along the sidelines of the lacrosse field being used for practice.
Finally, after I was satisfied with my bike rack photos and worried they might finish training, I biked over and started up a conversation about how unique it was to find sparring boxers in the park.
Of course, I shot a few photos, one of which is this portrait that becomes My Final Photo for Tuesday, April 23, 2013.
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 19, 2013
I’ve got a beat. It’s Westerville.
In the days when newspaper news rooms were filled with reporters, most were assigned specific beats. Today, with smaller staffs, reporters often are assigned to several beats making it more difficult, in my opinion, to create a news report with depth and representing the daily lives of a newspaper’s readers.
I see that in not only the daily newspaper with much smaller news holes and the weekly that appears to be filled by formula rather than reporting. Don’t misunderstand. The quality of what is being reporting is great. Almost all of the news reporters I know are great reporters. It’s a shame they don’t have more space in which to show their work and more staff to allow them to isolate on important stories instead of covering areas outside their expertise.
Several times a week I visit merchants in Uptown Westerville just to keep myself apprised of the latest happenings with their businesses, to see what is different about their stores, and to learn about what might be happening in the near future.
One of my regular stops in Old Skool skate shop where I am always warmly greeted. Often there is an opportunity for a good photo of young skateboarders and their families. Sometimes it’s just me and Wally worrying about politics and the weather. One discussion this week centered on the mud tracked through Westerville’s skate park by bike riders who left trailed of hardened muck on every smooth surface at the park.
Wally isn’t usually in the shop of Fridays, but I still visit. Today it was very slow so I took the time to shoot some of the well worn wheels and gritty bearings removed from repaired and replaced boards. My skateboard still-lifes. Shot with my iPhone
by Gary Gardiner | Apr 7, 2013
Fathers watching sons play lacrosse
It was a great Sunday afternoon with temperatures moving to the 70s, a bike in good condition, legs that were bared after a winter in jeans, and a smaller than normal complement of cameras. Great day for a bike ride.
I was surprised how few people were out in the parks with the exception of Huber Village Park and Hoff Park.
Of course it’s crowded when there’s a youth league lacrosse game at Huber and a series of teen basketball games on the courts of Hoff.
I’ve shot both places many times and am always challenged to find a creative image that is different than others from the same location. Such was the challenge today.
Games at Hoff Woods Park
Instead of shooting the action of each space, I decided to shoot the environment, to show the warmest day of the year and people enjoying themselves in it.
The low angle of men watching their sons play lacrosse was shot a ground level using the pull-out LCD screen on the D5000 to give me a clear background and allow for the colorful contrast of colors against the blue sky.
The second photo of kids bikes at Hoff Woods is a very small homage to William Eggleston’s famous tricycle photo.
iPhone portrait
And, as I usually try to do, an iPhone photo for the day.
