The city market in downtown on a very hot Saturday. I used my Leica M8 on this one.

End of the line

I spend some time driving around a very industrial area east of downtown Kansas City and found a light train switching yard that had tracks that just ended into a large mound of earth. I couldn't resist climbing up to the top and taking a shot.

Tower

As I have been working on the reimagination of my Ireland photos I find that the B&W with texture and mood added through editing creates a very different feel. This is one of the mystic round towers of Ireland. This one is at Glendalough.

Street

Church 2

Church 1

In the effort of getting a folio ready for submission here is another Ireland photo. I will add these photos to my online portfolio. If you click on this image you will see a large version.

Hills

It's been awhile since I've been here. My real work has gotten in the way of my passion. But, I have been spurred on. I received my latest copy of Lenswork magazine and the editorial was about procrastination. It is true that I get bogged down trying to get things done from a photographic perspective but it does suffer due to my work in the film business. One's need to make money I guess.

For those of you not familiar with that magazine I strongly recommend you get a copy and read it. Several of the portfolios in the latest issue left me wanting so that coupled with the editorial has put things in motion. I'm working on a set of photographs related around my trip to Ireland. As I keep looking at the images and connecting to the place again I see more and more. That seems to have me on a mission to reinvent these photographs from many different perspectives. I will share them with you as I'm imagining them today. This first one was taken from a moving car using a Nikon D2Xs.

Georgia

I am not a portrait photographer. Make no mistake. It is fun though when you have grandkids around to "play" with shooting them. I shot this with my Nikon D2xs and used Lightroom and Photoshop to make a lot of adjustments. I frankly don't have a lot of the plug ins used by portrait photographers so I have to push my knowledge of Photoshop to get a similar effect.

Tea Party

Here are a couple of photos from the tea party held at Johnson County Community College April 15th, 2009. It was a huge crowd and hard to get around in. The sun was also very bright and low. All presenting a problem to me as a novice at these kinds of photographs. I shot them with my Leica M8 so as not to intimidate people. More comments to come.

Water

Its been a very busy time. Photography is a passion of mine but not the way I make my living. I can only wish. I have been choosing to give time to my job and family. This has entail out of town trips and on those trips I have been unable to spend much if any time with the camera. It is frustrating. I have continued to work with the palladium printing process and I’m finding that (although time consuming) to be a very satisfying venture.

I am hoping to build a large enough body of work to gain some attention but like all things you need to take pictures to make it work! Palladium printing lets you regain some of that tactile experience associated with photography that is all but lost using the digital darkroom. Also the complexity keeps the process out of reach of the want a be photographers that grab a camera and buy a copy of Photoshop and they declare themselves artists.

The creation of art is not just taking pictures and running them through the computer and posting them on your web site. The art really happens inside the artist and what the material item that is produced is, is nothing more than a representation of the art the artist sees. It is all in how well we can make that representation (how well it resonates with others) that really determines weather our work is art or just a bunch of photos.

To me that means you have to be fully engaged in life. You have to keep up on current events, the culture, our history, other art, and read a lot. You need to be knee deep in it. Then you have the depth to connect.

I have been assembling a group of portfolios for the new magazine COLOR. The deadline is two days so I have to fish or cut bait. I will post the portfolios in a few days. The photo that I have in this post is of a water tank. It was a shiny brand new tank out in the middle of nowhere. This is the high desert outside Los Angeles and it is a barren place. Water is something you think about when you visit this kind of place. Until next time…

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Arch

notes
Wood Dickinson

I was able to get back into the darkroom this weekend and continue my experiments with the platinum/palladium printing process. I'm finding that I am getting a very good feel for contrast and exposure. The negatives are about 5x7 and printed on my Epson R2400 after a work over in Photoshop. Currently I'm using a pure palladium emulsion. This photograph was taken with a Leica M8 set at ISO 1250. Shutter speed was 1/30th of a second. The location is the New York City public library.

The digital negative has to be printed as a negative so I use Photoshop to adjust the curves and contrast then invert the image into a negative. I use information from the Reeder and Hinkel book, Digital Negatives. This book is very helpful.

Fun

notes
Wood Dickinson

Here are two versions I played with both taken from the same digital negative. I have been working on the use of color for a portfolio I'm sending in to the new magazine COLOR. I have always liked color when it is saturated in the image. In the old days I would shoot Ektachrome and cross process it to get a negative. It was always kind of like Christmas because you were never sure what you'd get. Today with the digital capture and Photoshop the surprise is gone but you can work with much more purpose. These two images are an example of selective use of color. I like the whimsical at times and at first I did the typical male thing and that's to enhance the girl and contrast her to the background of drabness but after I looked at it for a few minutes I saw the error of my ways. It is the girl (as a person) that fades to the background. This shot was taken in SoHo in New York City and even though it is much less crowded feeling than other parts of the city it always seems that it is the people who are the backdrop not the city. I left her the golden hair.

I shot this with my Leica M8.

News stand

One of the things I love about New York City is the people. I love to people watch. Taking a camera along can present some challenges but for these kinds of shots I use my Leica M8. For all the technology loaded into the camera it looks very unassuming and much less threatening than my Nikon.

As much as I love the lonely and sacred places in the world I think it must be balanced by visits to places full of kinetic energy. And that would be NYC. One of the things I really love about New York is the fact that even though it is a huge city, it really is hundreds of small communities. People live, shop, eat and everything in a few square block giving each area a unique feel all its own.

Window

This photograph is a detail taken from a photo of a house. It seems so many times that the details found with in a piece of art work is as interesting if not more so than the original piece. I love things blue and the intense blue of the sky really reflected off the glass. More to come.

Saint Patrick's

To follow with the theme of my last post I want to include one of my attempts at capturing in interior space. This photograph was taken at St. Patrick’s in New York City. There are always people there so I focused on the shape of the arches above us keeping all the people out of the shot. There are times I have been in this cathedral when it has been fairly empty and it truly does feel like a sacred place. If you ever visit NYC don’t miss the chance to look inside this magnificent building. Catholic or not.
I took this photograph with my Nikon D2Xs shooting at the maximum ISO because I was hand holding the camera. I used Lightroom primarily to obtain the black and white. Noise always creeps into the photo when you shoot at very high ISOs so turning it to B&W helps a lot to mask that. I use to shoot Tri-X film at 1600 ASA so I do like grain and contrast.

Technorati tag: photography

Building 936

Again I return to a photography of not only a lonely place but abandoned as well. One thing that draws me to a place is the quiet and lack of people. That doesn’t mean I like to be alone or am a loner, I wouldn’t be married with eight kids if I felt that way, I think it is more the contrast to my daily life. Living in a rather large city I can go to places where there are lots of people but it is harder to find places of solitude. That solitude, I think, helps me recharge and reconnect with myself and my sense of place. It is the same idea as sacred spaces. Going into an empty church like Redemptorist has the same feeling. St. Patrick’s in New York as well.
It is much harder for me to capture that essence inside so I tend to look to the outside. Going to lonely or abandoned places where men rarely go is like making a journey into yourself and your reconnection with God. This photo was taken at a decommissioned air force base called Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base. It was taken with my Nikon D2Xs shooting in the RAW mode. I used both Lightroom and Photoshop to work on the color of the image. I tried to match the color to my emotional connection to this place.

Kemper

While on a shooting expedition in the West Bottoms of Kansas City I walked over to the Kemper Arena. For a long time this was the only arena we had in KC. It is a very interesting looking building and lends itself to being photographed even though as a facility it is greatly lacking.

One theme I keep exploring is abandoned places. I find the cast off relics of our existence to be very interesting. This building is in an area that has mostly been abandoned since the floods in 1951. The Kemper Arena has been replaced by the new Sprint Center but it is still in use for some events here in KC. Most notably the American Royal.

It is very interesting to me to see such a modern building in such an old historic place like the West Bottoms, especially when the functionality of the arena is very antiquated. All these facts makes it an interesting object to add to my list of lonely and abandoned places around Kansas City.

I shot this with a Nikon D2Xs and used Photoshop to create the infrared Black and White look. I really like the way it makes the building pop. When I shot this picture I was looking for good subjects for B&W photos. I find it best to shoot in RAW with full color even though I plan to end with B&W. It is so interesting to work with Lightroom and Photoshop to tease out the best B&W look to a photo. It use to be you had to commit to an entire roll of film both the film type and speed as well as processing. Now you can shoot image by image. In some ways it makes it even more important to have that vision of what you are striving for before you click the camera.

Dome

One thing that I love to do is take everyday objects and represent them in a way that makes you look at the thing anew. In this case I took one of my kids to a swimming lesson that was being held at a facility that was basically a dome inflated by air and used as a building. The day was gray and raining and that offered me the opportunity to explore the domes in a new way. Unfortunately the domes are surrounded by fences (I guess for good reason) so I was somewhat limited in my approach to these objects. I was looking at capturing the dome and sky in the same tonal range. I took the photo with my Leica M8 in the RAW mode using a 28mm lens. To get to the place I wanted to be I cropped the original image in Lightroom then dumped the file into Photoshop and used Nik Software Silver Efex Pro to turn the image into B&W. Once the B&W was tuned the way I wanted I used the Diffuse Glow filter to soften things then brought the photo back into Lightroom and added some vignette. Once I like it I took the photo back into Photoshop and spotted the photo and cleaned a little damage to the dome up to get a very smooth texture.

All this took about 30 minutes to accomplish. My hope is the image that was created has a touch of mystery and abstract quality. That’s what I was trying to capture when I took the photo. I find it interesting that when I shoot a picture (several really) I have a fairly clear idea of the image I’m trying to create. In this digital age there are so many tools at the artists disposal that you (I feel) must practice restraint and focus on the image content not the gimmicks. What do you think?

The High Desert

This is a photograph of a Joshua Tree taken in the high desert - outside of Palmdale, CA. This is really out in the middle of nowhere. I was there during the filming of Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas. This location is used a lot in films. For this film it was west Texas but it has also been the Middle East.

While I was there I took several photographs which was a wonderful challenge at how to approach photography in a place that seems so empty. I used my Nikon D2xs. I wanted to get a look that was similar to infrared film, which is attainable through the use of either Photoshop, or in some cases I can achieve this in Lightroom alone.

I work very hard to have to do minimal editing with Photoshop. I feel Adobe Lightroom has gone a long way in helping me with this goal. I want to create honest photographs and for me that means not doing heaving editing on the shot. Having said that I spend on average and hour per shot in the digital darkroom.

One subject I love to explore is what I think of as lonely places. This is not to be confused with sad or depressed subjects but those are part of the lonely places I seek out. I feel more like lonely places are really the empty quiet places where a person feels somewhat out of place. God’s places.

Some of these are abandoned places man has created and now are being reclaimed by nature. I also feel the use of black & white emphasizes the tone and mood. I’m currently collecting my photos of this subject. There is a portfolio on my photography web site that has more photos in the same subject.

Where it all began

Texas Tracks
Now that we are in 2009 I’m going to rework the nature of this blog. Up to now I have been mostly posting photographs and some writing that I have done. I have been involved with photography since I was 15 years old but it wasn’t until college that I worked with great earnest. The hard worked paid off. I was the first undergraduate student to have a gallery exhibition at TCU. Two other friends of mine participated. Steve Dakin had a couple of photos and Ken Brookner and I shared the rest of the space equally.
Both Ken and I wandered though business life for many years. He returned to photography several years ago and you can follow his link on this blog to see what he’s up to. I decided in the last year to put a large amount of time and effort back into my photography.
I have continued to take pictures over all these intervening years. A few were done as jobs I was paid for but most of it was just when I was on vacation and the like. There was just too much work and not enough time. Now I have made the time and I have spent the last six months working with photos every day. This has allowed me to find my place again and gain a direction. To get there I did the only thing a photographer can do. Take a lot of pictures and learn to use the tools.
I currently use two cameras. One is a Nikon D2xs and the other is a Leica M8. I still have several film cameras but with the wonderful tools and technology available I can’t see the point of using film unless I wanted to move into large format cameras.
I love film and it is sad but true. I work with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. The printer I’m currently using is an Epson R2400. I use it to produce all my B&W prints now and color as well. I’m also working with Palladium printing so the darkroom is still getting a workout. The main reason I’m doing this is simple. With the advent of digital photography and the cheap prosumer cameras and software, everyone is now a photographer regardless of training. I find my photographs now compete with folks who just picked up a camera and after spending 40 years of my life working and studying this art it is a bit upsetting. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to make it through the noise. Palladium printing is one way. It is a time consuming and tedious process that only an artist would love and subject himself too. I am also working with HDR photography.
One thing I won’t do is take myself too seriously. I work in the movie industry as a writer/producer so the demands I make on myself to “perform” are very harsh indeed. I intend to use this blog to more clearly articulate my vision and photographs now that I have found my place. To do this I will choose a photo and write some detail about the why, what and how of it. I think that will be infinitely more interesting than a constant barrage of new photos that seem unlinked and with out purpose. Happy 2009. Oh and this photo is the one I used on my invitation to that show at TCU so long ago.

Building 612

 

Happy New Year to all.

 

Merry Christmas

Kansas City, Kansas

 

Hurry 2

Streets of New York

Library

 

Dead Factory

 

Tracks

Lines

Shed

 

Cross Street

 

Wheatley Provident Hospital Detail 1

 

Wheatley Provident Hospital

 This is Wheatley Provident Hospital.

Arch

This is the Rosedale World War I Arch war memorial.

Leawood Tree

 

612

 

NYC

New York

White Cloud

The Missouri River near White Cloud

Along the Missouri River near White Cloud are unusual towering river bluffs of loess. Loess hills are located in eastern Kansas, western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. The hills are composed of yellow loess soil overlaying older debris left from the last ice age. They are characterized by sharp edged ridge crests, and slopes ranging from gentle to very steep.

An overlook in White Cloud affords views of four states: Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.

 

Stairs #2

Again stairs located in Cong, County Mayo. These steps are located at the ruins of Cong church and monastery

Stairs

This is a set of stairs located in Ireland. This is Cong, County Mayo where the film The Quiet Man was filmed

Cars

This is a photograph I took some time ago while on a trip to Walt Disney World. Maybe that's how things were looking after three days...

 

Street

This is a street in Cobh Ireland in County Cork. This is where Annie Moore sailed from.

 

Sea and Sky

This photo was taken at Cape Cod while seal watching in Pleasant Bay.

The cliffs

Update

I have been putting up a new photograph everyday but I am going to change that format. I will post about 3 a week. I feel I can better represent the work I do by not rushing things up on the internet. Please leave me any comments you have. I'd love to hear from you.

Monday

This is another Ireland photo taken from a moving car.

Standing Stones

This is a hill fort located in the Ring of Kerry, Ireland.

 \
LINK

Saturday

Ireland.

 
LINK

Fall Tree

Fall is upon us. Here is a photo I took yesterday of a tree very close to where I work. Most aren't changing color yet so this one really stands out.

 
LINK

Cliffs of Moher

Today's photo was taken in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher. It was a rainy day but that didn't diminish the wonder of this place.

Sunset

A chance shot of a sunset that I heavily processed. I will put another version on tomorrow.


LINK

Ireland again

This is another shot I took at Glendalough.


LINK

Glendalough

The ruined abby at Glendalough, Ireland.

 
LINK

Empire

New York City. Taken from Soho.


LINK

Hurry

London. Enjoy. 


LINK

Friday!

I want you all to know that comments are welcome.

Today's photo was taken in London while walking down a street near Westminster Abby. One has to wonder what is behind this door that sets off the odd color in the windows.

 
LINK

Remember Love

Right in the middle of
child rearing,
marriage,
trying...
(remember love!)

Outside, I noticed
sunlight
shine through trees'
waited down
icy fingers
still, only for a moment,
because the sun would sink
soon
behind falsely still houses
and snowy hills
into morning on the other side of the world
where people
I don't even know would
wake to the baby's cry
and cranky four year old
Right in the middle of
child rearing,
marriage,
trying...
(remember love!)



LINK

Mary

Back to Ireland for a photo of the Blessed Virgin.


LINK

Dam

This is a dam outside Ft. Worth Texas.


LINK

That Tree

I don't know how long it's been there
Dropping dirty walnuts.
Since before our subdivision was built.
Before the apple orchard was murdered.
He'd carefully built his driveway around it.
Enclosing it in concrete.

That year he cut off all its branches.
"A slight trim," he said.

The spring came early.
The other walnut trees streamed
Green leaves from waking branches.
His tree stood dormant.
It was dead.
I was certain.

Then one evening as I looked across,
I noticed a hint of green
Like sea moss hanging,
Spotting brown gray rock,
Covering every branch.

The photo below was taken at the West Bottoms in Kansas City. There are several old buildings that have yet dodged the wrecking ball. This is a large sliding door with some very interesting patterns. It was shot with a Leica M8.

 
LINK

Sunday

Well I was at Volleyball all day yesterday so missed the posting. Here is a shot of Cape Cod.


LINK

Comment

I would like to invite everyone to leave comments. Let me know what you think of the BLOG and how it might be made more interesting. Thanks.

The photo today I have posted before but in a small size. It is of a barn in Block Island. We went there a few years ago and traveled the island on mopeds. Enjoy.


LINK

9/11

Today's photograph was taken in the Bronx last summer. I used a Nikon D2Xs.
 

Heaven House

Home alone with all three children:
As tiny Claire crawls to her toys,
working jaws of seven months,
I play piano with Elizabeth
a whirling wind of only two
who loves to dance and sing and scream,
her crazy arms swoop up and down
she pounds a fractured melody,
when Matthew breaks from building blocks, tugs my sleeve
and says to me, like I should know,
"Adopted kids live in Heaven two times;
once before we're ever born
and picked up from the hospital
and second when we finally die and then we go to stay."
I didn't know what to say to my little four year old
but he didn't give me the chance to fumble for wrong words.
With heart fixed on the task he said,
"When I go back to heaven, I'm going to build a house.
A Heaven House.
My friend Katie is going to help.
Mommy and you can come and live and Katie and..."
On and on his list of friends
that I knew would grow with years of life,
and come at last to rest in Matthew's little Heaven House.
His eyes shining with the plan.

I sat speechless in his love.

 
LINK

Some one will come

Someone will come.
You know they will to buy our house.
What will they do to it to.
Do you remember when I started
on the basement. I was going to
finish it in six months. Remember the cold
gray conceat walls and floor with with four
dim light bulbs in the room and an inch of water
on the floor. I turned my thumb blue more than
once, pounding together the studwalls hoping they'd
stay where I put them. Then pulled muscles draging
the sheet rock in from the garage. How many times
did I say, "Thank God the garage is under the house?"
I'll remember that our son was only two when I started
and five when I was done and also the look on his face
when the carpet was put in. A real play room.
I'll remember the night we put up the crayon boarder
laughing at the job and crying for our love that wandered
those two years holding each other tight never wanting to
let go.

I wonder what the new owners will do to my room?
Will they complain about shodding workmanship?
Will they put up pictures and fill it with toys?
Will they take down the crayon boarder?


 
LINK

Our Trip to Austin

What a week it was!
Trying to get away
and into just us two
for a couple of days
and everything was trying
like hell
to stop us.
I mean we fought and cried
and made up
and nursed three sick kids
and our souls (we'd never done anything quite like this before)
But
in the end we tried
and still the fight from snowstorm
logjams delayed flights that almost sent us home
But
we made it to an evening
of sitting with no where to go
except into our hearts
into each other
and to find the love we hold so close
that sometimes we can't even see it.

 
LINK

Sunday

 
LINK

Abstract

I really enjoy working with abstract images that you just find. This is part of a metal door.


LINK