This Bud

Back when I was in college I couldn't get my hands on enough work by Shelby Lee Adams.  I eventually got in touch with him.  Since then we drank a lot of  Bourbon, stayed up late looking at prints, drove back roads, took pictures and remained friends.  If you like somebody's work tell them, you never know where it will take you.

Here is one I took about 12 yrs. ago.  The lesson here being if you and your sibling are having a brotherly argument and he shoots you in the stomach you are going to need to see a doctor.  You can't dig that thing out yourself.

Also - If you haven't seen PFE's blog in a while check it out .  He has been busy.

Mac's Blog

Anybody who has read through my blog has heard about Mac Danzig.  A simple search will show what Mac is most known for but a little digging reveals another part of him that reminds us that things are not always what they seem.  Earlier this month Mac started his own blog dedicated to my favorite topic and as you'll see he's getting down to the nuts and bolts (but in a way everybody can understand).  Anybody looking for an update (listed in order of most current) can find him in the right hand column here.

Salvage

I picked up a project that I started 14 years ago, chose 25 from a few hundred.  It is a great big file that could hold up as a great big print.  It will be at the 2010 Imagine Auction for SFHS.  Fuji Velvia - 60mm Macro.  Color doesn't look exactly true here.

Big Bike Rack

Exposure 2 - Provia 400
Nikon 50mm @ f/1.4
I have been shooting the 50mm wide open everyday - my newest obsession.  The focal plane is about as thin as a church wafer and if I'm not careful (people picts mostly) I'll miss alltogether - airballs.

Chicago and Back

G10, Nikon and even an iPhone pict.  The bridge photo is why so many people wreck this time of the evening coming into town from the North - not because they are taking pictures (hell, maybe they are), just gawking.  I know that some might say that it is not a good idea to drive and take pictures but it keeps me from texting and I heard that is dangerous.

I think I should also mention a place here called the Wiener Circle.  I didn't know until afterwards but this place has a reputation for verbal abuse.  I don't mean just being rude;  I heard stuff in here that you might only hear in a bar fight.

Cherokee Park

Nikon 50mm at f/1.4.  Exposure 2 / Provia 400 at various degrees.

Parting Shot

Corey Arnold (Corey's Fishing News)  gets the parting shot in Outside magazine.

Neighbors

Got some bad news about a friend today that I couldn't stop thinking about.  Hit the racetrack for a couple. Cashed one small ticket, didn't bring the lens to do what I wanted to do and tried a lame sequence.  I took 78 pictures and have since thrown them all out.  Was going to go to bed frustrated when I found this puddle shot I had taken the day before in the parking lot walking into my office.  I think he would have liked this one.

BC

I was once called a racetrack junkie and will admit there is some truth to that.  With the Breeder's Cup coming up this weekend I have really been feeling it.  The Classic (1 1/4 miles on synthetic) is looking to be a true classic as unbeaten Zenyatta will try to beat the boys in the toughest test of her career.  She will have to beat Europe's second best (behind See the Stars) in Rip Van Winkle and the always dangerous Einstein (Brazilian born but more of a local boy here in Louisville).  Tons of great horses in this one.

Cold Case

Looking through a box in the basement I found a collection of picts I took while at college in Boulder, Colorado.  Hundreds of frames from North Valmont Auto Parts that I am going to try and bring to fruition some 14 years later.  Hmmmm.  Where to start?

Sick

Was up late last night trying to identify my Tern pictures with The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley.  Sibley is a well known ornithologist but better known as the foremost bird illustrator alive today.  If you don't have a bird guide this is the one.

This morning I got an email update to Rob Haggart's blog A Photo Editor about the "great pacific garbage patch" and the Albatross photographs taken by Chris Jordan.  I couldn't believe it.  I know it's pretty lame to put up a blog entry about somebody else's blog entry but this one has really stuck with me.

Foster's Tern

A little chill in the air and I go running back to Spring already.

River Valley

Exchange of Rings

The latest post on Strobist today, comparing the Ray Flash and Orbis poor man's ring flashes, read like the professional and expanded version of the one I posted 8 months ago.  He also mentioned the AlienBee ABR800 (like I did) which is a little like bringing a gun to a knife fight.  Looking forward to that review - big Strobist fan.

I own them both but haven't picked up the Ray Flash since I got the Orbis.  I often use the Orbis off to the side in my left hand (because I can't shoot with my left) as a soft light source for all kinds of subjects.  Now that might be defeating the purpose of using a ring light in the first place but I like it.  I know there are all kinds of aftermarket flash diffusers but the Orbis looks much cooler and will leave people asking "What the hell is that?".

Dialing back

Looking back at pictures I took six months prior I usually have the feeling I went too far with whatever I was into at the time; high pass, HDR, burning, you name it.  I saw a portrait on a friends fridge I had done during the summer that looked like I had processed it with a box of crayons and a blow torch.  My idea is to process until my heart is content, lay it over the original and turn the opacity down by 50%.  Make the perfect sandwich and throw half of it away (or give it to the dog).

Old School