02-01-12 Kristin

Here's another photo from my photographic past, this time of Kristin, one of the many fine gymnasts who represented Watertown Senior High School's gymnastic program. Not only was she a great gymnast but she was a wonderful portrait subject.This photo was taken at her parents' dance and gymnastics center, Dakota Gold. As I recall, I hadn't graduated to strobe lights and so I was using my "hot" lights. The advantage of continuous lighting is that the light you see is the light you get. The disadvantage is that it doesn't produce a lot of light. Thus, I was forced to use a fairly wide aperture. Truth be told, this photo suffers from camera shake, but ten years ago I wasn't smart of enough to see that. Today, this is a photo that probably wouldn't have seen the light of day.But I like the photo and so to try to make it look good, I used selective sharpening on Kristin's eyes. And then I blurred everything in Aperture, which is a great tool to help make art out of something that is less than perfect. Kristin, of course, is the most perfect part of this photo. :-)

01-28-12 Dubrovnik's Stradun

I have several photos I took in and around Durbrovnik, Croatia, and when I post them here, I wonder how many tens of thousands of other tourists have photos from the same location.But anyone who has wondered the same thing knows that there is something special about having your own pictures. It is perhaps some odd way of tourists marking territory.

01-23-12 Squall Line

I was out on the water and hoping the rain wouldn't come my way. It didn't.

11-02-11 Country Metro

A little delivery van with a name like "Metro" seems like a paradox as it sits surrounded by decaying farm buildings 15 miles north of Watertertown. This is one of those photographic subjects that called me over and said, "Photograph me!" And so I did.I told my students yesterday that I am more inclined to take photos of peaceful landscapes, blooming flowers and fall leaves than I am to photograph things with bullet holes in them. Though now that I think of it, as I drive around through our rural landscape, I see many things that have been shot. And, as a photographer, I sometimes "shoot" things that have been shot. Like this Metro.Check tomorrow's post for more about this little van.

Out By Lonesome Lake (LATI Festival of Trees Choice)

One of the good things about my job is that when I give a photo assignment I often go out and do the assignment myself. Such was the case this past weekend. My particular mission was to shoot an HDR photo or two. I have spent about 10 hours on this task and, of the 300 photos I took, I've ended up with one HDR composite that I like. That's not bad for a day's work!I have posted an HDR (High Dynamic Range) to this blog before but I thought I'd do it again. In simple terms, an HDR photo is really one or more photos of the exact same subject with varying exposures layered on top of each other and adjusted so the whole photo is well exposed - from the very bright to the very dark.In the case of today's photo, if I had exposed for the beautiful morning sky, the grass in the foreground would have been barely visible. And if I'd exposed for the foreground, the sky would have been washed out. I must admit that the way I've done HDR so far has an element of the surreal in it. And I like that.Incidentally, this photo has been selected as this year's choice for my LATI Festival of Trees donation. It will be among many things that are donated and offered during the silent auction for the annual LATI scholarship fundraiser on November 18 at the Ramkota.Finally, if you are still reading this, you may be seriously interested in HDR. If that's true, go here to see a YouTube video I made on this subject.

10-11-11 Moonset Over Iowa Corn Field

It was the perfect summer morning to be out north of Lake Okoboji in Iowa hunting for photos. This is one of the three captures I like for the hour I spent looking. I especially like the strong green color of the corn contrasting with the soft, muted color of the pre-sunrise sky.

01-01-11 Sunrise

This photo is a result of being in the right place at the right time - with the right lens, which was a 17-40 mm wide angle lens. The beach is along the so-called Maya Riviera south of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Seing the sunrise along this stretch of beach is a bit rare since there always seem to be clouds along the horizon. But on this day, the sun showed its face for about 5 minutes and so I get the great play of light along the sand.

10-10-14 Nature in Black and White

I was back in my neighbor's back yard this past weekend looking for photo opportunities. We probably have plenty for me to photograph in our yard but we didn't have hosta plants with big leaves that were giving up the ghost as these were. I turned this photo to a high contrast black and white photo in part because I have been looking at the photography of Edward Weston. I'm not sure I like this photo but here it is anyway.

Three Tourists and One Local

He has a gun, a big hat, a red uniform and isn't smiling. The three girls have cameras and casual clothes. So guest who the tourists are.Incidentally, I'm not sure if the soldier is a Beefeater or not. I also don't know what he's guarding. Perhaps an important door? Or maybe he's just a tourist attraction. Kind of like the giant tortoises at Reptile Gardens?

07-25-10 Going Down

Those who have ridden subways know that sometimes the escalators down to the tracks may seem endless. This is especially true in cities that are hilly. This escalator isn't particularly deep but I happened to have my camera out as we were going down.One of the deepest London tube stations is the Angel Tube Station and one thrillseeker has found a quick way to do down -- on snow skies. Check out this YouTube video.

07-24-10 Churchill's Bunker

One of the more interesting places we visited while in London this summer was the command center bunker that Churchill and others used to run operations during the London Blitz. It was very well preserved and the room that presented the history of Churchill and London's survival during WWII was impressive.As you may know, Churchill had his idiosyncrasies and faults but his strong leadership during the War made up for these. In the bunker museum, there was a great quote from Churchill: "We are worms. But I believe that I am a glow worm."Another quote attributed to Churchill (but not displayed in the museum) goes something like this: A woman at a dinner party said to Churchill, "Sir, you're drunk!" Churchill's response was "Madame, you're ugly. At least in the morning I'll be sober." I wonder if a president could get away with this kind of repartee?

05-28-10 The Mask of Agamemnon

This is the so-called "Mask of Agamemnon" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann, the German adventurer and archaeologist. It was discovered in the grave circle on the acropolis of the site of ancient Mycenae in Greece.This golden face was discovered in a royal tomb by Schliemann, who imagined it to be the face of Agamemnon. Agamemnon ruled Mycenae during the time of the Trojan War and was married to Helen (who "launched a 1000 ships"). The tomb the mask was found it is probably not the tomb of Agamemnon, though. This golden object and many others are housed in the Archaeological Museum in Athens. It is well worth the visit if you are in Athens.