Unusual Attire

Palm Desert, CA

Walking through the College of the Desert flea-market, the unusual flea-market attire caught my eye.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/500 40mm equiv ISO 200

Photographed 1/29/22

Tina & Rebecca

Palm Desert, CA

Walking through the College of the Desert flea-market, the bright colors caught my eye.  Tina's orange mask and red wrap and Rebecca's matching hair & sweater stood out from the crowd.

I asked them if I could make a portrait, to which they agreed.  I offered to send them the photo & Tina bookmarked this blog address.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 640

Photographed 1/29/22

Complementary Colors

52Frames - Week 3 - Complementary Colors (Alternates)

 
"Old School"
Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.2 1/800 40mm equiv ISO 100

   

"GPS"

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.2 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 640 

All Photographed 1/17/22

Inches Away

52Frames - Week 4 - Minimalist

Par 3, 13th hole at Desert Willow Mountain View course.  Unfortunately, this was not my drive. Minimalism and my scores are mutually exclusive!

Sony A7C @ f4 1/500 52mm ISO 100

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 1/25/22

Tomahawk

2022_CLondon52w4: Commitment

From the C.London website: Open for Interpretation

I saw.

I ordered.

I ate.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f2.8 1/60 40mm equiv ISO 1250

Photographed 1/24/22

Horizon

Visual Notes 13

[a page out of the @aarondigruccio playbook]

Somewhere over the western US.

Strong horizontal lines out the window caught my eye for the visual notes series.  Without the GRIIIx, never would have captured this image.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f9 1/400 40mm equiv ISO 100

Photographed 1/23/22

De-ice Abstracts

Macro shots out the window during de-icing operations.

 
De-ice Abstract 1

De-ice Abstract 2

Both photos:  Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.5 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 200
Photographed 1/22/22

ORD - F9

After 3.5" of snow overnight at O'Hare, finally getting de-iced before departure.  Apparently, different color de-icing solutions are used for different parts of the aircraft; pink for the fuselage & green for the wings.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 100

Photographed 1/22/22

JQL Tech

52Frames - Week 3 - Complementary Colors

I know nothing about this company but when I saw this building, knew that it was a strong contender for my 52F submission this week.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.2 1/1600 40mm equiv ISO 100

Photographed 1/17/22

Loyalty

2022_C.London 52w3 (Alternate)

I met Loyalty on Michigan Avenue.  He was promoting Chicago Blues and offering CDs of his latest recording...and hoping for a small donation in exchange.  Chatted with him for awhile about his south side roots, snapped a few photos and purchased a CD (although I don't have a CD player to play it on).

While shooting the photos, I considered how these might be a back-up or alternate to the Astrid Kirchherr assignment on C.London's 52 Week challenge if my main idea didn't pan out.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 1600

Photographed 1/18/22

A Hard Day's Night 2022

2022_CLondon52w3: ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Astrid Kirchherr

From the C.London website:  “Maybe a selfish choice for the first artist spotlight, but I’ve always had admiration for Astrid Kirchherr.  She’s best known for photographing The Beatles in their Hamburg days, which I think is fitting for a week about passion and goals.  I moved to Hamburg on a whim in 2009, never having visited the city, but I already felt like I knew it - at least a piece of it - from Astrid’s work.  Her love and passion reads so clearly through her photographs, and always made me as a viewer feel that love.  That’s something I’ve always aspired to do with my work - make my viewers feel what I feel when I took the photo.

For this week, I want you to take some time to look through Astrid’s work, and pull anything from it that inspires you.”

The inspirational concept for me this week was to photograph people I have a close relationship with.  Original intent was to photograph some friends who are like family outside their home, using the 1960 Fairground shots as inspirational images.  Temperatures in the teens with wind chill in single digits nixed the outdoor and natural light portion of the intent.  I therefore resorted to indoors and artificial light, using the 1964 set shot from A Hard Day’s Night as the inspirational image.

Sony A7C @ f1.8 1/125 35mm ISO 3200

Samyang AF 35mm F1.8

Photographed 1/20/22

Marcus

He saw me speaking with another guy down the street and as I walked towards him, he called out “You gonna talk with me too?”  “Absolutely!”, I heartily replied & told him about $2 Portraits.  Marcus is a 51 year old south-side Chicagoan, now living on Lower Wacker Drive.  He hangs out daily on the corner of Michigan and Erie, and apparently is well known since while we were chatting, several folks passed by, said “Hi, Marcus” and slipped a couple dollars into his cup.  A unique thing about Marcus that he was proud of is that even though a south-sider, he’s been a Chicago Cubs fan all his life.  We then laughed about the Cubs/White Sox fan rivalries.  Marcus also volunteered his vaccination status & said the city came through last year and vaxxed all the homeless living on Lower Wacker and came back 3 weeks later with the second shot.

Marcus told me a little about his work history & family.  From 1989, he worked at Lake Shore Bank and the Walgreens, both on Michigan Avenue.  One from 9am - 5pm and the other from 5pm-11pm.  He stopped working about 10 years ago to care for his mother who passed away 3 years ago.  Marcus took it hard and has had a tough time adjusting.  He has siblings; “They all have their thing going on and I don’t want to place no burden on them;  I’ll do it on my own”.

We spoke for awhile about various topics.  Marcus is a surprisingly proud and optimistic guy, especially given his circumstances.  On a few occasions during our conversation, he pointed to the sky and declared, “I believe!”  I thanked Marcus for his time and he thanked me for stopping to talk.  I slipped some $$ into his cup and wished him luck.  Per his request, I’m going to print these photos and if I see him again next month, will hand them over.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 640

"I Believe!"

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 800

All Photographed 1/18/22

Not On Thin Ice

Out on a walk and after reading a sign that says "Keep Out of Water and Off of Ice", I spotted this ice fisherman.  I tried to ask him how he knew the ice was thick enough to support him, but he was too far out to communicate.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f5.6 1/1250 40mm equiv ISO 100

Photographed 1/16/22

Dressed To The Nines?

While out capturing photos for a weekly challenge, I was able to make this doggie portrait.

Sony A7C @ f6.7 1/1000 86mm ISO 400

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 1/13/22

Winter Berries

Visual Notes 12

[a page out of the @aarondigruccio playbook]

Lincolnshire, IL

Not my usual style for the Visual Notes series.  In this image, rather than emphasis on horizontal, vertical or diagonal pattern, I chose to emphasize the third dimension, depth.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f2.8 1/1000 40mm equiv ISO 200

Photographed 1/16/22

Shutterbug

A collection of my grandson's first photos from January 11-12, 2022.

All photos straight out of his new camera; no editing.

 

Bike Friendly

52Frames - Week 2 - Hello From...Lincolnshire, IL

In keeping with the "hobby" theme from my Chelsea London 52 week challenge posting, this photo depicts a bike repair station installed along one of the popular bike trails in our village, with Village Hall in the background.

Sony A7C @ f2.8 1/1000 28mm ISO 100

Tamron E 28-200mm F2.8-5.6 A071

Photographed 1/13/22

Shutterbug

Now that my grandson (2.5 years old at this writing) has his own camera, I’m starting a collection of photos made of him and by him.  The first in this series was a diptych found here and was of simultaneous photos.

These and future postings will all have the keyword tag “Shutterbug”.

Viewfinder?

Sony A7C @ f1.8 1/250 35mm ISO 3200

Samyang AF 35mm F1.8

Composing

Sony A7C @ f1.8 1/250 35mm ISO 5000

Samyang AF 35mm F1.8

All photographed on 1/11/22

Ready, Set, Click...

2022_CLondon52w2: Your Passion

From the C.London website: "Let’s see what makes you tick. Make a photo that shows what you love - you can be as concrete or abstract with this as you’d like. For example, if you’re a musician, you can take a photo of your instrument (concrete), or maybe a long exposure of someone dancing (abstract). Try and highlight what makes this your passion so that a viewer can interpret your love and respect for whatever it is."

Photography, golf and cycling are my hobbies, the passion for which varies depending on circumstances, physical condition and time of year.  Passion for my grandson remains constant as any time I can spend with him is a treasure.  The ability to engage in a hobby with my grandson is a 1+1=3.

Last week, when he grabbed my expensive GRIIIx and wanted to just push buttons to take pictures, I knew it was time to get him a camera.  I had planned to do so for his 3rd birthday in July but decided to accelerate the purchase and preserve the safety of my gear.  A $30 digital camera off of Amazon was perfect and this week introduced him to it.  115 photos in less than an hour.  He doesn’t quite grasp the concept of holding the camera without fingers on the lens, but he’ll get there.  These first images are precious and priceless and will have a permanent place on my hard drive.

The diptych is of us simultaneously taking a picture of each other.  Ready, set, click…

Sony A7C @ f1.8 1/250 35mm ISO 10000

Samyang AF 35mm F1.8

Photographed 1/11/22

The Claw

Saw this bright beam of light coming into the kitchen.  Fortuitous.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 5000

Photographed 1/10/22

Morning Brew

Daily ritual with my favorite PMAlumni cup.  Proud that the company I founded in 1993 is going strong as ever.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/125 40mm equiv ISO 8000

Photographed 1/9/21

Cup Hats

I'm not quite sure what tickled me when putting these cups of soup into the microwave, but I was chuckling to myself as I ran over to grab the camera for a couple of quick snaps.  Maybe it was the stupid look of tophats on cups.  I'm laughing now even as typing this caption.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f4 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 10000

Photographed 1/7/22

Lazy Ass

What's the story in this image?  It's a Friday, I've been awake for 4 hours and burned a whooping 47 active calories.  The title says it all.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.5 1/125 40mm equiv ISO 12800

Photographed 1/7/22

Waiting

Even with "fast food", you sometimes have to wait.  It was worth it for the char polish & fries.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.5 1/250 40mm equiv ISO 1000

Photographed 12/22/21

New Year, New Gear...Redux

52Frames - Week 1 - Self-Portrait

Here we go with Year 3 of 52Frames.  It's amazing that the start of this year is so similar to last.  With Covid again surging, a street photography selfie was not an option for me this year either.

So instead, like last year, I decided to try something I'd never done before.  With my new Ricoh GR IIIx and small on-camera flash, I attempted a self-portrait using bounced light off the wall and ceiling.  Last year's experiment was posted in B/W so decided to post in color this year; #21 of 22 taken.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.2 1/30 40mm equiv ISO 640

Pentax AF201FG flash

Photographed 1/4/22

Archive Resurrected

2022_CLondon52w1: Setting Goals

From the C.London website: "In the next year we will challenge ourselves as photographers and artists. Setting goals is the first step in that journey.  Right now in this moment think about what you’d like to achieve.  Are you hoping to get better at portraits?  Maybe you want to be able to document your travels more coherently?  Maybe you just want to give yourself a new hobby and artistic outlet.

For our first week, set a goal and make a photograph which demonstrates that goal.  We will revisit this midway through and at the end of the year."

Since just revisiting my 2021 photography goals in Week 52 of last year’s challenge, this week kicking off the 2022 challenge with photography goals forced me to think about subjectivity and objectivity in goal setting; how do know when a goal is met?  With this in mind, here are three goals for 2022:

1. Story Telling.  Continue to become a better visual storyteller.  “Every picture has a story. It may be factual. It may be fictional. It may be intentional.  It may be accidental.  It may be superficial or it may be deep.  But it’s there, somewhere.”  The difference in 2022 is that I want to do this with more than just single images and put some focus on small “series” or “projects”.  My son’s girlfriend, an art professor and accomplished artist (reganrosburg.com), has helped me articulate my “voice” in words - “The visual storyteller of unseen objects and occurrences.”  Chelsea has helped me find my voice through her coaching and critique sessions.  Sean Tucker’s new book (The Meaning In The Making) is providing inspiration to keep creating…and to do it for me.  This goal is fluid, not truly measurable, and will likely never be finished…but that’s okay as long as progress is made.

2. Organize.  This is a measurable goal.  I want to digitize old slides, negatives and snapshots to bring all of my images under the LRC catalog umbrella.  As I get older, it’s important to have my entire collection of photos in one place.

3. Website.  I have been posting my images to a Blogspot site for over 10 years.  It’s a running blog of almost entirely single images and is not very conducive to posting series or projects as noted in Goal #1 above.  Establishing a domain and creating a website that better supports the presentation of creative storytelling is therefore another measurable goal. 

 The image for this week's challenge conveys Goal #2 in progress.  The scanned slide is a self-portrait from 1968 while on a high school ski trip.  It’s been a ton of fun reacquainting with these old treasures.

Ricoh GRIIIx @ f3.5 1/80 40mm equiv ISO 400

Photographed 1/1/22