• Candid Portraits,  Cityscapes/Urban

    A Job or Work?

    May 20, 2011

     

    Cake

    “The job is not your work; What you do with your heart and soul is the work.”

    Seth Godin

    I work as a flight attendant for a regional carrier. At this stage in life it’s not a career nor do I see it as just a job. I do not make much money, I spend half my month in hotels, and spend long hours with passengers, from every walk in life, in a long metal tube, a tubicle.

    My work history was in the high technology field. The last few years of that working career had more focus on the time clock than the tasks at hand. I was just doing my job, a cog in the system. Early on my career I enjoyed going to work. On those mornings I was bringing something to offer rather than taking home a paycheck. On those days I wanted to make something happen, make the day different. And, on those days I usually came home feeling good because I had accomplished something or learned something new. I came to work to give of myself and darned if I didn’t receive something in return. So some mornings I showed up at my job and some mornings I came to work.

    At the present time, I do not show up at the airport because it’s a job but because I want to come to work. The day it feels like a job to me, I need to find another place of employment. I believe that holds true with my photography. I do not want to get caught up in the struggle to make money with it as it may just become a job. My hope is to pursue it because I want to work at it, offering what vision and craft I can to this media. Hopefully I have something to offer. We all have the opportunity to use our photography to make a difference. If I can make money at it then that’s icing on the cake.

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  • Camera Equipment

    I Have a Backup

    May 18, 2011
    Nikon D100

    Yesterday I found myself again wishing I could afford a backup DSLR camera to my D300. Every one knows a good photographer has to have a backup camera body, right? If we have crawled out of a warm bed before the butt-crack of dawn and driven twenty miles on a cool October morning, we do not want to have a camera failure on location. We also know that any wedding photographer is going to have two of everything. Since I’m not selling myself as a wedding photographer backup camera is not a necessity. But, I still have these thoughts roaming through my head about having a backup and how could I afford it. These thoughts include picking up a used one on ebay or buying a new D300s and making my D300 the backup. All legitimate thinking, right?

    Every once in a while an epiphany appears in my life. The one that showed up yesterday was that I already have a backup! When I hung up a shingle to work as a wedding/portrait photographer in 2003 I purchased a second D100. It was essential. Then three years ago when I upgraded to the D300 I basically stopped shooting the D100.  I took the batteries out of them and stored them away. I enjoyed the newer camera so much I had no interest in using the older ones. I had a new toy/tool in my hands and did not want to put it down. But the epiphany suggested I get them out of storage, charge up the batteries and use them. When I look through the metadata in Lightroom I found that half the images in my archives were shot with those two D100s. I have a backup. Of course, when they come out with the D400 or D500 or whatever hundred, my mind will again forget about the D100.

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  • clouds,  landscape

    The Beauty Above Us

    May 17, 2011
    Mesa Verde

    “Bright, cool exhilarating. Clouds about five percent. Another glorious day of rambling, sketching and universal enjoyment.”

    John Muir

    I’ve noticed John Muir likes to describe what each day is like in his Wilderness Journals by giving each day a percentage of clouds. So not only was he a botanist but he looked upward to see what beauty was above him.

     

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  • Canon Powershot G12,  leaves,  Plants/Nature

    Details Abound

    May 16, 2011
    Details Abound

    I had no clue what this leaf is but my wise and awesome sister, Sheree, actually both my sisters are wise and awesome, suggested it was an ash leaf. After a bit of prodding around on the internet, I think she is right again. 🙂 Anyway, staying with my theme of studying nature I want to emphasize the fine detail nature creates. A close look shows the intricate design in each of it’s creation, each with it’s own purpose. The details abound in nature.

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  • Canon Powershot G12,  insects

    Cicada

    May 15, 2011
    Resting Cicadia

    These little buggers were all over the place. I found hundreds of these cicadas while on the same walk as yesterday’s image of the honeysuckle. There was not a sound from any of them as they rested among the shade. For me, a native of Colorado, I thought they were a locust of some sort but after asking around I discovered they’re called a cicada. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me they are an insect with large eyes wide apart on the head and usually transparent, well-veined wings. Pretty descriptive of what I saw. After learning what they were I remember listening to them at my grandmother’s house when I was a young boy. While taking this image one of them landed on my camera strap and just hung around with me for a while.

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  • Art,  Canon Powershot G12,  leaves

    More Signs of Natures Artwork

    May 14, 2011
    Honeysuckle

    Outside my hotel in Nashville is a winding two lane road that leads back to the interstate. On one side of the road is a densely wooded area with a small stream meandering through it. While on the opposite side of this road are a couple of hotels and the noisy interstate. Guess which side of the road I like to walk on. I walk the wooded side where there is no sidewalk and the trees provide shade and the much needed soothing sounds for my soul. If we walk slowly along these areas where nature is alive we have the chance to see its exquisite works of art through its composition, lines and curves, textures, light, color, tone, and creativity. As a photographer I’ve attempted to present what I saw and experienced when I got up close and down on my old knees to experience Natures art. If anyone has read John Muir’s writing you will find that he also got down on his knees to see this incredible world of nature we live in.

    Nature photographer, Guy Tal, has an interesting post on the need to understand  art in order to be an artist. We need to be students of art and what greater teacher than Nature.

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  • architecture,  doors

    More Doors

    May 13, 2011
    Four Blue Doors

    In 2009 it was estimated that the US had 58,000 storage facilities with approximately 1 in 10 people renting one of these units within these facilities. I’m one of those individuals who rents one of these units, the smallest one I could find. I needed to place the few pieces of furniture and personal items, I own in storage while working in Columbus, Ohio.  I glad to say that next week I will be moving into an apartment and will clean out this unit. My sister and I have had a couple of good laughs because I don’t remember what I have in there. Wonder what I’ll find . 🙂

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  • Art,  leaves,  Plants/Nature

    I love it!

    May 12, 2011
    The Art in Nature

    Some will debate about whether a photograph is art. That’s a debate I stay away from. Yet when I see an image of a flower, a clouded sky, a mountain stream, I realize that Nature is the true artist and is in the process of creating new work every moment. I love it!

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