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Square Format
In the bygone days of film photographers with the resources and energy to print their own photographs weren’t constrained by anything but the size of paper they could purchase and their ingenuity for rigging up a system to project light onto that paper. But for most people who took their film down to the local Fotomat — those goofy little drive-up kiosks in shopping center parking lots — to be developed and printed, a couple…
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Postcard Archive: November 2021
With the new month comes a new postcard. Leaves always fascinate me. Not in their collective but in their individuality (a collection of portraits of leaves is in my recent 52/4 journal). This one caught my eye. Let me know if you want to get a postcard of it. A warm fall deprived us the season’s flaming reds, oranges, and yellows. Most leaves just turned brown and fell to the ground. The frost this morning seemed to…
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52 / 4
I just sent the files of the latest issue of 52 to the local printer, Fireball Printing. This issue is a collection of photos of leaves, usually just a single leaf though a few pairs of leaves. They reflect quiet fall moments before a breeze or a car disturbs them. The printed photograph encourages a different, lingering engagement with the image, and allows for sequencing and order that digital photos discourage. There is no scrolling,…
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Silhouette of a Horse
A chance to spend another hour or so at Ashford Farms, a local stable, gave me the chance to take some more photos of the horses. Many of the horses were in their stables, so I tried to make the best of the strong lighting contrast. Silhouettes seemed like a good way to go. A few turned out ok. Here’s one:
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Rule of Thirds
Photographic rules and guidelines are everywhere: golden spiral, golden triangles, avoid placing a subject dead center, center the dominate eye, don’t divide the frame in half, strive for symmetry, avoid symmetry, create dynamic symmetry, in portraits don’t crop limbs, in headshots you need not include the top of the person’s head, steady the camera so as to avoid shake, try to create intentional camera movement, be sure to straighten the horizon, use leading lines. And,…
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Can’t See the Forest
Standing here looking west, it’s easy to lose yourself in thick forest of trees. There is no path leading forward. No obvious way to the far side, if indeed there is a far side. Although the sun shines somewhere overhead, here under the canopy of branches and leaves a diffuse light seems to permeate the scene. I pause for a moment to enjoy the solitude and to imagine I’m on the edge of some vast…
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Detritus
Detritus (noun): waste or debris of any kind. Cf., discarded matter, refuse, litter, flotsam & jetsam, dross, chaff. Maybe sediment (noun): matter that settles to the bottom (usually of a liquid). Cf., dregs, lees, residue, alluvium. The difference, to me, is we can’t help but produce sediment. Just our being generates a trail of sediment everywhere we go. Detritus, however, is often a willful act of discarding, throwing off that which we no longer want. Cigarette butts are surely detritus.
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Horse portraits
On a recent Saturday at the local stables I dawdled around taking photos of the horses. They were so cooperative, extending their heads and looking right at me. It was a lovely day, and a pleasant way to spend a few minutes. I have no idea if the horses cared, they didn’t say one way or another. But I had fun and came away with a handful of striking portaits.
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Postcard Archive: August 2021
With the new month comes a new postcard. This month I was inspired by the detritus I found on a local walk and recollections of Penn’s portraits of cigarettes. Let me know if you want to receive a postcard. A selection of cigarette butts from a local “nature trail.” I look forward to a day when the cigarette butt goes the way of the pulltab.
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Postcard Archive: July 2021
With the new month comes a new postcard. This month I imagined I was in a city that had lovely sidewalk cafes and a rich pedestrian culture. One can dream. Let me know if you want me to send you a postcard. The chair beckons, encouraging me to linger for a moment. Nobody is around. Perhaps I will.