attempts at art

The title of this thing is “some new stuff” because I can’t think of a better one

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I don’t even know what to call this set over here. I went on a little weekend trip over to Washington and Baltimore to hang out, go to Target, watch my friend get cable and to dive into a pool for the first time in 10+ years.

Oh and I took some photos, of course.

First, some fine Ansel Adams-esque work. This was well conceived and thought out work, and by that I mean I pointed the camera out the window of the speeding bus I was on and as usual, hoped for the best.

Here are the fantabulous results:

And now onto work that I find is hard to categorize. It usually has less to do with capturing something that is special and more to do with me learning how to photograph it.

I love the moving people ghost kind of photos, in case those of you who tune into the place didn’t know. Well, anyway, here is the latest attempt at that particular brand of photography:

This was taken in Washington’s “Chinatown” that has a Benetton and a CVS and a couple of god awful Chinese restaurants. They should call it “Big Chinese gate town.” But anyway, this is what I got from there.

Then, my friend and I took a little road trip to Baltimore (about an hour from DC). The locals call it “Balmer.” Here are some photos from this place called Fell’s Point:

Yeah, ok, its an alley, but to me, there is some magic in that. I love the lights and it reminds me of those Helmut Newton photos of alleys in Paris. Mine do not feature large Teutonic women in them. Unless I became the Teutonic woman in them. Not yet anyway.

This following photo was one of those contort yourself into all kinds of weird positions to take the photo. Also, the exposure time was really long, so the camera was resting on the ground. A minute long exposure time means the photo captures what you see, but you have to keep the camera completely still, or else the photography exercise ends in tears.

This one didn’t end in tears:

I took about 25 photos of this thing, but this one made the best impression of me. I loved the reflection of the light in the glassy looking water. Not like this didn’t take work, or whatever. But, of all this photos of this thing, this one really made an impression on me.

Remulak?

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Remulak, a small town in France. Ah, the Coneheads, a personal favorite sketch from Saturday Night Live for good reason.

Because to return to the conehead’s home planet of Remulak, the coneheads had to use the Chrysler Building as their return vehicle.

Fortunate for us, the coneheads never came to get the sublime Chrysler Building and thank god, because it is a beautiful building. And, as most beautiful things, really freakin’ hard to photograph. Really hard.

Sure, I could take photographs like this one:

But these never look the way I want them to. The building is glinting off in the distance, but on film, it just doesn’t come across. It probably has to do with the limitations of the digital camera. Of course it also has to do with the limitations of my day, as I can’t stand there for an hour figuring out how to position the camera. My hands also shake like crazy, making taking these photographs all the more difficult.

However, I’ve always thought that the shots of the Chrysler building were amazing and the best thing to capture is the sun bursts on the top. The thing is 77 floors high and I haven’t mastered levitation yet, so I stand, trying to get the sun bursts with my beautiful zoom lens on the digital. Those things usually can zoom in pretty well but in the image window, what you want to photograph is totally blurry.

So, here are the results of all of that. And also, keep in mind that I tried to match the vertical lines of the building with the sides of image that the camera made. Just that slightest shift took the photo from blah to something that I hope looks that it is on its way to being semi-artistic.

Let’s have a look see:
(you have to click on the photos to get the full effect).

See anything you like?

Chuck Close or Roy Lichtenstein?

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It just hit me when I took these pictures. I could be left anywhere doing anything and if I have my camera in my hand, it will turn into some kind of picture take exercise. I went to Walmart and photographed the place for a little while and if I had been left alone, I would have probably done up the whole place.

These things here. Well, I was on the train (huge surprise) and I was sitting next to this ad for some tv show. I have no interest in this tv show, but the light was hitting the ad in a way that I found interesting. Of course, with my handy-dandy camera, I started shooting away.

The ads are half-tone, which is the printing method used for newspapers. I used to be fascinated by it, all the dots and how the dots kind of come together for an image from far away. Anyway, I took these, downloaded them and sort of realized that they look kind of like Chuck Close or Roy Lichtenstein. That was completely not my intent. All I wanted was to photograph the little dot things.

You have to click on the photos to get the full effect. Otherwise, they are a bit flat, I know, I realize that.

Anyway, three paragraphs of explanation for these things:

This reminded me of one of those old ads from the 1950s. The thing to the right by the way is a man in a collared shirt.

The eye, singular:

The lesson is that I cannot be left alone with a camera anywhere ever. But I feel creative again and that was the point of this exercise.

Monoliths or immitating the greats?

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Another altered photo from my post work motor drivin’. Yes, the little square on the photo is the light from the inside of the train. Well, I can’t say I am not immitating someone again. This time its Margaret Bourke-White. You have to click on it because the thumb nail doesn’t really give you the full effect.

taking an kind of ok photo and kind of making it…

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Better? I love this bridge. Ok, I say that about every bridge I see, but this one I really love. This is this bridge that takes you to 125th street. When you sit in the train and it is going by and you are listening to music, its like the beginning or the end of a movie. I’ve been trying to figure out how to photograph it forever. This was another result of the production from the motor drive. Oh well. If I’m not happy with it, I’ll have about a million more chances to photograph it.

On second thought….

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Here is the original of the warehouse industrial photo that is b&w below. I had all day to look at it and I grew to like the blue. So, you, my viewing public comment on which one you like better. And, there is no spelling to be corrected here.