Lotus

This might be my last post of 2008. I'm leaving soon for a 2-day getaway in Galena, IL. I probably won't be posting anything while there. I'll try to post something on the 31st, when I return home, but can't guarantee it. In case I don't post before then, let me wish everyone who reads this Happy New Year.

This photo was taken in my friend Els' garden in Wenum, Netherlands in 2005. Her house has the most beautiful gardens I've seen in a private residence anywhere. The pond was located in a courtyard area between two wings of the house. Here's another photo taken at the pond. You can see one of the many frogs that live there.

More From The Fair

Back in August, I posted some photos I took at a small fair in 1996 using color saturated film. Here's a couple more photos from the same shoot.


I like the intense colors that this film provides. Unfortunately, it is no longer being made.

Merry Christmas!

I don't have a holiday themed photo on hand to share (I'm writing this from my Mom's house, and just grabbed a few photos before I left so I'd have something to post). This photo is the most colorful one I have with me, so it will have to do. It was taken in Chinatown in San Francisco when I was last there, over a year ago now. I like this photo, it nearly became a gum bichromate print last year.

Durham

Today's photo was taken in Durham, England, in 2003. Durham is a very cute small town in the north of England (we were on our way back to London from Edinburgh when we visited). There is a beautiful old cathedral and castle on top of a hill in Durham, which are well worth a visit if you're ever in that part of the world.

In Michigan

I drove to my mom's house in mid-Michigan today to spend the holidays. I picked a good day to travel, it has been extremely cold with near blizzard conditions across much of Michigan for the past couple of days, but today was mostly sunny (although still bitter cold). There's more snow on the ground now than I've seen over several years of holiday trips here.
The photo I've posted today is what it looked like here a couple of years ago. You can see, it's more rainy than snowy. While I don't miss the gray weather, I do wish it were warmer now.

Chinatown Shop Window

I shot this photo last summer on a day I was wandering around aimlessly with my camera in Chinatown. I do that fairly often. I'm in Chinatown a lot, it's pretty close to where I live, and there's always something there just waiting for me to come along and shoot it.

Hawaii

It's still cold in Chicago, and we got several inches of snow on Tuesday. It was kind of sunny today, but more crappy weather is supposed to be on it's way.

Here's a photo taken in Hawaii. I don't know if it takes my mind off the crappy weather, but at least it's a reminder that there has to be good weather someplace right now.

Communist Sculpture

This photo was taken in the Communist sculpture park in Budapest, Hungary. I was there in August of last year, and it was one of my favorite places in Budapest. I'm glad someone had the foresight to preserve all the old Communist era statuary.

OK, I really posted this today because it's freezing cold in Chicago right now, and it was very hot and sunny the day I was at the sculpture park. I'd like a little of that heat right now.

Almost Done

Sorry for not posting for a few days. I just finished the last week of classes this semester, and it was a very busy and tiring week. I have to give exams this coming week, then I'm off for three weeks to rest and regroup.


Here's a few photos to catch up. These were all taken a couple of years ago at the Art Institute of Chicago. I posted some photos from the same shoot here and here, so rather than explain it all again, read those old posts if you're interested.

I'm Tired

...and I have a bunch of things to do. So, here's a photo with no comments or explanation. You can all comment on it.

Today

This photo was taken a couple of years ago when I was at my Mom's house in Michigan. I'm posting it now because this is pretty much what the weather looked like for most of today. Dreary and crappy, with a constant drizzle of rain that started freezing right as I was leaving work. I pretty much hate winter, by the way.

Docent

I took this photo on Saturday, just a few minutes after I took the photo in yesterday's post. I was in the modern art galleries in the Art Institute of Chicago when I saw this docent peeking into a gallery under installation. Knowing it would make a good photo, I hurriedly pulled my camera out of the bag and hoped I could get a shot before he turned around. I actually got two before he did.

Faux Thomas Struth Photo

I shot this photo yesterday in the Art Institute of Chicago. While I like it, the simularity to the work of German photographer Thomas Struth is more than obvious. To be honest, I don't really like Struth's work that much. I think it's kind of one dimensional and too repetitive to hold much interest. So why did I shoot this photo? Because it was there. What more reason do I need?

San Francisco Chinatown

The last time I was in San Francisco (October 2007), I did a lot of shooting in Chinatown. I like San Francisco's Chinatown, it's very photogenic. It's also close to my sister's apartment, and it seems like nearly anywhere I went in the city, I passed through Chinatown first.

Adjusting The Dome

My friend Brady posted about A Photo A Day and Lightbender (my other blog) on his blog today (thanks, Brady!). Brady lives in London much of the time these days, and thinking of Brady made me think of London, a city I love. Here's a photo I took last time I was there, in 2003.

The photo was taken on Millenium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge which spans the Thames river. While crossing the bridge, I turned to look at St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance, and immediately knew I had to snap this photo.

It's a pretty easy to achieve trick. It relies on the flattening of the scene and the resulting possibility of scale confusion which occurs when shooting with a very long depth of field (those bad snapshots which look like a telephone pole is growing out of grandma's head is the same effect at work). All it takes is a small aperture setting and a careful lining up of the objects you are shooting.

Although it was unintentional, the crane growing out of the guy's head on the right side of the photo demonstrates the same concept. While that's the sort of thing that can ruin an otherwise good photo (like a telephone pole growing out of grandma's head), in this case it contributes to the surreal feeling of the photo.

I use this photo in my classes when I'm lecturing about how to achieve depth of field changes in a camera, and how to use both long and short depth of field creatively.

Begijnhof Panorama

Yesterday's photo of the statue in the Begijnhof made me remember this stitched together panorama taken there at the same time. As I mentioned yesterday, I took quite a few photos there, although photography might not be allowed (I don't recall seeing any signs when I shot these). It's a pretty photogenic place, and a big tourist draw, so enforcing a no photos policy is probably pretty difficult. I'm glad I shot these, whether or not I was breaking the rules.