More photos from Nova Scotia….
I sort of half inadvertently developed a series of photographs of people working. Some more interesting than others, but all with a story or two to tell.
More photos from Nova Scotia….
I sort of half inadvertently developed a series of photographs of people working. Some more interesting than others, but all with a story or two to tell.
I got my camera back from the shop last week and had a chance to test it out over the weekend. Kathy & I visited Shelton Vineyards with some of our nature photography buddies. As far as I can tell it looks like the machine is functioning properly. The operator felt a little rusty but I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
More photos than words today, so enjoy!
There were a number of good and thoughtful comments to my previous post about balance. Some of them related to the visual balance of photography, but mostly the comments seemed to revolve around the time balance involved in making time for photography, and to a lesser extent about time balance in our lives in general. I find myself more and more preferring to photograph as a part of traveling or doing other things, as opposed to making photography the central purpose of my activity. There is a subtle but important distinction between the two. Mostly it just means a change in subject matter, but because I’m photographing things that attract me or grab my attention as I go, I’m more likely to photograph things that have more interest or meaning to me, rather than just going down a checklist or conforming to some predetermined agenda or formula.
Cedric’s comment was perhaps the most interesting to me, because he read my words in the context of the accompanying photographs, which were more of a “centered” type of composition. Relating it to his personal preference for photos that are “grossly one sided across the vertical” he said that he rarely shares that type of photograph, “because generally they are not popular and sometimes rattle people too much.”
My reaction when reading those words was “why does “balanced” have to be “centered?”” If your vision (or your preference) results in a photograph that has the subject off to one side and it pleases you and suits your intention, isn’t that OK? Balance should be dictated by what works for us in a particular situation and what feels right to us. In most cases that might mean a result that is closer to the center than to the edge, but it doesn’t have to.
Mark’s comments focused on the parallels between visual and time balance, and the fact that he feels that he has more control over the photographic part than the time part. I agree, as there are more outside demands on our time than there are on our photographic vision. I probably would have been perfectly willing to get up at 4am for sunrise a few days, were it not for the fact that our days didn’t leave room for catching up on lost sleep, that daylight went until sunset at 9:00 and that I didn’t want to go home from vacation needing a vacation! It was a lot easier to convince my traveling companions to head out for sunset than to get up for sunrise, so it was an accommodation I was more than willing to make, even if it meant completely forgoing sunrise.
Paul’s comment referenced my decision to leave the laptop at home, stating that he often does the same when I he travels. He said that he sometimes goes so far as to leave the camera at home, preferring to remove the “self-pressure to get out and photograph and carve out that time to do it.” I’ve found that, too. Sometimes I just want to go and watch, to experience whatever it is I’m doing for what it is. I don’t need to capture it with a camera if I see it, experience it and remember it. There is a time and place for the camera, and there is a time and place to just watch.
As it relates to photographic composition, I’m convinced that “balance” doesn’t have to mean “middle.” I’d love to see some of Cedric’s “unbalanced-balanced” photographs. I’ll bet we would love them, mostly because they would reflect his vision and are made from his heart. On the subject of time, some of us choose and are able to spend all of our waking hours doing photography. That’s great. If others of us are only able to carve out a few hours a day or a week for our photography, that’s just the other end of the continuum and is OK, too. When I’m faced with a choice between a nice dinner with my sweetie and a possible sunset opportunity, more often than not I’m going to choose the nice dinner. Except for those rare times of the year when I can do both! Several of us have given up television in exchange for more time doing other things. If that’s a decision that works for us, then that’s OK. If I post dozens of photos a day to my blog or Facebook while Paul leaves the computer at home and each choice works for us, that’s cool.
I think the main lesson in all of this discussion and conversation is that balance means different things to each of us. What is balanced to me may be nothing but tension for someone else. And what someone else finds comfortable might be like chaos for me. And you know what? That’s part of what makes this life so wonderful! Each of us has our own take on what works, for the most part we have the ability and the means to express it, and in the end what matters is that what we do makes us happy. If we are able to share our work and make a few other people smile in the process, that is just gravy!
My barber always talks about shape and balance when it comes to a good haircut. Three of my photos hang on the wall of his shop, and he always refers to those photos when he is talking to a customer about balance. I’m also aware that he says this partly for my benefit when I’m there, but it also illustrates his point. He also happens to be one of the biggest fans of my photography. 🙂
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about balance, mostly in terms of managing competing priorities, but also how it relates to my photography. Visual balance is relatively easy, I think, partly because it is subjective, but also because there is a pretty wide range for success. Time balance is somewhat more difficult, and is really what I have been spending my time thinking about.
Whether at work, spending a weekend at home or on vacation, I struggle at balance. It’s mostly because of the classic “only 24 hours in a day,” but is also because there are so many interesting things competing for my time! I have to spend a certain amount of my day at work, because they pay me to be there. And I have to spend most of my time there doing the things they want me to do, because that’s what they pay me to do. Other than that, my time is mine, but within certain constraints, and subject to multiple distractions. Those of us who work for a living and have interests outside of work – which I think includes just about everyone I know – constantly face the dilemma of competing priorities.
When we sold our house and moved to our apartment in May, I was looking forward to all kinds of time to work on some projects I had been trying to get to for a long time. I promised myself time to write more on my blog, process more photos, update my website, make some prints and build a new computer. I haven’t done any of those things – yet. But the reason for that is that I have been doing other things that have had a higher priority. A lot of it has been Kathy & me taking a collective sigh of relief from the drama of selling our house and moving. And our new place is still mud and dirt, so there’s going to be a lot more time, I think. Now that we’ve had a nice vacation and I have several thousand more photos to process, I had better stay glued to my chair for a while!
On our recent vacation, I faced a dilemma regarding the balance of time for photography and time to enjoy the other aspects of being in Nova Scotia. With sunrise before 6:00am and sunset after 9:00pm, trying to photograph sunrise and sunset, especially sunrise, was going to be problematic. I love sunrise, but it comes way too early for me most of the year, so I was satisfied to rise with the rest of the world at 7:00, have a nice breakfast and be on my way at a reasonable hour. And I managed to sneak in a little sunset activity after dinner in a few locations. It was enough to satisfy my photographic needs while enjoying the tourist side of things by having a nice dinner every night. Did I miss some photographic “opportunities?” Perhaps, but this wasn’t a photography trip, and there is way more to do in Nova Scotia than take pictures. They have food and wine there! This was a vacation with Kathy and friends. So I accepted that, adjusted my mindset accordingly and we all came away happy and satisfied. Good balance.
I chose to not take a computer with me on this vacation. Besides the obvious weight and bulk, my opinion is that having a computer along provides a huge potential for distraction. If it was just a matter of backing up my photos every night and putting it way that would be fine, but then comes the temptation to process a few “just to see what I got,” then there is some kind of software update, while you wait you open Facebook and before you know it you have wasted 2 hours while everyone else is waiting to go to dinner. No thanks. The people I care most about are with me, and those who aren’t can wait until I get home.
We deal with visual balance in photography, and I think that dealing with visual balance helps to deal with time balance, because it forces us to evaluate all of the possibilities and come up with the one (or the few) ways to achieve the balance we are looking for. Just like I feel that visual balance is essential to good composition, I’m convinced that time balance is essential to a happy life. How a photograph is balanced visually is a huge influence on how successful a composition is. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that every photograph has to be IN balance, just that HOW it is balanced influences the success of the composition. And the same principal applies to how we manage our time. I’m working at finding that balance in my daily life, so I can find that right mix of time for work, time for me, and time for those who love me and who I love. I hope to continue to work on that balance for a long time!
I recently sold a couple of prints to a repeat customer, and before I made the prints I went back over the files, as I often do, and made a few tweaks to take advantage of a more recent version of Lightroom than I used when I originally processed the photos a few years ago. As I was going through my library, specifically the folder where one of those prints resides, I went back and looked at some of the other photos in that folder. As often happens, a number of my “picks” for that day hadn’t been processed, and I was playing around to see what some of them might look like processed. I came across this version that I think I like even better than the first. It is a different flower, but the composition and the lighting make it a bit more dramatic than my original favorite. I made a small print of this one, but think I may have to go a little larger and make one to hang on the wall.
My “former favorite” is below. I’ll be interested in thoughts on how the two compare.
I guess it’s human nature that we find comfort in returning to things and places we have been before and know well. Even when we have moved on to so-called “bigger and better things” we never completely get away from our past. Whether that is good or bad is to be determined, and is up to each of us to decide.
While it’s where I started my “serious” photographic endeavors, I find myself doing very little classic “Nature Photography” these days. Not that there is anything wrong with it, as there are few things I enjoy more than standing at an overlook in the pre-dawn cold or the late evening dusk waiting for that Magic Moment. But there’s just so much more to do than that. As much as I love it, in many ways, as a photographer I’ve moved on.
I need to be a little cautious here, because I have a lot of good friends for whom nature photography is exactly what they want to do, and they spend all of their spare time, effort and money doing it. So I’m not trying to make myself out as better than anyone, or suggest that I am more of an artiste than someone else, just because I like taking photographs of peeling paint and shadows. It’s just that after a few hundred sunrises and sunsets, eventually they all sort of started looking the same to me. While I still do my share of sunrises and sunsets, flowers and bugs, there’s only so much time, and I want to see what else there is!
So with all that said, this month’s calendar is one of those cliché photographs from an iconic location. Morton Overlook in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of just a handful of places you can shoot sunset standing next to your car. Plus, it often has just the right combination of good light and interesting sky that it often produces interesting results. The downside, however, is that there is really only one view. You seldom need anything but a 24-70 lens, which is what I used for this photo. You can go wide or long within those limits, but for the most part that’s about what you have to work with. The rest is up to the fate of the weather conditions. Makes it a little hard to be contemplative or creative, it’s mostly a matter of luck.
This was taken with my long-obsolete Canon 20D and the now-ancient 24-70 lens. Re-processed in Lightroom 4 to take advantage of some new technology. Still not a bad photograph, I’d say. And I’ll have that lens with me for a while!
I was originally going to title this post “Take the Money and Run,” but when I thought about what I really wanted to say, I realized I was wanting to talk more about the present and the future than revisiting the past. I mentioned in an earlier post about the fact that we had sold our house, were sweating out the due diligence process and had been waiting – somewhat impatiently – to get the green light to move, and eventually to actually close the sale. Well, that’s all done now. We sent about half of our stuff to storage on May 22, moved the important stuff – cameras, computers, the bed and a little bit of furniture 🙂 – into an apartment on May 23, spent the 23rd and 24th unpacking most of what we brought, then immediately headed off to Belhaven, our favorite little town on the coast, for Memorial Day weekend. We then spent evenings this past week and this just-past weekend getting the rest of the odds and ends squared away. I got my printer hooked up and working this morning – it fortunately seems to have survived the move with no ill effects. I have some pictures to hang, but that will be about it.
We closed the sale on the 30th, so now we are houseless, but not homeless. We had lived in our house for 17 years. That’s an eternity for some people, and is the longest we have ever lived in one place. And we haven’t lived in an apartment since 1984. I think one of the lessons learned from the selling and moving process is that that is way too long to stay in one place. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff, and the older a house gets the more money it takes to keep it up. And that’s money that I would rather spend on things other than house maintenance.
Our current plan is to move into a new condo early this fall. It is currently in the very early construction stages – as in there isn’t even a road to it yet. But we visited the site this morning, and there are curbs now where there was just a hint of road only a week ago. The lot is graded and staked out, so we’re thinking that as soon as the road is paved we’ll start seeing forms go up for the footers. That’s pretty exciting – building our own place from the ground up. We’re not physically building it of course, but we picked the floor plan, chose the options and got to put our “signature” on it. All very exciting.
In the mean time, what to do? We think we’re going to like this little break quite a bit. A few months where the only things we need to think about are the necessities. Sure, we need to get up and go to work every day. We need to plan meals and get our exercise. But other than that? No boxes, no inspections and no appraisals. Almost worry free! Most everyone we know tells us that we’ll get tired of apartment living very quickly, and that we won’t be able to wait to get into our condo. But I don’t know. Part of us thinks we could get used to the “footloose and fancy free” lifestyle for a few years, maybe longer. Who says we need to own a house? Only the people who have a vested interest in selling us one! Throwing my money away on rent? How about throwing it away on interest instead? Take your pick and pay The Man. Conventional wisdom isn’t necessarily conventional or wise, I say.
We have every intention of going through with the condo purchase as planned. But we’re going to use this little bit of free time to consider all of our options. And that includes deciding whether or not we want to be tied to owning a house that we have to sell again, or if we just like the idea of giving 60 days notice, loading up the truck and moving somewhere else. There’s a certain appeal to that idea that tells me that I shouldn’t dismiss it out of hand. So we’ll see.
So what does all of this have to do with photography? Probably not a whole lot, except that for the next few months I expect to have a lot more time to spend wandering around with my camera. And I plan to have plenty of time to start writing for my blog again. And we’ll probably travel a little bit, maybe a lot. And that sounds like something that I can really look forward to.
This past Saturday, I met up with Paul and Earl at the Carolina Raptor Center for a session of their twice-yearly PhotoWild! Event, where, usually in four sessions over a weekend, the Raptor Center staff show some of their birds in several photography-oriented sessions, limited to a relatively small number of photographers. This was the first time I had attended such an event. And despite the fact that the Raptor Center is only about two miles from my house, it was only the second time I had ever been there. I travel to Latta Planation Park, where the Raptor Center is located, on a regular basis, but don’t generally think of stopping there.
PhotoWild! is one of the Raptor Center’s major fundraising events for the year, and they do good work there, so I didn’t mind paying to attend.
I generally shy away from outings to places like zoos and gardens, as I don’t find such places conducive to the more contemplative type of photography I prefer. There are certainly many things to photograph at the Raptor Center, and this outing certainly provided plenty of material. I see shooting at a place like the Raptor Center more of an “objective” type of photography, where I’m presented with a subject not of my choosing and I generally shoot what I see, taking a bunch of pictures and hoping to end up with something I like at the end.
In an environment where a subject is a wild animal, can be easily spooked and is being shared by as many as 20-30 other photographers, there aren’t a lot of choices in how to photograph. As a result it can be a little tough to be creative, and can prove difficult to get a shot that reflects something other than a simple documentary photograph. Sometimes I just sat and watched, admiring a creature that only a few people can see at such a close range. They are truly beautiful creatures and worthy of our respect.
All that said, however, it was a lot of fun. I was astonished to realize that, over the course of about 4 hours, I created over 1200 files. I’d like to say that I took over 1200 photographs, but that would be overly generous. Between the blurry shots with moving wings or heads, or the many out-of-focus motion shots, I ended up with far fewer “photographs.” My initial pass through the frames – while admittedly very cursory and perhaps overly critical, resulted in only 38 “keepers.” I’ll probably end up with more once I go back through them, but that’s a pretty low success rate. I’m glad it wasn’t film!
Even though it wasn’t necessarily a “successful” outing photographically, there is always a lot to learn every time I pick up a camera. I found that I have a lot to learn about photographing birds in flight, and just having a camera with a purportedly excellent focusing ability doesn’t guarantee good shots! Exposing dark or light birds against a dark or light background is an opportunity to practice good exposure. And after identifying the birds in 1200+ frames, I know a lot more than I did before about owls, hawks and falcons!
All in all, I’d have to say that I enjoyed it and would do it again. I’ll have to think about my “opportunities” from this first session and try to figure out how to do it differently, and perhaps better, the next time.
Kathy & I spent this past weekend in Charleston, West Virginia. Why Charleston? We met up with friends from Ohio with whom we are planning a vacation this summer, and it is roughly half-way for both of us. It was a planning weekend for us, easier than trying to talk on the phone, or Skype, or send e-mails back and forth. A friend of Kathy’s remarked that “only we would take a vacation to plan a vacation.” Well, duh! 🙂
It wasn’t really a photography weekend, but I did take a camera. I almost always have at least one camera with me, and although I didn’t carry it to dinner, when we went out for breakfast or lunch, or just for a stretch, I took it along just in case I saw something interesting. I don’t think I came back with any prize-winning shots, but it was good exercise.
I’ll eventually get around to writing more about it, but I’ve been on sort of a “one camera, one lens” kick the last couple of months. I bought one of the Canon 50mm 1.4 lenses a few months ago, and I don’t think I’ve taken it off my camera! I just love the simplicity of the single focal length, and have really enjoyed the discipline of having to work a little bit to refine a composition, rather than just twist the zoom ring. It really makes me think about what I am shooting and what I’m trying to show. At first I was afraid the 50 would be a little wide, but I’ve gotten used to it.
I think I could have represented Charleston in a more favorable light had I gone a few weeks later, but things were still pretty brown there. The trees were just starting to show some buds and the grass – what little we could see downtown – was still pretty brown. And the whole place had that “could stand a good rainstorm” look that cities get when the snow has just finished melting. Not that they’ve had a lot of snow, but that was sort of the look it reminded me of.
In just a little over a week, Earl and Paul & I are going to go shoot some birds at the Carolina Raptor Center. I suppose I’ll have to take the 50 off for that, but I’ll probably put it back on as soon as I’m done!
In the comments to my last post, Paul gently chided me about the fact that, in a post about our visit to Charleston that I didn’t talk about the food. Sorry! It was one of the most important things we did that weekend, but frankly I had been planning to write more than one post about our weekend, and one of them – this one, in fact – would be to talk about the food.
Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale
Our visit to this place was rather a fluke, as the day we arrived it was pouring rain, the town was full of people attending the Southeastern Wildlife Expo, which we knew was happening but had no idea it was such a big deal. It’s a big deal.
Anyway, the bellman at our hotel told us that we needed to go to a place called Bubba Slyes Deli, located right around the corner on King Street. So off we went, only to find that Bubba had called it quits just the day before and the place is now closed. Practically next door to Bubba’s is a place called Juanita Greenberg’s Nacho Royale, which sounded like an impossibly interesting name. They didn’t have a wait, so we went in. Overall it was decent faux southwestern food, but it hit the spot and the beer was cold, so mission accomplished.
Hall’s Chop House
This was the real reason we ventured to Charleston in the first place. Long-time food & wine buddy Stefan Stanton, formerly a manager at Dressler’s Restaurant in Charlotte – our favorite hometown restaurant – is now a full-time surfer dude and occasional waiter at Hall’s Chop House, reputed to be one of Charleston’s top restaurants. And what a place! It was partly due to the anticipation of seeing Stefan again (it had been a year since he left Dressler’s), but from the moment we walked in the door, the people at Hall’s – including it seemed most of the Hall family – made a point of welcoming us, introducing themselves and basically making us feel like the most important people who had ever showed up at their place for dinner. And what a nice feeling after too many less-than-enthusiastic chain restaurant experiences.
The service from everyone from the bartender to the bus boys – and most especially our waiter – was superb. Stefan introduced us to their sommelier, who recommended a couple of excellent wines, making it easy to choose from their enormous and outstanding selection. Hall’s specialty is dry-aged beef, and while I have had it before, I have never had dry-aged beef like THAT before! It is fairly rare to find a restaurant that dry-ages their own beef, knows how to pick it and – most importantly – knows how to cook it. I had a dry-aged Ribeye that was easily the best restaurant steak I’ve ever had. Kathy had a filet that she could have cut with her fork, and it was delicious. And the dessert – let’s just say that you can’t go wrong with any of the desserts!
Stefan is clearly loving life, and it was great to connect with him and experience Hall’s. He seems right at home there, and I swear that if I could find a way to marry into the family he might just have a job for life! Overall, Kathy & I agree that our dinner there was probably the best restaurant experience ever. We don’t have the resume for that to mean very much, but we’ve been around enough to know what’s good, and Hall’s Chop House is beyond good. It was truly fabulous.
Caviar & Bananas
Another unlikely-sounding place, this is officially a gourmet market and café, and is located just a little out of the way from the tourist traffic, near the College of Charleston. We went there for a late breakfast on Sunday, which explains why I don’t write about my Sunday lunch – we didn’t have any! Their signature dessert – which I did not have but should have – is Caviar & Bananas. It’s described on their menu as “Bruleed Bananas, Sweet Tapioca, Local Honey, Brown Sugar, Marscapone & Almond Tuile. Yummy!
Basil
Recommended by our buddy Jon Dressler, we visited Basil, a Thai restaurant just up King Street from Hall’s, for dinner on Sunday night. Believe it or not, neither Kathy nor I had ever eaten Thai food before. So, trusting Dressler, we went. It was great! I know that I am probably very inaccurate to say that it is a lot like Chinese, but I thought it was a lot like Chinese, with some different spices and flavors. The wait – even on a Sunday night – was over an hour, which we passed across the street in the bar at The MacIntosh, which looks like a nice restaurant itself. Next time!
There is a Basil restaurant in Charlotte, also. We’re going to have to ‘give Thai another try.’ We really did like it!
Jack’s Café
Practically next door to Caviar & Bananas on George Street, is this Monday-Friday, breakfast-lunch only place called Jack’s Café. It’s nothing fancy, but Jack himself has been running the grill for nearly 40 years. Good, fast diner food, served with a smile at a reasonable price, it’s sometimes just the ticket. The cheeseburgers are supposed to be excellent, so we’ll probably need to go back for lunch. Next time!
So there are the highlights of our Tour de Food in Charleston. Every person who goes as their favorite places, and we now have a few more of our own. The next time we go, we’ll definitely make room for a return visit to Hall’s. And some day (Paul) I’ll get to Hyman Seafood! 🙂