For Those of You Longing for a Road Trip

Great article in this weekend's New York Times travel section of Woody Guthrie's America. From Grand Coulee Dam to Los Angeles to Santa Fe and on to Long Island, its a great read and a great trip.  I more or less did it in reverse some 25 years ago, leaving Brooklyn where I had lived for a while, heading down the eastern shore to Savannah, hung a right through New Orleans, New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas, before heading north to return to my roots in the Puget Sound area. 
In Search of Woody Guthrie's America

MOVING ON

Starting today, I will be blogging on photographic topics at my photo portfolio site, www.chuckkirchner.zenfolio.com. Information on my workshops, publications, etc. can now be found on that site as well.  Please follow! 

This blog will now focus on travel, my other favorite topic.

F Stop EMagazine

If you'd like to see contemporary photography by emerging artists, check out F-Stop, a free on-line photography magazine.  Each bi-monthly issue is dedicated to a specific topic, with the current issue focusing on "Cities."  Worth a check. http://www.fstopmagazine.com/home.html

Snapseed II

When it comes to creativity in photography, there are lots of options, both in camera and post-processing. In a post earlier this summer, I discussed a new app available for iPads (and possibly smartphones, but not desktop or laptop computers). It's called Snapseed and has an amazing array of special effects, most of which are fine-tunable by the photographer.

While India is a blaze of color, the simplicity in me likes the opportunity to boil an image down to its essentials. So, starting with a vibrant color photo, it took only a few adjustments in Snapseed to truly get down to the basics - almost a line drawing.  As with any photo of a person, the eyes probably matter the most, and that's obvious here.  I did not do selective work (meaning a different degree of adjustment on the eyes versus other elements of the photo), but rather and overall adjustment applied to the whole photo.  I love the result. Hopefully you will too!

Artist Registries

One way to get your art out there is to sign up for artist registries whenever you have the opportunity. I've been a registered artist in the Episcopal Church Visual Arts site for several years and have just had a photograph accepted into their latest open call "Of the Heart."   

http://ecva.org/exhibition/OfTheHeart/012ChuckKirchnerOTH2013.htm

Various organizations that you belong to may have artist registries as well.  Worth looking into if for no other reasons that to share your vision - and what better reason is there?!

Says It All

A picture is worth a 1000 words.  Or sometimes it emphasizes one word. A little panning motion shot at 1/13 of a second with the subject - Triumph - in focus. All the elements came together on this one - motion, both of bodies and of the drum stick, background totally blurred and a good depth of field in terms of the drum corps. Taken at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games, August 2013. The Triumph Street Pipe Band of Vancouver BC, one of the world's best pipe bands.

To Crop or Not to Crop

...that is the question.  When in doubt, probably best to stick with the original since that, at least in theory, was meant to be the photograph. Now, there will be times that even in our pre-visualization, we knew that we would need to crop the image due to the limitations of our camera/lens. But usually not. Still, when we get home and see the image on the screen, we realize that there are several potential "final" images (see my August 1, 2013 post for examples).

Sometimes its just not clear what is the "best" image size.  Here's my example from the 2010 NW Folklife Festival. The first is the uncropped version (I did change the original from full color to a "toned" photo to emphasize the mood that I felt). This one has a lot of white space, though with the rays of color emanating from the woman, it does add a overall degree of mystery and further emphasizes the woman.

 

The second is the cropped version, focusing in on the two figures, which emphasizes the coming and going of the two dancers. While the woman is still the main subject, due to her facing the camera and the modest color tone of her dress, there is a more equal weight between the two individuals.

 I like both images for very different reasons, for they really become two different concepts, with different emphasis, and there is nothing wrong with that. Just know WHY there are different ways of viewing the original image.

Yes, Photography is Art!

 

When I completed the book "Another Way of Telling," I immediately picked up the Aperture Masters of Photography book, "Alfred Stieglitz" and read the essay by Dorothy Norman. For Stieglitz, a photograph reflects what "one truly and most sacredly experiences oneself." He fought beginning in the 1880's for the stature of photography as an art form, a means of "expression to be respected in its own right, on the same basis as any other art form."


And speaking in the 1930's yet even more poignant for today's photographer, Alfred said that "Personally, I like my photographs straight, unmanipulated, devoid of all tricks ... But should any one want to go to his own particular photographic hell in his own particular way - manipulated, hybrid or whatever - I say, "Got to it. But go to it for all you are worth, the harder the better, insisting on your right of way without necessarily disregarding all traffic lights. And if you must disregard even those, I say: 'Go ahead full speed!'

Journey On!

Is Photography Art?

I just finished reading a provocative book by John Berger and Jean Mohr entitled "Another Way of Telling." Through several essays and several hundred photographs (mostly by Jean, augments by other photographers including Andre Kertesz), the author (John) and photographer (Jean) discuss photography as "fact" and limitations and ambiguities of photos. A very philosophical read so say the least. The section that caught my eye the most deals with photography as art.  Paul Strand thought of himself as an artist. Bruce Davidson thought his photos do no "pose as art." John Berger himself states that he does not consider photography as art, but rather "quote from appearances."

Personally, I do view photography as an art form and that I am an artist.  Now, does that mean that all 100 million photos taken in the average day are all art?  Well, no.  But when taken purposely, using one's vision, coupled with technical skills learned over time, a photograph becomes more than a snapshot, but becomes a creation of the photographer, the artist. The most powerful photographs, be it of a landscape or a person, convey emotion. This can be the f64 stillness of Yosemite or the blur of a peasant girl running beside a train in Indonesia hoping for something to change in her life (see Jean's photograph of pages 73-74 of the book this photo that will stick in my mind for a long time). The photographer conveys the emotion - conservation, concern for others, happiness, solitude, joy, sadness, love, hate, peace.  And if that's not art, well ...

Three For One

I've been examining photographs that I originally shot in 2007 for a potential new photo book.  One of the many photographs that caught my eye years ago was, nonetheless, not quite "right" to my eye. I loved the motion of the Asian dancers but the considerable blank space in the middle was a bit discomforting. Still, I liked it but never did anything with it, like print or share.

Then came this evening. I reexamined the photo some seven years after its initial creation (that IS what photographers do, by the way - create!) to see what I could do.  And, not fearing to crop, I saw that the original actually contained within it two singular photos - the dancers on the right and the dance on the left. I love the cacaphany of colors in the right hand figures, and the barely visible yet recognizable face of the main dancer. Did a little bit of exposure compensation to bring out the colors a bit more, but otherwise as shot.
 

 

 

I then focused on the figure on the left and while an equally colorful subject, I did some experimentation and ended up with another point of view - that of emphasizing the motion, deemphasizing the color, and making it more ethereal. 

So, with one click of the shutter, three photographs emerged.  Would it have been better to have taken three separate photos - one of the groups (as shot), one of the dancers on the right, one of the dancer on the left? Oh, ideally, especially if one wants to do large scale enlargements.  But during a performance, there's not always time (actually, rarely the time) to set up images in advance. Work with what you have.

A Goal Finally Realized

In March of this year, on the spur-of-the-moment, I joined ten other photographers on a journey to the Hilo area of the Big Island of Hawaii, lea by Doug Beasley. One of my intentions was to create a black-and-white portfolio of images from this journey. But as I've told my own photo students in the digital photo era, always shoot in color; you can always convert to black-and-white later, while the reverse only works if your hand tint!  So, I created hundreds of color images during the ten days among the sun (occasionally), rain (pretty much every day), sand (lots of days), and adventures (daily) of the trip.  And I was pretty pleased with the results. 

But, the original intent of creating black-and-white images was still out there.  (BTW, it's interesting to note that half of the participants in the journey did create black-and-white or sepia-toned photographs during the journey; though all of their original digital files were color.)  So, I've been working with a half dozen of my favorite Hilo-area photos over the past week to see what works in black-and-white or another technique that I called "faded color." The latter tones down the color saturation (by color channel) and keeps a modicum of the principal color(s) while making the rest of the photo black-and-white. 

 

Bamboo with such a touch of the yellow-orange stocks and a very light touch of green leaves.

 

A morning sunrise over the ever-present clouds from the local beach. It was dramatic enough to survive a full desaturation.

 

A canopied-roadway where I toned down the brilliant green leaves, and the fallen brown leaves, and then added a bit of blur (actually de-clarified the image in Lightroom) for a more mystical feeling.

 

More bamboo trees, emphasizing their verticality yet keeping just a touch of the yellow-green leaves. 

 

A grave marker that went from a brilliant color splash of the flower to a pure geometric image when converted to black-and-white.

Finally, my favorite photo from the entire trip, where the small statue had been soft but rough grey-green but now appears from out of the surrounding darkness with the crystal beads still shining.

 

In case you're curious about the original color photographs, well, here they are.  I purposely didn't line them up for comparison sake, since I enjoy both versions.  But I also wanted to be true to my original intent - emphasizing graphic images, not necessarily color.  And I think I've been able to achieve that - while still creating great color photos as well!

 

 

Mahalo!

Great Photo App

While I primarily process my photographs using Adobe Lightroom which has amazing capabilities, I've come across an iPhone/iPad app that's pretty amazing in and of itself.  Its called Snapseed, and it is quick to learn and really easy to use. I took one of my favorite coastal photographs, shot in color with my Nikon D300 and transferred it to my iPad. I then converted it to black and white and used the yellow filter to bring "snap" to the final photograph.  And like all good photo software, when I saved it, Snapseed created a new file and didn't override the original color photo.  While I'm still really happy with the color version, the B+W version is pretty cool as well.  The app is free is available for for both iPad/iPhone and Android users.  It was available at one time for PCs/Macs but that version is no longer available. Too bad. 

 

Panoramas

While I've had my iPhone 5 for a while (early adaptor for a change), I didn't realize that the phone's camera had a panorama feature until more recently. I've been experimenting with the feature and have a few thoughts.  First, its pretty cool.  Second, you need to pay a lot of attention to the foreground which can take on unexpected prominence. Third, you need to move the iPhone steadily to maximize the usable vertical space (if you don't hold it steady as you sweep the scene, you get black spaces on the top or bottom that then need to be cropped, further reducing the usable vertical image). Fourth, don't overdue it! Panoramas are really designed to capture an overall horizontal scene and are quite effective at it. But those are pretty isolated cases.  Fifth, panoramas make good banners for your website (see this sites banner!) or your Facebook timeline. Sixth, experiment!   

The beach just north of the Santa Monica pier.

Window Rock, Navajo Reservation, Arizona

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Opens

Bainbridge Island has always been a creative community - dance, music, theater, writing.  Now you can add the visual arts!  The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art opened this past Friday, at the corner of SR-305 and Winslow Way, just a short walk from downtown and from the ferry terminal.  And I'm pleased to say that I have nine photographs included in the opening show - six in the community gallery on the 1st floor and three additional ones near the classroom upstairs.  Its great and a bit humbling to be included among the amazing artists represented in this space.  Hopefully you'll have a chance to visit the museum this summer (the opening exhibits will be up until sometime in September).  More info on the museum can be found at: http://www.biartmuseum.org/

Cropping (and Compositional) Techniques

While I don't use or even check my Twitter feed very often, I did come across a posting from Andrew Childress this past week that was intriguing. It discusses the use of Adobe Lightroom in cropping photographs.  In doing so, Andrew discusses some fundamental components of composition as well, which can/should be applied in making the original photograph. 

Check it out:
http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/composition-articles/using-lightroom-to-explore-photographic-geometry/

Travel is about YOUR Experiences

Arthur Frommer, the travel guide guru who just bought back the printing rights for his well-researched travel books from Google, shares the following view of travel:

"What matters is not finding something your friends haven't found but appreciating and understand that thing - that culture, that place, that food - on your own terms. You can be closed-minded even off the beaten path; you can discover all kinds of interesting and wonderful things even on the most tourist-swarmed landmark."

'Nuf said.

Dreamstate

As you may have gathering from some past posts, I strive to show emotion via motion from time to time. One of my favorite venues is the Northwest Folklife Festival held at Seattle Center each Memorial Day Weekend. In reviewing photos taken during past festivals, I came across the one below which I hadn't examined for sometime. It was taken with my Nikon D300, with a slow shutter speed (1/10 second) to start showing motion, and then a quick zoom of the lens. The woman is a fairly sharp focus, certainly relative to the rest of the photo. The dancers around her are in motion and the large area of darker tones makes her standout even more. A dreamy image. And a bit of serendipity - you need to be prepared to take lots of such photos, experimenting with shutter speed and zoom techniques, and seeing what happens. And occasionally, you hit it right on.

Simplicity

Keep it simple. I've "preached" this before on this blog as I recall. While a complex photograph with many layers of detail CAN work, I personally find that the simpler the photograph, the more dynamic. Simplicity is not always easy to achieve. Our eyes self edit to a large extent, while the camera lens, as we are all too well aware, sees all. Thus composing for simplicity is the art form.

And as we also understand, photograph is about light. Simple light. Dramatic light. Puerto Vallarta. Sunset. One band of a gradation of sunset red, from the mere hint to the final glow before the sun breaks out of the upper cloud layer. And framed top and bottom by deep bands of black.  And enough hint of the shoreline dropping from on high to the waters edge. And just a glimpse of the sun bouncing off the water to give context.  Simplicity. 

Video Rule Breaking

OK, I don't usually blog about making videos.  I'm still experimenting with this genre, and as part of that experimentation, I've been carefully watching videos to see the visual techniques of "successful" videos (read "popular" videos). And there's no more successful video than music videos on youtube.

In my brief experience making videos, I've tried to keep camera angles simple, not zooming during a clip, and letting the scene make the motion, rather than the camera. This follows all of the "rules" of video. And this really is a good starting point - knowing the rules before you start breaking the rules - a fundamental part of the Composition and Creativity workshop that I offer (next offering begins later this month - hint, hint.).  But once comfortable with the rules, then breaking them - and knowing when and how to break them - comes next.

Same with video. With a 13-year old at home, I'm exposed to quite a bit of music video. Check out this popular music video by Taylor Swift, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64. And watch very carefully. Through clever staging, camera work and editing, the 3 1/2 minute video looks like a continuous camera shot. Of course, most of the effect is done in the editing phase, but there's also a carefully laid out storyboard and choreography.

(UPDATE: Well, guess what? The video WAS a a single straight shot - no splicing!  All the more amazing. Shot with a Sony digital camera and Leica lens and a very large crew. Check out: http://www.fdtimes.com/2012/09/05/taylor-swifts-we-are-never-ever-getting-back-together/.

When you see a video that you really like (it helps to like the music as well!), watch carefully to see what it is you like about the "cinematography." In video, this is one of your roles, along with producer, writer (storyboard), editor, and sometimes even star!

No Caption Needed

OK, it might not be the best photo I've ever taken - at least I hope not!  But every time I run across it in my photo files, I can't help but smile and laugh.  The photo was taken at the Portland Saturday Market.  Makes you hungry, right?  Well, maybe not.

More Travel Tips

I seem to be on a travel-bent these days. But things catch my eye and if I feel they would benefit readers of my blog, I'll pass them on.  So, here's the third New York Times article in a row - this one with 9 constructive tips for keeping trip costs in check. Not all my apply in a given situation, but all are worth considering if not for now, then for a future trip.  For there are always future trips, right?  Right?

http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/for-travel-savings-in-2013-go-retro/?nl=travel&emc=edit_tl_20130111

More Travel Dreams

To follow up on the previous post on Paul Theroux's travel wish list, I came across this article, no, collage I guess, on what is on other's dream list for 2013 travel. Entitled "Travel Drams and Where They'll Take Us," the dreamers dreams are simple yet profound and capture the various reasons why we travel to where we travel.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/01/13/travel/traveldreams.html?nl=travel&emc=edit_tl_20130111

Sweet dreams.

A Traveler's Travel Wish List

Paul Theroux, the author of such travel narrative classics as the Great Railway Bazaar, Patagonia Express, and Dark Star Safari, still has a wish list of places.  And I've even been to some - Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Lombok Island (next to Bali). Even the great travelers have other places they want to visit. And, as is usual for Paul, his short article on his wish list is of great prose.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/travel/paul-therouxs-travel-wish-list.html?nl=travel&emc=edit_tl_20130111&_r=0

I think I need to reframe my wish list in prose as well.  Its 23 degrees outside, the wood stove and leather chair, and laptop beckon.

First Stop for Visa, Entry Requirements

Came across a great website today concerning international travel and the need for visas, etc.  I would double check, of course, with the country's US or UN embassy website to be sure concerning visas.  And would check the CDC website for currently vaccination recommendations.  But this site is a good starting point.

http://travel-requirements.vagabondish.com/