Blown Assignment

Not the bubbles again. Well, yeah! I'm milking this baby. Actually I'm fascinated. Aside from the bubble caught bursting, I wasn't technically content with the previous effort. This got much easier with a second pair of hands and a masterful puffer. Trying to blow the bubbles, focus and capture them from a remote release was much more difficult than I anticipated. There turns out to be so many options that this could become a book. A book that some fried mind might find as entertaining as I.
I started with the white BG and changed to the black but then I became enamored with the spit between the two. Start rotating them and it becomes an exercise in proper orientation.

Then I tried stacking them. Don't think that didn't take a while.

The distortions became equally fascinating.

Simplicity

The FamilyI couldn't resist the concept of greyscale or black and white. Little Jewels.Totally Saturated, equal time, ya know.Enough for now, I have work to do. Check back later.

The Good Doctor

For almost 5 years, the good Doctor, Hayden Hucke (Huck ee), was our neighbor and friend. An incredibly intelligent lady who had a pension for rescuing animals. Birds, cats and dogs and who knows what else. I'll never forget Rudy, a monster Newfoundland, a black St Bernard if you would. We had a six foot high fence in one portion of our yard and one spring I was busily cleaning up the remnants of winter, not paying much attention and when I stood up I caught a glance out of the corner of my eye of something very dark. There I was standing nose to nose with Rudy, who offered a friendly lick to my forehead, but I don't know that I have ever been so startled in my life. My lord, what a bear he was. Alas, I wander. Even though she was less than mobile due to the severely arthritic conditions that plagued her, Hayden was quite an accomplished emergency room physician at one of the top hospitals in the country. We stayed in touch for a while after we moved but we haven't seen her of late. We really should take a moment to check in.

Follow Up

Earlier in the Spring I did a post of the granddaughters playing with the new super Bubble Blower. At that time I commented that I'd like to try the shot again in a controlled environment, so that I could slow the bubbles down, at least enough to get a good whack at improving the quality. This is only one of many images and I'll probably post more at a later date. I wanted to get this one up on the site so I could see just how it displayed in this venue. Catching one in mid burst was kinda fun.

Call the Chamber

For many years my wife and I would take a late winter vacation somewhere warmer. It got to the point where it was no longer laughable. It seemed like without fail when we reached our destination they would have unseasonably bad weather. We joked that we we should contact the chamber of commerce of well known sunny destinations and threaten to come there if they didn't send us money. This is an image I shot on a trip to the east coast of Florida a couple of years ago. I call it a faux HDR image. I took the only exposure I had, ran it through Bridge one time creating an under exposure and the next time creating an overexposure. I then ran the 3 exposures through the HDR software and "Viola" it didn't turn out half bad.

Emma Update

I've been getting many request to update my little Emma's status. Here, in all her glory, stands my little Emma at 10 months and in estrus at that. She is still full of piss and vinegar and makes me very happy. This is a rare moment when she didn't have one of her many tennis balls in her mouth. I have seen her at times, sound asleep with the darn ball in her mouth. Our older dog, Sophie, is doing the best she can to keep up but with the warmer weather, she's not prone to stay up with her for long. (Above from a post 9 months ago and below, of course, today)

My Favorite Father In Law

John F. Gewinner passed away yesterday June 8, 2009. May he rest in Peace. I'm gonna miss you buddy.

In like Flint

Don't be fooled by his menacing, somber appearance. This man, an old friend and client, is probably the most gentle man you'll ever meet. This image is an outtake from a portrait sitting I did for him as a gift to his wife. Flint couldn't decide if the whole premise wasn't, maybe, a bit too egotistical. I assured him it was not. I think his wife may have assured him otherwise. Of all the clients I've had, Flint always seemed to draw the best out of my work. Maybe it was a spiritual connection, as he was a Bishop in the Mormon church for several years. This image also represents a slight variation from my normal lighting style. I doubt anyone would actually notice.

A fish tale I'll never lie about

So, after a crazy week at the studio, I finally got to take my youngest granddaughter fishing. She had asked to go at the end of last year and I never found the time to do it. Well now, I committed to this past weekend and even though the weather looked bleak at first, I was determined not to let this opportunity slip by. My joy was sidled a bit by the remembrance of when I took my two young boys fishing for the first time. We had a friend whose farm pond was loaded with large mouth bass. It was a day none of us will forget. We hooked several gargantuan bass right off the bat. (Well, they seemed to be gargantuan at the time). They ranged from one to six pounds. I digress a bit. The first was in the 5 lb range and I was frantic to get a picture of the boys holding it. Who would have guessed this opportunity would be so traumatic? I think the quote was "Please dad, don't make me hold it, you're gonna ruin my whole day!" Well, I have that picture and it has surfaced many a time for that special occasion. Keeping that in mind I anticipated any number of emotions from Jess, and wouldn't have placed a bet on which it would be. I think once she refused to even carry the worms, I knew there was a good chance of a repeat.
We pick the perfect spot, I assembled the bamboo pole, a grandpa pole is what her and her daddy called it, baited the tiny hook with the first of many big ol' night crawlers we had dug out of the garden. You could tell her emotions were running amuck. So we lob out the first worm and bright new bobber with instructions to pull up the pole if she saw the bobber go under. I turned to get the second rig ready and I heard the delight in her voice, "Grandpa, help!" "You got one Jess, pull it in." " You do it grandpa, please!" "Oh, OK Jess but you have to do the next one." I pulled it up and she screamed and giggled a giggle that sounded of joy and apprehension, pride and fear, delight and worry. It was a sound, a giggle, that a grandpa will never forget. Now, the big moment. "Jess", I said, "hold your fish while grandpa takes your picture." Déja vu. "NO, no don't make me hold it!" "Just hold the bobber then." "No No No, you hold it." None the less, it was something really special. All in all, she caught 10 less than gargantuan sunfish and we both walked back to the car, full of pride and accomplishment.

Gone Fishin'

Apologies, but commerce has gotten in the way of my usual blog schedule.

Please check back in a week or two.
Thanks

Harry Hands

Harry Weber is a world class sculptor and world class man. I met Harry through a friend and it was Harry's hands and eyes in that sitting that have inspired many a portrait. Here in Saint Louis we have monument to Stan Musial that sits outside the stadium. It's an odd looking caricature of "The Man" himself. Unfortunately, that piece was created by another sculpter and no one in charge at that time even considered Harry's enormous talent for that piece. Stan himself doesn't have a very high regard for the image that portrays him in that original work. Since then, Harry has done a second version and it has the full approval of Musial. http://www.harryweber.com/sports.html Sometimes I think the purchase and placement art is opportunistic, something that serendipitously appears at the exact time someone is looking. Just a footnote: I hope to be doings Stan's portrait someday soon. Not posed with a bat or a ball or a glove but his beloved harmonica. Those who know Stan know just how much he loves playing.

My Apologies

I'm sorry I haven't posted any images of late but I've had some urgent matters to tend to.

Is that so?

"I have forgotten more than I'll ever know." Armando

Beyond the lens

Here are a couple of quotations from Henri Cartier-Bresson regarding portraiture as near as I can remember.• • • • •
"The most difficult thing for me is a portrait. You have to try and put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt."
• • • • •
"I once was commissioned to photograph an old lady--a wonderful old lady--and she asked to check on the picture before publication. I told here I've never done that, it's a question of trust. And she said, 'Oh, it's my wrinkles.'
"But that's the interesting part, the wrinkles. It's a mark of living. "It's life--the way you live life; the intellectual baggage you take with you."It's all these things. "After a certain age you got the face you deserve, I think."

Commercially Acceptable

When I started my portrait series I was really focused on a fairly narrow target market. Now I see the market expanding with almost every sitting. These images have outstanding commercial potential and could grace the cover of any number of publications, authors blurb shots and print advertising. I wish I would have started this project earlier. I love what I'm doing and hope it keeps growing.

Double Click

Here is an image I shot yesterday that I am totally fond of. It incorporates the technique that I so often espoused and it is my studio building. I've done something here that I don't normally do, in that, it's posted in a higher rez and size. I did this so that if you double click on the image, it will open larger so that you can fully appreciate the visual. Had I not done this, no one would have given it a second thought. Please be reminded these images are copyrighted and may not be reproduced without written permission

On the lighter side...much lighter

The granddaughters love the whole bubble blowing thing and we must have had 10-15 variations, from the original single small circle on a stem to a battery powered bubble blowing guns. This weekend I found a new version for a buck. It is by far the best of the lot. It has a long plastic loop in a narrow tube of solution. It's the least messy and the most effective version to date. It inspired a try at photographically capturing the possibilities. The breeze was a little too much for great opportunities but the potential is there nonetheless. When I get some free time I will be doing a more controlled shoot in the studio. Art? Maybe. We'll see.

Can't let it be

So, I find more of the the Pulitzer. Maybe I should apply for a grant to fully expose the art of the art place.

Whacky Place

Here in Saint Louis we have a unique place for kids and adults to visit. It's called the City Museum and it was designed and built by artist and weird thinking people. My wife calls it, a law suit waiting to happen. The visuals are amazing and the exhibits are hands on and made of mostly recycled material. A big part of the attraction are the miles of what I would call, a human gerbil trail. It's made from a rebar like material and it wanders throughout, with some of it going for long stretches and as high as maybe 8 stories. I photographed this young man in one of the tamer parts. If you are ever in the city, it's well worth the visit.

Devastated

Once I found that I hadn't won the "blog" contest, I was totally demoralized and couldn't bring myself to post anymore. Not. Actually, I found myself totally engrossed in a new paper and printer combination that has changed my entire approach as to how I print my portraits. I had been caught in a black hole of angst trying to make the old combination print more consistently. I finally called an old cohort from Kodak who is now in a pivotal position with Epson and begged for help. It's not that I'm a total dolt when it comes to color management, I did speak it with some authority in a previous life but I couldn't nail this down. Nonetheless he told me to go straight to the new Exhibition Fibre paper and rest assured my problems would be all but solved. I hate to admit it but he pretty much nailed it. I'm rambling again. During that time my blog suffered from the lack of any new production, so, after several calls from friends who insisted that I return to my post and with a renewed sense of drive, I went back to the Pulitzer Museum, which is right behind my studio and I worked the geometric shapes that grab me every time I shoot around there. Something has gotten into my psyche, much like the Ice Carvings, I'm drawn, more and more, to the abstracts.

Jeigh Today

It seems so long ago that I first met this man. We were introduced because, at the time, I was shooting a lot of fashion and he was the head of the Fashion Department at Washington University, here in Saint Louis. For several years after, I sat on the jury for the Fashion Department's final show of the school year. There were several designers from those classes that made a significant name for themselves in the business. I don't remember how we parted but I hadn't seen Jeigh for some time but when I did, I knew he was meant for the portfolio. I was thrilled that he was willing to sit for me and the funny thing is, he seemed more thrilled that I had asked. Go Figure.

Red Trees and a speeding ticket

Back in the prime fall days of 08, I knew the maples in front of our world famous Art Museum would be spectacular. So I planned that photo adventure to take place while the sun was still on the front of the building. Math isn't my strong suite but after a little thought and research I calculated that the window of opportunity would be just past 8am and not lasting much longer. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. I was asked to stop my car by one of the local gendarmes. Seems as though I was going 41 miles per hour.
Hmm, no one in the park at that time except me and the police car. 41 miles per hour?? Arriving just a bit late, it was, as I expected, fabulous. I did indeed shoot many HDR's that day and they are amazing.

Really Cool Stuff

A few weeks ago a really good friend invited us out to Saint Charles, Missouri to see the "Fete de Ice" (or something like that). Her brother and nephew were competing there and have the art pretty well mastered. Of course I had to bring along the new Camera to give her a test drive. Ice, in case you didn't know, can be very difficult to shoot. I think the success here was not to capture the shape of the sculptures but the beautiful abstracts that present themselves when you can see through them. The clear, yet distorted, color and shapes comes through in the clearest parts of the ice. This first image is more of an visual demonstration of just that. You can see people behind the ice but what is most interesting is the color of the coats and scarves coming through. What follows is a series of abstracts that exemplify what I really loved about shooting that day. They look like very well crafted oil or watercolor paintings.

In the first image below the copy, you can make out the ice carver through the ice itself. After that, the coats and scarves of the art followers make-up the color content contained within.

Note: It saddens me that images posted here are very disappointing when compared to the originals. It must have been a bad day at Google/Blogger, because I edited and re-edited these images trying to compensate for the lackluster portrayal posted herein. I'll leave them posted for now or until I wake up in the middle of the night knowing this might somehow diminish what this blog, has to date, represented. At which point, I'll pull them off.

Karsh_Harsh

There have been several people to compare my portrait work with that of Yousef Karsh and I am greatly flattered. Recently I had to edit through a host of other images and I came upon this of my old friend, Marcel. In my usual A.D.D. manor, I got lost in his image and forgot the original intent of my search. Cropping so closely into the chiseled old face of this Master seemed a bit harsh, but it's oh so dramatic. Now I find myself feeling a little guilty because I haven't been to visit Marcel of late and I'm sure he could use some company. Maybe this is the motivation I need.

Watizit?

Last year when we went to visit friends in Florida, we were walking on the beach and came upon this vibrant yet mysterious object, creature, sculpture or artifact. I had no idea
what we were looking at. It's color was stunning, especially in comparison to most things that wash up on shore. I sent the image to a host of knowing friends and none were able to identify it until at last a young student at the local Juniorversity pegged it as a Portuguese Man O' War. It looked almost like a glass sculpture and I would have never guessed just how dangerous it could be.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Man_o'_War

It's so true

Lengthy parable worth reading.A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.



Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on to meet his schedule.



A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.



A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again.. Clearly he was late for work.



The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.



In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.



No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.



Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.



This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.
The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour:
Do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?


One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

Kelsea for real

Some viewer who know Kelsea loved the portrait but thought it misleading as to how one might normally think of her. Well, here she is the cute little 6 year old that she is.

Bloodline

The daughter of my oldest son, Kelsea, came with me to the studio on New Years Eve day. I had some organizing to do and she was anxious to tag along. When my kids were younger they were the perfect little photographer's children. They would spend hours letting me pose and photograph them, so patient with their dad and all his lighting experiments. Kelsea on the other hand had not been so inclined, until very recently. She was ready now and it was a great experience to see her open up a bit. Frankly though, I think being on the other side of the camera was more to her liking. Unfortunatley she didn't have much to work with since I was the only subject available. We took turns until I could pose no more. Maybe someday I'll post the shots she took. I have to say she is very intuitive when it comes to shooting using the big studio camera. I plan to engourage her even more as she grows older. Who knows maybe someday my input will provide her with some success of her own.

Farewell

---James Joseph Corbett Jr. ----
October 31, 1943-December 15, 2008

WOW

So, I'm sitting in my usual seat here at Nadoz Euro Deli and I see this incredible woman a couple of tables away. Holy mackerel, I think, she must be somebody very important. Well, she is. Marjorie Hoeltzel is an artist and wonderfully vibrant person. Soon to be 88 years of age, she makes me feel like a sissy when it comes to clarity and youthfulness. Much like the "General" from an earlier post, she is a serious portrait photographers dream. Thank you Marjorie for allowing me to show off a little bit._______I've added Marjorie's choice (top) soon to be hanging in a prominent place in the family archives.

The Beginning of the End

I suspect maybe I need to move on from this sisters thing but I would be wholly negligent if I didn't post how this project really started. I guess it may have 25 or so years ago when this shot was done. This beauty is the mother of the sisters. As I recall it was done as a wedding present for the bride and groom. There was a series, the rest of which I haven't come across of late. I guess there is something to be said for good genes.

Sisters Together

With nothing more to add other than those red dresses should say "Thank you", for they have found the perfect home.

Back Again and More Beautiful Than Ever

Many post back you may remember my contemporary Mona Lisa, titled "Sister Act". And even further back a post entitled "Red Gown". This year it's Erin's turn at the red gown and what a lovely photograph she makes. I'd like to make a living doing regular glamour portraits of this family. Part of the test of this image was to keep the look similar to the shot I did a year ago, that of her sister, Jordan. There's still some tweaking to do on that front but I really believe the content itself is extremely worthwhile. In an effort to help visualize this lovely, I've added a closer version. So many times I won't post an image because the size limitation of the blog keeps the impact to a minimum. As in this case, the original has the overall feel of the composition but starves for the lack of detail in her innocence.

The Rise and Fall of Autumn

I wanted to get away from the whole autumn theme but I keep finding marginally interesting tidbits. This is the Statue of Saint Louis located just in front of the Art Museum in our beautiful Forrest Park. I went to shoot the tree rows of these brilliantly red Sugar Maples and came back with hundreds of shots and one tourista image of the statue.

Surrender

She gave it all she had but this lonely little Rudbeckia finally succumbed to the frost and the chill of the coming winter. The remnants of a flourishing wildflower patch, this little gal held out way beyond the Black Eyed Susans that had surrounded her for the summer.