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.

Good intentions

I really wanted to focus on this project, scanning the amazing Ginko leaves, but one of those silly little distractions (real work) came along and spoiled that. Maybe next year.

Not only in Canada

I was kinda stuck on body copy for this when my good friend Laurie Shoulter Karall posted a poem within the comment section. I think I need say no more. Enjoy. I love the image and will add it to the stock offerings.

The Happy and Sad...

I hope you don't mind if I indulge myself a bit but three years ago today my Dad passed away and there's hardly a day goes by that I don't think about him. I thought maybe he was up there helping the Cubs out this year but I guess he doesn't have enough seniority yet.

Three months ago Emma was born and since then there's hardly been a moment gone by that she doesn't insist that we think about her.

It's with Mixed Emotions

It's getting to be that time of the year. I love the fall, the clean crisp air, the lower, warmer sun angle, it is however dampened by the unfortunate prospect of winter just around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I also love the first month of winter, the first snow and the fires in the fireplace that are nearly as welcome as the first sounds of the peepers in the spring. After the first of the year though, I am so done with the whole gray monochrome thing. There have been One Million Trillion (slightly less than the national debt) autumn color photographs taken, so I dare not try to compete with many of those. I'm not one to find much motivation in shooting the cliche image. If I put my camera to my eye and see the same shot that I've seen so many times before I'll back off and reconsider it or at least give some thought how to make it different. I will not dally though, because I rather just stand there and absorb the moment for future remembrances. I do however, have many many stock images taken for the season.

Did you know that the color of the leaves is there all summer only hidden by the chloralfill that dissipates in the fall? (or so I heard on NPR earlier this week)

Eyes and Hands and now Ribs

Several posts ago I ran a quick pick of Mike "Smokey" Emerson called the Godfather of Pork. Now that I've sorted through the remains, I found this image, which will probably become a PR picture for Pappy's Smokehouse. I rejected it originally because the rib didn't read very well but with a little tweaking, I think it works. I'm also helping him develop a Kosher BBQ sauce called, ...here it comes... Orthodox Juice for Pork.

http://www.pappyssmokehouse.com

Expanding the Neighborhood

Well, I've gone on about the neighborhood and my love of rural architecture, so now I range a bit out of the hood and find roughly simple architecture within a long stones throw of my studio. It has the same simplicity but with the time worn and weathered look that comes from an era of disrespect and ruin. I've been eying this location off and on for some time. By the same token, I've been dabbling in a technique called HDR. This may be the first time I've gotten close to it's full potential. As I look at the proof of this page, I can see it is another image that can only truly be appreciated at one hundred percent of the original file.

Shooozzz

Good Luck Katie