Category Archives: Photography

Inspired Eye, Photography, Street Photography

March 16th, 2017 … Re-kindling the Light of Inspiration … Fuji X100F

March 16, 2017 streetshooter 14 Comments

I get kinda edgy when I read or hear about someone saying they need to go to exotic places to make photos. For me it’s always been in the heart and mind that feeds the eye. Of course I like to travel to erotic places….ummmm errr exotic places but not doing that requires a temperament and a drive to work under all circumstances. When I was actively teaching work shops, I made a few procedures to reinstate the inspiration to work. I feel it is critical to vision to be able to uncover thoughts and find the photos in areas where on is constantly working.

Many get what writers call The Block. It’s not a sweet thing to deal with be we can over come it with diligence and patience. The first step in overcoming any kind of block is to recognize and accept that you are in a block. This is not for the light hear-ted. Many will tell you to take a break, put the camera down. Others will say to do something other then what you do. For instance, if you do street, do garden, or portraits etc. Others might say, eat pizza and drink beer.

Well, I see all those methods as a justification for not addressing your real love, photography. What I mean is, if you love something and it starts to have issues, you need to work those issues out and find a path to productivity again. You need to find “The Light of Inspiration” once again.

I always listened to the people I respected and still do. I may have been a bad boy because listening and doing what they say was always different to me. My mom was a Frank Sinatra fan and always played his music. I started to like it at a young age. The one day, when all things in the universe started to come together, I mean the clouds got dark and the ground warm, the flowers pointed upwards, dogs stopped barking, parents too… and then, then coming from the record player, Frank was singing…”I did it my way”. Well, in my mind Frank was telling me to do it my way, mom didn’t agree and told me he was not singing to me directly and that I was responsible to still do it her way.

So, I came up with a method of re-kindling the light of inspiration.

Here it is in a nutshell but it’s a good one.

Day 1 …. Go into a room that is quiet and do not do anything but sit and look around for 1 hour. No camera, radio, cellphone television, nada. Nothing but your self. In about 15 minutes you might start to get bored. In 30 minutes you will send a hit squad out to get me. No books, mag etc. Just you and the room. After maybe 30 or so minutes, you might start to look at things more closely and maybe even make photos in your head. Do it. Frame, look at everything and relax. No input other then your eye, heart and mind and muster up. If you have a partner and kids etc, you may want to stay longer and it’s ok.

Day 2 …. Go back into the room with your camera. Sit and relax and repeat the Day 1 1 hour exercise but this time, use the camera to frame and stuff. No photos to be made. Just use the camera to see but not to record even if your next masterpiece is there. Just see and enjoy that on it’s own.

Day 3 …. Go back in to sanctuary as you now know it and spend the hour seeing like Day 2. This time, make 1 photo, just one and now you should be hungry but just 1 photo. You can process this 1 photo and nothing else.

Day 4 …. Go to sanctuary and have your camera, (best if it’s named but not required) …. Now breathe and make 6 photos not of the same thing but 6 what you feel are keepers. Make this last an hour. Not less. Process the photos.

Day 5 …. Sit in sanctuary with your photos and study them. Try to feel the experiences of the days and how you reacted to time and the energy of the room and how it effected you and you it. At what level do these photos work? How would others see them? Do you feel right about them? Do they represent you and your life during the experience?

Make sure that you do not make any photos other then the exercise. So for like 5 days, don’t do anything but this project. If you do this and need to talk to some one about it and your results, Im available.

I’m not dropping Paul Strand’s name here cause that’s tacky maybe, nah…. Strand sometimes made a series of photos of dishes, fruit etc. He saw each individual photo as a life of it’s own. Maybe the photos were grouped in a series but as like people, each is an individual and we need to deal with it as such. I’m not putting anything else about the visual exercise because I don’t want to set up preconceptions for those that may use it.

You will know who did this because you will see The Light of Inspiration in their work.

Peace all…………..

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Photography

December 29th, 2016 … Finding Your Place Amongst The Masses

December 29, 2016 streetshooter 9 Comments

When we look over our work, it starts to become obvious about how we approach photography. I think it’s maybe time to rip into what we did for the year and seek a solution for our spot in the grand scheme of things. The masses I’m referring to are the masses of photos you made and fell in love with. I suppose this could be thought of as a way to organize ones work. Years ago I used to lay out my work and get answers to the riddle of my photography.

I would lay out about 12 prints on the floor in a horizontal line. Then try to make sense of what they were saying to me. Maybe take one out, add one whatever. The scrabble system. I would look at photos and try to find a belonging to one on the line. Then add this photo horizontally up or down in line where they fit together.after a while, it starts to become clear where my efforts were at.

We can’t do that digitally unless you make many prints. There is no software that does this either. So I needed to find another method. Ok, this is the hard core method and if you need less of strong result, by all means change the numbers I lay out.

Here we go. Look in your catalog for the year and very carefully, select the very best images and just 1 per week. If you worked every week, you should have between 48-52 photos. If you worked less, just take one from every week as long as you feel it’s your best work. Open a collection in LR or whatever you use. Move the photos around to get them in a sequence that makes you happy and it makes sense. What you are looking for is the common denominator between photos. It may at first seem very random but trust me, and trust yourself, it’s not random at all.

Don’t remove anything from the catalog yet. In fact, go back over everything and pull one shot from each month and work them on the collection. By now you should be seeing photos that work together or look like a series, group, no matter hat you call it, just look and feel the photos.

Lets say you have 8 photos of the rain and umbrellas etc. Gather them together and open a new collection named “Rain” and put them in there. Ohhh you just discovered 9 photos of low light, so make a collection “Low Light” and put them in there. You get the idea. Now go back again and pull 1 photo for every other month. Sort them and place them in a collection.

After you feel you have all the really good photos that resonate with your eye, heart and mind…….close LR or whatever and forget about the stuff for at least a week. Go make photos and do not look at your collections. The reason is that the collections are looking at you.

After a week or so passes, open LR and look at the collections, 1 at a time. Do not edit anything out. Every image has the potential to push you against yourself and lead to a new direction or lay a solid foundation with what your doing now. When you study this work, you are studying all that you are as a human with a camera. Your thoughts, feelings, sensitivities and everything you are is here in front of you. It is said that every photo is part of a mosaic of the portrait of yourself. So, your looking at yourself. You also can see what attracts you, what trigger mechanisms etc are working with you.

Life is a passing dream but it doesn’t mean you have o be asleep to dream. The best dreams are the ones we have while we are awake in the here and now.

The point here for this method is to get you organized in the here and now and to understand how and why you work.

Be Blessed Everybody and have a Lovely Romantic Happy New Years.

shooter out……………………………………………………………………..

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Presets

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 28 … Street … Deciphering and Realizing Intent

October 29, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

Sometimes when I’m out making photos, I start to get a feeling of some sort. I mean I don’t try to define it emotionally or with words but I try to see it and make a photo of it. That must be my intent turning on and guiding me thru the world I am in and helping me to find visually what inside I am feeling. It is not an easy process but one I would never want to be without. So at what point do I determine if my efforts have realized what my intent was after. Well, it’s a process. I guess there are steps to realize intent and not always the same steps and not always the same order of steps. Not that is so ambiguous, but it tries to clarify the ambiguity of the image and even before it is captured at times, in fact, many times.

The above photo: I saw this steam coming from the ground. it was blowing out the highlights, perfect for me. I saw the light overhead and it made the steam into something more surreal, more of a piece of a dream. I’m under a tunnel so it’s dark all around, but the light shines into the darkness and makes it not so fearful. I love what I’m seeing, but I’m not seeing enough. I looked up and saw the light at the end of the tunnel, the glow was growing and I could feel the photo being formed and wanted it to be born. I looked down again and moved slightly left to create tension with the lines and then quickly looked up. I couldn’t believe my eyes. All the sudden out of nowhere the Photo Angel sent me a the Angel of darkness and I saw my photo…..Click.

The thing is, to have all three elements of the self-find and realize your intent. The Eye, Heart and Mind work together to find the subject and realize the intent. The entire process from start to finish is ambiguous and should be allowed to remain that way.

Some say that I am obsessed with death. Maybe that’s true but who isn’t. It’s the one question we never live to get an answer too. I was at the Frankford Transportation Center, my favorite place to work, and I saw this guy with a face on his belly. It looked like the face was coming out of him. I knew before release that this photo would require post processing but I knew what it would need. Click……..

When I imported the photos into LightRoom, I saw this one and it was ok but not finished. So I opened the Develop Module and started to relax. I remembered what I was feeling at release and open my presets. ( I got these Presets from a guy named Shooter. My shrink says he’s the same as me but I don’t believe it.)…. I clicked thru a few and hit this one. It’s Afterlife. A little tweaking here and there and I saw what I felt and wanted to feel. I realized my intent.

Have a blessed day…….. end transmission …………..

Dreamcatcher, Garden, Off Street, Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 8 … Lesson From Ilya Bolotowsky

June 24, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

This is the crossover from West bound to East bound on the Elevate train. I’ve been in love with the design and metal ever since I was a kid. I remember being around 13 and passing thru this and thinking, some day when I’m older and a photographer, I’m gonna make a photo of a lady as we look at each other. Maybe it took 50+ years but I’m glad young shooter remembered to plant this idea in our head. So as I was passing thru the time/directional tunnel, I became aware of a woman passing thru from the other side. I raised Andre’ the Fuji X100s and he was ready. She looked dead in my eyes and I got Andre’ in position and ….CLICK! The young shooter from the past is long gone. He stayed at home with Mom when the getting older shooter went to Viet Nam. I think a lot but not all of my innocence died over there. When I got home Mom said to me, looking right in my eyes, “Where is my son, your not my son”? Ya know parts of me died in Nam lke every other Vet but I managed to bring pieces of me home. When mom said that, well, the rest of me died.

I guess that Mother Light kinda adopted me and made me her child. I was actually saved by photography. There’s many ways to get saved and I implore you to find a few ways to salvation but remember, as shooters, we save ourselves and each other.

Photographers don’t work just for themselves. They work for other photographers. We seek and find satisfaction from each other and that feeds the selves that we are. Our responsibility is to our selves and to feed each other energy so that other photographers may continue to work.

Photography is about instant gratification. It’s very easy to see what we captured almost instantly. Then bring the image to life in LR and then send it to Flickr and other social media spots. When we see hits and likes and comments, it drives us to continue the good fight. So this instant gratification is an ongoing project. It’s the battle to fight for photographic survival.

This relationship with others is most important, especially for fuel to continue. But if we look at what’s going on in our process, we begin to see many symbiotic relationships thru the entire process. Many years ago I was photographing American Artist. I travelled all over to make the acquaintance of the artist and to make the photo. I made many including BB King, Salgado and his wife, Harry Bertoia, Luciano Berio, Edmund Bacon and many more.

I started to ask questions about the art that they were producing. One conversation was with Ilya Bolotowsky. I used an Arca Swiss 2×3 with a roll film back and also a 4×5 Deardorff. These cameras intrigued the artist. Ilya asked me why I used the Arca Swiss. I said it was a great tool, compact and extremely efficient. He looked at me and said, “Pity”. Then Ilya called me to his table where he had his brushes. I looked at them and thought he has many brushes. He said, Don, there are my friends. We work together and they know more about holding paint then I do but we work together to make the painting. He pointed to one really used brush. He said, this is “Jasper.” He helps me get the lay of the canvas. He picked the brush up and held it like it was alive. He looked at it, and I know he said something to it quietly. I could almost hear it but I definitely felt it. So we sat and sipped tea. It was the same tea my Grandfather gave me when I was very young. I looked at Ilya with a love that I didn’t understand but knew someday, I would grasp it.

After tea, we made the photo. Ilya smiled and so did I. He said to me,”your camera is your friend but it’s your partner more then a friend.” On the train back to Philly from New York, I started to understand Ilya and what he was teaching me. I looked in the bag and saw Ilya laying there in rest and peace. See, I named my 2×3, Ilya. When he came to Philly for the opening of his exhibition, I brought 2 framed 16×20 prints. Ilya saw me and walked to me right away. I was honored because this master recognized me. I showed him and his wife the print. She dropped her jaw and Ilya look at it carefully and said, thank you maestro. I handed Ilya his signed copy and he immediately said, I didn’t sign yours. I panicked and went in the back of the gallery, opened the frame and then Ilya signed it. I still have that framed print on the wall.

I learned from Ilya about symbiotic relationships within my work. I name all my cameras and they may be subject to name change but they all have a name. They are all my friends and they are all share a synergism with me in my work and my life. Sure many younger shooters think I’m crazy. It’s ok I accept the charge and I will continue to be crazy. The Ilya Bolotowsky photo was made in 1976.

The beauty of life is found in the streets but it’s not the only place to find it. We should strive to see and capture life wherever and whenever we can. I love the garden because it sings of new life daily and praises the passing of life from those plants that died. Tanya does all the work and I do all the photography. Sometimes I am allowed to use the lawn mower but never the weed wacker. she doesn’t care if I kill the grass but hurt a plant, I sleep in the garage. This is one of my Sunflowers. It’s now about 5′ high and will get to over 8′. I have 15 planted and 13 living. I looked at this in the morning going to the bus stop and after I came home, I wanted to make a photo. The wind had a sense of humor. See, it was still all over the garden, not a wisp of air. Then as I framed the camera, wind came and blew the flower all over.I looked at the garden and saw the beauty of the stillness and as I focused, the wind moved the flower all over. I closed my eyes and felt the blessing from above. Ilya was making sure I had a name for my sunflower and he made sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. I named the flower Oscar, and then the wind slowed, and then the wind stopped and ….CLICK

Thanks Ilya………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Winter Doldrums, 7F … ShOoTeR in Da House … Canon EOSM2 iS tO

February 22, 2015 streetshooter 14 Comments

Olivier is going on and on about his new camera, the Canon EOS M. Well, when this was first introduced a few years ago it perked my interest. There was something about it that appealed to me and just as I was about to buy it, I started reading about slow AF and crapola like that. So I passed it by but always thought about it. Time went by and I got Andre’ the Fuji X100s and that’s my main squeeze. It’s by far the camera that puts me where I need to be when I am working.

So here I am with my Sony RX1003M and I like the camera but I hate the menu. I don’t love the camera. I like it a lot. Well a guy in Texas is getting the Sony and I now have a Canon EOS M2. Thanks to eBay for fast turn around.

Olivier tells me, “dude, you won’t believe how close that 22mm lens focuses and it’s not Macro.” So I get bored and take the Canon out and start to mess around with it. Well first off, I notice the menu is so similar to the Sony that I almost puke. Then I sit back, sip some Green Tea,(Organic only from Tibet)….and say to me self, yo, Shooter, think Canon and ye shall see the light.

So I finish my tea, pick up the little rascal and look at the menu. I go thru it a few times and eureka, it starts to make sense to me. Look, I’m stuck in the friggin’ house. da wifey Tanya is here and what the hell can I do to escape reality… Of course, silly, get into the camera. So I immediately realize that selling the Sony for the stupid menu is no longer justified. I now realize that the Sony has a zoomie lens and I donotcanknow like a zoomie.

Whoa, hold on dude. Yes the Canon has a zoomie but hes smaat enough to be able to change his vision with different optics. This is good.

So I start to get into finding things I need to work the camera. The truth, I have the camera ready to go in manual mode in less than 5 minutes. It’s that simple. NO… I DO NOT READ MANUAL UNTIL I AM LOST AND THEN IT’S TOO LATE CAUSE THE CAMERA IS DEAD TO ME IF I NEED A MANUAL.

The Truth Of Going

One of the things that shooters are trained to believe is that you need to go someplace to find good photos.

Look, sure it’s great to go to exotic spots and seek your images. But the truth is, if you can’t find them at home, they aren’t out there anyways. I tell myself this to convince myself that I’m able to find photos wherever I am.

Well, it hit about 15F and let me tell ya something. Working in LR and making photos around the house ain’t bad. It’s not hard to live with. I mean, sure I wanna hit the streets especially with the little rascal Canon EOS M2 but it ain’t happening. So it brings to mind the thoughts of just relaxing with photography and just enjoy the beauty of making images that are just pleasing to me.

Theres a certain amount of greed in photography. Like, you do it for yourself. We all know that photography is visual communication and thus it should be communicating to others. Well, that’s true but sometimes we need just to communicate with ourselves just to have a grasp of what we are doing and discovering. These photos may be key to the body of work that you live. I mean, we get direction from photos that ask questions as well as answer them. You test the parameters of your vision and the results hopefully give you an answer to what you are seeking. Even if the answer is not what you expected, there comes a realization in direction as to whether you are on the right path or wrong path. Even that is a learned experience because if we see the right path and recognize that, is it because of habit or are we complacent? The wrong path opens the doors and ask, why is this the wrong path? Perhaps I should be here and be out of my comfort zone just to experience something new.

So the Canon EOS M2 is the kind of camera that was introduced to the wrong market. I think Canon saw this camera as a tool for pros that wanted a compact camera. Well, that’s a mistake and by now they know it too. A pro will want a camera that is basically his/her pro gear but shrunk down in size but now IQ or features.

Enter The Inspired Eye Shooters, Olivier and Shooter. Well, many pro shooters complained about all sorts of things on the camera. It got belittled. criticized, looked upon as useless until. Some smart shooters thought, ya know, this is a little camera, solid metal, nice IQ and ok UI. No Olivier and I aren’t the smart guys that figured this out. Those guys are over at DPR and I ain’t mentioning names like Joe or Ben.

I’ll get more into this again tomorrow if I get my frozen butt up from the chair. It’s a metal camera so it’s gonna be cold in the hand but I gotta get out and work.

……………………………………………………………………end transmission…………………………………………………………………………

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Andre’ the Fuji X100s … 9 Months … Still My Best Friend

February 8, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

The time of slow down could be seen as a productive time for the backend of process. I mean, working LR and getting organized and cleaned up is always a good thing. It’s no so much that I live in chaos and disorganization, I don’t. I’m diligent about this sort of thing. It’s the Windows 8, Imac, LR camera, world meeting of the lost mind of one known as Shooter.

See, all my things go haywire and do it in a way that makes me think it’s a conspiracy of things, thoughts, principles and actions set against one known as Shooter, aka me. Luckily I take good meds and that assures me that it’s not just against me. I am not the only target. All youse out there are targets also.

I know, I know. No one wants to admit about the breakdown of the natural order of all photographic concepts and thoughts and principles are on the attack, but they are. What? You think only you get to feel the Winter Doldrums and have an excuse for not doing much. Oh, ye of little faith. Be it known that all things in the known universe are susceptible to the Winter Doldrums Fall Out and be lazy phenomenon.

So, with all this going on Andre’ the Fuji X100s beings the finest camera ever designed in the known universe and I’m told by the higher ups that he is also the finest designed camera that will ever be borne in the known or unknown universe. That’s saying something but damn right, I’m a saying it.

Oh, yeah… sorry. Racing thoughts happen to plague me and from time to time I don’t realize that I’m in a racing thought mode but sometimes I do and it doesn’t matter because by the time I get to the end of the racing thought train I forgot what I was thinking before I started the racing thought syndrome.

This is one of those times.

Andre’ felt we needed to get out and burn some battery power. So I cleaned his eyes and his rear accommodating visual apparatus for Shooter to see what he sees. We started walking and Andre was nice cause it’s cold and my hands were getting cold but his internal heating system puts out just enough heat to keep him from freezing in my hand. Film cameras like the M Leica don’t do that and you can get a frozen M to your hand and it ain’t pretty I tell ya.

We we are walking and he’s looking at the girls. Andre’ is a leg man. He gets that from 1st Generation Andre’ the Leica M4 from the 70’s. He made photos of legs that sold very well called Gambe’ Game.

We are walking and I’m still feeling detached from everything. I mean everything is there but I don’t feel connected. I don’t care about things because I just don’t. I do care about people. I love people and I’m told I may be a people too, imagine that.

Then why feel disconnected? Why is that detachment so obvious? Why care about it anyway? It’s an aura that we can’t see or feel until it presents itself to us. I am a BBC and CNN watcher. I get info from there. When I really want to see what’s going on in the world, ya know where I look? Flickr. Yup, that’s right. Flickr shows us what everyone is doing all over the world. It shows us how people are feeling and responding.

My flickr friends keep me focused on many things. Andre’ the Fuji X100s keeps me tuned to reality as we know it.

I walked passed this window and a woman was sitting there all alone in her store. No customers and kinda sad looking, I walked passed. I stopped in maybe 10 seconds. I looked at Andre’ and changed my exposure. Andre’said, go for it. If you mess up, I got your back and will change the ISO. I always trust him more than any camera I ever had. Wait a sec…. don’t gimme that shit like he’s the only camera I have. Don’t go there because the Leica crowd will castrate me. Get it.

I put Andre’ to my eye and then like magic, this woman looked me dead in the eyes. I mean I’m outside and she’s inside and I knew she would never know I was there. Then as I clicked the shutter and put Andre’ to rest in my hand, she smiled at me as if she knew I was a human being too.

I remember being about 10yo and climbing on the side of this building. That was 55 years ago and that building still remembers me. Maybe it made photos of me climbing or maybe it’s soul missed me because when I saw it, I was compelled to see my old friend in a photo. I wish I had a camera back then because then I would have better memories of people and things and pets.

Memories. Interesting thoughts. I mean when winter Doldrums hit and there’s nothing to make photos of, maybe then it’s time to make the real photos that will mean more as every day passes. It’s sad to get lonely but it’s sadder to get complacent with ourselves and life.

There exist nothing around you that doesn’t have the beauty of the universe in it. Just look at everything, no not like the first time your seeing it. That’s a bunch of shit. Look at anything as if it’s the last time you will ever see it. Make a photo of that experience and poooof, winter doldrums be gone.

speaking of which, I’m outta here till shortly……..

be blessed on your journey my friends………………………………………..shooter out…………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Winter Doldrums Defeated By … Walker The Sony RX100M3

January 31, 2015 streetshooter 12 Comments

Brrrrrrr, I hate it. Winter keeps me cold not just my physical being but inside also. Even my mind sloooooos down and tries to find comfort by the burning ideas region. It’s all smoke right now, no fire of ideas burning.

I try to live and work by the theory of Eye, Heart and Mind. It works but now, my eye and mind are very close in here but my Heart is down there a ways. The elevator from me head to me heart is out of service because it’s too cold. Usually this time of the year I work my LR catalog and get things ready for the new year. Usually this time of year LR always wants to mess things up with my hard drives and catalog. Well low and behold, the LR mess with shooter’s catalog and hard drive Gremlin is front and present. Oh yeah, everything is a mess. Don’t even think I’m gonna mees with today, hell no.

Anyway, back to the street. I guess that the doldrums are inside of us more than exterior. Ya get to feeling kind down and then it’s easy to place the blame on other things going on. Yeah, yeah. I’m more guilty of this than anyone I don’t know. I’t not like slump time, it’s more like focus your intent time. Time to recognize the moment with the eye, heart and mind then with many photos and seeking the moment in LR after the moment has passed. Winter doldrums could be the best tool and friend you ever have.

If your slowing down and focusing your Intent, maybe just maybe you can see the photos before you knew they were in the camera.

The Zen of Archery applies to the Zen of photography. If you go out with your camera and shoot a lot of frames thinking you’ll edit later in hopes of finding something, well, good luck. When I was an archer, I used scopes all kinds of things to help me hit the target. Just like a camera, load it up with stuff and go for it and not be from the ryr, heart and mind.

A friend Ray told me, Don, you’re a good archer but maybe you should start to enjoy it instead of making it work. I didn’t have any idea what the hell he was talking about. I was in the high 90’s all the time and that’s out of a possible 100.

I mean I had this stuff down. Then one day Ray took off all my stuff from my bow. I mean just the arrow rest was there. He said lets go find ourselves. Well, first off I was happy because another nut was now on the planet. Any way, Ray showed me how to shoot intuitive. So I started to like the feeling of standing my ground, looking at the target maybee 100 yds away and then set the arrow and breathe and just let everything go without intrusion. I would squint my eyes, draw the bow and feel the arrow come back to my chin. I closed my eyes for a second and could see in my minds eye the arrow hitting the target. I then opened my eyes and looked at the target, no aid to help me see… raise the bow and feel where it was to be, draw the arrow the to release position and let it go.I close my eyes for a brief second and then open and heart Pfttttt! Plumpt! I walked to the target and was amazed that I hit the target, no not a bullseye but I was close. I did this every time I went to the Archery range and the more I did this intuitive style, the better my hits were.

Here’s the relationship to what you do in life and now we are talking photography. A camera has to eliminate intrusions as much as possible. Yes, you can go out and shoot your brains out and maybe get something. If this is your style, you and I will have little to talk about.

When I wen to the target to see my hit, I loved seeing it in there and sometimes a BULLSeye. I mean, I did this with my feelings, I was aware of my intent and my eye, heart and mind all being aware in the here and now and I see the hit on the target and I claim it as mine. I mean really mine. I was there and remember the experience.

Shooting photos is the same. If your connected like this, the reward for you is that YOU are aware that you were there when you release the shutter and when you see it as a finished image, that image represents you in total. It is you. It is the experience as you recorded it totally aware of doing so.

Hey, ya know what. It’s too cold for archery and my back can’t do it anymore. Just go out and make your photos connected this way and you’ll have the rewards of loving what you do.

Stay connected to yourself and you’ll have the ZEN of life with you at all times.

Be blessed my friends, even youse that walked out of the room…………….

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Goodbye Fuji X30 … Hello Walker The … Sony RX100 3

December 16, 2014 streetshooter 8 Comments

Well, I shot my Grand Niece’s sweet 16 party. I decided that I would take the camera that does family and events better than my other cameras because it has a zoomie lens thing on it. We it does zoomie nice and it gives the illusion that every-things gonna be ok. Well, the Fuji X30 has a sense of humor and displayed it to me at the most appropriate time. See, i really needed these photos to be special because it’s my family. So I get to the party with My daughter and her hubby, nice guy for a hubby. I’m sitting down and decide to put the Fuji EF-X20 Flash on the camera because this is a flash event. See, here’s the thing. I have many flash units that would work, like Mets and other good units. I want to use the little Fuji because it’s dedicated and small. Really vey cool.

Well, I’m a clicking away, clicking a here and a there and starting to get in the groove and then, than on a single press of the shutter as my beautiful daughter is standing in front of me but at a distance and I want to make this portrait of her cause it’s gonna be nice… I press….and the camera says, .. uh uh, I don’t think so shooter. Well, see, I get a little upset when my cameras don’t work with me and intrude on what I’m doing especially since it’s my daughter I’m making the photo of. This is why I name cameras. So at this point, we can talk about why the camera is not cooperating. It becomes more personal and comfortable for each of us.

I was able to secure 166 photos of which 1 used 140. So far so good. Uh uh, I don’t think so. See, when I used the flash, sometimes it worked so well I could smile.

Then the dew do started. The camera would not lock focus and would not release. White AF box…hmmmm! My Doc at the VA gives me meds so I don’t over react. They work fine but this time, no way.

So im breathing now and figured out that the camera was not at fault. THE FLASH! See the flash is good to about 15′. As long as your in the range it’s a great setup. But see it’s the nature of the beast to use a tele at longer distances.well, the UN NAMED FUJI EF-X20 will not let the camera fire regardless of what I want to do.

See, I have this problem with a single word in the English language. Trust me, no matter what language is native to you, this single word is in there.

OBEY! I just can’t and I won’t obey especially a camera or flash. Well, the flash told the camera that … we ain’t making no photos over 15′ and that shooter guy.. he will OBEY.

Yes, I did OBEY because I had to. It’s like when da wifey says, take the garbage out. I just OBEY, I don’t like it but I don’t want her to do it so I OBEY. With da wifey, it’s actually ok to OBEY because we have no choice. If we did have a choice, we wouldn’t have a wifey.

So when I got home and did Lightroom I realized that I was very upset. I did many, many pro shoots of events all over and never once had a problem.

So I thought about things and decided to let the X30 sit for a while until I come to grips with the anger I was experiencing. A few weeks went by and I realized that our time together was over. I hadn’t touched it and didn’t miss it. What a bad feeling, I gotta tell ya. To love a camera and then have it just go sour, well.. not a pretty picture. I know it wasn’t the camera totally and it’s completely my fault. I admit that I hadn’t used the flash the way it was designed. In that range, it’s amazing on the camera. Small very efficient and the battery life was great. 2 small AAA batteries and your good. Lovely.

Well, I realize the the old adage my Uncle Birney told was true. “Poison Your Mind”. That means that for example, people shove crap into you and when you try to do something, your mind in poisoned because there’s crap blocking free thought.

Well, low and behold, sure enough….when I looked at the Fuji X30, I got a feeling of failure and discomfort. It’s a bad feeling and I’m upset about it but at any rate, I sold the camera. I have the flash but will sell it also, in time.

So that’s the legacy of the Fuji X30 and you should notice that I did not call it by name. That alone is a big statement.

I have used the Sony RX100 1 for a while and forgot about it. A deal came to me by way of B&H and I have the Sony RX100 3 and I gotta tell ya….

no, no, no….. ya gotta come back to here the adventures of Walker the Sony RX100 3……………………………………….shooter out…..!

Color, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Photography, Streetshooter

Andre’ The Fuji X100s … Rises To The Call

November 23, 2014 streetshooter 16 Comments

Life has been providing me with many things to occupy my time. Even Mother Light has given me cameras to test and decide the fate of the beloved camera shelf.

Well, I was sitting at my desk and looking at my shelf where some cameras are sleeping and then, then without warning, without any warning at all, I had a total Momentary Lapse of Reason. What the hell youse thinking huh? sheeeesh…. I had Pink Floyd playing on the Mac. Well, things were going good and I was feeling chipper ’cause the music had me just being relaxed and then,,,, OMG.. a voice. I heard a “Click” sound that was kinda familiar but long ago forgotten. It was in my memory but I can’t remember what I forgot. So I closed my eyes and listened to Pink Floyd and then, very quietly I could hear a gentle faint voice.

I thought to myself, self… we know that voice don’t we? I answered myself and said, yeah, we know that voice.

See, my VA Dr likes this kinda thing. It’s not that there is i voice, see that’s normal in un-normal situations. Nah… that’s not it…. it’s the We thing that gets ya. I mean if I’m talking to my self, who the hell is the other guy that makes us a we? And why the hell is he bothering me and invading my conversation. The I had a Momentary unLapse of Reason. See, if I’m having a conversation with my self, I need another me so that I can talk and answer me other wise I might be seen as nutz. Imagine that.

Look, it’s ok to talk to yourself. It’s even ok to answer yourself. As long as you know who is doing the talking and the answering, your ok. If you think it;s someone else, well, my doctor had=s a very comfortable couch.

Why did I write this? Well, see I heard this faint voice and it was Andre’ the Fuji X100s and he was saying he wanted off of the shelf and wanted to make photos.

Well, after I realized the voice was Andre’, I took him in my hand and we walked around the house looking for some photos. As it turned out, the bathroom was the most interesting. Barsik thought so too and he was doing something in the toilet that I used to do when I was young and got pissed. But Barsik was drinking water and I was uh…uh…working on un-processed food removal procedures, accompanied by alcohol ignition ejection systems.

The light has shined on me once again and I made these two photos because I am blessed with sight and love the process of photography.

The thing is, I am madly in love with perhaps the finest camera ever designed and produced, The Fuji X100s. Tomorrow… tales from the street.

Be blessed my friends………………………………………………….

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street, Streetshooter

November 20th, 2014 … Connection: You and Your Work

November 20, 2014 streetshooter 6 Comments

It is said that a photo speaks 1000 words. Perhaps that’s true and perhaps photos speak more than 1000 words. It’s a futile task to describe a photo in words because it is a different language altogether that defies descriptions. It is best just to accept the photo as it’s own reality and let it seep into us and answer the questions we have of it and even the questions we haven’t thought of to ask.

For me, some photos or images as I prefer to call them , mark a distinct period of time. I mean when I’m making images there sometimes happens a moment of revelation. It’s like a Deja Vu kinda thing. I am feeling completely aware and conscious of the here and now and of having my camera at hand.

When I say camera at hand, that means I am aware of the total process of my photography being present in the here and now. So, when I frame and release there is a sleeping excitement about the experience that I long to see. I’m not saying that this occurs all the time, just that I am aware that it does occur. When I get to LightRoom and look at what images found me, I sometimes suddenly feel this anticipation about seeing which photos bring back the experience.

This is not to say that it’s the only way to work and that other images aren’t worthy of coming to life, just that these images are my Observations and I feel completely connected to them. I feel connected to other photos also but they don’t talk to me the same way.

The interesting thing is that many of my Observation photos become popular all over the place except home because I’m supposed to be washing the dishes and not playing with my computer. That’s another kind of observation we need not get to deep into.

I have more to say and I’d love to hear from all youse so I’ll do more today and continue in the coming daze.

End transmission………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer