Tag Archives: Dreamcatcher

Photography, Street Photography

July 12th, 2017 … The Photographer’s Toolbox … Juxtaposition

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It’s common knowledge to know that juxtaposition is the most important element in photos. I won’t speak about other art forms, just photography. If you look in the dictionary, you will see a definition stating it’s about contrasting elements.

  1. :  the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect an unusual juxtaposition of colors; also :  the state of being so placed contrasting shapes placed in juxtaposition to each other

In part that is true but in whole, it leaks and desires to be more. Juxtaposition is the single most creative device at our disposal as photographers. In the photo above, we have Jefferson’s face and his riveting eyes and layered behind, people walking in unison. Maybe, just maybe that’s not the only juxtaposition. What if juxtaposition is based on contrast. They say it is. If that’s so, is the contrast of black & white a juxtaposition?

How about the contrast of dark and light and also movement? The shot above has the dark and light and movement but just a faint glimpse of stillness. Then there is the blur and is the fact that there is nothing not blurred an issue. What if we have juxtaposition implied and not stated perfectly in the frame. Is the concept of an image and the reality it comes from, is that also a juxtaposition?

The reason I write about this is, because out there working, we need to understand the devices and trigger mechanisms that we have and then to be aware of them. Oh yeah, then use them. During the course of me teaching workshops, certain questions were brought more than others.  Trigger mechanisms, juxtaposition are just a few. Many say to keep a toolkit. That’s right but the toolkit is not your camera or lens or any gear. That’s your camera. Your toolkit is what you have at the ready in your mind.

Perhaps you won’t want to accept this but it’s right anyway. When you work, your toolkit gets activated and aides you in the making of the photo. This is not the camera etc. That’s your friend. Your toolkit is the knowledge you have acquired and the way you use that. Photography for most of us is a process of inside/outside. What you have inside is what influences you on the outside. Of course, the outside also influences your inside. That’s where your toolkit comes into play.

So this becomes a major juxtaposition. Seeing the inside image and playing it against the outside, is the basis of making photos. Ansel and Minor called this, Pre-visualization. I suppose we should call it that also. The main difference is that with a stand camera, it’s easier to find the image inside you on the outside. Once the camera is planted, it’s a question of framing, light, movement etc. Same as for us with handheld cameras but we move thru life instead of standing in it. Ansel’s juxtapositions were more literal whereas Minor was more cerebral and emotional.

Life is a potpourri of thoughts and feelings. Speaking for myself, I travel thru life and smell the roses even tho most around don’t even see them. Not that I’m special, even tho I read my own writings. I remember being with Harry Bertoia. We were talking about art and photography. I was amazed by his works but what got me was his thoughts and emotions. He told me that he felt that we have a certain amount of energy. We use this energy to do our work. As we get older, the works become that much more special and personal because they see the finality. I asked him why he did his work. He told me…”Because I can”.

I’m not a kid and I don’t get excited about hearing something I have heard a million times. I must tell you. When Harry said that to me, it was like hearing it for the first time. It resonated in the fiber of my being. It still is vibrating. Harry asked me if I understood juxtaposition. Well, cocky ass me said, of course I do but I sure would like to know what it means to you. Harry laff’d with a refrained chuckle. He took me to one of his sculptures for the Sound of Sculpture. Then he said breathe. Harry took his hand and arm and drew it thru the rods. I saw a wave that was magical and I could hear the sounds. I realized immediately that all things are open to each of us to draw our own conclusion.

The beauty of photography is the beauty of life. The toolbox of life fills the toolbox of photography. Our experiences and our thoughts and emotions, installs the tools we need to work and survive. We all she the air and the planet while we are alive on it. What we do with our life is the juxtaposition that we make for ourselves. It may be nice to have a following and make money if that’s your thing. The important concept to realize and use, is that in your toolbox is the makings of your work.

Your toolbox is your tools, your camera is your friend, life is your journey, go make photos and find out there what’s inside you.

Black & White, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street

February 27th, 2017 … Mojo and Andre’ the Fujifilm X100F

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Let me start off with saying this is not my best work. It’s not Andre’ the Fuji X100F’s fault. Most decide to blame the camera when they aren’t hitting well. I don’t I am accountable to myself first and foremost.

Restless sleep last night as always and with most Vets. But this was different. Instead of seeing bad dreams and visions, I was seeing Andre’ in my hand and around my neck and we were walking and just relaxing . We need to get to know each other. Now, I live in Philadelphia, USA, the home of Freedom and Liberty and even soft pretzels. So, walking down the streets talking to my camera may seem odd but it’s acceptable.

Anyone can buy and use a Fuji X100F or any of the Fuji cameras. It’s that simple…..but there exist a small esoteric group of believers in Magic, Love and MOJO. I am a proud member. I would rather be out looking for the photos that are looking for me. That means I need as little of intrusions as possible. Just like magic, intrusions will break the spell  of love.

Photography is about love. Love of being a human with a camera, seeing, the lovely sense of vision, the feeling of being an observer and trying to understand what lay in front of our lens. It’s about passion and the way that passion drives our heart to want to make photos. It’s about looking at our photos and just being so satisfied and not worrying about others think or feel.

Photography is about communication and the dialog we get with ourselves and with others. It’s about gear and if you don’t love your gear, it’s not right, get rid of it. If your not attached to your camera, poof! It’s about love, the love of seeing, the love of feeling, the love of living and the realization that we are merely visitors on the planet for an undefined  period of time. We as photographers have the gift and responsibility to show what life and the planet looked like while we lived.

I write about this because I have a passion for life and photography that never ceases to burn. So what does this have t do with the Fuji X100F? Ok, here’s the way it is for me. I am totally in love with photography. That means that I must be totally in love with my camera. It must love me in return. I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but trust me, at my age, I have seen a thing or two. Rumor has it that there are many shooters that think and feel of their camera as a tool. Shhhhhhh!

I can’t fathom that. I mean really. A camera is a tool. We all have our rights to think and do as we please. Even if that’s like some kind of detachment to things, it’s sad to me.

Andre’ the Fuji X100F is a fine camera and will be a close friend in a short period of time. For the time being, We need to shoot JPEGs because Adobe is taking their time. Affinity does the X100F raw files and works well. I hear Silkypix does also. The thing is, when I get into this situation and am forced to use JPEGs, I start to rethink things. Look at the photo above. This is bright sunlight. The dark tones in the windows holds detail easily.

The highs like the statue’s feet, there is detail. Maybe you can’t see it so well on the screen but I dang sure can on the original. This is SOOC. Amazing. I’m using Acros for these and will try Acros+r soon. Maybe I don’t need raw as much as I thought. I mean, this is better then fine. That’s really what I’m doing right now, testing the camera. I have to tell you, Andre’ is a champ.

It’s fitting Andre’ would make a photo like this. I uses M Focus mostly and at f11. I’m focused at 7.7′ and that gives me 3.8′ to infinity. Same as if I was using my M camera and a 35mm lens. The other thing is I use M Mode with auto ISO. The meter in the X100F is really tuned. It doesn’t get fooled but contrast range. Ya get 3 auto ids settings, plus L & H.

So, say you wanted to work in your own way. well normal people would kinda set the high limit to maybe 6400. Perhaps they would set the low limit to 200.

Well, what if you wanted to over expose you frame? I mean I do that all the time well not all the time but a lot of the time and it works. In Manual mode proper, you set 3 points of exposure. Aperture, shutter and ISO. Fuji put the Exp Comp on a dedicated dial and I never use it. I’d like that to be programmable. So, that’s like the purist way to use M Mode. Changing any one of the points will either make an under exposure or over exposure.

I like Auto ISO and the X100F does it very well. So, if I set the limits on Auto ISO in a way that would intentionally over or under expose, for me it’s more fulfilling. It allows me to think about exposure in a way that allows me to design the tonal range.

Above is also SOOC. Kinda scary to me because it’s all there. Her face is visible and that’s an achievement in itself. The shadow detail is utterly amazing. JPEG, out of camera, hmmmmm? Adobe better get their act together quickly. Look at the mid tones and even the highs. The detail is super. The X100F does exactly what I need a camera to do and then some.

I’m not selling these cameras, recommending this camera, just using it.

I am not a X Shooter or whatever they are labelled. I certainly have interviewed many X Shooters. It’s not about that, it’s about a camera for me that does what I need it to do, that creates a symbiotic love affair with me and that provides an internal satisfaction to live as a shooter.

There is a feeling of creative freedom that I must have or I don’t work. I watch CNN and get ranty. No good at all. I’m only a few days with Andre’ the Fuji X100F but I see the path ahead and it’s gonna be a pretty picture, I tellya. I did do some very low light stuff with AF and this camera is not the fastest and none are but it’s extremely accurate. Hey, look… if your in low light, what the heck is the big hurry?

I did some work on theis because I wanted to see if the tones would block up. Ya know how when ya lower the highs a lot they get that funky gray tones, This doesn’t. The shadows are all there and it seems that Fuji did a bang up jog on the X100F

What it comes down to is….. for me a camera is more then a tool. (The Horror!) My cameras are my friends, my companions, my collaborators in my creative life. I name my camera’s because they are a part of me and I am a part of them.

The Fujifilm X100F is a great friend. If you see it as a tool, be blessed and I hope someday you see fit to name your camera. If you don’t and it’s just a tool, good, it’s a great tool. For me, there are windmills out there and Andre’ the Fuji X100F and I are out to find them and conquer our fears of being a human Being.

I’ll do more in a day or so.

 

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

February 26th, 2017 … Fujifilm X100F … (but not only)

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FujiFilm X100F jpg OOC

So, I am going backward but I think I have to. It was Friday and the weather was nice and I wanted to go and work. I got a note from Adorama that my camera has shipped and would arrive Friday.

So I told Tanya that I didn’t feel like going to the VA and I just wanted to sit on the couch. Not just on the couch but the precise spot where I can see the door and out the window when UPS arrives.  I had that kinda nervous twitch and also the look of fear on my face, nah… all over me in fear of missing the long awaited knock on the door. She looks at me and raises her eyebrow and just,,,, hmmmm. I think maybe she found out that I’m in the “waiting for my new camera so leave me alone to sweat and just let me breathe mode. She ask me if I want coffee and I said no because I’d be painting the walls and then cleaning the house nervously. No, I’ll sit this one out. Tanya walks to the kitchen, CNN is on and I’m just like in limbo but it’s not limbo because the frigging world is moving and I don’t have my camera! She say’s Donusha,( semi Russian for Donald. I made the name up and her family agrees that I am part Russian. Please don’t tell CNN or Congress or Pres Trump. ) She ask me what I’m waiting for? Uh oh, she knows the mode I’m in. I’m dead I tellya, it’s over, the wife finds out about a new camera and nothing for her move, it’s not pretty I tellya, it damn sure ain’t gonna be pretty. Then, harken, I hear the voice from an angel, an angel sent from mother Light and Father FujiFilm…. is this the new Andre’ camera’?

GASP! The Horror! Oh, you mean the camera I’m waiting for, sure, it’s the new X100F but hold on, I have to watch Jake Tapper.  I’m pushing 68 real hard but not yet, oh no…not yet. I remember when I was young when Mom got us all a present, well the feelings I had them followed my all thru these years.

I would be all excited and feeling special and loved, well that’s how I’m feeling now. So, now I know Mommy, er…Tanya won’t be mad at me for buying a new camera. All is well in the universe and I’m feeling….hey, wait a minute… where’s the damn UPS truck? Ya think he dares to make stops before he gets to me, nahhh, I don’t believe that for a minute. Tanya brings me a cup of black tea with lemon. I inhale it in .3 sec. I have not mover from this sit and wait for UPS spot in a few hours.

My face is sweating and I’m fighting my natural water waste removal system. she looks at me and smiles, would you like me to do the waiting duty while you go pee? I told you she was an angel and I smile and make it upstairs to the bathroom in .7 sec flat. A new record. I spend more time then I wanted doing the Lizard Draining Procedure. shake, wash hands and back on duty in less then 3 min.

So, I’m waiting and then, all the sudden FEDEX comes down the street. Sooo anti climatic. I pick up the iPad and look at messages from Olivier and some other ppls about things that I am normally concerned about but at this minute I don’t remember what planet I’m on and don’t care BECAUSE UPS IS HERE! The guy, like the Santa Clause of Photography hands me the box. This is the box from the never ever land of FujiFilm. This is the box that contains my beloved Andre’. Adorama as so many times is right on the money and they mad me happy again.

So I need to be cool right. I mean Mrs Shooter is sitting there looking at me and I have to restrain myself and act as this is no big deal. I sit on the couch and holding the box on my lap. Inside me is this teen boy that is looking at the most beautiful girl ever existed and she wants to kiss me. This is a metaphor and for real, don’t come close to my excitement about this camera.

So I just sit and then Tanya says, “aren’t you going to go upstairs and open the box”? Before the question was finished, I was upstairs in my office, had the box open and everything laid out neatly on the desk. There, there on the desk where all cameras from recent history have been given their name and birthday sits the still unnamed Fujifilm X100F.

I feel this familiar energy buzzing around my head and heart… it say’s, yo pop, let me go home already. Quickly I close the door to the office, Barsik the Cat is lying on the floor watching. I close the blinds on the window and then walk to the unnamed Fujifilm X100f and pick it up. I close my eyes and raise the camera to the sky and I chant, and then there was Andre’. The energy used as Andre’ transforms into the camera henceforth named, Andre’ the Fuji X100F is miraculous. I place Andre’ on the desk and look at the manual. He says, shooter, put a battery in and a card. Together we will make the path we follow without interference from manuals etc. I turn around and think, I’m  not crazy, my camera is.

So I realize Andre’ the Fuji X100F is right. Without looking at the manual, the camera is extremely intuitive. Well, I have had all the X100 series, XE models, X-Pro1 and some other things so maybe it’s learned intuition but regardless the X100F is very intuitive.

The first photo is with the X100F and a jpg OOC. Not by choice but by force from Adobe as there is no way to process Raw files yet. The others are from Serendipity the Oly Pen F.

If you’re looking for a technical review of this camera, I am not the one for you to read. If you believe in Don Quixote and the magic of love and photography and the love a shooter has for his cameras, your home my friends.

I’ll be working starting tomorrow heavily with Andre’ and using jpg, Acros. I’ll post during the week as things get interesting.

be blessed all………………………………………………………….

Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

February 19th, 2017 … Not Passing the Passerby’s

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Not passing the passerby’s. Maybe that sounds confusing and I am a good source for confusion material. Remember that thing about the Inverse Square Law. Well, here we go again, another round. This round we are dealing with the head mostly and the heart is active but on vacation.  I was always interested in the things I didn’t pay attention to. I mean why do they not interest me. Why is there no connection that gets me hyped? If there is a connection of sorts, why do I not make a photo of it? If there’s a connection and I don’t make a photo, why do I even remember the moment? That’s the thing, remembering the moments NOT recorded.

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So I set out with the intent of finding the photos I pass by. I did this many times before but the way you get past hurdles, is not to get over them one time, but to get over them many times and then to recognize them before you have to get over them. I started thinking, shooter I said, what’s the reason you walked pass that photo and if in fact that was a photo, what was missing?

years ago, I taught vision by going to an area and making photos. I would do about 10 and from different points of view. I would take the class there and give them all the photos. Then set them free to find the photo on the print out on the street. This is easier said then done but, very worthwhile. Cultivating vision also means to be aware of what’s not the interest. Like in a garden, there are many beautiful plants growing but all around is weeds, grass etc. We need to WEED out the garden so that the flowers etc grow better.

That is the same as in making photos. We kinda weed out photos so that the photos we desire can bloom. This of course means an act of knowing what we are weeding out. Basically this is editing. So that’s the name they gave this.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What if all the photos you don’t make are more important in some ways then the ones you do make. I don’t think it’s the value system working, I think it’s intentionally not paying attention. So I noticed a long time ago that I would walk past things, people etc and for a fraction of a second, glance at it and then continue on my journey. I get home and process and then sith to relax and let the images burn in my heart and mind. They will live there forever cause without them, I cease to exist.

All the sudden, some images pop into my mind and it’s of something I walked past and didn’t make a photo. Sometimes that image starts to burn and cause an itch in my butt. It gets to the point sometimes that I can’t erase the image at all.

So methinks that maybe, just maybe, these unborn photos are like lost messages that I didn’t get. Oh, I saw them but was to reluctant to make the image. Maybe these things are seemingly trite but to me, very intense. I want to understand my life as a photographer before I am not. I want to make the photos that mean something to me and never be that concerned by the thoughts of others that it shall effect me or detour me from the path I live with my cameras.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We all have a responsibility to ourselves. We need to satisfy the craving of photographic creativity and continue our work. Ya know, there is a duty that we all have, wanted or not, That duty is to support photography and Mother Light the best way we can. We as shooters, for the most part work for other shooters. To deny that fact is to deny yourself the reciprocal energy that your photos may bring.

So perhaps what I am really writing about is that maybe we see the big picture for ourselves and we walk by the things we don’t pay attention to. This kind of stuff makes me nuts and it’s why Olivier and I made the Inspired Eye. What if one of the things or…. that we pass by is a shooter struggling to find his/her way with photography. Perhaps you stop and offer assistance and maybe you think that this means little to you but to the one you helped, it’s a mountain that gets knocked to a dust pile and leads the way to the an open mind and heart.

I’m rambling but not really.

Good Light my friends……………..end transmission……………………

 

 

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Photography

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

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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……………………………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

December 22nd, 2016 … In Between Time … 1979 –

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Well, I never claimed to be anything more than a collaborator with life and photography. So this way, when things aren’t exactly square, I also get to blame Life for the issues. Smaat huh. Well, I used to go to New York City a lot to make photos. I usually would have $ & 3 with me. (ok, before I found my sanity I still named my cameras. My Black Laq M4 was named 4. My Silver M3 was named 3. It took time for me to find the right names but it worked.) Anyway, 4 was the main shooter and one day I was near St Francis and I raised my camera and made a shot. I heard a familiar sound but not at the right moment. See, I was set to 1/250 f11. I’m using Tri-x rated around 640. Most Leica’s and a very unique sound around 1/15. It’s a ball dropping. Any one familiar with Leica’s knows that sound and also to check the drive train with that sound.

George Butler showed me this stuff. He would take the lens off and close his eyes and put his nose right to the mount. He was sniffing the smells from the camera. Of course I wanted to be like Geo and I smelled the cameras too. Even in Camera Barn, I would look very professional standing there in front of the sales person and closing my eyes and sniffing the camera. Truth be told, I never smelled anything special and Geo told me that’s why I’m a user and will never be a collector. I always thought it had something to do with money, go figure.

So anyway, I am making photos at 1/25 but I think I hear the ball dropping. Smaart as I am, I decide to just overlook it because if I acknowledge the sound, I must accept the fact that 4 is in trouble. I decide to be like so many before me and just say, I ain’t heard nuttin.

I’m on the train heading back to my home. The train does not stop at my home but not far away. I’m coo, I have 4 rolls to develop and the next day, I go to my darkroom in my basement and develop the film. I think I was using Rodinol @ 1:18 with little Sulphite. The idea was to punch contrast and the recoup in printing. So I run the film and hang the negs in the film dryer and the go up and see my wife and the kids.

All the while, I am having awake nightmares because I heard the ball @1/250. I don’t wanna hear it and I don’t wanna accept the fact that I did when I didn’t wanna, really…. shhhh 4 .

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Next day I go down to make contacts. Set the printing side up and get everything ready and am excited about a few frames. Ok, The Leica Enlarger is cooking. The bulb is nice and warm, or hot and should be stable. I cut the negs down and sleeve them. I always made 7 strips of 5 frames in the preservers. I think they are Negafile. It’s true with the and Perma Wash. Use them properly and they reach 50 years no contamination. Now I’m really hopped up cause this is the part I love. Foot switch, lights go off, time starts and the enlarger sheds light on the truth.

I take the paper and  hit foot switch 2 and now the room is ready to develop the prints. I was using a formula called the Winchester Developer. I hadn’t altered this yet. I’s great with Bromide paper. So, the paper is in the tray and I am rocking the tray is a very methodical manner. (See, every variable must be accounted for and analyzed and the adapted to the system, even a sound that isn’t at the right time.

So the paper is starting to show the magic. There, there in the tray is a sheet of paper that shows my efforts as a shooter. Paul started me on RC paper and I liked it for Contacts or press prints but not for finished work. I pulled the print ad rinsed it for a few seconds and then squeegee it off. Wow am I excited!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I hit the foot switch and all white is on. I pick up the Schneider 4X Lupe and look thru it as it rest on the paper. At this point I must explain. I am a Viet Nam vet but we aren’t vets yet or humans at the point in time. I seen my share of stuff. I have survived the streets and all kinds of things. My eye looks at a frame and I get this clutching feeling around my chest that is getting tighter and tighter. In my mind I hear the sound of the ball dropping and I know with all my heart and soul that is not a good sound at 1/250. I now have proof that 4 has a virus or something and the Doctor is gonna be expensive. I clean up the darkroom. Then I try to sleep and all the sudden, it’s morning.

I have a number for Leica that Geo gave me and told me to ask for Ernie. Now this is the time that Steve Jobs hadn’t mad a real computer yet. So, I am living in an analog world and I call Leica. I figure I’ll be on the phone till my kids get out of High School. A woman answers and has the voice the is so pleasant that I instantly start to cool down. I explain that I want to talk with Ernie. She ask my name and I figure, that’s it…I’m cooked. Meanwhile 4 is on my lap and not crying but I hear sniffles and he’s not looking good.

The, then out of the world, a man answers with a very strong German Accent, and says, how may I help you sir? 4 could hear the voice on the other end of the phone and I can see, he’s excited. He’s wiggling on my lap and I hear him playing with his shutter speeds.  I explain everything to Ernie and he says, “Ok, send the Camera to me and I’ll fix it. I will have it back to you by Thursday. Now I’m an not a clock watcher usually but it’s Monday around 10:00 am est. Ernie says, anytime you have a problem with your cameras, call this number directly and ask for me.” I said yes sir and 4 was all jumping up and down…. he said to me… wanna go see daddy. Then Ernie said, have a good day Mr Springer and tell George I said hi. I never even mentioned George….hmmmm? I packed 4 really carefully and told him to behave. Sure enough, on Thursday, UPS delivered 4 and an invoice marked paid in full. Thank you for your service.

But this isn’t what the story is about. See I saw this blur across many photos. It was not intentional at all but a freak accident. I started to study photos from other shooters. I remember I had books my Duane Michals and started studying why he was doing this stuff. So, I made prints and in time I felt that these photos are about “In Between Time.” There are many in my catalog and after a while I started seeing deeper in some and that became the “DreamCatcher”.

I’ll do more shortly but this is a basic idea how I think and how the process of discovery is so important to us. It also shows that we need to be open with our heart and minds to move on with our work

Be Blessed all…………. I have been criticized about foul language and thought about it all day. He’s right and I openly apologize to all and will not do that again.

 

Philosophy of Street, Streetshooter

December 20th, 2016 … Dealing With Your Cameras Personality

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Yeah I know I’m the crazy one. I’m the one hanging my ummmm, well… for the ladies, my head on the wall. I tellya it’s true darnit. I hate not cursing and using all the proper werds that a street shooter should know and use. But I am the gentleman warrior. See, we all get cameras and fall in love with them. My young co-publisher Olivier is an expert in gathering gear and then writing about it. He’s on it 100% but (looks around…hmmmmm he’s not here) so we can relax and tell our stories. Hmmm this won’t work either. I’m not one to spread rumors or instigate things but I know I am going  this alone. I will confess and explain and by proxy, speak for most of you but youse alls ain’t gotta worry about anyone thinking your crazy cause that’s my job and the VA gave me a Doctor so that even if I’m crazy, I don’t really know it. In other words, I’ll take the heat on this one.

Lets all agree on the fact that we all hopefully have different ideas and visions to make photos. I personally use the Oly Pen F with a few different lenses, mainly the 12mm that thinks it’s a 24mm.  She is named Serendipity. Then I use the Ricoh GRII and that camera is named Mom after my Mom. Now we have the small big gun, the Fujifilm X100T named Andre’ after ….yes him. So many people think I’m crazy for naming my cameras. I been thru this many times and I haven’t changed, have you, or you?

Here’s the thing and no one, bar no one can hold a valid argument on this simple fact. Cameras have a personality. No, they don’t have personality disorders. They don’t serve us as a tool. Thats the biggest crock of shit I ever heard and I pity the ones that think they have a tool in their hand.

I will explain the Streetshooter conceptual approach and diagnosis of the Camera Personality. You will not get this anywheres else and it’s one of the most important concepts that you must understand. Lets imagine we are out working. We have our trusty camera named **** and it has a 50mm lens on.  I’m telling ya, you are like really seeing, feeling anf breathing the experience of MAKING photos. Your eagles eye vision that you heard about from Henri is like kicking in overtime. If at this point you haven’t named your camera and worked out the personality traits of said camera, well…your ass is grass and the camera is the lawn mower.

Well, your a cocky shooter, got your do do together. Standing tall and knowing, there ain’t nuttin’ better then being a street shooter and then, just then as your cockiness is in high gear, you get the   idea that ya wanna use a different camera. Hmmm, it’s so crazy it just might work. So you and your un named camera # 2 get ready to do it and make the photos that all street shooters for all the rest of time will gaze upon them and just admire the genius that you are…BUTT and it’s a damn big BUTT! You look thru the finder, or at the screen and OMG!… the camera has played a trick on you. It’s function buttons are in the wrong place…. the FOV is totally different, the weight is different, dammit… the friggin color is different. HELP… I NEED A SHRINK! Who the hell said any good shooter can make a good photo with any camera? BULLSHIT! I’m friggin melting and no one can fix this…..

Along comes Don to the rescue and states… if you name your cameras, then when you switch, even a few days or longer, you will be in ZEN and you NAMED camera will be a part of that ZEN. Look, you can go to any number of websites, blogs, classes whatever but you wont understand that the things that make each camera different, well that’s the personality traits. If you want to think that all those differences are like mechanical things and you learn to work them, that’s fine.

I’m a fuck up and I know it but I believe in magic. I believe in the magic of love. I believe that my camera is an integral part of my process. I’ll be damned if I’m going out with my FUJI X100T and calling it just that. Oh yeah, I took this shot with my Fuji X100T. I used F11 @ 1/250… yup… draws hard on the stinky ass cigar and knows he’s a bad ass shooter. NO FUCKING WAY!

Where’s the love of Mother Light? Where’s the magic of MAKING photos? Where’s the connection with the one most important partner in your work? It’s lost and that’s a damn shame. I’m the guy that takes Andre’ the Fuji X100T out and we go looking for photos. I understand the relationship between shooter and camera and post process and the visible feeling of love.

You can do anything you want. You can just be what every book or master or stranger or friends programs you to be, including me. Maybe you take your Fuji X100T out and just know you have a fine tool in your hand. It does as you instruct when and where you say. You are a GHAAAAD and your camera a mere tool and nothing more. This is your choice. If we ever meet on the street, I will be honored to meet your presence. I will even be honored to introduce you to Andre’ and tell you the tales that we experienced making our photos.

I wish you all the blessing of the magic of love and life.                                          Once they let me out of the ward, I’ll post something else……..

 

 

Dreamcatcher

November 30th, 2016 Tribute To Earl D* … 8/26/92 – 11/29/16

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Let me start by saying…I met Earl downtown Philly at the Reading Market. I was sitting at the counter waiting for my #8. This guy comes walking slowly and carefully with a stick and bumps into me and apologies. He says, “hey man, I bumped into you because you were the closest to me. I smiled. He say’s, could you lend me a few bucks so I can eat lunch? (Look, I know a con job when I see it and I also know a person that’s blind too. He’s neither, almost.) I said sure, how much ya need? About eight bucks for #2 & water. ( in Philly, 8 bucks is a few) So James introduces himself to me and we start to talk.  He’s from NE like me and not to far away. He tells me he has around 15% vision and not clear. He is legally blind and all in his life treat him as blind.

So Earl ask for my phone number cause when he’s around town and I am, he will let me buy him lunch again. A few months go by and we are eating at Sang Kee again and he tells me he loves my photos. (at this point, his lunch could get much nicer) Earl says, I have a camera but it doesn’t do what I want it to. And what is that I asked. I want to make photos that I can show to my family and friends so they can see how I see.

Oh my, what a challenge and even I don’t know how Earl see’s but I’m sure to find out quickly. He’s using a Ricoh Film camera, no model named. I told him, you must have a digital camera with an adjustable shutter speed and aperture. He asked why and I told him he needs to think about light as liquid and not as light. This was, the movement and focus can shift and distort the way he needs and the screen will show him the result. I hadn’t used my GRD3 in a long time… yes…. gave it to Earl and gave him lessons on using it. He loved that little camera.

He would make photos and he could see the shapes and blurs and was very excited. A year and a half later, Earl was awarded a medal of Excellence for his vision and images. Earl taught me many things especially about seeing what is in my heart and not my mind. One day I asked his mom how he got this way and she told me they were all sitting on the steps and a car drove by and fired a few rounds and Earl jumped in front of his mom and got a shot to the head. It grazed his head but did severe damage to his vision.  She said he was her hero. I said, we are all hero’s to someone. Then she said, you be a hero to my baby and I ain’t never forget that.

I wrote this because Earl is a hero to many including me. I feel human being a hero for him. He had a hell of a vision, even for 12” from his eyes.

Rest In Peace Little Brother and I’ll be looking for you when I get there, but not yet.

Mr Don out, Goodbye Earl

 

Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

November 12, 2016 … Un-Mastering Your Mind … a Path to Satisfaction

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11-16-0052-editFor decades, I would read books by other shooters and try to find the key to unlocking my creative self. Many times I would get inspired by something I read and then feel like I was close to the Magic I sought. After a time, I would feel something off or missing. It was like a loneliness taking over. This went on for years. I collected and read more books then I care to mention. Of course I discovered many thoughts to inspire me. But yet unsatisfied.

I remember walking with Winogrand and he was fascinated by my being a combat vet. We talked and walked and made photos. One day I asked him what I thought to be a profound question.

“Garry, what do you feel is the key to life?” Garry stopped, turned to me and said …”Breathing, as long as your doing that, there is a chance for everything.”

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So I decided to meet artist, shooters and people and continue my quest for the magic. I went to lectures that were free cause I couldn’t afford it otherwise. After more time doing this, I felt empty again. So I started compiling info from all these people and try to figure what is missing for me. It took a few decades but I eventually found what I sought.

Many will state that they are never satisfied by their work and always strive to improve. Ok, ok… I’m trying to get this but for the life of me, well it ain’t working. My thoughts on this and then back at ya.

I live by the simple concept that I want to experience love from my work while I am doing it. I work hard and I want some satisfaction from it. Not every photo but the ones I love, I want to be satisfied. This sets up standards to work with but the satisfaction must be present.

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If you live by what many say, never satisfied and always strive to do better, well why the hell are you doing something that Doesn’t Satisfy you? We are not kids. So forget that shit about Steve to be better. We all do that by natural instinct anyway. No one need wait to be told to strive to be better, you will anyway.

That is not the issue is it? The issue is being satisfied enough to want to continue the journey of your work. Not to create blockades in the mind to stumble upon. You must be able to look at your work and see the love you have for it and the love your work gives back to you.

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I hope this makes sense. It maybe goes against what many masters and others say and teach. I tell you this my friends, your life will be more fulfilling in a satisfaction that will keep you going. You will live the reason to strive to do better because your work loves you like you love it. If you think about mot being satisfied and striving to do better, what are you striving to…. more un-satisfying work. It’s time to cut it loose. Get off the bandwagon set before you and take control of the ride. We all strive to do better but it’s more important in there here and now to love what your doing and love whet it’s doing for you.

Like Garry said “Breathing….as long as your doing that, there is a chance for everything.”

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

November 7th, 2016 … Choosing a Camera Amid the Confusion

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Let me start off by stating that Septa, the local Transportation Authority has been on strike for a week …. and then of course it’s election time  here and that all kinda settles out tomorrow. Don’t forget Halloween and hiding some candy from Tanya to enjoy later but she knows all the hiding places I use and she took all the M&M’s and put a piece of garlic there and then I knew I was caught and well… more fodder for the non productive fishes.

So, anything to blame a period of non productivity on except maybe the real truth, and even that is subject to change.

To the point. Well, ever since I was a fetus in mom, I used a Leica M4 with a 35mm Cron. Wasn’t much subject matter in there so i mostly wrote on my Mac. One day, mom decided it was time to empty the fetus apartment and I came out to a world that wasn’t digital. Imagine that. I was breast fed and of course had my trusty M4 that only I had cause it wasn’t invented yet.

That part may be hard to believe but it’s truth as far as I remember. Of course, I don’t remember shit anymore but I remember this part even if I forgot it.

Well, I have always migrated to a M4 and 35mm either a Cron or a Lux. I felt the FOV was the most natural for me. I had many Leica lenses for my cameras and always struggled to bond to any other then my 35’s. It wasn’t the lenses that I had an issue with, it was the FOV.

Natural Field of View

Natural Field of View is when you spot a scene, frame it in your mind and then raise the camera to make the photo and the FOV of the lens on the camera sees the frame closest to what you envisioned. This is absolutely crucial to the failure or success of the “Decisive Moment”. For me it’s always been natural with a 35mm FOV. Then enter the acquired FOV. Acquired FOV happens when you use a lens that changes the FOV and you need to adjust for what it sees.

There are other factors involved such as. Let’s say the my Fuji X100T is my natural FOV because it sees 35mm, and it is. Then I decide sometimes against my will to take out my Ricoh GRII. Dang it, that camera sees 28mm FOV. Hmmmm, maybe I want to take out my Pen F and that camera really shakes things up. I have a variety  of lenses for Serendipity.

When I’m ready to go out to work, I have to decide which camera to take. I don’t like the decision making procedure. I really love my cameras to the point that I name them. Yo’, my shrink thinks it’s ok to do this. It establishes a connection. CONNECTION! Perhaps  a connection is what is needed for all shooters in the way of camera, mind, heart and subject matter.

I don’t know for sure but here in Northeast Philly, it’s thought to be true. There are truths and lies to the universe and then there is the undiscovered. The truth is that we are all in love with photography. The lies is that we don’t need more gear to mess things up.

The undiscovered is out there and waiting for you and your camera to make a photo. Go on, get out there and find it….that’s what I’m gonna do.