Tag Archives: Philly

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

August 6th, 2016 … Fuji X100T … READ THIS … INTENT

August 6, 2016 streetshooter 13 Comments

The streets are different now and I don’t really have an answer why. It’s almost like everyone is walking around and feeling the difference between Dems & Reps. It’s like I get looked at and maybe the person thinks I’m a member of that other party, you know the one that is backing that person for the election. The there’s the smug person on the corner waiting for the traffic light and we all know that person is an Indy. They couldn’t care about the him or her running cause they got their own Hymn to deal with.

What does this have to do with photography? Well, life shapes the street. We want to capture the essence of the street as we see it. So when things are in an unstable way, so is our images.

I had a chat with a few shooters, of different ages and skill levels. They wanted to direct the conversation to Bresson, Winogrand, Kertesz and all the famous shooters from back in the day. Well, that raises a flag for me about the size of Philly. I was asked who my Favorite shooters were. I replied, anyone contemporary turns me on. Then I said, let me explain.

I feel it’s best to divorce from the past and use your own work as a guide to what you should be doing. Going after Kertesz for example, and expecting to get it as your own, is insanity. Lithium will not help. If you need a reference point, maybe pick someone you like alive and working in a similar genre’ as you are. You will be cleaner, more relaxed and certainly much more inspired.

One of the dangerous things is, when someone or you, comment on someone’s photos and say something like, reminds me of Bresson, very dangerous. What will happen is that the shooter at first is delighted to hear that. Now they are stimulated cause you say they made a photo that was like Bresson’s and everyone read the comment and that shooter gets a shot in the ego.

The, the shooter realizes that they aren’t like Bresson and there is a Gold Ring they have been chasing and it’s all stored away and done with mirrors. They simply can’t continue to keep up with the illusion and or pressure that they have had planted on them.

If that shooter gets comments like, really like this dude or dudess….I check your stuff a lot and I relate to it.

Let me tellya, that will do more for both, than any Kertesz or Bresson or any, dare I say…yes yes…. I dare any master before us. The reason is, we are programmable. We can’t stop that procedure. All we can do is to Give Peace a Chance….opppps sorry John…..

We need to filter as much garbage entering our minds and brains as possible. Then we need to determine what garbage we allow to influence us while we are here on the planet.

If you wanna make photos and rest assured that what you are doing, regardless of what the asses of the masses are doing, heed my warning and advice, if you wanna run around with a camera and pretend to be some Master, then be alone at the end because you lived as someone else and not true to you…..well, that’s cool but…well you’ll find out…

next post Monday…. well, hopefully……

Inspired Eye, Street, Streetshooter

08/04/16 … Fuji X100T … RIP G.

August 4, 2016 streetshooter 10 Comments

Wasn’t such a great meeting at the VA Group. Another Vet committed Suicide. I knew the guy for a few years and we are all troubled when this happens. I guess Trump & Clinton will fix things and all will be well. RIGHT!

So I was going home and then I saw the doors and the light on the other side and I envisioned passing thru. All the sudden, Andre’ the Fuji X100T started vibrating in my hand a a man passed by me and was now mostly in the blackness of oblivion going to the light of never ending Peace. CLICK! … Rest in Peace G. Statistics show about 22 Vets a day take their own lives.

Better to send $400 Million to Iran so they can fund terrorist groups than to add support for Veterans.

As I walked thru the Historic Park to catch the train home, I saw Polly. She waved and gave me a hug and told me she has friends in from Japan. She said she was taking them on a bus ride to see the city. Anyway, I moved around a little and then out of nowhere, I saw the bus and sure nuff…Polly was in view. I quickly made a photo and smiled. She didn’t see me. She will see the photo when she reads this post.

This is not a heavy post, it is a lite post. If it was a heavy post youse would have more to read and more photos to see. The fact is it’s a lite post and youse reached the end……

seeyas tomorrow………

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

42 Years of … Slipping … In and Out

July 27, 2016 streetshooter 8 Comments

What bugs me, to this day when I shoot in a working environment is having to slip in and out of my frame of mind. What I mean is, I do my thing in life and making photos of it. I answer to me for the most part, yes I’m married and that’s where I have to answer the most. Now the DNC is here in Philly and I find myself doing shots that are press worthy. I also find I do my own work for me.

Many years ago and I do mean many, like about 42 years ago, I did freelance work for the Bulletin Newspaper here in Philly. The assignment editor was named Jack. He called me in to the shop and explained about a soot and how he wanted it to be and how I could make like $2000.00. Well, I was all in as I was out of work, wife, kids, mortgage and Leica’s.

Jack wanted me to live and work in the Bowery. That area is no longer here and to tell the truth, I miss it and all the folks I met there…. soooo….I of course took the assignment. Jack wanted me to find the human element and the way people lived there. So, I set course to go and live there and see what I could learn. I had a green trench coat on, jeans, work boots, denim shirt. Small waist pack that held the M4, 35 Cron and a 50 Cron. I had a dozen rolls of Tri-X in my coat pocket. I learned in about 20 minutes why Jack offered me the assignment. It’s a rough area and the people living there don’t have anything to lose by waisting you and taking your shit.

When I was working on the assignment, I knew I had to get the Bacon for the paper. I also knew that I wanted to choose the bacon before I shot. My personal thoughts and emotions and everything were running on course but were also taking control of what I was to accomplish. After 3 days, I went to the shop and gave some film to Jack. He told my I smelled pretty ripe and I was kinda insulted but let it slide. about 35 minutes later we went to the light table and looked at the negs, It was like 4 or 5 rolls. Jack patted me on the back and said, great work. Now I felt super charged and as I left the office, I mentioned to Jack, look, I haven’t had a shower in 4 days. I’m sleeping n an abandoned bldg and I eat what they eat ate the mission.

One of the darkroom techs came to me and asked me if I needed anything special. I said look… there is one thing that keeps homeless people feeling like a human being and it ain’t food and it ain’t help from anyone…. it’s fucking Toilet Paper. So Adolpho gave me like a dozen rolls.

So I went back and worked and worked. I met people that amazed me. One older man way very clean kinda looking but he talked very educated. I was told his name was Doc. Turns out, he really was a doctor. Has a nice house in the suburbs, nice wife, 3 kids…all the things we are programmed to seek. Doc told me that he had an affair with a nurse and his wifes lawyer wanted to wipe him out. He went to the streets to be rid of his life and just be left alone. So I made portraits and got permission from some to use the photos and stories.

I’ll get to my point in a sec. Nah, let me get to it now. See, Jack knew better then me that when I did assignment work, I would connect to the essence of myself and the life I’m living and not distinguish between Work and Self Work.

So, now that this DNC is here, I’m making photos like I always do but there’s a clutter in my head as to what and why. I know that being in the here and now is essential and being there with an open hear and mind is also essential. Then to be there with a focused, awake intent, well…. it doesn’t get better then that.

So, regardless of the subject matter you choose, or cheeses you and regardless of the intent you impose on your work or allow the intent to impose on you…the important thing is just doing and feeling. The results need only matter to you. If your an assignment shooter, the same holds true.

Being aware and able to Slip in an out of your self and the frame is a gift that not everyone can tackle. The rewards are not just the pay you get or the amount of more work, or even the fame that comes with it all.

The reward is being in bed at night and drifting to sleep and being excited to be able to go out tomorrow and find photos that satisfy you. The gift is having the peace of mind and the knowledge that above all else in the universe, your a photographer and you know your doing the right thing for your life’s work.

Have a blessed evening and I’ll be back tomorrow if I’m supposed to be. If I don’t make it, there’s a shitload of stuff to read here…..

shooter out……………………………………………………………………………………

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street

Old Dog … New Tricks

July 19, 2016 streetshooter 17 Comments

Well, after weeks of aggravation and grief, I called the plumber to fix the blog. There’s a knock at the cyber door and when I open it, this Olivier guy says whats the problem dude? I explain to him what is going on and he brings out a cyber toolkit and says, dude, go make photos, ya bother me and your old and ask too many questions.

So the he says, dude, I am supposed to be doing the Pokemon hunt and now I gotta fix pipes and unclog the blogs cyber drain from all the uh….uh…stuff you put in it. So, I went out and made some photos.

When I get back, this Olivier fella says, “it’s all good now, so get to work, there are millions and millions of shooters need your daily bread.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So there’s a new look and a new way of working the blog. It ain’t gonna be easy for me but if all youse come to read, I’ll do my part. Maybe, just maybe we can figure this out together.

seeya’s soon… peace and sure nuff, we all need that.

Philosophy of Street

It’s The Time of the Season

July 5, 2016 streetshooter 11 Comments

Damn hot & humid. For real. I see tourist with du rags on their head, towels over the shoulders and people selling Ice Cold water running out. Amazing. Personally I love the hot weather but I have an issue when the heat mixes with the humidity.

So, Andre’ the Fuji X100T and I were out on a walk-a-bout. We covered a few miles and made some photos. Some won’t get posted because they belong to a project I am working on, Faces and Spaces. The happen to be the better images because my intent is flying high on that project and I just see it. This stuff is basically Flikr & Facebook stuff. I try to support the community at both places and I feel it’s important to do that.

So, we are cruising around City Hall and going thru the walk ways. I used to do that with Ed Bacon but now I just have the memories of him telling me all sorts of facts as we walked around the building. Then as I went thru the West corridor heading to the East corridor, I get a glimpse of a young woman walking with a bag in her hand and it has a face of Marilyn Monroe. Now, she’s young and I’m not so young.This means she can walk faster then I can even see but I wanna make a photo so I focus on her and realize, it ain’t gonna happen cause she’s far ahead of me. The, the Angel of Grace floated down to her and put some other woman next to her. I thought geeze, I need to get the Angel a present. I walk close and know it’s just a one shot deal and I know what I want and get close and ….CLICK!

The great thing about photography is seeing how things get when they are flat. It’s a real amazing experience and then to make it B&W, well…..

I remember going to museum and Ding showing me photos. Sometimes I would see a self portrait of the shooter and could not stop looking at it. I wanted to understand that person just by seeing them in a photo. Then I learned that I would realize that person by the body of work they produced.

What I found and still do, is selfies, selfies by anyone interest me. I have many of myself for all these decades. Maybe when we look at someones work, we see what that person felt and saw and responded to at the moment. When we see a selfie of that person, for some reason, they become human and they are real for us. It’s a trick of photography. A trick of freezing time. A trick of Life after Death.

I used to wonder what people that were not photographers saw and what they responded to in photos. Now that an exercise one can only dabble in but must at certain points in our life. I remember many moons ago I had been at the Museum and Ding picked a handful of my prints that her liked and felt were worth owning.

I was excited. I went home and when I got there my in-laws were there. I showed my prints that Ding wanted to my wife and she smiled and was proud and happy for me. My Mother-in-Law came over and asked me…:Donald, why do you always make pictures of nothing?

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Missing Edmund Bacon

June 22, 2016 streetshooter 12 Comments

There is an elegance to breathing. It’s the one thing that keeps us above ground. It’s the common denominator to all human beings, even those that may not be as human as others, breathing.

There is a musician that said, “Love is the Seventh Wave”…I think his name is Sting, some Bass player or something. What he said tho, is very important because it establishes the rhythm of life. So then if there is a rhythm to life then breathing is the elegance of the living and hence, the Elegance of Life.

Well, that simple enough to digest so why am I writing this stuff now? Because photography has a rhythm to it. Making…(we doin’ need no takin; ’round here)… photos somehow has to have a rhythm to and we need to explore that. I been aware of this maybe phenomenon, for a long time and I just been going over things I learned thru my life.

I find that sometimes I feel like Coltrane, just going along with my internal rhythm and flowing. Other times I feel like Muddy Waters and other times like Respighi.

I spent time with Edmund Bacon. We did a book together called..”Murder of the Little Stream”. Basically, it’s about how the City of Philadelphia wanted to expand the Northeast section of the city. They all smoked their cigars and sat back in leather chairs and decided that they would fill the Neshaminy Creek and PennyPack Creek. The engineers and city planners and architects and Mayor and the whole gang were convinced that was what should be done. Then they would make many, many boxes for the residents to live in. It was a plan without Rhythm or Heart.

Then riding in on his Magic Unicorn waving the Flag of Humanity, Sir Edmund Bacon smashed the door down to the dungeon where all bad and stupid people and thoughts were in hiding. . He said, open your minds, open your eyes and open your hearts and let me shine the light of history future for you.

One day Ed had a task for me. He always had a task and I always looked forward to them because I loved the guy and thought he was an Angel of Mercy on the earth. Ed said, I need a photo of an egg with the red veins in it. I didn’t want to ask why even tho I was very curious.

My wife at the time and I drove about 50 miles to a place that had such eggs. (I think they are called fertile but don’t hold me to that)…We bought a dozen eggs. I was very excited because I knew there was a good life lesson coming soon.

So we got home and I set the View Camera up. The camera was an 8×10 Deardorff named Margaret. So, my wife made a plate with a clear background and together we started making the photos. I didn’t exactly know what Ed wanted but i was sure the he would tell me what he didn’t want.

So, I shot the whole dozed eggs individually. I made silver contact prints on Azo. We went to Ed’s and we all sat down and I handed the prints to Edmund. He flipped thru the prints rather fast and I was upset but waited. Then, then the 10th print, the one I prayed was right, the 10th magical image caught Ed and I noticed a tear in his eye.

He looked at me and said, stand up Don. We both looked at the print and he told me the story how when he was a little boy, he cracked an egg open and saw the veins like this one. He starred at it and immediately know that the cities we live in are like an egg or a cell.

He explained to me that the yoke is the center of the city and thus, the center of life. The clear white was the surrounding areas and the veins are the roads and highways that transport life to all in and around the city.

He looked at me and said, I know you understand. Yes, Ed, I do.

Ed and I used to walk Market Street and I mean walk. He could walk miles without tiring.He would tell me about how he designed Market East and show me things and then he asked me, “Don, why do you make photos in Center City all the time?”.

I explained to him that Life has a rhythm and it’s not always in time with others but I feel and breathe this rhythm and it gives me life. Center City is the yolk of the egg and I live on the clear white part and I take public transportation everyday to get here like the veins in the egg.

The moral of this story, the moral of this song, is that one should never be where one does not belong. (Bob Dylan)

So I suppose the point I’m making is that, we all have a place in the world. It is your duty to your soul and your essence to discover yourself and where you belong. Your camera will do the work asked of it and make the photos you desire. …but if your not in sync, or rhythm with yourself then you can’t be with the world.

So, my friends. Don’t let things get you out of place. If you feel that maybe you don’t fit in with those around you, hat your work isn’t up to par, well…. just sit back and imagine that they are all wrong because you are your own person and you need to be right for you, if you fit in with others, good if not….. as long as you recognize you and what you do….nuff said

Street Photography

A Lesson I Really Learned From Minor White

June 21, 2016 streetshooter 11 Comments

Sometimes I wonder what on The Lords Green Earth am I thinking about. Maybe that’s a problem we all share.. yeah, damn right …you too. See, I kinda get on auto pilot and let my feelings and eyes do the work. Of course they are not independent of my whole, but I let them have guidance on the creative end. Also, nothing get’s the camera to work unless the mind is in it too. See, that’s the Eye, heart and mind I learned from Minor White.

From what I could take in, it was….don’t work looking for answers, but just be content with the questions your work presents to you. If you do this and don’t expect anything but more questions, you will live with your work as one and have peace thru it. If you force the issue of discovery and fight the battle for answers, you will live in turmoil and never be content with your work because you don’t know what it means to have peace.

Now I ain’t saying Minor was always right but I don’t think he was ever wrong. He further explained that there is contrast in everything we do. (later expressed as the inverse square law by me) He went on to explain that every single photo has the right to life. Every single photo is unique and it’s existence is justified by the fact that you created it. So, of course we all want and seek that special photo that we consider a Self Masterpiece. The point is, like children, not all are that special above the others. We strive for the special i,age but many are just a fragment of our life as it was when we made the photo.

I remember Seeing Paul Strand’s work countless time at the Museum. I think I mentioned this before, Ding showed me a box of Strand’s unseen works. Stuff he made but didn’t push or feel was worthy of exhibiting. Ding vowed to respect Strand’s request to never show the work to anyone. Luckily, I am no one so I saw the photos a few times. I realized back then that photography was not a labor of love as is taught. It is a way of life.

What echoed in my soul was that Paul made photos just like everyone and his well known masterpieces were what was always see. The fact that he made regular snaps, made me feel the connection to him stronger then I ever could have hoped for.

It’s like this, you go to a restaurant in Paris. Nice place, good wine excellent food. The you have to use the toilet, (I think that’s what it’s called, fee free to correct me)…you walk in and you see feet sticking out of a stall where someone is sitting doing his business.

You are taking a leak and you hear the familiar sound of gas escaping…(NE Philly it’s called a fart)… the stall door opens and out comes, in front of you a hero beyond all heroes the enigma that we call Henri’ Cartier Bresson.

You are in panic mode, I mean it’s true Bresson is a man, a man amongst shooters but a man. You think, wow, I can sit on the toilet like Bresson did…. your right.

Let me tell you something, all the world and all the planet recycles energy and love and hate. Don’t let anyone every tell you that you can’t do what Bresson did.

Do you see the hunger people have for heroes? Vivian, Bresson, Strand, Winogrand. It’s up to you what you do with you work and your life. If in fact energy recycles over and over, maybe you are the next Hero. Maybe just maybe, you might know the next hero. Maybe just maybe you will buy a book by that hero or maybe name your camera after that hero…..

see you all tomorrow…….oh… if in fact some of youse become the next here, I want a discount on your stuff….

shooter out………end transmission……………………….

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Mind Clearing

May 24, 2016 streetshooter 7 Comments

I have said many times that my brain goes on vacation and it does. The thing is, my mind stays put in me poor head so I can work. I’m kinda bogged down with all kinds of things and thoughts. Maybe it’s a welcome break cause I miss just loving photography. There has been many reasons for me to make photos but the most important one, because I have to because I love to, is on the back rail. Well, not any more. I am out working with only one agenda. That is that I am making love with light and life again. I think what got me to this point of realization is, that the tourist are here, and I mean here like all over the place. That’s my time to get busy and work.

Tourist are the blood line of creativity.Well for me at least. I find it a stimulating time to be in and around the Historic Park. Love working there. I get this feeling of complete happiness with photography. The Monk did not actually pose for me. He asked me when I made the photo if I was a tourist. I said yes, a tourist for 66 years. You guys know this but he don’t. Well he does now but he didn’t when I said it to him. I said, we are all tourist of the earth, no one gets a permanent visa. He looked at me and said, enjoy your journey.

So I feel that I am coming to one with myself again and working because I have to, and because I love to. After the end of summer I will sort the cream out and submit to my buyers. I’m still doing that Faces and Spaces project but not permitted to show the work. It’s ok, I got some good things already.

I will be out again tomorrow and Suzanna and Polly want to meet for Lunch. Nice, love them dearly and they are getting sooo fine tuned.

till we meet again…..remember, you live your life anyway you want…when yo exit, you exit alone. So, make tings count and cherish each breath as if it came from the Angel of Life….because it did. Mother Light will not forget you and you can make photos knowing you are at one with yourself.

Inspired Eye, Street Photography

Unheard Voices … Pt 3

May 9, 2016 streetshooter 16 Comments

So, to make things clear, there are voices of another kind that want to or do go out with us. Not all voices are perceived so easily. Some and maybe most have the possibility of influencing our vision or maybe thoughts, feelings etc. The camera could be seen as the number one culprit.

I know many say that it’s the shooter not the camera. The camera is a tool. The shooter is everything. To me that’s a very lazy way to address the issue.

See, if all those shooters are correct, I’m in for the biggest letdown of my life. Well, not my life but maybe a 15 min part of it.

Fact… doing underwater photography with a DSLR without a case is not a good idea…

Fact…doing sports with a 21mm on a Leica is not a great idea…

Fact… Doing street with an 8×10 Deardorff without a tripod is not a great idea.

Fact… you get the idea. So if the camera doesn’t matter and it’s only the shooter that matters, do one of the above practices and I can send you more if you need to torture yourself more.

I see this exercise as an awakening and a promise to try to dilute the garbage others have put into me. The camera absolutely matters. I name my cameras because I see and treat them as my friends. Each camera will introduce limitations or effect how you work.

So, many have stated that the Ricoh GRII has too many things like bugs going on. I love that camera. I named it Mom cause I wanted to have my mothers spirit in the camera. Does it work that way? Nah, not at all but it’s still a good name and I adore the camera. If I listened to the scuttlebutt from others, I wouldn’t experience the freedom that the camera affords me.

So, there are many obstacles to overcome and no one will stop poisoning your mind either. I hope I’m not doing that cause I would rather set it afire and provide inspiration. Oh and let’s not forget that you can’t be a shooter of any worth if you don’t use Light Room. If your not using those masterpiece pre-sets, well, your wasting your time.

This isn’t really a rant. I think we all suffer from over intoxication for info that is good but worthless. There is no washing machine for the mind. Well, the CIA maybe but not for our kind of shooters.

The idea of categorizing and cataloging information that is in our brain is not an easy idea to tackle but it’s one that must be attempted.

Tomorrow, we start the cleaning and organizing the brain and getting the mind to be a separate entity.

shooter out…………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 61 … Observations of Lost Innocence

March 31, 2016 streetshooter 8 Comments

Tacony Flea Market, Phila. 2005

We are a product of our environment and our work is a product of us. Now that may seem like a generalization and maybe it is but it’s true nonetheless. I was looking at Amira Issmail’s work again and I thought how innocent she is and her work. Now obviously, she’s an adult and a beautiful lady but she presents her work in a way that is pure joy.

What I mean is, Amira has a way of working that is void of attitude and jaded from the environment of the human condition. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5iotgw9USPLu5gKfxrw82A I find it interesting in this day and age that someone could be almost clean of attitude and their presence in their work. You can see her work on the Inspired Eye FB page and others places. Just look and see what I’m talking about.

So I was wondering when and where I lost my photographic innocence and I realized, I can’t lose what I never had. Muddy said that and he’s right. I’m kinda envious becaue everything I do is , I guess jaded for lack of a better word and this effects what and how and why I do it.

I never got to see the world with starry eyes and glitter all arround. I’m not saying Amira does either. What I’m saying is, Amira and I’m sure many others have the ability to work in any environment and see the joy of living. The simple but delicious things around and that others don’t even think or feel or even care about. This is a very precise meaning for making images.

To share with others how and why you see what you see.

Anyway, Serendipity comes home tomorrow and the guys on the camera shelf are excited and so am I.

Have a blessed weekend……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer