Tag Archives: Streetshooter

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

Walker Evans In The Garden

If you know me at all, you know that I name my cameras. My White GRD4 is named Walker. It doesn’t matter if you know who Walker is, but nice if ya do.

Tanya, my wife..not a camera and I work hard in the garden. We plant bulbs and watch as the squirrels dig them up and eat them. We plant grass seed so that we get a nice thick furry covering of Kentucky Blue Grass just so I can hack it down with the mower and weed whacker. This also feed the birds.

I always make a rock garden so that I can pick up a rock and find a squiggly worm to hold in my hand and watch Tanya freak out. I get to order pizza for a few days after that episode. Tanya calls lettuce salad. I think the rabbits agree with her….I don’t really know because after 7 years, I’ve yet to taste the lettuce from the garden. The rabbits always smile at me whenever I walk by them.

There’s something about Russian Woman and Cucumbers. When I talk to Tanya’s sisters or mother, they always ask about cucumbers. Money in the bank means nothing if you don’t have cucumbers. That’s a good thing that we get lots and lots of cucumbers.

We adopted a cat so that the squirrels would be afraid to come to the yard. I look at Barsik as the Killer Cat that hates anything moving. The squirrels see Barsik as a friend and a guard for them as they eat the garden. I think the squirrels see the garden as a grocery store. It must be a co-op because they don’t pay or work for anything. Tanya said we are the welfare dept for the local animals.

I like the garden because I get to nurture the flowers with ever so gentle a hand. I water and put miracle grow so that the flowers grow tall with wonderful colors.

I do this so that I can cut them down, put them in a vase, bring them to the dining room table and as I watch them die, I get to use Walker to make photos of them.

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Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

4/18’s pick

……….. thank’s doc….seeya in a month. Dr G…. is a good shrink. I guess I like him because he’s not threatening. Then again at the VA Hospital, one shouldn’t be. I finished Blood Draw, went to Primary…Dr J….then off to Pharmacy for Dr L then to Mental Health. That’s a funny thing to me. Mental Health?

Stopped to talk to a few Vets from my AO (Agent Orange) group…..then to see a troop from the sandbox that had  both legs blown off. He’s from someplace out mid west. It took me a month to get his wife to come to see him. It’s not an easy task and older vets like me try to lend support to our brothers. Jeff is feeling somewhat better, his wife will continue to stay married to him and try to work it out.

I leave the hospital and as I’m walking to the trolley, my head is still filled with all this reality and life. I need a draining, I need a fix.

I pull the GRD4 out of the pocket….jeans pocket that are tight on me but the camera fits…. hmmmm imagine that. I’m on the trolley and my brain is saturated with thoughts of all kinds of things. I need to escape this for a little bit.

The trolley is clacking along, (I love the sound of the train wheels on the tracks…ya know when the wheel hits the rail joint) ….that sound is sooo comforting to me. The Ricoh is at the ready, waiting patiently, never letting the screen go to sleep or drain battery power.  The trolley pulls into my stop and I walk down the crowded isle looking and feeling for a photo. I cup the camera in my hand because some of these people want to bang against it and maybe hurt the lens. Walker is protected. Come on now…..you do name your cameras don’t you…..

I’m on Auto ISO, Snap Focus at 1 meter and f/5.6. Other details in the exif file. As I’m walking into the dimly lit tunnel, I see the walls and ceiling separating into different quadrants…… even the light is changing but not the same on each side…..I felt like I was seeing inside my mind and was at the hospital and then this beautiful woman walked in front om me….CLICK!

 

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Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

it ain’t the Camera…it’s the Eye, Heart and Mind.

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I was on Market Street again….Yeah, after 45 years I ain’t tired of  it either. Anyway….the light is that early Spring light with a harshness yet a warmth in the shadows. It’s like walking around with Kodachrome in your eyes. I was using my favorite camera, the Ricoh GRD4. I’m on Snap mode at f/5.6….. 1/2 meter to Karen in Scotland is in focus. I made several photos in 45 minutes and that surprised me a lot. I felt energized. I felt at one with the world, well not all of it but the part I could hear and see and that’s enough for any shooter. I can’t hear Tanya yelling so I know I’m at the right distance from home…….

I see this woman standing against a wall. I immediately think about a few things. I think that Pete would like this scene cause she’s a smoker…hey…hey….smoking a ciggie….ok.  I recognized in my brain, not the mind that this had a familiar feel to it. I’m still in this Dream mode and life with or without the camera is wobbling in and out of my mind.

I remember just a day or two ago that I made a very similar shot. Now I’m getting excited. The finger is starting to dance on the release. Ricoh knows that the finger is the important part of photography and cameras. That’s why they make it so big and so sexi.

My feet start to move towards the image. My eye is now totally focused on the woman and framing the image before my feet get me there. I see it forming, I smell the smoke of the Marlboro. I quit 1 1/2 years ago and still love the smell of a good hot smoke…..

As I move in closer my body goes into shooting mode. That means that my body language is totally non aggressive in appearance.

She doesn’t see me. I start to get closer and frame for the shot…..as I approach, she looks at me and I slow my pace so that she just thinks I’m nothing in her reality…….then her head lifts ever so slightly…..Her legs move into a secure position and her head again lowers…..I see the light starting to grow on the upper right and the shapes remind me of smoke…..

Then I get to where my Eye….Heart and Mind say…….CLICK

 

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This is the photo that was made just a short time before the above.

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

For Wouter Brandsma & Jorge Ledesma also for the Ricoh GRD5

So I’m in the middle of the interviews for Issue 2 of   The Inspired Eye  Magazine. I’m gonna have to drop a few names here because they get me to thinking about stuff. Nah, it’s not like I need inspiration or ideas or even trouble. I certainly dang sure don’t need any GAS.

Anyway, Wouter and I are going back & forth with interview emails about photography, not photography etc. Whoa…..hold yer horses now. I got Pete Tachauer, Christophe Debon and Paul McGuirk all working on the interviews. The reason I mention the 2 culprits above is that….

I’m working the street…hey…hey…making photos ok. Sheeeesh…. I get an email and I figure I could use a break. I sit down on a bench in front of the Liberty Bell. I pull the ole’ antique iPhone 4 out and open the mail program.

Now let’s get something straight right off the bat. I love the EP-3 and the lenses I have for them. Yup, I gotz 2 Pens. So I got the Silver Pen….Walker with me and he’s sportin’ the 17mm 1.8. Now I ain’t one to question things when they start to working just righty fine. There’s enough to do when the stuff hits the fan…….. The email shooter, what’s in the email? ok…ok…sorry..brain fart.

So there on my phone screen is this post from that Jorge Ledesma fella. Now I like Jorge and his blog. I read it because he bust his hump making it entertaining for his readers. Today he made the ultimate post for dreams of the new future. See, he posted a video about the new GRD5. Well, I damn near had a hissey fit when I watched the video. Nah, the first 5 times I just watched but that 6th time…that was it. I was figuring it’s a fake, again. So I forward the email to Wouter and he confirmed that it was a real camera and that the video was in fact true.  Now until we get the camera in our hands…it’s a dream but this dream, if it comes true…dang, I’ll sell my M43 stuff again.

The reason being is that the GRD4 is about as good a camera as any camera could hope to be…..the GRD5 will move to a whole new level.

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I ran home to my garden and made this real quick with the GRD4 but…this is exactly what I envisioned the image to be.

 

Thanks Jorge…..Thanks Wouter, see ya on the emails shortly….Thanks Ricoh….Sorry Olympus….

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

Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

The Dreamcatcher Strikes Again

Ya know. I really like what I go after and find on the street. Hey, don’t get me wrong…I love the street but it’s not the only place I work.

The images that bring the most satisfaction and always did are the Dream images. There’s something mysterious and ethereal amongst other things that excite me visually about them. The thing is that I can SEE the potential for the image before I release the shutter. Well ok Don, that’s the idea of  Pre-Visualisation.  I know that but there’s another element to take into consideration. That element is the print.

I use the term “Print” to mean the image you see on your computer screen after all the stuff is done to it. I love the idea of the transformation from reality to the print reality. The beautiful part of the experience is that I can see it when I am at the ready for exposure.

I’m not trying to sell you anything just expressing how much I love my images, the process of capture and the finished print produced thru my presets. This ain’t no sales pitch, just a note to let you know that I really do use the presets.

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Inspired Eye, Off Street, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

If your not making photos because you love it………

……… go paint the bathroom!

There are times when all is right with the world. The world being photography, right. We must learn to capture that feeling so that we recognize it when it returns and also leaves us. Without recognizing this state of being, maybe it’s a state of  Zen, we are destined to be in a constant state of GAS. The reason is that without getting the images we search and work for, we have to have something to blame our disappointments on.

That camera just doesn’t focus fast enough and that lens…don’t get me started. If I had that MAGIC camera bag then all would be fine in the world. You can live this way if you want but I choose a different path. My path is to recognize when the MAGIC of photography is present in my Here and Now.

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I’m not saying this is a great photograph. I am saying that it fulfills my act of photography for that moment. I enjoy making photographs because I enjoy making photographs. Forget about that magic camera and lens in that world renowned camera bag.

Forget about the decisive moment. That is great but it’s only a moment, not the rest of the hour. If you learn to capture the feeling of being awake and ready in the here and now, then when it comes a knockin’ at your lens…you’ll be ready to embrace it.

 

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Relax, reduce instant gratification pressure and make photos. The more you work in a focused mode, the more times the Inspired Moment will come to you.

end transmission…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Inspired Eye, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

Dreamcatcher Is On Flickr Explore

Photography has so many special ways of drawing out our inner thoughts and feelings. For me, it’s always been about a dream. No, not photography but life. Making photos has allowed me to explore many inner thoughts and feelings. At times I just work the street or do portraits or the garden or whatever my lens is looking at.

 

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I sometimes feel that I’m seeing visions from a place that is not of this earth only. It doesn’t scare me in the least. It actually excites my creative juices. Maybe I’m just having a LightRoom breakdown. I mean after all, I am influencing the final image with presets and or adjustments. Surely that helps to create the dream like effect that happens on the photo.

 

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I agree with that but why would I make photos like this in the first place?

 

More questions and photos tomorrow……

Inspired Eye, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

Just some photos from the day.

It’s Easter Sunday here in Philly. I hear it’s the same all over but I can’t confirm that.  Anyway, I took a Nam Vet friend to the VA Hospital this morning. Last November the Docs cut his legs off just above the knee. So his wheel chair is his only means of transportation outside.

One of us vets takes him when he needs to get there for meetings or treatments. Oh no…don’t get this wrong. See, Joe flirts with woman all the time. Yeah, he don’t care where or who but sometimes the woman’s partner doesn’t appreciate Joe’s humor. So I took him and brought him back to the transportation terminal. He left with his daughter and I was stuck there with just my camera. What to do? Just me and the camera. I wasn’t sure so I figured I’d make a few photos.

 

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There’s others but I like these.

Happy Easter and Passover everyone.

Inspired Eye, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

Personal Work For Many Is Still Personal.

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Personal work for me is just that, NOT! Really, on Flickr the last few days a few of my photos went to Explore and kinda viral. The one above and the one below. I love the photos, that’s why I made them. That’s why I will continue making them. What I didn’t know it that YOU like them too.

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This comes at a very special time for me. We are a few days away from launching the Inspired Eye Magazine and Website that includes a FORUM. The energy it took and will continue to take is a heavy load. Just as I was almost depleted, remember I’m chasing 64 in a few months, has been replenished above and beyond thanks to my friends and Flickr.

 

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It’s nice to know that my energy has been feeding youse because youse have been feeding me too.

I’ll post links to the Magazine, Forum, Presets shortly. Till then, go in peace but go with a camera in your hand.

Don

Inspired Eye, Photography, Street, Street Photography, Street Presets, Streetshooter, Uncategorized

It’s What I See When I Feel The Image.

Photography for me has always been a visual escape from literal reality. It’s more then visual but I can only think in visual terms for this post. I’m walking around, camera at the ready and suddenly I start to feel an image. What happens is that the reality in front of me is starting to present a new surreal view of what I see.

 

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Let’s face it. There exist no literal translation of reality in a photograph anyway, so why not find your own vision along the way and just do it.

 

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Inspired Eye Magazine will be published soon. Please like us on the  Street Presets Page on Facebook to make sure you get your notification for your copy. It’s free and a real treat for the eye, heart and mind. Yeah, yeah…that’s the link over there on the right….