Gerry's Place

This is Gerry's Place if you haven't figured it out yet. I really am captivated by this place. It has many of the aspects that photographers look for in shooting. It has some architectural dimension with the arched garage doors and the rectangular ones as well. It certainly has texture with the peeling paint and oil stained parking lot. It has a great deal of character with the wooden display sign and it's rapidly decaying name set. And certainly the face of the building with the structural cracks and additional chipped paint gives one the idea that it's just about ready for the wrecking ball. But wrecking ball it's not for as many times that I've been by this building on the weekends, I happened to drive by during the week once and found it to be a bustling little auto repair shop. It was full of cars that were awaiting their time in the shop for whatever repair they were in need of. Some day I'll have to walk into the shop and see if it's interior is as colorful as its exterior.

I shot this is in HDR, a process that I am increasingly finding another "art" form.

Did You Decide.....Live or Memorex??

Photoshop is a really powerful tool as you can attest by this image. If you looked at the original from April 1st and thought, "how did he capture that eagle flying over that red barn with such a beautiful sky with those clouds?" Well, here's how it's done. You can see that the image has multiple layers with each being added at a different time. The top is the original image without any alterations. Then we have the red barn with the white house added. The eagle is added next The next layer that is added is the sky with clouds. The clouds are given a bit of contrast and saturation to enhance them.

You may never look at a photograph again without wondering if there has been some kind of "doctoring" to it. You can rest assured that any Hollywood photo of your favorite star has been retouched. Maybe with the exception of Joan Rivers or Phyllis Diller.....they've had so much plastic surgery, retouching isn't necessary. If they'd smile their faces would crack.

APRIL FOOLS

Beings today is the first of April and typically the day we refer to as April Fools Day. The origin of the day is somewhat obscure. There is one thought that the first modern holiday was celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone who still adhered to the Julian Calendar. Another belief was that in pre-Christian cultures, May Day was celebrated as the first day of summer and signaled the spring planting season. A person who began their spring planting on April 1st was considered the "April Fool" because they were thought to be pre-mature. Whatever your belief most of us have had the proverbial prank played on us. Hopefully, we have been good natured about it being the "fall guy" and haven't retaliated in too drastic of manner. The photo I've chosen for today "could" very well be one of an April Fool prank. Look closely at it and determine if it is "live, or memorex".

CREATIVITY

Henry David Thoreau once said, "the world is but a canvas to our imaginations". In these rather unsettled times, with economical collapse, world country unrest, excessive stimulus program uncertainty, we look for vision and creativity and above all guidance. Henry David Thoreau was a man of vision and in his various writings, namely CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, he sought a better government. One of his most enigmatic quotes, ‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.” I often wonder if our elected officials should heed. Or maybe his self imposed sabbatical of two years, two months and two days on Walden Pond would be a better respite for our President. Thoreau's ideologies and works influenced the likes of John F. Kennedy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Tolstoy among a host of literary giants such as Hemingway, Yeats, and B.F. Skinner. And certainly Thoreau, being such an environmentalist and naturalist would be turning over in his grave to learn of global warming. Here's to Thoreau, a man of creativity and vision.

It's Sprung!! (Or to BEE or not to BEE)

Well, after a rather mild St. Louis summer (no really blistering, lingering heat filled days), a more than colorful autumn than years past, and another mild winter. It's sprung back!!! It's the glorious time of the year when the daffodils have awakened, the hyacinths are breathing forth their ever engaging bouquet, the dogwoods and red buds are once again clamoring for competition on who's beauty will shine forth. I'm not sure if Spring is my favorite time of the year. I do have to admit that there is an untold energy that "springs" (pardon the pun) forth, a renewed vigor in peoples' activities (not necessarily mine), and that distant calling from my yard that says, "rake me". I do anxiously await the first buds on my rose bushes and that intoxicating fragrance that comes from my floribundas. I've chosen a few spring pics that hopefully will awaken your energy, remind you to make a trip to your local hardware store for lawn and leaf bags, and make sure your lawn mower has clean gas.

I've also chosen a brief verse from Robert Louis Stevenson:
"Now the hedged meads renew Rustic odor, smiling hue, And the clean air shines and twinkles as the world goes wheeling though; And my heart springs up anew, Bright and confident and true. And my old love come to meet me in the dawning and the dew."

"Oh Barn"!!!

I couldn't resist the opening line for this image. This old dilapidated barn sits just off Creve Couer Mill Rd. I've shot it many times at various times of the year and think it's a wonderful expose' of texture, shape, line and color. I shot it using High Dynamic Range. That "aurora borealis" looking glow you see off to the right of the barn in the sky isn't the Aurora Borealis, (much to my dismay) it's due to the image processing from the High Dynamic Range. I almost didn't get to process it using Photomatix Pro, my program wouldn't open and I thought I had somehow "trashed" it. Luckily I still had the zip file and was to open it and use it.

Textures

"It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar".
William Wadsworth Longfellow

Poems, Prayers, and Promises

Maroon Bells in Aspen Colorado On top of Independence Pass heading into Aspen, Co.

Lake Irwin in Crested Butte, Co.On Hwy 257 coming out of Cottonwood Pass, in Colorado.

I found myself TV surfing last night and came across a repeat of a PBS special on John Denver from 2005. Before I go any further, I wholeheartedly and without shame admit I was and still am to this day a huge John Denver fan. I know there have been a number of critics that assailed him and his music, citing a "pollyanna" image, an "aw shucks" frivolity to his personna. I truly believe that the world lost one of the great song writers and poets when he unfortunately died in a 1997 plane crash. And while there was a much "I can't believe it's true" mentality to his celebrated marriage to his first wife Annie, especially after they divorced......see I told you it was too good to be true, I identified with him in more ways than one. The title of this post I've aptly named after one of his (and could very well be my favorite)songs. I truly believe this was a man of true poetry and a unique connection not just into his soul but mine as well. The many songs he wrote, "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Perhaps Love", "Rocky Mountain High" and "Annie's Song" all have such a poignancy for me. I can't tell you how many times I've been to Colorado but I will say that many of my most favorite times were shared with "Boom". "You fill up my senses, like a night in the forest, like a mountain in spring time, like a walk in the rain"..... John wrote those beloved words for Annie.
Here are several of my favorite images from some trips to Colorado. The first one is of the Maroon Bells in Aspen Colorado. The next one is on top of Independence Pass on the way into Aspen. The other from a trip to Crested Butte when Keller, Chloe, and Boom went camping in August and we hunkered into our bags (with Keller desperately trying to join me)to the sound of this "pinging" on the tent to wake up with nearly 8 inches of snow on the ground. The final is one of me with Keller and Chloe from the same trip but three days later. Who said the weather can change faster in St. Louis than Colorado??

A CLOSE ENCOUNTER??

You probably remember the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? Another Steven Spielberg classic made in 1977 (gosh, was it really that long ago?). Whether you believe we are the only ones in this Solar System or espouse to the Jodie Foster character-Dr. Ellie Harroway-from "Contact" dictum, "it would seem to be a lot of wasted space", the image I've chosen today reflects on scene from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind when Roy and his wife are sitting above the hill waiting for the UFO's to come flying over the hill to prove his point. This particular image was not retouched in any way. See if you can determine what it is!!!

White Buildings and Blue Sky

I just took these pictures over the weekend. I was out looking for ways to compose and shoot images that I could manipulate to give the impression of motion, or fluidity and blur. Of all the aspects that photographers strive for, it's the perennial sharpest image we can muster. However, my current photo assignment for class is to do just the opposite....create an image that has a "ghost image" or is blurred. It's like telling noted chef Mario Battaligia to cook his pasta nice and soft as opposed to "al dente". Many of the Victorian photographers and even into the 20th century, blurred images began to surface as giving the feeling of instability and ambiguity. So, to settle my "angst" in having to complete the assignment, I had to present the simple image of the white buildings with the blue sky, less I start on a heavy dose of prolixin chased with some lexapro. Don't worry, it's not your eyes that are going bad and no matter how hard you squint, the image won't come in focus. It's not one of those trick pictures that after you've let your eyes "relax" you'll see a lamborghini with Halle Berry waving at you. But if you look hard enough, you will see several cars with their lights giving the impression of motion.
Enjoy