menagerie by the bridge

Following a trip to Brooklyn to see a lacrosse game between Trinity and Poly Prep, I decided to walk around and explore. What did I find? First, I was surprised to see a menagerie of animals on Poly's campus, all sharing a plot of land that abutted a small pond. Roosters, ducks, geese, and even rabbits. Who knew? The only thing missing is a peacock. That they were all able to peacefully cohabit this small plot of land impressed me greatly.




Not too far from the campus, the Verrazano Bridge sits above the city, joining Brooklyn to that unwanted sister that serves as the city's fifth borough: Staten Island. Yes, it's time that Jersey annexed the island. Crossing over I-278, I decided to photograph the bridge and rediscovered the difficulties of using a simple point-and-shoot equipped only with auto-focus. Trying to photograph something behind a fence? Fadgettaboudit! So how did I manage to capture the bridge in focus while rendering blurry the chain link fence? I had to first shove the lens through the fence, focus, and then back a few steps away from the fence.


This final photo of the Verrazano Bridge makes a nice addition to my Frames album.

food photography

I sometimes dream about a career as a professional photographer. My ideal job? Working for National Geographic and photographing lions racing across the African savannah. And what if National Geographic doesn't want me? Well, I have a host of photographs of food in my portfolio.

Behold my famous French toast, topped with strawberries and confectioner's sugar.

pet photography

With spring in full force and the sun displaying no hint of shyness, it's high time to take advantage of the weather and to laze about outside. Meet Marty and Riley.

the evolution of photography as an art form

It's been a while since my last update. It's not been because I haven't been taking any photos, though. Film has dominated a lot of my photography as of late, and I have not yet had a chance to scan the negatives to share here.

It's been amazing to me how much time it takes to create a photograph in the darkroom. The processes of using filters to play to contrast, dodging and burning, cropping, enlarging, etc., which take seconds in Photoshop, can consume hours in the darkroom. I am so used to instant results, from viewing a photograph on the LCD of my camera to seeing the effects of image editing (not to mention the ever-powerful command-z), that I have gained immense respect and admiration for those who made their living in film photography. What an amazing art form that is slowly fading from our experience.

The digital revolution has made photography more accessible to the masses, however, and for that I cannot complain. Last week, the New York Times ran an article about the decline of professional photography. Advances in digital media have allowed anyone with the will and desire to produce images worthy of trade on the consumer level. Stock photography is rapidly replacing commissioned pieces, reducing the field of those who might refer to themselves as photographers amidst a simultaneous explosion in the collection of people who are engaged in the art of photography.

But today's photographic art differs from that of yesterday. My own lack of experience in this media limits what I may contribute to the next step of this conversation, but I sense great loss as this field experiences its own rebirth (I feel that there is something to my writing this on Easter Sunday). Photography today rewards those with technical savvy, the ability to digitally manipulate images, and the ability to press and hold a button. Whereas composition, anticipation, and perfection ruled the roost, autofocus, continuous shooting, and a whole host of auto-functions make photography a thoughtless task for most. We are at a point where many people hold the thought that "anyone can do this" and if that really is the case, is there less value placed on photography as an art form?

signs of spring

Itchy eyes, uncontrollable sneezes -- these are the signs of spring that accompany budding trees, blossoming flowers, singing birds, and children on bicycles. We took a trip to the Arnold Arboretum yesterday to walk around and observe the emerging plant life.

Having endured three days of torrential downpour and vicious winds earlier this week, it was quite a blessing to soak in the warm sun and to share in this glorious day with everyone else who chose to spend the afternoon outdoors. We were treated to flooded fields that offered beautiful reflections of the trees, downy woodpeckers flitting about and searching for food, honeybees buzzing at their work, and an energetic little boy who delighted in exploring trails and watching pine cones race down a little stream.

Today marks the first day of spring, 2010. The days continue to lengthen for another three months. My favorite constellation, Orion, lives on above for another month or so before departing the skies until November. Yes, these are the signs of spring.









Dirty knees from playing in the mud... Those are signs of spring, too. But these dirty knees are the result of tripping on a tree root and falling down. =)

frames

I've recently become interested in photographing through "natural frames" -- doorways, windows, and other structures that crop the subject even further within the frame of the photograph. There are many aesthetic reasons for using frames as a compositional element, and used well, they can make images really interesting. For me, frames also create a sense of see-through vision: like Superman, I can see through to things on the other side. The challenge then arises as to how I might stand on one side, find a way to include the frame, but ultimately make something else the focal point of the photograph.



Why not just crop out the frame? Zoom in on the desired subject? Or walk through the frame and not deal with it altogether? Frames help create a sense of removal, an illusion of immense distance or a blockade that is impossible to traverse, yet the subject is so important and worthy of documenting that I have no choice but to compose a photograph from that spot. It also creates a vivid sense of voyeurism, which for me (and for many photographers, I suspect) is a huge reason why we traipse around with cameras.

for my fiancée...

...who wants to own a gazillion cats one day...