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Sugimoto and U2

You can hear the new single from U2, Get On Your Boots at their website. I like the intensity of the song – sort of like “Vertigo”. But it also has a different feel in the chorus, like Beetles but not, like middle eastern tuning but only for a second. U2 continues to grow artistically.

I also like the Sugimoto photo for the cover art. I was able to see a collection of his work at the Hirshhorn Museum in DC. It was a great exhibit and quickly turned me into a Sugimoto fan. I really enjoy minimalism in photography.

In fact I have attempted to recreate some of his ideas once while visiting Lake Erie.  Here is one of my feeble attempts:

Anyway, good song. I can’t wait for the album.

Get "No Line On The Horizon"

Technorati Tags: Get On Your Boots, Vertigo, Sugimoto, photo, Hirshhorn, Museum, Lake Erie, album, Line, No Line On The Horizon, Beetles

Incredible Long Exposure Photograph

Via Conscientious, Justin Quinell took a spectacular pinhole photograph of Clifton Suspension Bridge. It was about a 7 month exposure to create this eerie and fascinating view of the sun’s course over the bridge.

Fast Food Photography

The Exposure Project reports on Jon Feinstein’s  new project, “Fast Food”. The Project looks at fast food stripped of its iconography and branding to give a stark look at the food stuffs itself. For me, it brings out the unappetizing, and more realistic, side of the industry. I never get a burger that looks as “hot and juicy” as it did in the commercial.

An irony of this post: I’m sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot as I’m writing this.

Technorati Tags: Fast Food, Photography, Exposure Project, Feinstein, irony, McDonald’s

WordPress Tags: Fast Food, Photography, Exposure Project, Feinstein, irony, McDonald’s

Pantone’s Color of the Year 2009

Over at the Font Feed, it is reported that Pantone has chosen a yellow –

PANTONE^® 14-0848 Mimosa, a “warm, engaging yellow which embodies hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change”.

I love yellow and its cheerfulness. Good choice. Here’s to the year of Yellow!

The Font Feed has more information about the past winners.

 

WordPress Tags: Color,Font,Mimosa,reassurance

Catching up

It has been a while since I have posted here.

The photo below is part of a series of photos that I created this fall from leaf imprints on concrete. I know that sounds really fascinating. What I wanted to do is set up a dialogue about nature vs.. man-made, temporal vs.. permanent. But this photo was unique in that it had a dried branch with a couple of leaves. As I transformed it, the photo took on a life of its own. I like the sense of Japanese minimalism, though I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on that subject. I like how it lends to the introspection I desired of the leaf imprint study.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  WordPress Tags: photo,series,leaf,imprints,dialogue,nature,life,Japanese,minimalism,photos

I am also experimenting with an old camera: Premo Junior. I believe that it is a Kodak box camera from around 1914. I open the back of the camera and focus my digital camera on the lens. Why do it? To get the various aberations of the old lens. This photo is one of the first photos that I took successfully through the Premo Junior. I need to work on getting an apparatus to help steady the picture taking process (this is mostly hand held.) But I like the effect on these leaves as the edges tend to flay out and creates a sense of motion.

This is a recent experiment with a Photoshop option that I haven’t tried before. Basically I had a generally well lit photo of these flowers. I then did a Channel Mixer layer (this is a download I got from Earthbound Light website) and mixed the colors down to only the blue flowers were showing. I then changed the “type” of layer from normal to overlay and this is the unique effect I created. The “type” function (I don’t really know what it is called) is in the upper left hand corner of the layer in PS Elements 3. I want to try some other effects and processing together to see what I can create.

Chardon Fireworks

 

It has been a while since I have posted. Today was the first meeting of the Geauga Park District camera club. We went into Big Creek Park to take photos and this was about the best that I could do. Anyway, it will get me thinking about photography and forcing me to continue to grow.