Snow - 6D - 40

Friday 9:15am. 12/28/12
The first real snow and the first real shot with the 6D and 40mm bargain lens.

The snow from this morning is of the heavy, clumpy, wet variety which is good for snowballs and making snow forts but not so good for your arms and back when you're shoveling the driveway and sidewalk. Not such a simple word, snow has many more meanings for those who live through a winter rather than say for dwellers from warmer climes, who tend to freak out at seeing a few flakes.

Merry Christmas!

Zoo Lights

Saturday 8pm. 12/22/12

19 W. Madison

Friday about 8:30. 12/14/12
Reminder to self. Don't shoot jpeg at night. It's like post-processing on a tightrope. Go RAW!

October 1998.
The first Twomey wedding, Mag in her parent's home in Ireland.

Cheap lens - expensive camera

Tuesday. 12/11/12

Canon 40mm f/2.8 for 149 bucks. I was without a body to try it out on so I stuck it on a 1DS III that we had in the office. At one time that camera was 7000 bucks. An unlikely match, so I made it even worse by shooting through a dirty second floor window. At least the late afternoon sun was warming.

This lens is a keeper. Compact and lightweight, it even has a manual focusing ring that works! Plus a solid metal lens mount. Just one shot at 5.6 to test out the center and I put it back into the box.

Faux Pinhole Leaf

 

Tuesday around 7:08am. 12/11/12

At the end of autumn, my wife is highly suspicious of trees that stand to the west of our house, particularly the yard has been cleaned and the winds from the west bring new visitors to our property. This big fellow is about eight inches long and I have no idea where his original whereabouts might have been.

Another Twomey Wedding

1999 or 2000.
One of the nice things about being a repeat photographer for a family is that I tend to remember the people. The gentleman seated on the far left I remember from shooting a wedding in Ireland in 1998. My assistant and I had sat on the flight with many people who were also attending the same wedding. We followed him in our rental car and having gone around too many roundabout on the other side of the road, I had turned as green as the grass in Ireland. I seem to remember my assistant opening the door as I fell out directed only by gravity.

Scorched Earth Yellowstone National Park 2007

Yellowstone National Park. 2007

When you are carrying a camera, generally you would like to have the lightest, most compact camera available to you. When it comes to taking the picture, generally you wish that you had something bigger.
On this trip, I was missing my charger and had only one battery, with each day finding the power diminishing. The main camera was my favored Xpan and even that machine required a stop in Moab to stock up on extra battery power.

Comiskey Park

Wednesday. 11/21/12

Homecoming

Saturday. 10/27/12

Old Faithful / Loh Wah Kiu

Old Faithful sometime in the summer of 2007.

Last week I met a retired Chinese man who had recently immigrated to the US. He had been to Yellowstone National Park earlier this year and was not overly impressed with it. I've only been to Yellowstone once and was amazed at what I saw (and was surprised by what he said). It got me to wondering about the Loh Wah Kiu who worked for decades in the US toiling in a restaurant or laundry who never had an opportunity to see any of our National Parks. Instead they worked long hours, raised children and sent them to college, very much like Old Faithful.

Ever feel like the opposing team is all around you?

2-2-03

Toisan. 2-2-03

The Siu Village. 2-2-03

Toisan. 2-1-03

Toisan. 2-1-03

Robert Shy - Hyde Park Jazz Fest

Saturday. 9/29/12

Josh Abrams - Hyde Park Jazz Fest

Saturday. 9-29-12

Willie Pickens - Hyde Park Jazz Festival

Saturday. 9-29-12

Hyde Park Jazz Festival - Tomeka Reid

Saturday. 9/29/12

Toisan. 1/31/03

University of Chicago

Monday. 9-24-12

University of Chicago

Sunday. 9-23-12

Toisan 1-31-03

Toisan. 2-2-03

Taishan 2003 New Year

Toisan 2-2-03

The firecrackers never really stopped during the night. That's when they lit the large one's, resonating in a deep boom rather than a sharp crack, making it pretty much impossible to sleep through the night even with my head sandwiched between two dense pillows. I suspect it was one fellow walking through the fields on the outskirts of the village, merrily heaving these 3-4 inch bombs throughout the night.

And then when the roosters started their thing before dawn, there was no choice but to start the day.

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 2-2-03

Taishan 2003

Toisan 2-1-03

The house that my grandfather built, that my mother grew up in, not returning until 40 years later. I wish I knew more about it.

Another forgotten negative from 2003. I don't even recall ever putting this shot into the enlarger though I did use the next strip of negatives for the 2004 grant. I think I'll be able to do something with this after I balance out the image.

Taishan 2003

Toisan. 1-31-03

My mother's village is a maze of narrow walkways between brick buildings. I would hear people saying that they remember me from 15 years previous and who I was related to. The man in the dark attire looked like he was carrying something in his right hand. It was only when I zoomed in on the monitor that I found that he was not carrying anything. It was just a chicken walking behind him.

Taishan New Year 2003

Toisan. 2-3-03

Taishan New Year 2003

Taishan. 1-31-03

Taishan New Year

Toisan. 1-31-03

Toisan is closer to the phonetic pronunciation of our village dialect. Some say Hoisan but it depends on where you're from. After years of listening to proper Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation it's comforting to hear the Toisan/Hoisan dialect. I grew up hearing it and it's a part of me that I'd like to keep.

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Lan Pu

Guangzhou. 2-4-03

Lan Pu / Orchid Garden again. IR again. I believe IR is all that i shot on this visit to Lan Pu with Konica IR 750 in the Xpan. Though I used this film in both 35mm and 120 formats over a ten year period I never really grew comfortable or familiar with it as results were not consistent but it was fun.

Perhaps photography is more interesting that way with the uncertainty that lies waiting if you're willing to accept it.

Lan Pu

Guangzhou 2-5-03

Lan Pu, called Orchid Garden in English, is one of my favorite places in Guangzhou. I've never been here without a camera, but the film has always been black and white. I haven't yet been to Lan Pu with a digital camera.

Here is another shot from 1992 linked to an earlier post on Lan Pu.

Birds on a Wire

Heyuan 2/5/03

Heyuan

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Pool Table

Heyuan. 2-5-03

Room

Heyuan. 2/5/03

This room had a beautiful view and I knew that I had to shoot it but the XPan didn't see it the way I did. So I took just two shots and moved on. Perhaps I needed to have a seat. This place had some history to it that I'll never know about.

The scan is showing much more than I could pull out of the darkroom processed silver print. In 2004 when i was trying to print this negative I just wasn't able to pull out the highlight area and my printing ability at that time was probably the best it ever was.Now I just juggle it back and forth between Photoshop and Lightroom, move some sliders around and there it is.

Today I received a piece of anti-newton glass from betterscanning.com that has a better effect on sharpening negatives than any software can ever as there is no substitute for a flat negative.The only caveat is that it introduces two more surfaces to the scanning equation meaning more dust potential. Definitely recommended for scanning and I'm going to email thanks to betterscanning.