Adorama IPhone Imagery

I have received many great remarks about my iphoneimages and have entered 17 of them in the Adorama IPhone Imagery contest.The shot of Snata Monica Pier below is one of them.

Now for the shameless plug....

 Today is the last day to vote in the Adorama IPhone imagery contest. Click on the link below (Adorama IPhone Image Contest), click on the magnifying glass search icon off to the right, and type in Sandler if you would ike to vote for me. I have 17 entries in this contest.

Thanks everyone...

Adorama IPhone Image Contest

Artist Palette - Death Valley

When first looking at this image on my monitor it did absolutely nothing for me. There was no connection between what I saw and what I was looking at on the screen. After a bit of processing I was able to get this back to the original, or, at least my memory of the original scene when the capture was made. Simply took a bit of energy and time, and of course a few CS4 adjustments.

To say that Death Valley is a cornucopia of of color and image is a complete understatement. This capture was made at Artist Palette as the sun was setting back in November. I just needed to put in the time to bring it back to what my vision was - maybe even a little more color then actually existed but I am very happy with the results.

Looking forward to four more days in Death Valley in March - they say the second time there is a charm. Also. I heard there has been a good deal of rain which always helps.

Toronto

When one travels as much as I do, having a view from your hotel room window becomes very important.  That being said, for past 4/5 years I have made it a point, if I shot nothing else, to capture the view from my hotel room window. 

Sometimes this is a simple tree next to the highway or a magnificent landscape from a hotel room in Death Valley, and, occasionally, a perfect view of the building next door. 

This image was captured in Toronto while I was attending a ticketing seminar in January. 

PS: This is the perfect exercise in lieu of another half hour of ESPN...

Two Waterfalls -

The image above is from my Yosemite trip a few weeks back. This image was captured at the bottom of the falls - I really liked the way the water took on a veil-like quality after falling over 200 feet. 

The image below is a small waterfall captured in Portree, Isle of Skye, on the Scotland trip in early January. This waterfall was located approximately 100 yards back in the woods off the main drive. 

The image below is the pier in Santa Monica captured a few days ago with my iphone. It was posted on my facebook page and I decided to add this to today's blog post.

Leonard Cohen

Back to the music archives today. 

This image was captured at The Beacon Theater in New York on February 19, 2009. This was Leonard's first show US show in 15 years, and, I was lucky enough to get credentials to shoot the event. Leonard was 74 years old at the time, and, followed this event up with a World Tour.  

This show was recorded and was released as a CD, 'Leonard Cohen, Live at The Beacon'.

This was one of my favorites from the night.....

Paintings

Today I met a friend, who I had worked with for years in Los Angeles, for lunch in Topanga Canyon. Having spent a good deal of time in Los Angles over the last 8 years, I had never been to Topanga Canyon - turns out it is a great place to get away from the normal LA lifestyle - old, quaint, mixture of 60's and modern. Reminded me of northern California, north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

After lunch we went over to her house to look at her husbands artwork - I had always known him as a writer, and then one day I started seeing paintings coming out of his garage studio. The work was very diverse and fit perfectly with his literary style. I would describe his paintings as a combination of abstract expressionist meets the beat generation....

Seeing his work gave me the courage to post one of my painting on today's blog...

This painting above is from my days working at the Big Apple Circus, circa 1985.

Enjoy!

Another Yosemite Image

Captured during late afternoon light in one of the meadows at Yosemite - my timing was perfect as after the last exposure was made the sun dropped behind the mountain.

This image was a test of blending multi-focus points into one sharp image, somewhat similar to HDR but with focus instead of dynamic range. This works well in situations where you need deep focus but just can't make it happen with the particular lens you have on hand.

Santa Monica - Day 1

The weather was not what I wanted today although I did manage to  make an Iphone capture of the Santa Monica Pier just after sunrise this morning - i was hoping to get a bit of fog to hide some of distracting elements around the pier, but, it is raining today, so tomorrow morning might work out. This image of the pier was posted on Facebook today and then since I really like this image it is also going on the blog.

The image below was captured in Scotts Valley, Ca. on the drive to Yosemite last week. I stopped to visit a friend and this scene was in his backyard - could have sat around there all day but had to get moving on to Yosemite.

 I am going to be in Santa Monica for two more days - tomorrow is a drive up the coast circling back at some point to have lunch with friends in Pasadena.....have I mentioned how much I like the California coast.....

Yosemite Falls

According to Wikipedia Yosemite Falls is the highest measured waterfall in North America - 2,420 feet. It is also the 6th highest waterfall in the world. The Ahwahneechee people of this valley used to call this falls "Cholock" and believed that the plunge pool at the bottom was inhabited by witches -




The falls are made up of three vertical drops, The Upper Yosemite, Middle Cascades and Lower Yosemite. The round trip hike from bottom to top and return is 9.4 miles. We did not make the climb...

Still working on getting the website up and running - might actually take another week or two - need to stop traveling and get back to work on it.

Yosemite Still Life

A bit of a change today - instead of a majestic iconic view of the valley this image was found inside adying, decaying tree trunk. The actual size of this still life is maybe 18 inches wide by 12 inches tall.

Minor White once said that 'the image would remain still for the photographer it has chosen' and this particular image fits that statement perfectly.

What Attracted me initially was the animal-like figure protruding from the rocks. Later when looking at the image on the I realized that the three rocks surrounding this figure were actually the photograph and most likely what attracted my eye in the first place. At first the pieces seemed to be off kilter but in the end the three rocks balance this image perfectly - seems like the rocks are keeping the figure from falling on it's proverbial face...GUESS WE ALL NEED THAT IN OUR LIVES....

Enjoy.....

PS:L I am spending the end of this week in Santa Monica - I have been obsessed for years with making an image of the pier that makes sense to me...I think the pier touches my childhood growing up  in Atlantic City.

Yosemite Wrap-Up

OK, got back to Los Angeles last night - 6 hours drive from Yosemite. 

Leaving Yosemite yesterday my thoughts turned to wondering why I had never visited this iconic slice of Americana before. After all, I grew up with Ansel Adams' photographs, and, of course, had read 'The Negative' and 'The Print' from cover to cover several times - as most photo students did when learning how to make photographs. And there is that Zone System.......

Seeing Half Dome for the first time was awe inspiring as were Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls. How many times have I looked at his photographs over the years, but, to finally stand at these locations, well, there are no words to describe that feeling. 

At the end of the day, yesterday, we were allowed access into Ansel's Yosemite darkroom  where he lived and worked while visiting the park - a fitting end to the week. 

Here a couple of iphone images from the past few days - more Yosemite images to follow in the coming days. 

  

Yosemite

 
OK, made it to Yosemite. Got here a bit late as I was stopping at every turn to capture images. It actually rained most of the day with intermittent sunshine -

Image for today is from the iphone - captured on Route 1 at Pescadaro. The waves were incredible today and I shot for around 90 minutes at this one spot - have not had time to process any high resolution images but should do so tomorrow.  Hopefully will have something from this or possibly Yosemite from Saturday.

Going to be a long weekend for posting as there is no cell at all and no internet in the rooms - only the lobby for internet.

 Looking forward to no phone or and only slightly more access to internet.

Hope you all have a fabulous three day weekend...

PS: Decided to throw in an image (also an iphone) captured at a friends' house mid-day Friday....He lives amongst the redwood trees...

Bridgehampton Beach

A capture from last August while working out in Southampton. 

Over Labor Day weekend for the past 4-5 years I have had the pleasure to work on a benefit concert for children held in Southampton. One of the side benefits was getting to spend three days out in the Hamptons getting up early every day to photograph the local beaches. I was raised in on the 'Joisy" shore so water and beach is embedded in my DNA - matter of fact today I will be driving down route 1 on the way to Yosemite. This is in fact the long,  two lane way of getting to Yosemite, but I will have the pacific ocean and some fabulous beaches just off to the right. 

The plan for is to hit San Gregorio, Davenport and Santa Cruz (a friend has told me about a very old roller coaster on the pier in Santa Cruz). I will also visit my good friend Michael at his home in Scotts Valley, CA and then head east to Yosemite. 

Stay tuned - more to come.

Regards,

Pomponio State Beach

 In San Francisco - made it late last night. Went out to Pomponio State Beach to day to capture some images of the rocks and ocean - wonderful location to shoot - near Pescadaro - I heard from a friend that this was/is  a fully nude beach -  it is Febraury so  I can not confirm or deny this fact.

Was working on new focus styles today and captured the image posted above -

On Thursday I am spending time with a friend working on a new work flow - that is after shooting the sunrise and putting to use the new focus styles I learned today.

I am still excited about Yosemite this weekend.

Peter Frampton

Keeping with the music archive today .

This image, circa 1976, was done just before the release of 'Frampton Comes Alive'.  A good friend of mine who worked for a record label asked me if I would do a portrait for someone she knew. When they arrived at the studio it was Peter, and his then girlfriend, Penny. Shot the portrait and then got Peter to sit for a few solo images - this is one of them.These images have been in my archive since that time - moved them into the digital world a week or so ago.

And, one of them together.

Getting out of dodge (New York) today before the snowstorm hits  - Yosemite on the weekend and then Los Angeles on Monday night. Finally getting to see one of the places Ansel Adams made photographs (Yosemite) - really looking forward to this trip.

The Who (back when.....)

After watching the Super Bowl performance I wanted to remember The Who as I saw them back when...Here are a few from the 70's that I had scanned into the archives.

                                   

 

 

Catskill Waterfall

Got caught up watching the Super Bowl tonight so a short post today.

This image is from last October near Tannersville in the Catskills (New York), very near Kaaterskill Falls. I am continually mystified at the effect long exposures and neutral density has on moving water. There are over 70 waterfalls in the Catskills and the Shawungunk Mountains located in New York State.

Window Seat

A few weeks ago I traveled to Toronto in a propeller airplane (Porter Air - great airline out of Newark). I was fooling around with my iphone shooting out my window when I made the image above. It was totally captured and processed using the iphone.

Porter Air lands in Toronto on an island in downtown Toronto. In order to get to Toronto you take a ferry shuttle about 200 yards to the mainland. The second image below was made on the ferry - totally captured and process in the iphone. 

This was not a shameless plug for Porter Air, but, if you happen to be flying to Toronto I would advise at least checking with them. There are no lines at Newark to clear security and virtually no waiting at immigration once landing in Toronto - you can check your cameras as you board the plane and they have them waiting as you leave the aircraft. Did I mention the really great service. 

I would be remiss if I did not credit Julieanne Kost who published a book called 'Window Seat". I borrowed the title for this post - check out her book. 

Fire Island - July 4th

Another image from the 'Childhood and other Neighborhoods' sequence.

Each year on Fire Island there is a parade on July 4th. The children who spend their summers on Fire Island organize costumes and floats to parade around this small island - there are judges who award ribbons for the best float, costume, etc. This parade marks the official start of the Fire Island summer - no child wants to miss this parade.

This capture was made in 1994 on film with a Pentax 6x7 camera. I keep thinking Robert Frank might have loved the Fire Island July 4th parade. 

Website is almost ready - I am thinking it goes live in about two weeks - for me it will be nice to see these images in sequence on the same page.I will provide a link when the site is ready.

All the best - happy weekend

PS: This is my daughter Emilie - 8 years old.

New image at the top of the blog is from last weekend at Radio City Music Hall in NY.

DUMBO

Was out shooting all day yesterday in Brooklyn with a young band - Kaiser-Cartell. The session was near Red Hook, Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and The Brooklyn Bridge. We had lunch at what is arguably the best pizza in New York, (which I assume means the world to most New Yorkers), at Grimaldi's which is located on Old Fulton and Front street under the Brooklyn Bridge. I would highly recommend this pizza if you are in the neighborhood. Here is an image I made several years back showing the area we were working in, including Grimaldi's Pizza (formerly called Patsy's).

I would highly recommend a visit to this area of Brooklyn if you ever find yourself in New York. This New York neighborhood is located under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge. In times gone by this was a manufacturing district with warehouses and factories that made paper boxes and machinery. In the 70's it became residential when artists and younger individuals moved into the mostly abandoned and inexpensive loft apartments, using them for living-working artist spaces. There is a NY legend that the term DUMBO was coined by these new residents to make the area sound unattractive to developers. This worked until the turn of the century as now DUMBO has become gentrified.

The area was designated the 90th historic district in 2007 and has become a premier arts district with many studios, galleries and various other arts institutions located there.

The image below shows a view of Manhattan captured at the foot of Old Fulton Street under the bridge  - an area no longer accessible to the public since 9-11.

Epiphany....

'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans'       
John Lennon - 'Beautiful Boy'

Went back to the Caddo Lake folder from last year and re-processed a few images. Since that time I have gained new knowledge and thought it would be interesting to see where these images would land. I have also become a bit more accepting of what the image is telling me - not pushing it where it does not want to go.

This epiphany struck last December when I attended a John Paul Caponigro workshop in Maine. This was one of those times when all participants were on the same page and the learning curve increased exponentially. I found myself more active in discussions and offering more opinions then usual. At any rate I walked away from this workshop with new-found confidence.  It was not that long after that trip to Maine that I started this blog and my twitter page. 

Enjoy and thanks for being part of this journey with me.

Posted three images today as I have fallen behind in my posting....