Monday, November 29, 2010

Hipstamatic

Bookstore, Bloomington, IN


While traveling last month most o the images captured were done with the iPhone4 using the Hipstamatic camera application. Hipstamatic gives on several different choices of lens and also several choices of film types from grainy black and white to outlandish color. If you are using the iPhone I highly recommend this camera application. Additionally try the Picture Show application which creates fun images from your original captures...

Cara, Detroit

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Earth and Water

Jupiter Beach, Florida
'Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul'..........John Muir 

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving

Yellow-Green Light.......

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving...It has almost been one year posting here and I am thankful for all of you who have shown interest and commented on my work. December 14 marks the start of year two and I will have the website up (yes there have been may false alarms) and running by then. It is in beta test now.

The website will host many different phases of my work in landscape, music and iPhone Imagery. Additionally, the site will also provide a link directly to this blog.

Thanks for a inspiring year - looking forward to the next one..


All the best to you and your families on this Thanksgiving Day 2010.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Gothic Seascape

Seascape - Iceland
This image was captured in Iceland last July. I remember that Einar, our tour director from Focus on Nature, mentioned that this area had some connection to his family.

The rocks are called Reynisdranger (Reynis Cliffs). The mountain is called Reynisfjall (Reynis Mountain). Renir is a man's name. The town is Vik Mydral on the south coast of Iceland. 

If you look closely there is a bird in flight just to the right of the structure.

Love the black white on this image....

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

For Free

Playing for Free - Bloomington, Indiana


'I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking on green
Across the street he stood
and he played real good for free
On his clarinet, for free'..............Joni Mitchell

Had a couple of friends meet me in Bloomington, Indiana on Sunday for lunch. After lunch we were actually waiting for the light when I saw this guy playing on the corner across the street. As you can tell my thoughts went Joni and so I gave him a few dollars and asked about a portrait - these are the first couple of passes....just playing with various toys in the IP4...
Playing for Free - Bloomington, Indiana

Shot and processed with a Hipstamatic Camera Application with the Iphone4....A touch of NIK Viveza at the end before posting....

Monday, November 22, 2010

Church with Red Roof

Church with Red Roof, Skaptartunga, Iceland

This church is located in Groef in the town of Skaptartunga, Iceland...If my memory serves  me well we left Nupstadir that day and got caught by this church in a severe rainstorm....As the rain died out I was pulled into this image by the shapes of the mountain off in the background caused by a fog that rolled in.

Image captured with a Canon 5DMKII, Canon 70200MM,  and processed with Nik Hdr Efex Pro....

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pacific Coast Highway

Pacific Coast Highway

I have friends who live in the Santa Cruz area of California. Whenever I have the good fortune of visiting with them I always drive the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) en-route to their house.

I make it a point to stop at several of the coast beaches between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. This is an Iphone4 capture made last October.

Happy Sunday

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Abbey Road

Bath, Maine Carnival

If this is Saturday it must be Pittsburgh. Quiet day out here - but there is a carnival nearby....time for some Iphone images...

I always thought today's image was the reverse view from behind the Beatle's on the cover of Abbey Road.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Day After

This is all I have to offer today. Way to tired after the opening last night but passed this on the highway and could not resist...I did, however, resist eating there...

Show went very well - sold a few pieces and met some new people. All in all a good start. Images coming shortly from the show.

stay tuned...

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Scotland

Bells Hill, SCotland
It is 1AM and I just got back from a show in Cleveland. Quick post of this image from Scotland last Christmas Holiday and off to sleep. 

Tomorrow night is my gallery show opening and this guy needs some rest...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Everglades Revisited

Chokoloskee Sunrise, Everglades


Still working on images from the Everglades earlier this year - although it seems like it was several years and twenty thousand images back. I still can't believe I drove over 3,500 miles on that trip. Hoping to repeat this same trip again this year, specifically the part where you go out early and walk around on the oyster beds at sunrise - what a hoot.

The image above is from Blowing Rocks on the east coast of Florida...love the ocean so this location proved inviting and I spent several days shooting and captured over 1500 images. Surely has something to do with my childhood spent by the sea in Atlantic City.
Blowing Rocks, Jupiter, Florida

The one below is from Chokoloskee Bay in the Everglades. Went out early on a boat to walk the oyster beds and capture sunrise images. Very eerie feeling being out there in the water at that location at sunrise...feels like you are in some sort of timeless void and you are the only person left on earth.

On another note my Allusions of Reality show opens tomorrow night at the Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery in Carmel, Indiana. There is a link below to view the images from this show. All images are for sale and one can contact Kathleen Stevens at the Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery for more information.

Here is the image link:  http://harrysandler.com/Allusions/

All images in this show are inkjet prints using  Epson Ultra Smooth Fine Art Paper. They are printed on an Epson 9900 printer using the latest Ultra Chrome Inkset Technology.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

River of Dreams

River of Dreams.....
Oddly enough I woke up yesterday in the middle of the night and created this image from a single file. Simply turned it around on itself and cropped the bottom end. When I finally woke up  this morning there was a Bily Joel song ringing in my head - hence today's post...



'I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is I've been looking for'..................Billy Joel - River of Dreams

Monday, November 15, 2010

Death Valley

Dunes, Stovepipe Wells, Death Valley

One thing being on the road allows for is time to look around the hard drives for images that have been passed over before. Why I am running around the country with all these hard drives is a separate blog but I am happy to have 80-% of my files out here - specifically on a lazy Sunday afternoon while watching football games.

The image today is from last March in the Dunes just outside of Stovepipe Wells. Processing dunes is always a challenge for me - I find myself pushing the envelope to get where I want to go. This one is all texture - all the time....not really sure how I feel about it yet - might take a few more days.

On another note an image I captured up in Maine earlier this year won first prize in the Artistic Category of the 2ND Annual Pogo Art Contest..the image it self was captured and processed in the IPhone 4...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

More Hipstamatic

Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolois

The other night in Indianapolis I captured some live music images with the Hipstamatic Camera application with the IPhone 4. The app was not as sharp as I would have liked (low light of course) but I did enjoy the overall feel of the images after some post processing. Hipstamatic gave the images a truly live feel, grain and all...and the angle i had helped a good deal - a bigger then life feel.

Hinkle Fieldhouse - Indianapolis

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Caddo Lake 2

Caddo Lake - Uncertain, Texas

 Still hanging in the Caddo Lake folders. This one today is one of my favorite LAKE images - seems to capture all the gothic mystery of this lake in one image....I am finding it difficult to put words to this image so theimage will have to carry the blog today...

On another note the show at the Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery is finally on the walls. Opening is November 18th, 6-10PM. The show is called 'Allusion of Reality' and all the images are captured and processed in the IPhone 3Gs and 4.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Caddo Lake



Too much time on my hands this weekend. Just playing with various pieces of software on these images from Caddo Lake last November....


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen - Beacon Theater

"I saw you this morning,  you were moving so fast.
Can't seem to loosen my grip  On the past.
And I miss you so much,  there's no one in sight.
And we're still making love  In my secret life.
I smile when I am angry,  I cheat and I lie,
I do what I have to do  to get by,
In my secret life.'



Leonard Cohen......
 

Change of direction today - back to the music.

I was moving images from one hard drive to another early this morning and came upon a Leonard Cohen folder from last year. It never fails to amaze me the value in going back, from time to time, over one's older images in the archives.

This image of Leonard was captured at his first concert in 15 years at the Beacon Theater in New York. At the time I was just beginning to get back into shooting live music events and for some reason never really felt good about the images. Possibly I had preconceived ideas about what these images should look like that I did not simply take them at face value. Whatever the reason I continually learn the valuable lesson of going back and taking another look...in the end I really enjoyed the simplicity of this image this morning and it seems to convey precisely where I was at with my work during this time period.

 OK, back to the archives....

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Hipstamatic

Gold for Cash, Indianapolis
 I have been shooting  a good deal lately with the Hipstamatic camera application on my IPhone 4. With it's various lens and film combination's the Hipstamatic gives the photographer several ways to express his or her vision. A camera application well worth looking into.

Faces
Today's post are a few of my first images with Hipstamatic....
Self Portrait, Carmel, Indiana

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

House on the Hill

House on the Hill, Maine
 A few summers ago I passed this house on the way to Rockland, Maine. Almost drove by thinking I would capture the iamge on the way back home. Well, long story short, I did go back and capture the image and was happy that I did. On the way back home the house had been demolished - nothing left but rubble on the hill. Must have been quite to place in it's day.......

Monday, November 8, 2010

Iceland

Farm Building - Iceland
This is an image captured on a farm in Iceland last July.

Simply amazing faces and character in the rocks up on the hill behind.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Ballet Slippers

Ballet Slippers, St. Louis
I came across these slippers backstage last night at The Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis. They were just hanging over the door where one would enter the left side of the stage...They seemed to have a story to tell so I made the capture with the Hipstamatic Camera Application on my IP4.

Surely this is some fabulous story behind these shoes....

'All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.............Eckhart Tolle




Saturday, November 6, 2010

Hipstamatic

Sarah - Kansas city

I am in a group with 21 members whose focus is making images with an IPhone...A few days ago I learned the value of an application camera - Hipstamatic.

This camera application comes with several different lens and film choices which is great. Also has a built in flash that seems to work fairly well.

Today's image is my first portrait with Hipstamatic - I used Dream Canvas film and the John S Lens. The capture was made in very low tungsten light and the exposure is unknown.

I am excited about ising this new tool in other image applications....

Friday, November 5, 2010

Focus Bracket

Cape Cod 
I shoot a good deal of HDR and I am usually happy with the results. But there are those times when the simple bracket approach does not work - like when your camera is tilted trying to capture a scene that runs from close up to infinity as in the image above.

If you carried a tilt-shift lens or a view camera this would be rather simple image to capture. Another technique is to use a 'focus bracket' and blend the images in a third-party software like Helicon Focus. This approach also allows you to make the capture at the sharpest lens opening which is usually 2-3 stops down from wide open.

IN this particular image I foiund the farthest (usually infinity with my 28MM lens)  and the the closest point of focus. I then bracketed the focus starting at the near point and making several exposures with the last one being, in this image,  infinity. The number of exposures can run from 4 to 8 or 10. I tend to make a few extra captures just to be safe.

You then take all  of the captures and blend them in Helicon Focus and your output is an image that is sharp from foreground through background.

I thank Dr. Mark Dubovoy for teaching me this technique several months back.

HHmmmm: Might need to try this with my IP4 on a tripod...will advise

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Coney Island

Play to Win - Coney Island
So a few of my buddies are coming into NY in early December to spend a day shooting at Coney Island. With that in mind I thought a Coney Island post seemed fitting today. I spent a good deal of time  in July shooting in Coney Island, culminating with the Mermaid Parade, and have not looked at most of the images since then.

This image today was located just off the main drag in a small alley...The image at the top was processed in the new NIK HDR software and the one below was Photomatix Pro. I am leaning toward the NIK software at the moment. The NIK HDR is simple to use with a great dialog box. Did I mention there are many many presets from which to start working.

Play to Win - Coney Island

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Fern Canyon

Fern Canyon - Califonria





Captured last August north of Eureka, California in Fern Canyon  - re-processed in the new NIK HDR Pro software.

I keep thinking Alice wil come out of the trunk, or, possibly, Johnny Depp......

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Redwoods

Redwoods, Scott's Valley, CA


In early October I was lucky enough to have spent one night at a friend's guest house in Scott's Valley, California - in the Santa Cruz area. There was this fabulous guest house behind the main house and when I woke up the next morning this scene was out my door.

It was a timeless view and all I could do was imagine this image as something from another time and place, possibly a wet plate/collodion type image. All I could think of was how fabulous to wake up to this scene every morning.

Captured and processed in my IP4 using various applications.