Maine

                                                                                                   Cadillac Mountain Sunrise 

Good to be home. Finished the John Paul Caponigro workshop n Monday and drove back yesterday. And quite the week it was with the long days and the early sunrise (4:30AM first light). Never really got to a sunset as it was definitely early to bed and early to rise.....

                                                                                                             Cadillac Mountain

Went to Monhegan for the first time and not withstanding being seasick it is truly a magical place. We were out there most of the day, returning to the mainland at 530PM....Next morning we hit sunrise up in Acadia on Cadillac Mountain - only 1527 feet but the light was spectacular - went to Clark Island, Jordan Pond and Bath, Maine. Allot or work but it kept you on your toes...

                                                                               Storm Clouds -Monhegan Island Ferry

I was totally blocked  when I got to Maine and challenged myself to shoot without a tripod, only use a wide angle lens and work on foreground placement. I was making the same images over and over again and needed to break out of the slump - even my IPhone images were beginning to all look the same. Challenging yourself with these types of 'out of comfort zone' exercises are a good way to break through and as my friend David said, 'make imperfectly perfect' images - leaving flaws in the captures.

                                                                                                   Sunrise, Rockland Harbor

I believe this exercise led me to a few of those magical moments - not having to worry about a cumbersome tripod of heavy lens I was able to move quickly when an image peaked my curiosity.  Workshops are great for learning from others and this week proved to hammer that point home -

                                                                                   Carnival, Bath, Maine

The three images posted today are a result of last weeks challenge.

Adam Lambert - Nokia

Yeah I know, another quick post today....running off to Maine in a few minutes but wanted to get these up today. I really need to get back to the Mermaid Images.....oh well...

Your honor, I am here to defend the 'Yutes' of rock and roll - oh, I think someone already said that - sort of - years ago....         

                                                                               Allison Iraheta and Orianthi

Anyway went to see two idols and an amazing guitar player last night at the Nokia Theater in Times Square - and I was not disappointed.

Not that I am a music critic but I admit publicly that I do watch American Idol and liked Allison Iraheta from the first show....on the show it was fairly obvious she was so young (16) but there was something about that girl..... maybe it was her somewhat similarity to Janis that got me.....

Adam Lambert is all that I thought he would be - the heir-apparent to Mr. Mercury of Queen...I was only able to stay for three or four songs but I was impressed -

And Orianthi is an amazing guitar player, man or woman - she can flat out play.

Off to Maine - stay tuned....I wonder if one ever really catches up to the work...

IPhone Blurb Book

                                                                                          Times Square - New York

Put the finishing touches on my first self-published book last night - actually my first ever book of photographic images. The book contains IPhone images captured over the past year in various locations; Death Valley, Scotland, Yosemite, Martha's Vineyard and New York City.

                                                                              Carousel Horse - London

I started using the IPhone 18 month ago and have since fell in love with the many ways color can be manipulated using the camera and in-phone applications - a diary, camera and darkroom in your pocket. One now has the ability to shoot, process and communicate with a global community instantly from anywhere in the world.

                                                                        Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, CA

OK, I am happy that the first one is over and done with (only one small spelling mistake noted so far) so on to the next one...check out the book - there is a link below or click on the widget on the left front page of the blog.


http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1430709?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

PS: Off to Maine tomorrow for a week of shooting along the coastline...Stay tuned...

Willamsburg Waterfront

                                                       View looking out from the stage


No Mermaids today - was out late Sunday at a new venue in Brooklyn.

The new venue is Williamsburg Waterfront -  located right on the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, The outdoor venue opened with a sold out (7500 tickets) show featuring Karen Elson, Grizzly Bear and Band of Horses.

                                                           Band of Horses - Ben Bridwell

With great views of the East River and Manhattan the 'Waterfront' is a great place to see a concert. Check it out.......

                                                            Sound Check in Willimasburg

Look for shows with Faith No More, Weezer, Modest Mouse, Nas and Damian Marley, Spoon and Pavement.....

Mermaid Parade, part 2

The Mermaid Parade and Coney Island were all I thought it would be. Captured over 1400 images which will take at least a day or so to work through. S0 today you get a few selects - tomorrow there will be more with a bit more dialog.....Happy Fathers Day..........

Also added an image into the header.......

Mermaid Parade

OK, today is the day - the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. My first one by the way - have talked about this for years but was always somewhere else in the world when the parade happened.The weather is cooperating - they say it will be 90 plus degrees....should be a hoot at Coney...

This week I bought a new camera that uses film - yes, old fashioned film. The camera is small, compact and has one lens - 28MM. I really miss the look of film - the grain in 35mm can not be duplicated and adds that special texture to a well exposed image. I'm just saying!!!  The other advantage is the amount of weight one has to deal with - reducing it to one camera and one lens really lightens the load, and on a hot day like today that will be golden...I will, of course, bring one digital camera as back up...

OK, off to the parade - check this space out tomorrow for some Mermaids...

The image above was captured in Jamaica, circa 1975....on film by the way!

Coney Island

Certainly feeling like a Coney Island month around here - all this leading up to the Mermaid Parade this weekend. All in all I am building up a portfolio of Coney Island images and am quite happy that a good deal of them are images of people - other then music landscapes were prevalent most of this year.

Also been experimenting with how to best portray these images, particularly the color. To this end I have been using various software to enhance, hopefully without going over the top, the color that exists at Coney Island. I am using both high resolution capture and the low resolution IPhone...

Today I post two of those test color images - both of these are high resolution.