When Jesus Left Birmingham

Found this one this morning - circa 1993 - a video still from John Mellencamp's When Jesus Left Birmingham video. The video was made in 1993 in and around Bloomington, Indiana.....If memory serves me well this video was quite controversial - check it out on YouTube.....

Orignal image was made using a Pentax 6x7 and Tri-x FIlm...converted to the digital world with an Imacon/Hasselblad scanner.....

Bleeker Street Bakery

Only in New York kids, only in New York....

Peter Frampton

I first met Peter in 1976 just prior to the release of Frampton Comes Alive. The intro was through a mutual friend who worked for his record label. At the time he was living just north of New York City so I took a short road trip to capture a few images at his house.

This was one of those images recently scanned into the digital world. The original was in color but black and whtie works much better for me. The conversation to black and white was done with a LAB convertion.

Captured with a Hasselblad, 80MM lens

Sun Studio

Sun Studio, Memphis, TN

Need to get out of dodge quickly this morning to start my trip to Indiana. Was cruising the archive looking for a post and this image popped up - being an Indiana type image surely this must have been planned...by someone other then me...

The shot is from the 'No Better Than This' recording session Mr. Mellencamp did at Sun Studio in Memphis.   I actually kicked myself a few times for using the Lens-Baby on this image but at the time I was really into that lens. I still use the lens but hindsight told me this should have been straight up big boy camera - one of those moments in time to look back on. On the other hand I have the image and just maybe that is alll that matters, 

That is Andy York, longtime Mellencamp guitarist on the left, Mr. Mellencamp on the right and T-Bone Burnett in the center. Was quite a thrill to watch a session at Sun....if the walls could talk...

Captured with a Canon 5DMKII and the Lens-baby Composer

Maine

'Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man'.....Edward Steichen

Captured with a Canon5DMKII, 24-105MM lens


I added a link to a friend and talented photographer, John Barclay on the left side of this blog. Well worth checking out his work.....

Albeit short, I also posted a short piece on the connection of the iPhone Technology to the Pictorial Photographers at the turn of the 20th century on my iPhone blog.

Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton, 1976

Yesterday's post led me back into the music archives and a redux of a portrait I did of Peter Frampton, circa 1976 - this time in Black and White.

Background story is that I had this friend, Robyn, who worked for Peter's record label in New York. One night, very late, she came by the studio unannounced and brought Peter and his then girlfriend Penny over to do some photos. We shot several portraits and a few of Peter and Penny together in about 30 minutes and, poof, they were gone.

Juxtaposition

'No matter how slow the film, spirit always stands still for the photographer it has chosen'.

Minor White

This Minor White quote has always been one of my favorites.

The quote popped into my mind when I was scanning through images in Lightroom today. I was  thinking about deeper issues like  'what motivates me as a photographer' and started thinking about Minor White. Lately I have been working with my iphone using applications to to create images that are more 'expressionist' the 'realistic'. Then I started to wonder if I am losing touch by not spending more time working on the more realistic straightforward images.  Do I need the HDR or the IPhone to get excited about a capture?

I was also giving some thought to my visit to Death Valley while working on the photo below.  I kept thinking the photo was missing something as this image is a complete departure from other images that I have been working on over the past few weeks. I then took another look at the Las Vegas, New Mexico image above, which was one of the first HDR captures I made in 2008.

I must admit I'm drawn towards the HDR - not necessarily the more 'grunge' HDR - but I do love the painterly quality of the image that you can achieve using this process. So, in the end, the debate still exists about whether it is a photograph or an illustration. And then , again, does it really matter.

PS: Two images today - did not post yesterday.