“Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.” — Margaret Bourke-White
Last evening the storms roared through (again).
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The rain poured down most of the night – leaving our little town’s main street underwater (and the upstream water has yet to crest). Click here for slide show of Thiensville Flood.
A visit with Sophia and Tanya this morning.
On the way home.
“I didn’t want to tell the tree or weed what it was. I wanted it to tell me something and through me express its meaning in nature.” — Wynn Bullock
Last weekend severe storms swept through our area. Many families lost things, including some losing their homes. Our own Main Street was several feet under water. Today I stopped by Firemen’s Park in Thiensville. The Milwaukee River remains dangerously high. And new storms currently rain down upon us. The damn is totally under rushing water.
“It’s about time we started to take photography seriously and treat it as a hobby.” — Elliot Erwitt
May 28th brought my niece, Libby, to Milwaukee for lunch and to pick out clothing which no longer fit Sophia. She seems to be counting her new outfits.
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My nephew, Erickson also attended the lunch (as did their mother Mandy and my sister, Donna).
This past weekend Tanya and Sophia participated in the neighborhood rummage sale.
Sophia had to take a last ride on a too small toy.
and added a title or two to her library.
We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us. — Ralph Hattersley
Dad’s tool box: A gift from his father upon dad’s completion of his apprenticeship as a tool and die maker. My grandfather, a cabinet maker, built the bottom, four drawer unit for his son. My grandfather only owned one “power” tool, a small six inch table saw. The table is less than 14″ square, sitting on a box which contains a simple blade on an axle with a belt pulley.
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“When photographing I want to reach and touch something that I feel is at the core of people.” — Mary Ellen Mark: 25 Years
she lay on the ground
propping the camera with sticks
set the self timer
ran to her friend and posed
they repeated this dance several times
then enjoyed the tiny screen
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“A good documentary photograph transmits the information of the situation with the utmost fidelity; achieving it means understanding the nuances of lighting and composition, and also remembering to keep the lenses clean and the cameras steady.” — Sam Abell, Seeing and Shooting Straight
Sunday morning:
cold wind bites the skin
even as the sun melts fresh snow
spring appears unsure
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the birthday party – delightful
“A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see.” — Roland Barthes
Networking (day two) continues: Stephanie Reynolds, the friendly freelancer, hosted the Well-fed writers at Barnes & Noble in Bay Shore Mall, Glendale, WI. Martha Carrigan, President and CEO of Big Shoes Network offered valuable suggestions on the subject of networking. Wesley Manko, of DefenseWorks, recently published How to be Safe No Matter What; and also provided some useful ideas. David White also offered his insights. A few other snaps from the evening can be viewed here.
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” — Ansel Adams
Networks: My dear friend, David White, currently finds himself studying and testing networking concepts. He invited me to an event hosted by Katie Felten of MKE Live, a local chapter of LinkIn; a networking site for professionals. My interest, as always, revolved around “what does professional networking look and sound like? And, do attendees need and recognize the value of high quality photography, video, and graphic design services for themselves and their businesses?” To see more photographs from the event – look here.
Content is the name of my game. Images, words and videos which make the web, print and our walls come alive with interesting and useful information.
“The photographic image… a message without a code.” — Roland Barthes
Last week McKim Stropes phoned to inform me that Spider John Koerner would perform at the UWM Fine Arts Recital Hall. Memories flooded my mind. Back in the mid sixties some part of my awakening as a young man occurred at the Avant Garde listening to “Blues, Rags and Hollers” from Spider John, Dave Ray and Tony Glover. Last evening John took me and others back to those days; and even much further back; as he carries hundreds of years of folk-blues tradition in his spirit; delivering it, pure, through his 12 string guitar and finely tuned, folk, vocal cords — his right foot the perfect metronome. See more photographs from the concert.
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“A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.” — Orson Welles
In the case of a cinematic camera that would involve pace, meter, cadence and rhythm in addition to composition and proper lighting; perhaps even requiring a editor/poet to maintain that which the camera captured. A still camera, as an eye in the head of a poet, however, has more modest aspirations; a haiku; a short verse; a poetic phrase; a simple, often overlooked truth; a bit of passion; a memory; a mystery; a reminder; a nagging or aching;
seen frozen within
silver halides, thoughts, (past times)
still, reading their signs
