Baseball Is Back

Baseball season is upon us once again. Peach County will have its first baseball game today. I have a scheduling conflict so I won’t shoot the first game.

I love to shoot sports, but my least favorite is baseball. Football, basketball and soccer have plenty of action. It is easy to come away with a decent photograph. Baseball is too slow for me, guess my attention span is way too short.

I get bored, loose my concentration, and the perfect photo is lost. I have captured a few really nice baseball shots, but there have been countless boring shots in between. Guess that makes the nice ones even more special. Lets see how long before I post a baseball shot from this season…..

The Bluesman Cometh

I will have a show featuring my work next month. It will be here in Fort Valley at Fort Valley State’s Fine Art Department’s gallery on Main Street. I have been choosing photos for a while now, and have most of what I want to show printed.

I want to include a photograph of Macon blues man Eddie Kirkland. He has always intrigued me. Eddie moved to Macon in the 1960’s, has played with John Lee Hooker, and was Otis Redding’s bandleader. He still tours the US and Europe. Probably better known everywhere else but Macon.

I have to decide which photo use. Color or the black and white. Normally the black and white would be the hands down winner for me. I love the black and white, the other guitars in the background, but there is something about the color image that keeps pulling me back.

It was shot is his home, and I guess its something about the starkness of the place that seems to come across that is missing in the black and white photo. Plus the gold turban rocks.

Fences

Old fences can make for some interesting images. These are both from the Jarrell Plantation
That place is full of interesting opportunities. The day I was there last, I shot a bunch of fence
photos.

It was once common practice to top fence posts with old cans. My grandfather said it was to keep rainwater from soaking through the post and making them rot faster. Way before treated lumber.
I love the texture in the wood in both images. The wire and the rusted can ad to the photos as well.

My D70 and a Nikor 28 mm Lens

I recently got my little D70 back from repair. I truly missed this piece of old technology. It is a a relic compared to the newer cameras available now. Both of my other DSLR's do a lot more stuff, but this camera has its place. Stick a 28 mm lens on it and it is a great walk around camera. Small and light, easy to use.
The 28 mm has always been a favorite focal length of mine. Back in the day of prime lenses, a 28 was a mainstay for photojournalists. I bought this one several years ago mainly to use with my F5 and TriX.

It has found a place in my digital bag as well. I use it pretty often as a portrait lens. Gives a different perspective, especially doing environmental portraits.

A Bit Of Snow

We had our bit of snow Friday. We got a little last year, made some nice pictures but it was all over in a matter of hours. THis time we had several inches accumulate and actually stay around for two days. I shot during the heavy snowfall on Friday, then went out Saturday morning for some second day stuff.
The first two are from Friday. I really like the top image, heavy snow and the guy walking in the tunnel formed by the trees. Gotta love the little 2 year-old experiencing her first snow.
The bottom photo was from Saturday morning. A scene from Everett Square Park here in Fort Valley. The park was quite beautiful, the ground covered with snow, no footprints. I did my best to maneuver around to get my pictures without leaving a bunch of footprints.
Wanted to leave it for the next person who came along.

Color or Black and White?

I brought this image out of the files this week while preparing for a show next month at the Fort Valley State University Art Department's gallery in downtown Fort Valley. I have always liked this photo. It is old enough that it was shot on film. In my infinite wisdom and creativity I have always called it "The Red Hat."

Of course, it has both a red hat and a red dress. I have thought several times about converting all but the hat into black and white. I have actually worked with it on several occasions, but never saved the results. In the past I have kept the hat and dress red, and sometimes the lips. This time I made it truly "The Red Hat."

I love the color version, red hat and dress, the blue background, and the contrast of red lips on pale skin. Gonna have to think about this for a while.

If you are not sure how to do the coversion, it is really simple in Photoshop. Just go to Image, then down to Adjust, to Desaturate. Use the history brush to either paint in the color you want into the blacka nd white image, or black and white into the color version. Just be sure to rename it when you save it, so you preserve the original image.

Not Another Landscape.....

I have driven from some point in Middle Georgia to Columbus for over 40 years, traveling to visit my mom and dad. There are several pictures I have seen along the way and have yet to photograph them in a way that satisfies me. Some I may never.

Two trees grow in a field just west of Butler. I have looked at them each time I head west, something has not been quite right or I have been in a rush.

Last Saturday, things were looking pretty good. The trees were bare , the sky and the light were adding just the right touches, colors were blending nicely.

I stopped and shot a few frames.

The 300mm gave me just the compression I wanted. I almost knelt down to put the trees on the horizon. I am glad now I didn’t. Kinda like the darker blue line that separates the grass and sky.

Don't Try This At Home......

I drove to Columbus last Saturday to see my mom. The weather was awful, cold and rainy. I noticed the clouds in my rearview mirror. I thought "Wow, this would make a cool image. Longish lens, slow the shutter speed to blur the background while the reflected image is fairly sharp."
I grabbed my D70 from the back seat. It had the 70-300 on it, so I had the lens I wanted. My only problem came from the fact I was traveling by myself. Don't try this at home, y'all. I had to look through the viewfinder to line this up. I to wait til there was no traffic around me, and at the same time have a decent image in the mirror.
I popped some frames and decided I should pursue this idea when I have a traveling companion who could take the wheel. A shot with a wide angle might be nice as well.

The Boxer

I went yesterday afternoon to photograph Johnny Taylor, a guy who is passing on his boxing skills to a group of young kids. He works in his back yard, with a improvised ring set up with carpet covering the dirt, and and heavy bags hanging from tree limbs.

The group was not training yesterday, so I did a portrait of Mr. Taylor and his students. The back yard was in shade, with a bright sky and the sun hanging low in the sky. I set up one light to my right angled in on Mr. Taylor. I didn't have quite enough spill from this light to properly light the students in the background so I had to drop my shutter speed. Wish I had taken along a second light to pop on them, then I could have cranked up the shutter speed to get some detail in the sky. Oh, well. Next time.

After I finished and was about to put away my light, a couple of the students donned their gloves and started hitting the bags. Had to shoot some more. Really like the sky in these, and the trees over head.

Not too bad.

Two Pictures On A Cloudy Day

I was walking in the back door of the office when I saw these two leaves stuck together. The contrast between the colors, the proximity of the berries, I had to take a picture. I shot with my old handy-dandy Sigma 70-300 on macro. Got rid of the background.

I started playing around in Photoshop. I lightened the top image until the background went pretty much white. I started out to lighten the leaves and really liked the background. The bottom photo kept the original background. I lightened the leaves without changing the background.

Think I like the top one best.