Some Contrasts in NYC

I just wanted to share two photos taken minutes apart in NYC, not even a block apart from the other.

The first photo is a Saturday night picture of traffic at about 6:15PM...It shows the towers of steel, the light, the motion of the city. People were hustling through Hell's Kitchen to grab dinner, or go see a show down the street a fe blocks in the Theater District. A few blocks to the east thousands of people streamed into Times Square using the warm weather to enjoy Super Bowl Boulevard on its last night.

Then there was this I took a few minutes earlier after the Saturday Vigil Mass at St. Micheal the Archangel...

The noise in the church was minimal, the congregation small (like 20 max in a church for 600-800 people) and the priest busy with four people talking about getting more involved at the parish....

Over my stay here this was what was so hard for me to comprehend, but easy to appreciate. On one floor you find a party, on the next a serenity, in one building complex business activities, and the adjoining one an abandoned hulk of glory long past.

There is so much crammed into this little piece of real estate! I would need to cross counties for in Georgia to experience some of these juxtapositions you get inside a city block here in New York City. It is not totally bad, it is not totally good...it is what is. It is something one must be constantly aware of in this city...as you should in any major city I've visited (like Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Berlin...I guess I've been a few places in my life).

By being aware of these many different possibilities in such a tiny area, one can both begin to appreciate what they have before them AND properly shift mindsets to handle the environment to your best advantage. And that was my lesson to self for the day I can take anywhere at anytime.

-ehw

PS Fujifilm X-E1 with 35mm for the street photo, and the 14mm for the altar photo. Came out alright on both accounts I think.

A Time and Place for Prayer

A few blocks from the hotel I found a Catholic Church called St. Micheal the Archangel. Every real job I've had since the age of 17 has St. Micheal as its patron. So it was very nice to see a church dedicated to his memory pop up in front of me...and draw me in.

I went in and found myself finally able to have a moment of silence in this big city. It was wonderful. In the silence I was able to prayer for my family...and as I left I saw the patron of fathers...St. Joseph in the back holding baby Jesus.

It felt great to remember that in a few days I'll be home with my kiddos and wife...where I belong.

It just went to remind me that art is very powerful at directing our thoughts...and like all things...the form of the art directed me to the message of my responsibilities to work and family even though they were not present or was I on duty at that time.

-ehw

Grand Central Station

Grand Central Station is an amazing sight to behold. Hustle, bustle, and still some elegance while it is at work. I think that is what I still like about it 20 years after my last visit to this landmark.

Wherever I go, whatever I do I think I find the best actions and places are the ones with elegance ingrained in their pursuit of a noble purpose. In this case, Grand Central is a vital transportation center. It gets people to and from this city on hundreds of train trips every day. Yet while doing this the building stands tall with beauty and grace. Its caretakers keep it gleaming and functional. I find deep enjoyment in both of those observations when I stand amidst all of it. I also sadly find that not enough of those ethics remain in many new stations, stadiums and transit stations who have planned obsolesce built into their core DNA...and their caretakers just seem to accelerate the process.

I hope my photo does justice to the grand station...and the people who keep her gleaming.

-ehw PS Fujifilm X-E1 with the 35mm At F1.4 to catch the light.

New York, New York

I took a five mile stroll through New York today with a friend after work. I last visited this megalopolis 18 or so years ago...and it still overwhelms me. As I walked through town, I could see layer after layer of potential images...and knew I'd missed a whole lot of them in the process of examining the ones I found.

This little silver dinner was just at the top of Little Italy, well I think, my geography is still a little off. I find it amazing that amid the towering masses of steel and concrete a little one story dinner like this can still exist. I guess that is the life parallel for today...amidst the towering giants of photography out there, my little site and its images may still find a place for someone to appreciate them!

Oh...I did make it through Adorama without spending any money today. I touched the Fujifilm X-E2, a nice update to my current camera. I still think I really need to save up a bit for the newly announced X-T1 since it may achieve some of my goals of replacing my DSLR for the occasional sports and action gig I do. I found the Olympus OMD-1 a very solid, lightening fast focusing camera. I could be happy with its output...but I am torn because the Fujifilm's output is still better overall just because of sensor size and refinements. I also put my hands on the Pentax K-3. A nice update to the K-5...and one I could enjoy if the Pentax lenses actually had more powerful and speedy motors for sports and action. One thing Fuji, Olympus and Nikon need to do is listen to a Pentax shutter. There is nothing so sweet as the shutter noise you DO NOT HEAR!

I do miss my DSLR at times with its speedy handling. However I also know I have much better portability right now with my current kit. So as with all tools it remains a give and take affair.

-ehw P.S.X-E1 with 18-55mm lens. Processed slightly in Google/Nik Snapseed.

Kids at Twilight Part 5

By the time you read this it will be five days since I found out a friend of mine from West Point died last year, right up the road in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Deirdre Sisson Etheridge was like my big sister when I was a Plebe at West Point, and a tremendous lady.   We snag in the Catholic Folk Group every week.  Without her support and encouragement life would have been pretty dreary those first few years.  She left behind a husband and two children.  I hope they are going strong, and she is in the arms of the Lord.

During the week these photos will post we are also burying our pastor Father Austin at St. Thomas Aquinas in Alpharetta.  He too passed unexpectedly.  In just about a year he invigorated many efforts at our parish to reach out to many people and help them enhance their spiritual journeys though kindness, love, encouragement, and being a Father moving changes along.

This picture of my youngest is the type of moment I know I need to continue to enjoy, because in a flash we could all be history...and I may never get another opportunity to enjoy them.  Life is short, and it will be full of struggles.  I hope it is full of struggle, because nothing of excellence built for the Lord ever comes easy.  The Devil can't let us have too many free successes...it would ruin his reputation.

So here is to Deirdre, Father Austin and us...that we may all one day be able to enjoy such memories (and make new ones) together worshiping in heaven with the Lord.

-ehw

Kids at Twilight Part 4

Kalen is always fun to photograph.  He is always trying so hard to be a good kid...and like his Dad can lose it a bit.  Sorry son for the bad trait I handed off!  He gets very serious or very silly at the tender age of 10, not much in between.  Age appropriate for sure.

In this photo I opened the lens way up to f2.  I can go up to F1.4, but I wanted both eyes in focus, just like on Julia.  So if you did blow this up, you would see those eyes are both tack sharp, but I start to get bokeh pretty quickly thereafter.  Nice lens from Fuji at 35mm for sure.  I still am drooling over the 23mm and now 57mm though to give me a 35mm and 85mm equivalent fast glass.  Only got to save up a ton of money for those two!  But dreams are what we need to have to drive us forward.

-ehw

Kids at Twilight Part 2

Who's letting this kids grow up?  Just yesterday she was pushing her dollies around in the stroller!

Really, snapshots like this really make me think about how fast life flies by...guess that is why I need to enjoy every minute.

-ehw

Kids at Twilight

A quick series of the Kids at Twilight.

I just needed a photo fix, so I went out and did something very hard.  Tried to get my own kids to pose for the darn camera!

These are a quick set of photos.  For a few I really pushed the fast side of the class to se what the depth of field would be like at F2 to F2.4. Some others I pushed to get larger depth of field so I could get a moving child in focus.  One on one I played with manual focus so I could get my moving child in focus...

It will be a busy week for me...so I'll post these ahead of time.

I hope you like them!  I know they gave me some smiles while I worked them up.

-ehw

Two years of Joy!

How fast can two years go?  For child number four, my precious Kellie Marie it is like a stroke of lightening across the sky.  Here are just a few highlights....

Thank you God for every minute I have with each of these incredible people you graced my family with, and charged me to care for.  I can only pray I am doing right by them, and get to do it for a lot longer before you call me home.

-ehw

Strong and silent type

This car just looks plain powerful, like it would knock your socks off just turning it on.  It does not have some of the pretties of the other cars, but it does evoke thoughts of straight ahead speed.

At Old Car City one of the hardest things to do is to isolate your subject.  Just a foot off on either side there were cars.  I tried very hard to isolate my subject so I could focus my concentration on making just one object look good.  By isolating the cars I also tried to let each car be special, and a treasured find.  I often found myself not taking shots when I found no way to achieve my desired isolation of subjects.  Just personal preference, but I wanted one car at a time on this trip whenever possible.

-ehw

PS Fujifilm, 14mm @ f/14 HDR seven shot jpeg bracket.  Emphasis texture in honor of my buddies Bill Fortney and Jim Begley.

The Sentinel

Up in Old Car City I enjoyed a trip down memory lane, and I found myself wanting to shoot photos of my grandfather's cars.  One grandfather (my DjaDja) had a Cadillac.  My other grandfather (my Pappap) like Plymouths.  After previously finding the Caddies, I went searching for a few Plymouths.

This hood ornament was on a Plymouth, and it is one I never remember seeing in the 1970's.  It was long gone before I could remember them.  I thought the ornament was stunning, and it gave the appearance of crystal inside the chrome still perfectly smooth to the naked eye.  This Puritan soldier from Plymouth still looks fierce and ready lead people to the new world!

When I took my class with Bill Fortney, Jim Begley and RC Conception both discussed ways to purify the HDR Chrome in Photoshop.  For whatever reason, HDR turns a lot of chrome blue.  So the way you deal with it is to brush away the blue and doing a mask operation.  Now first I don't own photoshop, and if I did I've never been able to understand the language of Photoshop.  So I turned to my OnOne Perfect Suite 8 and its filters.  I found with a quick application of Purify Highlights, either by brush in or whole photo, I got pretty much the same effect as six actions in Photoshop.

Cheating?  Yep. At least to the Photoshop experts out there.  Perfect?  Probably not.  Can I live with it?  You betcha!  In the end it just goes to show you there are a lot of good tools out there, just find the one  you can understand and exploit the best!

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with 60mm macro.

The Long Haired Lady

This Long Haired Lady still looks elegant up in Old Car City.  I really wish I could see this car in its glory.  I love the long lines, the grace it would have sliding through the air, and the roar of the engine.  Even today you can clearly see the blue of the sky reflecting in the chrome at this partly bright sunny day in North Georgia.

Working in the cold weather my camera did just fine, and the battery did not crash.  What I did find a bit harder was staying comfortable with all the layers of warm clothes I had one...and realizing I forgot my most vital accessory for serious rolling around...my knee pads.

About 16 years ago I fell down a Georgia mountain in the cold of winter while in the Army.  I smashed up both of my knees, and they got good infections.  Today I still feel the soreness, especially on cold winter days like this one.  So forgetting my knee pads really hurt my movement up and down with the tripod.

In order to really work a scene well, a great photographer once told me to get high-low-middle-near-far-get front-back-rear and anything else.  You have to experiment.  It does not mean you have to click the shutter at each spot, but it does mean you have to observe each spot and think through the opportunities it can offer.  As with any skill, experience and creativity will drive the end result far more than the equipment available.

So the moral of the story is, I think I captured a good composition.  I still wonder however how much more I could have done if I remembered the knee pads and worked this scene even harder.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with 14mm, F/18 on a seven shot jpeg EV Comp setting processed through Nik HDR efex Pro2 and touched off in Aperture

Return to Old Car City

My son and I braved the cold to visit Old Car City yesterday.  The temperatures started at 24 F and moved up to 41 F over the course of the day.  The owner greeted us and said, he could not understand anyone coming up to shoot on such a cold day!  We started the day with great winter light, and then had clouds come in to add one more challenge to the self-assignment.  Despite these challenges, the two of us had a great day together talking and walking several miles through the 4100 cars on the 600 acre lot.  Having my son along was part of his education, and the only way I can show him how I work with others...my day job just does not allow that.  It was my first return visit since last March when I toured the grounds with Bill Fortney and the His Light Crew.

This scene shows you the entrance to Old Car City.  The owner and his crew made a number of changes to the front part of the City, and it was nice to see the growth of the yard to keep it fresh.  I like this photo a lot better than the bicycle shot I captured last year.  I think it has a little more charm, and tells a better story of the environment of Old Car City.

For this adventure I went in only with my Fujifilm X-E1, my shoulder bag, and my heavy tripod.  I also made the test decision to take everything in jpeg, since I was going to make HDR photos with my captures.  The data in an HDR is massive just because of how they get processed, and I think it ended up working for me.

Over the next few days I hope to show you some of the work I did...and yes I already have them ready to order and grace your walls!

-ehw

P.S. X-E1 with the 18-55 Kit lens...the only shot in the series from the kit lens.  I switched over to primes for all but one other series for the rest of the day.

Capturing a sunbeam

Yesterday afternoon I had a couple fun experiences with my girls.  First I got a hours of time with my big girl, we went out to lunch.  We talked, and talked and talked.  It was fun, and a good time to be a Dad.  After we arrived home, Mom had to depart for WalMart leaving me in charge of the house.  After a mere thirty minutes my little one found herself startled out of a good deep sleep.  When this happens you have two choices, let her go with a minimal nap and watch her feel ugly all night...or hold her as she tries to sleep.  Well this Dad scooped her up, and held her close.  She did what we all do when we want comfort, put her head down and listened for my heart to calm herself down.  After getting her calmed down and almost asleep, I put her in the big bed and she fell asleep on my arm.  This resulted in forcing me to get a good nap too!

Ok the point of this is that after we awoke, the sun was shining in the way only a winter afternoon sun can into out living room.  We both had energy now, and could really enjoy playing with the sunbeams.

Thankfully with my camera at hand, I was able to capture a sunbeam in the eyes of a happy little girl.

-ehw

P.S. X-E1 with 60mm Macro at F4.5, 1/150, ISO 800, -.5 EV.  Minor edits in Aperture using the RAW file.

An Accidental Lesson

Today I made an accidental study in under exposure.  See I was shooting away, in what I thought was aperture priority mode.  Well I accidentally also moved the shutter speed from Auto to 4000/sec.  As a result, the vast majority of the shot became way under exposed.   The most highly exposed parts of the photo, did expose properly and created some beautiful colors.  Obviously the contrast between dark and light came out fantastic, with a bit of a magical air to it.

The mistake I made reminded me of a basic need...to make sure I sometimes learn what creative possibilities exist by working around the metered perfect.  It can teach me why "right" is "right," and what happens when you push the boundaries to sometimes make some magical air.

-ehw

P.S. X-E1 with 60mm obviously underexposed!

The camera you have with you

The old saying is that the best camera you have is the one you have with you.  Here is an example in point.

During mass on New Years Eve Kellie was not being bad, just demonstrating she had more energy than the two parents sitting with her in the pew.  She also had more curiosity in everything around her than the next fifteen people you could find in the adjacent pews.  So of course I had to take her out to the narthex for most of mass.  While we were there, she of course found the nativity scene fascinating.  Not having time to get good angles, or my good camera sitting in the pew...I grabbed my iPhone and snapped two frames.  Then like a hawk I switched into protect the church property mode, and became the hover parent.  Meanwhile one of the deacons from the parish sat behind me, laughing with his whole family.  He just looked up and said, I've been there three times myself!

So I would not have an image to share with you of her sweet doting on the nativity set without the small little camera I had with me.  If you want an image you have to have something to capture it.  You have to know the tools you have with you as well...so it should behoove me to learn a little more about the darn thing as well.  I guess I should give it some of the attention I normally reserve for my "good" cameras! It just might pay off when I capture the moment I would otherwise lose to unrecorded history.

-ehw

P.S.  iPhone in Program mode using the standard camera program.  Post processed in Perfect Picture Suite 8 and Nik Define to reduce some noise.

Happy New Years Eve!

On this evening I found myself in pleasant company leaving work...the three people I said farewell to are headed the same place I am in a few minutes...to church. I felt warm in knowing, contrary to popular culture, that some people out there still believe the evening is about more than a simple drinking fest..it is about thanking God for another tour around the sun!

Today's scripture reading in the Divine Office from Colossians 2:4-15 hits that point on the nose: "See to it that no one deceives you through any empty, seductive philosophy that follows mere human traditions, a philosophy based on cosmic powers rather than on Christ." It is to God that we owe thanks...not the maker of Miller, Jack Daniels, or whatever else there is.

The homily by St Leo the Great reminded us, "For every believer regenerated in Christ, no matter in what part of the whole world he may be, breaks with that ancient way of life that derives from original sin, and by rebirth is transformed into a new man. Henceforth he is reckoned to be of the stock, not of this earthly father, but of Christ, who became Son of Man precisely that men could become sons of God; for unless in humility he had come down to us , none of us by our own merits could ever go up to him."

I'm not implying we need to forgo a nice glass of wine, but we need to forgo the culture and philosophy of worshiping those earthly things for the sake of themselves. In many ways, abuse of anything takes our eyes off the prize. It could be internet addiction, money, sports, you name it...anything pulling too hard will hurt our time we should rather be spending to build up the kingdom of God. Just watch a few minutes of commercials during a bowl game or the parties tonight and you'll see what I mean in spades!

So there is my resolution. Get control of things that distract and get God put back in charge.

I hope you have a noble resolution as well!

Happy New Years Eve!

-ehw

A child's eye silent night

A great photographer I met once, and listened to often, Scott Bourne once said to explore the world creatively you need to see the world from the mind of a five year old.  Well I've been doing that with my now six year old. Today I reviewed photos he took over the last four months on my old Canon P&S.  My wife mentioned several times he imitates me when he shoots...he was actually doing quite well!  He does video much better than I do!  Well in his photos I did see the sense of wonder I often miss as I get older.

So tonight I set the tripod up and looked at the tree from the level of my two year old.  I just fell into the wonderful world of bliss.  I saw the lights, the shiny ornaments, the dark spots, the smiles on faces, the tassels and beads.  It was fun.  It was like my first memories of Christmas growing up...and when I made up the HDR images I just had to capture the feeling of the moment of when I can remember looking at my family Christmas tree a the age of four or five at Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 1974 or 75.

Then I thought about the most important part of the evening...the arrival of Jesus.  A hundred thoughts started running through my mind.  I can see so much of the story rushing together, and my mind is just too slow to understand or explain it right now.  I turned my lens on the family nativity scene, and turned of the lights.  I felt a peace come over me as I worked the light and tried a few different angles.  I began to reflect, that on a night like tonight I don't think Jesus wants us to think too deeply.  He wants us to look at his arrival like a child who can feel something special in the air, and now that in the darkness of the night a child was born who gives peace to our souls if we but choose to listen for the sound of his voice.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1.  These are HDR processed in HDR Efex Pro 2..the second one got a touch up in Perfect Suite 8.

Lessons from the farm

So what does a farmer do when a baby lamb loses its mother hours after it birth? My second son's Godparents recently had this occur on their farm. A ewe carried her 10th lamb to term, and died shortly after the birth. If the lamb existed in the wild, it would simply be left to fend for itself immediately. No other ewe will care for it, preferring instead by instinct to care for its own offspring.

This farming family instead will feed the lamb ewe by hand until it can fend for itself. Extra work yes, but it is an example of proper stewardship of the world we live in. These Godparents let nothing go to waste if they have any say in it. I find it is also a little example of following the wisdom of God, and an example of what we saw from Christ. We are all fallen creatures, even if we have good genes we are all still flawed. Despite this problem of ours, he for came into the world as a child, and grew to become a man...the perfect sacrifice and example for us to follow so we too could be with him in heaven.

So as you prepare for the arrival of Christ tonight...remember that as hard as it is to fathom...he calls us to follow his example in largest, smallest and everything I between parts of our life.

-ehw P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with the 18-55

Getting Ready!

A few weeks ago I was able to walk around town and snap some images on a cold November morning.  Our town works hard to create an old city center worthy of visiting, and the business owners do their part to make it inviting.

In these final days of preparation for Christmas, don't forget the reason for the season of advent (and it has nothing to do with present lists or parties).  Do your best to ignore the last minute sale emails ,and focus on getting your heart ready for the arrival of our Lord!  Take a walk, dodge raindrops, and look at your fellow man for all the reasons he came to die for us!  Then ask yourself...have I made a home inside of me for him?  Have I risen to the challenge?  When I failed did I beg forgiveness and make amends?

Ok...time for me to get ready for church myself and get my own head in the right place!

-ehw

PS-Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55mm.  Cropped in camera using the square framing option.  It is fun to see the world in different framing formats than the standard 2x3.  It think it really allows you to do some extra mental calculus, and come closer to making the final product in your camera.  If you spend less time behind the computer the better off you are!