Welcome to My View

After being absent from My View of a few weeks, I hope that I’m back on a regular weekly basis. It has been an extremely busy winter and spring with Inspirational Weekend and regular workshop schedules of The Mindful Eye.

During the last couple of days that I was in Savannah, after our Composition Intensive Workshop, I met a young man at B&B Ale House. His amazing smile and presence, as well as the light in which he was sitting, attracted me. I talked to him for a few seconds and asked if I could photograph him. He was gracious enough to sit for me for a few minutes. His name is Matt and he is stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, located on Ft. Stewart, just outside Savannah.

I always worry about the young soldiers that I meet or see coming and going in airports. No matter what our individual political beliefs, I know we all are concerned about the soldiers. I always send a little prayer for their safety when I see them. Matt, where ever you are and wherever you go, stay safe out there. And, thank you for being so gracious.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

A Young Soldier

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Savannah, GA
B&B Ale House
May 2, 2010

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50 mm 1.4 lens, f/1.8, 1/90 sec, ISO 5000, handheld

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Hello and welome to My View for Thursday, December 31, 2009.

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade,

As we end the first decade of the 21st century — doesn’t that still sound odd?? — and begin a new year and new decade, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.

In the last decade much has changed. We entered this decade with a fear of computer software meltdowns and a disruption of life as we know it. Fortunately, none of that came to pass. Other events did, indeed, change life as we know it on a global scale. It wasn’t the best way to start a new century.

Throughout he decade, many, more personal, events brought me much joy, as well as sorrow. I made many new friends, saw many new family members come into this world — and lost a few along the way. I almost lost some and those events gave me pause to think about myself and the way I’ve lived my life so far.

A new beginning is just hours away. New beginnings are always a bit mysterious. We can’t quite see clearly to know how things are going to turn out. But, we go forth, with faith, keeping our hopes and dreams alive. Such is the nature of a new beginning.

Thus with joy in our hearts, memories of the last years, guided by the light of our dreams, and with courage to go forth without knowing the future, let us all enter this new year and new decade determined to be the best we can be and to add a little of our best to making the world a better place.

A very Happy New Year to you all!!!!

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Foggy Night on River Street

River Street
Savannah, GA
July, 2009

Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4, ISO 800, f/2.0, 1/45 second, handheld

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Hello and welome to My View for Saturday, July 11, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

Today’s image is a another from Savannah taken in April of this year. After many days of rain in March and April, this beautiful sunset materialized over the Talmadge Memorial Bridge right outside of my hotel room. I’ve not seen such a lovely sunset from downtown Savannah before and ran out and down the street — barefoot — in order to capture a few shots before it disappeared.

It was a soft sunset. I followed the mood already set and softened it even more with use of the clarity slider in Camera Raw.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Soft Savannah Sunset

Savannah, GA
April 2009
Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 28-70 f/2.8 L lens at 70mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/20 sec, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, July 5, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice weekend and that those of you celebrating July 4th had a great day yesterday.

Today’s image is a another from Savannah during the time after the Next Step workshop when it rained for several days. The streets of the city were still wet on this morning, but the rain had stopped and I was out walking. I saw the alley with the markings on the street and took a few shots of the empty alley when, as luck — or synchronicity, if your beliefs are like mine — would have it, a young lady walked right through my shot!! I did not even stop to look up and see her face — just kept shooting.

I have my own interpretation of this shot, but I would love to hear yours.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Which Way?

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/500 sec, handheld.

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**  FILLED **  The Mindful Eye has an unexpected opening in our Zion National Park workshop. If you are interested please contact me.  *** FILLED ***

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, June 28, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are having a nice weekend.

Today’s image is a shot I took one night in Savannah in March a few days after our Next Step workshop. It had been raining most of the day, making every surface reflective. This is a view of Congress Street. I was on my way to Molly MacPherson’s for dinner. If you are familiar with Savannah, you’ll recognize the yellow and red flag of Scotland flying over Molly’s. I racked my 50mm 1.4 lens out of focus and took several shots, some more in or out of focus. This was my favorite from the series.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Congress Street

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Friday, June 12, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Happy Friday!!

I feel as though I’m getting caught up on My View and will go back to posting once a week starting on Sunday evening. Thank you for your patience with me during the hectic spring workshop season.

One of the great things that came out of the March, April, May series of workshops is that my teaching partner and friend, Craig Tanner, took a “next step” with his music. A long-time guitarist, he finally worked up the courage to play in front of other people and began playing at some of the open mic nights in Savannah. Today’s image is one that I took late one night as Craig and two new musician friends were just jamming in Franklin Square.

Here are Adam, Craig and Jeff making beautiful music in Franklin Square just after midnight on a lovely Friday night during the Street Portraiture workshop.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Franklin Square Musicians

Savannah, GA
Canon 5D, Lensbaby Composer lens, f/2.0, ISO 3200, 1/30 sec, handheld.
Composite of three images

A Larger view.

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, June 1, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Today’s image is another from my almost two-month long road trip this spring. This one was taken in a favorite spot in Savannah for breakfast, the State Street Cafe just off Telfair Square. I love this place for a lot of reasons and one is the bright colors with which the interior is painted. It can cheer you up on even the stormiest of days.

As I was waiting for breakfast to be served, and contemplating all that had happened in the last few weeks of my life, I was staring at a table in a corner by a window. As I stared, my eyes began to lose focus of the scene in front of me. It seemed a great metaphor for my mood at the time — losing focus on all that that was around me for just a while. I took three shots of the image — one in focus, one just out and one way out of focus.

Losing focus on our reality happens from time to time. By the end of the long road trip and five workshops, I’d really lost focus — mainly due to exhaustion and the “Savannah bug” that caught me twice. With proper rest, sleeping in my own bed, and getting rid of the “bug”, I’m back in focus once again and ready to tackle the world.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Losing Focus

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 1/20 sec, f/4.0, handheld.

A Larger view.

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Hello and welome to My View for Saturday, May 30, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Today’s image is another from my spring-time road trip. This one was also taken just after the Next Step workshop in March of this year. As most of you know, I lost my friend and canine companion, Riley, in an accident just before I left to go to Savannah to teach the Next Step workshop with Craig. And, as most of you know, Craig had to rush back to Atlanta on the Monday following the workshop to be there with his friend and companion, Shadow, as Shadow left this world and those who loved him.

This image was taken on the Tuesday morning after Shadow’s departure, and Craig’s return to Savannah, when Craig and I ventured out into the still-wet streets of the city in search of breakfast. We were passing Paula Dean’s on our way to a favorite breakfast place, the State Street Cafe, when Craig noticed that the window in Paula Dean’s gift shop was almost like a mirror, due to the overcast conditions and wet streets. He suggested we stop and photograph ourselves — something to add a bit of lightness to the day, I think. Of all the ones I snapped before we continued on to breakfast, this is my favorite. It shows the people across the street from us getting their day started and going about their business. Even as they did, each of our worlds was still reeling from the losses we felt in our lives. The loss of our canine companions, combined with the wonderful feelings that came out of the Next Step workshop, prompted each of us to begin to make some changes in our own personal lives.

But, on this morning, the world was still off-kilter for both of us.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Off-Kilter

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 800, 1/90 sec, f/4.0, handheld.
Composite of two images.

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Hello and welome to My View for Monday, May 25, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

Happy Memorial Day to all of you celebrating this day in the USA.

It’s been almost a month since I posted anything to My View. I appreciate your patience and your support while I was so very busy with teaching and with The Mindful Eye.

Last Thursday, I returned home to Atlanta after two months on the road, except for one stretch of 7 days and a couple of other days. It’s been an amazing two months and I’m not sure that I can describe all the things that have happened accurately — or that I’ll even try. What I will do is to post as many images as I can from the extended road trip and talk about those. I started posting some images from this marathon road trip on the two previous posts to My View.

This image is one that I took after the end of the absolutely amazing Next Step Workshop in Savannah that was held from March 22 – 28. Every day during the abnormally cool week-long workshop, dark clouds loomed and rain threatened. But, it held off — until the Saturday evening after the workshop ended. And, then — it rained, and rained, and rained. Rained so that streets of Savannah flooded.

Today’s image was taken on Sunday night after the workshop from the upstairs dining porch of Fiddler’s Crab House down on River Street. The fantastic photographer and photography teacher with whom I work, Craig Tanner, and I had stayed over in Savannah for a few days in order to get some work done for The Mindful Eye. It had been storming for most of the day that Sunday, but the rain slacked off enough for a few hours so that we could walk from our hotel down to River Street for dinner. As we were waiting for dinner to be served, I noticed all the lights and colors reflecting from a wet River Street.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Rainy Night on River Street

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 1600, 1/45 sec, f/1.4, handheld.

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Hello and welome to My View for Thursday, April 23, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds you enjoying Spring.

I finished the Foundation in Photography for Women Workshop in Savannah last Sunday with a group of wonderful and awesome women. It is always courageous to say “I’m a beginner” and dive right in to a world of new terminology and technology to learn a new craft just because you love it. These ladies were just great. I thank each and every one of them for the opportunity they gave me to do something I love — teaching.

On Wednesday, Craig Tanner and I began the Jekyll Island Workshop on this beautiful island with another group of great people. We finish this workshop at noon tomorrow. On Tuesday of next week, Craig and I will be back in Savannah for the Street Portraiture Workshop.

Today’s image is one of someone that I’ve gotten to know in Savannah over the past few years who is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. If you’ve followed The Mindful Eye for a while, you will recognize him. This is Isaac Heyward. He is one of the most positive people I’ve ever met in my life. He has been blind for 47 years, yet never mentions his blindness as being a problem. Craig was recording Heyward’s answer to a question, standing near him with the recorder. Craig’s reflection is in the window.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.

Isaac Heyward

Savannah, GA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 100, 1/350 sec, f/1.4, handheld.

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