Walking

Natural Portraits

Considering myself a Landscape photographer, I am always impressed with the skill that goes into and the insight that can come out of a well conceived formal portrait. I occasionally enjoy the challenge of a more naturalistic outdoor portrait. Working with a subject who is relaxed and obviously feeling at home in their everyday world is very rewarding and agreeable. It is this sense of innate unpretentiousness that makes portraits like these a delight.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beyondscenery/sets/72157616047815988/

Old wood & bolt

wandering one of the many ghost towns of Oklahoma

Art in Whoville

I was amazed with the graphicness of the graffiti on these rail cars. It was even more incongruent because of where they were parked. In the middle of nowhere in rural Oklahoma and that is a very loong way from any & everywhere. But if you look at it the right way it was like a visiting art show come to midtown Whoville. Once I got to processing the images it struck me how graphically interesting and appealing combinations of the images were. More on http://www.flickr.com/photos/beyondscenery/

"And while you’re at it, quit trying to find beautiful objects to photograph. Find the ordinary object so that you can transform it by photographing it."
Morley Baer

Derelict Factory

Some Industrials

bolt holding a bridge together

tar dripping from a tank

Photography as a Function - Expectations Part 2

"The simplicity of photography lies in the fact that it is very easy to make a picture. The staggering complexity of it lies in the fact that a thousand other pictures of the same subject would have been equally easy."
John Szarkowski

Spent a few hours at Red Rock Canyon State Park the other day. It’s somewhere I have photographed a number of times. The results, except for one fall color shot, have been rather uninspired and unremarkable. So, my expectations were positive but muted. I’ve also been thinking about the trip to the Salt Plains. After the several days getting over the initial disappointment I re-reviewed them and decided that not all 300+ images were total crap. Most were okay but nothing exceptional and for sure not of the quality that I had expected while I was taking them. Taking them… – Taking Them – there it was! The crux, the predetermined result, why the images failed, why I had failed.
I had been taking pictures, not making photographs. On the Salt Plains trip I had been distracted first by the new equipment I was learning to use and second by my own lack of focus. It was these factors that had decided the quality of the images brought home. Though, I enjoyed myself merrily snapping away at anything that caught my eye there was no real effort to slow down and understand what I was trying to do and why. I was pleased to be seeing and visualizing photographs all around But and that’s a capital ‘B’ But – I did not use the time or energy or discipline to try to make worthwhile images. I jumped out of the car, zoomed around physically, mentally and with the fancy new 14X lens. Then back to the car for the next location. I was sidetracked from the essence of making a good image. I was not figuring out what it was that drew me to that spot and what it was that I want to say about that scene.

Making Photographs
Photography, at first, appears to be an isolated act, separate from you because you are photographing the world as it exist around you. You notice something and you capture it. The people or places, or objects recorded are just there — outside of your control to be caught in a frozen moment with the release of the shutter. You are chronicling facts or collecting mementos. You are taking pictures.

But, those instants when and where you chose to point your camera are controlled by your unique individual history. Understanding that you chose both on a conscious and an unconscious level to create the photographs you do is an important concept. Every time you pick up your camera your special history, as well as your present mind set guides you where to focus your attention and when to release the shutter. Learning to recognize your response to the subjects surrounding you and to establish rapport with those responses is the foundation of a successful photographic vision.

After acknowledging your perceptions the next stage is to weigh and organize your understanding so your insight can direct your photography. You construct an image and use your photographic equipment and experience to try realizing that image.

Now you are making photographs. And if your expectations begin with your commitment to expend the will and sweat to make the best image possible then you will.


"It is obviously easy to assert that life is coherent, but to work out the visual metaphor for that affirmation from within the limits of an almost ant-like perspective is hard and remarkable."
Robert Adams

Today's Snap

Red Rock Canyon quintessential wall

Some Pictures...

A day at the beach of a different kind

Expectations - Great or Otherwise

"We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there."
Aaron Siskind


I have been back from my trip to The Great Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge and Gloss Mountains State Park for a few days now. It is an area that I enjoy visiting and photographing and the weather was forecasted to be good. I left on the trip with high expectations.

I had some new equipment to try out and was expecting great things (images) from the stops I had on my itinerary. The trip went well – the light was not as dynamic as I had hoped for but it was good just to be out creating images in places I enjoy and connect to. I was happy with the images that were showing up on the back of the camera and was congratulating myself on not being too far out of form even though I had not been photographing as much lately. Kept snapping away happy as that clam. As soon as I got back I downloaded the memory card and promptly decided all but a few out of 300+ images were crap.

Expectations are funny things – some are fairly certain of being met, “ tomorrow will be another day”; some less certain,“ there is a 50% chance of rain today”; some are assured of not being realized, “these are my lucky lottery numbers”; and then there are some that you were certain would never come about, “what do you mean I snore like a drunken warthog?”

What do you mean everything is improperly exposed, poorly composed and generally uninteresting?
Wasn’t expecting that! Now What?

I would think I would remember that every time I first look at new images they seldom, if ever, meet my expectations. Take a big, deep breath; take one more; in fact, just turn off the computer or go goof on Facebook, anything to forget about the images for a few days (at least 2).


"The one quality absolutely necessary for success in hand camera work is Patience."
Alfred Steiglitz

Glass & Crystal pt1

Everything is a photograph. The tough part is figuring out what the right question is and deciding on an image that either answers that question or poses another more interesting question. Some days I push the shutter release and Know I have made an image that will reveal/reflect the feelings and perceptions that I experienced. Other days… not so much. Both days will throw you a curve, wreak havoc with your ego and abscond with your good sense.

Just got back from a 2 day trip to the Great Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge and the Gloss Mountains State Park. The Light was less than I had hoped for (the original excuse) But I will have to process the images to see which way the curve broke this time.

I did come across this sign on a trail in the Gloss Mountains that will focus your attention if the light and landscape don’t.