Jumped out of the car after dinner in Astoria to snap a photo. In truth, I didn't set out to take a photo for the Photo Friday "shadow" challenge. When I saw the challenge, I picked a photo that is most enriched by shadow, albeit without a shadow as subject, that I took in the last week.
One of the things that caught my eye on a walk back from the mechanic shop during lunch.
Pardon the heavy-handed symbolism. There will be more photos from the neighborhood where I teach moving forward. I like to spend my lunch walking around.
Had the pleasure of Bruno's company last weekend.
I snapped this with available light over holiday break.
My daughter! This was a few weeks ago at the Renegade Craft Fair. So many art projects!
She turned seven this week. She's awesome.
Yes, Rachel has her serious face on. She never likes the photos I take of her. I'll have to keep trying. Self-criticism: I don't like the distracting repeated pattern of the bench on the left.
Camera Nerdery: this is taken with a Nikkor 135mm f/2.0 AIS lens attached to a 1ds with a converter. It's the best portrait lens I've owned. I have to wonder if manually focusing would be easier with a split-focus screen.
Bruno after playing with several dogs on the Montrose dog beach. He seems satisfied. He met his black dog twin, who was a bit older and much more aggressive. I wish dog owners were more diligent about keeping an eye on theirs. I get nervous.
Camera Nerdery: I like my 17-35 and how much less perfect it is compared to the mighty 16-35II. I like that it vignettes this much on a full frame camera. Of course, I can add this to a lens that doesn't have the "defect" just as I could take it out of this picture, but having it there straight out of the camera tickles whatever part of me that is drawn to anachronism. This was one of the last pictures taken with my 5d classic before I sold it; it's always sad to see a workhorse leave the stable.
An awesome guy, near as I can tell. I happened to be working at Smyth Elementary School the day he came to speak to the kids. Just some snapshots while I was working.
As with all the images on ShakyHands, clicking on the image brings up a lightbox for larger viewing.
Here's one from the way-back machine. My friend's little sister was visiting Chicago with him in 2006. I stumbled across the image when I was looking through an unkempt folder of pictures. I like this because it's the moment she stopped hamming it up.
For the camera nerds, this was captured with a Kodak/Canon DCS520, one of the first digital SLRs. Only 2 megapixel, but shockingly good image quality if there's enough light. Kodak built a digital rig into a Canon 1N film body; it's a behemoth.
I was in Peterson Park shooting wedding formals of a couple after their wedding along with a fellow photographer when I saw these two, looking awesome.
Also, there was a buck walking around behind the recently married couple. Stranger still, a woman got out of her car and mimicked the buck, walking on all fours and eating grass.
This was my runner-up for my Photo Friday "luminous" challenge submission. This may be more interesting to look at, but I took it a couple years ago and I prefer to to only use pictures I've taken the week of a challenge.
Thanks for the moves, Darick!
Diversey Rock 'n Bowl
One of the things I enjoy most about being a Chicagoan is that the photographic "magic hour" isn't an end, but a transition. As the sun sinks away, taking with it the best series of moments to capture warm depth in images, it ushers in a different brand of luminous--the one marked by neon lights and the buzz of nightlife. I took this moments before the deadline for Photo Friday, and it isn't photoshopped one iota.
Bruno and ancestral lion atop chest.
Posted intentionally as the first image, this is as much back story as photograph: the lion was my maternal great grandfather's and the case is my paternal grandfather's war chest from Korea.
My
great grandfather was a
profound influence on me as a child and, before I was born, was the
owner-photographer of Penna-Sas Photography. It was with his fully
manual, 1970s Nikon SLRs and lenses that I first taught myself after he
passed. When I was a toddler, I would fall asleep on the back of this
lion, whom I adored.
My grandfather worked in a photography studio and lab before Korea, built a darkroom in his basement with my father and uncle, and influenced my uncle to study photography in college. My uncle's favorite photographic greats became my own.
So here is a photo of lineage, an homage to
influence. I love photography, and I'm proud to work as a professional with so much family having taken it up before me.
Oh, and Bruno there is my sister's recently adopted puppy. I'll bet 99%
of viewers find him a more compelling subject of discussion. He's a
good dog. (That's all you get for now.) There will be plenty more of him.
