Art Walk

There's this thing called Art Walk in B'ham each year. Artist exhibit and sell their work in several old stores and on the sidewalk downtown. I love it. Today I took my little G11 and spent some time looking at some really great art. These are a few photos made with my little point-and-shoot camera. Full disclosure: the G11 will shoot in RAW and these photos were heavily edited in Lightroom.

Really big heads

We were at a Aldridge Botanical Gardens for a family photo session recently and they still had several pieces of art from an earlier show.  These really big heads were pretty cool so I had to take out my little G11 and make some photos.  The gallery here shows just a few of the heads that were on display.  Our family came while I was shooting so we met them, switched to the big camera and spent the rest of our time with them.

Eerie but beautiful

One day the clouds were hanging so low it seemed you could almost reach and touch them.  And the texture!  I've never seen so much texture.  It almost looked as if everything was upside down and I was looking down on the tops of them.  Naturally, I grabbed the little camera with me a made series of photos.  There were so many that I liked I decided to make a slideshow.  Let me know if you like it.

She loves her baby

She had spent the night with us and we were headed out to church on Sunday morning.  While waiting for Joy to get in the car I noticed Sadie clutching one of her dolls in the back seat.  I pulled out my G11 with the cheap wide angle attachment and shot over my shoulder.  Not a difficult task as the G11 has an articulated display and allowed me to see behind me without actually turning around.  Natuarlly, there's quite a bit of Photoshopping going on here, mostly a couple of grunge layers and some over sharpening.

Clouds

Somewhere I've stated that my favorite photos include some evidence of humans.  And I've said that I prefer landscape photos to have buildings, fences, vehicles or something related to humans to make them more interesting to me.  But, that rule is broken when it comes to clouds.  I just love looking at the sky and seeing how beautiful God can make it.  Since my trusty point-and-shoot camera is almost always with me, I often stop when I see something incredible.  One of my favorite places to photograph the sky is the high school right next to my house.  Here in Birmingham we have what we call mountains, others call them hills, and Pelham High School is located on the very top of one of these hills.  From their parking lot one can see some spectacular sun rises and cloud formations.  The first two images below are from that vantage point.

Self Portrait

Not long ago I was in Austin, Texas, attending a workshop. Joy didn't go, we usually go everywhere together, so I was pretty bored on the flight home. So what do I do when I have a little time on my hands? I listen to my iPod and play with my camera. All I had with me was my little Canon SD790 and no one else to photograph but me.

One of our walks

If you follow this blog, you're probably going to tired of seeing images from our morning walks.  My wife, our dog and I try to take a long walk every day and I try to carry a camera every time.  Another thing you will learn about me is that I try to have a camera with me at all times.

These images were made with a Canon SD790 IS.

My Right Foot

Ok, it's not the most interesting subject I've found, but when you walk in the same park almost everyday you really start stretching for subject matter. Actually I thought this was a pretty intriguing shot. Made with the Canon G11 and a wide angle adapter. After that it was just a couple of Photoshop adjustments.

mein rechter Fuß

Stuff I saw while taking a walk

Sometimes you just see things and really don't pay much attention to them. As I've often said, I like to take my camera everywhere. I just love to make photos, even if I don't keep any of them.

One day, while making my usual morning walk, I began to notice all the trash that people had left in the park and wanted to see if I could make it into an interesting subject. These were all shot with a Canon G11, many with a cheap ($35) wide angle attachment that connects the front of the camera.

Night Vision

While driving home one night I took out my Canon SD 790 and tried to make a few images as I drove.  About the only adjustment I made to the camera was to set the white balance to tungsten.  I just held the camera out the window or in front of me. 

 

I call this "driving at the speed of light."

Just a little about me to get started

I just love to make and look at photos.  When asked what I like to photograph most, I usually respond, "Anything with people or evidence of them in the scene."  That could mean a photo of a person, or it could mean a photo architecture, a car, railroad tracks -- pretty much anything that shows that people have influenced the environment.  Maybe you could call it evidence of humanity.

It's not that I don't like nature photography, but it's more interesting if there is something in the scene that shows humanity.  For example, a forest scene to me would be better if it contained a cabin or a rusted truck.

I like to have a camera with me everywhere I go and enjoy trying to see the everyday in a different way.  In this blog I will use only a point-and-shoot camera and try to squeeze the most out of it.  Currently my favorite little camera is the Canon G11.  I often say that it has restored my joy of photography.

I thought I'd kick this thing off with a few photos of me.  One night I was sitting at my desk, a little bored, and began just playing with the G11 and making self portraits with just the desk lamp.