Photography as Art
 

Just finished up some pics that will be submitted for a juried exhibition here in N.J.
The 1st one up is a Street Performer in N.Y.C.
He was in the financial district near the World Trade Center.
Taken with a Nikon D3 and the 105 f2.0 DC lens in open shade.
There are a number of enterprising young actors that dress up in outlandish outfits to show themselves to the tourists and hope for 'donations'.
Usually works out for them ! And they will pose for a fee ! You just gotta be quick !

Enjoy
"Bronze Buckaroo : NYC Street Performer"

Next up is an Urban Landscape ...
Photographed in Paterson New Jersey.
Paterson was once a thriving community, 1st home of Colt Firearms, 1st practical working submarine, home to Lou Costello.
It thrived on the Silk Industry industry.
It has suffered some hard times but is now in the process of rebuilding.
This photo was taken near the Great Falls in the downtown section of town.
There is a homeless population like most every other blue collar town.
Shortly afterwards, this corner building burned to the ground.

"Fallout Shelter"

A more scenic photo this time.
This was taken early morning at the Nubble Lighthouse in lower Maine.
I was told that Nubble is the most photographed Lighthouse in the US.
There is a cove just off camera to the right where Scuba Divers frequent.

It looked good in Color but even better in B+W.

I travel there a few times each year to catch the fresh air and enjoy interacting with the scenery.

"Spearhead Point and Schooner"

Back to interesting faces ...
New York has a never ending supply!
This was taken some years ago in the days of film...
Scanned the image and enhanced that 'grainy' look of yesteryears high speed film.
This is Charles Eastwyk - I think he may have stayed in the ring one round too long :nutswinger:
He was a nice enough fellow and liked to share his experiences.

"Charles Eastwyk : Retired Boxer"

Here is a small stairway along the shores of Maine ...
Originally shot with an Infra Red converted camera.
I did some hand coloring with texture overlays in Photoshop to achieve this eerie effect.

"eerie pathway"

Located in the heart of Philadelphia is the now almost derelect Eastern State Penitentiary which dates back to the early 1800's.
There are sections of it that have been semi restored and is now open to the public.
Al Capone is one of it's more famous inmates - and he had a 'luxury suite'.
He imported his own furniture and decorated the cell lavishly.
The 'Penitentiary' was quite unlike the prisons of today.
Prisoners were not permitted to talk or interact with each other.
The going philosophy of the time was to keep one isolated in order to allow him 'penitent' time to reflect on his wrong doings and 'repent'
The Barber Shop is one of the attractions.
The walls are crumbling and covered with growth.
The only light is from the overhead skylight, and the room is incredibly dark and dreary.
There is only a small doorway that is blocked off by a rail so that you can't really get in and walk around.
I shot this [tripod] in HDR in 3 sections then stitched them together to form a panaroma view of the room.

"Eastern State Penitentiary : Barber Shop"

Here is another throw back from my days of film photography.
I liked walking the streets of NYC even back then.
This was also scanned from a film transparency - Kodachrome 64 was my favorite choice of film
You could push it to ASA [ISO] 80 - and that was FAST
Needless to say that you had to be rock solid hand holding the camera even in open shade.
Shot most likely with a Nikon F2Sb and a 105mm f2.5 wide open.
I don't remember too much of this guy except that he was certainly flamboyant.
Did a bunch of work in Photoshop on this one.

"Blue Blade"

This is one of my favorites ...
Shot with an InfraRed converted digital camera, I then 'antiqued' the look in Photoshop
It tells a subtle but powerful story.
I've gotten different reactions and opinions from different people as to what meaning this has for them.

"Younger than Wisdom : Older than Youth"

Nice stuff.

Pop over here if you haven't seen the thread.

http://www.the370z.com/photography/4...scussions.html

Thanks !
Much appreciated.
I have been looking at the photography section now and then.

That is a really long thread ! Might take me a year or so to go thru it all -- :-)
A lot of general interest questions and posts - thought here to generate some interest more for the Artists and Artists to Be in our group.

Will post some more pics in the next few days ... tell all your friends --:-)

:tup: to all of these!!!!

Nice Dude, very nice! I take it this aint you're first rodeo, do you have a website to sell any of this?

"Amy's Opals"
 

This is Amy ... she was on a break from her job in NYC.
She was sitting on the top stair of a basement flat.
She was very shy at first, but the offer of a free photo sent by email won her over.

"Amy's Opals"

"QuickSilver"
 

Quick Silver is a sequential marquis - one letter at a time lights up.
This is located in NYC Times Square.
It took me a few times to get all of the segments lit at the same time.
In the middle of trying to hold the camera steady I was being bumped by the hordes of tourists gawking at the sky scrapers.

"QuickSilver"

"Madam Toussads Wax Museum"
 

Right around the corner from "QuickSilver" is Madam Toussads Wax Museum.
Right on 42nd street.
I was sitting on the ground and wrapped around a light pole in order to steady the camera.
Funny thing ... It didn't appear odd at all to those passing by...You see all kinds of things in the City.
This was a 9 shot HDR hand held ...
The longest exposure was about 2 seconds.

"Madam Toussads Wax Museum"

"Dis-Continued DC"
 

I do keep my car clean - however, you may find me in all manner of locations that reek of rust and grunge.
Color and Texture, Worn out and Rusted Relics ...
My Favorites !!!
Found this in a row of garages that hadn't been opened in years.
Had to fight the spiders off just to get enough room to back up and photograph this now derelect electric panel.
It is in fact a DC motor control switch and had been encrusted with rust and sediment.
The light level was very low and this took about a 30 second exposure.
But this time I had my tripod and didn't have to wrap myself around a pole!

"Dis-Continued DC"

You might like this guy's site. I really like this kind if subject/look also.
http://www.beautifullydecayed.com

Thanks to 'TreeSemdyZee' ~~~ 'axmea?' ~~~ and 'Masterbeatty'
Appreciate your replies !

And, No, this isn't my first rodeo :-) though I may fallen off the horse a few times !

Got started doing art early - I remember daydreaming and doodling in grade school.
My favorite subjects even back then were Fast Custom cars, Military Airplanes [of the Prop Driven variety], Spanish Galleons, British Frigates, and also Portraits.

Guess I'm still doodling - tho' now its in PhotoShop - I still like cars, planes, ships, and people... and now, old rusty things.

Don't have a website anymore [too much time to keep it up] but might dive back in one of these days.

Thanks again,

Checked out his site ... now thats a LOT of Grunge !!!
Will have to go back and look at the site a few more times to take it all in.
Love that grunge but too much of it and you start to get hardened looking at it.
I see that Todd Shaak is from St Louis ... I am a member of the St Louis Camera Club there and compete regularly.

Here's a few links to other photographers works that you may find interesting:

Vivian Maier can be described as an original fine art street photographer in the photojournalistic style [read her bio] she has made some amazing photos tin her time.
Unfortunatley she has passed away and her work was undiscovered until a few years ago.
You can enter each of her galleries by clicking on the individual images of the patchwork home page.
Vivian Maier Photographer | Official website of Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Portfolios, Prints, Exhibitions, Books and documentary film

Michael Massaia is a local photographer in my area of New Jersey.
He is an incredible self taught photographer/artist and has come up with his own unique photo and print making process;
He primarily shoots larger format cameras in black and white.
Scans the sheet film image and cleans and works the digital file to perfection.
Next he creates another film negative to the size of the print he wants to make.
Next he makes a contact print [sandwhiching the negative to the paper] in a contact print frame.
The resulting prints are amazing - so much detail - and with a tonal range that is off the charts.
Michael Massaia Photography

George Tice ...
He's another Fine Art / Street / PJ photographer.
He roamed the streets of Paterson N.J. [where I grew up] through the '50's ~ '70's and beyond.
He shot with a view camera and tripod, and captured the essence of a blue collar town in transition to poverty.
He doesn't have a website but you can google his name and find galleries that are presenting his work.

Now back to Todd Shaak and I'll pick out an image or 2 that I really like !

Why is everybody HDR-ing the crap out of their photos?

Can do just "standard" level adjustment and get good results. Maybe i'm not one of the "cool kids."

:icon18:

HDR - is it really needed?
 

Hi osbornsm ... Thanks for your input!

Yes, you are right. You can get pretty good results most of the time with the basic adjustments : Levels or Curves, Brightness and Contrast, and Saturation to your liking if needed.

And I also agree, you don't need HDR for every situation and it can easily be overdone ... I've seen a ton of busy and garish HDR images that are too unreal and actually irritating to look at.

However, there are times when HDR comes in very handy, especially when there is a huge dynamic range that needs to be tamed.

HDR programs [and Topaz effect] can give you the options of really going radical with your images.
Not to everybody's taste including mine.

Personally, I use HDR sparingly and then only to flatten the tonal range to include detail in the highlights and shadows.
It can be a technical asset and allow for better technical/creative images when done right.

Ansel Adams used his zone system to 'Push' and 'Pull' his negatives and prints to retain detail and contrast in situations that exceeded the limits of film and paper.
He was doing with film what we can now do with HDR.

Out of all the images I've posted so far there are only 2 that have been in HDR [and then out of absolute necessity] The DC Motor Switch was a single shot using a Hasselblad Digital Back - which does have the capabliltity to record a greater dynamic range in a single capture]

'Eastern State Penitentiary Barber Shop'
This was an extremely dark area - with only the soft light from the overhead skylight entering the area.
There was almost no detail to be had as seen by the naked eye.
HDR came to the rescue, but even though the HDR brought the detials in it was still a long way from being a finished image.

'Madam Toussads Wax Museum NYC'
Another image that was a tremendous technical challenge to record detail in both the shadows and the highlights.
So I bracketed the shot and used HDR to bring it to life.
Without HDR there wouldn't have been much detail either in the shadows or the highlights depending on the choice of exposure.
Either the highlights would have been blown out, or the shadows would have gone blank.


I've worked on these 2 images these last few days - both taken in difficult [but different] lighting situations in the fall season in Maine last year.

'Up the Tree without a Paddle' very low light level, flat and overcast, almost no dynamic range.
This needed to be 'toned up'.

'Tuna Chasers at Perkins Cove' very bright scene with extremely high dynamic range and contrast.
This needed to be 'toned down' to include detail in both the shadows and highlights while still retaining proper mid tones.
I was able to recover detail and balance the image using only Photoshop tools.
'Tuna Chasers' refers to the type of boat used to chase tuna ... notice the extended bowsprits ... imagine a ride at high speed standing out over the ocean with the safety of the boat way behind you !!!

Neither was shot in HDR and both were shot as Jpg's.

Your thoughts ?

'Up a Tree without a Paddle' & 'Tuna Chasers'