crazy harry's fireworks

I spotted this gem yesterday while taking the boys to the park. I wanted to stop then, but I didn't want to be that guy encouraging his kids to "go play in that parking lot over there while Daddy takes some pictures." Sans children, this was a great place to shoot some frames.

I tried not to mess with it too much. As I look at photo magazines/blogs/online galleries, I continue to notice that the great photographers I like are not afraid of middle greys. I have usually leaned towards high contrast. I had felt like that was the best way to grab detail out of the frame, and make it pop. Crazy Harry's Fireworks has given me an opportunity to work on getting comfortable with letting the middle tones be middle tones, as well as letting them speak for themselves.

I also shot the following frame, an excavated area behind Crazy Harry's.



I'm not sure what I think of it. I've decided I want to branch out in my composition of the "tree portraits" I've been shooting by adding other elements to the mix besides the sky. The excavated wall was the original reason I wanted to shoot Crazy Harry's Fireworks, but I wasn't able to frame a shot that I liked with both elements included.

What do you think? Would this hang well with the other tree portraits I've been shooting?

motel

I went back to Louisville this past week for a conference, and decided to fly in a day early to walk the city and shoot frames.

As I was coming down 2nd street, heading towards the river, I spotted this motel. I had George Tice in my head as I shot. I hope he's not offended.

little boxes

Six months ago I moved from the urban core of Louisville to a suburb of Kansas City. To say the least, the adjustment has been...odd.

Street after street of cookie cutter houses are making me want to vomit (apologies if you live in one and like it). Everytime I drive past a sub-division (which is all the time), I sing gently in my head,

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky -
Little boxes on the hillside
and they all look just the same.
There's a yellow one and a green one and a pink one and a purple one,
and they're all made out of ticky tacky,
and they all look just the same...

Thanks, Malvina Reynolds. It felt good to be self-righteous for just a moment.

photo set: ...and the sky

sweetgum tree...


smokestack...


gable I...


gable II...

senior center

window, shadow

obstinate (isaiah 48:4)

Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew.

old school

(Retouched to give it that "old school" feel.)

reach for heaven

here is the church, here is the steeple...