In Honor of the STL Cardinals last win in the World Series, (2006) and in hope of number 11 tonight!!!

GO CARDS! BRING HOME NUMBER 11 TONIGHT!!!

Archive Photos from the Forest Park Balloon Race-2007

Today's post is from the St. Louis/Forest Park Balloon Race in 2007. Great light certainly helps make great pictures. The day started with  a double rainbow at the arch and the light remained incredible all afternoon.

Images From Marine Week in St. Louis

Today I am posting just a few of the images I took during Marine Week this past summer. They feature some of the very impressive technology and weapons the USMC deploys around the world.

First experiment in 4x5 analog photography

Classically Homeless- CWE St.  Louis, MO
4x5 Fuji Instant Film

Recently I have embarked down the path of shooting architecture with a Sinar F2 4x5 large format view camera. Many years ago before the age of digital photography and cell phone cameras I worked as both a studio hand and a photographers assistant. Shooting architecture and advertising used to always be done on large format before digital. In many ways the cameras are still the same but the way the image has been captured has changed. Digital is just so much faster and simpler. You are in a digital work flow from the second the shutter clicks. But composing just the right picture is still a painstaking process. Even more so with "analog" film equipment. Still film remains the benchmark. Very expensive digital cameras and camera backs can produce images almost as good if not as good these days. But like analog records the sound is different. In music the Mpg files is easy to exchange and carry around on a portable device. It is small and easy to use. But the real audiophile misses the rich sound quality only provided by much larger and more complex files and recording methods. Photography is very similar. I can't afford a 50K camera so I am trying going "old school" just to see what turns out.

The above image was really my first attempt at producing a real "image" other than just practice exposures to refresh my memory with the mechanics of the camera. This is the portico of a now closed Methodist Church. The area in St. Louis is referred to as "Holy Corners" as there are large significant semi religious buildings on several corners. The print came into contact with the still wet negative as I was putting my gear away. Just one of the many things that can go wrong.

Downtown St. Louis

Tonight I am posting two images of downtown St. Louis. It is fall the light and shadows are quite nice. Enjoy!

A video for today! Some spectactular time laps landscape photography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DaYx4XmWEoI

Urban Images from the Archive

I am fascinated with both the urban as well as the rural landscape in particular buildings and places which seem to be of a different time and place. Today's post includes images that I took a while ago in Granite City, Illinois as well as in South St. Louis, Missouri. I am always looking at how the real world presents us with both abstract and not so abstract compositions.

Recent Images from Rural Missouri

Today I am posting 3 images from a recent drive in rural Missouri near St. Louis. These photos combine several interests of mine. That includes architecture, photography and the changing American landscape. These common rural buildings, some still in use, some not, in various states of decay or change reflect a different America which is passing away. Used or unused they offer interesting forms and textures of a period which is slipping away.

Bonfire and Chile in BW

Here are some recent images I took over the weekend. I was hand holding my DSLR and experimenting with long exposures and motion blur. When I used the flash it interupted the conversation and everyone wanted to pose. When I just hand held the images people ignored me and kept convering and telling stories.