Recent Road Trip and Urban Imgages

I have just completed a road trip to Indian for some projects. I wasn't able to photograph much but was able to try out the new Nikon D4s. Here are the first batch of images. 

Engine 8201 and Helicopter 

Factory Closed 

Small Town House 

Classic Small Town House Detail 

Fish Scales in need of Paint

Propane and Cardinal 

Some Recent New Images from St. Louis

Here are some recent new images from around the St. Louis area. These images did not make the cut for a recent photo competition/exhibit at the Sheldon Gallery celebrating the cities 250 year anniversary.
 

Stan Musial Veteran's Memorial Bridge

Railroad Trestles

Library

Roberts Tower 1

Roberts Tower 2

Giro 1

Giro 2

Giro 3

In Formation

5 Arches

Modern Art in Snow

Chipperfield Wing in Snow- St. Louis Art Museum

Overhang and Railing

Trees and Door

Lunchtime In the Rain

Today's post includes  photos from Carondolet Park in South St. Louis and images from a classical public library in South St. Louis the Carondolet Branch of the St. Louis Public Library at 6800 Michigan Ave. Hope you enjoy. Please leave me comments if you like or dislike my work. I am working on slowing things down an making compositions. These images have had minimum post shoot processing. I willl adjust the contrast, crop, do some aligment. I have recently been removing the camera distortion much the way you might with a large format view camera that has shift and tile. I am planning on working with the Graflex Super Graphic that I have now very soon. I am interseted to see how I can manipulate selective focus with the view/press camera. Thanks!

Footbridge

Tall Pine

Footbridge and Ducks

Classical

Public Cornice Black and White

Public Cornice Color

Column Capital

Near the River

Today's post is a series of new images from areas just South and North of the arch. It is a gritty industrial  area that is somewhat of a no man's land  but very near my office so I spend time here. I have photographed this area a lot and you will see many of the subjects already on the blog. The St. Louis flood wall separates the workings of the river, with its giant barges for moving heavy raw materials such as coal, grain and petroleum from the city. The area is laced with both highways and heavy rail lines. Roads and train trestles transition onto Bridges that cross the mighty river. Here in St. Louis the edge of the city along the Mississippi has very often been left to industry. Heavy smoke stack industry, warehouses and many types of things that have long since become obsolete in the American economy. Yet the river remains an ever active place. All manner of work seems to always be going on along the banks as she remains ever powerful. Vast amounts of materials being made loaded or processed along it. Certainly it is still shaping this landscape.

Images from a lunchtime photography! If you like or dislike these images please comment! Thanks!

New Bridge and Barge Conveyor

Arch and Sign

1970

 

Tracks and Shed

 

Tankers and Tracks

Crane Gears II After High Water

Barge Crane II

 

Trestles Black and White

Suck This Cold Mother!

As it used to be

These shoes were made for walking

The decline of analog photograpy- The Dissapearance of Darkness

As many of you know I have had an interest in photography since I was a kid. I had my first darkroom in the basement of my parents house when I was in 7th or 8th grade and continued to do film photography well through architecture school. Along with another prized possession, my Bach Stradivarius trumpet, my Nikon F and a bunch of lenses I had accumulated were stolen from my first house and for at least a time put an end to my photography hobby. Photography in the intervening years transformed and shortly after we started Oculus Inc., the architecture firm I own with my wife Lisa in 1994, digital camera's such as the Sony Mavica came onto the scene. For pure practicality and utility digital imaging was the way to go as we could immediately share and use the images for work. Photography for me had become both utilitarian and snapshots. Quick captures of project information or kids, family and events. Not seriously working to capture crafted artistic images. While I had been given a replacement film camera it was already pragmatically obsolete as it was much easier to use, even the sluggish, point and shoot digitals for taking work and family photographs. In the intervening decade film sales plummeted. Mirroring the decline of their analog devices/techniques such as hand drafting, typewriting, vinyl records and such, the analog photo industry almost evaporated over night. The speed of its transformation/decline has really been unprecedented in the history of technology. Today while there are very likely more images than ever being taken/captured film for most part is technically obsolete. Yesterday I downloaded and App on my Iphone which is Kodak's limp attempt to promote its very few remaining of analog film products. What was so immediately apparent was just how irrelevant to the society and economy this product has become. The last significant "volume" of film use/manufacture is for the movie industry which will likely be essentially film free for commercial purposes by 2015. Certainly there are a hand full of users who will continue to use film as their chosen media. Film is still capable of creating some of the best, most powerful images. It for the most part has not changed, unless it is no longer manufactured, but the world, technology and the society around it has. I have been seriously considering purchasing a Graflex "Speed Graphic" as a more convenient large format 4x5 camera to my Sinar F. I find the Sinar very difficult to use in the field where most of my artistic photography takes place. In the course of researching the Speed Graphic camera it has become even more apparent that film is still declining. I was researching less expensive black and white films to  use for example and I discovered that Photokemika or Efke had recently, August 2012, stopped production. I had assumed, wrongly it appears, that smaller offbeat companies like this would be able to remain alive serving a boutique market. It appears there is not enough profit for them to repair ancient film coating equipment and it was easier to just close up shop. With both movies and medicine making their last moves away from silver based analog film will there be enough product manufactured available for the dedicated art photographers to continue to practice their art form?

Today I came upon a serious photographer/writer who has been working on a project for that last few years regarding the decline of analog film photography industry. His name is Walter Burley. He has just had a book published about the project "The Disappearance of Darkness". I hope anyone who reads this does not think I am trying to predict the end of film or that I am supporting it. Quite the contrary. I am saddened by this the way I would be saddened by hearing of the passing of an old friend. But my sadness can't change reality. I am wondering however if I should make a continued effort to pursue film as a viable media. Should I invest more in one more camera that I may not use or which film may not be available for? I have a bunch of gear based around the use of film which would all become moot should the materials become too limiting. Already my preferred film choice E100G has been discontinued by Kodak and Fuji will base the continued manufacture of product on financial/commercial viability. We might be artists but they are a company who's purpose is to make money not art.

 

In any case look at Mr. Burley's site and his book. It is serious work about a subject that I value very much. Walter Burley - The Dissapearance of Darkness

Images from Portland Oregon

I have had the good fortune of traveling to Portland Oregon on business recently. On my last trip I was blessed to have great light in the form of clear bright sky and crisp sunshine. While some photographers don't like blue sky I find it  sometimes difficult yet enjoyable to work in. I spent much of a day walking as have on several occasion around Portland a city that I both love to visit and photograph. Portland is know as the Rose City I I spent almost and entire day in a section of Portland called Ladd's Addition. I also spent some time in downtown near the South Park blocks. I hope you enjoy these images!



Gothic in Red!

Wedding at the Museum!

Pole and Sky!



Rose in Sunshine!

Dappled by light!

 

 

Pink!

A Rose by any other name!

Yellow Perfection!

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

North Rim - Through the Rocks

On the Edjge-Looking North

Blue Sky and Stripes

Toadstools as the Storm Approaches

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been traveling to the Desert Southwest. In particular to Kanab Utah to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. For this trip I rented a Nikon D800e and tonight I am posting my first images from the trip. The shear size of the sensor and the amount of detail in the images is amazing for a DSLR. I need to enlarge some images on our large format printer/plotter to see just what kind of image quality/size they are producing. Clearly reducing the images for publication online changes them somewhat but still this was an amazing camera compare to my normal cameras, the Nikon D200. I have many more images to edit and I will posting as I select them.