inspired photography with just enough perspective
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I was out one night before winter hit. This is the fence around the old state house in downtown Hartford. The “new” statehouse is still pretty old and about five times as big and, has no fence. Don’t ask me why, I just report it.
This is from a series of night photos I shot hand held in downtown Hartford CT. The camera I used is the Sony A7s, which I believe has the highest ISO rating in the world. Basically that means that it’s extremely sensitive so that it can see things in the dark. Certainly I could have taken these with another camera, but I would have needed to use a tripod. That’s not such a bad thing, but I love the idea of walking around with just a camera at night and doing street photography. I guess you could say it opens up a whole new world in terms of shooting scenes at night. In any case, I’m going to a lot more of this in the months to come.
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If you live in Vancouver or you’ve ever visited you know this taxi stand, it’s in front of Canada Place and you can pretty much always get a cab from here. It’s at a confluence of the subway, ferry and cruise ships. But once in a while when things are slow they end up waiting here for the next fare and if you look you’ll notice them all reading or surfing on their phones. That’s not so unusual, we all do that, fill up our spare moments with info from our cell phones. In fact, they’re not really cell phones anymore are they, more like digital appendages don’t you think?
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A lone thundercloud floats over Tampa Bay in Florida. This is a common sight most of the year; they resemble pillars rising with a powerful force that is best viewed from a distance. Such was the case on this warm evening a few months ago on Anna Maria Island not far from my home.
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Downtown Hartford, CT at night reminds me of some midwest cities. Basically they roll the streets up at 5pm. So when I came downtown a couple of weeks ago it was good and bad. Good because I just about had the whole downtown core to myself, bad in that there were slim pickins as far as any activity goes. Nonetheless, I made the best of it had a pretty good time wandering about.
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It’s time for a few Christmas lights, which are everywhere. As I squint my eyes the lights of the trees blend with those of the building behind. I have to scratch that abstract itch every now and again. Now I feel much better, and I hope you do too.
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On a chilly evening a few weeks ago I stood here in front of the statehouse in Hartford Connecticut. I think because of the cold the entire property was deserted which afforded me an opportunity to walk around it at will with my tripod. Only later when I processed this did I notice the flags at half mast. The ornate dome and outer walls reminded me of buildings I’ve seen in Germany. In any case, despite the lack of any anyone around I’m guessing the guards watched me on security cameras as I walked around the building. They probably figured I was harmless and it was just too cold for them to do anything about it.
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This is the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch near the capitol building in Hartford Connecticut. I took this a few nights ago in the twenty degree chill and so not too many people were out. However, as I set up for this shot someone starting walking towards me while singing quite loud. I sized up my situation but had nothing to worry about as the gentleman simply inquired about my photography. Turns out there was a concert, opera I think, just up the way and he was just walking home reveling in the moment. I, on the other hand quickly finished and made a hasty retreat to the warmth of my car.
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Meanwhile back in Florida… The clouds do cool things like this all the time, …well a lot of the time. Sometimes I’ll check the local news webcam which is located at the beach to see what the cloud situation is and if it looks good I’ll head over for sunset. Today, by chance, I sat under that same webcam as it’s located at The Beachhouse restaurant. So, while sitting there I got it in my mind to check the webcam, and sure enough the scene in front of me at the beach was unfolding on my iPhone. Weird, I know. No, there’s no point in any of this. Happy Monday everyone.
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In art I’m attracted to impressionistic styles. I prefer to let my mind fill in the blanks. I do that a lot in everyday life, I think. My way of dealing with complexity perhaps, a momentary reverie while forming an impression, possibly an opinion. As I’m thinking about it, In general I don’t like being fed too much detail. That’s because my mind automatically fills in the details, not always right, but details nonetheless. I think we all do that, it’s part of what makes us unique, it is part of the filters through which we see the world. It starts with an impression.
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