inspired photography with just enough perspective
I took this last year while walking around Vancouver. I walk a lot when in Vancouver because there’s so much to see. There are a lot of other cities I need to see, Berlin is way up there. But Vancouver is just plain cool, laid back and the best example of the new age in North America. This is a view of Granville Island around dusk and as I recall it was a two mile walk back to my hotel from here, not that I minded one bit.
This is a little restaurant called Southern Fresh in Safety Harbor Florida that I had lunch at last week. Safety Harbor is a village near Tampa. I’d never been here so didn’t know what to expect but left a huge fan. The name says it all. The meals they prepare are indeed southern, I had BBQ pork and collard greens. I don’t do restaurant reviews so I’m not about to go into great detail other than to say it was the best pork and greens I’ve ever had. The waiter apologized on how long it took to prepare our meal, as he explained they make each order from scratch. I can attest to the taste and quality of food. Anyway, I snapped this with my iPhone on the way out. Check it out if you’re in the area.
Every now and then I have to post some little piece of architecture that catches my eye. These sconces are all around the Wrigley Building in Chicago. A small thing probably overlooked by most people, solid brass swirly designs sconces. I’ll bet there’s another word for all that but I’m coming up short. In any case, this has been your architecture minute, brought to you by some guy that likes these thingys on the wall but doesn’t know what to call them other than solid brass swirly designs sconce thingys.
This is the tackle shop at Hart’s Landing in Sarasota Florida. As long as I live I’ll never get tired of taking photos from this area. It’s one of those rare urban places where you can get a good photo no matter which way you turn. Something about us humans, we love to fish. Something about places where people fish, they seem to make for good photography. I have no idea why this is, or even what I’m talking about, but it seems to me we must have a strong connection to the water. Why else would we like to look at it so much? Before I start going off into space, I just want to wish you all a great day and hope that you get a chance to go by the water sometime soon. If not, this’ll have to do for now. 😉
This is a foggy morning at The Riverwalk in Bradenton Florida. Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of the time it’s sunny and warm here, but you know me, I have to get “the shot”, the epic event, the perfect photo. Yes, those feelings of grandeur and more flooded my mind when the weatherman forecasted fog. Fog? In Florida? Say it aint so. Yeah, well… In any case, it doesn’t take a lot to get me excited, just give me a little weather and watch me go, must be amusing to watch. These poor souls where simply walking or biking to work when some crazed photographer showed up with a tripod to capture the moment. I’m sure they’re still wonder about it. But I got the shot so I’m happy.
Here is Vancouver’s Coal Harbour section as imagined by me when I should have been doing something more productive. I got a little carried away but that’s what happens every once in a while. I took this with my iPhone and so its called iphoneography, but for whatever reason that doesn’t show up in my dictionary. Nevertheless this is my post processed iphoneigraphical highly imaginative rendering of urban exploration. Otherwise known as playing with colors.
I took this of the DuSable Bridge a few weeks ago in Chicago. The subterranean street levels are only a few feet down but worlds away in their appearance and feel. Undoubtably these have inspired writers, artist and uh, …photographers. For whatever reason there were few cars going in this direction which allowed me to stand in the middle of the street to compose the shot. I kept glancing over my shoulder as I have a tendency to get engrossed when shooting which can be a little hazardous when standing in the middle of a dark street. Probably not very smart either.
When I was in the old town section of San Juan Puerto Rico last fall I became enamored with the charm of the place. By charm I mean the sense of community and character. I think the verandas play an important role in all that. Folks like to hang out on their verandas or the streets below talking, playing cards or just watching other people walk by. I have a veranda out the back of my house were I like to go to relax sometimes, so I guess I relate to these older, more storied versions. I imagine these have been here for a hundred years, but I can’t imagine all the scenes that have transpired on or below them. Fun to think about nonetheless.
This is what the world looks like through a fisheye lens. I’m not sure why but I enjoy pictures with strangeness like this, I get drawn in. A little distortion changes the perspective, small things seem big, big things small. Visual art. This is my winter version of Navy Pier in Chicago. I took my normal lens off and put on the fish eye lens and at this exact spot, lost my lens cap. I’ve not seen it since. So, if you’re ever here and you find a Nikon lens cap, give me a shout. Or maybe I should just fuhgeddaboudit.
I, and millions of others, love this section of Chicago. It’s an animated conversation between the past and present. This is the DuSable Bridge which leads to the Magnificent Mile in one direction and the “loop” section in the other. It’s framed by buildings built in a bygone era like the Wrigley and Tribune buildings. Call me crazy but this stone bridge pillar speaks to me about the character of this area, so much history and ambition. On this cold day, a few minutes after I took this picture, I was in a throng crossing a busy street along North Michigan Avenue. I overheard a conversation behind me as one person asked the other, “why is it so busy?”. The answer was simple and utterly complete, “this is Chicago”.
