Wisconsin Trails Magazine

The upcoming Jan/Feb edition of Wisconsin Trails Magazine will feature the cover image and a six page spread of my images from North Point. North point is located just south of Bradford Beach along the Lake Michigan shore in downtown Milwaukee, WI. It's a popular spot among area photographers but surprisingly, many do not know of it's existence. I often get asked where the images are from and people are quite surprised to learn that such a unique landscape is right outside their front door.

Thanks to Jerry Luterman, photographer for Wisconsin Trails, for his help to get these images published in the magazine. He's a pretty good photographer himself and I am definitely a fan.

A New Website (in progress)

I'm working toward a new website for RJI Photography.  I'm using Photoshelter which is an all inclusive option from archiving to website to storefront and proofing.  Right now, I'm only working on a limited 30 day freebie but I have all the functionality there.  Here's an example of the home page slide show embedded into this blog:


Oak Creek - Images by Bob Israel

This blog can also be integrated into the website navigation so now my blog will be more interactively linked with my website.  I'm really liking the features associated with photoshelter and I'm just getting started.  More to come!

Simplicity

What is it about a simple peeling wall with a shadow and a foreground element that makes an image so intriguing?  There are no people and no action.   I know that when I look at this and similar images, it makes my mind wander, whether about the particular image or not.  Sometimes, you feel the texture of the wall, the cracks in the wall board.  The radiator reminds of my childhood where we had these for our heat. It reminds me of the dozen or so layers of paint that are typical of radiators of this era.  It reminds of the clanking sound when they started heating up or when they cooled.  So maybe, it a reminder of an era gone by but something that relates to my youth.  It makes me wonder if someone half my age would react similarly or whether they have another set of feelings that makes this image intriguing to them.

One Earth

I recently came back to this image I took during the summer along one of the most beautiful stretches of the Wolf River in Menomonee County, Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, I came upon this scene where someone decided they were too lazy to properly dispose of their trash.  I really thought we, as a society, had come past this type of behavior.  Fortunately, we cleaned it up before the trash made its way into the river.  The image serves as a reminder that no matter how beautiful this wonderful planet can be, we can destroy it in a minute.

The Best of Both Worlds

Anyone who's followed my photography knows that my two most photographed subjects are natural landscapes and urban abandonment or URBEX (urban exploration).  Well, lately I've been at this location just south of Milwaukee where I've been fortunate to have both at my disposal.  I arrive before sunrise and shoot the scenic old piers on Lake Michigan.  Sometimes the power plant to the south makes for an interesting twist to the scene.  Once the sun has risen, I'll climb up the hill from the lakeshore where this wonderful abandoned factory provides all kinds of great opportunities.  Unfortunately, this site is in the process of being torn down for good.  On the one hand, I feel sad that the best of both worlds will disappear for good at this location.  On the other hand, I'm glad I had the chance to document these buildings before they are gone forever.

URBEX!

Urban Exploration sometimes known as the art of trespassing without getting caught is something I never thought I would enjoy as much as I do.  There the feeling of discovery as you enter an abandonment for the first time.  I feel a rush of adrenaline when I first approach a new site.  I feel the same when I return to find something new, something moved, something changed.  I love the feeling I get when I try to imagine the building during its hay day whether a glimpse of the blue collar worker or life on a working farm.

Infrared & Color

I've always been fascinated with Infrared (IR) photography. I converted an old Canon 20D to shoot only IR. The conversion was done at Lifepixel.com. Mostly, I dabbled with black and white conversions but this week, I decided to try color IR. While I used a custom white balance to take this shot (focusing on green grass), I found that by cranking up the vibrance and bumping the saturation in Lightroom, I could achieve the colors you see in this image. I'm pretty happy with my first colored IR image.

Daily Wanderings

I spend a lot of weekends at my place 'up north' about 2.5 hours from home. It's my slice of heaven. But there's so much to see and photograph on the way but I never get much of a chance to slow down and take it all in. Well, today, that changed. Taking everything but the highway, we went through typical small towns that dot the state of Wisconsin. I loved it. I did't stop for everything, but that only means I'll get it next time. The abandoned house in the is image was literally in the middle of nowhere. Even the driveway was obscured from view.

Pink

Beginning this evening, the Milwaukee Art Museum, for the first time ever, will glow pink against the stunning backdrop of the September evening sky. The 10-day lighting project celebrates the opening of the Museum’s major fall exhibition, Andy Warhol: The Last Decade with a nod to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at the Milwaukee lakefront on Sunday, September 27. With a 217-foot wingspan that opens and closes twice daily, the illuminated wings of the Quadracci Pavilion will offer an extraordinary spectacle along the city’s skyline.
“It’s wonderful timing that we’re unveiling the work of an iconic Pop artist as the 2009 Komen Race for the Cure winds around the Milwaukee Art Museum,” said Dan Keegan, the Museum’s director. “For the first time ever, we’ll fully light the Museum in color – bright pink – to show our support for the race and breast cancer awareness. The lighting project will offer a beautiful visual representation of art as a catalyst for healing and hope, and underscores the Museum’s importance as a community gathering place.”

In a continuing effort to collaborate with and support an array of community organizations, the Museum exterior will be lit in pink each evening from approximately 7:00 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., starting today through the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Friday, October 2. The end time will be extended until midnight on Friday, September 25; Saturday, September 26; and Friday,

October 2. For added visual excitement, the Museum’s outdoor fountains will also take on a bright pink hue starting today.

“We hope the community, and families, will take the opportunity to drive or walk by the Milwaukee Art Museum to see this spectacular sight,” added Keegan.

In an additional show of support, the Milwaukee Art Museum will offer free admission on race day to all cancer survivors participating in the Komen Race for the Care. Survivors will be presented with a certificate for admission in the Survivor’s Tent after the race, or can gain admission on race day by wearing their signature pink t-shirt. All other participants will receive a special offer for $2 off admission. The Komen Race for the Cure, the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world, raises significant funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer, celebrates breast cancer survivorship, and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease.

The lighting is made possible with the support of the Pellmann Center for Medical Imaging.

What 9/11 Gave Us

I used to live in the Washington, DC area. Back then, I never really toured the city except when guests came to town. It really is a beautiful city and it's buildings and architecture are a photographic delight. But there are clear signs of change from when I left DC in 1996 most notably the security around the city, especially at our monuments and government buildings. This picture is of the back side of the US Capital. That's one serious piece of hardware in the hands of the guy in the middle. A scene like this was never evident before 9/11 . . . a sign of the times.

Patches

The weather in SE Wisconsin has been the best of the summer season even though summer is ending. The skies have clear, the wind light resulting in several days of patchy fog in the morning. I've spent the past couple of mornings getting out bed way too early to drive during sunrise through the fog looking at wonderful displays of light. The normal and mundane are suddently trasnposed into the mysterious and beautiful. The scene shown here is merely someone's driveway in rural Racine County.

Boat Trails

Labor Day weekend brings the end of summer and with it the end of another season on the lake. While there's plenty of good boating weather left in September it seems that most people are distracted toward other activities and so the crowds thin out very quickly. I like our lake in September. There's often fog in the morning, the fishing is great and the colors of sunrise are crisp as cold mornings become more the norm and a sign of things to come.

Two by Two

A recent photowalk by the Cream City Photographers, a Flickr group, found ourselves at Jones Island in Milwaukee. It's the city's main shipping port and I have photographed this area before.

While there were many other photographs that I took, this one was one of those spontaneous images and a departure from all the other images I made that day. It was the symmetry and the mystery that caught my interest. The symmetry in the two women with red hair and black coats, two telephone poles against a large pillar of salt. The mystery was wondering what these two photographers were doing or looking at! I still don't know.

Jones Island

It seems like summer has kept me so busy that I have neglected to post in this blog. Well, all I can say is that I keep trying. Today's entry is from Jones Island in Milwaukee. It's the industrial port to Milwaukee trade on Lake Michigan, the Menomonee, Milwaukee and Kinnikinnic Rivers. It has a rich and political history to its current status as Milwaukee's working harbor.

Summerfest 2009

Saliva03, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

I love concert photography but I don't get to do it often. Two years ago, I had a blast photographing from the pit at Summerfest, going there 8 of 10 days. This year, I again had a media pass and arranged to shoot a number of bands. I was able to shoot a number headliners, Kiss, Barenaked Ladies, Counting Crows and more. But it was this band called Saliva that was the most fun. These guys were intense, dark and gothic but the combination of the lighting, their outfits and demeanor were made for photography. While I only have one image posted here, more Saliva (and the other bands named above) can be found on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjiphotography

July 4th at Legend Lake

July 4th at Legend Lake, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

July 4th "up north". No big city events, no parking problems and you would think, mediocre fireworks. Well, here on Legend Lake, there are a couple of families that historically make significant investments in fireworks displays on the lake.

Someone puts out a sign for fireworks at dusk and the masses of pontoon boats and speedboats gather on the water to wait for the show. This clip is part of the finale of what I would describe as nearly as good a show as you might find anywhere. And there's something great about watching from the water. This year, the weather was perfect . . . warm weather, light winds, cloudless sky. It was a perfect way to end a perfect day.

A Different Kind of Photography . . . To Me!

We know there are many different forms of photography. My sweet spot has been landscape and more recently urban and urban decay. Well, this week, a good friend invited me to a Strobist Meetup.

Strobist is defined as getting the light from a source other than the camera. It's anything from an off camera flash or a studio set up of one or more light sources. A strobist meetup is whe you pair 12 or so photographers with 4-6 models and several lighting set ups. At least, this was the case this week at my first meet up.

For whatever reason, I have always been somewhat intimated by flash photography. Typically, I put the flash on my camera and let the flash communicate with the camera to give me the results I expect. I've played soft boxes on my flash and bounce flash but that's been as far as I've gone.

The nice thing about this strobist meetup is that there are several setups there for you to use without having to go through the setup. This meeting had a range of photographers, some first timers like me and others who brought gear for all of us to use. OK, so the lights are set and in walk the models . . . all of them beautiful in their own way, some experienced and others less so (just like us photographers).

Well, we all took turns at different lighting set ups with different models. At first, I was somewhat timid but soon found myself totally enjoying the interaction between model and photographer. I learned a lot that night. I still have a lot to learn but I came away with some images that I personally like and shared with the models who worked as hard as we did.

Tanya & Michael

The wedding of Tanya & Michael - June 20, 2009

Lightroom Export Plugins

Timothy Armes has written some extremely useful export plugins for Lightroom. No longer does one have to export to JPEG in a proper size configuration, then upload to Flickr, Facebook, or even blogs like this one. Instead, the plugin is set up to do this directly from Lightroom. I use these plugins all the time and they're time savers for sure. Additionally, I don't end up with a bunch of small jpegs all over my hard drive. The blog plugin even lets you enter the blog text from the plugin. I'm using it to make this blog entry. You should definitely check this out.

A New Day

I suddenly realized how long it's been since my last post. Sorry about that!

Well this morning I visited one of my favorite locations . . . North Point. I had no intention of making any photographs but instead, thought I would enjoy a cup of coffee. I'm in a very melancholy mood having just laid my dear sweet dog, Shamrock to rest yesterday. Her time had come and I am at peace with the decision. It was based on her needs and not my own. I will miss her like a child as she's been such a part of the family having lived with us through my real children's formative, teen years. You can see pictures of Shamrock on Flickr.

My friends, old and new have been very supportive. A dear old friend from back east even located the local Humane Society in southern Wisconsin where I found Shamrock to make a donation on her behalf. Times like these are easier with such friends.

I left work early yesterday in the hopes of spending a few more precious moments with Shamrock. We went down to the lakefront. It was an absolutely perfect day. We spend some time walking and sitting but I could tell she was not settled. She was content to just mozy around the grass taking in the various scents of people, places and things. I tried to get her to just sit with me. It was almost as if she was saying, 'it's OK to let me go now' as she continued to be slightly aloof. Her time had come.

So this morning, I returned to this scene content to watch the lake with my morning coffee thinking of Shamrock before heading to work. I was greeted by a wonderful sunrise over the lake. I met some joggers and a close friend. I decided to take a few images, have some nice early morning conversation and then on my way. It was a new day. A new chapter.

North Point Revisited

The ice has finally melted and the temperatures are warming . . . . slowly.  North Point in Milwaukee is finally revealed once again.  The mornings have been filled with color in the skies but there is something about black and white that always draws me in.  Perhaps it's the variation in the water or even the tonality in the rocks.  There are three different textures in this image, the sky, the water and the rocks with points where they blend from one to another.  Spring is nearly here.

Return to Legend Lake

It's been a long winter. With my move to downtown Milwaukee, I haven't been 'up north' since November. While the lake is still frozen, the weather is starting to warm. However the ice is still thick enough that trucks still ride across the lake to enjoy ice fishing. For me, it was a chance to 'walk on water' or at least frozen water, camera in hand. The weather was mostly overcast creating an all too common winter scene.

The birch trees stood out more than anything else in the landscape. Even with the bright white of the frozen lake, these trees appeared to rise from the ground like white veins popping from the shoreline against the darker trees. Although the light was even and flat, the contrast was most striking.

Signs of Spring

Now that it's March, we quickly start to look for signs of spring.  Of course, here in Wisconsin, that two days of warm weather sometime between now and mid-May.  We can dream though, can't we?

I've been looking through some past images and came upon the image here.  I remember taking it up at Legend Lake, WI where we have a home on the lake.  I used to take many upclose images of small things.  But lately, most of my subjects have been broader landscapes and cityscapes.  I still live to look at images like this because it gives a perspective that we rarely see or take the time to study.  These little mushrooms were growing out of a tree stump.  The mushrooms were less than an inch in diameter each.  It gives you and idea of the tiny details on each mushroom.

Maybe, I'll have to pull out the macro lens as I see signs of spring!

Jones Island

Some friends recently introduced me to Jones Island in Milwaukee.  Within the Milwaukee harbor area, this is a highly industrialized location that includes docking from some heavy duty freighters and large ships that travel the Great Lakes.  There are many structures and business there as well and in many cases it's hard to tell what goes on there.  In any case, I'm finding the location somewhat intriguing and plan to make more trips in the near future.

A New Location

I recently had dinner with a couple of photographer friends.  We had great food and conversations . . . not all photography related.  Afterwards, one of my friends suggested a ride to Jones Island as we had been talking about the location during the evening.  It's a commercial port, coast guard station, train depot, etc. all under the Hone Bridge.

Needless to say, there seemed to be a multitude of settings that caught my eye.  It was night so it was dark but this area had a lot of interest.  I need to study the location more and understand it's history and current use.  There are public roads through this section but I have heard that the authorities patrol and try to prevent photographers from taking pictures.  This involves a whole separate discussion on photographer rights, especially when on public roads.

I caught this image as we slowly drove through the area.  While technically not the best (it is handheld at a slow shutter speed), it reminds me of a scene from a movie or TV show.  The reflective light of the car in the foreground puddle shows promise.  

Just a short drive from home, I need to explore this area further.

Manufacturing

Today, I was able to photograph our manufacturing plant in Racine, WI.  Partly, it's to create some images for the conference room there.  I'm also heading up original photography for our annual sustainability report.  The real fun is looking at all the patterns from pipes, assembly lines, conveyors and so on.  Additionally, there's all that steel.  It seems it's just made for black and white.  There's something beautiful about it all.

Making Lemonade from a Lemon

I had hopes for this morning's sunrise on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee but it was not to be. The clouds layer was too thick for the sun to poke through on the horizon. So, I was left to consider taking some images of the ice build up on the lake shore but I just wasn't seeing anything interesting.

The tree in this photo is at the end of the parking lot. There seemed to be enough color to make the shot somewhat interesting. I've taken this shot before and I do like the tree. Keeping the foreground dark, I was able to capture enough color and the contrast of this tree against it makes a nice silhouette.

East Side Church of Christ

I find myself at the beginning of a new project. As such, I'm excited and anxious to explore and take plenty of images. Sometimes, it gets the best of me and I wake up early and head out before the sun rises and before there are signs of life. But it's a good time to absorb, reflect and seek out places to spend more time. But the low lighting also brings opportunity. I really like the lighting on this image of the East Side Church of Christ.

Lensbaby

I was looking to try something a bit different. Than I remembered I had the original lens baby. It was a fun little toy but somewhat cumbersome to use. I recently picked up the Lensbaby Composer. It's a 50mm lens where the front element is on a ball and socket so you can rotate or bend the lens in any direction. This allows you to selectively focus anywhere in the frame while the you blur out the rest. Aperture rings allow you to vary the depth of field. The Composer is so much easier to use. I've been walking around town with only the lensbaby on my camera. This image had an aperture of f/4. It gives images a interesting mysterious look. Something that was merely ordinary now becomes something of intrigue.

All American

All American, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

I'm currently exploring ideas for a new project. North Avenue in Milwaukee is an interesting place. It's not thought of as the best part of town but there exists a vibrant community. Lot's of small shops. Sure, the area has its problems but many appear to be friendly and some eager to model. I may study this area a bit more. There's a number of places on my agenda.

Icy North Point Sunrise

Icy North Point Sunrise, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

Sometimes, you gotta go with your hunches and act quickly. I went down to the lakefront on Saturday. It was cold, windy and cloudy. I stayed hoping for a glimpse of the sun but it was not to be. I did get some images that look decent in black and white.

I woke this morning and really didn't plan to go out shooting. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the sky was getting lighter . . . there was blue sky and clouds. I quickly grabbed my gear and went to the lakefront and was greeted by a wonderful sunrise. The light on the iceflows along the lake was warming, even for winter. The contrast of the ice with it's blue tint and the orange glow of first light made it a colorful morning.

Chicago Pier

Chicago Pier, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

I decided to take a more serious look at Capture One version 4.6 and it's raw conversion. My focus is on the quality of the conversion as I can always use other software like Lightroom and Photoshop to fine tune things.

This image was not the sharpest image to begin with but I do believe that Capture One did a nice job of processing the image. I used a high contrast B&W preset that the software came with. It works well for this image since it was low in contrast owing to the overcast/dusk lighting at the time. I am liking what this software can do. Still more checking and evaluation to do.

CaptureOne, DxO Optics and Lightroom

I've been doing a bit of playing with CaptureOne and DxO Optics RAW converters.  To date, I really like the resulting photos from Capture One.  I believe (from my very non-scientific approach) that CaptureOne's raw processing is superior to Adobe and it's the fastest of the three.  I've been focusing my research solely on basic white point, color, contrast correction and less on other aspects like sharpening and noise reduction.  While I like the results, here's my dilemma. 

I really like Lightroom, especially since version 2 came out.  The toolset is awesome as is the asset management.  I find myself using photoshop only for noise reduction and specific touch ups and perspective corrections. 

OK, now for the dilemma.  My workflow in Lightroom keeps my most of my images in RAW.  I can upload to flickr, my blog, my website, etc. directly from RAW or create an appropriately web-sized jpg as needed.  I can even print from raw.  I'll create jpgs if I used a print house but only convert the few images I plan to print.  This has cut down significantly on my files and disk space since I have far fewer jpgs or tiffs than when I converted everything from RAW to JPG!

So, now that I see what CaptureOne (and even DxO Optics) can do, I'm frustrated that I can't seem to export the RAW files with my develop settings from CaptureOne (or DxO) to Lightroom and retain those develop settings.  CaptureOne and DxO does allow a DNG export but I lose the edits.  At least till now, I haven't found a way to retain the settings as I output to DNG.  This would require Lightroom to manage JPGs instead of raw, or manage both and increase my disk space requirements (5D II raw files are ~25MB!).

CaptureOne:

I believe it's RAW converter is superior to Adobe as well.  What it has going for it is superiorI really like the raw converter.  I also find that choosing the auto white point and auto everything [command F] gives really awesome results as compared to the auto stuff in DxO, Lightroom and PS.  Using these auto functions on a whole shoot is a real time saver and it's the fastest to complete processing the images.

I'm still learning the software but I bet some presets can be built to do specific things but right now I'm concentrating on the best quality raw converter.  Importing from a card or camera is dead simple and automatic.  The file management in CaptureOne is also very intuitive including the directory structure for importing, sorting and processing files.  Manipulating images has all the usual tools for fine tuning including sharpening, noise reduction, curves, shadow/highlight and more.

DxO Optics Pro

 DxO Optics is also a product of interest.  

What I really like about DxO is the quality of its RAW noise reduction and is also calibrated to take into consideration specific camera and lens combinations.  It will also compensate for wide angle shots where perspectives get thrown out, stretched, etc., great for architectural shots.  While it can do all this automatically, it also has the ability to fine tune a large number of attributes as in CaptureOne and Adobe products.  However, it's processing speed is considerably slower than either CaptureOne or Lightroom.

DxO has made attempts to be better integrated into Lightroom and offers three different ways to manage your images based on using Lightroom as the asset management tool.  However, I believe in all cases this still requires doubling up on your images and managing both RAW and JPG files which I am trying to minimize.  DxO offers a small guide to the three ways of setting up relationships with Lightroom depending on how you want to use each tool.  

Summary to Date

I haven't made any final decisions to purchase either PhaseOne CaptureOne or DxO Optics Pro yet.  I'm going to continue looking at both.  Ultimately, I need to decide whether the gains of either are worth the cost versus Lightroom which I already own.  Even more, is whether the incremental improvement is worth the increase in storage needs and managing a library of RAW and JPG images.

Update (1/25/09):  Here's another blog that gives a more detailed comparison but it reviews Lightroom version 1.3 in the mix.  CaptureOne is now up to version 4.6 and DxO version 5.3.  It still provides some good detail:

http://blog.richnetapps.com/index.php/raw_lightroom_dxo_capture_one

 

The Monocolor of Money

Milwaukee 011709 41, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

I recently moved from the burbs to downtown Milwaukee. I love it. I can actually walk from place to place. But even better, I can walk to places filled with photographic adventures. This bar, the famous Wolski's is a short distance from my new home. A perfect setting to immerse myself in black and white imagery. The whole area is filled with these opportunities. This will be fun.

Bradford Beach Iceberg

Bradford Beach and Iceberg, originally uploaded by RJIPhotography.

I recently attended the New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunge on Bradford Beach in Milwaukee. Plenty of crazy people, that's for sure. Out in the water were a few of these icebergs that aren't floating but anchored to the lake bottom. So, few days later, I returned at sunrise and was greeted by this awesome sunrise over Lake Michigan.