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.