It’s all in the angle
I am mainly “known” by my landscape and nature photos because I rarely take “people” photos. Butterflies, bugs, animals, trees, flowers….those photos are common for me, but another “love” of mine is buildings with unusual angles, especially “high-rise” buildings. I am not a big city kind of guy, so I try to stay out of big cities, but now that I am living in Dallas, tall buildings are all around me.
I recently was in a building that was very interesting. Twelve stories high, the top of the building was graced with an oblong skylight stretching from one side of the building to another, and the entire building was open from the atrium to the skylight, leaving the offices to reside on the four sides of the building. In the atrium, nestled against the elevator shaft, is a two-tiered water fountain and small pool. The interior had some incredible angles. I just had to take some photos, so the next time I was in the building, I brought my camera along.
As a photographer, I know that security is tight now around a lot of professional buildings, but I was given assurance there wouldn’t be a problem taking photos. Ehhh…that didn’t turn out to be the case, as security informed me after I had taken around 80 photos. Even though I asked, the security guard allowed me to keep the photos I had taken and not erase them in front of him, which I was willing to do. Unfortunately, I did not get all of the angles I had wanted to take, but I got enough to satisfy me.
So, just a cautionary warning. always make sure the places you wanted to photograph are “safe” or you at least have permission from security to take non-descript photos of buildings.
Reflective angles
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Cold Front
It was a dark and windy night, the wind whistling through the trees, stripping them of the few leaves left clinging after the summer drought; a haunting and eerie night with temperatures falling from an Indian Summer 78 to a dead of night 35. The moon, in its waxing glory, dances quietly behind swiftly fleeing clouds. Autumn has descended with great fanfare, late though it has been, but welcome nonetheless.
[Written November 2nd]
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The Pumpkin Patch
I love Autumn because the colors are so vibrant from ground to sky. Autumn, the time of harvest and of thanksgiving. Cooler crisp weather settles in, campfires smell better, and time to rake leaves and jump in the middle. It’s also time for pumpkins, squash, haystacks and bales and corn stalks, witches, ghosts and magic. I love Hallowe’en; it’s probably my favorite “holiday” of the year, just because it’s so fun – adults and kids alike can put on costumes and be anyone we’d like, our fantasy persona exposed for one day of the year. But, seeing a pumpkin patch filled with pumpkins and squash, I don’t know, it’s just seeing the vividness of orange sitting in a brown field, or sent to a “pumpkin patch” where they are scattered hither and yon on a green field of grass. To me there is something really exciting about that. Large, medium and small pumpkins, the smell of a real wood fire mixed with the cinnamon-y taste and smell of hot apple cider, added to a cool, clear, crisp day filled with the sounds of children’s laughter. Okay, call me a romanticist. It doesn’t bother me. It’s what I grew up with, what I remember, and what I try to re-discover each year.
A shoe view of some of the pumpkins. (Left)
I don’t know who this dad and daughter are, but they were just too darned cute! (Right)
Posted in Seasons by Jason with no comments yet.
I love you THIS much!
I love stingrays! Especially their underside. To me they look like happy angels.
The State Fair of Texas at Fair Park has a revamped children’s aquarium that has a “hands on” exhibit with horseshoe crab, rock lobsters and other non-venomous water creatures that can be touched. Then, in an outside, but covered area are the sharks and stingrays, the latter which can be hand fed and touched. After the tragedy that involved Steve Irwin several years ago, I have been a bit leery about touching a stingray, but these were harmless because they did not have their stingers. Little characters, they would jockey for the right to get touched and to take shrimp out of your hand. Pushing and shoving, along with squabbling, the largest wasn’t always the winner in the “battle”, but the “conflict reminded me a lot of a rugby scrum in chaos.
And then there was the “ham”. The one stingray that had to show off at the window. One of the larger stingrays in the tank, “he” wanted to be noticed [I don’t know if it was a he or she, but for ease of speech I am using the male pronoun] and made no bones about it, bobbing up and down and back and forth, swimming in a circle around the tank, and then coming back to bob up and down at the window again. It was like he was begging to have his photo taken. So, I did. And I got him in a position that said to me, “I am happy to see you, and I love you THIS much.”. It was a great experience, and left me feeling upbeat.
I love you THIS much!
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Magnablend Chemical Plant Fire
On Monday, October 3rd, 2011, a chemical plant in Waxahachie, Texas, caught fire setting off numerous explosions. The dark plume from this fire could be seen 30 miles away in Dallas. From a second story bedroom we could see the plume, which at the time – right after the explosion -looked like a tornado, except that the only cloud in the sky at the time was that from the plume. We live not quite 20 miles away.
Magnablend Chemical, First Look
Grabbing up my camera we took off to take photos and see the fire. For quite a while it continued to look like a tornado, but the closer we got to Waxahachie where the plant was located, the more the plume began to widen. Toxic fumes could be smelled from about 10 miles away.
Of course, there were lots of observers and television and radio stations broadcasting live, but this was an opportunity I hadn’t had before. The last chemical fire I had seen was from a barge that had exploded in the middle of the Mississippi River when I was a kid. Exciting back then, but what I remember most about that is that my father had his heart attack about that time.
Eighty five people worked in this plant and numerous emergency personnel responded to the fire. Amazingly, the only casualty of the fire, besides the plant itself, was a $1.5 million firetruck when it was consumed by chemicals and caught fire.
I don’t have lenses long enough to take super closeup photos, so this was pretty much as close as I was able to get with what I have. Given how strong the chemical smell, I am happy with the photos I got. Certainly not journalistic worthy, but I am satisfied with the photos I got. It was a great experience and I’m glad I was granted an opportunity to take some photos.
An opportunity, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, shouldn’t be missed if possible. You never know what you can learn or where it can lead you.
Posted in In the News by Jason with no comments yet.
Is It Art, or Is It Pornography?*
art: (noun)
· the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
pornography: (noun)
· obscene writings, drawings, photographs, or the like, especially those having little or no artistic merit.
obscene: (adjective)
· offensive to morality or decency; indecent; depraved: obscene language.
· causing uncontrolled sexual desire.
· abominable; disgusting; repulsive
I find it rather interesting that here in the United States of America for our First Amendment Constitutional rights to freedom of speech pornography is still undefined and has been debated for years, so for the most part we try to categorize pornography into decency or indecency; for the biggest part whether something is seen as pornographic or not is determined by an individual[s] upbringing and religious views, which can be conflicting within an individual. For example, Michelangelo’s David presents us with full frontal male nudity, yet a photo of a woman posing nude with full frontal nudity is more than likely to be considered pornographic, risqué, or possibly sexually erotic. Early Victorian nude photographs [almost always of women] from Europe, most notably France, tend to be classified as erotic for the times, especially if there is a clothed male involved, or two nude women, but not pornographic. Today, we see these classic images are more in line with art than pornography, but in the time between 1890 and 1930 these were considered racy and not to be viewed in mixed company, although people of class may have regarded these in “good taste”. In museums of art we see Renaissance nudes, again, mostly full bodied voluptuous women, and even when viewing the Sistine Chapel with Biblical images depicted in the nude, we see nothing pornographic or erotic in nature as there is nothing implicitly suggestive in the painting. Obviously there is a difference between art [paintings, drawings, sculpture] or photography that is made to elicit a sexual response and gratification, but these usually depict sexual acts, legal or illegal.
So, where is the line drawn? Is it drawn in the eye of the beholder or is it drawn in the subject and object of intent by the creator? Does a photo of a person nude stop being art when a second person is involved? Or does it become pornographic when eroticism is implied? Would a photograph of two individuals in a loving embrace be considered pornographic/risqué/erotic if they were naked, or would it be considered art if the same two people were casually dressed in the same embrace?
We all see art from different points of view based on our upbringing, knowledge and understanding, and religious teachings. Consequently, our definition of art vs. pornography will be a personal one. As individuals, we are the ones to decide what we find in artistic taste as opposed to what we consider pornographic. And as artists, whether as a painter/drawer, sculptor, photographer, or other media artist, our decision on style is based on the emotion we intend to convey to the viewer, but is not always based on how the viewer may ultimately interpret what we present.
*The views expressed above are solely mine and meant only as consideration for thought. I declare no right or wrong in the above discussion; this is left to the reader to decide for themselves. This discussion is based on the classic artistic mediums, and not on the written, auditory, or video-graphical mediums.
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Into the desert – Summer 2011
It’s hot. Actually, it’s scorching hot. Thirty days in a row of temps 100 degrees or more and it is just July 31st. Six more weeks of Summer and this coming week our temps are heading toward the 110 degree mark. To add to the misery, we’ve had no appreciable rain since May.
Texas is in an extreme drought situation. Our ground is so parched it is visibly cracked. Fires have been rampant across the state, burning thousands of acres of grasslands and forests as well as homes. Cattle are dying for lack of feed and water and many of the rest have had to be sold. Rivers, lakes, and ponds are drying up and the States’ water table is declining. I heard on the news a few days ago that the way the drought is going Texas could soon become the world’s 7th largest desert. That is quite easy to believe.
I don’t “do” heat well. For me, that means that taking photos right now has been very hard. Other photographers may do okay with heat, but I just can’t spend much time outside, especially in th esun, attempting to get decent photos of, well, anything really. Even standing in the shade to take photos is not comfortable. The best I have been able to do this summer is take lots of photos of the dogs and sunflowers. The dogs, who usually enjoy spending time outdoors, now just want to go out, do their business, and come back in. I don’t blame them.
And so, until this heat pattern breaks I am bound to be frustrated without my one creative outlet. Pray for rain, pray for cooler temperatures.
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Dear God
Dear God,
I just want to tell you how much I love you and that you are a very important part of my life. Although I have little you have richly blessed me with much. You are awesome. I couldn’t go to bed tonight before I said “Thank You”.
Your devoted son,
James
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