dailyphotogame.daily photo game

The last few weeks have been politically unparalleled. From the attempted assassination of Trump, to President Biden stepping down, America is in relatively uncharted waters. Those of you familiar with the song ‘America the Beautiful’ will know where the inspiration for my image today and it’s title come from. The actual afternoon I made this photograph, the sky was rather void of color. As I processed and prepared this image to share, I was inspired to add various hues of blue…inspired by another song titled, ‘Blue Skies. May the remainder of this political cycle and the years ahead be filled with truth, freedom, prosperity, depth and stability.

As I sat on the deck, sipping my Tequila Reposado, I placed the shot glass on the table and in ‘repose’ (I couldn’t resist) I assessed the world in front of me. I confess that I’m always looking for a ‘shot’, the kind that involves a lens you see. OK, I’m on a roll here, bear with me. I confess that if I were creating this photo for a beverage, or even a glassware client, I would have had ‘help’. The food stylist would likely have eliminated the ‘tequila drops’ on the interior of the glass. Me? I was too preoccupied with ‘reposing’ to bother. After all,I was off the clock. The color in the naturally occurring shadows (and in the bottom of the glass) was enhanced a tad, but in fact I used the inherent differences already present between open shade and direct sunlight for my inspiration. And the Tequila of course. ‘Another Shot of Courage”. Salud!  

If you have followed my work (and thanks so much if so), you know that I have a fascination with abstract and repetitive patterns. I came aross this battered and very old tree on a recent hike. The early morning light rendered the most minute details and differences in tonality and texture. I felt like the tree was waiting there, just for me to stroll by and photograph its exquisite patina. After I made the image, I noticed a nearby bench and sat down. Now, some may think this odd, but I felt like I had a ‘conversation’ with my subject, wherein I accepted gratitude, for my effort to preserve what dignity and ‘life’ there was remaining in this very ancient growth. Trees are cool.

When I was thinking about my post today, I recalled the image with ‘spirals’ and retrieved it from my archive. About 4 months later, I had captured another abstract pattern consisting of soft focus lights, bokeh and all. As I looked at the two individually, I had the thought, “Why not composite them?”. Indeed, that’s just what I did. I’ve had a long career creating very slick photography with a ‘commercial purpose’. These days I make sure to spend time pondering how I can ‘de-objectify’ the medium. What you see here is one product of that pondering.

My partner and I live on a 5 acre plot of land in the Mojave Desert. Currently, it is neatly fenced with barbed wire. This was not always the case however. This land was homesteaded in the early 1950’s. Prior to that time, there may have been any number of random buildings on the property. I recently found this piece of wood on an early morning walk. I was struck by the remnants of paint, and what seem to be man-made holes, indicating that it was part of some sort of structure in the past. As the wind moves the desert sand around, we often find random screws and nails. This all indicates that there was something and someone here long before we arrived. The desert keeps it’s secrets well.

Some people use the term ‘Photo Walk’, and I get it. On occasion, I’ve taken one myself. What happens much more often however, is that in my daily life, I ‘discover things’ (Thank you Apple for creating such a great photographic tool) and I photograph them. Such was the case with the image you see here. I’m not totally sure why this particular object was where it was, not even totally sure what it is. Perhaps a ‘box spring’ that once lived in an old-school mattress. Regardless, as anyone who follows my work regularly knows, I’m a huge fan of repetitive patterns and shape. The more odd and mysterious the better. I fooled around in PS for a few minutes to abstract the contents, and when even I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, I stopped, satisfied that I had rendered it’s visual identity mute.

I’ve been watching this water fountain for weeks….always noticing how different the water and bubbles react to sunlight coming from different directions throughout the day. This morning, I took a closer look. When I did, especially from straight overhead, the reflections and refractions were irresistible. After shooting quite a few frames, I sat down to examine what I had captured. Surprise! In almost every bubble, I could discern my figure, even the camera in my hand. The other discovery was just how much blue sky color was ‘available’ in the liquid spheres. A little coaxing in PS brought that out. The green pushing into the  background comes from algae that’s grown on the cement over time. See if you can find me in the bubbles!

Early morning cross-light maximizes details and textures. As I stepped out of my car to grab a coffee at my favorite local spot, I looked down, as I stepped into a perfectly wonderful set of patterns much like this one. The thing is, the one that caught my eye (a little too late), now had a nice big footprint in it! I wandered around looking for an alternative. There were plenty of tire tracks in the parking area, but none as nice as that gorgeous one with a FOOTPRINT. I kept looking and found what you see here. But there was a difference: the tracks I had ‘disturbed’ were linear. Straight, parallel lines. This one however had a quality of time passing, conveyed by the intersection of two tire prints. I grabbed my camera quickly and grabbed the shot just before a pickup truck pulled in and drove right over it. There’s a moral to this story…I know there is. Feel free to comment and share what you think that might be.

When I see this species of cactus from a distance, they look very different. I chose this overhead, straight down point of view today to isolate the essence of the plant. Crosslight definitely played a role in defining the details.

Not far from where I live there are wind turbine ‘farms’. Not just a few. In fact, the numerous turbines in the Palm Springs area represent one of the country’s largest installations. However, there are controversies that surround these gigantic devices. Ranging from the lubricant involved to operate each machine, the number of birds who perish each year from the rotating blades, and the issue of recycling the ‘parts’, there are many conflicting ‘facts’. I am by no means an expert on all this. That being said, after I photographed the image you see here, and dove into post-production, I made a conscious choice to give the scene an eerie and somewhat futuristic feel. The implication is that there’s quite a lot to the story that may not be all rosy.