dailyphotogame2015

Red is always a hard color to photograph, especially with humans wearing it. The color spills over to their skin tone and its hard to remove it without making the subjects look pale or have a green cast, so I often ask my subjects not to wear it. I don’t have so much control when I am doing street photography and I don’t really care as my intention is to shoot high contrast and turn it into a black and white image. Today’s post is an exception. I wanted to post something in the spirit of the season. So color it is, as nothing says holidays like a shot with red santa hats with foggy glass…HO HO HO. This image was shot 3 years ago when I could still get my son to believe in Santa. I schlepped him and a friend into NYC on the snowiest day of the year with the promise that Santa was real and he needed to tell him what he wanted..otherwise he just wouldn’t get anything on Christmas ( which BTW is also his birthday) . It seemed it was also Santa Con all over the city that day and seeing everyone dressed up in Santa costumes just pushed my kid in the direction of giving up the fantasy of “Real Santa” for good. Not sure is if was the goofy multiple Macy’s Santa’s, or the pedestrians all dressed up in various Santa outfits or the lone homeless man with a fake beard, red stocking cap, smoking the cigarette or that he was just that age when you realize it’s all not real,

As a woman who feels my reflection does not accurately mirror my true self, I try to avoid looking. That way I can kid myself to thinking I am still fabulous:) The artist in me is always seeing the reflections in all different surfaces as I am photographing moments that occur on set. It’s always an added bonus when I can catch the reflection of people being contemplative with my lens.  This shoot was a joyful set with tons of colors and two wonderful models laughing and interacting. It was a lifestyle shoot for a major brand. about doing your own laundry when you go away to college or are on your own. This image is truly a captured moment between set ups when the model stopped to check herself out.  As I was editing the images, I realized that making it monochromatic would intensify the emotions and inhibitions of a 20 year old checking herself out. There is a profound meaning in all this babble about a 50 something photographer not wanting to acknowledge her true reflection and a 20 something not understanding her immediate beauty in her reflection but I will let you as the voyeur come to your own conclusion.

I shot this yesterday on my 5-day road trip along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. For years I’ve gone from Austin to my family’s beach house on the east coast of Florida the fastest way possible when driving, which is primarily a day and a half long high speed deadhead primarily on I-10. I have been wanting to take a slow drive hugging the coast on the old roads for quite some time, and this time I did it. Road trips are a big thing for photographers such as myself, especially solo so nobody is bored while I explore and shoot. I had no idea that I was going to visit this fort until it was ahead of me after exiting my 3rd ferry ride on this trip. It was built to guard the mouth of Mobile Bay and predates the Civil War, but it was during that conflict that it saw some real action. It’s suffered from time and neglect, but mostly the pounding of hurricanes has given it its patina. I think this shot fits well compositionally with the last several images in the game.

I woke up this morning before dawn, as I naturally do every day when I’m at the beach. It’s always the same: wake up drowsy, look out at the faintly glowing eastern horizon, and then make the same decision as always; which is to get up, start coffee, and set up my camera to wait for the sunrise. I sit on a stoop outside with the camera on my tripod, sip coffee, and slowly come around, watching the show. Same thing every time, except that this morning is my day to make something for the Daily Photo Game. Based on the game’s progression before my turn, I knew I was going to shoot my hand somehow this morning; and with the strong, direct, early morning sunlight, a shadow of my hand was what I worked with. On the porch was this volley ball, and within seconds this image made itself. The coffee had kicked in.

My first thought looking at Bob’s selfie was a TV screen, horizontal lines and noise. The back of his head with his lines of experience took me back to that old TV show, Outer Limits. “Don’t Adjust Your TV, we are in control”, for now. The round ball with the criss-cross interference upfront reminiscence of shows opener.