37 Statues

One of my favorite photographic blogs is Light Stalking. The blog focuses on the intricacies of lighting your subject well.  In this article, using natural light to photograph statues is discussed. I  posted this because the statues themselves are beautiful.

37 Statues

Hurricane Story

Having just gone through hurricane Irene (and very worried that we'd just dropped off our daughter for college on Staten Island), I think it might be good to remember another killer storm, Katrina. Since I've been blogging about photography I continue this theme with a look at a book by Jennifer Shaw. This 46 page book of photos tells the story of how she and her husband fled New Orleans the day before the hurricane hit and their son's birth in Alabama. It is done with toys and shot with a Holga 120 toy camera.

Here's link to her site, Hurricane Story.

Sherry Ott

One of my favorite new travel photographers is Sherry Ott. A few years back she got tired of being a corporate cubicle dweller and lit out for the open road. She now seems to be based out of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and she's taken some of the most wonderful travel photos I've seen.

At present, she's just gotten home after a road trip;  London to Mongolia, 9000 miles, 13 countries, 2 continents in 5 weeks in a little Nissan Almera. And you think you go on vacations.

Here is a link to her website. Enjoy the photos.

Moving Our Daughter Into College In NYC

If you have children, you hopefully get to see them grow up and go to college. Our youngest, Katharine, has begun that journey at Wagner College on Staten Island. Here is a little photo-essay that chronicles the journey from Virginia to her dorm room.

Here is just one of the many piles of "absolutely necessary" items about to be packed in our two vehicles to make the 240 mile trip.

The packing has begun...

...and continues. Soon both cars will be stuffed full.

Our arrival at the hotel in Staten Island.

And the great blessing of New York style pizza.

The morning of the "move-in." We're about to leave the hotel and drive to her dorm.

The line ahead....

...and behind.

Her dorm....

...and the unbelievable view from her dorm room. You really have to click on this one to appreciate it. She can even see the Statue of Liberty from here. How many of us can say that?

Stuff everywhere...

...and more stuff over there.

On the way to lunch.

You mean I have to WALK everywhere I go?!?

Mom, can you move up here and cook for me?

                    Finally done!  Look out, New York!

Postscript: Hurricane Irene is pounding the college as a I write this, but Katharine and her friend Angie have evacuated to New Jersey and are safe at Angie's house. What an exciting start to the school year!

The Whole Earth as of Yesterday

Since I've been blogging about photography and the blog was initially inspired by The Whole Earth Catalog, I think a good thing to post today would be an up-to-date photo of the whole earth taken by NASA using the NOAA GOES-13 satellite. It was taken yesterday just before 11am Eastern time. Hurricane Irene can be seen toward the top center just east of Florida.

Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Galen Rowell

I love mountain landscape photography and one of my favorite's is still the late Galen Rowell. Rowell sold his automobile repair business in 1972 and took the money to jump-start his adventures in mountain exploration and photography. He traveled all over Asia, but was especially drawn to Nepal and Tibet. His beautiful shots of mountains and monasteries always fascinated me, but I was especially taken by his photos of the people of the area. His many pictures of Buddhist ordained made me want to travel there. It still does.

He was also a highly regarded writer on subjects ranging from photography, humanitarian and environmental issues, human visual cognition, and mountaineering, publishing numerous magazine articles and eighteen books in his lifetime.

Rowell, his wife Barbara Cushman Rowell, pilot Tom Reid, and Reid's friend Carol McAffee were all killed in a plane crash near the Inyo County Airport in Bishop, California, on August 11, 2002.

Here's a link to his website where you can purchase prints of his work. By the way, the rainbow is real.

Weegee

Arthur Fellig was known for his stark black and white photos of life on the Lower East side of New York City. His work was an unflinching view of urban life that showed the joys and sorrows of the city he emigrated to as a child and loved. He earned his nickname, a phonetic rendering of the word "ouija" because of his frequent, seemingly prescient arrivals at scenes only minutes after crimes, fires or other emergencies were reported to authorities.

I particularly enjoy his shots of the lives of children in The Big Apple.

Weegee's World

Ansel Adams

Of all the great landscape photographers, Ansel Adams stands apart. He was best known for his black and white photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park. So much has been written and said about this great photographer that I'll simply refer the reader to his Wikipedia page for further info.

Here's a link to his website where you can see many more examples of his stunning work.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the great Magnum photographers and along with Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos in the spring of 1947. He was born in France, the eldest child of a wealthy textile manufacturer. He studied oil painting as child, but was later drawn to photography, studying it with his uncle. As an adult he once explained, "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant." A full biography is available on his Wikipedia page.

Here is a link to his website's gallery page.

More Great Photos

I'll be blogging about photography and photographers a bit. Here's a site that features some of the best photographic images in existence - MAGNUM PHOTOS. They represent some of the worlds great artists in the field including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Fusco, Steve McCurry, Abbas and Martine Franck. The images that they (it's a  co-operative owned by its photographer-members) represent "chronicle the world and interpret its people, events, issues and personalities."

I think the photos speak for themselves.