All posts filed under: Photography

Into the Mystic

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I stumbled upon this picture last night. Well, stumble isn’t the right word. Maybe, this picture punched me in the face would be better. Because. Remember this? Well, the first picture is what happens when the flower finally fills out to its fullest form. And, you work around dusk where you cannot help but get golden backlight on the subject. You saw the second picture a few says ago. It was just starting to bloom. it looked gentle and delicate. That was a week ago. What a difference seven days makes. Nature works its wonders and I saw a flower that was almost unrecognizable. For sure, I changed the angle. The light drove the angle selection. I’d ask you which version you like best. But, they are really two different pictures. Almost like they were made of two different flowers. Which you like better really depends on your mood. For me, I had to sort of search out the bottom picture. The beauty is there. It’s just very subtle. Meanwhile the top picture reached out …

Summer Glow

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Summer pictures. In many ways it’s the worst season in which to make pictures. The sun is always too high, even when it isn’t. The light color is too white. And, the shadows are too short. In the digital world, internet photographers speak out of both sides of their mouths. First, they make a big deal of not doing most post production, or even using filters. Then, they say that it doesn’t matter what time of day it is. You should be able to deal with it. Yeah. Sure. Using reflectors, scrims and fill flash means that you can make a portrait during high noon. But, why would you? Even with all the old school technology that I just mentioned, the light is bright white. There are no shadows to speak of it, and it takes a lot of work in post production. See what I’m saying? Too much work for a not great picture. And, they are breaking their first rule… not a lot of post production. Instead, either get up early and work …

Summer One

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I’m trying to make ten great summertime pictures. This could be one of those pictures. It speaks to me about the hot sun, the wild plants growing along fences, buildings and up and over anything that has been abandoned. We don’t really have Kudzu down here in the swamp. But, just about everything grows. For me, all this picture really is, is a good start. It means that I got outside and had a look around. Summer says and means a lot more to me that just wild plants reaching toward the sky. That’s one thing, but it’s easily replaceable by a better picture. The best thing about our summers — and there isn’t much — is that they last so long. Almost six months. That gives me a little time. Or, I can do what i usually do, and waste a lot of it. The picture. It’s a dog walk picture. But, she didn’t see this. It’s a good six feet above her head. I saw it. But, if truth be told I was …

Purple Day

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Sunday. A quiet Sunday. It’s hot here. It’s humid here. Only a few flowers seem happy in these conditions. Since one of the local weather people let it slip and admitted we had started our seemingly never-ending summer’s heat, all I can say as, “Oh goodie.” Five months of intense heat. A lot of rain. And maybe, a hurricane or two. Yes. That season starts in eleven days. I’d better go buy some canned and potted meat. Some bottled water. Some batteries. And, some other stuff. But, I forget what that is. Happy Sunday to you all.

It Rained

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Art. Sort of. Remember those wires that I published a week or so ago? Welp, I found another open AT&T telephony box. So, I did the only thing that I would do. I made more pictures. If I were a bad guy, I could have reached in and yanked out the nest. That would have shut down I don’t know how many homes’ internet and telephone service. But. That’s not me. I just make pictures of stuff. So. I photographed the wires again with the intent of doing something to them in post production. I made them as minimalistic as I could without dropping out shape, texture and form. To me, the picture looks like multi-colored flames. To you? I don’t know. You tell me. Because, Yanni. Laurel. By the way, it’s no big mystery. It’s all about sonic frequencies and the human ear and brain. And, your ability to process sound. Because our big computers have been fine tuned to listen to music (It’s very easy to do), I could flip one switch and …

I Wish It Would Rain

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It’s the little things. That you find. In the dark. Usually fallen leaves stick to a wet car. That usually means rain has fallen. Not this time. We’ve had no rain for weeks. This is rough. On the animals. On the plants and veggies. On me. It’s not that I live for rain. I’m like anyone else. Too much is too much. But, the sky is muddy. It is not the normal blue. The light is overly filtered. The color tends to fade to brownish. And, it gets hard to breath. Not for me. But for some. The heat and dryness are very odd for The Gulf Coast region. What I fear most will probably come to pass. An extra month of heat added to a very hot summer. A few years ago, in July, I was photographing a second line. It did not start on time. Even though I sat in the shade, stayed very hydrated and didn’t move about too much, by the time it started I was starting to wobble. I knew …

Fragility

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I found a flower. A tiny translucent thing. I’ve seen them before. When they are a little older. They are pale yellow. This one is young. You can see through its petals. It is such a gentle thing that I was afraid to get too near. Enjoy it as it is. I’m certain that if someone doesn’t pick it, it won’t look quite like it did when I made the picture. And, that’s one of the best things about photography. We stop time. As it was. For a  millisecond. I’ve been thinking about two other things. I think that I’ve been going too far in post production. Unless I am truly making a piece of art that is beyond the real world as I saw it, I’m stretching things out too much. I’m a photographer. Not a painter. And. Tom Wolfe. Where are the words from all the writers who read Storyteller? I’m guessing that many of you are youngish, you’ve never read him. You should. Most of you fancy yourselves to be rule breakers. …

Another Lock

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I found another one. A lock. That’s two days in a row. This time it was just sitting on a curb. Locked tight. It looked like it had been left there on purpose. It took me a long time to figure out how to even make the picture. When I did, I didn’t like the result. So, I cropped. And, tinkered. And, fiddled. I came to this place. What I really like is the very slim detail towards the top of the lock. That’s it. A lock. A lost lock. Another lost one. I’ve made a little progress on the new LaskowitzPictures online home. I think that I have to change formats. You know that I normally like big pictures. In order to enhance that, there really needs to be some little pictures. Space in between the notes as musicians who know what they are doing would say. I think once I do that I’ll be happier with the project. We’ll see.

Locks and Keys

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All I know is that if you don’t use a thing, it probably won’t do it’s intended task. This open lock is a case in point. It’s intended to keep a little AT&T substation secure. That’s a telephone communications company for those who don’t know. The substation controls about 3,000 buildings. The last field service technician apparently got lazy. It was probably hard to open so he left it on top of the metal box. For next time. Just think about the potential for mischief or worse. If I was about nine years old… Anyway. Today is mostly about housekeeping. If you live in Louisiana you are probably suffering from allergies. See those little gold dots near the top of the open lock? That’s pollen. It’s in the air. That’s tree pollen. We are also suffering from grass pollen. To make matters worse, it’s unseasonably hot. Record-breaking hot. And, we haven’t had rain for weeks. We aren’t expected to have rain in the near future. It is so dry that the dirt is pulling away …

Smallness

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Now that I’ve been seeing things again… I see everything. Little things. Tiny things. Details of huge things. This little weed — at least that’s what’s it’s called by people who manicure their lawns — is smaller than a U.S. dime. That’s our ten-cent piece to those of you who don’t speak in American English. A cent is like… oh, never mind. 🙂 I think of these so-called weeds as just another flower. In nature. Like all flowers, they are built to spread pollen and therefore, themselves. They may hurt the greenness of some people’s lawns, but they don’t hurt me. Or, most other people. This all came to me while I was watching a bit of a CBS new program called 60 Minutes. It was a rather long story that dealt with animal genetics, how to breed better animals, how to have an adoptee raised by other animal parents and whether less genetically endowed animals should be given some kind of birth control. Of, fer gosh sakes. (This is a family blog) Animals have been …