All posts filed under: Photography

Not Unlike

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After the storm. In the first hours after the rain stopped, the dogs needed to walk. So did I. Then the rain started again. And, stopped. And, started. For almost two days. That was mixed with wind. There is nothing like looking at poodle and cocker spaniel ears floating in the wind. To me freshly washed air is wonderful. It sparkles. Shines. Even if it is a little humid. While we walked, I made pictures. When we got home I processed them, layered them and tinkered with them. All on my phone. I thought that I would do everything on my phone including tag, copyright, watermark and post them. That was not to be. WordPress completely changed the interface on my phone. I have no idea how to use it. I should have known something was up when earlier in the day, I couldn’t switch between comment and like pages. That usually means they are working on something. Quite frankly, I don’t have time for these constant unannounced “improvements.” I went back to posting on …

Junk Magic

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Junk Magic. I borrowed that from a record album title, which in turn was borrowed from a saying about places that are mostly junk and forgotten. But, have a special and maybe magical, feel about them. Like neighborhoods in New Orleans. First, the tropical storm. I have no idea what it’s doing upriver. I started this morning by reading a long piece in the New York Times about a musician called Craig Taborn. From there, I decided to play his music. And, take the dogs of their first long walk in three days. So, I haven’t read the news. And, that feels pretty good. That said, we are very windy, but bright and sunny with some white puffy clouds. It’s windy enough to make the cockers and poodles look like they are flying because their ears were lifted from their heads and fluttering straight out. They kept looking at each other as if to say, “you look silly,” and “it takes one to know one.” I made the base picture on Mardi Gras Day. The …

I Thought…

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Yes. I just thought. I thought, that I’d better post last night and schedule it for today. Because. The storm hasn’t even officially made landfall. But, we’ve had strong winds and rain since about 1 pm yesterday afternoon. It may never really get stronger this far down river. But, you never know. Besides, you know how OCD I get about not missing a day. Last year, I took a few weeks off in July. By the end of that time I was pacing around waiting to get back to it. Anyway. If we have power in the morning (Remember, I wrote and scheduled last night), which I fully expect, I’ll update you on the weather. If not… well, at least you get to see a picture. And, I’ll be back when I can. UPDATE I promised you an update if there was power. There is. It is currently 10:15 am. The rain stopped for about an hour and there was just a slight breeze. Rain began to fall a few minutes ago. According to NOAA, …

Dance, Not Dance

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Super Sunday on the Westbank. No. Not the West Bank in the Middle East. The one in New Orleans. I mention that because I’ve had the question asked of me. You just never know. I made the base picture — a Mardi Gras Indian Wildman — a few years ago, when I had the energy to photograph two second lines and a piece of the Westbank Super Sunday, all in the space of about four hours. Luck was with me. I made no wrong turns. I found a good parking space three times. Normally, I’d make ten wrong turns and have to walk about a mile because parking was tough. The rest of this image was layered from more contemporary work. Once again, I started on my smart phone and finished on my main machine. You’ve all been very kind. You seem to like this new approach. I’m not as confident as you are. I am starting to miss actually documenting things in the manner of a photojournalist. Life on the streets is rough and …

Into the Green

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Another day. Another experiment. I wrote yesterday that I discovered a number of images that would work well with some of the background pictures that I’ve been making. This is one of them. In the picture’s metadata I added Mardi Gras Indian. That’s so people might find the image on a Google search. He is really a member of Skull and Bones. Another culture-based krewe. No worries. I added Skull and Bones too. I’ve been learning a lot about how to make what amounts to a new kind of portraiture for me. A lot of it has to do with colors. Either both pictures — or all three, as in this case — have to have complimentary colors. Or, they have to be totally contrasting. Anything in the middle gets muddy and usually doesn’t work. At least not to my eye. Me? I like this picture. It’s all about nature. Preserving it. Protecting it. Becoming one with it. I guess I see my new portraiture in two ways. The images are portraits. They are also …

If I Knew The Way

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Sometimes when you take all the twists and turns in image making that I have, people don’t quite understand. Some might not like the work. Some may want a little more straight photography, because Storyteller is — after all — a photography blog. First and foremost. I do read what you write. A friend of mine suggested that I shouldn’t. That I should do whatever I want. I should be old enough and mature enough to let everything roll off my back. I do. To a point. You know what Dylan said about that. “You Gotta Serve Somebody.” Besides, my friend is retired. I’m not. Thankfully. I listen and read because, among other things, it helps me find work. Even when I do this weirdness, it catches the eyes of people who can offer me work. They see this work and wonder what else I do. They look around. Pretty soon we are talking. And, working together. That just happened. That answers my questions to working the streets of New Orleans. Even though I won’t …

Until the Colors Flow

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I used to say that when I was working really well that I could hear music in my head. Musicians that I know say that when they are playing really well, they see color and images in their head. I suppose that this image is the combination of both. And, my attempt to get music and vision out of my head and into a format that you could see it. That’s probably what all art is, except I don’t know that for a fact. The picture. Three images; layered, adjusted and enhanced. That part of the process has become fairly simple. It’s the selection and culling process that keeps it very interesting. For me. Hopefully, for you.