Lake in the Hills, Illinois
I’m printing. I’m matting. I’m framing
I am getting ready.
For what?
To share six of my urban photography images at 4th Friday’s April 24th. They will be on sale in Nancy Merkling’s studio at the Starline Factory and Studios in Harvard. This event is great, make sure you stop by Nancy’s Studio and take a look and take a fine art photo home.
Make sure you introduce yourself when you come by. Oh and wish me a happy birthday. I’ve passed another year on earth April 22nd. read more
Welcome to the new and improved Behind the Shot blog! This is an exciting time. I’ve migrated all of my blog posts to the new website and added some wonderful features. As time allows I also plan to add content. I hope you enjoy the new look!
On to the post.
The New
Besides the new website, I have published a new image (shown above). I am always trying to learn new techniques for taking better photographs, and in this case improving how I process the image. I hope you like the look, I am really pleased with how it came out. read more
Every photographer runs into difficulty when they travel. The trip will never go exactly as envisioned, but if you are prepared then you can make the best of any situation. For example the image above. Last spring while visiting Spain, my family planned to visit the Alhambra palace. I had visions of getting their early in the day and staying late to photograph all day into dusk at the palace and fortress. Well, that is not what happened. The union workers of Spain decided to hold a general strike the day we planned to visit. Every for of travel, restaurants and stores we shut down. Luckily by early afternoon, most of the protests had calmed down (yes I photographed the protests) and the Alcazaba in Malaga was open. The fortress is beautifully preserved, and I’m glad that I was able to explore it. At first disappointed, I was able to capture a lot of photos that I really love. The “Malaga” photo shown above is one of my favorites, Catholics and Moors, Man and Women, Old and New, Light and Dark are all included in this photo. read more
How can I capture the emotion I felt while touring Seville Cathedral with a photograph? That was the thinking behind this photo. The cathedral itself is extremely impressive, both in size and significance. I wanted to capture both the size and the religious significance, a daunting task but I feel that this photo taken hand held from behind Christopher Columbus’ tomb recognizes both. The silhouette is one of four stone pallbearers holding up the tomb.
I have to say that the Seville Cathedral, from a photographer’s point of view, is overwhelming. There are interesting photos everywhere you look. read more
Behind the Shot will be the place where I share the story behind the capture of the photo. Don’t expect a lot of technical details, there are plenty of blogs where you can find that info. I wanted to share a little of the thoughts and emotions that make capturing photos special to me.
The first photo is one of my favorites from a trip to Spain this past spring. Every Sunday in Madrid there is a huge outdoor market. It seems that all of Madrid hits the streets for El Rastro after attending church in the morning. Walking around with my family and daughter I hear the sound of a Spanish guitar being played by a street performer. As my wife and daughters move on to look at one of the many booths, I find myself drawn to the guitar player. As I walk closer I see this gentleman, who is playing beautiful classical guitar music. I am on his left side and his body is facing away, I pull the camera to my eye and focus on capturing the expression on his face. As I go to snap the photo he turns and opens his body towards the camera. I snap the photo above. Only after I bring the camera down do I notice that his right hand is actually a hook! In amazement I hung around for a few more moments listening to El Gancho play. read more
