Cold in the Summer

Hello all! Since it’s the hottest month here in sunny South Carolina, I decided to cool it down a bit by sharing some “cold” feeling photographs.

This is an abandoned van I found behind an old packing plant on Walter Rawl Road in Lexington, SC. The company used the van to transport the workers to and from the fields to harvest crops.

(February 2008, Canon EOS 40D f/4.5 1/40 sec. ISO 640 53mm focal length)

When I lived in Maine, one of my favorite places to take pictures was in the abandoned Bangor Water works. It once supplied the city with drinking water and generated electricity with one of the most powerful pumps in New England. For many years the building remained off-limits and just stood on the west bank of the Penobscot decaying. In 2006, the building was reconstructed and turned into a 35-unit affordable housing complex.

(September 2003, Mamiya 645AFD Medium format Black & White film All available light)

At the time, in early February 2004, Leah was just a model for my college portfolio. Four years later, she is one of the best friends I have. In the early fall in 2003 I was shopping in Northampton, Massachusetts when I saw this beautiful Italian girl, that I knew I had to photograph. She introduced herself as Hannah, little did I know at the time I had stumbled upon a student photographer’s dream, SHE WAS A TWIN! I continued to photograph these gorgeous girls over the school year and we became really good friends. After I graduated college I decided to stay in the area and we became housemates!

(February 2004, Mamiya 645 AFD with Leaf digital back  Studio lighting, some Photoshop effects)

At least I have a beautiful picture to go with the ugly bruise that STILL remains on my right shin as a result of taking this picture. I was photographing an event on the Charleston SC Airforce base at dusk when I saw this picture-perfect moment by our company van outside. When I was “skateboarding” the tripod on wheels back inside, it got caught on the carpet somehow and halted to a stop and slammed into my shin. Somehow, four months later, I still have a visible bruise but at least I have a nice 20x30 print to remind me of my favorite things about South Carolina hanging on my wall. …Bruises. No, really, Palm Trees. :0)

(April 2008, Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II f/4.5 1/8 sec. on a tripod ISO 640 38 mm focal length)

I firmly believe self portraits are vital to improving your photography skills. It puts you in the spotlight, where you always ask your clients/models to be. The best way to learn how to pose someone in a photo, is to do it yourself. It challenges your skills without having the pressure of other people there to distract you or contradict your abilities. Having to set up your tripod & camera, obtain correct exposure, lighting, & composition, AND pose YOURSELF with the right expression too, in time before the self-timer goes off, now that takes some skill! If you can successfully pull off a photo shoot of yourself, then your chances with photographing another individual are greater!

This picture was taken at the tree farm across the road from my parents’ old house in Kenduskeag, Maine. Here lies a dyeing bird in my hands. It was about 45 degrees outside and the bird was half frozen; so was I. The dress I am wearing is my mom’s wedding dress. Yes, I did ask her permission! I’ve used it for several other photo shoots over the years. Actually, I think this dress may appear in more photographs after my parent’s wedding 27 years ago!

(November 2003  Mamiya 645 AFD color slide film, Photoshop curves) 

 Inspired by Polaroid Transfers, I took this image of a sunset behind a telephone pole and used the smudge tool in Photoshop to create the effect. It was pretty cold on this evening, and when I look at this picture I remember thinking I had a long walk back to my car in the dark. My fingers were ice cold, but at least I had some great pictures!