The color of individuality

Photography quotes by William Klein

“Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn’t look like somebody else’s work.” ~ William Klein

Gas: Twenty-four cents a gallon

Pocomoke, Maryland Discover Center

For a look back at the good old days, visit the Discover Center in Pocomoke, Maryland. No, you can't buy gas there for the price shown on the pump, but you can remember...

I am not picking on Valero. I just snapped this photo on Monday while shopping in Salisbury, and it was handy.

Now serving...

Fiery drinks

“Drink moderately, for drunkenness neither keeps a secret, nor observes a promise” ~ Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Yes, those are real drinks.

One shot...

Thailand photo

"There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever."   ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Fun with friends...

Famous toasts by Alexander Pope

"Mingle with the friendly bowl,
    The feast of reason and the flow of the soul."  ~ Alexander Pope

The perils of the profession

The perils of the profession

I was recently grumbling about some of the obstacles that news photographers have to overcome on a daily basis, most of them due to human, yet understandable ignorance of the hows and whys of cameras and the way light works (no, we can't shoot through 9 foot floral arrangements placed around podiums, nor do we have time to erase a microphone sticking in someone's eye; we can't magically make someone's face appear from behind a table arrangement, or get the photo you want for your news if you have your tables mashed up against walls, and we hate it when you hold an outdoor event that puts the sun directly to your back - so do the people who have to view the event in the blinding sun). 

If I had a yearning to come out of retirement, I think I could make a fine living teaching businesses,  corporations, and individuals how to get the best bang out of their news photos. 

I have a list of about 100 things that absolutely irritate professional photographers, and not all of them are due to human ignorance, as evidenced by this filtered photo.  Only cable, electrical, and phone-line installers realize how many lines cross the skies. And, of course, photographers. No, I can't teach any one about that, but there are still 99 other things on my list, and well over half are avoidable.

After note: I received a lot of emails telling me how to remove overhead lines. Yep, I know how to do that; I have Adobe Photo CS5 Premium, along with a host of other bells and whistles programs. This photo was more of a lesson. And when working for a newspaper on those tight deadlines, sometimes there was no time to pretty up a photo, especially when shooting from the field. And, in the old days, what you shot on film was what you sent to the editor, unless it was for some sort of illustration, which meant it had to go through various processes out of the photographer's reach. Also, even today, there are newspapers that frown on editing a photo by removing anything from it. Naturally, switching lenses and changing your viewpoint can yield different results, but there have been many times that I had no choice except to shoot those ugly lines-in-the-sky.

A study in black and white

Photos of Crisfield, Maryland

"Our job is to record, each in his own way, this world of light and shadow and time that will never come again exactly as it is today."  ~ Edward Abbey