Scattered Thoughts . . .

In today's digital world where almost everyone carries a camera of some sort around with them each and every moment of every day, we sort of take the art of photography for granted. We can even easily forget that photography is an art. Cameras are in virtually all mobile communication and media devices.  Compact cameras are relatively inexpensive and the amount of available models is mind-boggling.  There is a vast array of photography-enthusiast cameras.  There are professional cameras.  There are security cameras.  There are traffic cameras.  There are news cameras.  There are webcams, Skype and Face-Time.  We are immersed in photos all day long...  but, do we truly understand how to effectively use these devices we call cameras? Cameras are tools made to capture an image.  Each camera is different.  Each camera has its weaknesses.  Each camera has its strengths.  The person handling this tool must understand light, ...

Light painting is a unique form of art that most photographers have tried at one time or another and this photographer is no exception. You have flashlights in hand, a camera on a tripod, a remote shutter release, and while you use a long shutter exposure you freely and fluidly draw or light objects with the flashlights.  This type of art can be tedious and sometimes frustrating but it is always fun to see what you have created! In this image, I painted the flag in light using a flashlight while it blew in the breeze... Until now, there have been two forms of light painting.  The first involves using flashlights as a way to paint subjects with light rather than lighting them with very harsh flashguns.  Using this technique, the objects can be anything, including people.  I have seen some beautiful long exposure portraits done with flashlights.  I myself have used this technique more than once to create beautifully lit scenes in photographs.  This...

Downtown Manhattan, One World Trade Center This past weekend was the long Columbus Day weekend so we decided to head toward Long Island to see some family.  It had been a year and a half since we had seen any of my family. That last trip was for the funeral of one of my cousins which happened to be the same day the grandchildren were born.  This particular cousin was also a neighbor and school classmate so I knew I needed to make the trip down to Long Island for his funeral. While I headed toward Long Island for that funeral a year and a half ago, Sheila headed to the hospital to meet Liza for the birth of the grandchildren. Afterward, Sheila and Adam hopped on a train and headed down to New York to meet me. Anyway, we hadn't seen any of the family since that very hectic week a year and a half ago.   The Empire State Building We headed south on Saturday for the long Columbus Day weekend while it seemed the rest of the northeast was heading north to check o...