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In: Gardening Journey

It hasn’t rained in almost seven weeks.   Despite the lack of rain, many flowers are happily blooming.   I cut back the black and blue saliva, which had become yellowed and ungainly,  to the point where only one-foot stalks remained.   Six weeks later, it’s lush and loaded withContinue Reading

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In: Around the City, For Your Consideration

The shadows made by the late-afternoon sun caught my attention.   I walked around the iron ivy a few times, looking for the best angle to capture the feeling I hoped to convey with the image.   Should only the ivy and the wall show?  Would background beyond the wallContinue Reading

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In: For Your Consideration

Odd collections of stones are scattered about Old Fourth Ward Park.   After passing by them a few times, I decided to photograph three.  However, I could not quite decide on how to do so.  They have no color at all, so color film is pointless.  There are few shadows,Continue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City

June 1st was a beautiful spring day, with low humidity and high, fluffy clouds, accompanied by a gentle breeze.   I loaded two cameras and went for a stroll that eventually took me through Old Fourth Ward Park.   As odd as it may seem, I have only visited the parkContinue Reading

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In: Photography Journey

​After trying macro lenses for the last five years, I decided it was time to try extension tubes.   Typically, one uses extension tubes for higher magnification than is possible with a dedicated macro lens.  However, at present, I’m more interested in experimentation with decreased minimum focus distance for regularContinue Reading

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In: Around the City, Through the Viewfinder

The Art Deco movement had a profound impact on American public art.  From 1934 to 1943, the Federal Art Project (FAP) employed many artists, with over 10,000 participating in the program.  The FAP helped to bring Art Deco sensibilities to public art.   New styles emerged over the years, butContinue Reading

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In: Arts & Letters, For Your Consideration

Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionism and Picasso’s cubism never appealed to me. I suppose they were too austere or seemed lacking in meaning, except that which the viewer supplies.  Piet Mondrian’s works,  on the other hand, while abstract, offered patterns and colors that make sense to my brain—no idea why.  Continue Reading

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In: Photography Journey

Last summer, I shot a roll in my Semi IIIa while strolling through Midtown.  On developing the film, I discovered that the focus was off, and the film advance/double exposure mechanism was faulty.   As a result, every frame was blurry, and there were many double exposures.   After goingContinue Reading

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In: Gardening Journey

For years, I have been battling the elements in two small patches of land between the front sidewalk and the street.    At one point, variegated liriope lived there, but it allowed too many weeds to grow.  Since 2020, various combinations of angelonia, verbena, ice plant, and other plants haveContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City, For Your Consideration

Context means everything.   When I spotted this sign, my first thought was–what happened that made this sign necessary?   The sign sits atop a structure where cars aren’t allowed, so I went quickly from bemused to baffled.  Later, I was told that the sign was left over from theContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City

I’ve passed by the Dekalb History Center many times over the years on the way to the farmer’s market.   However, I thought it was the Dekalb County Courthouse for many of them—after all, it says so right on the building.   The building sits squarely in the center ofContinue Reading

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In: Frame Works?

Description: Gardenia in low sunlight Background: Using exposure compensation was one of the trickiest things for me to apply properly with film because of the lag between shooting and viewing the result.  Accounting for backlighting was easy, and backlit frames usually turned out as hoped. But flowers proved to beContinue Reading

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On:
In: Gardening Journey

Typically, rainy season in Atlanta lasts from September through April.   During those months, it rains at least once per week, and those are good, drenching rains that last for hours.   Many, if not most, of these rains originate in the Gulf and move north and east.  From MayContinue Reading

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In: For Your Consideration, Single Frame

The interplay of light and shadows gives context and meaning to an image.  This table sits by a window that allows direct sunlight only for a few months, each spring and fall.    I took this image last fall. Periodically, I look at it admiringly, then move on to somethingContinue Reading

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On:
In: Gardening Journey

It’s been a month since I began working on the garden, and there is still a lot to do.   After a cold winter, it warmed up much faster than expected, with 80-degree days early on.   As a result, I’m fighting weeds much earlier than usual.  VMLP photography projectsContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City, For Your Consideration

Usually, I prefer to photograph images with significant shadows in black and white.   Shadows seem to add a sense of gravitas or at least a specific mood to an image.   Here, I chose to shoot in color because of the vibrancy of the plumage, the warmth of theContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City, For Your Consideration

The Decatur Box project is another art initiative born of a collaboration between artist Larry Holland and the Decatur Arts Alliance.  The project turns traffic signal utility boxes into public art instead of dull green/grey metal eyesores. Last December, with a Minolta AF-C in hand loaded with Fuji 200, IContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City, Through the Viewfinder

    The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. (1-4) —Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard     Thomas Gray    Since reading this poemContinue Reading

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On:
In: Gardening Journey

Every spring brings new ideas and new challenges.    This winter has been the coldest I can recall for the garden.   Usually, the daylilies poke their heads above ground by late January.   However, this year, I was still watching for them until early March.   The Gerber daisies,Continue Reading

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On:
In: For Your Consideration, Single Frame

Walking around Decatur, I spotted this deer painted on a restaurant wall.   There is nothing special about the image,  but it did remind me of the first trip my wife and I made to France. We spent three days in Blois (pronounced bool-wah), a small town south of ParisContinue Reading

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On:
In: Around the City, For Your Consideration

This wall is the side of a bank (maybe…I can’t recall).   The walkway leads to parking.  It reminds me of an aquarium or something sea-related.  After debating whether to photograph it, I finally decided I liked the colors too much not to.Continue Reading

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On:
In: For Your Consideration

Red-tailed hawks watched over our backyard for years.   Once, there were two large pecan trees close by; the taller tree, in my neighbor’s yard, was 60+ feet. A similar tree stood next to our house, so close that it was encroaching on the foundation and had to be removed. Continue Reading