Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Recent books

The three recent books out of the library are:

Venice from the Skies by Riccardo Roiter Rigoni and Debora Gusson.


Walk with me New York by Susan Kaufman.


Tones of Grace by Dave Brosha.

I loved Venice. I'd go back in a heartbeat if it wasn't for all the other tourists crowding it. There's more to see than where we got to, so I snatched it up as soon as I saw it. Then I was disappointed. It's helicopter photos, with a bit of history. Here I was and this is what I saw. Most of the book is the other islands near Venice, not the city itself. They didn't include a map. 

The New York book was better. It made me want to walk the city, so I suppose the book is a success from that point of view. There were some lovely (and extremely expensive) homes, and a surprising amount of greenery in what I had conceived of as a boring city space. Linda liked it for the garden photos, and what people have done with limited space.

Often reading about New York it seems like it's a big village where everyone knows each other. More accurately it's s conglomeration of villages, somewhat overlapping each other. The book included several small scale maps, so at least one could look at an ordinary street map and figure out where that neighbourhood is. It's probably better to read the book, or rather, the many photo books of New York, than to visit. I'm not likely to ever see the city in person. 

When we were in London, we were constantly amused to recognize scenes because a movie or TV show was filmed there. I'd imagine that the same is true of New York.  In fact I just checked, there are pages of location tours in New York.

Calgary has been used as a set location for various films and TV shows. I remember watching the first season of Fargo, when there's a winter scene of someone driving along with a city downtown in the background. The Bow building is prominent, and it took me right out of the show, since I instantly started thinking about where that camera had been situated, and what they had to screen out or screen in using digital wizardry to get the look that appears on screen.

The Brosha book is wonderful! If you're a photographer put a hold on it at the library, at the least. It's at The Camera Store for $50. I'm not sure I'll buy it, but it would be a good gift for a photographer, especially one that likes black and white.

I see great black and white photographs, and yearn to be able to create good photos that work without colour. (And with colour too, for that matter.) There's far more to it than using black and white film, or telling Lightroom to convert to black and white. He references Sebastiao Salgado, a well known photographer in black and white, and as it happens, I've read his book Genesis. You can get that one out of the library as well. 

Of the Day
Driftwood (NZ)


Driftwood (BC)


Peony

Tombstone

Film (new)

Film (old)
With the red 1995 Caravan in the background, that dates the photo late 1990's. We had it till 2004 or so. I'm trying to clear the ice blocking a storm drain.


Saturday, March 18, 2023

The patterns in rocks and driftwood

As regular readers will know, I discovered the photographic possibilities of driftwood during a bike ride on the Napier New Zealand beach. At first it started as an exercise to see if I could discover composition in driftwood, and it soon became much more. I have a great many photos of driftwood. Keep in mind that neither me or Linda touched these rocks or wood. This is how I found them, and if someone else left the rocks in an interesting pattern, that's my good fortune.

Today you'll see a selection of photos where driftwood and rocks are together in what I think is an interesting way. You might think differently, and that's fine. It probably isn't driftwood against a background of rocks, but rather something more intimate. All these are from various beaches between Sooke and Port Renfrew on west Vancouver Island. These specific photos have not been blogged, but there may be other similar photos you've seen.

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3. I was quite taken with the texture and shapes of this chunk, and wandered around it for a while.


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13. Do you see the creature reaching in to get a drink?


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38. My favourite of the bunch, both for those lovely swirls, and wondering who Kelsey is, and if they know about this rock.



Of the Day
Driftwood (NZ)


Driftwood (BC)
This still sort of fits the theme, though it's a shell, not a rock.



Peony


Film (new)
The Green Fools Theatre class taking their bows. I remember this being taken in what is low light for this camera, trying hard to hold it steady at a fairly slow shutter speed.


Film (old)
Some random waterfall on some random trip.


And in a surprise serendipity visit, the star of the blog, Curtis! I really thought I'd blogged all my photos of him, but I guess it shows my tagging skills have gaps. I don't think I'm going to hear any complaints.