It's all there in Black and White.

In an moment of weakness I accepted a B&W Challenge on FaceBook from by Friend and past winner of the prestigious Vicent Versace Award , at Photoshop World  Cam Miller.  Normally I avoid any FaceBook driven endeavor like the plague, but like I said, “In a moment of weakness”.  7 images over the course of a week, how bad can that be? Well so far, not bad, not bad at all, I decided to use images from a last weeks trip to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  As of this posting 2 days down 5 to go.. 

New Kid in town.

Mainly me, Downtown Baltimore that is. It might have taken over a quarter century but I finally made a visit to the iconic Bromo-Tower in Downtown Baltimore. Thanks to a  Baltimore Bizjournal piece I stumbled across Friday that discribed the upcoming (Saturday) Open Door Baltimore event where 27 building that were not accessable, or had  Limited or sporadic access to the public.  I quickly scanned the list and picked three buildings for targets. The aforementioned Bromo-Tower, the spectacular Peabody Library. And to wrap it up the iconic Baltimore shot Tower.  

Of the three the Shot Tower was the most disappointing to me. Mainly due to it vast interior space which was dimly lit and very hard to photograph.  Of course all these are accessable at various times, and of course all will be revisited at a later time for additional attempts to capture these treasured bits of Baltimore history.  

and maybe another lunch at my favorite Baltimore dining spot. Harry Attman’s Deli on Lombard st

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Hello Old Friend... StudioD and Alien Skin Enhance 6

What 4 months since my last post..  Bad Poster, Bad Poster….    Well what’s new?  Other then a mindset redirection over at Speed Vision of MD..  Two things come to mind.  One is the rebirth of “StudioD”, play on words. Studio for my vintage Sunpac folding lightbox  and D for Doug, get it?  and another is a trial run of Alien Skin Exposure 6.  Lets look the specifies.

“ ©StudioD ” - In 2008 when I was much younger and new to Flikr, Santa left a SUNPAK Mini Studio under the tree.  Forward to Feb 2nd of 2009 and one of my early Flickr posts was one a model organ made by Father in Law, using said device.  As with so much of what I have, it saw sporadic use early on, but was quickly relegated to the back of the closet.  

 

Lets fast forward up to last Wednesday (52814) when Norm Barker, Director of Pathological Photography @ The Johns Hopkins gave a presentation to the Central Maryland Photographers Guild on Micro Photography.  Toward  the end of his presentation it was mentioned he used a portable light box and carried a small bit of good black velvet in his kit to use as an impromptu backdrop because of it’s ability to absorb light. Being a good minion of who’s ever presenting, come Tuesday morning I too has a piece of my own.  Up from it dark containment the Sunpak Mini Studio was transported, the black velvet backdrop incorporated  and “©StudioD” was created.  Immediately the resulting imagery of things laying around the house were a cut above what had been shot prior.  I was pleased 

Alien Skin Enhance 6  Saw several tweets a few days ago singing the phrases of Alien Skin’s new release of Enhance. 6.  Being a constant user of NIK, Perfect Photo Suite, Topaz, and Alien Skin products on almost all of my posted images inside of Adobe CS6 or as a standalone I investigated and later D/L a trial copy of the software.  On use I was very impressed with the vast range of effects included and started incorporating them into published  images using  “©StudioD”  or on motorcycle racing images..    

To be sure this software will be in my image manipulation tool kit but only when I can free up the $149 needed for purchase. Which is a shame as the more I look into the options the more Im amazed at it’s abilities

Job Interview at "the Dark Conservatory"

How can anyone journey for color and light turn into a much darker experience.  From this ………………………. Images of pure joy… 

To images like this, each with a story that hints of dark actions with deadly concurrencies.   

Was it a cry for help from a tormented mind or was it just a black mood triggered by the less then OK hot dog, offered at the temporary “Terrace Cafe”. Most likely we’ll never know as all this is now water under the dam.  

And then were none..

Almost at the exact same time as I reached the gates of Sandy Point State Park for the 2014 Maryland State Police, Polar Bear Plunge it was announced on 98Rock that the plunge was being canceled due to the dangerous weather conditions .  

 

By this time the State Police were turning away the faithful so the only activity were crews starting to dismantle the Plunge infrastructure z

Well the no activity didn’t apply to the ‘Super Plungers” Tent..  Everyone in the tent were in shock that the event had been called off.  Every hour for the past 23 it was out into the cold, in and out of the water and back inside to warm up.. I think all this involvement, and with a end in site they would never be able have, was the reason. With slight exception I knew no one in the tent.  Well no one but my hero local TV news star Rob Roblin, He looked just plain tired.

    

 

and 98Rock Morning Show Host Justin Schlegel who I had photographed this summer at the Baltimore Grand Prix.  I didn’t shoot any images but he told me this was the hardest super plunge he was involved in. He showed me a movie he took of the shore line at 2AM  where the waves were washing in layers of fine slush ice.  It looked real nasty and they did postpone plunges until 4am.  At this time he wasn’t sure if they were done plunging too, or were going to continue to the end.  Turns out they did go in one last time but we were on the other side of the site when it went off,  so we missed it… 

 

We did see some of the regular attraction The Ravens Roost guys and Captain “D”.  All hard core Ravens Fans. 

Wondered over to the fest tent for a cup-0-joe and ran into this really nice guy with a utterly fantastic beard. 

whats left cold and windy empty beaches and time for the ever vivacious Ms Tina Miles and mineself to head to our respective homes.  Smile for Tina.. 

By!

 

What's New With You?

Nothing much as of now.  Did visit the past in Ilkchester MD, The ruins of “St Mary’s Monastery” and Simkins Paper Mill will warrant a revisit as will the Old B&O rail infrastructure.     

Later on in the week it was a visit to the Providence Cemetery in Gamber MD.  

 

 

 

And then it was up to Abbottsville PA. for some local color. 

And that is what was the week that was. Oh yea, just one more thing before signing off, I did change my watermark logo… 

Here and there and back again.

Had to make the long trip from Maryland to Allentown PA this weekend to say goodbye to an old fried and mother of my wife. As with events of this nature I looked for opportunities to remove myself from the immediate family and allow them to deal with their loss in what ever way they might chose. A circumstance would have it my only "extraction" of note was to revisit a area recently revitalized in nearby Bethlehem, city of my birth.. (Which is another story, for another time.) The area in question was what is locally known as "The South Side" was the home of the sprawling Bethlehem Steel Complex "The Steel" an area roughly 1/3 mile X 2 miles. bordered by the Lehigh River and blighted neighborhoods. Crowned by the Lehigh University Campus on the slopes of South Mountain. It's lot was not helped when The Steel closed down and padlocked the site. Fast forward to the present. I was very happy to see the repurposing of the site as a entertainment area actually seems to be working. Anchored on one end by the "Sands" Casino. located in the former ore pits, going upriver to renovated buildings containing shops and such, to a large area for arts and entertainment known simply as "the Stacks". But what drew me and makes this area unique is the backdrop of one of the original Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces. Surprisingly the area also allowed closer access to these massive modern implementations of 14th century technology, that dominated the city skyline and my childhood memories, then ever allowed me in the past. I was so taken back by these rusting artifacts, not only by their shear size but also by the historical significant and their dramatically different impacts to the area in the past. These mighty machines are literally what make America what it is today,. But I realize that modern technology has put these once mighty icons of our industrial age, out to pasture, but spared the demolition that befallen many of their contemporaries. So now they can sit in the sun, dreaming the soft dreams of a grand past. Slowly rusting way and occasionally providing a subject for a few tourist snaps.

Dance they said, and it was good. Update

This year events seem to be few and far between. Almost at the last second, my young Child Bride (CB) and her dance companion decided to attend Nadirah Nasreen's Annual Hafl at the Pasha Land restaurant in Gaithersburg MD. Reservations were made over the phone for the following night (Sunday) and the excitement slowly started to build for both of us.  Her, because she loves the Dance , and has so for almost 35 years. Me, it was an event, my real passion, photographing events.  I have my favorites but as a rule, The Middle Eastern Dance events are not on the top of my list.. Don't get me wrong, I love photographing Middle Eastern Dancers of all shapes and sizes. And what's not to love, the colors, movements, music? No what's not to love is the venues.. It's a real challenge to capture a worthwhile images of the dancers in a High School Gym, Senior Center, parking lot or worse. Which with small exception is where they are. Fact of life, the girls love to dance where ever they can to show off their skills, and to do this "You takes what you gets."  

But I have, as they say, digressed.  We both went into our usual preparation modes, hers are not for public consumption, mine are more of a mechanical nature.  Batteries  to be charged, cameras & lens' needed to be selected. Which always proves to be a dilemma.  Most times not knowing the where's why and whens of the venue always makes it at best, a guess.  This time not being different, I  decided to travel light  with the 5DMII, a 50mm f/1.2, 100mm f/2.8, and one flash to deal with what ever lighting situations were presented.   

When we arrived at Pasha Land at the appointed time, I was a bit distressed to see the restaurant was really not that large, and was packed with dancers and guests, with space  already at a premium . which built when we came to find out our reservations had more or less,  "flown the coupe".  Lucky for us the owners daughter did some magic logistical redirection and we were ushered to our table, right out front.  This was much appreciated by CB and friend as they almost were out on the dance floor. For me any use of the 100mm F/28, was ruled out. The only other bullet I had was the 50mm f/1.2 which was still a little long for this space.  ("Darn why didn't I pack a wide angle?" )  As the excitement built, drinks ordered, menu choices made, I stated to realize the pickle i was in. When the dancers started to line up for the first group dance, the front line was only a foot and a half away from the front of the lens.

Nor perfect but Oh well, time to make some lemonade.. It's only pixels anyway.  The music started, the light dimmed (I wish) and the magic started. Knowing things were far from perfect but I  would get what I could i sat back, stretched my right pointer finger and started firing away.  The rest of the afternoon was a blur of whirling dancers, delicious food and trying to get that "perfect shot.  

A note of apology to the dancers, I was unable to capture "keepers" of all the dancers due to their proximity and lighting, and I'm still trying to mach the dancer listed in the flyer, to the images.. 

My thanks to all involved in making  Nadirah Nasreen's Annual Hafla!  a smashing success.  The images posted are from my Flickr site but many more are posted or are in process of being posted on my gallery site.  so check back often. .