Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Storm

A storm from the remnants of Hurricane Issac moves across the countryside.


It'd be a better picture, visually, if the telephone pole and wires were not there.  But they were there and so they are in this picture.

There are people who could do that, maybe change the colors a bit to enhance things.  They're artists.

I started taking color photos with a Canon FT SLR, shooting Kodachrome 25 and 64.  I had control over framing (with the old "two-legged zoom" lens) and focus, and I could set the shutter speed and lens aperture.  When I pressed the shutter, I got what I got (and you get really good at panning if you want to shoot moving objects with slow-speed film).

Given the expense of shooting Kodachrome, especially for a teenager, my approach for taking photos was kind of like going hunting with a single-shot rifle.   Depending on how many shots I was taking of different things, it could take a couple of weeks or more to shoot off a 36-exposure roll.  Then I'd have to wait for processing.

When I got older and went into the service, I shifted to Kodacolor print film, because I didn't have to carry a slide projector around.  I used the Kodak pre-paid mailers which meant that, depending if I was on a ship and where that ship was, it might take over a month to get the photos back.

So there was nothing like the instant feedback you get with a digital camera.  You had to know what you were doing and watch for things such as light poles coming out of the heads of people.  Because, unless you were taking photos of stationary objects, you weren't going to get a second chance.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I'm not an artist.  I'm an amateur photographer and the picture that I take is the picture that I get.

7 comments:

D. said...

What you said except about the ship. Although I'm getting better with the digital. And can crop.

Comrade Misfit said...

I do crop, especially for here. And I'll reduce the size of an image (the original of the above was about 4,600 x 3,000 pixels) so that it'll load faster and so I don't use up all of my allotted storage space on Blogger. But that's abut it.

Oldfool said...

Never apologize for a power line even if it does get in a picture. They make old age more likely.
I like to see power lines, especially when flying. The only bad dreams I ever had about flying was about unexpected power lines which is funny because I always expected them.

w3ski said...

I grew up with Life, and NGS,I have always appreciated a good photograph. I took a photography class in H/S but wasn't able to work in a dark room and had to drop the class. Years later I bought a good 35mm camera, should have bought digital, but was still caught up in film.
Photography is such a release to me. I so want to document the wild beasts I see on my walks. I so want to document the wild flowers I see on my walks.
Photography is a Standard to me now.
I have a cheap digital which is fun, I have also have a well made film camera with a variable focus lens.
Too bad developing is getting hard to find now.
Wanted to photograph the world for so many years.
w3ski

bearsense said...

One of the wonderful things about the "old' 35mm (and my first was the same Canon FT) was the education in patience. The planning and composition, the waiting for the clouds to gather, the the knowledge of "depth of field and the play of light and shadow.
I was always taught that the least expensive thing in the bag was the film (I was an Ektachrome fan myself), yet the anticipation of waiting for the slides to arrive from the lab (or waiting for the chemicals to work in the darkroom) taught the value of time and encouraged the concept of doing it right the first time.
The digital revolution has encourahed the "spray and pray" philosophy - - - not unlike the concept of aim, breathe, exhale, squeeze.
Nice pic......

w3ski said...

You are very eloquent. Yes, I so agree. I bought the 35mm camera when I had not hunted in a long time. I missed the excitement of the hunt and that one shot, but I no longer felt right about taking another life. The Camera gave me the 'one shot' (with NO kill)and a way to preserve what I saw on my hikes in the backwoods.
The photos are more precious to me than any meat dinner.
I can still see the Bald Eagle feeding her young the fresh trout that she had caught in the lake. Those are memories of a lifetime.
w3ski

Anonymous said...

Even with the power lines, that is some nice view.