It was a good decision.

No banks here!

On Friday, WaMu, or Washington Mutual, in the throes of bankruptcy was purchased by JP Morgan. In a fit of emotion, Wachovia stockholders started to sell! Wachovia’s stock dropped by 27% in one day. Wachovia then announced that they were thinking about selling to one of three companies. That was how the day closed on Friday.

During the weekend, it was announced that Wachovia had sold off part of its bank; the part with the heavy debt for a whopping $1/share. Citicorp, for a cool $2.1 billion dollars bought about $21 billion dollars worth of Wachovia. Not bad, 10 cents on the dollar … a fire sale!

So what does this have to do with photography, me, or anything else? Well, my wife works for Wachovia and it looks like her job will be either eliminated or moved to NYC in the coming months. We never know how fast these things happen. Actually, the sale still needs to be approved by both boards and whatever regulators get involved.

In the mean time, it’s good to be out of financial toilet, A.K.A. Charlotte, NC. When we first moved there, we at least had the vision to say that if anything bad happened in banking that we might have to go out of town to get jobs … so, here I am. It’s great to have a camera, to escape the cares of the world for a few moments, to contemplate the river, if only for a few moments. Soon, it will be time to rebuild, help my wife find a new job (No, we won’t be moving to Charleston anytime soon!), and continue on with life.

So, at first, coming to Charleston seemed like a not-so-good-idea, but necessary. No, in light of recent events, it seemed like a very good idea, indeed!

It has been an interesting few years, to say the least!

Albums and tracks

I listen to a lot of music while I’m working. Currently, two of my favorite singers are: India.Arie and Corrinne Baily Rae. Their music carries about it a bareness. That is they sing about life as they are experiencing it. Unadorned. Unadulterated. Honestly. They sing about the good times, the not so good times, and the bad. Often, some of the best albums come from the depths of despair or disillusionment.

Their music has the ability to take me away to another place; to share in their pain; the laughter, and their experiences. For me, this is great music. It has the power to move. Sometimes a musical compilation, or album, can be a fantastic testament to an artist. If it’s your cup of tea, check out India.Arie’s Testimony Vol. 1 an album about self love and personal voyage, hope, and forgiveness . One of the few albums that I’ve come across where I liked the entire album. I’ve liked all of her albums.

Music has the advantage of words. We can all insert our individual experiences and seemingly relate to the music. Is this so with photography? I think so. Immediately, I cannot think of a single photograph that has affected me this way, but there probably has been.

There have been times when I’ve been out photographing and have been stripped bare, so to speak. That is, I’ve been out shooting, baring my soul, at one with whatever I’m shooting. I find that this is readily apparent when I go to the zoo. I just have so much love for the animals there and I think that it comes through in my photography. The same seems to be true for the mountains.

I seem to be less conversant when photographing my daily experiences, or perhaps that’s that little bit of faith needed to keep going because, picture by picture, you don’t necessarily get the type of feedback that assures you that you are going in the right direction. You just have to believe it without having that feedback. Faith.

My current experience is starting to reveal itself. What does that mean? Well, when I first landed here in Charleston, I arrived as a tourist, even though I came here to work. Now, some 7 weeks in. I have a life here. Sure, it’s a 5-day week kind of life, but a life nonetheless. My eyes are starting to open to my daily life. No longer do I feel compelled to run to the beach to take pictures. There’s more here than just the beach,or the historic markers downtown. My life is evolving. Layers are being removed. The bareness is coming, I think. We’ll see. It’s a continuing journey.

I guess to draw a connection to music, I’m in the studio developing my album of my daily current life. Sometimes I hit upon a ‘track’ right away that I know feels right for me. Other times, it’s a soul searching journey requiring lots and lots of faith. It’s a good thing to be unsure sometimes, but to keep following that invisible path, that feeling, that faith.

Can you smell it?

Careful where you sit!
It’s that great time of year! it’s Autumn. At least here, the mornings are starting to become ‘crisp’; the evenings are cool and breezy; the shadows are long and inviting.

I’m starting to feel an itch to get back to North Carolina and get into the mountains! Here, most of the trees are either pine or palmetto, neither of which will change colors in the fall. I need deciduous trees, streams, and crisp mountain air! The beach cannot hold a candle to the mountains in the fall.

Yikes! It’s the end of September! I need to get moving!!!

By the away, that bench in the first picture was in need of some serious repair. It is leaning and that is no Photoshop trickery nor lens distortion!!! I had considered taking a seat there, but upon closer inspection, decided that it was not such a good idea! Had I sat there, I would have been looking up at the sky in short order, on my back in the grass.

Technology marches on

Since Photokina is now fully in session, I’ve been reading The Luminous Landscape and looking at the various product announcements. Some of them are interesting. Some are not. The pixel wars continue and it leaves me wondering just how much technology I need. I would imagine that, if it hasn’t already, digital will surpass film in every aspect. Lenses will continue to get better and better. Technology will continue march on.

The other day when I was in Savannah, I took the above picture at ISO 3200, not expecting much. When I looked at it using the histogram, naturally it was very heavily weighted to the left, or shadow side. After all, it was dark outside. When I pulled it up in Photoshop, the people (Usha, Craig, and someone that I don’t know) were barely discernible. After some tweaking with PS, I had a decent photo. Never would I have been able to accomplish this type of quality with film. ISO 3200 would have been all grain. Further, the former Nikon flagship, the D2x would have failed miserably at this task. I’ve shot with it at 3200 and the results were very poor. Let’s just say that you got the shot, but it would have taken so much clean up to make it usable. It’s hard to image that the D700 is even better at this level than the D300.

I love just watching the technology get better and better. If you’ve been keeping up with the announcements, which announcement excites you the most or captures your interest?

Maintaining friendships

Sometimes I feel like a nomad, moving here and there. Since leaving home just 2 weeks before my 22nd birthday, I’ve done a lot of moving. The interesting part, for me, was that we lived in the same house from the time that I was born until the time that I moved out to start my own life. Since that time the longest time that I’ve stayed at any one residence has been about 5 years. I’ve been in Charlotte for a solid 4 years. As we made a promise to Tony that we would not move until after he graduated from high school, we have at least 2 years to go. He’s in his Junior year.

During my 24 years of adulthood, that time between when I moved out on my own and now, I’ve met many people at work, in the various neighborhoods, etc. From almost each of the jobs that I’ve had I’ve maintained contact with a person or two. I like to call someone whom I’ve not heard from in a long time and surprise them. I would say that of all of the people that I’ve met, I have two very close friends: One you hear about often, Richard. Richard and I talk to each other several times per week. Our wives are best friends. The other, I met in high school and we still talk to each other several times per month, Gordon. Richard and Gordon both live in Texas and live about 20 miles from each other, perhaps slightly more. To be honest, I cannot remember if they’ve ever met.

I got to thinking about friendships when I realized that it was nearly October and almost time for our ‘promised’, 2nd annual Jekyll Island get together … which isn’t going to happen. Our first annual get together happened in Asheville, NC last year and we had plans to do it again this year in either Florida or the Canadian Rockies, but, I guess that sometimes life gets in the way. I was not the planner for this year’s affair … I helped with the first one. There has been sporadic contact over the past year, save for two. I stay in constant contact with Kate and Usha, both pictured above. Kate is chimping her camera, Usha, is to her left. Occasionally we’ll all get an e-mail from George, but other than that it’s pretty silent.

I’m pretty thankful for the contact that I have because it’s good to have a few good friends to talk to, laugh with, share stories, and just basically enjoy.

So, to all of my friends, thank you for being you and thanks for keeping in touch. Oh, and Cuz’n Micki, I’ve certainly not forgotten about you! Micki has been one of my biggest supporters. She’s been coming around posting, offering encouragement, and being a good friend since I made my first post! I’ve not met her yet, but I certainly intend it!

The beauty of the everyday

Just outside my door
If you’ve not read Paul Butzi’s post, What makes you a photographer, go and read it. It’s great food for thought about the importance of the everyday moments. I cannot really add anything to it.

During my commute from work to my home away from home, I constantly think of the pictures that I could take and how to document these seemingly insignificant moments. During my morning walks, I encounter the same things over and over again and think about how important they are to my daily experience and certainly want to get these captured because, before you know it, I’ll be back in Charlotte and the memories of the details will be fading, fading, fading away.

Maybe I’ll try to catch a few of those moments tomorrow morning …

Avoiding occasional G.A.S cramps

I’ve been seeing several mentions of Canon’s new 5D Mark II. It would appear that the Canon community is very much excited about this new camera, a direct competitor and case of one-up-manship on the Nikon D700.

Unfortunately, I’m not immune to those Gear Acquisition Syndrome feelings, or as I call them, GAS cramps! I’ve been salivating over the D700, but have not succumbed to my lust.

I’ve found a successful antidote: I use my equipment. Today, after reading about the Canon and seeing that people were pre-ordering 1, 2, 3, or even 4 of the cameras, much to my amazement, I had that feeling of ‘wanting’. When I left work, I made a very short stop by the apartment to change clothes and off I went to explore a state park that I’d never seen. There is, for me, a transformation as soon as I enter a peaceful park. I was completely happy with my equipment.

After watching the light, taking a few pictures, and just enjoying the ‘noises’ of the forest, I came back to the apartment community and walked around taking pictures of my surroundings, which I hadn’t done since arriving here. I had a great time even though I didn’t have a full frame camera, built in HD video, an ISO of 25,600, nor even an artificial horizon indicator! I just needed to appreciate what I had and that I did.

I even got to see a fire truck heading back in to the station. I walk past this station each morning and always wish that I had a picture of them in action. Now I do.