by Stephen | May 4, 2014 | Stephen M. Levin Discussions/Opinions, Stephen M. Levin Photos
Day After the Derby
Woops….missed it.
Keeneland Racetrack
I have to admit…I missed watching the Kentucky Derby yesterday. I shoulda…..though I didn’t intend to bet and I couldn’t tell you the name of one horse in the race (or even who won!). However, after being in Kentucky a few times in the recent past, I have become somewhat interested in the horse culture found in that part of the country, so to speak.
The horses are beautiful! And fun to photograph.
Each time we’ve been through Kentucky, we’ve made it a point to stop at Churchill Downs in Louisville and Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington. Both facilities are very open for visitors. And I found them both to have a liberal policy with respect to photography. And, if you go to Churchill Downs on a non-race day, you can take a tour of the grounds of the track and see all the paddocks and trainers. http://www.derbymuseum.org/Churchill_Barn_tour.html
Churchill Downs
Keeneland is particularly interesting. We were in Lexington a few years ago and the woman at the B&B where we stayed suggested we drive out to Keeneland at about 8AM to watch and photograph the horses as they worked out. We didn’t know what to expect, but when we got there, I’d estimate that there were less than 10 people in the stands and along the fences watching the horses. And there were about a dozen or so horses and jockeys going through various stages of exercise. http://www.keeneland.com/discover/morning-workouts
SO interesting and so much fun. Enough that we had to stop there again last year on our way through Kentucky. Only we went to Keeneland earlier…at about 6:30. And got an even more “private” experience.
Keeneland Racetrack
Of course…what a great photo opp! Two cameras. Various lenses. And an unobstructed view.
It also gave me a chance to interact with the jockeys! As they rode around, a couple of them would stop and chat…and pose. But, even without a camera it was worthwhile! Ask Judy.
Here’s a photo tip…shoot REALLY fast or you’ll miss something! And pan with the horses.
Keeneland
Keeneland
Keeneland
If you want to see more photos of horses from Kentucky, please check this link:
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com/Scenic/FloraandFauna/Kentucky-Horses-Summer-2013/
-Stephen M. Levin
“My Mind’s Eye”
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
by Stephen | Apr 21, 2014 | Stephen M. Levin Discussions/Opinions, Stephen M. Levin Music, Stephen M. Levin Photos
THESE are the good ol’ days!
And what about tomorrow??
Laurence Juber at Evanston Space
My two creative passions are photography and music. So, it’s great when the two of them “meet,” so to speak. And frequently that happens at Evanston Space (www.evanstonspace.com) where they have a liberal policy regarding photography during concerts—that is, non-flash photos are allowed as long as the performer agrees. They also have an egalitarian policy on seating…first come, first served (when buying tickets online), so it’s not uncommon to get primo seats (like these) at a table!
Last Sunday, we saw Laurence Juber (www.laurencejuber.com) perform at Evanston Space and we were fortunate to have a front table seat. And, of course, I brought my camera with a 70-200 zoom lens.
LJ, as he’s known, is somewhat well known as the guitarist with Paul McCartney in Wings from the late 70’s until the band broke up. He’s good. I mean….REALLY good. He may be one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world. That good. Two time Grammy Winner, too.
Look at these photos of him. I am amazed. Not because they are the greatest photos! But, I realize how far we’ve come and where we are today with respect to photography. And how we take things for granted.
Laurence Juber at Evanston Space
For example, how many of you remember shooting slides? Kodachrome, perhaps? Or Fuji? Color print film? Or, maybe high speed B&W film like Kodak Tri-X? OK…..Tri-X had an ASA rating of 400 and, if you knew what you were doing you could push it to 800. That ASA number refers to the light sensitivity of the film. To put things in perspective, you had a choice with Kodachrome of ASA 25 or 64 and, eventually, 200. Print film was mostly 100 or 200. The general rule of thumb was that the “faster” the film, the less detail you’d get…more grain, less saturation, etc. Today, ASA designation has been replaced by something called ISO. I SHOT THESE IMAGES AT ISO 4000! Virtually no grain. Saturated colors. And, fast enough that I was able to shoot these photos hand-held without a flash.
I’ve heard people discuss the biggest innovation with respect to photography in recent years and I’d have to say it’s ISO capability with the modern cameras. Many cameras today don’t even GO as low as ISO 50, for example. And the ubiquitous iPhone is shootin’ at ISO 1000. And capable of making decent enlargements without loss of quality.
Now let’s talk about the hardware….the lens I used has something called “Image Stabilization.” Many lenses and cameras of all levels have that option. What that lets the photographer do is take photos at slower shutter speeds (than in the past) without getting much camera shake.
Software? It’s amazing the control that we all have today compared to years ago when most people didn’t have a darkroom or printer. And, if you did, you probably didn’t have the creative control that the modern software gives today. Plus, at this point, digital image files are beyond the physical capabilities of film.
So, I took these photos at f2.8 at 1/160th of a second, using extremely high ISO, and finally putting them through a plug-in on the computer that helps eliminate “noise,” which is the modern equivalent of film grain.
Take all of these ingredients and mix ‘em together and the sky is the limit! I can’t imagine what innovations and capabilities are coming in the next five years. YIKES!
I’m not done with my “amazement!” After I finished the photos, I kinda liked them, so I posted two of them on Twitter with the following message:
Think of it—I couldn’t have shared my images that way until relatively recently. Social media and other online resources are another new innovation. Something we didn’t have as a creative outlet until relatively recently. And now we take it for granted.
And, it’s interesting what happened next—he retweeted my Tweet and then I got a Direct Message from LJ himself saying he liked the images and would like a copy.
That, in turn, led to a little e-mail communication between us.
Lucky me! I rubbed shoulders with a friend of Sir Paul!! And, THAT certainly wouldn’t have been possible a few short years ago!
More concert photos from Evanston Space:
http://www.stephenmlevinphotos.com/People-1/Music
-Stephen M. Levin
“My Mind’s Eye”
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
by Stephen | Apr 10, 2014 | Stephen M. Levin Discussions/Opinions, Stephen M. Levin Photos
Personal Interaction?
Excuse me…!?
On State Street
I try to have some sort of contact or interaction with the strangers who appear in my photos either before, during, or after taking their photos. Given the nature of some of my photos, that doesn’t always work. But, I feel that some contact helps with getting more “directness” with the subject, so to speak.
So, sometimes I start out by approaching a person and asking if I can take their photo because something about them or what they are doing looks interesting. Or, I take the photo and then explain what I saw and was trying to capture. A little small talk also seems to help and make people more cooperative. And, depending on the situation and person, I also offer to show them the image on the screen on the back of my camera or I ask them if they’d like me to send them a copy of the image in an e-mail.
Almost 100% of the people I approach are agreeable! Surprising, isn’t it?
I’ve been asked many times about the person in the images in this posting. I must admit that I had absolutely no verbal contact with him. However, I felt that we, nonetheless, did have personal interaction.
I was downtown on State Street at about 9:30 or 10PM on a weeknight, waiting to meet Judy after a show. I parked my car on Washington and took only my 35mm camera, a 24mm wide-angle lens, and a tripod with me. I started walking around the area and came across a TV studio across from the Chicago Theater and I thought that might have the potential to be an interesting scene. When I got there, I saw this guy laying on the sidewalk in front of the window of the studio, apparently watching the news, so to speak. The whole thing looked kind of weird to me! That is, he didn’t look like a bum or beggar—I usually avoid photographing people who appear to be “down and out.” He had a phone up to his ear, a sucker in his mouth, nice shoes and clothes, and cool sunglasses (at night!), etc. And he didn’t look like he was ready to go anywhere soon!
So, I started walking around him. Literally. In his space. I wanted to see if that would elicit a conversation or reaction…it didn’t. He didn’t look at me or interrupt whatever he was doing.
Imagine this: For the next ten minutes, or maybe more, I walked around him, planted my tripod down, and took photos of him. With a 24mm lens which, as you may know, means I was VERY close to him. Close enough that he could certainly hear the shutter release of the camera as I took photos. I never said a word to him nor he to me. I eventually left without saying anything. He never moved or changed his position the entire time.
I still can’t explain who he was or what he was doing, but I thought he made an interesting subject for my photos!
Watching the News
You tell me: Does that count as personal interaction? I thought “yes.” In fact, any verbal contact would have had the possibility of disturbing or interrupting him. Or, perhaps, causing him discomfort. Leaving him alone probably was the best recipe in this case, I thought. And I’d certainly say that having someone walking around you with a tripod and camera and taking your picture on a downtown street at night IS personal interaction.
Passerby on State Street
Color–Passerby on State Street
The image at the top of this posting is the one I have shown the most. (I like the coffee cup on the ledge, too…probably his! And the tulips.)
However, I really like the black and white shot at the bottom of the posting of the passerby, taken from a different angle. I stood smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk with the camera on the tripod and tried to capture the expression of people as they walked by and saw him lying there. I put the camera on a slow shutter speed to try to show the motion of people walking by. It also helped obscure the face of the passerby. And, yes…he also obviously saw me taking the picture—standing on a sidewalk on State Street at almost 10PM with a tripod and a camera aimed at him as he passed closely. (I’m including a smaller, color version of that image…for reference.) And the vertical black and white shot in the middle of this posting shows what he was looking at–the window in front of the TV station with the news ticker (conveniently with the words “Neighborhood Watch” scrolling by. I waited for those words to reappear for this shot.).
-Stephen M. Levin
“My Mind’s Eye”
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
by Stephen | Mar 20, 2014 | Stephen M. Levin Discussions/Opinions, Stephen M. Levin Photos
Look the Other Way!
A Different View
Downtown Chicago, along the River. A Proud Skateboarder.
It’s not easy to make an eye-catching photo! I try…and I think that most people do. Sometimes, I think perhaps we should just look the other way. Literally! That is, if everyone is looking forward, look behind. If everyone’s looking up, look down. Etc. And don’t fall for the cliché or “low hanging fruit” because it’s hard to be original and creative doing that. NOT that the resulting photo won’t be good! Rather, it just may end up looking like the photo that the person next to you is taking.
I recall this experience I had on May 20, 2012, the night of the NATO conference in downtown Chicago. There was a lot of concern building up to the event since there were threats of violence and general mayhem. Many protest groups vowed that they were going to be there and disrupt the entire city. The city, on the other hand, wanted to demonstrate that they would be able to maintain control.
So, that Saturday night, Judy and I had tickets to a Bonnie Raitt concert at the Chicago Theater. We debated whether or not to go because the media indicated that streets would be closed, etc. But, we went and had no problem getting downtown. In fact, we got there quickly and had time after dinner to walk around before the concert.
I had my camera and a 50mm (standard lens). Judy sat on a bench and read. And I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some shots of the mass of police on every corner or the colorfully decorated protestors. Or even a confrontation or two!
But, as I walked around, I saw at the bottom of the stairs from the street and along the Chicago River that there was a group of guys skateboarding. I wandered down the stairs and stood in the middle of their path for several minutes with my camera in my hand, watching them. Suddenly, I just blurted out, “Who is the best skateboarder here?!” and one of them said he was. I told him that entitled him to have his picture taken (see the guy in the top photo). Eventually, they all asked to have their pictures taken and asked if it was for the newspaper and they seemed disappointed when I told them that was not going to happen.
Anyways, I let them pose as they liked and shot a few frames of different combinations. And then they left and I left and went back up the stairs.
Skateboarders along the Chicago River
It may be funny to say this, but I really like these photos! Probably much more than I would have liked photos of protestors or police lines. Besides, there were hundreds of those photos on Twitter, Facebook, TV, and in the newspapers.
No one else got these photos that night.
And these photos will always be interesting and appealing to me…long after everyone has forgotten about the NATO protests.
Hope you like ‘em too!
A couple of skateboarders along the Chicago River
Note: This (below) is the “trojan horse” photo I took while I was standing in their skating route, prior to the resulting photos…just trying to act casual and get “accepted” by them at this point:
-Stephen M. Levin
“My Mind’s Eye”
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
by Stephen | Mar 6, 2014 | Stephen M. Levin Discussions/Opinions, Stephen M. Levin Photos
What Makes a Good Photo?
“Let’s see what turns out!”
Above is a photo I took last week for an “assignment” at our gym.
I’m always interested to see and hear people’s reactions to photos that I’ve taken. Of course, we all hope for positive feedback (don’t we?!), but I also am interested to see if others feel the same way as I do or did about an image. Frequently, when I’m taking a photo, someone will say to me, “Can’t wait to see the picture!” Invariably, I have always responded cautiously with “Let’s see what turns out!” Not just out of modesty, but because 1) there is always the chance something could or will go wrong during the process and 2) not everyone responds to the same image the same way. We are, after all, subjective…right?
Anyways, I had the above-mentioned “assignment” to photograph the new “hot yoga” studio at our gym. It’s a newly constructed room and I was told to get the logo and the room. 3 or 4 pictures. All I asked them to do to prepare was to make sure the room was clean and to have a person available to include in the photo for “scale” and interest.
Late that night, when I was processing the photos, one of them jumped out at me as EXACTLY what I wanted. What a pleasant surprise! I liked the pose, the logo looked nice, good color combo (purple and orange), facial expression, highlights in her eyes and hair, fingers positioned well, simple background, and balanced with respect to composition. And it “looked” like a yoga picture should look in my mind’s eye.
Pretty excited, I immediately sent the image out to our friend at the gym and told him, “THIS should be used in an ad!”
No response.
Later that night, I sent some alternative shots.
However, the next day when I saw him…he told me that one of the owners didn’t like the photo because, “I cut her leg off.” And that he had taken a better photo, taken with a cell phone, that showed more of the room. And that they didn’t even look at the rest.
Oh well. Not the end of the world. No hurt feelings or anything.
But, this demonstrates what I always know and feel….not everyone is going to react the same to every photo. Or book. Or movie. Or song. Etc. And that’s actually good!
And, again, that’s why I always say, “Let’s see what turns out!”
Fast forward to today. WeDeal, an online coupon service, is using the plainest, most generic photo I took that day as their promo for a “Hot Yoga Deal” at the club. Go figure!
At least they’re not using their phone image!
Here are three more “outtakes.” Which image, if any, would you use? I’d be interested. Please post your comments below.
Hope you enjoy this!
Thanks for stopping by.
-Stephen M. Levin
www.stephenmlevinphotos.com
