Pentax K-50, 100 mm macro lens.
Manipulated Photographs
The rain like jewels ~
iPhone photo, cropped, color-enhanced.
And now for something completely different ~
Homage to Ad Reinhardt
Highly manipulated iPhone photo. It seems an appropriate piece to follow a post about Walmart. This one’s for Steve, who would have liked it, though no one else might.
Headlight study no. 2 ~
iPhone photo, cropped, color intensified.
Headlight study no. 1 ~
iPhone photo, cropped, color intensified.
Angst has many colors ~
Untitled 8-24-15
iPhone photo, tight crop, color-corrected, rotated.
True blue skew ~
Steak ‘n Shake table and chairs no. 1
I’ve been having a good time playing with an iPhone photograph I took of tables and chairs at a Steak ‘n Shake in Goodland, Kansas. (I certainly took a lot more iPhone pix on my trip than I remembered having done.) Above is the version I like best. It’s highly cropped, with a watercolor filter applied, vibrance ramped up, blue ramped up. My favorites among the photographs I take tend to be those that look most like abstract paintings or that are clearly influenced by abstract painting. Applying a filter can, on rare occasions, turn an image into something more interesting. It also can, on rare occasions, save an image that is not sharp enough to work as a conventional photograph and make it worthwhile.
Here are two crops without the watercolor filter, and below those, the original photograph. I’m interested in feedback, so vote for your favorite if you’re so inclined. As a bonus, here’s a video of Lucinda Williams singing “Am I Too Blue.”
Steak ‘n Shake table and chairs no. 3
Steak ‘n Shake table and chairs no. 2
Steak ‘n Shake table and chairs, original shot
Dairy Queen bench ~
Dairy Queen bench and shadow
When I first started exhibiting photographs, in the early 1990s, I used metaphorical names for my abstract and semi-abstract works. In the past few years I’ve turned away from that; now most of my titles for such photographs simply say what things are. It doesn’t always work well, and sometimes I break my new rule. I’m uncertain about whether this photograph should have a different title. It’s a manipulated image of a bench and shadows at a Dairy Queen in Hoisington, Kansas. Pentax K-50, 18-50 mm zoom.
Every night is a Code Blue night ~
Blue Sign
Brake lathe ~
I recently put together a small book of photographs I took some years ago at Gator Automotive’s old facility in Carbondale. The book was for co-owner Karen G., one of my best friends. This photo of a brake lathe couldn’t be sharpened enough, so I applied a watercolor filter and liked the effect. Every once in a while I can save a photo that way (usually it doesn’t work). The next few posts will be Gator photographs.
VAPOR AND FLOW 