That's the title of a recently completed photobook published by Studio 789, a student program sponsored by the Genesee Center for the Arts, Community Darkroom. It's an after-school photo club for about thirty 7^th to 9^th grade students at Wilson Foundation Academy in the City of Rochester. The program ran from early October through to early April. Last Friday evening, we had a wonderful Celebration and Opening for the Gallery Exhibit in Rochester City Hall. Each student received a copy of the photobook and was recognized for their work.



The five young ladies in my group really took to the darkroom work and the computer work in scanning images for the photobook. We had some college students provide the expertise in Photoshop and InDesign to help get the image editing and page layouts set. These were upper class students at the School of Print Media at Rochester Institute of Technology.



While working on the photographic prints, page designs and artistic endeavors, I could see much more than artistic and technical skills being developed. The intangiblesof cooperation, patience, appreciation for quality and pride in accomplishment all became evident.

Black and white removes the color and in a way simplifies a picture. We all look at a black and white images a bit differently. I think that they may require more brain power to process and understand them. It's the shades of gray that make the difference.



Special thanks to Chamere, Jenieya, Kathia, Monique and Tracy.

Now that it's after Easter, it's time to bring on some warm weather and springtime colors.

The other day I was checking out a local fishing spot. It's a few miles downstream from a fish hatchery where thousands of trout were released earlier this year.With their newfound freedom the trout have little choice but to go with the flow. (A less rambunctious version here, if you're at work and can't turn your speakers up).Anyway, as soon as I got down by the water to look for some photo-ops amongst the small cascades, I was startled by the splash and wings of one ginormous bird .... It was a great blue heron.

So (like out nimble politicians), I quickly changed the subject and mounted the big zoom lens on my camera. I found a safe spot to observe this great bird going after his dinner.If you hunt or fish, you've certainly had the feeling I did capturing these photos.Its was actually very thrilling watching the action of wildlife through the lens. Capture the action on your digital camera or if you're a catch-and-release-type, bring your binoculars and your camera both when you are out and about this summer !!

I'm also working on another Capture Project. More on that next time.

You can also check out Snowflakes in Summer.

Down the aisle

Q:  Every on has one, whether they know it or not
A:  What is a point of view

Looking skyward

Across the blinds

People have opinions varying all over the map.  Many points of view make for great diversity and sometimes great controversy.  I've often observed the difference between weak opinions strongly held and strong opinions weakly held.  Now I'll refrain from over-analyzing and graphing up a comparison, because I fear another bump to the Nerds.

Inside looking out

Through the trees

OK but what about pictures .... many of us use cameras called point and shoots.  They're easy to use and they take great pictures.  The photographer has little to worry about except for where to aim the lens.  Ready, Fire, Aim

Gravity is in control

Peaceful  parade

Point of view also needs an "angle of view" .... how narrow or wide is your image in the viewfinder.  This is where the zoom comes in.  It is worth zooming in to see if the picture looks better and moving L, R to clear background clutter out of the frame.

Quartz

Worm's - eye view

I hope that some of my photos show you a little about my-point-of-view, the selection of the angle of view and how far and wide to push the zoom lens.  Drive safely.

Mountaintop viewpoint

Schwartz at arm's length

In 2008, I have resolved to be more scholarly (that would be -- less goofy), and this will be a first attempt for our blog, Kodak's 1000 Words or KTW.  It is very scholarly and anti-nerdly to assign a TLA (three letter acronym) so obfuscation potential is maximized.  My thesis for this blog posting is that form and line present in Nature makes for some awesome images.  Learning to recognize the forms and lines may not come naturally though. 

I've been practicing and studying Nature Photography, intermittently, for a few dozen years and, after some retraining last Summer, I am finding it easier now to see form and line.  Last July, I had the opportunity to participate in a nature and environmental photography workshop with Gary Braasch in Maine.  He's a seasoned, professional nature photographer with a photojournalistic bent and also a great workshop leader.  Being with him (most days starting around 3:30 AM), helped me understand the elements of a scene and see how light was intersecting with the forms and lines. It was probably about 20 years ago that I first realized how artists such as Freeman Patterson work to interpret form and line in nature.  He visited Rochester to lead a seminar sponsored by the Kodak Camera Club and provided many of us some true artistic inspiration. But enough of this blah-blah and chatter;  Show not Tell:

Vertical trees splashed with fall color.

The all-important horizontal... keep it on the level!

Forms surrounded by water emerge from the ocean or a local stream.

The lens will do the work. For these, I used wide angle to capture the whole scene.

To focus on detail lines and forms, the close focus zoom or macro works.

And this one was taken about 24 hrs after the one above, a temporary thaw, crystals to droplets, lines to forms.

This one is a fiddle on the computer. Any guesses as to what the original subject was?

Well after-all, most resolutions don't survive the first month of the year and who says scholars can't be goofy?  

Oh yeah,  and don't forget the owl (photo credit, the Bird Nerd).

This is the time of year where we seem to have more places to go, more people to visit and more food than needed.  We just celebrated Thanksgiving, here with my wife's side of the family with a monumental dinner featuring turkey, potatoes, squash, cranberry, and pies and then again down the road, (tied in with my sister's big 5 - 0) with lasagna, eggplant, Chicken French, mini-meatballs, green salad and more.

It was a great time, to see how nieces and nephews have grown since Summer, quiz them on their work in school and hear about their athletic and artistic accomplishments.

At the risk of being sent back to the Nerds,  I can tell you that Andy's recent post got me thinking more about time.  I was reminded of the 24-hour photoshoots that appeared in "Day-In-the-Life-of" series of books that Kodak had sponsored.  A recent project, not surprising, which has many similarities in concept and many technology advances was produced by Rick Smolan.  It can be seen as this photo-mashup map.

I was also thinking how time marches at constant speed and only goes one way.  We're only getting older.  But realize this, while everyone is blessed with different talents, ideas, skills,  abilities and interests - everyone has exactly the same amount of time.  Time -
the great equalizer. 

One of the great masters of photography had a great sense of timing.  Henri Cartier-Bresson, a 20th century French photographer, was lauded for his ability to capture, what became known as the "decisive moment"... where expression and gesture lifted the image to a higher level.

Most all of our photos are taken in a small fraction of a second.  In that minimal amount of time, it is amazing that we can capture so much of life's energy.

I hope you all had a good Summer.  It is back-to-school time now.  Dan Neuberger recently exhibited some of his new photographic work.
I'll always remember his great advice to me as a young photographer.  Note:  It was tongue-in-cheek advice.

"If you can't make it good, make it big

and if you can't make it big, make it red."

These are few of my photos from summer travels: 

I've got to get back to preparing for classes and getting things in order. 

One last thought ... it continues to amaze me how a digital image from the camera can be transformed via the historical photographic processes.  Here's one recent attempt:

And for goodness-sake, don't ignore the ape!