Every few years I manage to get down to the Keys and especially Key West. Yesterday I visited Key West with two friends and enjoyed a day of wandering the streets, eating ice cream drinking beer and celebrating sunset. Key west is an odd place with its own charm. There is plenty to do and lots of partying after dark. Each day at sunset there is a sunset celebration on the wharf and it is quite an event. There are street performer acts with cats, knifes, fire, and escape artists. Fun to watch. And, while all this is going on folks are drinking and watching for the green flash, which by the way we all saw last night. This is a shot I did during the sunset. Nothing too spectacular but it is sunset in Key West.
Author: Kevin Raber
Portrait From Aboriginal Community
On one of the PODAS workshops that I lead we visited the outback of Australia. It was an amazing trip with amazing instructors. We had the chance to visit an Aboriginal community. this is one of the many portraits we did there. These were very interesting people. Friendly and welcoming. Their faces were amazing, their eyes blah and recessed. It is amazing to visit a place like this and see how these folks live and understand better what they believe in and their history.
Some Where In Australia
This shot I found while going through my digital albums and I would have by passed it most likely but I kept coming back to it. This is an opal mind in the middle of no where Australia. Driving back from Red Center we were going down one of these roads where you could tie the steering wheel down and read a novel. Long and straight. All along this long stretch were old machines and piles of dirt. I learned that this is an opal mining areas. So, eventually we stopped so I could be the tourist and this is what I saw. The sky was dramatic and colors and landscape kind of strange. It’s like a tourist trap but no one was there. Anyway it was pretty cool to learn how they mine opal and see such a landscape.
One Of My Favorite Stores
Who hasn’t made a visit to an Apple store. I know the one close to me is so jammed with people sometimes that they make you wait in line to get in. What kind of retail store does that? One that ha s set new records for sales per square feet and always makes it fun to visit. Other retailers could only wish they had lines outside of their stores. And, then there is Microsoft who is building store right across from some Apple locations hoping to grab the leftovers. Funny to see as there is never anyone in the Microsoft store. They just don’t get it. This image is of the Apple store in NYC. I think tomorrow I’ll post another image from the same store. Since this shot was made they have completely re-done the famous glass cube so this shot is now kind of unique. If you are not using an Apple product you owe to yourself to come over to to the light and then you’ll wonder why you waited so long. And, get an iPad while you are at it.
Big Old Yellow Truck
Last summer on an evening with not much to do my friend and shooting partner set out to find a picture. I knew of a gravel pit as they are called here and we went to shoot there. The sky was changing rapidly with an approaching storm and things just fell into place. We got lots of good images. I worked this one on the ipad doing bunch of stuff to it. Kind of looks like it survived a nuclear attack. Sometimes you can find old things and just have fun taking pictures of them.
Old Truck
The Palouse, you have heard me speak about it many times before. Lots of old and abandoned things in the Palouse, hoes, cars and trucks. This is one of those trucks. I found this in the back of an old gas station. The gas station sits on this gentlemen’s farm and he restored it to look like the old ones that were seen across America. This person collects old cars and trucks and has dozens on his property. This one is an old GMC and caught my eye and the lens of me camera. Color, rust and symmetry. Some good elements.
Making It Look Different
One of the things photographers are doing lot of these days is taking normal pictures and using apps on their iPhones and iPads making them look different. I will admit I am guilty of this too, but I believe an image needs to be able to work without a lot of special effects and textures and so forth. Granted there is an occasional image that works well but a good image with good subject, and composition will always win out. Plus after a while all of this fancy effects becomes contrived and overused. Today though I am showing an image that I ran through a new app on my MAC. It was 99 cents and it is called Photo Sketcher and it does some cool stuff. Above is the page from it and below is the original. The original is stung in its own right but the sketcher one works well too. What do you think?
Ice and Glacier
This is a cool image done while visiting the Mt Cook area in New Zealand. We did a cruise in these Zodiac like boat and were able to get right up on mini icebergs which were breaking off the Glacier in the background. I had fun trying to put both the iceberg and glacier in the same shot to show contract and such. What do you think?
Nature Takes Over
Kind of cool how mother nature in all her ways eventually reclaims things and takes over. Nothing is more evident than this shot of the side of s rusty train car with a small plant beginning to grow out of it. Shot with a P65+ there is a load of detail in this shot. I made a large 30×40 inch print of this and it is stunning.
Rickets Glen
Tucked away in the mountains of central Pennsylvania is a small state park known as Rickets Glen. Literally out in the middle of no where this park boast 26 waterfalls and all of them are beautiful. It’s a two day adventure to visit Rickets Glen and shoot these falls. Obviously better to do in the Fall with colors changing. Here is one image expect to see more.