Photography, Techniques and Whereabouts of Kevin Raber
Another image from one of my favorite cities to shoot architectural abstracts. This one was done with a Sony and a 100-400mm lens. I then corrected perspective in post-processing so all the lines were straight up and down. The golden glow was caused by early morning light which is my favorite shooting time in Chicago.
I am always looking for the picture in the picture. This is a photo of an old beached boat on a beach in Svalbard. What I like to od is shoot the picture of the larger subject (the boat) itself then go in close and start to look for new compositions. Sometimes I use a long lens like the 100-400nn lens. In this shot, I saw the bow of the ship as it’s own abstract photo. I moved back a bit and zoomed in with the telephoto lens to compress the image a bit. Then I shot it. At first, if you see the images you might not know what it is. This forces the viewer to stop for a minute to figure it out. Some people may not even figure it out. I like this subject as it has a lot of things I like, such as rust and peeling paint. Enjoy.
Watching a glacier calve is the most incredible sight and sound. It’s an art to position yourself so you can catch a glacier as it calves. Once you are positioned you need to keep your camera to your eye to make sure you are ready to catch it. My technique is to get a zodiac in place and pick out the front of a glacier that may calve. Then holding the camera to your eye sweep left and right until it happens. If you wait until you hear it is too late. The noise is like an explosion and the sight is something to behold. This glacier was in the arctic circle in Svalbard.
While at the Harpa Opera House in Reykjavik, Iceland my friend Steve Gosling and I spent some time shooting various things. In a previous post, I shared my building abstracts. Today I share some images from a spot I found and I photographed people on or near the escalator in the Opera House. I shot these with the Sony RX100 vii and converted them to BW images. They were RAW files and I made adjustments to them in Capture One. These will never be considered art but more on the level of street photography where I document what I see in what is going on around me. They are different and I do like the one with the person going up the escalator.
I love doing may kinds of photography. I am most happy doing landscape photography, where I can take my time to compose the image and wait for just the right moment of light. I enjoy doing portraits, where I can try different posing and lighting to come out with unique images. Street photography is different altogether and in many cases not understood by many. I love wandering the streets of my hometown as well as the cities I visit. For me, street photography catches the moment, light and life on the street.
I am excited because this coming week I receive the new Fuji X Pro 3 camera which should be ideal for working the streets. I’ll report back after I have some time with this app. These images today were taken in various locations The photo of the couple in front of the sphere was done in Chicago. The man with the violin was made in Copenhagen. This guy is such a good violin player and he strolls the streets in Copenhagen playing at restaurants and parks. He always has a violin case of cash that people donated to him. The image with the man and woman walking was made in Las Vegas. LasVegas, by the way, is a very rich city to shoot street work. I love the shadows, the seriousness of their walk and then the little upside-down plywood cutout behind them.
I hope you like these. Look for more soon.
I love walking the streets of the cities I visit. Who doesn’t? On a recent trip to Reykjavik Iceland, I walked the streets with my friend Steve Gosling. We both had the Sony a7r vii. This small little and pocketable camera is very capable. I love it because it can do great still as well as video. It has an equivalent focal length zoom of 24 – 200mm. That’s quite some reach and allows all sorts of possibilities. I didn’t want to be encumbered while walking the streets so this was a perfect choice. We strolled down to the Opera House in the harbor area and spent some time shooting there. This post deals with shooting the building. It’s basically a glass building with intricate glass panels reflecting light and some of them look out of place as they don’t reflect to reflect differently.
I spent a bit of time shooting there and I like what is called the picture in the picture. I shoot at a long focal length and tilt and play with angles trying to get a different look. The windows have a green tint to them and after I got them on my computer I decided to see what they would look like in BW. I varied the settings until I got the look I liked. Here are a few examples of what I came up with. I hope you do too.
I have been shooting this property for years. It’s in the heart of the Palouse. A very friendly man lives by himself in the house and takes great pride in this barn. In the barn are a number of old cars and hot rods. When we stop by to take photographs he usually sees us and comes out to welcome us on his property. He is constantly shifting the cars in the yard around. He must think like a photographer as he always has them arranged as if he was taking photos of them. You’ll find other variations of this location throughout this blog.
One of the things I love doing in the Palouse is exploring and photographing abandoned cars and trucks. They seem to be everywhere. It seems they all have their stories. One day someone parked the vehicle and just left it there never to return. I like to document the curves and textures as seen in some of my previous posts. This image today is of an old pickup truck dashboard shot with my Sony 100-400mm lens. I like using long lenses for images that some wouldn’t think of using a long lens for. The thing that I love most is peeling p[aint. I don’t know where this comes from but it is fun to see how time and nature change as well as reclaims things.
These two images with this blog today show how the mood and landscape can change from a color image and a black & white one. Which one do you like better?
The Palouse is such a place of beauty. Farmland that is art. No matter where you go in the Palouse the simplicity of the landscape p[presents numerous photographic opportunities. This was shot from Steptoe Butte where elevated views change the way you see this countryside.
