Sometimes a Photograph

My daughter, our youngest kid, took some photographs for me last week at my high school class reunion. I never expected such excellence!
by Charlie Leck

I’ve been blown away by some photographs in the last few days. A good friend forwarded an email he received from one of his friends that included an array of wonderful historical photographs that just grabbed my attention and gave me a number of rich, wonderful viewing moments. I spent a considerable time examining nearly every one of them. If I can get permission, I’ll share them here on my blog for you to see also (as of this moment I don’t know what the copyright provisions are).

For this moment, however, I want to share a few very artistic photographs my daughter took at my high school class reunion last week. I had asked her to come out to NJ with me to take photographs of each of the attending classmates and, perhaps, their spouses. She did.

I never expected such startling and beautiful results. Cynthia is a student right now at the International Center of Photography in Manhattan. To this point, she isn’t planning to make this a profession, but just a serious hobby. She’s also working on an advanced degree in the field of education.

I want to share a few of these photographs for your enjoyment. That’s all. You don’t know these former school chums of mine, but I’m betting you’ll still feel a bit of the emotion I felt when I looked at these and others.

Sometimes a photograph can be more than a casual snapshot. We, who too often pull out our iPhones or mini-cameras to casually take little reminders of moments, should remember and appreciate the remarkable power of extraordinary photography – and how it goes far beyond film or video in capturing the power of its subject. Go, for instance, to the web site of the Richard Avedon Foundation and look there at the extraordinary work of one of the masters.

For now, however, enjoy these works of my daughter.

  

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Nearly a Great Photo!

Close, they say, only counts in horseshoes.
by Charlie Leck

I got very close to a great photo the other day; and then she turned away.

She was standing outside the front door of the health and fitness club I go to, locking her bike into a rack. As I walked by her, she pulled off her biking helmet. Politely, she said hello. Her extremely curly hair, freed from the tight protector, was all asunder and looked fabulous. Her cheeks had gotten bright red from the chilly ride she’d just concluded and her eyes were sparkling and slightly moist. When she smiled at me, her entire face lit up and her bright white teeth glistened.

I knew at once that this would make a great, wonderful photograph.

Quite bluntly, I told her how beautiful she was and how I loved her hair. In reaction, she blushed and started to untangle and press down the wild curls that were going in every possible direction.

“No,” I said with surprising alarm. “Don’t change it! It’s perfect. My camera is in the car and I’m always on the lookout for a great photo. Could I please take your picture?”

“Are you a professional?”

“No, no! Just a hobbyist, but I’m pretty good at what I do. Please let me take a photograph of you.”

She agreed with a bright blush.

I rushed the few feet to my car and grabbed my Nikon D300 out of the trunk and, as I hurried back to where she stood, I pumped the ISO up a couple of notches to make up for the dull, grayness of the day.

By the time I returned, she had turned away and showed me only the back of her head.

“No, no,” I said, “I want to see that beautiful smile and your bright cheeks.”

“Oh, not my face,” she replied. “One never knows what will happen to a photograph these days.”

All the enthusiasm rushed out of me. I told her I understood. In disappointment, I snapped a few shots of the back of her head – no red cheeks, no sparkling eyes, no glistening white teeth and no spectacular smile.

Dang! “Close, but no cigar!”

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Minneapolis Photo Center

This is probably a blog that only residents of this area near Minneapolis will find interesting; however, if you really love photography you might want to read along!
by Charlie Leck

I spent a wonderful day on this past Saturday at the Minneapolis Photo Center (MPC). It’s located in northeast Minneapolis (2400 North Second Street… on the second floor). It’s a learning center, an exhibit center and a resource center.

I took an all day class on Saturday, trying to push my skills in using my wonderful camera a little more beyond the auto/program settings. It was a good experience and I discovered my camera can go far beyond what I had imaged.

If you appreciate photography, you’ll be happy that MPC is in existence. The center showcases the talents of extremely good photographers and often exhibits their works within the center. For instance, Annie Griffiths will be the featured photographer at an exhibit on October 28^th (an event I will unfortunately not be able to attend because of another commitment). Griffiths was on the first women photographers to work at National Geographic. Among her photographic stories for the magazine are ones about Lawrence of Arabia, Baja California, Galilee, Petra and Jerusalem. She is a Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. If you want more information about Griffith’s appearance at MPC you can find it here.

For a very nominal fee, I enjoy a splendid class that included a terrific lunch and an opportunity to shoot photographs of a professional model in a variety of lighting set ups.

Orin Rutchick and his wife Abby are the founders of MPC and they are very involved in its every day operations. Orin graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and has 35 years experience as a professional photographer, graphic designer and art director. His vision is that the center will be a spot where photographers might learn together and grow together. Abby is a solid business woman and she applies those skills to the center’s operations.

I’ll be spending some of my time at the center in the future and I’d love to introduce some of my photographically inclined friends to what the center has to offer.

Here are a few of the results I got yesterday during my class.

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A Sunday Morning with Jay Maisel

Sunday mornings are special to me because I do quiet things that I enjoy and not chores that need to be done.
by Charlie Leck

So, I love photography and I’m very happy when I have a camera in my hands and a beautiful world in front of me!

Let’s get things straight from the top: I make no claims about having talent with a camera. I’m okay; but compared to someone who knows what he’s doing, I’m a rank amateur. When I get a really wonderful photograph, I’m a bit surprised. I like those surprises, so I keep taking photographs constantly, just for those surprises.

For instance, I like this photograph of Melissa. She’s so proud of this brother – or boyfriend – who is about to receive his bachelor’s degree. I like all the happiness and pride in the photograph. I put it in the file with all those photos I consider my best. I look at it occasionally and it always makes me smile. Why not?

This is what I mean by doing quiet things on Sunday mornings that I really enjoy.

So, this morning I spent an hour or so with Jay Meisel, an extraordinary photographer from New York City. Jay has a huge sense of humor, a barrel full of wisdom about art and photography and an absolutely fantastic home and studio in Manhattan. If you want to know more about him, you should go to his web site. On the very first page – the home page – of that web site, you immediately find evidence of his enormous talent. If you want to hear a bit from Jay, watch this very nice little video in which he talks very frankly about himself and his work. If you want to learn more about photography, you really should watch it and it will lead you to other pretty exciting stuff.

Santa Fe Workshop Instructor Series – Jay Maisel from StoryPortrait Media on Vimeo.

This morning I watched an hour long video, Another Day with Jay Meisel, on a service I subscribe to (Kelby Training). I tried to find the video for you so you could enjoy the hour without having to pay for it. So far, no luck! I’ll keep trying.

This is the second hour I’ve spent walking through Manhattan and visiting his home with Jay. This master tells me things like: “Talent is over-rated. Work!”

Here’s a You Tube video of Jay, saying little things that inspire me to work harder at my photography.

Maisel began as a student of painting and acknowledges that he was not very good. His instructors, however, knew he had a special talent for color. It all led him, eventually, to a photography career that began in the 1950s. Jay did a lot of commercial work to make a living. Now he only shoots for himself and his work is considered among the tops in photographic arts. His home is a five story building – originally a bank – in Manhattan. It is crammed full of his prints and everything he’s ever shot is carefully stored in the old bank vaults in the basement.

Maisel writes an irregular blog. I try to follow it and it’s always a worthwhile read when I go to it. You can find it here.

Take a look at a portfolio of his work here. It’s really a remarkable presentation. It’s also a gentle thing to do on Sunday morning!

Bear in mind that Maisel doesn’t have Photoshop on his computer. He doesn’t crop his work. As he says, all his cropping is done as he takes the photograph – by the lens itself. He rarely alters a photograph. When he does, it always bears the notation “ai” or altered image. Many of the master’s photographs will look like paintings. Or, they’ll look like someone juiced up the colors on a computer. In fact, they are just the way Maisel photographed them and those colors and complexities were captured by his eye and his camera.

Maisel conducts workshops in Manhattan for guys like I. What the heck? I really should go to one of them and see what I can learn.

I took this photograph in 2008 on Rock Cut Road near Philadelphia, Mississippi. It was one of the most meaningful and extraordinary days of my life and this photograph brings the day back to me again and again.

My photographs are for me. I don't attempt to sell them. They're carefully cataloged on both the computer and in print. I rarely frame one, but there are a few around the house that are meaningful to us.

In September we're going to Prague for a week and I really want to take my best camera equipment with me. It's not an easy thing to do and there is always the worry of losing a camera in traveling. I'll need to think this through and seek some advice from people who always haul their good cameras with them.

This photo I took during the summer of 2010 when family members from France were visiting us for a couple of weeks. They were very photogenic and it was difficult not to pester them constantly with my camera.

Sunday mornings are so wonderful. I make sure I use them for only enjoyable endeavors.

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Thanksgiving Memories

Of all the photos I took, one stands out!
by Charlie Leck

Like a proud grandpa, I took many dozens of photographs over the Thanksgiving weekend. Every once in awhile, probably quite by accident, I get something extra special. This photograph, I think, is a good example of that. This is our 6 year old Anna, caught in this photograph while we were really just getting ready to take some photographs. It was, in other words, a practice shot. The more I looked at it, however, and saw the casual look on her face and the colors that splashed against the wall from a late morning sun, the more I thought that I had done something special.

Thus, I offer it to you, for your inspection.

Forest Woodward Photography

It’s Sunday, you know, and I need a break from the constant thunder in my head!
by Charlie Leck

Enough for a few days, anyway, with all the hassle about politics, and health care reform, and racism, and humankind’s stupidity – and my own particular brilliance!

I like to get away from that stuff on Sunday mornings and maybe write about the Minnesota Vikings, or the Twins, or our mule, Reva; or, of course, as I like to occasionally, about photography.

Wow! Did I find a photographer for you! You don’t have to be a photography genius to tell that this guy’s work is special. He’s got a very creative eye and a very special sense for light, color and angles. That’s a photograph of his (above), which I purchased from iStock.com just so I could show you an example.

If you want to see a lot more, go to this particular Forest Woodward Blog, and he has lots of his work on display there that you can enlarge to a handsome size; or, go visit his spectacular web site, where you can see a great deal of his very special portfolio.

Here’s something Woodward says about himself and his photography that I found both interesting and intriguing.

“The relationship that I strive to cultivate between my lifestyle and my photography is one of symbiosis; growth in one fosters growth in the other as I pursue new experiences and horizons. My camera has allowed me to travel to amazing places, meet great people and hear fascinating stories. In return I let the camera share fully in my experiences, opening the shutter to my life and the relationships and lives of the real people… people I am fortunate to call my friends and family.”

Woodward’s photographs have appeared in National Geographic, Men’s Health, Prevention Magazine, Passport, Ask Men, Science Daily, Momentum and Forbes.

If you’re a hobbyist or pro, you can find out about Woodward’s photographic equipment on his web site. He is a very young man – certainly in relation to his success. He was the youngest student ever to attend the Rocky Mountain School of Photography and he’s worked on the staff of that school for the last four years. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa this year from the University of Northern Colorado, with majors in Spanish and sociology.

If you go on to examine Woodward’s photographs, you are in for a real treat. He is a special talent. Below are two more of his photographs.