(January, 2014) ---- With award-winning journalist Peter Turnley and about a dozen fabulous shooters, I spent a week in Havana. This week's news about Cuba has a special interest for me.
Rummaging through some of my photos from that trip, which were also my first gallery exhibition, I found I shot a 60-second video 'tour' of Havana. The motorized jitney/bicycle ride started at the Malecon, the highway along the ocean, and ended at Havana's Central Park.
During what must have been the coldest week of the year, I and eight other photographers, from Los Angeles to Toronto, walked the streets trying to capture, the essences, the people, the tastes, and the life of New York City.
Our guide was ex-Canadian, now US citizen Steve Simon. He is an incredibly talented and thoughtful photographer, who is eager to teach and motivate.
Through 'lectures', exhibitions of other street photographers' work, documentary video, films, and visits to NYC galleries, he exposed us to varied photograph styles, influences and passions.
There is no doubt that Steve's energy and skills motivated us to study, shoot, and learn
Our first day of shooting was full of rain. Buckets of it. Plastic bags for all our cameras. TYhe next three days, while sunny, saw temperatures in the 20s and 30s, hardly comfortable conditions for working with lenses, camera bodies, and shutter buttons.
In about two weeks, Wings Over Wiscasset 2.0 will attract thousands of people to its two days of air shows featuring WW II Warbirds and the Texas Flying Legends, antique autos, a big band swing dance, tributes to veterans, and more.
In preparation, I went out to the Wiscasset Airport to remind myself of where I might position to get the best photos of the events.
Since I don’t carry a lot of equipment when I shoot, I wasn’t sure whether my 18-200mm lens could do the job. But then I reviewed my images from last year’s show and noticed that I did most of my shots with my then-new 18-70mm.
Surprise, surprise! The 70mm was enough for me to get some detail as planes flew over. Going up to 200mm will be a big leap closer, just fine to catch planes in the air. I also found that shooting at 1/1250th of second is enough to stop propellers, and, like when shooting snow scenes, I should open up a stop or two to prevent the sky from overpowering the planes.
The Maine Association of Obsolete Cars staged their annual exhibition this weekend on the grounds of the Boothbay Railway Village. This picture is the hood ornament of a 1927 Pontiac, whose owner bought it on eBay and restored it with a healthy helpings of time and money.
Dozens of old cars made the trek, some from New Hampshire, as well as Maine. I even saw a Florida license plate. (Ya see a lot of those, anyway - snow birds!).
Midcoast Maine on a Mid-July afternoon.
Last summer, I spent a few nights at the Saco Drive-In.
Drive-in movie theaters are fading from America and I wanted to ‘preserve’ this one in case it did not make the switch to digital projection. Happy to say, it did.
But one of the memories of those nights in Saco, at the drive-in, were mosquitos! They were everywhere. One family came prepared, though - they wrapped their car in netting.
Anyway, I went out last night to do some pre-Super Moon planning for tonight. And ... yep beside the lake where I wanted to catch a moon reflection in the water. Mosquitos!
A desperate time called for a desperate measure.
Most of my photography is focused on people. They call it ‘street photography’. I like it because it enables me to see and talk with new, interesting, people. But, occasionally, I shoot different things.
Donna and I were walking, after dinner with some friends, on Capitol Island, near Boothbay. About an hour before sunset.
Bath, Maine is an economic engine of the midcoast thanks to the Bath Iron Works.
BIW is a prime contractor to the Defense Department for ‘complex surface combatants.” In English, they make destroyers for the Navy.
Bath has also been named One of the Best Small Towns in America. Some might say it's ‘sleepy,’ hence a nighttime shot taken last week during the weeklong July 4th celebrations.
While some passers by might focus on the “small town” description, they would be missing the town’s charm, history, upscale retail and fine restaurants. Our favorite - Solo Bistro.
The hardest-working small business people in Maine are the lobstermen. Their metal traps weigh about 40 pounds, which they have to pull to the surface every few days. Hopefully they're holding a couple crustaceans. Many lobstermen anchor in harbors where they cooperatively sell their catches to the harbormaster, who sells it to distributors restaurants, locals or visitors.
This co-op, run by Jim, is on Westport Island at Cushman Cove. It’s one of the smallest - I’d guess no more than a dozen lobster boats.
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