Photography Journal

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Category: Emotions

Postings about various emotions

  • The Victims

    The Victims

    The September 11 attacks, colloquially known as 9/11, were a coordinated series of suicide attacks perpetrated by the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. A total of 19 terrorists hijacked four airliners. The first two planes were flown into each of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, while the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural field in Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt.
    The attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more, and gave rise to long-term health consequences while causing at least US$10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history, as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The crashes of Flight 11 and Flight 175 were the deadliest aviation disasters of all time, and the collision of Flight 77 with the Pentagon resulted in the fourth-highest number of ground fatalities in a plane crash in history.
    — Wikipedia: 9/11 attacks

    The company I worked for had a sabbatical program for employees. I happened to be on my sabbatical when this happened. On the morning of 9-11, I had finished a TaeKwon Do class and had stopped to refuel my car. When I went to pay for the gas, I heard people talking about the bomb in New York City.

    I rushed home to find out what had happened. I spent the next 3 days glued to my TV watching reports about what had happened and what was being done for the survivors. It was grim.

    I finally had to get out of the house and do something. I grabbed a camera, my Nikon N80, and some TMax film and headed out to the Ohio Historical Society. They have a recreation of a small village from the 1800s on the site. I spent the next two hours wandering the site and taking photos.

    There is a small outdoor eating area on the site and as I walked by, my brain went to the friends and families of the people who died. The empty tables and chairs made me think about all the empty chairs the victims would never sit in, the meals they would not be there for, the family conversations they wouldn’t have.

    I shot two frames.

    The planning

    There wasn’t a lot of planning involved in this shoot. I wanted to go somewhere where I could put aside, for a short while, the heartache that I felt for the people affected by the suicide attacks. Ohio Village is based on life in the 1800s, and I think my brain was telling me that this was a period without global terrorism, without the anger and hatred that we were seeing between the Arabic world and the Western world. There was little in the way of modern technology then.

    The gear

    My wife had given me the Nikon N80 as a Christmas gift the year before the 9/11 event. I had been shooting with it for 9 months and really enjoyed using that camera. At that time, I could also develop my own black and white negatives. Plus, the monochromatic colors seemed appropriate for what was going on at that time — the views held by both the terrorists and much of the Western world were very black and white.

    The shot that came out

    The victims of the 9/11 attacks will not be present for future events with friends or family

    Technically, I think this image came out well: I have Zone III with detail in the shadow area, and Zone VIII with good highlights.

    The black and white eliminates distractions and allows the eye to focus on the subject. There is a slight tilt to the image. At first I thought about fixing that, but I realized it made a lot of sense — our world had just been knocked askew. It was tilted, and may never be set right again. The absence of people reinforces the absence of relatives and friends killed in the attack.

    When I returned to work, I brought the prints I had made to show my colleagues what I had been doing while I was away. When we got to this image and I explained what it meant to me, a few people would say “oh,” quietly and without much feeling. Others would respond with “WHOA!” You can tell which people got it and which didn’t. That’s ok, that’s part of life.

    Reference

    See Ansel Adams Zone System

    What I learned

    Listen to that inner voice you have. Sometimes it may lead you astray, but there are times when it speaks to you and you really do need to listen. This was one of those.

    Camera: Nikon N80
    Lens: Nikon AF 28-50 f/3.3 – f/5.6
    Film: Kodak TMax 100
    Developer: Kodak TMax Developer
    Location: Ohio Village, Columbus, Ohio
    Subject: Outdoor eating area in the Ohio Village setting

  • Standin’ on the Corner

    Standin’ on the Corner

    “Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see.”
    — The Eagles, “Take It Easy” (1972)

    On May 15, late in the afternoon, I drove into Winslow, Arizona, and stood on the corner where Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey wrote about in 1972.

    What it is

    Standin’ on the Corner Park is a small public park in downtown Winslow that commemorates the song “Take It Easy” — the one with the line every guitarist knows: “standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona.” The song was on the Eagles’ debut album in 1972.

    The park has:

    • A two-story trompe-l’œil mural of a 1940s-era building and a flatbed Ford truck
    • A real flatbed Ford parked permanently on the street corner
    • A bronze statue of a guitar-carrying figure — “Easy” — modeled loosely on Jackson Browne, but meant to represent any troubadour
    • A wall of donor bricks, each with a personal story about Winslow

    It’s a small park. Five minutes to walk through. But it has the weight of fifty-plus years of American pop culture baked into every inch of it.

    Why I went

    I went because I’d been humming “Take It Easy” for the entire trip. There’s no escaping the song when you’re driving I-40 across northern Arizona — it has been on the radio every hour since you cross the state line. When I realized I’d be passing within an hour’s drive of Winslow, the detour was obvious.

    I also went because some places aren’t really places — they’re lines from songs. Standin’ on the Corner Park is one of those. You’re not visiting a corner; you’re visiting a lyric that became a place.

    The shot

    I made this image around 8:15 in the morning on May 15 — the first proper light of the day, before the heat of the afternoon had a chance to build. There were maybe five other tourists in the park, and the bronze statue stood on the corner looking east, guitar slung low.

    The image is the Nikon Z6 with the 28-75mm f/2.8 at 31mm equivalent. Exposure was 1/160 at f/6.3, ISO 100. I chose a moderately wide focal length because I wanted both the statue and the flatbed Ford truck in the frame — the two visual anchors of the park.

    The wall of donor bricks is in the foreground. The trompe-l’œil mural is in the background. The statue stands at the corner, exactly where Jackson Browne (sort of) did in 1972.

    What I learned

    There’s a kind of photography that’s about a place, and there’s a kind that’s about a feeling. Standin’ on the Corner Park is more feeling than place — a song lyric given physical form, a chance to stand in someone else’s imagination.

    The image isn’t really about the statue or the truck. It’s about being there, in the town where Jackson Browne stood, in the corner the song names. The photograph is just the evidence.

    That wraps up the Arizona series. Next stop: I haven’t decided yet. Yosemite is on the list — making 4×5 images of Half Dome, the way Ansel Adams did, has been a long-time dream.

    Camera: Nikon Z6 mirrorless
    Lens: Nikkor Z 28-75mm f/2.8 at 31mm
    Exposure: 1/160 second, f/6.3, ISO 100
    Location: Standin’ on the Corner Park, Winslow, AZ
    Captured: May 15, 2026, ~8:15 AM (camera clock was set to Eastern Time)

  • Restoring Family Heirlooms: Honoring Memories

    Restoring Family Heirlooms: Honoring Memories

    We’re in the process of clearing out Kate’s parents’ house in preparation for selling it. Over the past few months, Kate and her sister Karla have been sorting through the belongings still left in the house. They have been divvying things up among the children and grandchildren. Most of the major items have already been claimed, and now we’re down to the smaller household goods.

    It hasn’t been easy—especially for Kate. She grew up in that house and has so many memories wrapped up in it. Her father, whom everyone called Pops, passed away years ago. Her mom is now in assisted living, dealing with health issues and nearing the end of her life. Letting go of the physical space and the objects tied to so much family history has been emotionally heavy.

    While I was sorting through the garden tools, I came across one of Pops’ old hand saws. It turned out to be a Henry Disston D-23 crosscut saw, made sometime between 1940 and 1947. Henry Disston and Sons were the premiere sawmakers of the late 19th and early 20th century. The saws have become collectors items over the years for woodworkers due to the quality of the materials and construction. There are online databases helping you to identify the year and type of saw.

    Whether Pops bought the saw new or picked it up used, he would have been in his 20s. This was about the time when it was made. The saw was in rough shape. The plate was rusted (though thankfully not pitted). However, the handle was still solid. Surprisingly, the teeth were sharp. I found a few small bends in the plate, but I was able to straighten them out. It’s an 8 TPI (Teeth per Inch) saw, 24 inches long, with nickel-plated screws and a brass medallion. I cleaned the plate using sandpaper and mineral spirits, and I’ll look again later to see if there’s still an etching under the surface rust I removed.

    The restoration process for a saw like this is fairly straightforward:

    1. Remove the handle from the saw plate.
    2. Clean the plate with sandpaper and mineral spirits.
    3. Polish it with extra fine steel wool and furniture wax.
    4. Burnish the screws and medallion.
    5. Strip the handle of old boiled linseed oil with a card scraper.
    6. Repair any damage to the handle (none needed here).
    7. Reapply fresh coats of linseed oil.
    8. Straighten any dents or bows in the saw plate.
    9. Sharpen the teeth, if necessary.
    10. Reassemble and test.

    But restoring this saw is about more than the steps. It matters to me because Kate’s dad was a woodworker, too. He had a small workshop in his basement and made beautiful things: a toy car and tow truck for our son Ian when he was a baby, a walnut quilt rack, a cradle made from a tree that grew on his brother’s property. Each piece was crafted with real care, skill, and love and likely made with this saw.

    Pops wasn’t an openly affectionate man. You didn’t get a lot of “I love yous,” but you knew how he felt by the way he showed up—by what he did for you, how he helped, how he built things that mattered. From what I’ve heard, his father was the same way. They both spoke through their work, their support, and their quiet acts of care.

    Restoring his saw feels like a way to honor that—to keep a bit of his spirit and his craftsmanship alive.

  • Black and White

    I love black and white photography. It’s where I started when I purchased my first camera. My next door neighbor where I grew up went to Ohio State University and got a degree in Medical Communication.  As part of his education, he took photography classes.  He used to come home and show me some of the things he had been doing.  I was blown away by what you could do with photography.  I decided that at some point in my life, I would get my own camera and learn how to use it.  Later, when I attended Ohio State, I got that camera and took classes on photography and photojournalism.  I  learned how to use that camera (a Minolta SRT 201) and process the black and white film myself.

     I loved being in the dark room with the safety light burning over my head. I loved the smell of the developer and fixer. I loved watching the print emerge from the developer as you lifted and lowered the developing tray. I loved bringing the images out into the regular light and really looking closely at them to see where I needed to do extra work, dodging areas that were too dark and burning in areas that were too light.  I loved getting the spot tone out and painting little dots of black on the spots that showed up on the print (today we use the clone stamp and healing brush to fix those).  I loved mounting the image onto the mat board and seeing the finished product, or seeing your images in print in the newspaper.

    I miss that. I miss being in a room full of enlargers and other photographers around you working on their images. But with digital photography taking over from film photography, much easier to do all that in the computer. Now, I long for the time I spend behind the camera composing an image, really looking at the light and making sure that the image looks great and capturing the image. I look forward to getting home and getting the images into the computer so that I can start to really look at them, really start to see what needs to happen to make that a truly special image.

    For these images above, I use a software tool to convert them to Black and White.  I love the way that it gets the tones just right and it also allows me to emulate different film styles, like Kodak Panatomic X 32 ASA film.  I really liked shooting that film.  It had a slow speed with a really nice fine grain to it, but the best part was the velvety blacks and luminous whites that you got from that film.  

  • Darr Family Portraits

    Darr Family Portrait

    Two postings in two days, but that’s how it goes sometimes. As I said in my last posting, I’ve been shooting more portraits lately and that’s perfect for me. I love doing portrait work. And it was especially fun working with this family.

    I’ve been photographing their son since before he made his entrance into the world. And I hope that continues long into the future. He’s such a cute kid and you can see the ornery coming out of his eyes at times. In the image with the park bench, he climbed up on it and went through a series of poses without any inhibitions (of course at his age, he hasn’t learned any).

    These images were also taken at the same park where I shot Ian’s Senior Portraits. As I said earlier, this is such a beautiful park. I had to laugh to myself though. It’s senior portrait time and there must have been 10 photographers and their subjects at the park that day. At one point several of us were grouped around the entrance to the park waiting for our clients. It reminded me of a press conference with all that photographic gear. I gotta say though, photographers are a fun bunch to hang around. We’ll strike up a conversation with anyone and if you are carrying a camera we end up talking gear and images.

  • Jeffrey Mansion

    Jeffrey Mansion Collage

    I spent the afternoon yesterday taking photographs of a couple of models at the Jeffrey Mansion in Bexley, Ohio. This is a beautiful building and grounds. It’s part of the City of Bexley Parks department now. We weren’t able to shoot inside the building, but around the mansion there are lots of great spots for getting a great image. At some point, I’d love to do something inside the building. It has beautiful woodwork and great lighting. The front windows remind me of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, with lots of squares of clear white glass. The patterns inside should be outstanding.

    We spent most of our time along the rock wall on the back of the house. I loved how there was an archway and stairwell leading up to the lawn. At the top of the stairwell is a small building made from the same rocks looking out onto a large greenspace (today that greenspace is used for playing little league soccer and football.

    Layla and Michael, my subjects, are actually a couple so it made capturing these images extra special. I’ve worked with Layla before. She’s a natural. She knows how to move and pose to get great images. This was Michael’s first time in front of the camera and, though he seemed a little shy, he did a great job. I wanted a playful, romantic feel to the images and I think I got some great results. Feel free to comment below with thoughts and suggestions.

  • McGuffey Lane Concert

    McGuffey Lane Concert

    We went to the McGuffey Lane fund raiser concert last night. There was a pretty good sized crowd in attendance. This was the 5th year that they have held this concert and McGuffey Lane kept up the pace all nightl. They also had the Buckeye Brass Band play during the break between the first and second sets. (Where else but in Central Ohio would you get a country rock concert and Marching Band Music? We love our Ohio State Buckeyes here.)

    For those of you outside of the Central Ohio area, McGuffey Lane was (and still is) a very popular local country rock group. They reached their heyday back when country/bluegrass/western music became popular in the late 70s and early 80s. They had one really big album and a second album that was much less successful. The toured with the Charlie Daniels Band, the Judds, and the Allman Brothers.

    In 1984 the keyboard player Tebes Douglass was killed in a car crash and the group never seemed to recover. They broke up in 1990, but John Schwab and the some of the remaining members of the group continues to play local concerts and fund raisers. Their current play list includes some new work as well as their favorites from that first album. They always put on a good show.

    The weather was perfect for the evening and my friends who went to the show had a lot of laughs. Being a photographer, I’m a people watcher. I love faces and love to check the crowd. One of the audience members (who I called the band leader) was running around crowd dancing with any woman he could find. He also loved to jump on a chair and encourage the crowd to clap and sing along. He seemed to be having a great time.

    Summer is definitely on the wane here in Ohio. You can start to feel and smell autumn in the air. The plants are starting to dry out and the leaves have started to change color. That means one thing: Football season and shooting more outdoor portraits showing off the autumn colors. I’m excited for both.

  • What a great day today

    It was a good day today. I got more things accomplished with my photography business.  I recently set up a new business domain for it and I’m working to get it deployed into my blog and photo sharing site.  In addition, I’ve been revamping the blog with a new color scheme that matches what I’ve set up on the photo sharing site.

    Add to that, my mother has been fighting a health issue and it has resolved itself.  She’s in her 70s and for the most part she’s in pretty good health.  Her doctor took her off the medications she was taking to combat the issue and she’s doing much better.  I just hope that when I’m in my 70s I’m in as good of health as she is.

    Then I saw this image.  It makes me laugh when I look at it.  I was taking a photo of the bride’s shoes and her husband came up to us.  I just had to throw him into the photo.  The best part is that I have him holding his pant legs up a bit so that we can see his shoes and he’s trying to stand really close to the bride, so basically, he’s falling over while I’m trying to snap a good shot. He’s a good sport, and we laughed a lot about it as it was happening.

    I just love doing wedding photography. You get a chance to take part in a very special day.  You also have to think quickly on your feet as the event unfurls around you. But to me, that’s what makes it so much fun.  You have to be on your game and looking for great images.

    I can’t wait until my next one!

  • Touching moment

    Touching moment

    I had the privilege of shooting the wedding photos for Laura and Michael a couple of weeks ago. They were a great couple to work with and you could tell that they were in love.  I captured this moment before the ceremony as they prayed together.  The screen protected Michael from seeing Laura before the ceremony. It was really touching.

    The wedding ceremony itself was very nice and the message from the pastor was also spot on for this couple.

    The couple’s entrance into the reception was also very cool.  They had been taking dance lessons for several weeks before the ceremony and after they were announced, they performed a waltz together.  It was fun to watch and you could tell they were enjoying it, too.

    Congratulations Michael and Laura!  I hope you have many happy years together.