Fast forward to 2021. I’ve had two major back surgeries, lost my clientele to Covid and made a major life change to Oregon to a small beach town with one of the famous Haystack Rocks offshore. With my change in lifestyle I will be blogging more to catch up on life in general. My approach will be helter skelter but at some point will make sense. The bottom line will be about the images and the art.
Equipment: Nikon Z6II, 14mm, 28-300 and an Apple iPhone 11
All images are from Italy and Barcelona.
I’m not a real descriptive writer. That’s why I’m a photographer, a visual artist. I let my images tell the story. Cubans were very friendly, interested and loved to interact. Tour guides loved to tell the stories of the Revolution and the strength of the culture. Owners of paladores wanted to not only share their tasty cuisine but the stories of their families. Street vendors along with the hustlers were happy to share their smiles. Others just wanted to enjoy their siesta.
Havana, Cuba is not New York City yet, but it’s streets are busy during the days. Predominately carefully maintained l1950s style cars, many with original motors and others that have been converted to Russian diesel motors with the telltale sounding diesel noise. We rode to a jazz club in a 1956 Chevy Impala with the owner styled and groomed to match his cherry red Chevy.
Delivery trucks, freight trucks, buses and horse drawn carriages are interspersed by the rare modern Mercedes and Toyotas. Road rage a rarity. It will come.
I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton. When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport. The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school. So many memories…… I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory. I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode. Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline. So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed. With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with. I know, it looks grainy and it does. But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer. A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great. Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.
The techy stuff: camera: iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)
Apps: Hipstamatic and Snapseed by Nik
My real work is at: http://www.zwink.com
I’m no expert but it appears the economy is improving. The first two months of 2014 were the busiest I’ve ever had. I know it’s a small sample to base the year on but other photographers have told me they’re off to a good start also. If photographers are working, businesses are marketing and looking to growth. That’s what we do, we help our client market, sell and grow their business.
I spent a lot of the month on the road. Several trips to Orange County surrounded a couple San Diego projects and then I went to the Bay Area for a couple shoots up there. After a quick respite back home and starting a new local project, I went to Alaska for a quick shoot. I know, why send a San Diego photographer there, it’s because my client trusts me to get what they need. Maybe an idea for a future blog.
Well I need to wrap this up. I have another couple projects in Orange County and LA this week. I hope everyone else is busy.
About my image gallery: All images shot with my iPhone while traveling. Post was in Snapseed.
