WARREN, CONNECTICUT – We were plagued by another beautiful autumn day. Very hard to make good on my “no more fall foliage” pledge, but I caught a break midday, visiting the construction site of a house being built by my friend Doug Hamilton, who has a serious serial housebuilding habit. The Mustique construction gallery to the right is the result of a multi-year project documenting a house under construction by Doug in Mustique – he’s doing it again in Connecticut. Leica M9 with 15mm Voigtlander lens.
WARREN, CONNECTICUT – I’ve been meaning to try a night image of our house in Connecticut for some time. Here’s a try at it under tough conditions – a high wind made working on a tripod challenging. This is stitched from two frames. Leica M9 with a 90mm Elmarit lens.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – Back home from Chicago I attended a seminar on blogging for photographers. There were a number of important infrastructure suggestions that I’ll be implementing over the next few weeks. The hard issue that emerged from the discussions, though, is that the conventional wisdom on building website traffic is to focus. So if you want to be a successful wedding photographer you post sample work. You focus on backstories and relationships with clients. You find ways to link to you site from other wedding resources, and in fact you become a wedding resource.
If I were pressed to say what my focus is I guess that I’d say it’s the fine art market. Me and a lot of other good photographers who focus on landscape would like to sell fine prints to people. But I do think that how people consume images is changing dramatically – in the end the on-line product may be the only product. So the blog, rather than being a marketing tool, is an end in itself. I’ve got some serious further work to do on this issue.
Returning from the seminar I caught this crossing Park Avenue. Leica M9 and 15mm Voigtlander lens.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – I was in Chicago for a mutual funds directors conference and managed this in magical early morning light. It’s the Wrigley Building taken out of my hotel window with my Leica M9 and a 50mm Summilux lens. Is it iconic? If I were from Chicago I might have a view on this. It has the great advantage of being on the Chicago River which permits viewing from a distance. The Chicago chapter of the AIA features a thumbnail of it on the header to its website: Chicago AIA. I’ve categorized it as an icon despite some misgivings (is it really in the same league as the Chrysler building?).
I collected a bunch of images in and around Millennium Park but most were tourist-style very wide angle images around the cloud gate. I thought this one on the walk back toward the Chicago River was interesting.
On this date last year we were at Full Sail Brewery in Hood River, Oregon.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – The weather in Chicago was truly appalling. Heavy rain drive in horizontal sheets by the high wind. I stayed inside at the mutual funds conference, managing a few pictures out the window. Not a great day for photography. Leica M9 with 90mm Elmarit lens.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK and CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Well I’m two for two on out the window shots for the day. I started the morning in New York with a lovely sunrise. Yes, I’ve said that I don’t do sunrises and sunsets but this seemed sufficiently spectacular to warrant and exception. Out our dining room window with my Leica M9 and 28mm Sumicron Asph. lens.
Manhattan sunrise
Midmorning I left for Chicago to attend an two day mutual fund directors’ conference. By the time I got to my hotel and registered for the conference the day’s rather poor light was failing. I took a walk along the Chicago River but didn’t take anything that I liked. When I got back to my hotel I got this out the window. Leica M9 and 90mm Elmarit lens.
Chicago River Tour Boat
On this date one year ago I was in Portland Oregon at a farmers market: October 25, 2009
BRIDGEWATER, CONNECTICUT – Well I had a great plans to solve the autumn color blues today. I have friend who annually hosts a variety of lunatics who bring catapults, and who compete at catapulting pumpkins across the landscape. We headed out that way mid-afternoon but as a result of a mis-communication with my daughter (my fault) we arrived after it was over. Tough luck. Really tough luck. But I saw this barn on the way back to New York. I shot it primarily because of the complete absence of yellow, red and orange. Leica M9 with 50mm Summilux lens. Six images stitched.
This may be my favorite image from the last 12 months. The light was magical. The name of the building, Pacific Gateway Medical Center, conveyed ironic grandeur. The name of the town, Drain Oregon, suggests hair balls and the like. Wow.
