Tree Shadows on a Wall

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My wife had ordered something from Sears and had to pick it up. While she was inside I took the dog for a short walk around the parking lot. It was around 4:00 pm on a very bright sunny day. The sun was low and the light was very contrasty. As I was walking back to the car I noticed a line of trees casting very dark shadows on the light wall behind them. The shadow of a single tree on the wall looked as if it would make a decent picture. A group of people walked up while I was getting ready to take my shot and decided to take some phone pictures of themselves (I’m not entirely sure why as it wasn’t a particularly scenic location. Maybe they noticed the shadows too). At first I was annoyed because they, probably without thinking, cast their own shadows on the very wall I was trying to photograph. I waited patiently taking a few pictures and eventually they moved on. I then took my picture of the shadow on the wall and that was that.

I always shoot RAW so I always have to work on pictures on the computer and as I was doing this I realized that I actually prefer the picture with their shadows (the one above) to my idea of just a tree shadow on a wall (the one below). I find it more visually interesting and I think the diagonal makes the composition stronger.

Funny how things turn out sometimes.

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Redeemed Christian Fellowship – Church of God of Prophecy

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The Redeemed Christian Fellowship – Church of God of Prophecy was established in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1992 in a different location. As the church grew more space was required and the church moved to new premises in 1995. Yet more growth required another move in 2008, to this building – formerly the First Presbyterian Church of Poughkeepsie. According to Wikipedia:

First Presbyterian Church is a historic Presbyterian church located at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York. It was built in 1905 and is a large, five sided stone building with a wing. It features a three story square tower with a pyramidal roof and arched Romanesque window surrounds.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The related rectory was added at the same time.

The former First Presbyterian website provides the following brief history:

1749- Presbyterians form first English speaking congregation in Poughkeepsie

1826- Original First Presbyterian wooden church building erected

1832- Present church bell cast

1850- New brick church built at present location

1890- Last Supper Tiffany stained glass window installed

1897- Winslow Chapel built

1905- Present church dedicated

1912- Boy Scout Troop 10 organized (One of the first in the U.S.)

1923- Began support of India Missionary

1924- Parish House built

1954- Capital improvement campaign: Built Education Building. Extensive renovation of sanctuary

1955- First women elders elected

1974- Church became a Meals-on-Wheels center

1978- Sponsored Grace Smith House which opened in Manse in 1981

1985- Church became AA center

1985- Began major capital improvement campaign. Gym removed

1986- Church became handicapped accessible

1997- Winslow Chapel, Ludlow Room, and Sanctuary refurbished

2005- Building being used by other worshiping congregations: St. James Orthodox (Arabic Speaking), Templo Christiano Fe (Spanish Speaking), Christian Way Pentecostal Church, Poughkeepsie Community Church of God 7th Day. In addition the DCA Seniors Center is here Mon-Fri 9:00 to 2:00

A fuller History of the First Presbyterian Church of Poughkeepsie, New York also exists. I spent a bit of time browsing around on the Internet to try to find out exactly why the First Presbyterian Church closed and was unable to find anything conclusive. I imagine that it was some combination of: declining congregations; declining revenues; high cost of maintenance; opportunities for merging multiple churches etc.

Kodak House Museum Video Illustrating the History of Photography

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Kodak Super Six-20: the first camera with automatic exposure, introduced by Kodak in 1938.

If you’re really into old cameras (as I am) you’ll probably love this. If not you’ll probably find it boring. It’s essentially a conversation between Chris Marquardt and Todd Gustavson (from the Kodak Museum) regarding the history of cameras. It’s quite long (over one hour) and at times a bit rambling. I’m not sure that Mr. Marquardt adds much: he interjects a few words here and there, but Mr. Gustavson does most of the talking. I suspect that I would have enjoyed the video more if it has just been Mr. Gustavson talking. I found Mr. Marquardt’s interjections somewhat distracting I’m afraid. I would congratulate him on initiating the video though, which I found quite engrossing.

I have books on the history of cameras, but Todd Gustavson really brought the story to life. I found a number of items particularly interesting: the first zoom lens (the Voigtlander Zoomar); the first auto exposure camera, the Kodak Super 620 (I didn’t realize it was so big); the first flash bulb, the vacublitz (a glass tube filled with magnesium foil – it was absolutely enormous). It also reminded me how recent digital photography is. The first digital cameras (made by Kodak, using Kodak sensors and at various times Canon and Nikon bodies) came out in the early 1990s: only about 25 years ago. Interestingly they cost $25,000.

One word of warning though. My brother-in-law lives in Rochester, and during a visit we went to the Kodak Museum (formerly the Kodak House). While it was somewhat interesting I was a little disappointed. If you go don’t expect to see these vaults. They’re not accessible to the public (although a docent told me that if you give them advanced notice and indicate which areas you’re interested in it is possible to arrange a visit. I don’t know if he was correct). A small room with a limited collection of important historical cameras is open to the public, but this collection is much smaller than I thought it would be.

I can also recommend Mr. Gustavson’s book: Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital.

From a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process to the simple press of a button, photography has come a very long way since the first cameras came along in the early 1800’s.The vast majority of this fascinating evolution can be seen in this video where Chris Marquardt went on a private tour of Kodak’s technology vault.Think you’ve got an impressive camera collection? Wait until you see this 8,500-strong collection of almost every significant camera invented in the last 200 years.

Source: A Journey Through The History of Photography in Kodak’s Technology Vault – DIY Photography

Guardian Photographer of the year – 2015 Shortlist

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Olivia Harris: A cosplayer poses at the 2015 Comic Fiesta event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. London-born Harris is based in Kuala Lumpur for Reuters. She covered news and features in London before moving to South-east Asia, where her images often make our photo highlights selections.

Some compelling pictures here:

Photographer of the year – 2015 shortlist: atrocities in Paris and Syria, bodybuilders in PalestineSpanning the human cost of air strikes in Syria and the refugee crisis, child jockeys, forest fires and Boris Johnson taking a tumble, here are the most incredible images that agency photographers sent to our picture desk this year. The overall winner will be announced on 21 December

Source: Photographer of the year – 2015 shortlist.

Some 40 plus pictures appear here – all but two of them feature people. Compare that to my pictures almost none of which have any people in them. I guess I shouldn’t look forward to appearing on the Guardian pictures of the year short list any time soon. After all this is the Guardian and newspapers tend to focus on reportage and photojournalism so I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised.

I look forward to hearing who the ultimate winner is.

Thai Woodcarver

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Taken somewhere outside of Bangkok, Thailand sometime in the early 2000s. I don’t remember what camera I used or what film. I do remember being quite impressed by his abilities and his concentration. Even with lots of people (including myself) milling around him, making noise, shooting off flashes etc. he remained entirely focused on his task. I didn’t pick up a wood carving at that time, but at some point we acquired a very nice, and extremely detailed Indonesian wood carving.