Reflected Architecture

I love these reflections! Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! Uploaded with PhotoQueue http://flic.kr/p/hx5HP3

Great American

The sun sets and casts its rays on the Great American tower in Cincinnati. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! Uploaded with PhotoQueue http://flic.kr/p/hysUs9

Mainstreet--University of Cincinnati

Looking Northeast on Mainstreet at the University of Cincinnati. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! Uploaded with PhotoQueue http://flic.kr/p/h1V1q1

Harley--Black and White

A black and white treatment of a favorite shot. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! Uploaded with PhotoQueue http://flic.kr/p/gPhXTn

UC Campus on an Angle

I found another perspective on this shot, but the tripod location and the mini-ball head wouldn't allow me to get a landscape or portrait orientation. After looking through the viewfinder, I realized that the angle would make for an interesting shot. http://flic.kr/p/gjFeu3

Autumn Grass

Taken at the University of Cincinnati. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fXFBc8

Harley

Testing out my new Lumix G5. Since the G6 came out, the price dropped so low, I couldn't resist adding it to my G1. I'm still getting used to it, so I haven't posted as many photos--I'm mostly shooting right now. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fP3FMn

Hosta Closeup

Part of my series on hostas. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fr8nb9

Closeup

This was shot at Glenwood Gardens a few weeks ago. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fqe4UZ

Contrast

I shot this one on a quick walk around downtown. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fpBikr

Daylily

I was able to get out today and take some photographs at Piatt Park--Cincinnati's oldest park. It's a good place to sit on the shade, watch people, and/or enjoy the various flowers. This is one of the day lilies in the park. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fkPG3b

Hollyhock

A closeup of one of the hollyhocks I came across the other day. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fkD8ty

Butterfly on Teasel II

Here's a second butterfly shot from my roadside session the other day. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fj3x1t

Butterfly and Teasel

This was part of the mini-ecosystem that prompted me to pull the car over on the way home from work. I have a couple of shots of this pairing in addition to some fascinating flower shots which I will post soon. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fh33Se

Colorful Garage Facade

This parking garage has an interesting look to it. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fh3ozS

Orange Flowers in the Morning

I took this photo outside the Garfield Suites Hotel on Vine St. in downtown Cincinnati. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fgxGEZ

Scripps Center

The Scripps Center under a beautiful Summer sky. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fgqvD3

Found in the Rain

I walked to my car yesterday, just after the rain let up in our area. I had my camera out when I stepped over this and then circled back for the shot. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/ffXeTR

Hosta

I love shooting the hostas in the library garden on my breaks. It's especially nice that the deer can't get to them--they hold their form longer when they aren't being eaten. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/ffvW45

Two More

Two more echinaceas. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fdVv8r

Niagara Sky Wheel

Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fbPT6Y

Niagara's Sky Wheel

Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/faUrEx

Isolated Stalk--Unknown

These stalks provided a thick forest to shoot through. There were only a few yellow flowers in bloom at the time. I think they were all about 6-7 feet tall. I'm sure that it's harder to identify them without the flowers, but does anyone know what they are? Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/fab5Ff

Bee on Flowers

Small, yellow flowers at Glenwood Gardens yesterday. The bee was a bonus, to be sure. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/f7WZLx

Hosta Lily

I spent some more time in the library garden this week--it's not great weather for roaming the streets of Cincinnati at lunch. Thank you for viewing my photos. Please feel free to join me on facebook, too! http://flic.kr/p/f7iAo1

Echinacea Inversion

A variation on the echinacea shots from the other day. http://flic.kr/p/f6XdtJ

St. Peter in Chains Cathedral--Color

http://flic.kr/p/f6cKaP

First Steps on the Road to Success in Photography

Good afternoon!

I'm writing this post to come up with some personal guidelines to keep myself on task when it comes to photography, but hopefully some of my thinking here can be helpful to the rest of you, as well.

The Basics

Shoot. Edit. Share.
As long as I stay on top of these three things, I can be sure that I am not losing ground. If I work on some other elements of my photography, these three things will be the foundation to help me move forward.

Shooting

Shooting is at the top of this list. If I shoot on a regular basis, I accomplish a number of things: I get to know my camera better; I develop my vision; I get photo cliches out of my system; most importantly, I produce.

I wanted to be a writer once. The thing that tripped me up was production. That was how I knew that the passion wasn't there. If I wanted to write, I needed to produce. Without it, I was just a dreamer. It's the same with photography.

Editing

The quote "In writing, you must kill all your darlings," is attributed to Faulkner. He could have been a photographer, because the same applies here. It helps if you've taken a lot of photographs.

This is something I still struggle with today. There is a story behind every photo we take, so they're all special. It's easy to eliminate poorly exposed photos, blurry photos, and photos that miss the subject. It's hard to eliminate the others--especially if they took real effort to achieve.

If we want our photography to be liked, if we want to share, we need to be selective about what we show. When I began shooting, I would upload nearly everything I shot. This overloaded everyone's photostream and I shudder to think of what they thought of the photos. I had to cut down and be selective.

One way I accomplish this is by limiting the number of photos I post in a day. I also limit the number of photos I will process from a day's shooting. I dump my photos in Lightroom and select a handful of photos that jump out at me as thumbnails. Then I go through them one at a time looking for flaws in composition, focus, etc. I will flag those that look promising and process my favorites.

Even then, I dump them into a queue, post the ones I like most, and remove the ones I don't touch for a while. Lately, I've limited my selection process to one evening a week. This gives me some additional emotional distance from the photo, though I may revise that step at some point.

Sharing

Finally, if you want to be a photographer--to grow as a photographer--you have to share your photos. This can be online or in print. It can be public, for all the world to see, or to an individual or group that you trust. Whatever the case, you have to get them out there.

The potential for an audience helps you develop a more critical eye. The critiques that may ensue can affirm you, or challenge you. Affirmation and challenge are the lifeblood of your growth as a photographer. We need to know that we are improving. We need to know what else we can do to improve.


What would you consider to be most important  to your progress as a photographer?

Carew Tower Reflection

Carew Tower Reflection, a photo by Referenceace on Flickr.

I was on Fountain Square this week. looking for photo opportunities when I spotted this reflection to the north of the square. It was a bit of a surprise, but it always pays to look around for unusual shots,

Location Scouting Part 1 - Reading Up on Your City

One of the reasons I started this blog was to record my progress as I addressed some things I wanted to learn about architectural photography. The biggest issue I've run into so far was scouting. I have read a number of articles/books on scouting for landscape photography, and portraiture, but precious little on architectural photography. For landscape shots, you need a physical feature to be present to change a shot. For portraiture, you can move the subject. In urban architecture, though, the best shooting locations tend to be privately owned, so we try different angles, make the best of what we have, and try to get creative.

Statue of President William Henry Harrison on Garfield Place

So here are a few thoughts I've had on scouting urban architecture.

I'm a librarian by profession, so it should come as no surprise that the first step I recommend in your scouting process is research. At the very least, reading the Wikipedia article could give you a good start. Also try the city's chamber of commerce, encyclopedia entries, travel guides, and atlases. With this information, you should be able to:

• Learn the character of the city
• Learn what parts of the city were inhabited/settled first
• Identify key historic districts
• Locate important architectural styles and features
• Identify key architects in the city's development
• Identify which areas are socially and economically distressed and might require additional planning to photograph
• Plan around popular events in the city's calendar
• Learn seasonal conditions and their effect on the city's skyline and shooting conditions
• Learn the hours of operation for observation decks
• Identify some iconic shots
• Famous buildings
• Famous perspectives
• You don't want to duplicate these, but they will give you an idea of prime shooting locations, and which shots could use a fresh take

These are just some approaches off the top of my head, but all of this will help you to seek out the best available shots and avoid time-wasters like shooting from a great vantage point that requires beautiful foliage in the middle of winter, or trying to get a solitary shot of an iconic building during a festival which attracts thousands of people. 

Learning Architectural Photography

I have a confession to make. I'm a serial blog creator. That may not seem like much of a confession, but if you only knew what that represented in "great ideas" and abortive efforts--the loneliness of the inconsistent blogger. I've started blogs on writing, on library science, on research, on local sites, and on a variety of photography topics.

Well, here's another one.

*****

I took up photography in August of 2010. It's easy to pin that date down, because it was the occasion of a big family trip out to Colorado. I'd been trying for about 30 years to do something creative. I tried my hand at art, landscape design, music, and writing, but I found that I either stunk at these pursuits, or I lacked the passion to maintain them. Writing is one I kept coming back to, only problem was I didn't like to write.

Anyhow, in August of 2010, I picked up a camera on our family vacation, and I couldn't put it down. I found myself getting out of bed early to go and shoot, and that's highly unusual for me. I researched and read everything I could get my hands on. I started a pro account with Flickr. I began to add lenses and light modifiers to my collection. I shot everything that did or didn't move.

So here I am now, trying to learn architectural photography. I work in downtown Cincinnati and I have plenty of opportunities to work on this. I keep running into problems though--problems with access to buildings, converging vertical lines, ignorance of architectural history and trends, the elements, crowds, security, gear limitations, etc. I research and ask questions, but the progress is slow.

That's why I'm starting this blog. I want a place where I can direct and share my education as it happens. If I have to struggle to learn some of this, I hope it helps some of you. I look forward to sharing this journey, and seeing some really cool photography.

Good luck,

Rob