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Category Archives: Places
Remember your first time?
The “First Time”. Such a powerful phrase when it comes to conjuring up memories. I dare say there’s no one walking on the planet currently that can escape the memory pull of this phrase. What’s even more interesting is that when someone asks you “Remember the first time….”, before they can even finish the sentence you have pulled a memory and complete the question. Now that’s powerful.
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This post, at least for me, is about my first time photographing a sunrise on the over the ocean. As a photographer it’s hard to believe that I haven’t done it before but this past week I was lucky to have gone to a resort on Amelia Island, FL for a work-related conference. As luck would have it I had the entire morning on Sunday free so I got up at 6 am and headed down to the beach with my gear. For those of you who have been on a beach before sunrise you know just how spiritual it can be. And for me it was no different.
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As I enjoyed the gentle roar of the tides I setup my gear hoping that I my early morning rising would be reward with some great colors and resulting photos. And so for the next hour I took photo after photo hoping that every new shot would be better than the one before. And before I new it the moment was gone and the sun was taking over the sky leaving me with nothing more to photograph.
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Typically I run to my computer and begin reviewing my photos hoping to be surprise by some great photos. This time however, as I was traveling for work, I did not have my MAC to view and process my images. So I had to wait till I got back home. Four extremely long days I waited. And finally when I got home I was able to see if my efforts paid off. Cue a sigh of relief….
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My “first time” taking sunrise photos on a beach was a success! And because of that I will never forget it.
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What about you?
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My own backyard
I’ve lived in St. Louis for my entire life minus 2 years spent living in Japan and 4 years living away at college in Richmond, IN. As a native St. Louisian I take pride in knowing my city and ability to point out some of the more notable historic locations and neighborhoods. So when I decided that my St. Louis Photowalk group would spend a few hours in the historic Lafayette Square neighborhood I didn’t think I would be surprised at what I found. Especially since I had spent quite a bit of time in Lafayette Park as a child playing soccer games on Saturday mornings.
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But as you have probably guessed I was wrong. I learned quite a bit about the neighborhood. Not because I suddenly turned a corner and ran into something new but instead because for the first time in my life I stopped and took time to really look at the buildings and the surroundings that make up Lafayette Square. It’s an occurrence that happens all the time for me now that I am pursuing my photography passion head on. The camera helps slow me down and forces me to really see things as they are, not as I have assumed them to be.
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One of my favorite quotes is: “Vision is the ability to see what others cannot.” My photographic vision is allowing me to see things anew with a more honest and patience lens. While I often forget what I have already learned about a subject or location photographic vision will always be there to slow me down, instill a little patience and ultimately allow me to see things in my own backyard that I have long forgotten.
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So what’s in your own backyard ready to be rediscovered and seen for the first time?
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A Twist On Fall Colors
Just about every photographer I know looks forward to the Fall and the vibrant colors that the changing weather brings each year. I was especially looking forward to the Autumn colors this year since I had put so much effort into developing my photography skills over the last 10 months. So you can imagine my frustration as St. Louis received week after week, day after day of cold weather accompanied by extremely steady rain fall. I think we receive at least 10-15 inches in just 4 weeks. I never thought it was going to end. And yes, I even spoke about building an ark or renting a large boat for a safe getaway if things got even worse.
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However my greatest fear was that by the time the rain subsided the colorful fall leaves would be gone – torn down from the trees by the very rain that usually helps turn them into vibrant color displays. If the rapidly growing expanse of fallen leaves in my backyard were any sign I was going to miss the opportunity to capture the brilliance of this year’s Autumn colors.
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So you can imagine how thrilled I was when we finally were blessed with a few days of clear skies and slightly warmer temperatures. As soon as I realized there would be a window of photographic opportunity I quickly scoured the Internet for fall color reports only to learn that most places known for their fall colors were past their prime or had lost the very leaves I was seeking. It became very clear that driving to a scenic location in search for large expanses of Autumn colors wasn’t going to work this year. I need a new plan. One that would provide the colors I was craving but with another photography worthy visual so I could combine them without worrying about not having robust enough trees for my shots.
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It was then that I remembered two of St. Louis’ oldest and most scenic cemeteries – Calvary and Bellefontaine. I did some additional online scouting to find out that the colors were still holding fairly well and when combined with the amazing tombstones and personal mausoleums I would have more than enough opportunities for some great photographs. So with a new game plan in hand I headed out for a Saturday morning shoot with my trusted photography companion – Jared.
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I think we spent 3 full hours in the cemeteries taking shot after shot of amazing color and grave sites. While there we saw the Busch family mausoleum, the Lemp tomb, Clark (of Lewis & Clark) and many other historical celebrities. Those cemeteries are truly amazing. Not only for taking some interesting photos but also to see the history of who was who in St. Louis over the last 200+ years. If you ever find yourself looking for something different to do on a Saturday afternoon I highly recommend you drive through them both and enjoy the trip through history.
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As for Jared and I we had a great time and fully intend to go back when we get our first snow this winter.
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Spiritual Saturday
Woke up way too early this morning thanks to my wonderful children who for some reason didn’t realize it was too early to watch cartoons. (Despite it still being dark at 5:30 am) I had already planned on going out for a short photo excursion so luckily the extra early hour didn’t impede on my sleeping plans too much. I headed out to the old cemetery behind our church hoping to get a few good shots. All total I was able to find about 5-6 shots that I thought were decent enough to share with everyone. I liked some of them so much that I’ve decided to create a new series in my Portfolio section simply named Spiritual Series. I hope to add to this in the future as opportunity presents itself. Enjoy!
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Unexpected Challenges
This past Saturday I woke early with plans to meet up with a friend of mine to do a photo walk somewhere in downtown St. Louis. Although we had been planning our walk for over a week we still hadn’t come up with a destination. Luckily though by the time I picked him up we were able to agree on heading down to the old Lemp Brewery which sits in the shadows of AB’s St. Louis brewery. We were blessed with a beautiful morning, wonderful temperatures and plenty of hot coffee. With much enthusiasm we headed down the road with high expectations of getting some great shots of the brewery and it’s internal complex.
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We arrived at the brewery and quickly found a parking spot and heading to the main gate. It was open and it appeared that no one was around. (For those of you unfamiliar with Lemp it is an old brewery that hasn’t been in operation in decades. However the building does get used for various projects including some steel work, etc. But for the most part it is abandoned.) Our intent was to walk around the inside of the complex to get some shots of internal buildings and architecture which you cannot access from outside the compounds walls. Unfortunately we found ourselves staring into a giant NO TRESPASSING SIGN that was pretty intimidating. We discussed ignoring it only to quickly encounter several cars pulling through the gate “reporting to work” whose occupants quickly convinced us through their stares that we should not enter without permission.
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Deciding to live to fight another day we quickly resigned ourselves to being stuck outside of the walls of the brewery. This was clearly not what we had planned and I found myself quickly upset that what I had intended to spend my morning shooting was no longer an option. But fortunately the weather and coffee were stronger than my disappointment and we decided to see what we could shoot around the brewery and over the walls. We spent the next 90 minutes walking around the entire complex shooting whatever caught our eyes. While we didn’t necessarily get shots we were looking for we did have a great time just being out in the mix and enjoying our passion.
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What I took away most from this shoot was that sometimes you just have to adapt. You never know when you will be faced with a situation like mine or perhaps worse – rain on a wedding shoot perhaps? No matter what gets thrown at your way you have to learn to adapt and take advantage of the unexpected. Because you never know when something least expected will turn out to be the best shot of your life.
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