New additions - July 2013

Greetings, all.

This summer, I had the opportunity to travel to nine cities around northern/eastern China; it was amazing on so many levels - and a bit exhausting. I did manage to eek out a bit of time with my new camera and got some great shots. You'll find the newest additions in Architecture, Flora, Food, People, and Place.

The Sites: Millennium Park & The Bean

Chicago is a city of breathtaking architecture.  It tells the story of America's growth and prominence through its very skyline.  Monumental towers and facades dot the landscape.  It's a magical place and, personally, my favorite city in the US. 

Chicago Skyline from Lincoln Park

Nestled within all those soaring spires is something relatively new that's become as much a symbol of the city as the Hancock building or the tower-formerly-known-as-Sears.  


Adjacent to Grant Park, with its Buckingham Fountain gracing the credits of Married with Children (anyone? anyone?), Millennium Park is a swath of land reborn to host swarms of tourists, concerts, and general urban gathering.  It sits on the north side of the Art Institute of Chicago and offers a stunning panorama of some of the most iconic buildings in the city.


But everybody comes for The Bean.

Its formal name may be Cloud Gate, but let's be honest: nobody calls it that.  Mention "The Bean" and everyone knows exactly what you're talking about. Its steel plates are immaculately polished to create a seamless surface that reflects everything around it, especially the people swarming its perimeter.  Light dances off its silvery canvas and you cannot take the same picture twice, as the details are always shifting between the people, the light, and the angle of the buildings around it.


It's easy to spend a lot of time here.  I did & it still wasn't enough.

The Sites: Playmakers Theatre

The Playmakers Theater stands at the center of the UNC campus, a Greek Revival building surrounded by the staunch architecture of the University's historic architectural core.  Under the columns of its facade, two windows face out onto Bynum Circle, which, along with Bynum Fountain, serves as a popular crossroad on campus.

As the seasons change, the trees on campus flush with color, framing the circle in a setting of natural fire.

The doors to the theater stand guard against the elements.

But the window on the front is my favorite subject on a campus rife with material:

Winter

Autumn

Spring/Summer

The Shot: Mississippi River Sunrise

It's not just about sunsets.


Sunrise is actually my favorite time of day.  The promise of a new beginning, the unlimited possibility to start anew, light returning to a dark world -- these are the metaphors of the sunrise that resonate with me.


A recent trip to New Orleans found me meandering along the banks of the Mississippi one morning, just as the city was starting to awaken.  At this point in its path, the river is wide, like it is back in Iowa, but the geography feels off.  Here, the river is to the east, not the south; it flows from right to left, rather than left to right.  It is at once the same and different, just like every other river I've traveled along, but this one is different.


If ever one could possess a river, the Mississippi would be mine.


Standing there on the levee, it is impossible not to think about the destruction that swamped this city barely six years ago.  It is impossible not to appreciate the power of the water as it flows majestically to the Gulf, slowing at this point in its travels as the grade of the land lessens and it prepares to drop its sediments into its ever-shifting delta. 


But standing there at sunrise, watching the light dance across the water, it is impossible not to be in awe:

The Collections: New Additions

New photos have been added to Architecture, Fauna, Nature, People, and Place.  Please use the links to the right to explore at your leisure.

The Sites: Fearrington Village

Fearrington Village is a community nestled in north eastern Chatham County that boasts fine dining, local artists, and - perhaps their most famous residents - a herd of Belted Galloway cattle.  


After having driven past it countless times, I finally had the opportunity to visit twice in as many days, which gave me a chance to get up close & personal with the locals:

The Events: the Official Launch of Naked & Hungry

This past weekend, I headed to McIntyre's Fine Books in Fearrington Village for the official launch of Naked & Hungry:

Naked and Hungry will be published by Ingalls Publishing Group in Boone, N.C., and available for purchase through your local bookstores starting on November 1, 2011.

You can also pre-order a copy directly from Barnes and Noble and have it shipped directly to your home.

Pre-order Naked and Hungry Today!

The Shot: Live Oak & Mardi Gras Beads

I recently returned from a week in New Orleans.  Among the iconic images from the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and the Mississippi River, I found one sight that, for me, captured the spirit of the city better than anything I'd seen before:

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

The Collections: New Additions

New shots have been added to Architecture, Flora, Food, Nature, People, and Place.  Please use the links to the right to explore the collections.

The Sites: New York City - Historic Building Day

Last year, I traveled to New York City for an extended weekend.  It was an opportunity to visit a friend I hadn't seen in years and finally explore a city I'd previously only experienced through its airports.


Each day was a different theme, either intentionally or by serendipity: Museum Day, Family History Day, Solemn Remembrance Day.  Because it was New York City, every day was Delicious Food Day.


My favorite was Historic Building Day.


There are few cities in the US - and arguably the world - that contain so many iconic images and places.  From the arts to politics to transportation to architecture, simply walking through the city is like walking through a giant cultural museum.


We'd already spent some time wandering the West Village, sitting in Washington Square Park under the shadow of the Empire State Building.  

We'd walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night, with the Manhattan skyline beckoning us as we came ever closer.  

But Historic Building Day was a tour of some of the best gems to find in the city, both for the sheer beauty of the architecture as well as for the cultural mystique that they hold.

New York Public Library

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Grand Central Station

Flags of the United Nations

Rockefeller Center

Audrey Hepburn's hangout

Solow Building

Lincoln Center

The Tips: Perspective

In life as well as in art, perspective is a very valuable thing.

Framing & your zoom lens are two of the most powerful tools in your arsenal for taking great photos.  Sometimes it's best just to try and capture the scene in front of you as is, such as a landscape or a wider architectural shot or a skyline.

Blue Ridge Mountains; near Asheville, NC

Venus flytraps; Chapel Hill, NC

Other times, zooming in can shift the entire dynamic of the photo, where you can make the big seem small, the small seem big, or highlight the details that would otherwise be overlooked.

Riverfront Bench; Elizabeth City, NC

When I was a kid, I used to get a magazine where the back cover was an extremely zoomed photo of something; the puzzle was to guess what it was.  It was usually something innocuous, like a zipper or the wing of a bird, but it was my favorite part.  I'd like to think those puzzles helped lay the groundwork for my photography style, as I get really excited about finding those minor details that pack major visual punch.


Shifting your framing & employing your zoom can help make a good picture a great picture.  You may also need to be a little adventurous with your positioning: could that picture be better if you climbed up/over something or crouched under to peer through something else?  (Of course, be sure that you are always keeping an eye on your own safety, as well as honoring laws & regulations!)  Walk around your subjects if you can; you may find your own photo puzzle.

Flaming Wing; NC Zoo; Asheboro, NC