Monday, December 20, 2010

Merry Christmas!




It is that time of year, so I thought I would post a Christmas tree. I took some test shots of it last week, and decided that this would be the way to go....dark and warm at the same time.

Winter has arrived.



This is my version of a shot done by my daughter last week. I have been teaching her about contrast and having her practice black and white shots to help her train her eyes to see when good contrast offers the potential for photo opportunities, and to become familiar with how it plays into composition.

The minute she spotted this view and shot it, she knew she had a good one. I agree, and liked it so much that I decided to make one for myself, changing the angle slightly to emphasize the asymmetry on the left a little bit more.

She is a great student, and is catching on very quickly.

I have a Christmas photo planned for tonight, so look for that here either tonight or tomorrow, and hopefully it will clear up enough for me to get a view of the full lunar eclipse which is supposed to be viewable here in the wee hours tomorrow morning. The weather forecast is not looking good for that though.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Monday, November 15, 2010

Oh my...

The things you find while looking for something else...



These are the members of a band that was called BackTalk, and this is a shot I did for a photography class I took back in the 1980's. It isn't very good quality, even for the 80's, but it made me happy because I had thought that all the negatives from this shoot had been lost with a bunch of others from the same time period in a flood several years ago. While looking for something completely different last week, I stumbled on the one set of color negatives I shot that day (all the others were B/W).

The neatest part of all is that all these years later the guy in the middle (Tommy) and the guy to the right of him (Mike) are still playing together in a band, and this week they have a gig in Las Vegas.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Welcome to November!

Not sure how it happened so quickly, but here we are in November. In my last post I said that one of the first things I was going to do was share with you some of the projects I am working on.

I have a friend in an African Drumming Ensemble, and have been working on putting together an African-themed, mostly wildlife mini-gallery (anywhere from 8-12 images depending on the venue) to compliment their shows. At this point it is mostly done, I have put together the photos and designed three different and original styles of frame for them. Now I just have to decide on a final line-up, decide on final sizes, and get the images off to the printer. Once they are back I'll frame them and be ready to go.

Although not my usual gig, I took some senior portraits this year as well. I have actually been on somewhat of a portrait bender for the last few months, and been enjoying it pretty well. I haven't taken portraits in quite some time, and am pleased with how it has gone. I think good portraits are some of the hardest photographs to take. Facial nuances are infinite, and it is amazing just how much of a difference the smallest ones can make.

Now I am gearing up for the winter shoots. I will also be giving my daughter a "Principles of Black-and-White Photography" seminar once the snow arrives. She has really taken to photography in the last 6 months, she shows a gift for it, and is eager to learn more about it, so I have been coaching her as well.

Lastly, I have finally decided to make a very small number of my images available as limited edition prints. There will be at least two, maybe three images so designated. The print runs will probably be around 1000, but that has not been decided yet. Finalized details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

That's it for now!

-Jonderson

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Well hi there!

Greetings, all. Since the website has undergone a complete makeover, I thought that the blog should as well.

One of the first things you will notice about the new website is that I have drastically pared down the galleries. It was becoming a monster to update and maintain, and taking up too much of my time and focus. So I decided to go with a "representative sampling" of images in order to convey the quality and range of photographs I take, rather than trying to be fully comprehensive. Things like that are more easily expressed here anyway, so if you ever have a request for something specific you'd like to see, please feel free to ask, and I will post it right here on the blog.

The galleries are differently categorized as well, and in response to several very positive comments there is now one specifically dedicated to portraiture.

The website itself is going to be pretty static, the galleries will likely not update much unless something major happens. Most activity will be centered here. I will still post unique or interesting images here now and then, and will certainly post things that have been requested as well. Two things that have been asked for by a number of folks is for me to post what limited edition prints I have available, and to post what project(s) I am currently working on. So I will probably get to those first.

As you can see, there is lots happening here in the woods, so stay tuned, and thanks for stopping in. Hope you enjoy the new look to the site, and that we get a chance to see you soon!

Jonderson