RFF Book Photo Advice

[Bubba]

When I signed up for the RFF Book project, I didn't anticipate that I would be hit by two hurricanes in three weeks. As a newbee RF camera guy (love my new Bessa R), I was hoping that I would have ample opportunity to shoot a bunch of pictures and get some shots worthy of this book. I received the camera the day they evacuated us for Hurricane Frances. So far, I've managed to get three rolls of film through the camera. I would appreciate it if you could take a quick look at my gallery and let me know if anything I've shot so far is good enough or interesting enough for this book. I don't want to hold up this project; nor do I want to bring down the quality of the photos for this project. Honest opinions are greatly appreciated. If I don't have anything that you guys think is up to snuff, I will bow out of this project and let someone else who can contribute more effectively take my place. Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I want this book project to be a success; and if I am unable to contribute to the success of this project I need to know.

Thanks.

Bubba


http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=550

 

[Peter]

Ain't I Pretty and Ivan's Beautiful Side. 🙂

 

[rover]

Bubba, I agree with Peter on the shots. Along with everything else you have going on, you have an opportunity, particularly with Ivan's Beautiful Side, to tell a little story about your experiences. I think that would be a great contribution to the book.

 

[nwcanonman]

Bubba,
Great job, especially while dealing with hurricanes. My fav's are Fishing Pier with Clouds and Ivan's Beautiful Side.

 

[RML]

Ain't I pretty.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Ain't I Pretty and Ivan's Beautiful Side are my votes. Good luck in the next weeks!! 🙂

 

[Bubba]

Thanks for the feedback. I have a roll of BW film in the Bessa right now and hopefully will have a couple of decent shots off it. First, I have to find a photo lab that is open for processing. I will post anything that looks interesting as soon as possible (probably not before this weekend). We still have a lot of cleaning up to do. I also don't have internet service at the house and my employer frowns upon the use of company assets for personal use. So, I might not be able to post anything for a few days.

On a personal note, I want to say that I have never encountered a nicer bunch of people than I have here at rangefinderforum. It never ceases to amaze me how cordial, friendly, and encouraging the guys/gals on this site are. I want to thank you for your kindness and warm words. I am pretty worn down right now and it sure is nice to come here and read the threads and look at people's great shots. It allows me to forget the other stuff for a little while.

Bubba

 

[peter_n]

Chin up, Bubba! I'm sure these storms have caused unimaginable havoc with people's lives there. Three of them have come through Massachusetts and today we have Jeanne here - the last one dumped us with 5 inches of rain so it must be terrible in Florida.

Oh, Ain't I Pretty and Ivan's Beautiful Side... 🙂

 

[RML]

Hang in there, Bubba. You've lived through 3 or 4 tornadoes already. You'll live through the aftermath as well. As hard as the coming time might be, just take heart from the fact you and your loved-ones are still around. Stick together, love eachother, and pull through together. Testing times, I know, but I'm sure you'll manage.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Bubba, I took the liberty of doing some cropping on your image. I wanted to send it to you, but I couldn't, so it'll be here for you to see what I meant about cropping.

Take care, hang in there! We're rooting for ya! 🙂

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Aint I pretty, Ivans Beautiful side! These will work well!

Todd

 

[taffer]

Bubba, this is redundant but again Ivan's beautiful side and Ain't I pretty !!

Like them a lot !

 

[Bubba]

Thanks for all the warm wishes. The biggest problem now is just repair and cleanup. As far as I'm concerned, that is minor stuff. The water damage in our house is a little worse than originally reported. We will have to rip out the carpet in a couple more rooms. Not a bad situation at all considering how bad it could have been. We finally got the opportunity to drive around a little. Just south of us, around 2 miles, took a major hit. Power poles are snapped like toothpicks. Many houses without roofs. Along the beach, there were a number of condos that I could see the sky through the windows. I tried to take some pictures, but it just doesn't seem like I can capture the emotion. The destruction is not isolated to just one area; it is spread out.

I really like the crop on Ain't I Pretty. I will try to make the edit and repost.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Rich Silfver]

Bubba, the book is not about putting out the best 50 photos in the world taken with rangefinder cameras - it's to showcase the diversity in users (geographically and photographical) and the passion that we all share for these cameras and the images we know we are able to capture.

Having said all that - we seem to be able to add VERY good photos to the book - and yours will definetively be two of them 🙂

My three favorites of yours would be;
- Ivan's Beautiful side,
- Fishine Pier with clouds,
- Aint' I pretty

Great shots

 

[Bubba]

Thanks for the suggestions. Since it looks like Ain't I Pretty and Ivan's Beautiful Side are the winners, I have one last request. In order to meet the size requirements for the book, I must crop down Ivan's Beautiful Side. I have posted two options in my gallery. I would love to hear your opinions.

Original:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2891/password//sort/1/cat/500/page/1
Crop #1:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/3374/password//sort/1/cat/500/page/1
Crop #2:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/3375/password//sort/1/cat/500/page/1

 

[fraley]

There's more tension in Crop #2. My eye goes back and forth between the end of the pier and the plume of color in the sky. I prefer it to the more static and balanced Crop #1.

 

[RML]

crop 1

 

[Designer]

Yes, Crop 1.

But I think you can also keep using the original photo w/. image size adjusting to 7 inches along the length.

 

[Rich Silfver]

Combination of 1 and 2. Love 2 but maybe just a tad more space on the left?

 

[Bubba]

Doh! Sometimes I am such a bonehead. Thanks to Designer for reminding me that I can just adjust the long dimension to 7" and leave the short dimension less than 5". I had this bug up my rear end making me think the image had to be 5x7. It has been a very long week and I'm not thinking as clearly as I ought to. I think I need some of that "focusing fluid" I've heard you guys talking about.

Mmmmm. Focusing Fluid.

Bubba