lynnb
Veteran
Beautiful fruit, Bob. Nice story. Thanks to both you and your subject for sharing.
Share the story behind one of your best photos
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JChrome
Street Worker
Are those organic? Where I come from, beefsteaks won't get that big unless their GMO.
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robert blu
quiet photographer
So many good photos here and interesting stories...this is what photography can give...
robert
robert
Bob Michaels
nobody special
Yudi, my now deceased Cuban girlfriend was Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion. When we traveled to eastern Cuba to visit her mom, Yudi felt the need to have a spiritual consultation with Manolo, a Santeria Babalawo or holy man she respected. After dark, they went into his little 2 meter by 3 meter building out back that had his altar. I had to remain in the house for a while but was eventually invited to join them as they shared a cigar and bottle of rum as is traditional in all Santeria ceremonies.
I was told not to photograph while the spirit was in the room but they would let me know when it was OK. Being respectful of religion and aware of the nine black cat skulls on the altar, I just sat in the dark as there was only one tiny candle and listened.
I realized there was going to be only one photo so I best get it right. I had to set the aperture, shutter speed, focus, and adjust the 283 flash totally by touch and feel because of the almost total darkness. Fortunately I was very familiar with my Zeiss Ikon, the 28mm lens and Neopan 400 film.
When the spirit had left the room, I pressed the shutter in the near darkness for my one and only shot while hoping I had set everything correctly. This is what I got.
I was told not to photograph while the spirit was in the room but they would let me know when it was OK. Being respectful of religion and aware of the nine black cat skulls on the altar, I just sat in the dark as there was only one tiny candle and listened.
I realized there was going to be only one photo so I best get it right. I had to set the aperture, shutter speed, focus, and adjust the 283 flash totally by touch and feel because of the almost total darkness. Fortunately I was very familiar with my Zeiss Ikon, the 28mm lens and Neopan 400 film.
When the spirit had left the room, I pressed the shutter in the near darkness for my one and only shot while hoping I had set everything correctly. This is what I got.
charjohncarter
Veteran
1963-64 by John Carter, on FlickrNot one of my best, but a good story. These are two guys I worked with at a gas station at the corner of Reseda Blvd and Van Owen in 1963. That's in the LA area (Reseda, CA). They were gas jockeys like me. The fellow on the right was just out of prison for murdering his wife. Don't ask how he was released I was too scared to ask him, but that was California.
lynnb
Veteran
This thread has been dormant for a while, time to give it a bump and ask for more contributions.
I took this picture in 1978 with my first quality camera, an OM1. I was on a coach camping tour of Central Australia. Having lived all my life in the city, nothing prepared me for the Australian Outback - the vast distances, the enormous emptiness of the landscape, the vibrant red-ochre colours and blue skies of a continent which is four-fifths desert. And the red dust. Everywhere, red dust.
In the "red Centre", as Central Australia was known, Indigenous people were mostly seen in encampments on the edge of settlements and in the dry river beds, wherever there was shade. They seemed to live in uniformly appalling conditions. Many whom I saw appeared to be inebriated. It was incredibly sad.
This woman and young boy were selling souvenirs at Curtin Springs Station, on the road to Uluru, the major tourist attraction of the Red Centre. The road has since been sealed, but when I took this it was a bone-jarring corrugated dirt road for hundreds of kilometres. Even in a tourist coach.
I asked them if I could take a picture. The woman said it would cost $2 so I handed it over and got down on the ground to take this one frame with a Zuiko 28mm f/3.5. I used Kodachrome 25 for the entire trip.
Curtin Springs, 1978 #129 by lynnb's snaps, on Flickr
I took this picture in 1978 with my first quality camera, an OM1. I was on a coach camping tour of Central Australia. Having lived all my life in the city, nothing prepared me for the Australian Outback - the vast distances, the enormous emptiness of the landscape, the vibrant red-ochre colours and blue skies of a continent which is four-fifths desert. And the red dust. Everywhere, red dust.
In the "red Centre", as Central Australia was known, Indigenous people were mostly seen in encampments on the edge of settlements and in the dry river beds, wherever there was shade. They seemed to live in uniformly appalling conditions. Many whom I saw appeared to be inebriated. It was incredibly sad.
This woman and young boy were selling souvenirs at Curtin Springs Station, on the road to Uluru, the major tourist attraction of the Red Centre. The road has since been sealed, but when I took this it was a bone-jarring corrugated dirt road for hundreds of kilometres. Even in a tourist coach.
I asked them if I could take a picture. The woman said it would cost $2 so I handed it over and got down on the ground to take this one frame with a Zuiko 28mm f/3.5. I used Kodachrome 25 for the entire trip.
Curtin Springs, 1978 #129 by lynnb's snaps, on Flickr
Dirk
Privatier
I'm enjoying this thread...Thank you, Lynn, for conceiving it.
This image is one of my favorites, if only for the memories it invokes. I was living and working in Madrid, Spain in the early '90s. I left work around 5:00 every evening and wandered the streets of downtown Madrid photographing everything. One of my favorite areas was Puerta Del Sol, a main plaza in the center of the city. This lady was there every day, feeding the pigeons, and had been doing that for years. She had names for dozens of them, and was even able to identify parent-offspring relationships among the pigeons. This pigeon was named Pirriquin.
Minolta X-700, Probably 135mm lens, Ilford XP1
Artistic and technically superb, Brian!
lawrence
Veteran
Charles Mingus, Concorde Club, Southampton. Easter 1972.
Charles Mingus, Concorde Club, Southampton. Easter 1972.
Back in the early 1970s I was studying photography at Bournemouth College with a great friend of mine, a Portuguese guy named Antonio. One of my musical heroes was, and still is, the jazz musician Charles Mingus and one day I spotted in the local paper -- the Bournemouth Echo, where Bill Bryson used to work -- that Mingus was playing The Concorde Club in Southampton and suggested to Antonio that we catch the show.
Many famous jazz musicians have played The Concorde, reason being that in the old days they'd catch a liner from Southampton back to New York so it made a convenient stop on the last night of a tour. Anyway, imagine our surprise when we turn up and there is the legendary Mingus trio and about a dozen people in the audience. Being a jazz club the seating is informal and you can get up any time to go the bar or just to take a closer look at the musicians and there is the great Mingus standing about six feet away!
Anyway I have with me my trusty SRT101 loaded with Kodak Recording film but the only lighting is a single red bulb pretty much directly above Mingus. 'You know' says Antonio ' there's just no way you'll get a photograph in this light'; as you can imagine, I later enjoyed presenting him with a print.
Sadly Antonio passed away last year and I look back on this photograph not only as a reminder of a memorable evening but also of a long friendship.
Charles Mingus, Concorde Club, Southampton. Easter 1972.
Back in the early 1970s I was studying photography at Bournemouth College with a great friend of mine, a Portuguese guy named Antonio. One of my musical heroes was, and still is, the jazz musician Charles Mingus and one day I spotted in the local paper -- the Bournemouth Echo, where Bill Bryson used to work -- that Mingus was playing The Concorde Club in Southampton and suggested to Antonio that we catch the show.
Many famous jazz musicians have played The Concorde, reason being that in the old days they'd catch a liner from Southampton back to New York so it made a convenient stop on the last night of a tour. Anyway, imagine our surprise when we turn up and there is the legendary Mingus trio and about a dozen people in the audience. Being a jazz club the seating is informal and you can get up any time to go the bar or just to take a closer look at the musicians and there is the great Mingus standing about six feet away!
Anyway I have with me my trusty SRT101 loaded with Kodak Recording film but the only lighting is a single red bulb pretty much directly above Mingus. 'You know' says Antonio ' there's just no way you'll get a photograph in this light'; as you can imagine, I later enjoyed presenting him with a print.
Sadly Antonio passed away last year and I look back on this photograph not only as a reminder of a memorable evening but also of a long friendship.
daveleo
what?
Rebekah Dancing
Rebekah Dancing
A few years back, my granddaughter needed some pictures for her dance portfolio.
We shot over 300 pictures that day (camera often in burst mode while she danced and jumped and flitted about.) Some were outside under a cold drizzle, but she kept at it.
This was *the* last shot of a set in a Dallas parking lot. She had had it and wanted to get back in the warm car. It's my favorite of them all, and it went on to hang in the local art museum for that summer (2014?).
Rebekah Dancing
A few years back, my granddaughter needed some pictures for her dance portfolio.
We shot over 300 pictures that day (camera often in burst mode while she danced and jumped and flitted about.) Some were outside under a cold drizzle, but she kept at it.
This was *the* last shot of a set in a Dallas parking lot. She had had it and wanted to get back in the warm car. It's my favorite of them all, and it went on to hang in the local art museum for that summer (2014?).
Bob Michaels
nobody special
When in Helena Arkansas, a decaying Mississippi river port town, I recognized this long closed restaurant as the subject of one of the iconic photos of the late Rick Lang, my mentor for many years. After much contemplation I shot this image while knowing I would never use out of respect for Rick and the fact this would always be know as his photo.
I did use this photo a few years ago in an exhibit in Cuba. The explanatory caption told of the modern day racial insensitivity of the Aunt Jemima caricature.
Here is Rick Lang's original photo. I would never post someone else's photo, even with attribution, without their express consent. However, Rick is now gone so I cannot ask but am confident he would agree if available.
I did use this photo a few years ago in an exhibit in Cuba. The explanatory caption told of the modern day racial insensitivity of the Aunt Jemima caricature.
Here is Rick Lang's original photo. I would never post someone else's photo, even with attribution, without their express consent. However, Rick is now gone so I cannot ask but am confident he would agree if available.
danielsterno
making soup from mud
So, I am not sure what is my "best" or if I have a "best" though this story presented itself about 4 years after the image was taken and helped to define for me of why I take images and the true definition of ser·en·dip·i·ty: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.
On 7.27.13 I was at a bus stop that is one of my regular haunts. There was a couple there, the guy asked me if that was a film camera I was carrying, I explained it was, he spoke about how he had an old film camera that he would like to use again, and asked if I can send him where I got my film developed, took his email promised I would get send him the lab info, took their photograph and we went our separate ways. A few months later I sent them the photo I took and the lab I use. Four years later I received this email:
Hi Daniel:
You had taken a picture of Joe & I a few years ago on Bloomfield Avenue at the bus stop. Unfortunately Joe passed on August 19. I miss him terribly. Is it possible for you to re-send the photograph to me? I would appreciate it immensely.
Thank you.
So I sent it and here was her reply:
Hi Daniel:
OMG!! This picture is a part of my life with Joe. Thank you soo much for taking & finding this precious picture. I appreciate your kindness in returning the original picture & date. Yes, you are definitely a part of the memory of my Joe.
Take care...Patti
chris91387
Well-known
wow, i love this thread. there's often so much more to an image than what meets the eye. sometimes the story behind it is what's most interesting.
chris91387
Well-known
ok, i'll play. can't say this is my "personal best" but it's certainly one of the most important images i've ever taken.
17 years ago my amazing wife gave birth to our twin girls. a decade earlier i was at Art Center studying commercial photography and got so immensely burned out that i didn't touch a camera for many many years. right before the girls were born i dug out my old F3 and bought some tri-x and got ready for the big day. this is the moment my wife first saw "Baby A".
11080398_10205385173142057_8662245280462691440_o by chris smirnoff, on Flickr
17 years ago my amazing wife gave birth to our twin girls. a decade earlier i was at Art Center studying commercial photography and got so immensely burned out that i didn't touch a camera for many many years. right before the girls were born i dug out my old F3 and bought some tri-x and got ready for the big day. this is the moment my wife first saw "Baby A".
11080398_10205385173142057_8662245280462691440_o by chris smirnoff, on FlickrOut to Lunch
Veteran
A wonderful picture of a flawed human being.
danielsterno
making soup from mud
great image- looks like Banksy leaving the scene of one of his street art markings.....
A few years back, my granddaughter needed some pictures for her dance portfolio.
We shot over 300 pictures that day (camera often in burst mode while she danced and jumped and flitted about.) Some were outside under a cold drizzle, but she kept at it.
This was *the* last shot of a set in a Dallas parking lot. She had had it and wanted to get back in the warm car. It's my favorite of them all, and it went on to hang in the local art museum for that summer (2014?).
danielsterno
making soup from mud
daveleo
what?
lynnb
Veteran
Time to revive this thread, and invite more participants! Don't be shy, please add your picture and story.
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In 2006 some close family friends with two daughters the same age as ours asked me to take some environment portraits. The girls have been friends all their lives. I chose a favourite location, Long Reef, which is uncrowded, pretty and usually gets beautiful light.
I took a lot of pictures of the girls together but this one, of our friend's younger daughter picking something up from the shallows was the standout image for me. She is still the closest friend of my youngest, now nearly 20.
exploring the coast #0770 by lynnb's snaps, on Flickr
5D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @32mm, iso200 1/320 f5
-----------------------
In 2006 some close family friends with two daughters the same age as ours asked me to take some environment portraits. The girls have been friends all their lives. I chose a favourite location, Long Reef, which is uncrowded, pretty and usually gets beautiful light.
I took a lot of pictures of the girls together but this one, of our friend's younger daughter picking something up from the shallows was the standout image for me. She is still the closest friend of my youngest, now nearly 20.
exploring the coast #0770 by lynnb's snaps, on Flickr
5D EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @32mm, iso200 1/320 f5
Andrea Taurisano
il cimento
Well, this is not one of my best photos, but one of those taking which tought me the most.
Badakhshan, Afghanistan, 2012. I am on a long field trip for a NGO working with disaster risk reduction. After hours of bone breaking offroad driving through a mountainous middle-of-nowhere where the Hindu Kush meet the Pamir mountains, we pass a man walking with nothing but an improvised walking stick. I ask the driver to stop and with my friend and interpreter Najib approach the man. He owns nothing but a goat and a mud shelter that he and his family call home. He's now walking for two days to reach a little village in another valley, with the sole goal of bringing a message to another man. Then he'll walk two days back to his own village. He stares straight into my Summicron as I'm allowed to take as many shots as I like. But after a couple of them I lower the camera. And there we stay for a few long seconds staring into each other's eyes. Him with virtually nothing in one of the poorest regions on the planet. Me with a PhD, a fancy flat back in my safe Europe, a ridiculously expensive Leica M, a photo blog and a mobile phone by which I could instantly and effortlessly send messages (and even his portrait) to millions of people anywhere on Earth. Pretty much at the two ends of the human condition, I thought while looking into his eyes.
Badakhshan, Afghanistan, 2012. I am on a long field trip for a NGO working with disaster risk reduction. After hours of bone breaking offroad driving through a mountainous middle-of-nowhere where the Hindu Kush meet the Pamir mountains, we pass a man walking with nothing but an improvised walking stick. I ask the driver to stop and with my friend and interpreter Najib approach the man. He owns nothing but a goat and a mud shelter that he and his family call home. He's now walking for two days to reach a little village in another valley, with the sole goal of bringing a message to another man. Then he'll walk two days back to his own village. He stares straight into my Summicron as I'm allowed to take as many shots as I like. But after a couple of them I lower the camera. And there we stay for a few long seconds staring into each other's eyes. Him with virtually nothing in one of the poorest regions on the planet. Me with a PhD, a fancy flat back in my safe Europe, a ridiculously expensive Leica M, a photo blog and a mobile phone by which I could instantly and effortlessly send messages (and even his portrait) to millions of people anywhere on Earth. Pretty much at the two ends of the human condition, I thought while looking into his eyes.
dmr
Registered Abuser
This is one of my personal faves, and I know I've posted it here before as it's about 10 years old. It's also a rare one of mine that is on public display, in a waiting room, on the same wall as a Mangelsen. 🙂
It's also a good example of "the best camera for any shot is the one you have with you" rule. 🙂
It was just a chance shot.
I was on business in Chicago, staying in the O'Hare area, and I was taking the train into the city to meet some people that evening. I was early and decided to get off at Grand and walk the rest of the way.
I was walking east across the Grand Avenue bridge and saw the northbound tow on the river and the raised bridge against the skyline lit by the early evening sun and knew it was a shot I needed to take.
The only camera I had with me was my then-carry-almost-everywhere camera, the (earlier one) Olympus Stylus Zoom and I had the Walgreens house brand 200 in it, which was the earlier rebranded Agfa Vista, or so they told me at the time.
The little P&S did great! It makes a stunning 13x19 and the lettering on the sign on the Kinzie Street bridge is quite clean on the print. The only technical issue is that I cut off the top of one of the buildings in the skyline. 🙁
I was one of those "f/16 and be there" moments, although not in the style of the individual who gave us that quote. 🙂
It's also a good example of "the best camera for any shot is the one you have with you" rule. 🙂
It was just a chance shot.
I was on business in Chicago, staying in the O'Hare area, and I was taking the train into the city to meet some people that evening. I was early and decided to get off at Grand and walk the rest of the way.
I was walking east across the Grand Avenue bridge and saw the northbound tow on the river and the raised bridge against the skyline lit by the early evening sun and knew it was a shot I needed to take.
The only camera I had with me was my then-carry-almost-everywhere camera, the (earlier one) Olympus Stylus Zoom and I had the Walgreens house brand 200 in it, which was the earlier rebranded Agfa Vista, or so they told me at the time.
The little P&S did great! It makes a stunning 13x19 and the lettering on the sign on the Kinzie Street bridge is quite clean on the print. The only technical issue is that I cut off the top of one of the buildings in the skyline. 🙁
I was one of those "f/16 and be there" moments, although not in the style of the individual who gave us that quote. 🙂
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