South End Grit
Focal Length: 20mm | Aperture: f4 | Exposure: 1/125 | ISO: 1000 | Post: CS4
I was lucky enough to link up with friend and Chicago-based photographer Ian Merritt (IDM Photography), the day after Thanksgiving and ramble through what has become one of my favorite wastelands of industrial decay in the South End of B-Town off Flynn Avenue. I really cherish the exploring via the lens with a chum who shares the same excitement for photography and grimy subject matter, you find yourself feeding off of each other’s energy, almost pushing each other to find the ideal grab. It’s also really fun to see how the same place or subject is captured through another’s cam, what catches their eye, how they frame the shot etc. Ian is no exception, his work is incredible and I very much enjoy his keen eye and prolific body of work, swing through his kick-ass blog and be sure to peep the 50 Portraits Project he has underway, he also Tweets much more frequently than I, under the handle of @IDMPhoto.
Pike Place
Focal Length: 18mm | Aperture: f4 | Exposure: 1/60 | ISO: 200 | Post: CS1
Separating the water from downtown Seattle lies a wall of connected structures that has become a hub for those who seek fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and just about everything else in-between. The Pike Place Market also provides a selection of restaurants, brewpubs, and I think I even saw a hot dog cart, if you dig on food, you’ll dig Pike Place. The people watching is also quite sensational, all walks of life walk the halls selecting ingredients for upcoming meals, or perhaps just a snack.
Nantucket Vintage
Focal Length: 18mm | Aperture: f10 | Exposure: 1/400 | ISO: 400 | Post: CS1
Few places come to mind when recalling destinations I have frequented as often as Nantucket. My family and I ventured to the small island for the fist time over a decade ago and all of us immediately fell in love with it’s charm and began a bevy of semi-annual returns in the following years. There is a very apparent feeling of going back in time once you set foot upon the island, strict rules govern the style and even the color of structures built here, no chain stores exist on this patch if sand in the Atlantic (what, no McDonald’s?! Nope.), the cobbled streets in the center of town and the overall attitude of locals all pay homage to a simpler time. Suffice it to say that it’s a real treat to stumble upon a classic auto parked on the cobblestone.
Lusciously Mundane
Focal Length: 28mm | Aperture: f5.6 | Exposure: 1/400 | ISO: 1000 | Post: CS4
So let’s be honest: I fucking adore color, especially in often overlooked everyday circumstances. The bright orange of a traffic cone set against the dull and dirty background of asphalt, vibrant graffiti lining the walls of an avoided alley, the vividly colored plastic of trash or recycling bins on the sidewalk, I love all these things. Fortunately, I’m surrounded by such occurrences on a daily basis (most of us are), the trick is putting effort into actually observing and appreciating the splashes of color that are apparent in our everyday lives. Take a walk and soak it up.
Lost Highway
Focal Length: 18mm | Aperture: f5.6 | Exposure: 1/4000 | ISO: 1000 | Post: CS4
A little less than 1.5 miles of an empty four lane freeway spur off of I-89 spans from South Burlington into Burlington. The project was abandoned in the 1980’s due to funding and a few other programs that weren’t in the right place at the right time, deadlines were missed and eventually ideas shifted. Now this stretch of asphalt lies dormant and untouched, plants have begun to stake claim in cracks resulting from the ground shifting over the years. Jersey barriers adorned with colorful spraypaint block off the ends and a portion at the intersection of Industrial Ave. and Pine Streets has been turned into a makeshift parking lot for nearby businesses. It is a wasteland, an eerie graveyard of a public works project gone awry, a monument of what could have been. It’s also great place to add some miles to the shoes and snap a few rounds with the cam.
September Sky
Focal Length: 55mm | Aperture: f5.6 | Exposure: 1/4000 | ISO: 1000 | Post: CS4
The clouds were the first thing I noticed when I relocated to the Green Mountain State of Vermont from California. NorCal has some clouds, sure and some fog too but neither can hold a candle to the utter awe and dynamic structure the billions of water droplets band together to create above us here in VT. I’m consistently blown away on an almost daily basis, there’s big fatty dark looming clouds, skinny streaky wispy clouds, clouds that look as if a rake had been dragged across the sky and mountainous clouds that billow into pillars that make Everest look like a dinky ‘ol pile of pebbles. I’ve come to make an effort to photograph exclusively on days offering some cloud cover, as opposed to my favored clear blue sky shooting on the San Francisco Streets. The clouds add additional dimension and character, ya dig?
Burlington Brick
Focal Length: 31mm | Aperture: f9 | Exposure: 1/320 | ISO: 250 | Post: CS4
Delicious simplicity, texture, color and composition. I love how you can see where the city has made an effort to remove the graffiti from the brick, yet traces of it linger…
Patriotic Minimalism
Focal Length: 22mm | Aperture: f5.6 | Exposure: 1/320 | ISO: 1000 | Post: CS4
This past Saturday, I ventured into Essex to check out the Champlain Valley Fair. I hadn’t been in over a decade, and well… not much has changed really. Murphy’s Law was in full effect as the one day I attended was the only day it rained, and the rain almost amplifies the level of depression at the fair. Lot’s of stuff you don’t need for twice the price, agricultural exhibitions, rickety rides, and oh yes: fried dough. Discovering the red white and blue Winnebago out behind a poultry showcase was what made my day, I adore simply composed pictures with color and grit. Yum.
Main Street, Bristol
Focal Length: 125mm | Aperture: f8 | Exposure: 1/1600 | ISO: 400 | Post: CS1
Old and colourful storefronts line the (about one city block in length) main drag in Bristol, Vermont. A pristine yet glorious specimen of a small “anytown” USA.
Dogpatch
Focal Length: 22mm | Aperture: f5 | Exposure: 1/100 | ISO: 200 | Post: CS1
A few of my favorite things: grit, color and composition, luscious. The Dogpatch is one of my sought out areas in San Francisco simply for the fact that it provides a satiating amount of visual fodder in lieu of the fore mentioned attributes in it’s semi-neglected industrial landscape. Fun fact: the photo of me that now resides on the Bio page within this site was taken in this very same spot by Phillip Hua.