There,  I Fixed It!  

I needed to step away from my blog for a family emergency for a couple weeks. During that time, I took no photographs and I really missed not being able to do that. I didn't realize how much a habit photography has become in my life. Mentally, photography provides me with the time to sort out the clutter in my mind so I can find the things I need.

Illinois winters are gray, cold, and confining. I suppose that is why I chose to shake things up photographically by shooting only black and white and using only a fixed lens for several weeks. Hence, comes my title for this photo series, "There, I Fixed It"!

I am making this change to help me see my photos differently. I usually choose to use a telephoto lens because access is one key ingredient for taking interesting photos. Telephoto lenses help me gain an access advantage, in most circumstances, when I do not know what will capture my interest. By forcing myself to use fixed lenses I have to re-adjust the way I compose my photos.

This week's photo is my first photo taken in 2025. I shot it with a 35mm 1.8 lens using my ride around Nikon d5100. In post, I converted it to black and white . Since I knew my final image would be black and white, I adjusted my settings to get the black and white image that would work for me. The light was coming over his shoulder but not really lighting his face well. Fortunately, he was sitting at a nearby table so I was able to adjust exposure to near what I wanted in the print. I choose to take this photo because this fellow looked like he lived a hard life and was enjoying a hot cup of coffee on a minus degree gloomy winter's day. The cell phone in his hand told me that although he was alone, he was still connected with others at some level. On a gray, chilling, Illinois morning that is a warming thought.

Tryin to Get the Feeling Again

Just before Christmas, I was invited to sit in on a pre- concert sound check for Peter Mayer.  The photo featured in this week's blog was one of several taken during that session. Since 1988, Peter was the lead guitarist for Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefers Band.  He is a talented singer and phenomenal guitarist. Peter continues to write music and tour with his own band performing at many national venues.

As I watched him prepare for that evening's concert, my mind wandered to what life on the road must be after so many years.  I thought about all the microphones and tangles of wires and speakers that were anything but glamous. I watched as sound techs held conversations among themselves and with other musicians as the practice proceeded.  Mostly, I thought about what kind of mental discipline it takes to perform those familiar songs as if they were being performed for the very first time. However, from within all this present chaos, a polished performance will emerge in just a few short hours.

Attending this sound check got me thinking about photography in a way that Peter Mayer may feel as he prepares for a concert.  Behind each beautifully finished print, stands a period of repeated distractions, failures, and moments of self doubt prompting us to wonder if we can ever get the feeling again.

 

 Ending 2024 with the Best Of-s

It seems that each year about this time, most media sources provide us with a review of the best of-s that serve as highlights from the previous year.  Since this is a photography blog, I would like to share a single photo that I feel is my best of 2024.

My process for doing this was to review those photos that I chose to frame and print this past year.  Like most photographers, I print only a very small percentage of my photos. 

The photo chosen for this week was taken on a subzero day this past January 2024.  January in northern Illinois is an austere period characterized by bleak landscapes which are bathed in grays and whites.  However, the warm sky colors in the background seemed to speak the promise of better days to come.   Better days to come is my wish for you in 2025.

 Our Anticipation is Ending

 

The days of "It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas." are rapidly drawing to a close. We stand at the the threshold of Christmas Eve ready or not.  I am pleased to have chosen this project and I suspect that it may continue into the next Christmas season. The photos that I have taken had the effect of allowing me to reduce holiday stress and wasted motion which permitted me to look at Christmas through my own eyes and not through the eyes of others who are leading the rush to tell us what Christmas should look like.

According to the Christian tradition of Advent (the days leading up to Christmas) is a period of anticipation.  Anticipation is much more than simply waiting.  Within the last week. I have waited in long lines of shoppers, waited for the dentist's drill to prepare me for a crown, and waited to celebrate with loved ones and family members.  My time of anticipation was filled with boredom, dread, and excitement and joy.  By itself, anticipation does not capture the spirit of the holiday.  Elements of longing, mystery, and bonding blend with our anticipation to provide the seasoning for our individual Christmas experience.  Because we are all anticipating something different for the holiday, is the reason Christmas is capable of producing such varied of responses. 

I found that many of the photos I  took were taken with my cell  phone because Christmas seems  to appear in little frames  spontaneously. "You better watch out" couldn't be better  advice for capturing the photos for this project.  There are so many more sides of Christmas that I didn't explore. 

Like cropping a photo, there is only so much you can fit into a frame before it becomes a meaningless blur.  I am grateful that my project allowed me to examine those individual puzzle pieces of our Christmas preparations that when they all come together they give a sense of completeness and contentment.  

Merry Christmas!

  

 

 Accepting the Cookies

If you browse the web, you are very familiar with the term cookies.  The cookies are those little bots webmasters place in our browser to make our website experience friendly.  Mainly, they want us to find what we are seeking and many more things they would like us to buy or read.  Some cookies also can be used for pernicious purposes.

Since it's less than ten days until Christmas I wish to consider the traditional cookies from my childhood days.  The kind of cookie that didn't track me, but the kind that attracted me with their tantalizing taste and smell.  Perhaps, some of the current computer terminology was lifted from those simpler times because I believe my mom could track me when I pilfered the cookies she left to cool on the countertop.  

My photo for the week came to me from my good friend Tom, a fellow grumpy old photographer, a weekly coffee buddy, and a proud first time grandpa.  When I saw this photo, I asked for his permssion to use it in this holiday series that I have named, "Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas".  (For more on what this photo series is about, check out last week's blog.)  

When I saw this photo, I clearly saw a love story in it -- a love that will transcend this batch of Christmas cookies and the small bits of raw dough consumed in their making.  I liked the way that grandma and grandson are nearly embraced with her face so near his face as if she were sharing a secret.  Her hands are important supporting details within this love story. Grandma's older hands, dusted with flour, placed atop of her grandchild's small hands to teach the nuances of rolling cookie dough while likely limiting the amount of raw sugar dough he consumed.  Mothers and grandmothers possess this common magical charm in their ability to multi-task in such ways.

The Christmas season is a time where we can experience many different kinds of joy.  There is joy in attending a Christmas parade, a holiday light display or a symphony performance where our senses are ignited and explode into a shout of joy that screams wow.  This kind of joy requires a minimum personal investment.

There are also quiet joyful  moments that culminate in a softer wow that warms the heart and inspires both gratitude and contentment. These personal moments usually require a personal investment and can often appear spontaneously.  Best of all, these are the moments we carry for weeks afterward and often for the rest of our lives.  

In these days when "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", my wish for you is that you experience both kinds of joy.  Make time to accept and cherish those cookies which leave you feeling like Christmas throughout the year.

 

 

 Farmall of Us To You...

As Christmas approaches, I am making it a point to photograph scenes that make me think about the preparations we make to celebrate the holiday.  It's a bit of street photography blended with a Hallmark flavor.  

I am enjoying the experience because it is similar to peeking at your Chrismas presents before December 25th. Like gifts from childhood days, they are hidden among ordinary everyday scenes and sometimes in strange settings.  I am looking for the traditional Christmas stuff, but I am seeking to sample all the joys, colors, moments of quiet contemplation, confusion, and irony which are all part of Christmas.  In the Christmas carole "Joy To The World"  the phrase "prepare Him room" appears and I never gave it much thought since the Christmas star and the visit of the wise men bearing gifts seemed to present a more intriguing picture. However, "preparing Him room" is my way of finding peace by resisting the rush and distractions of the season and seeking to find joy in the present not giving way to the glitz of parties, shopping and getting. 

The photo that I chose this week was found in the countryside near me.  This rusted 1947 Farmall tractor was sitting out beside a farm house while it was being decorated with Christmas lights by the farmer and his daughter.  They were experiencing the joy of creating something beautiful with someone dear.  Their task was special because it honored the Christmas tradition while strengthening their loving relationship.   Only at Christmastime can those ordinary pieces be reimagined and embellished "to prepare room" for the spirit of Christmas to return.

Scenes From a Parade

One small photographic project which I hope to complete this Christmas season is to do a set of photos with the theme, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas".  The photos will try to capture the common routines and experiences associated with the preparations people make to celebrate Christmas.

This past weekend I photographed the Parks Lighted Christmas Parade as part of a community service activity for our local photography club.  The photo club rents space in the village hall for our meetings, and in return, we like to extend a courtesy to them for housing us.  

Collecting photos from this Christmas parade seemed to coincide with the plans for my project.  Plus, the experience had the potential to inject some Christmas spirit into a guy who can get a bit cynical regarding many of the Christmas "traditions" our society promotes.

Before photographing the parade, I photographed a nearby family who had set a fire pit and some camp chairs on their front lawn to warm themselves in anticipation of the parade.  I asked to take their photo and they welcomed me by offering some hot cider.  The kids were playing and eating toasted marshmallows while the adults visited with one another laughing and simply enjoying each other.  It was my favorite photo and experience of this night. Their attitude seemed to reflect the true spirit of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. 

Soon I began photographing the floats sponsored by the scouts, civic groups, local politicians, and various retail businesses.  Then came every police, fire, and maintenance vehicle the village owns.  If a string of lights could be affixed to it, it qualified as parade worthy.  

Midway through the parade an unadorned sewer services truck appeared as if it were a harbinger to all those who are hosting large Thanksgiving dinners.  It's foreboding presence reminded me of the scene from the movie "Christmas Vacation" when crazy Uncle Eddie and all his family suddenly arrive in a rusty RV during the celebritory lighting of the Griswold's family home. 

Like frames in a movie, the ever passing parade continued featuring dancing snowmen, reindeers, and elves tossing handfuls of candy to the children. Then the high school marching band strutted by playing a holiday medley which put to rest all those thoughts of potential sewage problems during the Thanksgiving feast.  

As normalcy was returning, out of the darkness appeared the coroner's van featuring a huge lighted wreath and bow adorning its front and holiday lights twinkling along its sides.  Perhaps its placement in the parade was intended to signal the parade was ending soon and the big guy in the sleigh (not the big guy carrying the sycthe) would soon appear.  I could only imagine what may have happened if the coroner was needed immediately to make a death confirmation.

As we approach Thanksgiving and the Christmas season, the scenes from this parade present a picture of the joy, bewilderment, and saddness that accompanies the holidays.  My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving for its emphasis on gratitude and simplicity.  I wonder if we enjoy Christmas more because Thanksgiving transforms our hearts and minds to focus on what we have rather than on what we will get?  It's only when we can recognize our own abundance that we can respond with grace and generosity toward others.  Happy Thanksgiving!