Give The Man A Hand
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 200mm ISO 320 1/80 f/11 Lr4, SEP2; PsCS6
A couple responding to a singer/musician’s free performance, South Main Street pedestrian promenade, The Shoppes, Chino Hills, California.
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“Please… Have some dignity.”
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 200mm ISO 320 1/25 f/11 Lr4; PsCS6
Affectionate best buddies, South Main Street pedestrian promenade, The Shoppes, Chino Hills, California.
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“I’ve got your back.”
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 150mm ISO 320 3-bkts f/11 Lr4; PsCS6
Two buddies keeping an eye on the passing scene on the South Main Street pedestrian promenade at The Shoppes, Chino Hills, California.
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Downtown Chino
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 22mm ISO 200 1/25 f/11 Lr4, TpzSim; PsCS6
The view looking north, across “D” Street from the city hall lawn. Chino has probably he quietest “downtown” of any comparable sized (population 79,059) city in the United States.
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A Quiet Campus Sidewalk
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 24mm ISO 320 1/8 f/11 Lr4, TpzSim; PsCS6
It is late afternoon on the sidewalk under the shade of mature trees lining Sixth Street on the campus of Pomona College, Claremont, California. The building is Clark Hall V, a student residence, the tower in the background is Smith Tower which has both a clock and carillon. By local tradition the carillon chimes at 47 minutes after every hour.
Prints of this image and similar interpretive images are available at: http://goo.gl/5XCBv .
Seen It All
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 70mm ISO 1600 1/30 f/11 Lr4, SnapArt3; PsCS5
A mature couple taking in the scene of shoppers passing through, children frolicking in a water fountain and families enjoying a band concert at The Shoppes, Chino Hills, California. I’m not sure if this would not have been better rendered as a straight black and white image, but I thought the added paint like texture and brush strokes with this oil paint treatment better suited the subjects and the feeling of having withstood the tests of time this couple gave me. What do you think?
Keeping The Lights On
Shop Windows
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 15mm ISO 1250 3-bkts f/16 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
What could be better than sitting at home in front of the television than going out to experience life in the real world. Anticipating that moment when the man in the candy store window loses his balance and comes crashing out on to the sidewalk. It beats watching paint dry.
Tucking In To An Early Supper
Nikon D7000 1-24mm @ 24mm ISO 800 3-bkts f/20 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
A spring evening just off of South Lake Avenue in Pasadena, California and four compatible souls tuck in to a quiet supper under a clear sky. The interloping photographer unnoticed.
Please click on the image to view in high resolution.
Hanging Out With Dad
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 14mm ISO 800 3-bkts f/20 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS
The scene is the South Lake Avenue shopping district in Pasadena, California. Life couldn’t be better for a young girl than a leisurely afternoon window shopping ride with the family dog and dad towing us in a red wagon.
Please click on the image to view in high resolution.
Urban Study #152
Nikon D7000 18-135mm @ 58mm ISO 200 1/60 f/18 +2EV -2EV Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
The viewpoint for this image is looking across the intersection and across Garey Avene, from the northwest corner of Garey and Second Street, Pomona, California.
Please click on the image to view in high resolution.
Furniture Corner; Variations On A Theme
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 26mm ISO 640 3-bkts f/16 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
This scene is looking east on Colorado Boulevard, from the corner of Columbia in Pasadena, California. It is just across the street from Le Cordon Bleu (pictured in Wednesday’s post) and just a block north of Le Cordon Bleu on Green Street (featured in last Monday’s and last Friday’s posts).
The first image (above) is another exercise in my emerging painterly/illustrative style. With the the style I am practicing I am working to achieve flattened three dimensional objects, flattened and smoothed textures, a simplification of structural elements, and an exploration of muted, but rich color tones and saturation. The end result is intended to be more of a representation of the image, rather than a purely, precise, documentary photo-realistic rendering.
The image below is a variation of the first image. For this image I applied the same post processing actions as the first image, but then I applied an impasto, painterly texture to the final image. I wanted to see what would result from adding a paint brush stroke effect to my baseline image. I like both variations, but I don’t anticipate that this experiment will lead me towards producing any more than an occasional rendition using the brush stroke technique.
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 26mm ISO 640 3-bkts f/16 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim, SnapArt3; PsCS5
Please click on either image to view in high resolution, which I recommend for viewing the second image.
Hanging Out #76
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 75mm ISO 640 1/25 f/25 Lr3, TpzSim; PsCS5
One more image from the plaza off the Laemmle Theater in Claremont, California. Wednesday’s image and this one were captured in mid-October, bringing to mind one nice attribute about life in Southern California, you can dine or relax outside any time of the year as long as it is not raining, and if there are some conveniently located outdoor heaters for those cool winter nights.
To view in high resolution or to purchase a print, please click on the image.
Hanging Out #54
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 200mm ISO 640 1/20 f/25 Lr3, TpzSim; PsCS6
Another image from the street in Claremont, California, this time in the plaza adjacent to the Laemmle Theater. A nice little oasis hidden behind some commercial buildings, a hotel and the theater. After capturing frames of people hanging out in the plaza, and some of the surrounding architectural elements, Judy and I and my sister had dinner outside in front of a Mexican restaurant that backs up to this plaza. The food was nothing to write home about, but the ambiance was very relaxing. We did get some good coffee later from the Coffee Bean & Tes Leaf that also backs up to this plaza.
I really enjoy our visits to the “center villages” of some of the towns in the Los Angeles basin, such as Claremont, Glendora, Monrovia, Orange, and look forward to visiting other locales that have also preserved or re-developed their original town centers. Old Town in Pasadena is another great venue for capturing street life and period architecture, if not a bit more fast moving and urbane than these smaller towns. It seems to me that life and fulfillment from your environment is a lot simpler and easier and more pleasant in the non-Disneyfied, non-freeway-accessible, non-malled (enclosed or strip), non-high-voltage entertainment and shopping venues that have proliferated in our urban areas.
To view in high resolution or to purchase a print, please click on the image.
Hanging Out #683
Street Life
Nikon D7000 18-135mm @ 100mm ISO 1250 1/125 f/9.0 Lr3, TpzSim; PsCS5
Captured on the street in Claremont, California last May. The scene played out on a weekend afternoon in a small plaza in front of the local bank branch/Starbucks. A quartet of street musicians were set-up and playing in the plaza. Other locals were standing or sitting on lawn chairs. The music was not memorable, nor were my shots of the musicians, but this trio did catch my eye.
please click on the image to view in high resolution or to purchase a print.
Hobbs Battery
Nikon D7000 18-200mm @ 48mm ISO 800 3-bkts f/16 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
It has probably been a long time since this building on Glassell Street in Orange, California had an inventory of batteries for sale, but I am glad the advertising sign on the side of the building has survived. I love the look of mature buildings with period decoration or art work on them, even commercial art work.
Please click on the image to see a high resolution version or to purchase a fine art print.
Photography Edifice
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 24mm ISO 640 3-bkts f/11 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
This is the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, California. The museum that is operated by the University of California Riverside fronts on the Main Street pedestrian mall. I have not done any research in to the sculpture that stands in front of the museum, but what I see in it is a human eye looking through a camera view finder, or is it a bowling ball coming through a television screen?
Indecision, Redux
Another Exercise With Painterly Effects and Play Upon Imagination
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 20 ISO 640 3-bkts f/11 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
Wherein the “Clark Kent” look-alike guy from this past September is still uncertain. Will he ever figure it out? Will he be given a sign by a superior being, such as a demonstration of spontaneous combustion, the sound of trumpets blaring, or in the guise of a passing stranger? Did he already receive a sign and fail to recognize it? Is he forever doomed by his conundrum or has he chosen a course and is about to charge off in another direction?
Waiting For The Light
Nikon D7000 10-24mm @ 24mm ISO 640 3-bkts f/25 Lr3, HEP1, TpzSim; PsCS5
It was an early summer evening in Glendora, California when we came upon this scene. The light changed to green and the woman went on here way, and we proceeded across and up the street to capture shop windows in the fading light.
Clock On The Corner
Nikon D7000 18-135mm @ 90mm ISO 800 3-bkts f/16 Lr3, HEP1; PsCS5
I liked the look of this building which is located at the corner of Greenleaf and Philadelphia in Whittier, California, and then the clock had me. For some reason street clocks seem to have a magnetic effect on me. When I viewed the initial HDR image it did not have the impact I wanted, I then created a pencil drawing of the image and overpainted that with colors based upon the tonal values of the original HDR, but more intense, then removed the pencil drawing layer and then blended the overpainted image with the original HDR image to achieve the final result. My overall objective was to bring out more character in the clock and the building. (Thursday’s image this week will depict the building in a more natural state.)
Corner Bakery
Interpretive Digital Imaging
Nikon D80 18-135mm @ 22mm ISO 250 1/400 f/11 Lr3, TpzSim; PsCS5
This is a re-interpretation of the image featured in my “Man Cannot Live By Eating Cake Alone…” blog post. When I first processed this image, rendering it as a straight forward HDR color image just did not speak to me, which is why I went with the sepia toned black & white. After I re-approached the color image this time around I followed my instinct to imbue it with painterly effects and I am very happy how this works for me. This is a far more expressive image than a straight color image, HDR or not, would be.
Indecision
Street Life
Nikon D7000 28-300mm @200mm ISO 640 1/640 f/5.6 Lr3; SEP2
This scene could be somewhere in the United States, or not. When I was thinking about the image and what to title it, the image conjured up quite a few dramatic scenarios in my mind. Are they looking for something or someplace? Are they checking if they have been followed? The woman is protective of the baby, the man seems nonchalant with his hands in his pockets. What are they gazing at? The mark on the woman’s left arm has me somewhat baffled, I did not put it there. Is it some sort of tribal marking?
What potential story is triggered in your mind when you view this image?
Multi Tasking
Street Life
Nikon D7000 28-300 mm @ 210 mm ISO 640 1/1000 f/5.6 Lr3; SEP2
A man on a mission? Or just taking a walk while on the phone? I’m leaning towards the latter as a few moments after he went striding past me he returned, going in the direction that he originally came from, still using the phone. Or maybe it was just a short mission or a guy who needed directions.
Southwest Wing Mission Inn
Nikon D7000 28-300 mm @ 48 mm ISO 640 3-bkts f/11 Lr3, HEP1, PsCS5; ASAA3
This is a wider view from the position where I was when I captured most of the Street Life images that I am displaying this week and next. The view is looking across part of the open air pedestrian mall that the city of Riverside, California created out of three blocks of Main Street. This scene is actually bisected by Mission Inn Avenue, where you can see the columnar traffic barriers in the lower left corner of this image. In the same area as the traffic barriers is the “bridal party” that I captured and displayed earlier this week in my current Street Life series. This is a great area to stake out or roam around, capturing the people passing through or hanging out and capturing some of the interesting period architecture.
In terms of capturing people, whether people connected to local business activity, tourists, young people before or after school, people attending local events, inter-generational groups, just every day street life, if you are patient and persistent, you will find it all here. The Mission Inn is the defining structure in this area with its mixture of architectural styles (as I previously noted here) and in this image I wanted to capture some of the sense of time and place that the structure expresses. Another aspect of this image that resonates with me is the shape of many of the inn’s windows, with the curve on their tops and the bell curve on top of the pediments, which is replicated in the bell shaped light standards and the bell street ornament in the right middle ground. This structure in Riverside, California stands in a semi-arid area of California that is very near to the low Sonoran desert and I tried to convey that feeling by de-saturating most of the colors in the image and using a tool to suggest a water color rendition. I finished it off with the addition of dried parchment like texture, but I am a little ambivalent about that, I worry that it is too pronounced.
I welcome any constructive critiques.
Each In Their Own World
Street Life
Nikon D7000 28-300mm @ 150mm ISO 640 1/100 f/5.6 Lr3; SEP2
At the same time that Judy and I were taking a break from a photo walk in Riverside, California I captured a series of images of this trio also taking a break in the shade. The father had been trying to interact with his son, which I had captured in earlier frames, but the son seemed to have a very short attention span, and in this image the father has finally given up his efforts to engage his son, it would seem in frustration. (Which is only my interpretation, yours may differ.)
