Light, Color and Gesture

I was recently watching an on-line video of "A Day With Jay Maisel". He is a fantastic photographer, and an even better teacher. One of the things he said (there were many great quotes) was that if a photo doesn't have either light, color or gesture, then it is really not a photograph worth taking. I think about that all the time when I am out with my camera.

No color in this photo, but the light was nice...Gesture? Ha...I guess that is up to the viewer to figure out...what do you think?

The Magic of Leica

There is something about the images that come out of my Leica that are just different from what I used to get out of my Nikon. There is something about the way the lenses render the image that gives it that "Leica Magic". These two images were from the Leica M9 and the Voightander 50mm f/1.1 Nokton shot wide open. Even with a non-Leica lens, the magic is there...

This is my daughter, Kayla, by the way... just before her Ballet performance yesterday...

Waiting For Customers

If I were to pick one place in Rome to hang out with my horse and cart, this would be the place...

Talk About Crowded and HOT

I loved Italy...the food, the people, the history, the colors...but wow, the crowds of tourists were just about unbearable...and throw the heat into the equation, and what you end up with is a grumpy Scotty Graham. A typical scene in Rome...this at the Trevi Fountain...you can see just a bit of the fountain, but I was so amazed at the crowds, I just had to get a photo. For me to get a photo of the fountain, I had to stand on a chain and balance myself in order to get above the crowds...I am standing on the chain to get this photo too...guess I will just have to go back to Rome in the winter time to avoid the summer crowds...

Checking The Cell Phone

Remember the days when you had to use a pay phone if you were not at home? I remember a friend of mine having a phone in his car....it was huge with a long cable coming out of it, and a funky looking antenna on the back of his car. You only had one of these things if you were rich.

Wow, how the times have changed...nowadays, EVERYONE has a cell phone...and if the phone doesn't do email, take photos and video, play music and games, give you traffic reports, or updates your status in facebook, then....well...you just aint cool.

The Colors Of Italy

Indeed, the colors of Italy...

Temporary Lockup

Sometimes you get lucky and catch just the right moment with your camera. As soon as I took this shot, the boys all ran from behind the gate and into their house...but I love the look on their faces at this split second...each one with their own thoughts...

Third Annual Jakarta Photowalk

It poured rain almost all day yesterday...I had a feeling it might be another day of bad weather today, but was really happy to see nice blue skies this morning for our third annual Photowalk in Jakarta. There were almost 60 of us wandering around the docks and kampung (village) taking photos...a great day that ended with "brunch" at Cafe Batavia!!

The best part of the day for me was handing out photos. Last night, I printed about 30 photos that I had taken on previous walks up to two years ago. Today, I went to search for the people I had taken photos of, to give them a copy of their photo. The reaction was priceless...it was like I was handing out gold or something...amazing the power of a simple photograph...it really made their day, and they were so thankful...that made my day too!!

The Old Wooden Boats Loom

Walking around these boats really takes you back in time. This is the old port of Sunda Kelapa, and is the location of our photo walk this Sunday. I will have over 60 people joining me early Sunday morning to walk around this area and the village next to the port. Always great photo opportunities around this area.

Nice Place To Sew

My wife always tells me..."If you need something in Jakarta, just go out in the street, and you will find it.." If you need something sewn up, just go out on the street...If you also need a wood palette, just go out on the street...they have it all in Jakarta.

Saint Peter's Dome

What can I say? An amazing church!!

Jakarta Photowalk

This coming Sunday, I will be leading a photowalk in Jakarta. There are already about 60 people signed up to go...should be a really fun morning of walking around, meeting new people and taking photographs. Last Saturday, a good friend of mine and I scouted the walk. It is always fun to walk around this area of Jakarta. This photo was taken at Sunda Kelapa where all the old wooden schooners are unloaded and loaded with supplies...

This Guy Is Cool

Don't you wonder sometimes what the people, that are now stone carvings, were really like in their time? My guess is that this guy was one cool dude!!

Too Many Tourists

Funny. I posted this photo in the forums over at NAPP, and was talking about all the tourists inside the Pantheon. There were so many people inside, I had to point my camera straight up to get any kind of photo without people in it. Just goes to show that there are always interesting angles and light to shoot...ya just gotta look around. My tourists comment on the forum sparked some really funny replies...

Anyway, I liked the light in this photo. I wonder what they do when it rains...that hole at the top of the dome is BIG!!

The Leica M9 And The Voightlander 50mm Nokton

I am not a camera equipment review kind of guy, but I just had to say something about this 50mm lens attached to the Leica M9. It is a beaut!! Leica lenses are NOT cheap, in fact, you need to save for many months to afford just one lens. When I was looking for lenses for my M9, I really wanted a 50mm lens but after forking over the bucks for the M9 itself, I had little money leftover to get any lens let alone a Leica lens. So, I settled for the Voightlander 50mm f/1.1 Nokton. For an extremely fast lens, it is only a fourth the price of the Leica 50mm Summilux f/1.4, and about one tenth the price of the new Leica 50mm Noctilux f/0.95.

In my opinion, this lens is excellent!! I have no complaints!! The shot below of my wife, Tika, was shot almost wide open at f/2. This is pretty much right out of the camera...only slight tweaks in LR. Check out the nice blurry background. If you are looking for a solid 50mm lens, look no further. Having said that, I still want a Leica 50mm, but that will just have to wait until I am rich...ha ha....

The Tree

You gotta wonder sometimes what trees have seen in their lifetime. These trees were perched along a walkway on the hill overlooking the Colosseum in Rome. I have no idea how old they are, but they were BIG trees...

Inside St. Peter's Basilica

Truly the most amazing church I have ever seen...

Typical Venice Scene

No cars, motorcycles or any other kind of motorized vehicles...only boats and walking...I can get used to that...

Where The Gladiators Played

The Colosseum was my favorite place to visit in Rome. Of course, they told us on the tour of the place to not believe any of the movies we saw....like "The Gladiator". That crushed me. I was really hoping it would have been true. For example, they said no man ever fought an animal in the colosseum. Only animals fought other animals. There were also ties in the man against man fights...they wouldn't always fight till death. Even if the movies got the history all wrong, it was still an amazing place to see and imagine what it must have been like two thousand years ago...

Bangkok Terminal

When you have eight hours in a terminal, there is not much else to do...might as well take some photos...so I took this one.

A Dark Alley In The Colosseum

If you ever go to Rome in the summer, you will know the word, "crowded". The colosseum was no exception. The place was packed!! We had to wait in line for over an hour to just get a ticket, and then another hour to get into the place. So, what do I do when confronted with such crowds? I go where the crowds don't go...like this little back alley...it was cooler, no people, and made for a nice photo!

The Accordian Player

You'd see a lot of these musicians on the street in Rome. The difference is, at least from my perspective of street performers, they were GOOD. Really talented musicians playing on the streets...I am sure they made pretty good money too!

Milan Train Station

I only had about 10 seconds to get this shot. Tika and I were literally running to catch our train. As we were running, I passed this empty track, and thought, "wow, that would make a good photo"....my Leica was around my neck ready to go, so I stopped for 10 seconds and fired away 5 shots to later be processed as an HDR...it came out nice, don't ya think? We then RAN to our train, and caught it two minutes before it left. Talk about a photo fanatic...I think I am crazy.