Getting Back on the Street Photography Horse
After my frightening encounter with a man who didn’t want to be photographed occurred, I was very hesitant to go back out to photograph on the street. The day after the incident, I was still really shaken up about it. I wasn’t sure if I ever was going to be willing to do street photography ever again. But while eating lunch with my wife the next day, I decided to get over my fears and jump back into it.
Follow Your Dreams (Cancelled)
Banksy has been a huge influence on me and my wife over the last year. For Cheri, he has been a subject of research for her doctoral work in Rhetoric and Professional Writing. For me, his art and messages have made me really think about many aspects of life in a completely different manner — art, politics, and authority.
How a Photograph Got Me Assaulted
One day a few weeks ago, I was walking around the King Street area of Old Town Alexandria. I was practicing my street photography techniques with both my Holga 120CFN and my Nikon N60 with a 50 mm prime lens. In particular, I was working on taking candid portraits of people I encountered as I walked around town. A first set of those photos can be seen in this post. But the day ended frustratingly and scarily as I was assaulted by the man I photographed above.
Street Photography with a Holga
Since I’ve been following the work of Thomas Leuthard and Eric Kim lately, they’ve inspired me to go out and do some more street photography. My Konica Auto S2 rangefinder (my go-to camera for street photography) is out for repair, so I decided to do some shooting with my Holga 120CFN. I figured the zone focusing dial and quiet shutter would be great when taking some candid street portraits. Plus, since I was loading 35 mm film into it, it would also let me experiment with having sprocket holes visible in the photo (something I haven’t done with my Holga before).
Iron Mike and Miss Greene County
While spending a weekend at the Dover Foxcroft Farm in Ruckersville, VA (see previous shots here, here and here), we also spent some time exploring the local area. Two spots we ended up at were the Stanardsville Strawberry Festival and the Big Meadows Campground.
Two Vineyards, Two Tastes
Memorial Day weekend was an undoubtedly busy weekend for most places. Since most people were off work that weekend, they flocked to locations where they could have fun. The wineries just outside of Northern Virginia were no exception.
Architecture: The High Museum of Art
Atlanta’s High Museum of Art was full of many artistic treasures. Amongst them was the building itself. I’ve previously posted a photo of the exterior, but this photo was shot inside.
Falling Waters
While I was in Atlanta, I tried to focus on two types of photography: street and architecture. I was really impressed by the diverse architecture around the city. At the same time, since I found myself wandering the streets most of the day, I wanted to shoot the streets.
A Donkey and Its Handler
Until this year, I hadn’t been privy to the parade that is held every year in DC when the Ringling Brother’s Circus comes to town. That parade is the annual DC Elephant Walk.
Architecture: The Arena Stage
Back in early March, Cheri, me and our friend Christina went to the Arena Stage in southwest DC to see a reading of the Edward Albee play, Finding the Sun. The one-act play was read by a group of theater students from the University of Maryland. It was a part of the Edward Albee festival going on at the theater at the time.
Mile 3
Back in January, Cheri and I took advantage of a slight warm spell (mid-40s in January = warm) to bike some of the W&OD Trail.
The Lone Sailor
Standing watch over the USS Wisconsin on the waterfront of Norfolk, Virginia is the Lone Sailor. The bronze statue is a duplicate, among many others in the US, of the original Lone Sailor that stands at the US Navy Memorial in Washington, DC. That statue was designed by artist Stanley Bleifield in 1987.
Ring Billed Gull, Redscaled
One day, whilst roaming around the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, I shot this picture of a common Ring Billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) at the edge of the pier. I saw him/her perched on a nearby post and hoped to get a good shot.
The Path Ahead
As a photographer, one of my pet peeves is someone pointing out something and telling me, “That would make a great picture!” I’m not too sure why it irritates me.
Is it the inherent assumption that I wouldn’t know what would make a great picture? Perhaps its just my pride getting hurt because I potentially could have missed something.
Anyway, this shot arose from an instance like that.
My mother-in-law pointed this curvy trail to me as we walked along Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield, VA. After shooing my father-in-law out of the frame, I snapped away.
I’m glad she did point this out, because I really enjoy the way this shot came out.
Camera: Konica Auto S2
Film: Kodak Gold 400, redscaled
Red. Tree. Sky.
Three things dominate this photo, the color red, the silhouette of the tree, and the sky.
Taken at Windsor Castle Park in Smithfield, Virginia.
Camera: Konica Auto S2
Film: Kodak Gold GC 400, Redscaled
Trees at the Waterfront
This shot is the first from a roll of 120 film I shot using my Holga 120CFN toy camera. I decided to experiment with this roll and inserted a paper mask into my camera before loading the film.
Orthodox Christians
While at the 2011 March for Life in Washington, DC, I happened across this pair of gentlemen and their congregation of Orthodox Christians. They kindly obliged me for a photo and I moved on to wandering around for more photo ops.
They weren’t the only orthodox group there. The march also had groups of Orthodox Hasidic Jews, Greek Orthodox Christians, Byzantine Catholics, and so on.
The march itself was fairly tame. Much more than I was expecting.
You can see more of my photos from this event on my Flickr set.
Camera: Konica Auto S2
Film: Ilford HP5+ 400
Chemistry: Kodak HC-110 (B)
Downward Glances
This shot comes my first time ever pushing black and white film. Shot on Ilford HP5+ 400 film, I underexposed the roll by two stops and then pushed the film, essentially developing it like it was 1600 speed film. After shooting almost 10 rolls of this film, I think I enjoy it much better when pushed. I really enjoy the contrast and grain.
Camera: Konica Auto S2
Film: Ilford HP5+ 400, pushed to 1600
Chemistry: Kodak HC-110 (B)
Kodachrome & the US Capitol
Out of the two rolls of Kodachrome I’ve shot, this has become one of my favorite shots. I spotted this man sitting at the edge of the Capitol Reflecting Pool one afternoon as I was getting some shots nearby with my Nikon N60. I love getting shots like these because they bring a certain human element to a well known and commonly photographed landmark.
Camera: Nikon N60
Film: Kodachrome 64
Dismal Swamp Canal Trail
In my hometown of Chesapeake, Virginia, an old portion of State Road 17 has been turned into a nature/exercise trail. It follows along the Dismal Swamp Canal and is surrounded by lots of lovely tall trees. Cyclists, runners, and walkers flood the trail on a regular basis.
When I was home for Thanksgiving, me, my wife, and my father-in-law took a lunch time stroll on the trail. While they left me behind, I was absorbed with finding things to photograph with my Konica Auto S2 rangefinder. One of the things I found was a birdhouse on a tree. I didn’t think much of the photo when I took it, but I really like how the sharp textures of the birdhouse and the tree give way to a soft background of the trees and the canal.
Camera: Konica Auto S2
Film: Ilford Hp5+ 400
Chemistry: Kodak HC-110 (B)
Eric Spiegel Photography 