I was sitting around the house on a cold, wet Friday and the old sunflowers on the counter drew my attention.

From the start this is what I considered to be the photograph. But as I made the picture, working to get the white behind the flower correctly framed it just didn't gibe with what I was seeing in my mind.

This worked better and the flower in the background adds a little depth to the image I did not think necessary. The vision I had still did not come to me, with a single flower starkly standing out on a lighter background. Still trying.

Then this came to me, to frame the flower against the blinds, the tungsten balance, set at 3250 Kelvin, made the outdoors more blue than gray. When finished I figured this was the one. Little did I know image number two above would sneak into the front of the pack after editing in Photo Mechanic. 

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Throughout my career, in big cities, parking garages are a necessity. Having to drive from one assignment to another I have visited many of them. Another added benefit to the garage, they can offer an easy way to get high a higher perspective for a landscape or building photograph.

And they are visually fascinating.

While covering numerous assignments on a long Saturday at Artscape (about which entries will be coming) I had to take a break to transmit photos for a daily assignment. The slow walk from the Fox Building to the garage on Cathedral was hampered by the huge crowd, but I safely arrived at my car on the sun drenched top deck.

The excruciatingly slow elevator was not an option for the return to Artscape's street level to photograph the night's musical entertainment. The stairway silently beckoned, but not solely for descending. Photographic possibilities almost screamed from every floor.

(Nikon D2X, 17-55 mm lens @ 17 mm, 1/250th sec. @ f/9, ISO 200)

The starkly lit traffic barrel, out of place in a stairwell, took me by surprise. The various light sources, direct and reflected, made for an interesting photograph. Little did I know there'd be more.

(Nikon D2X, 17-55 mm lens @ 26 mm, 1/500th sec. @ f/9, ISO 200)

A few more floors and a plastic cup in the window sill draws my attention. The 6-in-the-p.m. light made for long, pleasing shadows. There is a lot going on in this photograph, but the simplicity of the circular cup lid brings it all together.  

(Nikon D2X, 17-55 mm lens @ 26 mm, 1/125th sec. @ f/14, ISO 200)

Ground level and another possibility presents itself. The direct lot contrasts nicely with the backlit clouds reflected in the safety-glass window of the door. Looking at it just now the Abstract Expressionist paintings  of Mark Rothko easily come to mind.

Are these great photographs of high artistic merit? That is not for me to say. Will I ever make prints of them and hang them on the wall? Doubtful. But they will linger in my mind, like the great amount of enjoyment making them brought me at the time.  

Posted by Christopher Assaf at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)