Does a series like this make you uncomfortable? My style certainly doesn’t help. But when I take these photographs I am certainly focused on the ‘rust and ruin’.
Click any image to view the gallery.
From a walk around a small town. As usual I choose to use black and white on this type of shot.
Some towns have revitalized their main streets, others are still trying.
Another sign of changing downtown.
Photographed while out exploring.
Christmas lights in July, wide streets with no cars, and people gone.
It’s usually never as bleak as the black and white photograph can portray it. I admit to slanting my B&W images that way. It’s the medium and how I like to use it.
Of course there are locations that a soft color shot is just as effective.
A late afternoon storm came by while we were out in the marshes. Heavy rains had already passed by. Now the weather had moved away.
All 3 images are from the same relative spot, I just walked further down the berm for a different angle.
I didn’t stay out there long but no lightning was around, just wind and far off thunder.
As expected, every time we looked specifically for this bird…nothing. Not entirely true, several times we heard it and ‘maybe’ saw a flash of color.
Here I was hurrying to find a better vantage point to shoot some Wood Storks. I caught the colors by accident.
The male was alone and striping seeds from inside the grasses along the edge of the trail.
Since I was standing out in the open there was no option to get closer or more light. I followed rule # 1…get the shot.
Maybe a dozen quick shots and he was gone. Still this is more than I have had before.
The photographs of the Alligator gathering still fascinate me. Better yet, I haven’t even looked at the second set taken from a different location.
Black and white film is perfect for this type of raw image. Having given up film a long time ago I use digital filters that look the same as many of the traditional film ASA and manufacturers.
This image is a standard Kodak 400. About as basic B&W and there is. I plan on creating an article using various B&W films as an example of the digital options available.
The ‘trunk’, or flood gates, were opened to allow this section of a marsh to drain and clean out grasses. Of course it was also an opportunity to go fishing while the water rushed out.
It was very simple to stand on top of the dike and have the water drain underneath our feet. Directly below us was a congregation of Alligators like never before. No long lens here, only portrait or wide angle since it was so close.
The photograph above was taken at 50 mm, the same as with the naked eye. About 25 adults are in this image, the ones straight down were out of view.
The local wading birds were not about to be left out either.
Amazing but not a single Alligator went after another, a few scuffles, nothing else. More so was the birds. They poked around just barely out of reach. A few Alligators snapped, but not even trying really.
Anything in the streams on water was fair game though.
I did go to another vantage point with a long lens later on. All these images were shot between 35 – 70 mm. Basically at portrait length.
