Calm Photos

Remember the days when grandpa would get out those old slide trays and that noisy projector, throwing images from vacations past up on a screen or against the wall? Well, times and technology have changed, but not the experience of that wonderful viewing experience called the slideshow.

I have an online slideshow ready for your viewing enjoyment. It’s over on the flickr website at www.flickr.com/photos/jimcrotty/show/ .

It’s kid-safe, office-safe and best of all, you don’t have to turn-off the lights or listen to grandpa tell the same story, over and over again.

ps - I still need your help and support for my JDRF Ride for a Cure this August. I’ve been training hard and I’m happy to report that I can now climb all the hills in Kettering and Oakwood without stopping. But I need your help to get me up those “hills” out in Montana. Many thanks to those who have already contributed!

3V001RedWaterLilybyJimCrottyFW.jpg

Originally uploaded by jimcrotty.com.

Rarely do I place the primary subject of my photographs smack-dab in the center of the frame. I try to practice the rule of thirds, segmenting the image area with four intersecting lines - two vertical and two horizontal. Where those lines intersect is where I usually place the subject. Which of those points I choose depends on the directional flow of lines between subject, foreground and background or if I want the viewer’s eyes to follow the subject through or to a given point.

The few times that I will place the subject right in the middle of the image area is when I’m photographing circular objects close-up, usually flowers. The circular lines flow inward, thus there usually isn’t a need to provide additional space to allow for “movement” or the orientation of the subject. The other time I find myself placing the subject square in the middle is for face-only portraits of people.

Along the “more megapixels makes for a better photograph” myth, another misunderstanding about digital photography is the assumption that shooting in RAW is always the better choice over shooting in JPEG mode. Photodoto.com has posted a very good article with an easy to understand explanation of both and how one is not necessarily better than the other. I’ll add my own thoughts by saying it all depends on the shooting situation and the intended use of the photographs.

Rest in peace

Originally uploaded by IrenaS.

There’s a wealth of photographic talent out there, and one of the best places to see it is on flickr. This image recently posted by IrenaS is an excellent example, as is all of her other images posted on flickr. Take a look and be inspired. I know I am.

It’s not often that I’ll blog about a book while I’m still reading it, but “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder,” by Richard Louv is worth mentioning again and again.www.thefuturesedge.com, Louv presents some recent trends that are well worth considering, whether you’re a parent or not.

One is the fact that as children’s levels of participation in “organized sports” has increased over the last 20 years, so has the rate for childhood obesity. Is there a connection? Louv leaves it for the reader to decide, however, he makes a good point that both trends could account for the dramatic decrease in the unstructured, imaginative play in natural areas that kids once enjoyed without all the fear and paranoia perpetuated by today’s parents, schools, and perhaps worst of all, the media.

In reading this book I’m beginning to realize how fortunate I was to have had a childhood that was largely centered around natural play and constant exposure to all things nature. At a time of important development in my childhood I participated in such wonderful experiences as the Lore Classes at the Dayton Musuem of Natural History (I remember crying on the front steps of my house at age 10 because no one would give me a ride for one of my classes at the Museum) in astronomy, archeaology and field biology. I was also lucky because through the Dayton Museum of Natural History I was first exposed to nature photography and astrophotography. I was the youngest member of the nature photography group and from that experience was introduced to that magical home of my creative spirit called Hocking Hills.

I also remember being taught by members of the Museum’s staff on not only on how to photograph the stars, Moon and planets, but also on how to develop the film in the Museum’s black and white darkroom, making prints of my discoveries long before the arrival of all things “digital.” One morning in the spring of 1976 I anxiously ventured out of the house at 4:oo AM with my camera and tripod in tow to gather time-exposures of an incredible-looking Comet West that filled the eastern horizon (there has yet to be a comet performance to rival that of Comet West). I couldn’t wait until I took my roll of exposed Tri-Max to see the results. The prints were incredible, and to this day I feel awful for having lost track of those prints and the negatives.

It was experiences like that, as well as countless “expeditions” to the woods and creek behind my childhood home, that had so much to do with how I live my life now.
And I could go on and on about how encroaching private property and community convenants has cut kids off from simply going outside and having their own adventures in the woods. I took my daughters Emma and Chloe to a nearby pond to catch tadpoles recently, and you wouldn’t believe the looks we were getting from the neighbors who were part of the local homeowners association. All around the pond were the signs “no this, no that.” Bite me!

The thrill of hands-on self-discovery that can only come when a child is provided with an environment where he or she can explore, create and imagine. Louv is right. You have to give kids the space and trust to venture on their own. You can’t teach and lecture kids on how to respect nature and wildlife by putting them in front of some audio-visual program or display or keep them isolated from the best classroom ever - nature. Buy Louv’s book. Read it, know it, be it.

I was recently asked to photograph someone’s horse out at nearby stable and riding area. I’ve not done equine photo shoots before, so this was a bit of a learning experience. It was also a lot of fun because back in high school I spent the better part of three consecutive summers on the back of a horse. This horse was very active. He wanted to run, run, run. So I gave up on using reflectors (which kind of freaked him out anyway) and hoping for a still portrait. It was also a bright sunny day, so I knew somehow I had to get him into the shade where I had nice, even lighting. I added some fill light with a 550ex flash, put on the ol’ faithful 70-200mm, set the focusing mode at AI Servo, put the drive in high speed mode and fired away. It was basically the same process I learned on how to shoot wildlife. You can’t waist time trying to “set-up” the shot. By then it will be long gone.

I’m on a blog-entry roll. That’s probably because I’ve had a backlog of notes, observations and images that have been stuck in my mind, waiting for an opportunity and time to let them loose into cyberspace. The following should do be good for a while, or at least a day or two.

It was an “ah-ha” moment. One of those times when you come across something, either written or spoken, that makes you stop, take notice and suddenly undertand things with a bit more clarity, wisdom and understanding.

It happened on a Sunday morning, about three or four weeks ago. I was on a photo trip up at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, near Cleveland and Akron. I was staying at The Inn at Brandywine Falls, waiting for the breakfast bell to ring (no, seriously and literally). In the front sitting room of the house were a couple of coffee tables full of interesting reading material, most of which had to do with traveling and the Cuyahoga Valley. I picked-up a magazine titled “Long Weekends.” I was somewhat familiar with the publication. It’s printed out of Cleveland by Great Lakes Publishing Company, a good customer of mine that also produces “Ohio Magazine” and lots of local visitors guides for the larger cities in Ohio.

In this issue of “Long Weekends” was an article about a unique animal park in Indiana known as Wolf Park. At this facility they raise and keep captive at least a couple packs of wolves. People can come and interact with these animals and learn all about the fascinating behavior of wolves. And these animals really are fascinating. Beautiful, too. I had an opportunity to photograph several wolves up close at the Triple D Wild Game Farm near Kalispell, Montana back in August 2000. I’ve included one of my images from that shoot with this post.

The article went on to describe some of the basics of wolf behavior, most of which I was already familiar with, such as the role of the Alpha male and the pecking order that these animals establish within their own social and family structure, a.k.a the pack.

What struck me as most interesting about the article (now here comes that “ah-ha” moment) was when the writer provided this little tid-bit of info:  “Chetan is the pack’s omega, the lowest ranking male. The omega is the pack’s scapegoat - a necessary cruelty in order to diffuse the pack’s aggression, maintain order and harmony and ensure the pack’s survival. He will usually be the last to eat and may even sleep away from the rest of the pack.”

Now how is that an “ah-ha” moment ? Because dear blog reader, the omega male is not only a necessary cruelty amongst wild carnivores that live in packs, but a behavior which I KNOW is often exhibited by various groups of people who never succeed to raise above basic animal instincts and/or operate within organizations (and/or families) where “survival of the fittest” is rule #1.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at just about any corporate office environment. Have we really come far, or not far enough?

Sometimes the pack gets stupid or has so much built-up aggression and guilt that a call goes out for a blood sacrifice of the omega male. And sometimes the omega male barely escapes with his life, and from that experience he simply chooses to not be a wolf.

A few years back I came across another interesting article that talked about wolves. It was in an issue of National Geographic, however, the topic of the article was about a mentoring program for underprivileged youths in Brooklyn. One of the mentors (who I think was an attorney in Manhattan) had this to say about the 10-year-old boy whom he was mentoring (and this isn’t an exact quote but it comes close): “I’ve found that people basically fall into two difference categories. You’ve got your majority who are the sheep. They just go along with the crowd and live day by day. The rest are your basic wolves that prey upon the sheep. But I know there’s a third, much smaller group that very few people seem to notice. This group goes beyond and raises above. They’re the eagles. Juan is an eagle.”