To be a photographer

What I love about being a photographer

No one has ever asked me if I like being a photographer, so I assume they must think it’s natural to enjoy the kind of work I do. And do you know what? I do.

Before I became a serious photographer…

- I had always taken a lot of pictures, but I must admit now that I didn't really know what I was doing. I knew nothing about the attributes of light, didn't care about composition, was blind to issues such as focus, depth of field and color.

- taking photographs of strangers on the street was as far from my mind as spending my afternoons standing in front of camera store windows looking at the offerings.

Working the streets

- I would sometimes look at the cloud formations in the sky and comment on their beauty, but I would not consider their texture and how the light was changing every second, casting new light on everything around me.

The Neckar River

- walking through the streets was boring for the most part. If I was lucky, an interesting new advertisement might make me chuckle. The homeless people depressed me and the rough citizens scared me. Now they fascinate me and every step of the way I compose shots in my head and stop when a scene overpowers me.

"Zu spät"

- I could work only at my school or in my office. Now I can work anywhere and everywhere. My world is my office and my mind is my drawing board.

Our tree farm

- time would slip through my fingers and precious moments would melt away. Now I am able to capture these moments and arrest time.

Our baby at two months

- my sense of aesthetics consisted of the poles “pretty” and “interesting.” Monet was pretty and Bacon was interesting. Now I’ve come to appreciate more fully the whole spectrum between these poles and, more importantly, Monet and Bacon have switched positions! I find beauty - or at least artistic value - in nearly everything. What a gift!

On the streets of Stuttgart

- I thought that creating art was a tiring process of working at your chosen medium until you reached some magic point where you could finally call yourself an artist. Little did I know how much fun the process is! And the best part is that all art forms feed my artistic hunger and make me fuller.

- I thought that creating a piece of art took lots of time and, being who I was, I would never have the patience or endurance to finish a piece. Now I know that I can think in short episodes (“A day at the airport”) or in longer series (“A decade of carnival in Cologne”).

Taking a break in the fields

- discovering new things usually took great effort. Now I am open to all sorts of experiences, but not just having them; now I want to savor them and capture them with my aesthetic eye. Whether it be watching a parade or plane-spotting at the airport, there are always things to be learned and new angles from which to see them.

Landing and taking off

- I often didn’t know how to act in groups. What was my role? Now when I am at an event, I am the photographer and as such can act within that role a bit more securely than if I didn’t have a role to slip into.

- I had stared at many a beautiful woman, admiring the aesthetics that I was raised to praise. Now I find admiration for so many things that even an abandoned tire or a smoldering fire pit fascinates me. And the beautiful women? They are still there and I can appreciate them even more with my well-trained eyes.

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Somewhere In The Middle Of The Atlantic

Good Morning Everybody,

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in at DPT.  The reason, we’ve been at sea for 6 days and the internet on the ship is very expensive, very, very slow and many times non-existent.  But I thought I’d give it a try today just to provide you with an idea of our where-a-bouts.  Anyway check out yesterday’s post that wrapped our travels in Cornwall right here.

After we left Cornwall, England we made the 4 hour trek back across the bottom of England and finally arrived in Southampton mid-afternoon.  The sun tried to peek out and managed to do so for a few very brief moments or two but for the most part, we’ve been seeing mostly gray skies for the last 4 days.  Who cares though, we’re in England ;~)

Heading Out To Sea

We settled into our hotel for the evening and were up reasonably early the next day and headed down to the docks to board our ship for the two week crossing back to the good ol’ USA.  We had made the crossing in the Spring and were looking forward to this trans-Atlantic journey as well.

The cool thing is that we were on the same ship, the Celebrity Eclipse, a magnificent ship in every way.  We spent three weeks on the Eclipse in the Spring and got to know a lot of the staff on board.  and were hoping to catch up with several of our friends we had made in the Spring.

We got settled in and began checking out the ship once again. Yep everything looked just as grand as the first time onboard in the spring. We finally got to our stateroom, unpacked for the two week journey and were underway at 4:30 p.m.  I have to tell you, LaDawn and I took our first cruise last Fall traveling the Mediterranean and I fell in love with the experience. This cruise would be our forth and I couldn't wait!

Catching Up With Old Friends and Making New Ones.

It’s kind of fun walking the decks and a few of the ship’s officers and staff recognize you from the Spring cruises.  Sue Denning, Cruise Director for the Eclipse spotted us in our regular third row seats right away during the opening night performance. We caught up with Sue after the show and had a great reunion visit with her.

One of my favorite things about cruising is just meeting and visiting with the other passengers on board and sharing travel experiences with them.  Everyone has a story about work, family, children, travels… and it’s just so pleasurable to visit with new acquaintances.  There is no reason ever to be lonely on a cruise ship, that’s for sure.

A Rough Crossing – Maybe!

As we pulled out of port the wind was picking up.  As we were heading to dinner I spotted a few of the cruise staff strapping down the deck chairs.  I had to ask.  Yep, my suspicions were confirmed with their answer. It was going to be a rocky next few days.

Just how rough was it you ask?  That evening as we lay in bed you felt that you were lying not in a nice comfortable bed, but a swing hammock as well;~)  By Day 2, folks were queuing up outside the medical officer’s office seeking a little relief.

The waves were hitting at 15 feet, winds of 60 MPH, gray, cloudy and temperatures only in the low 50’s so it also felt quite cold.  The seas were indeed rocky and even with the ship’s stabilizers running at “full tilt boogie” everyone on the ship, including the staff, looked like a drunken sailors walking the decks.  They even drained the pools because the waves were rocking the ship so much.

Thankfully the waters and winds began to calm, the sun trying to break thru those stubborn, gray clouds by about the fourth day at sea and everyone was getting back into the spirit of enjoying themselves in no time.  Temperatures have warmed up considerably reaching the low 70’s.  Take a peek at the navigational map below – like I said – we are right in the middle of the Atlantic! Of course the good news is that we are also traveling into much warmer waters as we approach St. Martin’s.

Life At Sea

Life at sea is not just a great way to relax with a good book although that’s at the top of many cruisers list.  It’s also a great way to participate in activities that you may not regularly do back home. During our first 6 days at sea, we had taken maximum advantage of the on-board activities and amenities. 

LaDawn and I both enjoy the speakers that present each day on topics from how to be a stand up comic – one of favorites – to 20th century history lectures. The evening entertainment on-board the ship range from musical performances to comedy routines by performers that easily bring tears to your eyes. Add to that the big production extravaganzas and the time really passes quickly.

We make landfall and our first port early Tuesday morning.  It will be the first land we have seen after being at sea for 8 straight days. But I have to tell you, there is still something very romantic about crossing an ocean by sea just like our forefathers did so many years ago.  I know we are on a luxury cruise liner. but still the fact that we crossed on water is much more exciting that flying that same distance.  My thoughts anyway.

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Hey gang, that’s going to it for today.  I’ll plan to check in with everyone next week and give you the latest updates before we finally arrive at port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida next Saturday.  Have a great rest of the day in whatever part of the world where you may be reading this and I’ll see you soon.

Adios for now,  David

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Adam and Eve & Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Good Morning Everybody,

Between weather, internet, travel plan changes I didn’t have time to post this before we left England last week so let me bring you up to date on the last few days of our visit to Cornwall.

I mentioned in the last post that Cornwall is a great place to visit not only for it’s history and geography but also for it’s photographic beauty as well.  Visit any of the small fishing villages along the coast, point you camera anywhere the image is postcard perfect.

In Search Of Adam And Eve

We had visited several villages and captured some great images but Richard and his son Aaron, the perfect hosts at the beautiful Barclay House where we were staying mentioned the Eden Project, one of England’s most visited attractions and only about an hour away.  That’s Richard and I in the photo to the right.

The Eden Project is a sprawling horticultural wonderland that is home to thousands of plants from all around the world.

Although it was quite fascinating to visit the various exhibits, I liked people watching even more.  Turns out that our stay in Cornwall coincided with “half term” – think Spring/Fall break -  for all the schools in England. Our anticipated quiet visit to the Eden Project didn’t quite turn out the way we expected as the center was jammed with of families and especially younger children enjoying the wonderful activities provided in anticipation of Halloween. But even with the larger crowds, LaDawn and I really enjoyed our visit and had fun capturing some nice images.

Lifestyles Of The Rich and Famous – Well, Mostly Rich

LaDawn and I are pretty big fans of the BBC show Downton Abbey.  The story is set in one of the large Manor Houses in England – in this case, Highclere Castle.  Try as we might we could not pull off a visit because it was closed during our stay on this week as well as our earlier visit in the spring. We did hear about Lanhydrock House, an equally impressive property in England and only about an half hour away.  Lanhydrock is one of the grandest and most visited manor house destinations in all of England.  Hit the link right here for more detail about the magnificent estate – really impressive.

We spent several hours there touring all 50 rooms and three floors of the estate.  It was definitely a peek back into time and the class structure within England over so many years.  Most of these large manor houses no longer exist.  They simply became too expensive for the families to maintain anymore. 

Part of that was the result of higher taxation by the government but more importantly because after WWI – the Great War – many of the menfolk were killed in the war and there just were not enough people to hire to fill all the positions necessary to run these large houses. In the case of Lanhydrock House the owners donated the house and all the property to the National Trust. 

This is pretty cool thing in England.  The National Trust undertakes to preserve these properties for their historical value making this history available to the general public.  There are many such venues throughout England.  For the reasonable cost of an annual membership you can visit as many as you can fit in your visit.

The highlight of our visit was the tour of the extensive gardens of the property. Even though it was quite late in the season the gardens were still full of color and vibrancy.

We cut our stay short in Cornwall by a day once we discovered that our 4 hour drive back to Southampton may be much longer than that due to weather, traffic, etc. It was a good decision because we could make the long drive in fairly good weather without the time constraints that would be put on us if we traveled the next day.  It turned out to be a lovely drive through the English countryside in spite of the short rain bursts and some traffic along the way.  Why not enjoy a few images from our two stops mentioned above.

		The View From Southwestern England VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

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Hey gang, that’s if for me today.  Check back soon – we should be on a cruse ship sailing across the ocean heading back to the states the next time you hear from me.  More later.

See you soon,  David

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