A Night Of Fun
Happy New Year!
Know you, a large portion of photography historically focuses on human suffering and atrocities. One aspect of being a photographer is documenting all sides of life, the good the bad, and the ugly. Throughout my career I’ve photographed a variety of situations, including those that aren’t pretty or positive. But these days I tend to move away from negative imagery. Even if I feel compelled to photograph something that could be considered negative, I often choose not to share those images for public consumption.
Having suffered a number of tragedies in my personal life, I’m at a stage where I feel I just want to immerse myself in positive energy only. So I love to photograph candid moments of people just being themselves. I love to see people enjoying themselves, going about their daily lives. My favorite subjects to photograph are those that depict joy. And I know happiness in “serious” photography still seems to be frowned upon, but it’s what I like to see, and more importantly, it’s what makes me feel good inside.
With that out of the way, here are some photos I made at one of my favorite places to hang out and people watch. Here you’ll notice ordinary moments of humor, fun, and details you might otherwise miss.
Moving forward I will continue to photograph any and everything that sparks my interests, but I will consistently share work that promotes positivity. I hope in some small way I inspire you to do the same. There’s NOTHING wrong with being happy. And it’s certainly nothing wrong with photographing people who AREN’T suffering. Believe me, choosing joy will help lift your spirits as well as add some much needed variety to your portfolio. If enough people adapt this mindset maybe we’ll finally start to make some positive changes in the photography community.
Peace and blessings!
Spring River-fest In Color
The downtown River-fest is one of my favorite local events. I absolutely love food trucks and I’m happy that this city has decided to embrace the growing food truck culture. I’ll admit though, it is very overwhelming for me with all of the wonderful sights and smells everywhere! I’m always so tempted to try all of the different foods on display that I sometimes forget to photograph it. It’s also very difficult to take pictures and eat at the same time, but somehow I still manage to multitask! 😉
Here are a few color selections of the people, pets, and food from this beautiful day posted in chronological order.
(Click each image for a larger view)
Suspicion
For whatever reason there are always certain images that the artists who captured them favor more than others. This particular image is one of my personal favorites! I’m not exactly sure if it’s the expression, the details, the moment, or all of the above? But, there’s something about this shot that just makes me really happy. This photo is actually apart of a small series that I’ll be posting very soon, but I had to share it on it’s own first. I know other’s might not feel the same way that I do about it and that’s ok, I certainly enjoy looking at it so I figured “why not?” If you’re viewing this post I hope it at least makes you smile too? Have a great weekend everyone!
(As always please click on the image for a larger view)
Climbing
I’m so happy and excited that fall is finally here! The weather has cooled down a bit and this weekend was beautiful. I decided to go out to the park with my son and shoot some nature. While shooting, a family seemed to appear from out of nowhere. This shot was captured when this little girl entered my frame to try and climb these big, slippery rocks. I quickly snapped 2 shots and when I reviewed them later on the computer I chose this one over the other. That’s just one of the cool aspects of photography. You don’t always have to search for every shot, sometimes they reveal themselves to you. As long as you’re alert and prepared, sometimes some of the best shots will materialize right in front of you.
Riding On Sunshine
I love the deep shadows of the late evening sun. This shot was taken in downtown Columbus last weekend near the river.
A Quick Stop At The Skate Park
About two weeks ago I took a trip to one of my favorite places in the entire city, the skate park. The heat was unbearable but, I guess when you’re having fun you push through it? I can’t believe how dedicated these young skaters are to come out and practice their craft everyday despite the intense temperatures. As always I had a great time. I met some talented new skaters that, surprisingly were more than happy to give me a few shots, as well as a very cool fellow photographer. What was intended to be a quick stop on my weekend outing turned into a long meaningful visit. In total I believe I stayed out there for about 5 hours?! At the end of the day I was both dehydrated and tired, but very happy. I had more fun than I expected, plus I made some new contacts. That’s what I consider a successful day! Here are a few of the images from the trip:
Same Area Different Results Part #1
Whitewater, Downtown Columbus
My sign is Cancer, a water sign, so I love water. I especially love the sound of water. Unfortunately I can’t swim in it but I can’t deny the calming effects water has on me. I’m also from a “Windy City” so I enjoy wind as well. One thing I feel I never have enough of living in Georgia is a consistent cool breeze. So whenever I’m feeling low or need a break I usually go downtown near the water. There I can get my fix of both wind and water with the added bonus of meeting new people that I can also photograph.
Normally I don’t like to shoot in the same places over and over again because I get bored with repetition very easily. I’m the type of person that needs to explore and find something new to do with myself constantly in order to truly feel challenged. But, there is value in shooting in the same areas repeatedly because, the same areas can yield totally different results on different days, or in some cases different results during different times of the day. The photos that I will be sharing over the next few weeks will represent this theory of shooting in the same area at random times and days to see what the resulting images will be.
Here is part #1
(As always, please click on the photos for a larger view)
Spring Fling April 2015
Spring Fling April 2015 has come and gone yet again. This time it lasted for 2 long weeks. My goal was to attend as many times as I could during both day and night so I could shoot multiple times to get many different looks. Since I didn’t find out until the last minute that the event was going to last that long, I wasn’t able to go back as often as I wanted to. These photos represent my first day there which happened to be my most successful day.
My family and I arrived early on day one before all of the crowds poured in. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted to come back with all the people that usually attend but, I decided that at some point I would. Unfortunately at some point never came! I was very disappointed because there were plenty of photographic opportunities for me this year but I blew it. I am however very grateful for the shots that I was able to get this time. Editing these shots is an entirely different story… Working on the edits was very difficult this time. I wanted to try something different, a specific look I had in mind. It’s something that I’ve been longing to do for a while but never willing to actually sit down and do. I wanted each shot to have bold, bright colors so I edited every single shot in this gallery individually. This was not a batch edit. I NEVER edit this many photos individually! Whenever I post lots of pictures in a gallery I usually post them straight out of the camera with no adjustments. The reason why is because it’s far too time consuming and I feel like batch edits can’t possibly give each shot the special attention it deserves. This time each shot has it’s own signature color profile. It was very tiring but I’m happy I did it. Now I know I have the patience to actually sit down and do it and I feel that it will only help me later on during my post processing sessions.
You know, as photographers we all shoot for many different reasons. Most of us shoot for the love of it. We also shoot for ourselves first and foremost but, we hope that when we do release photos to our viewing audience they understand all the hard work we put into it. Sometimes our satisfaction comes from just knowing others “get it”. This was a hard one y’all! I hope someone out there “gets it”. As always I’d like to thank each and every person that stops by my blog and enjoys my work. Your views, messages, and support are greatly appreciated!!!
Shadow Skater
I took my son out recently to practice riding his new skateboard. This should prove to be a very interesting process. Stay tuned to find out what happens…
The Dog Days Of Winter
2 weekends ago the weather was absolutely perfect so I decided to take a trip downtown. I hadn’t been downtown in months, but specifically since I returned home from Illinois. As the sun started to set I noticed a growing amount of dog walkers out, probably more than I’ve ever seen at this time of the year. Although I had my camera, my intention was to shoot nature this time around, not people or pets. The light from the setting sun created a slew of cool photographic opportunities so naturally I had to snap a few shots of the friendly people and their pets. I have to admit that I was conflicted because of the weather. Normally I would have shot far more frames but, I enjoyed the temperature so much that for once I didn’t want to shoot as much as I just wanted to relax. Below are a few of the photos from this wonderful day. If only the weather were always this mild…I’d probably stay out every single day from sunrise to sunset! Hopefully this spring will actually feel like spring and not summer so I can get out more and meet more cool people.
Accidental Patriot
This photograph was taken completely by accident! This all occurred while I was out shooting on this past Veterans Day. I accidentally pressed the shutter of my main camera while switching to my secondary camera. I didn’t even realize I had taken this picture until I returned home to review the images on the computer. After seeing the shot I realized that although it was all wrong from a concious photographic point of view, it was still something about it that I really liked. So while deleting all the shots I deemed “bad” or “unusable” something about this shot forced me to keep it. I spoke briefly yesterday about the importance of carefully reviewing shots before deleting them, or keeping some of the bad images because you might end up liking them later on. This was a case of not knowing I had taken a shot, and under normal circumstances would consider it a bad shot, but yet finding myself drawn to it for some reason? Maybe because it’s not technically perfect? Maybe because, despite being an accident there’s still enough of a story in the frame to warrant a glance or two? Who knows? Whatever the reason is I like it enough to want to share it with everyone here. Some may see the value of it the same way I did, and some won’t, but, isn’t that what photography is all about anyway? You decide what appeals to you!
Surfing Dangerous Water
Surfers prepare to navigate the flooded, violent waves of the downtown river.
October Fair 2014
It’s that time of the year again already! Fall means the county fair, and I love going! I try to take my kids every time it’s in town and this past weekend we were able to go once again. The weather was nice and we had a really good time. Below are a few of the many pictures I took while there.
Take It To The Bridge
These young daredevils hang out on the bridge to discuss who’ll jump first, then actually start to perform their dangerous stunts.
Imagination
Discovering buried treasure
A beautiful bird’s feather
Imaginary eye glasses
See who runs fastest
Loud animal sounds
Playful angry frowns
The frightening zombie child
The wide bright smile
My imagination is great
My freedom, my joy, my escape
Ashawna outside playing in the yard using her imagination to have fun. Remember when you were a child and that’s all you really needed to have a good time?
The Skating Soldier
United States solider and avid skater Brenden Crockett.
All photos were taken last winter and previously unreleased due to the fact they were withheld for publication.
Rowing & Splashing
I love to go to the river and capture interesting photos of the rafters and surfers. I love photographing water even though I’m terribly afraid of it! It just looks so beautiful and refreshing! The water sport participants always seem to have so much fun. I wish I could be brave enough to do it one day….maybe one day?
Versatility By RNJ 