Madness, For A Cause

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The announcer said the water temperature was 35 F / 2 C. The air was a notch warmer but then the river comes from way up north. Nevertheless, people put their bodies on and, inevitably, into it.

This was the annual New Year's Day water skiing excursion on the frigid Mississippi for the benefit of the Missouri Disabled Water Ski Association. They teach paraplegics and amputees how to water ski and take them out on the areas lakes and rivers. They are some kind of good people. I shoot this event almost every year and I never cease to be amazed that people do this voluntarily and claim it's fun.

The participant below may have been immune to the extreme environment. Who knew that Darth Vader likes frozen water sports?

Let's Start Off 2012 Right

Peasants with pitchforks? Cardinal fans chasing Albert Pujols out of town? The 99% approaching the Republican National Convention?

No, it's Juggling Jeff and his pal Josh Routh of Circus Kaput (love that name) doing their fire juggling act in the street during First Night on Saturday. They really should call it Last Night since it happens on New Year's Eve and ends after midnight fireworks. The theaters, churches and other public spaces around Grand and Lindell Boulevards provide entertainment of every kind, with outdoor performers sprinkled in between. Come back in June to see Jeff and Josh in the pre-show at our Shakespeare In The Park festival.

And so we're off on another twelve month spin. I've got lots of new material to start the year. Yesterday the polar bears had their annual water skiing outing in the frigid Mississippi. While hanging around the river, I found some interesting new graffiti on the flood wall. I've got a series from a Christmas Eve afternoon walkabout in The Grove, the funky neighborhood where my daughter lives. So Happy New Year. Ha! Ha!

Photo(s) Of The Year 2011

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Everybody likes pretty pictures (see the comments on my post yesterday) and I'm no exception. However, there is another side of photography that can be both simpler and deeper. In the context of music, Jean Sibelius said, "Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public pure cold water." I like to splash people in the face once in a while.

This woman and some friends were attending a public party at a downtown plaza last summer. After I struck up a conversation, she abruptly asked me, "Hey, wanna see my new tattoos?" Well, to quote a famous Alaskan moose skinner, you betcha! She struck these poses as if they were choreographed.

The images carry something at once obvious, fatalistic and peaceful. My associations range from Doris Day singing Que Sera, Sera to Laurie Anderson's singspiel Let X = X (just lyrics; no audio or video available online) to Paul McCartney crooning Let It Be. The inked words are quite Buddhist, but also a bit irresponsible (the lady was rather tipsy). It is work I am very satisfied with and I offer it as my personal favorite of 2011.

In turn, I look forward to seeing your best of the year. To see the top 2011 images from City Daily Photo members click here.

The Sun Sets On 2011

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We close the office early on Christmas and New Years Eves. Since the holidays are on Sunday this year, we let everyone run for the exits early on Friday. By 4:45 yesterday afternoon I had long been the last rat on the ship but I was rewarded when I looked up from my desk and saw this. There was a heavy lid of clouds over the area but it had a sharp edge, leaving just a degree or two of clear sky above the horizon. As the sun was just about to set, it looked like a cosmic-sized red stage light had been trained on downtown. My camera was in my briefcase so I started shooting madly from my office windows.

Thus ends 2011. I'm not sad to see it go. Although we had some good times - Carolyn and I visited Costa Rica and France - it was a very difficult year for our law firm, for a complex combination of reasons but mostly evil federal bureaucrats. A family member faced some serious personal challenges. I've never worked more hours. But Carolyn and I are healthy and still actually like each other after 38 years, I work with the finest group of people you could imagine, and my right index finger and camera shutter still work together in happy harmony. Thanks to all of you who have left comments and encouragements on STL DPB this year and given such interesting images to all of us. This blog will soon reach its fifth anniversary. You keep me going.

Tomorrow is picture of the year day. I'm posting a pair that go together. Not everyone will like them but I really do. (Some may remember that my original nom de blog was Strangetastes.) This evening our town has First Night, a spectacular assortment of in- and outdoor entertainment and I always get some great shots. It's freakishly warm today (forecast high of 63 F / 17 C) so the place should be hopping. Those pictures will start with Tuesday's post.

Sunset, Christmas Eve, Interstate 44

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The last shot after my Christmas Eve walkabout downtown. The highway I take home runs generally southwest with some twists and turns. At some times of year parts of it look directly into the sunset (and it can be blinding). Here we have the last glow of day. Unlike yesterday's shot, I was not at a stoplight but traveling at the helm of my trusty Honda. Well, the traffic was very light and I was going below the speed limit and I was actually looking at the road, albeit through a viewfinder, and I just couldn't resist the color. Kids, don't try this at home.

Thursday Arch Series

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This was taken a few minutes before a winter sunset from the wheel of my car, stopped at a red light on Market Street. One of my best Arch shots in a while, IMHO. The air was so clear and the light so intense that the sunshine caromed off the stainless steel and made the pavement shine. The pattern of the building at the left, which has a polished granite and glass facade, is inverted by the shadow of a larger building off camera to the right. The picture was unplanned. Be ready, keep your eyes open.

Hey, Gang, Here's A Photo Tip!

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I get a lot of email photography newsletters. Most of them are deleted because I don't remotely have the time to read them. I would if I were not a photo addict, but then I wouldn't have a reason to subscribe to them, but I am so I can't get around to them. You can see the self-defeating nature of the proposition.

Sometimes the title of a message will get my attention. I saw one a couple of weeks ago about shooting outdoor Christmas decorations, something I have been spectacularly bad at. The problem, it explained, is that if you do this in full darkness (and I usually did) you might expose the glowing lights correctly but the surrounding areas would be pitch black. You have no context. Better to shoot between sunset and complete darkness. If it's clear you get beautiful color on the sky and a good sense of whatever is around the lights. They look great when it's just dark enough for them to stand out.

So I tried it in Citygarden during my Christmas Eve shoot. Works great. The email also recommended use of a tripod but my camera has very little noise at ISO 800 or 1600 so I did without. It also suggested using tungsten white balance but I prefer to adjust the color temperature in Bridge or Lightroom for better fine control. Yesterday's post used the same technique. I think it worked out pretty good.