Caravaggio-ish? Maybe?

I'm an art lover. Of course - I hang out with Artica. One of my favorite masters is Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, the brilliant and mentally ill Italian who worked in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. His career lasted only ten years. He murdered someone in a dispute over a tennis match and died young in unknown circumstances. 

His dramatic style is known for brightly illuminated faces and dark backgrounds. Since I do candid rather than studio photography I take the subjects and light as I find them. This photo may have found a bit of that style. Or perhaps I am being vain.  

Babies

I'm not particularly a photographer of babies and children, although I've had lots of practice with Ellie over the last five and a half years and a bit on her younger cousin Audrey in Michigan. My first grandson is due any day up north. We will go to Michigan in late March to meet him. The plan is to wear out my shutter button.

There were a few little ones at the Creatives Pot Luck event. I enjoy photographing them but the damn kids won't stay still and I prefer alert pictures to sleepy ones. This turned out pretty well. Might be some more tykes as I run through the shots.       

A Better Than Average Portrait IMHO

Shooting an event or crowd is like a treasure hunt. A photographer circulates, eyes open for interesting nuggets. Lighting is catch as catch can and the visual nuggets keep moving.

Sometimes you get lucky. This was back by the food table at the Creatives Pot Luck with some electric lights to camera left. The result was what my superb portrait photography teacher, Bobbi Lane, calls Rembrandt lighting. One side of the face is fully illuminated. The other is mostly dark but turned just enough into the light to catch a highlight on the cheek. The Dutch master used it a lot.          

Your Preference?

I enjoy doing candid portraits using little posing or direction. The Creatives Pot Luck certainly had plenty of opportunities. Not sure whether I prefer the color or monochrome here. Each has its merits. Which do you prefer?           

Creatives Pot Luck Dinner - The Conversation And Art Begin

People began to drift in. More food set out. Eddies of people and conversation forming and reforming. I got a kick out of drifting from one to another, landing each time in a new mini society. I'm terrible at remembering names. The woman in green, center top, was Heather, I think. She came with the man on frame left whose name I didn't get. Same for the woman with the expressive face on the right.

Some people came with art materials. Heather and her friend brought a violin, more about which later.       

Creatives' Pot Luck - Before The Crowd

My friend Lohr Barclay, director of Artica, organized a pot luck dinner and social event at his home Thursday for Artica participants, friends and hangers on. Since I am now the official Visual Archivist, I fell into the latter category.

I don't know all the details but there is a long traditional bar downstairs, which says something about its former use. Lohr and his SO Carrie live upstairs. I got there at opening time to deliver food and bev before the crowd arrived. This man introduced himself as John but, if I understood correctly, his name is Jean. Americans just can't pronounce it correctly. He is from the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe. Heaven knows how he ended up here. I tried out some of my weak French on him. He was very kind about my efforts.

Lots of pix from this event. I'll be working through them more or less chronologically.                 

City Daily Photo February Theme Day - White

I had to dip back into the archives for this one. Views of the dirty ice that surrounds us would be boring and even I wouldn't stoop to shooting a carton of eggs. This is from my nephew's graduation from West Point last May. These are the underclass men and women in the stands with a junior officer screaming at them. I asked my nephew why he was doing that. He said that in his opinion junior officers think it's fun.