Beauty and Grace in Havana

Posted on July 6, 2024 by admin

A photo tour to Cuba back in 2017 rewarded Jim and Betsy with so many memorable moments and unique photo opportunities, that we always had a desire to return. When we heard about a trip to Havana led by two professional photographers specifically to photograph dancers in the Cuban environment, we knew this would be a special trip.

The Beauty and Grace Photography Workshop that we attended in 2024 was led by American Photographer Rad Drew and Cuban-born photographer Ramses Batista. They knew how to get us to the right locations, and they had access to so many beautiful and talented professional Cuban dancers. Ramses supplied speed lights for us to shine some light on the dancers against a sunlit backdrop. And another professional dancer, the talented Maralana (below, left), accompanied us during the entire time, expertly posing the dancers and interpreting for us so we could communicate with the dancers.

Ramses Batista seems to know everyone in Havana, and they all love him. He can talk his way into just about anywhere, and managed to get us inside the Cuban Ballet School, the Teatro America, and the Great Theatre of Havana, home to the Cuban National Ballet Company; all amazing locations to photograph dancers in their environment.

And then to the streets to enjoy the dancers leaping and posing in the colorful streets of Havana among the antique cars, and along the Malecon, with the crashing surf of the ocean behind them.

Our leaders at work… Rad Drew shared his expertise on cellphone photography and creative processing as well as sharing his infrared filters. Ramses Batista would regularly show the dancers the images we were getting as it not only helped them to understand which poses worked best, but they really enjoyed seeing them as well! And the graceful Maralena, our interpreter, and our guardian angel during the week – here she is enjoying a well-deserved evening out with our group.

This is just a sampling, focusing on the ballet dancers. But there was a lot more! We enjoyed photographing flamenco dancers and the intense performance of Santeria dancers, portraying Afro-Cuban deities to the rhythm of drums. To see more images including our favorite scenes of the people, cars and buildings of Havana, click here.

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The Joni Project

Posted on July 21, 2023 by admin

Photography by Jim Wilson

As an avid Joni Mitchell fan and an avid photographer, it just seemed logical to put together a project involving both of those things. I have taken her classic “Blue” album to be the subject of the project.

Joni is more than just a singer, musician and composer. As a lyricist, she is also a poet. In this project, I have chosen a lyric from each of the album’s songs, and I have created a photograph that I feel portrays the feeling of the song.

“I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun. I want to be the one that you want to see”

-Joni Mitchell

All I Want

“I am on a lonely road,

and I am traveling, traveling,

traveling, traveling.”

My Old Man

“My old man,

He’s a singer in the park.

He’s a walker in the rain.

He’s a dancer in the dark”

Little Green

“Little green, be a gypsy dancer.”

Carey

“And rent me a grand piano

and put some flowers

around my room.”

Blue

“Crown and anchor me,

or let me sail away.”

California

“There were lots of pretty people there

reading Rolling Stone,

reading Vogue.”

This Flight Tonight

“Up there’s a heaven

Down there’s a town.”

River

“Oh I wish I had a river

I could skate away on.”

A Case of You

“Oh, I am a lonely painter,

I live in a box of paints.”

The Last Time I Saw Richard

“All good dreamers pass this way

some day hidin’ behind bottles

in dark cafes.”

For Betsy

“I could drink a case of you

and still be on my feet.”

-Jim

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Summer Challenge Photography Fun

Posted on August 12, 2021 by admin

Every summer during the warm months when the Chester County Camera Club suspends regular meetings, members are encouraged to keep up their photographic pursuits through a summer challenge. A theme is decided upon, and then a list of topics to illustrate are assigned – sort of like a scavenger hunt. But the real challenge is to visualize the shot we want, then figure out how to create it.

As an example, a few years ago, the theme was “Adjectives”. One of the assignments was “Dangerous” and here are our interpretations. Jim set up a selfie in the spirit of Sam Spade, with dramatic shadows cast by lighting up a venetian blind, and adding a toy gun prop. Betsy had our daughter Alex pose with an axe to conjure up the spirit of Lizzie Borden – you remember her? Lizzie Borden, took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks…”

This year, the theme was timely – “ISOlation” , to recognize the unwanted effects of the shutdown due to the pandemic, with a shout out to a well-used camera setting known as ISO. As opposed to set objects to photograph, this was more about capturing an emotion, or a concept – such as “This too shall pass” – the ten assigned topics were much harder than usual.

After sitting around a campfire and discussing the nebulous assigned topics, fortified with some alcoholic motivation, we embraced the concept and added our own twist to the challenge… Betsy would be featured in all Jim’s images, and Jim would be in Betsy’s. We could have the other one dress how we asked them to, pose how we asked them to, all within reason of course! So the wheels started spinning, and over the next few weeks, we visualized, planned, and created our version of the topics.

Here are our interpretations of the ten assigned topics for the theme “ISOlation. We hope you enjoy our images as mush as we enjoyed creating them!

Summer Challenge 2021 theme: “ISOlation”

1. One day at a time

Jim set up a black backdrop and practiced with a blur and flash technique called rear-curtain sync. The shutter remained open for a few seconds while Betsy moved through the frame, then a burst of flash froze her movement at the end. He chose to feature on the calendar the date of August 11 as that was the date of the Summer Challenge screening party, where all participants gather to share images and a few laughs.

Betsy had Jim pose with his feet up on a table surrounded by a collection of used beer bottles. During the height of the initial lockdown, Jim’s check marks began to get shakier as more days and more beers disappeared.

2. Adventure is calling, but I can’t come to the phone right now

Dramatic lighting and an old-fashioned lantern set the tone for the original tin-can phone.

Jim’s father worked for many years for AT&T, and we inherited this amazing old wall phone. Betsy asked Jim to don a vest and a fedora and chose black & white to give this image an old-time look.

3. The only nation I am visiting this summer is imagination

Jim instructed Betsy to pose with a dreamy, wistful look, and he shot this image indoors in front of a white background. He later replaced the background with some colorful wispy clouds to complete the look.

This took some preparation. First, Betsy took a trip to the library and lugged home 60 lbs. of travel books. She then carefully removed the protective plastic covers which would create a glare (and later carefully replaced them). Shot with natural light, she had Jim pose with the bottom book on his head. “1,000 Places to See Before You Die”. She then took a separate shot of the stack of books and layered the two images together in photoshop. Butterfly images taken in her garden were added to give the image a whimsical feel.

4. Better days will come

Okay, so now things are starting to get a bit crazy. When Jim told Betsy she had to get in a trash can, she said that was going over the line as our trash cans are too stinky. So he came up with the idea of getting a brand new, non-stinky trash can at Home Depot. When he set up the speedlight during a test shot, he was amazed by the really cool reflective pattern that emulated out from the can – an added bonus. Now, how to get Betsy in the can? Well, she didn’t fit in a normal crouching-down position, so she had to fold her legs up behind her, and Jim lowered her into the can. A pillow was placed in the bottom of the can to make the awkward pose a bit more comfortable. Betsy did her own hair and make-up for the shot. After he took the shot, Jim realized that he could not lift her back out of the can. The solution was to gently tip the can over, then drag it off behind her. Betsy was only slightly bruised, and the trash can survived without a dent and was returned to Home Depot intact.

The Wilson household was hit a few times by falling trees during the pandemic. After extensive house repairs and cars were replaced, we thought we were done with falling trees when one more came down and smashed one of Jim’s canoes. Fortunately, it was an old skeleton of a canoe that was destined for the trash heap anyway. So Betsy asked Jim to crawl under all the debris and reach up for a helping hand.

5. All dressed up with nowhere to go

While Jim was setting up this shot, the neighbors kept driving up the driveway behind Betsy, and she would run and hide in the garage until they passed.

Betsy’s turn to make Jim dress up to take out the garbage. The silk top hat is a real vintage hat that belonged to Betsy’s great uncle.

6. Wake me up when we can travel again

The original shot was for Betsy to be laying on the luggage stood up, not on their sides. After numerous attempts of sliding luggage and picking up Betsy off the floor, Jim punted and opted for placing the luggage on its side.

This idea came to Betsy quickly, as Jim has the world’s largest collection of maps. Doesn’t matter that we always use a GPS or Google Maps, he insists on keeping a paper map of every place we have ever visited, or intend to visit in the future.

7. Happy hour! Time for a quaran-tini

Do you know how many stores we had to go to to find bendy-straws? Jim actually cut a hole in the masks, and the straws go right through the mask. Jim set this up in our yard under an archway formed by two Rose-of-Sharon trees. One shot in the Summer Challenge needs to include a selfie, so Jim gladly participated in this sweet scene.
Betsy brought out the fisheye lens to create a unique, distorted perspective. With a wink, Jim toasted the photographer – “Here’s lookin’ at you kid”.

8. Keep calm and carry on

Jim had Betsy pose in a calming Yoga position in front of a black background. He photographed the colorful carpet separately. A shadow added to the carpet provided the illusion that Betsy was calmly floating.

Betsy envisioned a similar image, having Jim sit in a calming pose. She had Jim sit in front of a set she created of towers of toilet paper to recognize the paper-supply panic that occurred early on in the pandemic. It was only later that she realized the shape of the TP towers give the illusion of angel wings.

9. Destination: isolation

Who knows how Jim came up with the idea for this one! And who rigs up a speedlight on a light stand in their shower to throw a spotlight on the toilet?

Betsy’s interpretation of the topic was a bit more traditional, but still yielded challenges. It took a few weeks and many dog walks to find an expanse on a hill without distracting buildings behind to provide a sense of isolation. Betsy finally settled on a location very close to their home – the Brightside Trail in Charlestown.

10. This too shall pass

Jim and Betsy took a ride out to Lancaster County to get this image of her patiently waiting while a train goes by. We knew we could find plenty of trains in Strasburg, but alas there was no good train crossing around to set up this shot. The image of Betsy in the car is in the parking lot of the Strasburg Railroad, and the train is the Strasburg train, but they were not actually there at the same time.

This is Betsy’s selfie – the only picture of hers without Jim in it. We have a skylight in the center of our living room. Only during the first few days of summer, when the sun is directly above, do we see this amazing shaft of light pouring down into our living room. Betsy quickly put on a long dress, put the camera on a tripod and set the timer. She didn’t have much time, as when the sun moved, the shaft of light disappeared.

As always, we really enjoyed conjuring up these ideas.

And as always, we made mistakes, and learned a few things along the way.

Until next year’s Summer Challenge…. Keep calm and carry on!

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The Lonely Leaf

Posted on May 30, 2021 by admin

While looking through photos on the computer, I realized that I have often taken pictures of a single leaf. Usually when they look lonely – half buried under snow, dangling from a spider web, or blown off the tree to be covered with dew drops in the grass.

That’s the joy of photography – I see beauty in just an ordinary old leaf. That’s the problem with photography – I see beauty in the shape, color, texture, and the patterns of decay in every leaf, and I want to capture every one of them in a photograph before they crumble away and disappear.

This oak leaf is hanging on for dear life. It is left over from last year – it is dried up and withered. The fern is just emerging and full of life, carrying the old oak leaf upward with it as it grows.

I like to find surprises like this one – a beautiful little leaf nestled in the center of a manhole in the middle of the street. It will likely fly away when the next set of truck wheels roll over it.

A fallen maple leaf has found a peaceful place to wither and die among the broken glass and snow showers in a decaying silk mill.

One of my favorites taken by Jim – he found this little leaf frozen on the river, draped by beautiful flowing ice patterns.

Here are more leaves that I have stopped to photograph along with a few of Jim’s. And I am sure I have more somewhere in my archives. And likely more to come. Do you think I have a problem?

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Icicle Artwork

Posted on February 25, 2021 by admin

A frigid February kept us snowbound for a few weeks as piles of snow blocked in our cars and icicles surrounded our sunroom like daggers .

The morning sun glistened through natures artwork.

I grabbed a macro lens and started experimenting with different focus points. By getting the camera up close to the icicles and focusing through them, the icicles transformed into beautiful bokeh orbs

Then I started getting closer and focusing on the tiny bubble formations frozen inside the daggers. Using focus stacking, really small details were captured.

And with a shallow depth of field, I was able to capture both the detail inside the icicle and the soft bokeh of the sunlight reflecting on icicles nearby.

While editing images, I realized that if I turned the image horizontally, that it took on a bizarre, watery, ocean-like appearance.

Shooting through the icicle sun reflections to the beech trees outside. The beautiful beech trees hold on to their golden orange leaves all winter.

I was fascinated by the variety of images I could create from a bunch of wintry icicles inside a relatively small sunroom. As the day warmed, the snow gently slid down the glass roof and pushed off the icicles, which impaled into the snow drifts below. The next morning, more icicles had formed…. guess where I was? Back at it of course!

Here is a gallery of some of the images created by just a relatively small and fleeting subject.

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Indoor Creativity for Photographers

Posted on March 5, 2020 by admin

Jim and Betsy recently hosted a workshop for members of the Chester County Camera Club on Indoor Creativity, designed to inspire photographers to keep those creative juices flowing during the dark and cold winter months. You don’t need to be outdoors enjoying a beautiful landscape to practice your photography skills and get some unique shots.  After a slide presentation of different techniques, we let everyone loose to try their hand at a variety of interesting and fun ways that can be done inside the comfort of your own warm home. Everyone had fun and created some really fascinating images.

Here are a few of our images that represent the techniques we covered at the workshop. To download a pdf file of the opening presentation along with some how-to tips, click here.

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Circle of Life

Posted on August 14, 2019 by admin

There were times on our African Safari in Botswana in May 2019 that we felt as if we had stepped into the Lion King movie.  There were so many animals in all directions, there was literally more to see than could ever be seen. 

Zazu the hornbill delivered the morning report. 

“Chimps are going ape, giraffes remain above it all
Elephants remember, though just what I can’t recall
Crocodiles are snapping up fresh offers from the banks
Showed interest in my nest egg but I quickly said “No thanks!”
We haven’t paid the hornbills and the vultures have a hunch
Not everyone invited will be coming back from lunch”

We met Pumbaa and Timon, although they were not singing Hakuna Matata.  Pumbaa lived up to his messy reputation, and seemed always covered in muck.  

 

 

 

 

 

And we saw many moments that reminded us of the circle of life; many family moments and protective parents of their babies, mating rituals, and the unfortunate remnants of those who did not survive but provided sustenance for others.Mufasa and Sarabi in the sunset

  

And of course, we saw Scar!

“Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with the scars”

“On the path unwinding
In the circle, the circle of life”

 

Although there was far too much to take in here and more to find than can ever be found, we did our best and took many, many images to celebrate our adventures in Botswana at Chobe National Park.  To see more of our trip, click here.

 

 

 

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Tranquil yet invigorating.

A week aboard the beautiful windjammer Angeligue  was truly a unique experience.  We enjoyed viewing the rugged and spectacular coast of Maine as we sailed gracefully around islands and past lighthouses in Penobscot Bay.

We gained a new appreciation for the hard work it takes for the energetic crew to hoist the sails, swab the decks and weigh the anchor.   It was fun to watch them work and climb about the rigging like acrobats. And it was fun to help hoist the sails as about ten of us pulled mightily on ropes in synchronization to the crew-mate’s short haul shanties.

 

We joined fellow photographers through Maine Media Workshops to hone our photography skills under the guidance of acclaimed photographer Neal Parent.   We cozied up with our new friends in tight quarters.  We had plenty of room while on deck to spread out and enjoy the Maine breezes, but it was quite a challenge navigating around in the sleeping quarters.  We experienced some fog (great for photography!) and a day of rain, so we gathered below deck for slideshows of our images and instructional critiques. 

No specific route was planned. Captain Dennis chose the path each day dependent on the weather, the tides and the currents, to get us to interesting places to explore and to find a safe harbor at night. Click here to enlarge the map of our route each day.  We made a few excursions to explore the local islands and harbor ports, including Swan’s Island, Islesford, The Wooden Boat School in Brooklyn, and the quaint historic town of Castine.

There was no shortage of fantastic food on this excursion.  Despite limited kitchen area, head chef Ean managed to prepare exquisite menus and delicious gourmet appetizers during the daily happy hour. A highlight was when we all boarded the dinghys and rowed to a sandy beach for a Down East feast of all-you-can-eat lobsters steamed under seaweed over a driftwood fire.  And there were plenty of delicious appetizers and salads  (that we each carried in our laps in the boats if we weren’t rowing) and of course s’mores for desert.

The next morning we were greeted with a thick fog which provided a fun photographic challenge to capture the mystery of other windjammers appearing like ghosts in the mist.  And in the fog the crew had to lower the top mast (amazing to watch) so the captain could navigate the Angelique through the currents at the right spot to cruise under the Eggemoggin Bridge at low tide. We all held our breath as we glided under the beautiful structure.

We were intrigued as we sailed around Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park as it was fun to look at the well-known sights from the water side. Swan Island is a small residential and fishing community.  We walked to the beach full of beautiful round rocks that roll in the waves.  Jim met some people who worked in a boat shop and they realized they had common friends from the Independence Seaport Boatshop.  And Jim enjoyed visiting the classes in progress at Maine’s Wooden Boat School.  Historic Castine is one of the oldest communities in North America, rich in history as the former home to several tribes of Native Americans.  The quaint town includes magnificent American Elm trees, and we enjoyed the purple and blue lupine that was at its peak as we strolled through the neighborhoods.  There were numerous historical markers that detailed the rich history of various occupations, Fort George, and military expeditions.

Evenings back on the Windjammer were relaxing as we enjoyed wine and forging new friendships as we watched beautiful sunsets and a full-moonrise.  After our last anchor in Cradle Cove, it was back to picturesque Camden and then back to reality.

Here is a gallery of our favorite images.  We hope you enjoy them!

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Posted on June 29, 2019 by admin | Comments Off on The Windjammer Angelique

Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay

Posted on May 5, 2019 by admin

Hauntingly beautiful describes the mysterious canoe trip we experienced as we paddled among the skeletons of historic shipwrecks.  Just a short distance from Washington D.C., sunken in the Potomac River are the remains of more than one hundred wooden and steel-hulled ships dating from the 18th century through mid-20th century.  Some of the wrecks are evolving into small islands, providing habitats for birds and fish.  

It is an amazing experience to paddle inside the skeleton of a huge ship once used in World War I.  But if you go, be wary of hidden spikes just below the water’s surface – be sure to go at low tide when the ships are most easily viewed.   A canoe trail guide listed points of interest and gave a brief history of many of the ghost ships.  And we enjoyed watching cormorants, herons  and turtles as well as bald eagles flying overhead. 

Mallows Bay is located Nanjemoy, Maryland.  More information and some terrific aerial images are available here.

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Best. Rust. Ever.

Posted on March 16, 2018 by admin

Steel Stacks, the former Bethlehem Steel Corporation in the Lehigh Valley has great rust.  Although closed since 1995, much of the abandoned and decaying buildings and structures have been revitalized into an entertainment complex.

Once America’s second-largest steel producer and largest shipbuilder, it occupied 1800 acres and employed much of the population of Bethlehem and nearby towns.  Its closing in 1995 brought an end to a long history that shaped the livelihood and culture of thousands of Lehigh Valley residents.

This is a treasure to photograph.  The late afternoon light creates strong shadows that accentuate the texture of the rust and peeling paint. In addition to the rust images here, you can see more of images from the Bethlehem Steel Stacks and surrounding town on this website under Day Trips.

For best viewing of the gallery below, click on first photo below to enlarge, then click right arrow on keyboard to scroll through the gallery.

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