To Cuba on Tuesday

I doubt that I will be blogging during my trip. Back on December 9th. All good wishes,
Byron

PS: There were many outstanding images submitted for our November meeting.   I will be using them in the header over the next few months. The one placed today is from Marti Sullivan. Thanks to everyone who has participated.

Happy Thanksgiving... a day late

I spent quite a lot of time on the Internet searching for a photo that says something about Thanksgiving that isn't maudlin or hackneyed. I saw hundreds of images of food, people at table-- every last one looking deleriously happy, lots of turkeys-- both in their natural state (ie. alive) or cooked, but nothing that I found the least bit interesting or meaningful. There were 2 paintings scattered among the images, this one by an artist named Farley, and another by I can't remember who.

Thanksgiving has always been a favorite holiday for our family, just not one that has any particular profound meaning. I don't want to seem cynical, but the commericial aspects and the forced and phony sentimentality do annoy me.

About the images I posted last week: The first is part of a series taken at the Los Angeles Airport by a renowned "street photographer" Gary Winogrand. The photo was seen in a NY Times slide show about the wonderful Arts scene in LA-- this image was used to hype the permanent photo collection at the Getty Museum. Hmm... I thought,  I bet that if it is the the Getty's permanent collection it must be very valuable and although I didn't see a dollar value when, on the Internet, it is obviously a well known and highly regarded picture. I certainly have no idea why. To my untutored eye it is a not very well composed snapshot and it really doesn't say anything about the Los Angeles Airport that I'd like to know. I suspect that there are plenty of similar pictures taken by regular folks with the Kodak Hawkeye cameras that were predominant during the 1950s.

The 2nd image is Rhine II by Andreas Gursky. It has the distinction of selling at auction for the highest amount ever paid for a photograph: $4,338,500! This image is from a video made by Gursky admirer (sycophant) and was made at the site where the 4+million dollar photo was taken. Gursky mentioned that he did a bit of cleanup with Photoshop.

Finally I want to thank Phyllis and Jamie for commenting. I really do appreciate knowing that this blog  is being read.
Byron

Images For Contemplation and Discussion

I had planned to post images that I find captivation this month, but decided to take a break when this last weekend I came across these 2. They, each in their own way, are very thought provoking and I hope that members of our group will find them interesting and be willing to comment about them. Today, I'll simply post the images but tomorrow I will make my comments about them. Please do respond by posting or commenting on the blog.

More tomorrow, including complete attribution. In the meantime, I'm eager to see what you think.

Byron

Web Gallery

At our recent meeting I did mention that my web gallery is more or less done and gave a shout out to Ben Stern who helped convert what was for quite some time an embarrassing mess into something I am quite proud of.  I am doing some shameless self-promotion here and formally inviting you to visit. It is still a work in progress but all of the important elements are finished. I will be adding more slide show presentations and plan to add a large number of photos to the family snapshot gallery but will make it available only to family members (as soon as I learn how).

If you do visit,  any feedback you care to share will be appreciated-- especially suggestions about what can be improved. 
Byron

NEW PASSWORD

I purchased an iPhone yesterday and am in the process of setting it up. In doing so I accidentally screwed up the password setting for this website/blog. Unfortunately Mr. Google wouldn't let me re-enter the password that we have always used. I whined and begged and tried a couple of workarounds but he wouldn't relent, so I had to assign a new one. The process of accessing the blog is unchanged and the change in the sign in process involves only the password. So that we are all on the same page I'll repeat the relevant information here.

The URL remains unchanged: http://westernwisconsinimaginggroup.blogspot.com  To read the blog, look at the posted images, access the archives and link to the listed websites all you have to do is enter this address into your browser. It is suggested that you bookmark it so that one click will get you in.

To post entries or comments you do have to sign in. Just click "Sign In" in the upper right hand corner of the blog page and on the right side of the page you will see boxes for e-mail address and password.

E-MAIL

wwig01@gmail.com 

PASSWORD

wwig1111

The only change that has been made is in the 4 digits of the password-- from wwig1234 to wwig1111.

I regret that this occurred and hope that this post will clarify the situation. Please call or e-mail me if you encounter problems using the blog.
Byron



Image for Saturday November 12th

Recently I've been looking at paintings once again, but haven't made any progress in understanding-- or liking--  most Modern Art. Cubism has always been way beyond my comprehension. Here, once again from Demitri Daniloff, is what one could call an example of Photo-Cubism which, while elusive in meaning, is nonetheless a very impressive work in terms of digital artistry.

Byron

A Portrait Artist to share

The photographers name is Jaqueline Roberts and can be found here.  I grabbed a photo off the internet just to entice you to visit her page. I think she's wonderful!  -Jamie Heiden

Future Fantasy From "After Capture" Magazine

I recently subscribed to After Capture Magazine. It's not a great publication what  I like best about it is that the subscription is free. In the most recent issue there was a fascinating article about a French photographer (more accurately, a digital photographic artist?) Demitri Daniloff, which was copiously illustrated with his remarkable images. I'll post some of these during the remainder of this month. Incidentally, I don't think that I'm violating any intellectual property rules because his images are freely available for download when one Googles his image pages.

Byron

Images That I Find Compelling

During the week or so before our meeting on November 2nd I repeatedly encountered images that I found very compelling and decided to save them to show at the meeting. Those of you who attended know how intense it was to hear Julio Bird's presentation and by the time we had done that and the Topic of the Month photos, I felt that it was time to end the meeting. Showing another series of images would have been anticlimactic. Because it is going to be a rather long time until the next meeting I've decided to post these images and any others I encounter here on the blog. Any comments you have about my selections will be welcomed and you are all invited to post any images that you feel would be of interest to the group.

Jamie Heiden post a truly exceptional image on Flickr yesterday. It can't be copied and posted here but you can easily access it by clicking here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamieheiden/

Susann and I attended the opening of Roger Grant's gallery showing at the Pump House last Friday evening. Many members of our group were there. It will continue to be hung until the end of the month and is a show that you shouldn't miss. The metal prints from Bay Photo are spectacular. Much of this exhibit will be new to our members.

Finally, today's image  was found via an article published recently in the Wall Street Journal: Seeing Double: A Photography Power Couple. The  photographer is Hendrik Kersten:  "Hendrik Kerstens is an autodidact who decided in 1995 to dedicate himself entirely to photography.He is well-known for his documentation of the important moments in his daughter Paula’s life, which earned him a Taylor Wessing Photographic Prize in 2008 from the National Portrait Gallery London.His portraits refer to the Dutch masters and the those of the Italian Renaissance

Check out the link for more biographical information and a sampling of more of his remarkable work.
Byron

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Another Photo of the Day for Melissa

Melissa Anderson is on a roll! She has once again had an image selected as  Photo of the Day which you can see at The Digital Image Cafe. When I get an email announcing the selection of one of her photos I generally reply. I'm running out of superlatives.  Congratulations Melissa!
Byron

Roger Grant Photographs at The Pump House

I am one of three artists currently featured at the Pump House Regional Arts Center.  The official opening is Friday, November 4, from 5-7.  Please come if you can.  The exhibit will hang through December 22. For more information, here is a link to the Pump House web page: http://www.thepumphouse.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=268:new-exhibits&catid=74:featured&Itemid=106

Program Notes: November Meeting WWIG

SOCIAL HOUR AND PRINT VIEWING--
Susann is back and has prepared coffee and desserts. If you plan to bring prints please place them for display and viewing during the Social Hour.

PRESENTATIONS--
Julio Bird will discuss mountaineering at the highest level. Discussion about the challenges of photography under the difficult conditions encountered will follow. Julio has will also make some comments about another of his interests, Astrophotography, mostly about the gear required.

ASK THE EXPERTS--

• nada
• How does one use an image to tell an interesting story when the image itself isn't any good.

THE DIGITAL CHALLENGE--

• None this month.
• Byron treads a well worn path and again addresses the issue of HDR (almost certainly for the last time) 

SHOW AND TELL--

• Nothing submitted
• News you can use: Nikon's got problems but perfomance is disappointing!

• Byron's web gallery with shout out to Ben Stern (http://www.byronannis.com)
• How to display at full screen
• Some great images from the Internet 

ANNOUNCEMENTS--

• Next meeting will be on March 7, 2012 (tentatively). 

OPEN MIKE--

• Zilch

TOPIC OF THE MONTH-- FALL
Byron