Maternity

Big Sister
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Last weekend I did something I have never done before. I took "maternity portraits" for a friend of mine, Jamie Brown, who is expecting. This type of photography, which focuses on the "bump," is becoming more popular. Sounds easy but it's not. Shooting maternity photos presents some unusual challenges. Technical, artistic, hormonal. But I'm sure photographing a pregnant woman is much easier than it is being pregnant.

Shutter: 1/30; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 400; Focal length: 18 mm

Arbor Day Tree Exhibit

Elm in snow near Bluff Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I'm becoming very familiar with this ancient elm tree on Bluff Road. It grew up on the old Hornbeck farm long before that property became part of the sprawling Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus 50 years ago. Over the next few weeks I'll be photographing the elm for the Arbor Day Tree Exhibit at the Edwardsville Art Center. The exhibit opens on April 29 and features artists' renditions of dozens of trees in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Winter elegance

Farm, Staunton Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I realize I may be alone, but I miss the snow already. Snow has a way of clarifying landscapes, providing a stark, temporary relief for the fences, barns and trees. This farm near the corner of Pin Oak and Staunton Road, is magnificent any time of year. But in the snow, especially at sunset, it is downright elegant.

Fireworks in black & white

July 3, E. St. Louis
Photograph by Tom Atwood

After taking the weekend off, Photo of the Day returns with a 7-month-old file photo. But it's been polished up a bit since the original. What was an extremely colorful, explosive shot has been desaturated. Robbed of its color. But in a way, desaturating gaudy fireworks somehow civilizes the display. Add the industrial foreground of East St. Louis and it gives this image a retro look, which brings back memories, since the fireworks I watched on the riverfront as a child in the 1960s were in fact in black & white. No one had color fireworks back then.

Shutter: 20 seconds; Aperture: f/18; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

No Trespassing, No Tripod

Private Property
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Some good lessons to be learned here: First - always bring a tripod. It will get dark. Never fails. Instead, driving my daughter's pickup truck for reasons to complex to explain in this post, I ventured out tripodless. This is a handheld shot in moonlight. Hard to hold steady when you're nervous about being shot. Or at least, being run off the property. However, I did not go beyond this sign. 

Oh yeah: second lesson - don't trespass. 

If there is a sign.

Shutter: 1/8; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 800; Focal length: 18 mm

Old & New and All Lit Up

Old Cathedral
St. Louis, Missouri
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I remember taking a photograph similar to this one 35 years ago, when the Gateway Arch was less than a decade old. A contrast between old and new, I thought when I took the photo in 1975 along Memorial Drive: the Old Cathedral and the (almost) brand new Arch. Now it's the old and very old, the stainless steel Arch literally rusting. However, the main difference between then and now is this: both structures are bathed in light. Lit up like Christmas trees. So much light that even the clouds overhead are shining. Unlike the same sky in the Twentieth Century.

Shutter: 25 seconds; Aperture: f/13; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

The Vanishing Night

St. Louis Gateway Arch
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Sometimes a picture can get lost in the mix. Last year, on a winter night when I was shooting dozens of photos of the arch, and specifically, its shadow reflected on low clouds passing by, I didn't pay much attention to this one. But in a way, it most clearly shows the light pollution we now celebrate as part of the St. Louis skyline: 44 powerful floodlights at the base of the Arch, shining up to illuminate the undersides of airplanes, and to cause thousands of confused, migrating birds to fall to their deaths. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer, but the night sky that has inspired people for thousands of years is vanishing before our very eyes.

Shutter: 25 seconds; Aperture: f/13; ISO: 100; Focal length: 20 mm.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity
Glen Carbon, Illinois
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I was asked to take photos of parishioners from my church (St. Andrew's in Edwardsville) working at a Habitat for Humanity project in Glen Carbon. The weather has been snowy, and the turnout Saturday was small. Not much to take pictures of, just a few volunteers in the basement of the home under construction. But in the sawdust floating here there was also a ray of sunlight that looked promising. 

So I snapped a photo.

Timing

Pin Oak Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Obviously, photography is a matter of timing, more than almost anything else, and Sunday my timing was off. The dawn was incredible, but by the time I got out, the sun was rising and things were very credible. During the afternoon (while walking the dog) there were unbelievable contrails in the sky. A woman came out on her front porch and said, "Was there an air show?" But, by the time I got out with a camera, the atmosphere had changed. The jet stream had altered. So, instead of contrails, I was left with this beautiful view of my favorite tree on Pin Oak Road in the setting sun. Maybe timing isn't everything?

Shutter: 1/160; Aperture: f/20; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Eight trees

Eight trees on Governors Parkway
Photograph by Tom Atwood

There is a sacred 13th Century ink painting by Buddhist monk Mu Ch'i known simply as "Six Persimmons." I think about that painting sometimes when I drive past these eight trees, planted as ornamental landscaping on Governors Parkway. Mu Ch'i's painting is revered by Zen masters for its simple, perfect composition, representing the stages of enlightenment. Maybe these eight trees are revered by state highway engineers who bulldozed their way through Edwardsville several years ago to link up with Interstate 55? To me, they represent all the trees that were knocked down to build the road. (Here's a link to the Mu Ch'i painting: http://www.indiana.edu/~ealc100/00muqi_6pers.jpg)

Shutter: 1/50; Aperture: f/4; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Moraine Park

Moonrise, Moraine Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
Photograph by Tom Atwood

The Big Thompson winds its way through Moraine Park day and night,  a relentless mountain river in a magical valley in Colorado. The river runs even at midnight when this photo was taken with a full moon rising behind me. That's the light you see on the peaks of the front range of the Rockies, and on the clouds moving slowly over Rocky Mountain National Park. The stars are streaked, leaving trails as the Earth rotates slightly during this 109 second exposure.

Shutter: 109 seconds; Aperture: f/1.8; ISO: 100; Focal length: 35 mm

The man who juggles fire

3rd of July
Photograph by Tom Atwood

I wanted to change up the traditional St. Louis skyline photo, so I hired a fire juggler to pose in front of it. Well, that's not exactly true, but it could be. What I like about this picture is that it raises questions. Who is this person? Why is he in East St. Louis juggling fire? Who is he juggling for? Why are his pants so short? Okay, that was mean. I take it back.

Shutter: 1/125; Focal length: 18 mm; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 200

Shutter speed

Blue Angels
Scott Air Force Base
Photograph by Tom Atwood

A good photograph is usually the result of a good photographer, not a good camera. But this picture of the Blue Angels needed a camera that could freeze the F-18's as they flew past Scott Air Force Base at speeds of up to 600 miles per hour. Not a great camera, but one that has adjustable shutter speeds. This photo was taken with a Nikon D60 using a shutter speed of 1/1000 second. The image is detailed enough that if you enlarge it, you can even read the name of the lead pilot under his cockpit window: 

Capt. James McWhorter.

Shutter: 1/1000; Aperture: f/7.1; ISO: 200; Focal length: 145 mm

Spring

Track Meet, Edwardsville
Photograph by Tom Atwood

When I think of spring--and who isn't these days?--I don't just think of warm weather, and rain, and green. I think of taking pictures at Riley and Ellen's track meets. Every spring for the last nine years. But now that they're grown, and have left for college, this spring will be different. Still warm, hopefully. Still green. But something will be missing. Something dramatic and beautiful.

Shutter: 1/125; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Lens flares?

Near Carpenter, Illinois
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Something strange happened when I desaturated this photo of iced barb wire on a farm near Carpenter, Illinois. Everything lost color except for the tiny UFO's flying silently toward the lens. I mean, the lens flares. Sometimes lens flares can be distracting, or sometimes they can add interest to an otherwise dull picture. Or, as in this case, they can prove the existence of intelligent life on other planets. Tiny life.

Shutter: 1/250; Aperture: f/10; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Waiting

Staunton Road near Edwardsville
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Sometimes you can chase sunsets, moving around as the sun goes down, looking for the right spot. But on this evening along Staunton Road, I stayed put by a fence. The setting didn't change, but everything else did, mainly the light, clouds and sky. I have photographed the fence before, many times, but never like this. The light is different every time.

Shutter: 1/25; Aperture: f/22; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Seeing things

Ice on shed near Lebanon
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Just checking. Do you see anything unusual in this photo? Anything besides ice on a shed? I see several things, or at least imagine that I do. This is the second photo of ice hallucinations I have posted in the last few days. The other photo featured a face peering through ice-covered trees on Old Carpenter Road. Maybe I have been looking at pictures too long? Let me know if you see anything, or anyone. Thanks! (And thanks to Craig Virgin for letting me tour his parents farm near Lebanon and take some photos, including this one.)

Surprise snow

Main Street, Edwardsville, Illinois
February 5, 2011
Photograph by Tom Atwood

This is an unretouched photo of downtown Edwardsville taken during this morning's "light" snow. Okay, it's not really unretouched. It has had all kinds of effects added to it. But I believe it captures a certain alternate reality based on what was happening downtown. Lots of snow, no plows. One other thing: you can get a tattoo in this building, which, like this picture, also seems slightly off to me.

Shutter: 1/30; Aperture: f/3.5; ISO: 1600; Focal length: 18 mm

Sunspots

Watershed Nature Center
Photograph by Tom Atwood

No one looks good in harsh sunlight, including my lens. The sun reveals, and even highlights, imperfection. When I took this photograph of the frozen wetland at the Watershed Nature Center in Edwardsville, I didn't realize there were tiny particles of dust (or ice?) on my lens. Not until I enlarged the picture and saw all the flares and spots around the sun. Sunspots. In the interest of rationalizing, I have decided the spots add interest to the photo, making the sun seem to almost explode in the sky. 

Next time, I'll wipe off my lens.

Shutter: 1/100; Aperture: f/22; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Questions

St. Catherine's on Old Carpenter Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Sometimes a photograph is like a mystery novel. Except there's no reading involved. But a photograph, like this one on Old Carpenter Road, often poses questions. For instance, why is there a wrought-iron fence around this empty field? Why is it untended, abandoned? The rows of cypress trees suggest elaborate landscaping - for what? Is there something over the hill? A house? A farm? Unlike a good mystery novel, though, this photo offers no answers. You might Google it. (One hint: look for "St. Catherine.")

Shutter: 1/50; Aperture: f/6.3; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

Ice in black & white

Old Carpenter Road
Photograph by Tom Atwood

The temptation this morning was to shoot the ice in color, sun streaming through frozen branches against the deep blue sky. But I resisted temptation. Instead the morning after a disappointing "blizzard" here is in black & white. It adds some drama to the picture, and helps it avoid becoming too pretty, like a post card you might send to the National Weather Service with this message: What happened?

Shutter: 1/50; Aperture: f/22; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm

p.s. does anyone else see the woman's eye peering through the branches in the upper left corner of this image?

Ice storm

Ridge View Road near Edwardsville
January 31, 2011
Photograph by Tom Atwood

Some incidental trespassing may have been involved in the taking of this photo along Ridge View Road. To whoever owns this tree, and this field, I apologize. It was late. Too late to ask permission. Especially in the middle of an ice storm. But when I saw the farm light shining through the tree and the icy mist, I had to pull over and snap a picture. I took a few from the road, but decided it would be better to move in a little closer, and hope that trespassing will be forgiven, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Shutter: 30 seconds; Aperture: f/11; ISO: 100; Focal length: 18 mm