On a recent outing in Siouxland the daylight hours ended with some strong sunlight after a very drab, grey and overcast start to the day. When shooting in black and white I am reminded of turn of the century photographs taken by various photographers, using light and shade to create images. Normally large cities produce better images of this type simply because of the buildings there. Even better when the buildings themselves have survived from early 20th century.
Many of the smaller communities I have visited in the past in and around Siouxland have some older buildings, since the state of Iowa became one in the mid 1800’s. Earlier communities all had some kind of structure that served as a courthouse, hotel, bank or maybe some kind of industrial facility. Now, many of these former buildings are seeing life as law firms (people with money to refurbish them), apartments or other non industrial kinds of businesses.
Photographing older brick buildings in black and white still gives them an austere look and demeanor that color can not achieve. The tonality created has a certain look that red brick or other kind of faded exterior color shade just doesn’t work. But used judiciously black and white achieves a desired affect that I think is timeless and and harkens back to an earlier time period.
Sometimes a person is limited only by their narrow imagination. And not from lack of such. I find exploring Siouxland on foot provides more opportunities in seeing. Although when driving back roads I do prefer four tires as it allows one to travel farther without becoming too tired. I have passed by many shadows as I walk about and may not always “see” the forest but for the trees. But not this time.
Winter maybe ending in Siouxland sometime this year, maybe in May, I sometimes find it hard to get motivated to get and photograph. And as much as I like photographing critters, there are times I want to pursue other interests. Finding opportunities of creating light and shadow photographs is a sometimes hit and miss adventure. It seems larger and somewhat older cities gives a person more chances of pursuing such interests.
Taller buildings, more of them, the light and shadow opportunities seem abundant. In smaller cities or towns with buildings spread out or nonexistent creates the challenge.
So a person needs to explore a bit and see what can be found. The day started out wet, overcast and a bit gloomy. Had it continued that way I had hoped to shoot early evening with reflected light in pools of water creating a smorgasbord of color. But it didn’t The sun appeared, streets dried up or hadn’t been sufficiently wet to begin with and it was necessary to take a different tack.
Sometimes objectives are not always possible to follow through on and a person must be open to seeing what is possible. So the “photo safari” wasn’t a total wash and even provided one opportunity for reflection, but that didn’t materialize either as as originally thought might happen. As the farmers used to say, and maybe some still do, “Make hay while the sun shines.”
Somedays the work isn’t done in Siouxland until it’s done. When I previously worked for various publications I never worked a constant or particular shift, but worked when it was needed. The hours might change week to week or month to month. That kind of change never bothered me as different types of photography assignments would happen during different times of the day or month or year. So it kept life interesting and one learned to just get the work done. I never had any regrets for the photography work I did for the publications as it was an opportunity to see life that some folk never saw up close and personal. It was not always glamorous and sometimes down right ugly depending on what one might be photographing. But it was never mundane.
Even though I live in Siouxland, a region that is part of what is affectionately or not affectionately known as flyover country, there are a number of museums, large and small, which one can visit and enjoy traveling exhibits, both visually and educationally stimulating.
Currently at the Durham Museum in Omaha, NE is the exhibit James Cameron — Challenging the Deep. Film director Cameron put together various crews to explore the worlds under the sea including the Titanic and the battleship Bismark allowing Cameron to share his passion and interest with the deep ocean by creating an immersive exhibit using large video screen displays to show visitors what he and others saw beneath the ocean depth, in some place 10,000 meters deep, or almost 10.5 Empire State buildings stacking on top of one another.
There is a model of the Titanic as it appears underwater on display that is seen in some of the videos showing the exploration of the ship that Cameron and others recorded. The director’s fascination with the deep ocean evidently started when he was a young child and he nurtured that desire to explore as he followed his career path as a film director. Some of the problem solving in filming movies, such as the Abyss, helped Cameron realize what might be possible as he collaborated with experts in the field of under water exploration.
Through the use of underwater recording technology and deep ocean submersible vessels Cameron and others explore the deep, and film themselves exploring the deep which gives the exhibit viewer an idea of how this was all made possible at such incredible depths, with Cameron narrating what is being seen and how it was made possible.
And the exhibit in some ways becomes more interesting by the fact that its entire area is bathed in deep blue light or blackness, resembling what the various individuals must have encountered themselves as they dove deep to explore areas of the ocean not seen by many but now accessible to all through this exhibition.
Halloween in Siouxland like many holidays has taken on a life of its own and gives people a chance to enjoy a day guilt free. Visiting the Durham Museum recently which is located in Omaha, NE, the museum was decked out in anticipation of the yearly event.
Ghouls, ghosts and skeletons were found in various places throughout. And on occasion some guests added to the atmosphere for a spook festival that occurs Oct. 31. It’s always fun to see how places celebrate holidays and the Durham didn’t disappoint.
And while the adults didn’t get to indulge, there were goody bags for the kids, always in my humble opinion one of the best aspects of Halloween as a child. Candy may not settle the stomach after a good scare, but it doesn’t hurt either.
This past session I taught an introduction course into photographing black and white using a digital camera. In the days of film of which I started with Tri-X and then went on to use other films and film-types while working for newspapers, it’s not an easy to always see black and white in a color world. One needs to think about tonality. And how color transforms, or not, when switching to black and white. Some images of subjects work better than others, but without seeing what works and what doesn’t, will not help a person learn.
The shimmer off the trees was fairly pronounced with the yellow leaves and soft sun peeking through the clouds, but doesn’t quite translate without maybe a darker background to make a more striking difference. The wispy clouds however with dark tree in foreground and deeper (blue) sky makes the cloud photo more striking and dynamic. But there are scenes when less contrast works just as well, especially when photographing people. But taking the photo and then studying it and deciding what one likes is all part of that journey a photographer may take in figuring out what kind of photographer he/she wants to be when they grow up.
While out and about in Siouxland recently visiting a community festival I dropped by Cherokee. With recent rains there have been many reports of small and large rivers rising and flash flood warnings. I was curious to see if a small creek running through town had reached the tops of its banks. It hadn’t.
But I liked the quality of light I was seeing that day and saw areas that intrigued me and reminded me of the days working for newspapers and shooting only in B&W, film.
One had to be really conscious of tonality and contrast to make one’s image pop and help it jump off the page. Not all images taken did that, as some were more documentary in nature.
But like shooting in color, the viewer still needs to find the path through a photograph that draws him/her into it and through it and makes the viewing a worthwhile effort.
In those days one could always shoot the film, tweak the film processing and finally adjust some of the printing to give an image more snap. Now it’s all done via software. Whether it’s successful or not is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder.
Some of the adult photo classes I teach at a local community college are about taking better photos. And with that I really push those individuals to be open about seeing. In the Tim Allen “The Santa Clause” an elf tells him when he has doubts about the spirit of Christmas and why kids believe and adults don’t, that is it different for the two groups. “Seeing is believing as opposed to believing is seeing.”
We all see life in different ways, and sometimes we have to be open to what we actually, physically see and what we see in our mind’s eye. I have been shooting a great deal with the Fuji X cameras and lenses I have acquired this past year. And I like that system a lot. One of the things I like is the in-camera conversion to B&W. My career for newspapers started with shooting Tri-X and the old adage of f/8 and be there.
I miss shooting B&W. It still has its place in photography. I like the Fuji X cameras for this because the red, green and yellow filter effect one can do in camera with some minor adjustments with tonality in camera give me the B&W images I remember. I used to love using a red #25 filter and an orange #15 filter. Then with a little development tweaking, I got some nice negatives with which to print from.
These days there are a variety of B&W plug-ins to use with Photoshop to achieve some really nice black and white results that create great prints. However, I haven’t tried them, but just find I get acceptable results with this camera system as opposed to converting to B&W in my Canons.
Shooting around the campus of the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, the older buildings really lend to the use of B&W. The subject matter plays an important part I believe. I know I will not use this technique when shooting fall colors. But it’s nice to change it up every now and again.
Black and white photographer David Plowden visited Sioux City, Iowa, this past weekend. Speaking at the Betty Strong Encounter Center about his collected work, with emphasis on those photographs he has taken in Iowa. Currently Plowden’s travelling exhibit, “David Plowden’s Iowa’ can be seen at the Center. In a recent article by the Chicago Tribune, Plowden noted that he arrives at a late hour to preserve defining iconic places in America by photographing them before they disappear. Plowden has published a number of books preserving a past that is no long with us. Titles include: “End of an Era: The Last of the Great Lakes Steamboats”, “A Handful of Dust: Disappearing America”, Bridges:The Spans of North America”, “Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden”, “David Plowden: Vanishing Point: Fifty Years of Photographs”, and “David Plowden: The American Barn”.
Mr. Plowden talked about his passion for photographing disappearing icons of the American past or soon to be past, and his like for doing his work in black and white. But Mr. Plowden emphasized that his work is really about exploring a part of America that people seem to forget, that part of America commonly referred to as fly-over America. His rememberance of people’s names he met in the 1970’s and ’80’s, and his joy in recalling those encounters. His genuine affection for the people he met is very evident as he related stories to the attending audience. Mr. Plowden’s work, all done with a view camera, is a joy to behold and something that budding photographers and others should avail themselves of and enjoy the quiet solitude that his work evokes.His exhibit runs until Jan. 13, 2013.
I live in the Siouxland area that encompasses a wide swatch of land in northwest Iowa, northeastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. The people that inhabit this area are generous folk and your basic honest, Midwestern people you like to have as neighbors. I explore the area and share observations, mostly photographic, sometimes through video, and and short text. All images and video are copyrighted material of the author.
Jerry Mennenga, Sioux City, Iowa
jerrylmennenga@yahoo.com
lostinsiouxland 