The Wandering Photographer

Favorite Photos series: It's a Duesy!

Duesenberg Aircraft Engine

A visit to the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana is a photographer's dream. Floor after floor of gorgeous automobiles from the early 20th century to admire and photograph. Cars are not the only things to make images of however.

I came across this aircraft engine in the Drafting Room on the second floor of the museum. The repeated pattern of the exhaust pipes immediately caught my eye and I made several images of the engine.

When I arrived home and began editing my images I thought this one would look more striking as a monochrome image. I made the conversion using Nik Silver Effects Pro and tweaked it a bit more in Lightroom.

Here is the full color version of the image.

I think the black & White version has more impact, but that's just my opinion. The monochrome version placed 2nd at my camera club competition. Which do you like best?

Here is an earlier blog about my day at the ACD Museum.

© Tim Marks All Rights Reserved

A Michigan Poem

 

Poetry is not really my thing, and usually you find posts about photography on this blog, but I came across this poem by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft and couldn't help myself. Jane was born at Sault Ste Marie in the Michigan Territory to an Ojibwe mother and and Irish father. Her name is probably familiar to many Michiganders because in 1822 she married Henry Rowe Schoolcarft. Henry was a federally appointed Indian agent and became a very important Michigan historical figure.

Jane spoke and wrote Ojibwe (probably Odawa), French and English. Around 9 years old Jane was sent to England and Ireland by her parents to get an education. Very homesick, she returned within a couple of years. Sometime later she wrote a poem about her first sighting of a Michigan Pine upon arriving back in Northern Michigan.

To the Pine Tree

The pine! the pine! I eagerly cried,
The pine, my father! see it stand,
As first that cherished tree I spied,
Returning to my native land.
The pine! the pine! oh lovely scene!
The pine that is forever green.

Ah beauteous tree! ah happy sight!
That greets me on my native strand
And hails me, with a friend's delight,
To my own dear bright mother land
Oh 'tis to me a heart-sweet scene,
The pine---the pine that's evergreen.

Not all the trees of England bright,
Not Erin's lawns of green and light
Are half so sweet to memories eye,
As this dear type of northern sky

 

The poem was also transcribed in Ojibwe. Here is the first few lines.

Shing wauk! shing wauk! nin ge ik id,
Waish kee wau bum ug, shing wauk
Tuh quishin aun nau aub, ain dak nuk i yuan

 

It is unknown whether it was written firsat in Ojibwe or in English.

I found the poem in The Norton Anthology of American Literature 8th edition vol. B. The biographical information about Jane came from that volume as well.

I think this ought to be the state poem of Michigan. What do you think?

 

 

Favorite Photo Series: Celebrating the African Diaspora

Another favorite photo. This one was taken of the first day of the 2011 Concert of Colors. The first night was a celebration of the African Diaspora to the Americas. Presented at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History the evening included American Hip Hop, Afro-Caribbean music and dance as well as story telling and poetry. 

As any regular reader of theis blog knows, I am a big fan of the Concert of Colors. The Concert is an annual Detroit celebration of diversity held in July in the Midtown area of Detroit.

You can get more information about the festival at the Concert of Colors web site. The Arab American National Museum also presents a Winter series of world music, "Global Fridays," that is well worth seeing. Dominique writes about that series in her blog, Midwest Guest. 

© Tim Marks All Rights Reserved

Carmel IN: Drumming At the Center for the Performing Arts

In November I had the opportunity to visit Carmel, Indiana along with Midwest Guest. One of the highlight of the visit was the opportunity to see The Royal Drummers of Burundi at the Carmel Center for the Performing Arts. 

The center is made up of three distinct venues, the Palladium (where we saw the drummers), the Studio Theater and the Tarkington. The Tarkington is a 500 seat venue perfect for large theatrical presentations and makes for a great venue for small concerts. The Studio Theater is a great spot for intimate performances. The spectacular Palladium seats 1600 in a space with exquisite accoustics perfect for grand musical performances. 

Our visit started with an informally led drum circle for patrons before the main show. In an upstairs room to drumm leaders helped a large group of children and adults get into a drumming mood.

Adults got the opportunity to let their inner child out.

And Children got to act like themselves. Of course the children held the upper hand.

The drumming circle inspired me to gift Dominique with a drum for Christmas.

Moving from the drumming circle to the main venue we were in for a real treat. The Royal Dummers of Burundi performed an energetic show that can only be described as amazing. 

Founded in 1960 the drummers have toured the world spreading the good music and the good will of Burundi in their wake. They have recorded several albums of their own as well as appearing on albums by artists such as Def Leppard ands Joni Mitchell. 

 

The show begins with the drummers entering the stage with the drums balanced in their heads, drumming the entire time. As the show continues, the drummers place their drums on the stage and continue a combination of drumming rhythm and dance that can't help but get the audience tapping their feet.

 

 Not only did we get to see a great show, we were able to visit a fun city and experience a great entertainment venue. Not only that we added a new musical instrument to our home.

If you get down to the Indianapolis area you would do well to take in a show at the Carmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Thanks to the Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau for sponsoring our visit to Hamilton County, providing lodging, meals and entry to the performance for my review during my recent visit there, with no further compensation. I was free to express my own opinions about the stay and experiences, and the opinions expressed here are mine.

© 2013 Tim Marks

2012 Concert of Colors Recap

The 2012 Concert of Colors is now history. The four-day festival was a great party and grand time was had by all.

From the Asian stylings of Pipa virtuoso Wu Man and the Detroit Symphony to the funky sound of George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic an eclectic and diverse presentation wowed the crowds. Once again Don Was presented his trademark Detroit All-Star Revue, this year presenting some of Detroit's Jazz greats, including Regina Cater, Marcus Belgrave and Dennis Coffey. Tito Puente Jr. pleased the fans with his set honoring his late father the great Latin percussionist Tito Sr.

I thought I would take this opportunity to present some Images of the 2012 Festival.

Enjoy!

Dennis Coffey (Detroit All-Star Revue, Detroit Jazz City Edition)

 

Marion Hayden (Detroit All-Star Revue, Detroit Jazz City Edition)

 

Wu Man performs with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

 

Oliver Mtukdzi & The Black Spirits; all the way from Zimbabwe

 

The extremely photogenic Tito Puente Jr.

 

Tito had great fun on stage

 

Tito's entire band wore Concert of Colors T-shirts on stage

 

French Canadian folk group de Temps Antan entertained the crowd on Friday night at the DIA

 

de Temps Antan

 

George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic brought the house down at the Sunday finale

 

George's band was dressed, well lets just say eccentrically

The weekend was a success and thousands of Metro Detroiters had a ball celebrating the great diversity of cultures in Southeast Michigan.

Blue Note Records will be releasing a CD of The Don Was Detroit All-Star Review: Jazz City Edition. All proceeds will go the the Detroit civil rights organization Focus Hope. Also, My Damn Channel filmed the Revue and over the next few months will be posting in on their web site.

The show was great and I'm looking forward to next year.

© 2012 Tim Marks

Metro Detroit's Diversity Festival 2012

Once again it is time for, in my opinion, Detroit's most important festival of the year, and it's FREE. Produced by the community groups ACCESS, The Arab American National Museum, The DIA, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Museum of African American History, the festival is intended to bring everyone together to celebrate the vast diversity of our region. They accomplish it through the presentation of music, stories and dance.

 

This year the festival will be held July 12th thru the 15th at three venues.Thursday night at the Museum of African American History, Friday at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Saturday and Sunday at the Max M. Fisher Music Center (home of the DSO).

 

The music line up is eclectic and diverse. From a mash of cultures featuring Mike E and Afro-flow on Thursday to the DSO with Pipa virtuoso Wu Man on Sunday in Orchestra Hall. Other wide ranging genres include Irish Rock, Algerian Folk, Latin Jazz, Australian Blues, Indian Funk and much more.

 

On Saturday night record producer and Oak Park Native Don Was returns to present his 5th annual Detroit All Star Revue. The revue is made up entirely of Detroit Musicians. This year for the first time the revue is an all jazz event. Don decided to present a Jazz program this year to honor the late great Detroit sax player Faruq Z. Bey who died this year at the age of 70. Faruq played in previous revues at the Concert of Colors. Don's revues are always the highlight of the weekend.

The Festival wraps up on Sunday by presenting the great George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, guaranteed to be a show not to be missed

 

Complete schedules for the four day concert are available on the Concert of Color's website www.concertofcolors.com

As far as I'm concerned this is the event of the year in Detroit and I wouldn't miss it for anything!

© 2012 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photo Printing: A Test of Luster Photo Papers

I would like to start making some fairly serious prints of some of my best photographs, so I decided to get my hands on a selection of papers from a couple of manufacturers and run some test prints.

I ordered an 8.5x11 sample pack from Red River Papers, as well as a small package of Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk.After a quick test of the Letter size sheets, I followed up by ordering 13X19 versions of the paper to make bigger prints for better comparison

So Here is a list of the Papers tested (Prices based on 13x19 sheets)

My Current Papers

• Epson Ultra-Premium Luster - Resin Coated - $1.54 / sheet
• Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pear - Resin Coated - $1.92 / sheet

New Trial Papers

• Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk - Baryta Coating - $4.40 / sheet
• Red River Arctic Polar Satin - Resin Coated - $1.18 / sheet

Here are the photos I used for comparison purposes. These are not great shots but I thought they brought something to the test.

 

I chose these because I thought they would give a good representation of what I want to see in a paper. The shot of the Grand Tetons is dark and foreboding. I thought it would be difficult to render. I was right, it gave slightly different results on all papers. Mount Rushmore is a nice standard tourist shot that combines color with the beige rock. The butterflies are intended to see how the papers render bright saturated colors. The Lighthouse is one of my favorite B+W shots and I wanted to see how neutral the papers rendered grayscale images.

I print on an Epson R1900 printer using Epson inks. I have calibrated my display with the i1 Display 2 from XRite. I used printer profiles supplied by the paper manufacturers to do the printing.

Results

Tests of the Semi-Glossy Papers

The Resin Coated (RC) and Baryta papers are of the semigloss or luster type. All four did a very nice job of rendering the saturated colors of the butterfly picture. The Epson Luster, The Ilford Pearl and the Red River Satin were almost identical and either would make fine prints for display. The Ilford Gold Fibre Silk showed slightly less saturation but its lack of a resin coating might contribute to more longevity.

The Mount Rushmore shot showed more differences between the papers. The Ilford Gold Fibre Silk rendered the scene just a bt warmer than the RC papers did. It was note an unpleasant warmth, almost like a slight warming filter was added to the camera. The RC papers were, again, almost identical and slightly cooler than the Fibre silk. It was not bluish but more neutral. All papers did a great job and again I would base my choice on use (sale, or home display) and price.

The Grand Teton Shot showed the differences more starkly.The Epson Luster and the Ilford Gold silk presented an off-putting, slight green tinge to the clouds. The Ilford Pearl and the Red River Satin rendered the clouds as I saw them. It also showed more definition in the dark fir trees and foreground grass. The clear winner here is the Red River Arctic Polar Satin Paper.

The Black and White rendition of the lighthouse also showed the differences in the papers.The Red River Satin gave the most neutral and pleasing version. Second best was the Epson Luster with a very slight pleasing warmness to the shot. The Ilford Gold Silk had a sickly yellow tint and was entirely unacceptable. For black and white glossy photos I think I'll stick with the Red River Paper. If I need to add a tint I will do it in Lightroom.

Conclusion

While there was no clear winner. I will probably keep the Epson Ultra-Premium Luster in my cabnet and will add the Red River Arctic Polar Satin to my repertoire. If the quality of the Satin holds up its cheaper price will make it my everyday media of choice. I will also keep a quantity of Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk on hand for those special prints where its attributes shine. Ilford Gallerie Smooth Pearl just doesn't stand up to the rest and when my supply is gone I won't be buying any more.

Thanks for Reading my take on Photo Papers. Remember that YMMV and the best way to find a paper you like is to test a batch. Also, it is critical that you use the printer profiles from the paper manufacturer and that you calibrate your monitor with appropriate equipment.

I also tested three Matte Fine Art Papers -- Buts that's another post.

Until next time.

© 2011 Time Marks

Fun with Reflections

A while back, during a Photowalk in downtown Detroit, I noticed the reflections that were present in almost all of the windows. Sometimes they were a distraction and ruined the image, but other times they were fascinating designs and made great pictures.

Reflection in a window in the Greektown District of Detroit

At first glance this looks to be a confusing hodge podge of colors, buildings and people. After a while, though, it began to grow on me. It seems to represent the lights and glitter of a busy entertainment district. My fellow photographer in the foreground represents our goals for the day.

One building reflected in another along Woodward Ave. Detroit

Further along I came across this tall building reflecting the buildings from across the street. I thought that the similar colors and shapes made a nice composition.

More reflections along Woodward Ave.

Turning around this image showed up in my viewfinder. I thought it was the best of the three. 

Whenever I'm shooting in a urban area I try to keep in mind that the window in the building might hold an image every bit as good s a shot of the building itself. Keep your eyes and your mind open.

© 2011 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Easy Black and White with Silver Efex Pro 2

JPEG version of Original RAW file as it imported into LightRoom 3

I captured the above image of The Old Mission Point Lighthouse on a trip to Michigan's Grand Traverse region last Summer. I really liked the composition but like almost all RAW files it needed some post processing to bring out its best.

I took a look at the photo, and noticed a number of things that needed attention in order to make the image reflect what I saw that day.

 Marked up for post-processing

Three of the major problems are shown above. What was a gorgeous blue sky looks faded and boring in the photo. The clouds lack definition and the rails are way overexposed distracting the eye away from the centerpiece of the image, the lighthouse. The entire image looks flat and lifeless.

I opened the photo in Lightroom's develop module and began to process the image.

• Basic Tab - Auto as a starting point
• I adjusted the exposure until it looked right
• I adjusted the black point
• I chose "Strong Contrast" in the Tone Curve Tab
• I set the Vibrance to +43
• In the HSL Tab, I set Luminance Blue -48 and Green -57
• I used the Adjustment Brush to tone down the exposure on the rails

Result is below.

Color Processed version

I thought it looked pretty good except for the fact that I over saturated the sky so it looked a bit garish. That is easily fixed but before I started correcting it I thought, "ya know that might look pretty good in Black and White."

There are a number of ways to convert a color image to B+W. The controls found in both Lightroom and Camera RAW work very nicely and of course you can go through a bunch of steps in Photoshop to get there, but I find working in NIK Software's Silver Efex Pro 2 both satisfying and intuitive.

I opened the image in Silver Efex Pro and started to play with the myriad of presets that come with the program. After sampling a number of them I settled on "High Structure Harsh" ending up with the results below.

Output from Siver Efex Pro 2

Not bad, if I say so myself. Of course there is that nasty bit of flare in the sky (circled). Back in Lightroom I used the Adjustment Brush in Healing mode to replace the flare with clouds. I also further darkened selected spots on the rails to even things out a bit.

The final result is below. I really like the way the clouds form a halo around the tower. I think I'm going to keep working on this one to refine it even more, but as far as I'm concerned this result is not too bad for only about 25 minutes work.

Old Mission Lighthouse at the tip of the Old Misssion Peninsula in Grand Traverse County, MI Half way between the equator and the north Pole (45 degrees North)

Playing around with black and White conversions is fun and rewarding. While I find using Silver Efex Pro easy and fun, if you have any other image editing software, you too can create great Black and White images, just like in the days of Film.

Give it a whirl!

You can see my earlier post about the Old Mission Light here.

© 2011 Tim Marks

Scenes from the 2011 Concert of Colors Nights 1 & 2

 

Below are a few pictures from the first two nights of the 2011 Concert of Colors. Thursday night was a celebration of the African Diaspora at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History. Friday night at the DIA highlighted honkytonk piano and Latin rhythms.

Make sure you come on down and catch the rest of the weekend at the Max Fisher Music Center Saturday and Sunday.

Details at the Concert of Colors website.

Images from Thursday

 

Images from Friday

Saturday and Sunday promise to be even better. Come-on down and experience Detroit at its best.

© 2011 Tim Marks