Rooting DC 2011 - Urban Farming Workshops

On Saturday I volunteered my time photographing Rooting DC 2011 at Calvin Coolidge High School in NW Washington DC.  The day long event was focused on teaching ideas about individual home food production and urban farming and featured workshops on a variety of topics including planning and planting a small urban garden, nutrition, bee keeping, growing your own mushrooms, canning and composting among others.  There were also cooking demonstrations and a seed exchange.  No fees were charged at this well attended event, and all workers and presenters were on a volunteer basis.  When Common Goods City Farm (friends and neighbors of mine here in Ledroit Park) asked me to donate my time, I had no problem doing so.  Not only was it a fun photo opportunity, but I also learned a great deal about urban food production and about some of the amazing work that people in this city are doing!

Joe Bozik of the Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild shares bee keeping techniques for beginners.

Juliette Tahar (Healthy Living Inc.) prepares a dish of fresh collard greens and garlic.

Nazirahk Amen (Purple Mountain Organics) demonstrates how holes are drilled in preparation for growing mushrooms.

More Photos here.

B(L)ackstage at the Black Cat - It's Friday! Come read my Blog!

First a few photos from the Black Cat earlier this week - then a little rant.

I've got all this stuff about photography going on in my head these days. The feeling is a bit like being a flea on the back of a dog that's spinning to catch its tail. (or maybe it's just a leftover from my week of country solitude - minus 5 dogs and an old tabby cat) Anyway, I've been doing this gig with an on-line magazine called Brightest Young Things (or BYT for short) just for a bit of fun and exposure, and it has been fun - press credentials, free entry into events, etc. The best part is I'm basically free to roam photographically speaking. Again, maybe not be the best thing since it has got me thinking and feeling a bit flea-ish.

However, and I think this is my point, I have come to certain (possibly fleeting) conclusions about camera technology and the medium. First, the camera is a wonderful tool with endless possibilities, and in my head it kind of irks me to hear good people say limiting things like, "I don't like flash; I only use available light" or "this camera is bad because of the high ISO grain, so avoid 3200 ISO", or "if you do use flash it should be off camera", and face recognition focusing - what's that? Which leads me to my next point. As camera technology becomes better and better my inner flea is saying it's going to become easier to take photos that look just like everyone else's, and who really wants that?

Several month's ago I'm watching some music in the Black Cat's "Backstage" room, and there's this guy taking pics with a flash, and he has one of these little white domes on top of his flash to "soften" the light or something. The idea being the dome allows some of the light to escape out the side of the flash and bounce off the walls, ceiling, etc. to fill shadows and reduce the harshness of the light. However, the Backstage walls are flat black, and the ceiling is like 14 feet high, so the only thing he was accomplishing with this little dome was to blind the audience behind him. It didn't matter what direction he swiveled his flash or how many times he looked at his preview window it wasn't going to work - It certainly didn't matter how many times he repeated the mantra about creating "soft" light ... at a divey rock show ... in a pitch black basement of a back room. I think you get the idea.

Long story short, when I was asked to shoot a small rock show, Royal Bang up from TN, the other night at the Cat, I jumped (get it ... flea ... jump) at the chance. Whew! And the flea will now retire from his soapbox. At least the dog has stopped spinning for the time being. Which is a pretty good thing.

Where's DC (to me)?

Fall makes me restless, very restless. A teasing, tapping, breeze saying, "no time to sit". I let my hair down, do a little dance, and bask in what the summer no longer holds in its sweaty little grasp. At least that was the experience of my youth growing up in a place of sharply delineated seasons. Today DC is my reality, so when September comes and the thermometer still reads "90" I get confused - actually, really confused. (I recently confirmed the effect with a high-school friend now living in Virginia Beach.)

A direct result of my confused state, two nights ago I didn't fall asleep until well after 3am. During the night I began retracing my steps, asking myself how I ended up here and what I had left to see in this very oddly shaped city. Trying to recount my earliest memories from pre-k and asking myself what the meaning of this photographic life I'm trying to create is, a real late night jumble of thoughts to be sure which almost had me biking down to the Mall to watch the sun come up.

When the day finally arrived I grabbed my camera and wandered down to the mall, to search, perhaps, for some evidence of the fall, or at the very least to break out of the house, get away from the computer and make use of a beautiful (albeit warm) day.

I settled on the idea of blocking familiar, idealized views of the capital. ("Hey! It looks just like Where's Waldo", exclaimed Maria.) The idea opened a world of new possibilities. Everything was in play - fire hydrants, tour buses, and parking meters. My inspiration: a friend's suggestion to photography her kid on the mall looming over the Washington Monument. My dis-inspiration (is that a bit like saying ir-regardless??): stock DC images, Jeffer-sun-set, White (fluffy clouds) House, and other idealized riffs(-raff).

Here are my favorites: (See if you can find the Capital building in each of these images!)

More here:

.. and in case anyone is wondering. For these pics I got out my old Nikon AI 28mm manual focus lens (I find that manual, and especially fixed lenses allow/force me to think and move, resulting in better photos. The 28mm being one of my favorite when attached to my old F3, a bit less so with the digital zoom factor when attache to the D300, but still wider than normal) and a polarizing filter to darken the sky (also allowed for wider f-stops and freedom to play with DOF), and on some a bit of fill flash (just from the camera's pop up). I've been spending too much time in front of the computer playing with Photoshop and the like, so here I'm shooting and showing -just a bit of a vignette added to draw the eye into the center of the frame.

I think I may still add to the set - Maybe with a telephoto, maybe some other monuments with some day break mauve or an orange dusk.

.. oh and this from the botanical garden, because I just like the name and that it's from Brazil

Kids and Cameras

I photographed my first two-year old last weekend, a little girl belonging to some good friends of mine. I had done some portraits of other children - both older and younger - but not a two year old! I'm sure every age has its challenges, but after this humbling experience (one that I oddly enough aspire to have again), I can easily imagine this age to be among the most challenging. I planned the shoot for an open grassy clearing protected by large shade trees in an area adjacent to the C&O Canal. The idea was to be able to shoot in all directions to best capture the fast moving subject. I used the dappled light that filtered through the trees to create interest in the background and the bright sky beyond to create the catch light in the eyes (and in some cases a blown-out, highly illuminated background). The location was a good one, resulting in some very nice images. Above all else, I was happy that I didn't suggest a "studio" session, which I'm certain would have failed miserably. To start, there was no way that she was going to sit still! Then there was her general feeling about the camera being pointed in her direction. When she wasn't hiding from me, she was vividly scowling in my direction - I was told that she summed up my performance a few days after the shoot when she told daddy, "I no say cheese, Mark scary". I was, however, (somewhat) comforted by the fact that she also thinks the evil electric eels in the Little Mermaid are "nice". Anyway - two year olds - whew. Here are a few of my favorites.

More of the set here.

One last thought as I reflect on the experience - to some degree or other everyone wants to see children smiling for the camera - seems natural enough to want to think so. The following, however, is the image that dad says is her "classic shy" way. Maybe then in some way this capture will remind them more of how she was as a little girl - that's the goal I'm guessing - and then at least I don't need to worry so much about not getting a smile sent my way.