Photo Subject: Unknown

"Frank's Photo" by Wes Aldridge

Strange vibrations during a night of photography in Nashville. My friend Matt and I decided to do some night exposures, so we started searching for interesting and run-down industrial sites to shoot in the downtown area. We found our first suitable location for the night and set our cameras up on tripods. We hadn't shot 3 frames and then we heard a strange rustling sound coming from a garbage dumpster about 20 feet from us. We thought little of it at first, but then there was a scratching sound and heavy, shallow breathing. Curiousity grabbed hold and we went to explore.

One of the sliding panels was open and I peered over the side for a closer look. A thin shaft of light from the full moon fell on a pair of yellow eyes that stared blankly up at me. I thought it was probably a homeless person that might have fallen and gotten trapped in the dumpster.

"Hey fella, are you ok in there?," I asked.

No reply.

Again, I said, "you alright in there?"

There was a small rustle and then a battered blue hand reached up toward me. I said, "Jesus, Matt, this fucking guy looks like he is hurt. We need to get him out of here and to the hospital."

Matt looked at me like I was insane. I wouldn't say he was afraid, but we were both pretty sketched out by now. I leaned over the dumpster and took hold of the hand and started pulling. The hand was cold and limber, and I as I pulled it into the light, something made me question "what" I had my hands on.

The head popped up and that crazy red hair and scabbed white scalp scared the living hell out of me. The eyes were bulging and the mouth looked like it had been beaten with a crowbar. I didn't know what to do after seeing all this, so I let instinct take over and I pulled it out on to the sidewalk. It started making a soft purring sound. Yeah, this wasn't a human.

Matt knew exactly what to do. He ran to the Jeep and grabbed a hand full of orange slices and a crimson backdrop and strated setting up a light... it was portrait time.

"Frank," I said, as I held the orange slice up to his nose. "This is some good stuff. Wanna try some?"

I called him Frank because it seemed as good a name as any. At a time like this, names don't really catch my attention, anyway. I needed to take a picture, and fast.

Matt grabbed a box and I sat an orange slice on it. Frank crawled over to the box and sat on it, enjoying his orange slice all the while.

"Un-damn-believable," Matt whispered. "The strange bastard digs orange slices."

I took a shot and Frank started staring up at the strobe light. He was astonished, and that was the pose I wanted. I snapped one more frame and then he started glaring at me. Things had taken a turn for the weird.

Frank made an ear-piercing screech and jumped down on all fours like a wild cat of some sort. I turned and ran and he came after me. I slipped after getting about 10 feet from him and hit the sidewalk. Frank leaped into the air straight for me and I knew I was done for. Out of the blue, Matt appears with a 2x4 and cracked Frank directly in the mouth with a mighty lumber jack swing. The clown from hell hit the ground and rolled off into the darkness. Needless to say, we grabbed the gear jumped in the Jeep and put the pedal to the floor.

On Assignment: Corpus Christi... luck

"Wading" by Wes Aldridge

So, don't be fooled by the pretty picture... today still sucked weather-wise. I was on my way back to the hotel after shooting an assignment about 45 miles from Corpus Christi. The drive was long and dull and I was pretty exhausted from shooting inside an iron-working factory. Suddenly the black sky split open and sunlight showered down.

At this point, I was desperate to shoot something that looked nice, anything, I would have settled for anything.

I caught the glimpse of a steeple rising over some trees and slammed on my brakes and darted off the main highway. I couldn't believe my eyes... I saw this beautifully restored German church founded around 1908 named Old St. Anthony Catholic Church. I came to a rolling stop and and leaped from the car snapping frames furiously. I must have shot 20 different angles on this church in about three minutes. But the last frame I shot is the one I like the most. I got down on the dirty parking lot and balanced my elbows on the edge of a mud puddle to get this reflection. Yeah, it looks like the church is sitting on the edge of a pond or something, but oh no, that is a standing puddle on top of Texas asphalt. I got the shot and then the sky ate the sun once again. I guess I got lucky for a few minutes today.

On Assignment: Corpus Christi

"Split Timber" by Wes Aldridge

This is a shot from the minor league baseball game I shot yesterday. I thought it was pretty neat to capture the instant that the bat split in two.

On Assignment: Corpus Christi, the rain keeps pourin'

"Alien" by Wes Aldridge

The rain fell like a sonuvabitch today. It was yet another gross day for exterior photography, and folk that just wanted to stay dry in general. Enough of that, you get the picture.

I did get to shoot at an aquarium, though. I love doing this. You can really create artistic and photojournalistic pictures in these beautiful places. And if you could have watched me walk through the place, it was pretty funny. I would become mesmerized by beautiful tarpon and angel fish and stand in awe side-by-side with groups of young children. I find these places incredible, just like a child does.

Anyway, this is kind of an abstract shot of some jellyfish floating about in a tank. I stayed and stared at these forever, it seemed. Its as if they were a fluid part of the water. Beautiful and very mysterious.

On Assignment: Corpus Christi... goddamn what a bummer

"Hunger Flight" by Wes Aldridge

Ok, so I am feeling like I have finally started hitting a groove again. Things, as I have previously said, have been kind of screwy in my world here lately. With that dominant in my mind, I figured I should do the one thing that I am good at... find a picture.

You can't understand the difficulty of my assignment this week unless you are a PR photographer. I have a magazine worth of exterior photography to do, but the weather doesn't clear up until several days after I leave. I have two options here: 1.) give up and accept certain defeat or 2.) give it everything I have and become innovative and bring new styles of shots to the doomed magazine. Bob, I think I will take number two.

The weather was disgusting today, but I NEEDED a shot to soothe my soul. I just thought about all my friends and family and co-workers that would be enjoying their 4th of July together and it made me sad because I was in an east Texas town beating my head in for an assignment that I knew the weather wasn't going to be reasonable. But, I wanted to make the best of it. Michael and I went to the beach front because I wanted to get a shot that I had seen in Geographic some time ago. I mounted my TTL flash and dropped my shutter speed and started firing at a young girl feeding seagulls bread on the seashell crusted sand. I think I caught one that I liked. It has a tone of something surreal, just what I was hoping for.

Note the flock of seagulls scrambling for the tossed piece of bread in the top corner.

Star Gazing

"Star Streaks" by Wes Aldridge

So, for all those who keep asking for it... a new shot! It has been a while since I posted anything, but I really just want to put interesting (or at least meaningful) stuff on here now. And besides, my life has been strange as hell here lately and time has become a very rare thing. I'm in Corpus Christi, Texas right now for the week of the 4th on assignment. Hopefully some more shots will find their way to the blog this week.

Anyway, this photo was taken from outside of the mountain-top cabin my brother and I stayed in while vacationing in the Blue Ridge Mountains last week with my parents. It was an awesome time. I think I shot 12 rolls of film ranging from ISO 25 Kodachrome to ISO 3200 Ilford B&W, and about everything in between. Some people told me I was insane for wanting to go on holiday and take photos... but they just don't get it. I'm not a photographer from 9 to 5. I live it, breathe it and hopefully one day I will die snapping a frame off! But let me tell ya, it doesn't get much better than than two artistic brothers getting together and hammering down on a bottle of Jack with some camera gear, guitars and audio recording equipment on a mountain top during a clear night listening to coyotes fight off in the distance as a hundred stars dot the sky overhead. It is always really fun to shoot photos of the people I know and love. They just become themselves and its such a pleasure to photograph the fun and strange times we have together. My brother is a prime example of one of these people. I can't wait to get all those rolls of film developed and scanned to digital files. I will most surely post some of them. There is one with him in a bathrobe sitting by a refrigerator with a guitar inside it. Hope those turn out, because it was just some Gonzo photography for Gonzo times. I have been on this film shooting kick for about two weeks now. I don't know why, but I just am. Its expensive and I can never find the time to get the special process stuff taken to ProPhoto. That really sucks.

This photo was taken with Nikon D2X and I have to say I am pleasantly suprised with how well the digital noise stayed somewhat under control. It only looked decent up to about a 15-minute long exposure (after that, the pixelation really started to kick in and degrade the image). So, this one was shot at f/2.8 for 15.4 minutes to get that neato star trail effect. Also, I light-painted the tree in the foreground with a pretty powerful flashlight for about 5 minutes of the exposure.

On Assignment: Kankakee, Illinois... another

"Heaven's Door" by Wes Aldridge

Sorry, couldn't pass up posting this one too. It was one pretty sadistic looking church with that wicked tungsten street lamp shining upon it.

On Assignment: Kankakee, Illinois- Pedal to Metal

"Joyful Hell Ride" by Wes Aldridge

Today this assignment went from quaint and cozy to an endless peril chok full of extreme overtones of personal danger and ferocity. I had never experienced flash flooding before... and let me tell you, its a bitch.

The sky was somewhat overcast, but quickly a thick blanket of dark grey swallowed any trace of blue and the thunder came. Lightning looked like concentrated bursts of massive electricty slicing deeply through the sky. Out of nowhere, the rain unleashed its wet fury and the roads became rivers and the chaos took hold.

I have never fully understood what makes some people mutate into extremely dumb bastards when the weather gets hairy outside. It seems that all good levels of thought and understanding are thrown out the damn window when weather goes awry. I saw cars drive through dips under bridges where water came up to the windows. I saw accidents left and right with nimrods whizzing their gas-powered hell buggies past one another in the turning lanes of streets full of stalled commuters. The police came out in full on riot gear and batons to try and stop the mongrels from smashing themselves silly in a smoldering wreckage of twisted metal. The weather was too much for the police so they sounded the huge ominous tornado sirens to try and scare the monkeys off the roads. Nothing was enough, so I watched and laughed.

TW Brings It Again

"Thaxton" by Wes Aldridge

This is a shot from the Thaxton Ward show at 12th & Porter last night. I think it is one of my favorite live music shots.

On Assignment: San Angelo, Texas- On The Water

"The Wake" by Wes Aldridge

The assignment was to shoot wake boarding on Lake Nasworthy. Well, I did that. Many shots of jumps, twists, pushes, pulls, spins and barrel-rolls. But I thought a different kind of shot was in order. Something that showed the action as well as the people having fun. Kasie was having fun, and she really tore it the hell up on the water too.

On Assignment: San Angelo, Texas- What a Day

"The Great American Writer" by Wes Aldridge

Today was incredible. I was fortunate enough to meet Elmer Keltonk, the man considered the greatest Western writer to ever pen a novel. He was a gentleman, a true rare breed rarely seen in our time anymore. He said he was 80 years old (I didn't believe him), but didn't seem tired at all. He always insisted that I walk into rooms before him because I was carrying all the heavy camera and lighting gear.

I chose Ft. Concho, a historic old military fort in downtown San Angelo, to do this shoot. The setting of this shot takes him back in time to the era that is his. It seems surreal to me. If I turn this shot black and white or sepia tone, then it looks like it could be found in one of the pages of the 50+ novels he has written. It was magic to me.

When we first arrived on location, he seemed slightly uninterested because he said his photo had been taken at Ft. Concho many times before. He humored me as we looked around the compound for the perfect place to make the shot. We wandered into an old soldier barracks where many cots were set up to look as they did so many years ago. He instantly told me he had been photographed in the barracks before. I needed something different.

I looked around a little more, hearing the old plank floor pop and crack under my feet, and saw a tiny room off to the side. It was slightly lit from window light and I felt this was the spot. We walked into the room and I asked him to just stand there and talk to me. We were talking to our guide as I was setting up a remote strobe light. It wasn't firing off (as the piece of shit sometimes does), but it opened my eyes to the natural light and mood of the room. I bumped up my ISO rating to 400 and I started firing frames off with the ambient light only. This was the ticket... a pure and wholesome natural setting where he belonged.

He seemed as if he was enjoying himself finally and said, "no one has taken my picture in this room before." At that point everything just came together. I got the ringing sound of silence in my ears and every frame I snapped sounded like a shot from the old six-shooter pistols Elmer wrote about. I felt like we were in his pages and I understood him with my lens. The shot is him, it is an accurate portrayel of the man he is.

I love the photographs of National Geographic and this reminds me of one of Sam Abell's shots of a cowboy from many years ago. I think it worked out.

On Assignment: San Angelo, Texas

"Sun Bleached" by Wes Aldridge

My skin is sticky. My head is clouded. My body is dried out. Texas, it gets hot in Texas. This old ram knows so too.

The Bells Were A Ringin'

"The Bride Part I" by Wes Aldridge


"The Bride Part II" by Wes Aldridge

So, I think Holly's portraits turned out alright.

On Assignment: Shreveport, Louisiana... will it ever end?

"Got Mail" by Wes Aldridge

Driving around shooting today. Put almost 300 miles on one rental. That is a hell of a lot of driving. But, I did see this awesome row of mailboxes. Had to take an shot.

On Assignment: Shreveport, Louisiana... still

"Matt Soars" by Wes Aldridge

Today, the sun FINALLY came from behind a thick cloud of grey. Thanks to the gods for finally shinning down upon us.

We shot at Caddo Lake. The sunset was awesome and it was time for Matt to soar... so he did. Don't we wish we had some towels for this one.

On Assignment: Shreveport, Louisiana

"Ritchie Pryor" by Wes Aldridge

Well, it hasn't been your typical summertime in Shreveport. It has been something close to Hell for photography.

The rain has been pouring (or the sky has just plain sucked with gray clouds) since Monday here. This magazine requires traveling between 10 parishes (counties for those of you who are unfamiliar with the lay-o-the-land in Louisiana) and getting lots of exterior photographs. Pretty much been an impossibility thus far. Anyway, that's neither here nor there at this point. Some days blow, so, suck it up, right?

We found this really cool area that was under the bridge leading across the river to Bossier City from Shreveport. We all know I love neons and I wanted to grab this shot. It was late at night so the usual suspects were lurking about, preying on tourists. This gent comes up and jumps in front of my camera and tripod and starts begging to do his Richard Pryor impression. He was killing my shot, so the only thing to do was "make" him the shot.

Before he asked for some cash, I told him if he did his best Richard Pryor impression and let me shoot a portrait while he acted, then I would give him the four dollars cash I had in my pocket. He instantly got right down to business. He made us laugh pretty hard for a good long while. After a bit he started talking about Crack Rock being the best high in the world and that Richard Pryor died from smoking an ounce of that stuff at a time. Needless to say things took a turn for the wierd and I wanted to get the hell out of there. I handed him the sweaty bills and called it a wrap.

On Assignment: Columbus, Mississippi

"Sound of the Moment" by Wes Aldridge

After the massive storms ripping through the Southeast, I needed to post and calm down a bit. It seems that the area surrounding Nashville got pounded pretty massively. Nothing happened in Columbus until midnight, but then all Hell broke loose. I must admit, I was pretty freaked out. It sucks pretty bad to be in the middle of a nasty storm in a lonely hotel room of a strange town and see tornado warnings blink across the television screen continuously. But it seems to have passed now.

This shot is an outtake from a portrait shoot I did with a displaced New Orleans jazz musician named Brice Miller. He was one kool kat, in his words, and absolute majick with that trumpet to his lips. Real soul coming through that piece of brass. I shot mostly frames without the neon sign in them for the mag, but, man, wouldn't this make a helluva Budweiser ad poster?

I've got to be honest, this is one of my favorite photos I have ever taken. I think the mood, tone, lighting and subject all work together in harmony. I sat a stool by this brick and and maroon wall and walked off to start setting up a single TTL light. Brice sat down and started doing his thing. I listened to him play and I felt his musical power... and I just started shooting. It seems to me that I caught a true piece of him on film.

I was beyond excited after I started shooting him. I bet he thought I was a total freak, but I didn't mind. When I get pumped about a shot, you'll know about it. I bet not many people can say they get as genuinely excited about their job as I did shooting him. I liked this one and I think Brice did too. It was a great experience all around.

Heaven Beats Out Hell This Time, Louisiana-style

"Critter Platter" by Wes Aldridge


"The Boil" by Wes Aldridge

Notebook computer with all my photos from this shot and my calendar of appointments: died two days ago. Food poisoning from a bad tuna sandwich: left me tossing an cookie all night until the early morn. $400 Sprint POS Palm cell phone: died on me after the cell phone store had closed for the night. I don't think the world owes me much, but after the week of Hell I've endured, I deserved an awesome night like tonight.

I wandered into a restaurant called Gabbeaux's, a local joint on the edge of the river in West Monroe, Louisiana. Smells of Cajun filled the air as the waitress lead me to my seat on the patio. A sign boasted boiled crawfish, 3 lbs. for $10. I had never tried the red critters, but there was no getting around it this time. Everything was in its right place and it was time for something new. I made the order and tipped back a MillerLite as I browsed through the photos from today's shoots, enjoying the warm night air and breeze blowing off the Ouachita River.

As ironic and bullshit as it sounds, Creedance's version of "Proud Mary" was coming over the house speakers as the waitress brought my monster load of crawfish, complete with corn-on-the-cob and boiled potato. I stared down at the bowl of lil' Delta lobsters, and yup, they stared right back. The waitress had many other tables and scurried off before I could fully explain that I had no idea how to eat the them. It was a little fucked-up for about five seconds, but I let it pass... there was no turning back now.

Another waitress made eye contact with me and I frantically flagged her to the table. I said, "I know I seem like a total tool, but I am crawfish retarded and I have no fucking idea how to eat these damn things." [people seem to say 'fuck' and 'damn' a lot in Louisiana, so I've learned and adapted to that]

She laughed a little and grabbed one up in her gorgeous hands. She said, "well, you take the little mutha fucka and hold'em like this. Then you pull out the center of the tail to get the poo out. Break off his damn head and suck'em. Then peel off the top layer of the tail and there ya go."

The way her hands twisted, pinched and pulled the crawfish meat from the shell was majestic. My eyes followed her fingers work in slow motion until nothing was left but a little piece of white and red meat. She held it in her hands and said, "here you go."

I shit you not, she raised it to my mouth and said, "bite it, hun." So I did what any good man living the American Dream would do... I leaned in and ate straight from Kym's hand. She giggled, and I liked it. By the way, this is non-fiction. Not even the names have been changed to protect the innocent. I mean, come on, is anybody innocent? We surely weren't right then. I think it must be something about the heat in the night air in Louisiana that makes the steam really come.

Lets recap. I go into a Cajun restaurant on the edge of the ghetto after dark and order a food that might intimidate most people for the first time. I end up having a beautiful waitress demonstrate the process and hand-feed me crawfish while I sit on the edge of a river in Louisiana. Hot damn, I think this is the ticket. I might have to go grab lunch there tomorrow, I'd be a fool not too!

Tonight I got a little closer to understanding Louisiana. As simple as it seems, it was truly one of the best nights of my life thus far. Lookin' forward to many more to come.

More For The Eyes

I feel like I am robbing myself by not posting very often here. I have just been too busy since the New Year to get a steady influx of photography to Mind of the Photographer. And the busyness has just been wearing me out to the point of not enjoying shooting for myself. I have pretty much just been shooting on auto-pilot for the magazines our company produces.

Anyway, here are a few more shots from the stop in Chattanooga, Tenn. I really like several of these shots and I just wanted to share them with everyone. I mean, why in the hell else would I shoot pictures, right? Right on.

I shot several shots at this old factory. I am thinking of turning them into a series collection of prints. I love the rust and pale green colors in the shot, some really interesting color schemes. What do you think?

The shots that are all broken looking came from a condemned building next to the old factory from my previous post. "Budding" is a shot through a broken window of a budding vine that was growing inside the condemned building. The other shot is of a tower at a baseball field reflecting in the broken glass. Some angles that really caught my attention.

And bless Matt's heart for letting me shoot another one of him. He probably gets sick to death of me doing portrait experiments on him. But honestly, some of my best portraits are of him. Thanks buddy.



"Broken Tower" by Wes Aldridge


"Havin' a Smoke" by Wes Aldridge


"Factory Wall" by Wes Aldridge


"Budding" by Wes Aldridge

Tone and Mood

"Old Factory" by Wes Aldridge

On the way back from shooting in Georgia this weekend, Matt and I saw an old factory just off the interstate in Chattanooga. We got off to explore. I like this scene that my camera found... it found many, many, many interesting scenes and compositions. Thinkin' I might actually make a print of this one and hang it in my bedroom. See, that's funny to me because I am a photographer with nothing but bare walls. Seems I just never have the time to do anything here lately. I guess that is a good thing and a bad thing, right? Busy. Back-to-back shoots coming up over the next two weeks in Louisiana and Mississippi. Tonight I want to dream about surreal landscapes on the bayou and cotton fields that I hope to see materialize in my travels over my next assignments.

By the way, shooting a new camera now. The company put a Nikon D2X in my hands. I have shot Canon for several years, but I can't say I have too many complaints about the D2X. Did I mention the color it captures is amazing? Well, it is.