"Mother In Mourning" by Wes Aldridge
Right now it is 10 p.m. on my final night in Texas. I am beyond exhausted. I had mega amounts of photography to do today. The temperature was still hovering in the mid-90's at 6:20 p.m. tonight. I ran hardcore today. I shot this entire magazine in three days, and I think it is one of my best to date. I am pretty excited about it, in all honesty.
Something I am not as excited about is I just set my wake-up call for 3 a.m. My flight leaves out of Dallas at 7 a.m. Dallas is an hour-and-a-half drive from Sherman. The rental car facility is located about 15 minutes from the airport. Factor in time to shower and gather my belongings. Then, of course, the Friday morning airport rush. After my two-and-a-half hour flight to Milwaukee, I have a four-and-a-half hour layover before I board the plane to Nashville. I should land around 3:30 p.m., if everything runs smoothly. But, as I recall on the trip down here on Monday, there were multiple flight delays and an extended layover on the majestic Midwest Airlines. Yeah, tomorrow is guaranteed to be pure and utter Hell. But when I get home, I will be more than ready for the weekend to chill out.
This shot was the product of me scampering frantically to find anything to shoot against the dusk-filled sky. I happened to be driving by a cemetery and thought some kind of monument would work for a silhouette. Here she is, sad eyes in the sky.
"Five Gone" by Wes Aldridge
This one was powerful. I was driving down the highway and I looked over and saw these five brown crosses sticking out of the ground. I knew they stood where some people had died. I have seen roadside memoriams hundreds of times in the past. They have always intrigued me. I needed to take a closer look.
I parked and walked upon the scene. The ground was scorched and black for a good thirty feet in close proximity to the crosses. Small pieces of charred and twisted metal were scattered in the ashes. The scene told a silent story of destruction and I know the car accident must have been beyond terrible.
It was akward just standing there. It was the prologue of a great tragedy in so many people's lives. I struggled with making this shot. Moral concern tugged at my mind. I wanted to record this moment in my life with a photograph, but at the same time, I didn't want to cheapen the meaning of those crosses standing in the tall Texas grass. I decided to shoot.
I laid flat on the ground, careful not to disturb any of the ashen metal pieces that rested in the patches of blackened earth. I put the camera on the ground, forcing my right cheek to touch the ground as well... and click.
I decided to show the serene beauty of the situation, rather than show the burned ground and the sadness that it testified to. I feel like I properly handled this shot in a delicate manner.
"Lonliest Tree In Texas" by Wes Aldridge
After a day chok full of Texas-sized thunderstorms, the sun somewhat broke free from the clouds for a couple of minutes. Just my luck, I am out in the middle of nowhere checking on the direction a building is facing so I know when the sun will shine on it. There was nothing around... or so I thought.
I look over in this vast field beside me that seemed to never end. Standing there, all alone and weathered from the scorching Texas heat, I saw the lonliest tree in Texas. In its battered and worn down state, I thought it was beautiful. I popped out the Canon and rolled the passenger side window down and clicked a few frames. You know, I felt like those frames actually meant something to me. I can't put my finger on just what it was, but it felt wholesome and even a little stirring inside me.
I didn't get to shoot much today, but I think the assignments I completed were pretty golden. And now, lonely ol' me has my own lonely ol' tree to share it with! Once again, my camera was the one by my side. She doesn't fight or complain. She acts a little jittery in her old age every now and again, but for the most part, she is pretty good to me. I love her. She is my companion, and we were able to share a moment in time with this lonely ol' tree.
"Unicard" by Wes Aldridge
For all of those who think us traveling fellas back in the photo department have simply got it made... let me share a little day in Photo Hell with you. I mean to make you laugh and its meant with a grain of salt in some points, but today honeslty really blew.
Being the good little traveling photog that I am, I get to the Nashville airport about two hours ahead of my flight this morning. I get to the ticketing counter and the Midwest Airlines ticketing agent tells me that my ticket hasn't been paid for. I stand there stunned for a few seconds while I stare at the printed online reciept that our accounting department gave me. One key phrase really jumped off the page at me: "This is your reciept. Thank you for your purchase." After arguing with the guy for a few minutes, he told me to call my company and double check. That would be great if it weren't 7:15 a.m. and anyone was actually at our office at that time. So, I have to disturb the bossman on his cell. Sure he appreciated that one. Anywho, he told me he would work on it and try to get something figured out about it. In the meantime, I proceed to argue with the ticket agent. I ended up fighting with him for 45-minutes, when he finally got someone from the reservations department on the phone at Midwest. He then said, "Oh, ok, you're fine." I almost lost it, but kept cool and just cursed the guy under my breath for his incompetency. I said thanks and headed on my way.
I get to the gate and make a few calls to schedule photo appointments and about 20-minutes before my scheduled departure time, the voice came over the loudspeaker and said there will be a slight delay with my flight. My curiousity go the best of me and I had to ask the Midwest reps how long the delay was expected to run. They said, "Oh, about one-and-a-half hours. Shoot me. I do the time and finally get on the plane.
I get to Milwaukee for my connection where I have about a two-and-a-half hour layover. Come to find out, this flight is delayed too. So, I was in Milwaukee for close to four hours. My flight finally departs in route to Dallas-Ft. Worth. Wouldn't you know it, a jolly little child kicked the immortal crap out of my seat from behind for the entire trip.
I land at DFW and go through the normal "find the carousel with your bags" fiasco amongst a horde of people. Then, off to find the rental car counter... which is in a remote location from the airport. I board a shuttle with all my gear and luggage, packed like sardines in the standing room only bus, and kill another 15 minutes with the trip to the rental car location. When I get there, the waiting line wasn't too bad... only about 12 people in front of me. When I get to the counter, I identify myself and the rental clerk tells me there are no more of our company's standardly requested "mid-size" cars available. Thats funny how that works out sometimes. You make a reservation for a particular kind of car and then, I'll be damned if they just won't have one. I thought that was the whole point of a reservation, to guarantee what you want.
So the guy says to me, I can put you in a mini-van. I look him dead in the eyes and say, "Are you joking me? No, that isn't going to fly here." He fumbled around a bit and told me for $10 extra per day he could put me in an SUV. I said, 'Aren't you supposed to upgrade me for free if my car I reserved isn't here." He got this look on his face. Then said he would go ahead and put me in the SUV at no additional charge. Did he really think I was a complete idiot and that he could take advantage of me like that? What a jerk. I get the Suzuki wagon-thing and here is where the day really starts to suck.
I was driving through the dead center of Dallas en route to Sherman (about an hour and 20 minutes from the airport) in stop and go rush hour traffic. And then, it happened. The guy in front of me stopped and you guessed it, accident time. That was the last thing I needed today at 5:30 p.m. I was pretty shook-up, but I didn't get hurt and the only thing wrong with my SUV was a bent front license plate. The other two cars were a different story. Insurance information, yada yada, you know the drill.
I finally get into Sherman around 7:30 p.m. and try to find a map so I can shoot something at sunset. Huge black storm clouds roll over and I didn't get anything.
After a day like today, the only things I wanted right now were dinner and a Miller Lite. Buffalo Wild Wings surely had both. I go in and ask for my beer and the server asked if I had a Unicard? I asked her what the hell that was. Well, in Sherman it isn't enough if you have valid photo ID to have an adult beverage, you also have to fill out a card with your name, address, telephone number, etc., called a Unicard. It seems to be some form of evil extension devised by the Patriot Act, I am sure. Well I happily obliged and played the little game. I had my much needed Miller Lite and as you see above, I now have my very own Unicard to allow me to have a beer in the city of Sherman, Texas.
Thank God this day is over. I wasted the entire day traveling, no photography at all. What a totally screwed away day. A few more like this one and I might just laugh out loud.
"Dead End" by Wes Aldridge
No outlet. Nothing else. Just a piece of time in a place where the colors complemented each other and the elements of design were present.
"Too Much" by Wes Aldridge
Tonight, holy shit, what a fiasco. After a year-and-a-half of nonsense with her, it came to a breaking point. Harassing phone calls in the middle of the night. Well, that happens pretty often from her. Tonight she was calling from someone else's phone. Too much, too much. Then, she ends up on my door step beating on the door. Too much, too much. Then when I open the door and very loudly yell at her to get the fucking hell out of my house, she stays. I call the police and she calls me a pussy. She comes inside my house and starts grabbing hold of me and shoving me. I put my hands up in the sky and stay away from her. Then she runs away and hides in the bushes. I talk to the police again. She runs past me and gets into her car... she had obviously been drinking, which is no problem until you endanger yourself or others by operating an automobile. I get behind the car to get the license plate numbers to give to the police and she backs into me, knowing full and well I was standing there. That is intentional assault, a felony charge. She then speeds off and a police officer pulls her over a few roads from my house where she had the opportunity to wear silver bracelets and sit in the backseat of a patrol unit.
Lets see. We have harassment, trespass/burglary and even assault. Now, it seems I have plenty of reason to file charges, and I have a year to do that under the Tennessee statute of limitations. I filed a police report, very thoroughly and I am considering the next set of options in this matter: Do I press charges on all, some or none of the charges or maybe file a restraining order? Jesus, after a fucking year of torment from the same female I sure as Hell should press for all its worth. I have much thinking to do, much. I can't believe I was put in the position to actually call the police. Tonight, I had the option to file these charges and have her taken downtown to be booked, but as much of an idiot as I am, I give her one more chance to not fuck with my life anymore. One more chance, then I will press all charges. No more toleration in my soul. Bless her heart. One more peep from her or anyone that knows her to me about anything involving her, and she will be a visitor in the Metro jail system of Nashville.
There is only so much a person can take before they say enough. ENOUGH.
Oh yeah, this is a shot of a huge flock of birds on a powerline system in Nashville. A little strange. Time for bed. Too much bullshit for one night.
"Poles of Light" by Wes Aldridge
I was driving home through a rainshower after leaving work at about 6:30 p.m... long day. The sky was a mess and I knew I would struggle for a shot tonight, so I started to head toward The Village. As I was driving over the hill at Belmont University's parking deck, the sun suddenly dropped from behind hideously thick cloud coverage. It was magnificently big and beautiful. This wasn't going to last long because the sun was fading toward the horizon quickly.
Panic struck me. I needed something to frame this great sunset against before it got away. I looked to my right and lines of light poles on top of the parking deck were the tallest things around. It was time to get artsy.
I pulled over and threw my 1.4x teleconverter on my 70-200mm f/2.8 lense. I worked the angles for a matter of minutes and then hit this shot. I knew it was the one and joyful relief entered me because Friday night has finally began.
"The Kick" by Wes Aldridge
Today started to turn sour as I was leaving work and I started to feel like things were turning to shit in a suitcase... but I had my camera by my side. I decided to go hunt for a shot for the blog and race the setting sun. I went down with intentions to take a photo of the Tennessee Capital, but I saw some activity at Bicentennial Mall across the street. I get down there and a bunch of kids were running and playing in the water of the Rivers of Tennessee Fountains in the Riverwalk. Nothing better than seeing life flowing through kids having a great time, running around trying to beat the summer heat.
Splash.
"Teetering Above" by Wes Aldridge
I shot the Williamson County Fair tonight. It was the first time it happened in 55 years. This was the Ferris wheel.
"Little Money" by Wes Aldridge
I wanted to do an experiment in macro still-life photography tonight by turning my 50mm f/1.8 lens around backwards to mimic the macro effect. I decided to grab spoons, a mirror, razorblades... anything shiny and relfective that would make it difficult to shoot without getting bad reflections from the strobe light bouncing off the object's surface. I decided on some dimes and quarters.
They made for an interesting subject because the words on the coins had interesting reactions as I shifted and tilted the lens. The edge of some of the coins had a drastic streaking effect as the depth of field changes by getting closer and farther away from my subject.
I am really enjoying trying to master such an unmasterable technique. There are so many inconsistencies with using the lens in this way and of course it is fun to see things that I photograph like this much larger than life.
"Abstract Bees" by Wes Aldridge
Today was tedious. I met a writer early this morning and we took a trip down to the south of Tennessee to do a story about a honey bee farm. The trip took a couple of hours to get to the location, that was no problem. But wearing a big bee-proof suit for hours on end in the hot-assed sun was not exactly my idea of a good time. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't exactly bee-proof.
I wasn't able to wear the necessary gloves that complete the suit. Therefore, swarming bees had the capability of flying up into my clothes freely. Such bullshit. I did not enjoy that one little bit. I couldn't think of anything that excites me less than the prospect of being stung by thousands of swarming and pissed off bees while someone else robbed their honeycomb.
Anyway, ruff day now ended. Here is an abstract shot I took of some honey bees on a window ledge. I couldn't get a tight enough shot of the small creatures, so I popped my 50mm f/1.8 lens around and shot it in reverse. It gives this terribly uncontrollable macro effect, but hey I think it is just fine for this shot.
"The Pier" by Wes Aldridge
I needed to be recharged a little today, so I watched one of my most inspiring films, Vanilla Sky. Here is one of the most important quotes in life to me from this film:
"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around."
"Flower Tip Visitor" by Wes Aldridge
Somedays I would give anything to simply be a bumble bee buzzing around a flower garden. I could swoop in and out of the beautiful flowers and not have anything to worry about, except for finding a wonderful petal to rest on for a while.
If only life were as simple for me as it is for my brother, the bumble bee.
"The Pyramid" by Wes Aldridge
Ridgeland is finished and after a long and tedious drive, I am back in NashVegas. Pretty tired and don't have much to say. A blessing, right?
I stopped of in Memphis, Tennessee, for a little break in the 7-hour drive. I saw the Pyramid and searched it out for my shot tonight. I was standing in the center of a street and shooting on a tripod of course. Enjoy.
"Lil' Birdie" by Wes Aldridge
Mr. Boshier, eat yer heart out. Fun bird shot.
I love wildlife photography, even if it isn't really wild. Get a load of this one. I took the elevator down to the lobby from my suite at the Homewood Suites in Ridgeland and something caught my eye. This six-foot tall glass enclousure was standing there with some cheezy looking foilage inside of it. I hadn't noticed it the first few nights I was here, but tonight as I walked by it, something grabbed me... the chirping of birds.
I looked closely and there were about five 3-inch tall lil' birdies flying around inside the glass case. I thought, no way was this real. I mean, give me a break. As if wildlife refuges and zoos were not enough, someone had the wonderful idea of jamming a bunch of live birds inside a tiny glass case inside of a hotel lobby.
I must say that I shot this shot because I totally disagreed with the principle involved with it. I think it is strange, bizarre, maybe even a little screwed up to have tiny birds shoved inside a glass cage in the middle of a lobby. Of course, I am one of those types that doesn't care for hunting and captivity of about any kind, though... unless it if for pure necessity in the aspect of survival. Don't get me wrong, I am not a gun control freak or anything like that. I just don't agree with boxing a living creature in for the entertainment of other creatures, i.e., Humans.
None the less, Mr. Boshier, I was able to shoot this photo with my 24-70mm lens at f/2.8. How many shots have you gotten of your beloved fowl culture standing within 2-feet of the fiesty little creatures, huh? Answer me now!!! Just joking bro. Thought I would use this cheap and cheezy way of shooting this tiny bird just to rip on ya a bit. It is nothing like holding that 400mm f/4 out in God's County, is it? Nuff said. I will crawl back into my inferior birding photography cage. Reign supreme, my brother, reign supreme.
"Return to Sender" by Wes Aldridge
Well, it was a helluva hot one in Mississippi today. I didn't catch the temp, but if I were to guess, I think it was somewhere between "sweltering" and "boiling." It seriously probably was about 92-degrees, but Delta Bottom humidity is another monster all together. It was a fun, good day for photography, heat aside.
So, I was hunting for shots along the Natchez Trace Parkway to go along with this open-ended feature story I am assigned. Little bitter about exactly how "open-ended" this feature assignment is, but anyhow. I saw this sight and started laughing and immediately pulled off in someone's gravel driveway. I hadn't seen something like this since highschool. It was a row of white mailboxes smashed to a pulp. One thought: rednecks in pickup trucks with wooden baseball bats. Yessir, these poor mailboxes were the victim of some good ol' boys on a drunken midnight bashing spree.
I love it. I felt back at home again!
Then, I did a double-take and noticed something that made the scene even more sweet. One of the mailboxes had been put back on its post, with the side smashed in, held together with, yup, you guessed it... DUCT TAPE.
Ha. Double Ha. I almost peed myself. Is life too frickin' funny or what? Standing there on a rural Deep South backroad, I saw some of the greatest stereotypes of redneck mayhem fulfilled. The only thing missing was an old country fellow standing there in his Liberty overalls and John Deere cap, with a can of Budweiser in one hand and a shotgun in the other resting softly on his shoulder.
And he would say, "Son, what in theeeee hell are you a doin' standin' thur lookin' at my bursted up mailbox, hmm? What say ya?"
And I would reply, "Just soaking in a classic Mississippi day, my friend... just soakin' it in and loving every second of it."
"The Lions" by Wes Aldridge
I found this statue in a parking lot of a Chinese restaurant when I was on the way to one of my assignments. The catch is, I had driven outside of Ridgeland and into some other city. So, I had to backtrack to get to my assignment, which was pretty cool. I did a portrait of a watercolor and oil painting artist that does natural and nostalgic scenes from around Mississippi.
Anyway, after sundown, I decided to drive back to this statue and take some shots. I did a pretty gigantic exposure on it: 3.2 seconds at f/11. I wanted to hit it with a little flash and really bring out the gold tone in the statue. I think it worked out. I like the icy look from the rippled water at the long exposure. It kind of gives it that glazed over look.
Just wish the restaurant would have been open so I could grab some shrimp fried rice. Yum.
"The Moth" by Wes Aldridge
Ok. Today was a bit of a chore. I drove down the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville, Tennessee to Ridgeland, MIssissippi. Bad idea. I was originally told it would take 5 hours to make the drive. I thought, "Ah, 5 hours isn't so bad."
Well, let me tell ya it took longer than 5 hours. Let's do some math. The distance to Ridgeland from our Franklin office is right around 350 miles. If an automobile were traveling at theconstant rate of 70 mph for 5 hours, then in fact, my trip should have only taken 5 hours. But, see, here is the kicker... I found out today that the Natchez Trace Parkway is 50 mph, except in some places where the speed limit bottoms out at a sludge-rate of 40 mph. Well, that pretty much sucks for me.
Let's pretend that the 40 mph zones didn't even exist. Then, the 350-mile trip would take 7 hours, with no stops of course. Well, lets throw in gargantuan thunder storms throughout most of the journey. Hehe. It got so bad at one point that I had to pull off the Parkway and sit for 45-minutes to let the storm pass because I literally couldn't see the yellow lines on the road in front of me, much less oncoming vehicles or those total idiots that don't believe in turning their head and tail lights on during a storm. Throw in couple of pitstops at a total of 15-minutes and there you have it.
AN 8-HOUR TRIP. 8 HOURS. OF DRIVING. PLEASE SHOOT ME.
It totally and completely wasted the entire day of photography (as if I could have shot anything in the monsoon and haze anyway). I think that I listened to that Coldplay album 7 times. It kept me kind of mellowed out, thank God.
Anyway, at one of the pitstops along the Parkway, I saw this huge creature resting on the wall leading to the men's room. I thought he was just too bizarre not to take a shot of. So, here is a big green moth. Kind of evil looking, ain't he?
"Silence" by Wes Aldridge
Tonight I was going for a self portrait. But shooting it in my living room, with many white walls, I wasn't able to control the light enough to get the photo exactly as I wanted it. Light was bouncing all over the place and it was more or less a nightmare, even shooting at f/18.
So, here is what I came up with. It's a little strange, and duct tape is terribly uncomfortable to tear off your mouth, but it kinda works for me. And who knows, it may just become a shot used in the final product of this photoblog when printing time comes. By the way, does anyone know a publisher that is just dying to print a strange years-worth conglomeration of daily photography in the life of me? I need to find something like that because I am sure the printing cost of turning the blog into a book will surely supercede any revenue I would make off selling copies of it to friends and family. So, if you have any publishing friends up your sleeve, then shoot me a quick message.
"Into The Sunset" by Wes Aldridge
This is one of the cool artistic 8-foot tall guitars that adorn the city of Nashville. I saw this one across the street from the Sunset Grill in the Village. In my opinion most of those guitars are pretty lame. In essence, this one really is too. But there is just something about this one that is pretty. I am always a sucker for sunsets.
So be it, it is done.
