"Goodies" by Wes Aldridge
This was a test shot that I did in a bakery tonight. I was building the shot and realized the fruitcake looked really nice, but the Rocky Road candy bars really weren't the most attractive thing under the lens. I took them out and built about 3 other items into the shot. One thing that I really like in the shot was the background I chose. A wall had shelves with loaves of bread on them. I shot with my 70-200mm telephoto from a distance at around f/4.0 on a tripod to blur out the bread in the background. Don't know why, just thought it was cool.
Now, its time to hit the hay... big day ahead of me tomorrow.
"Paper Dolls" by Wes Aldridge
Ok, first of all, this is actually a photographic and not any kind of a computer made graphic. Hard to believe I know, but its true.
Our ladies in Ad Production have really gotten into the Christmas spirit. They turned one set of cubicles into a gigantic gingerbread house. I can't begin to explain it to you, you simply have to see that anomaly for yourself. Now, back to the photo at hand...
The creation in the photograph is a small table sized "frozen lake" that the ladies are ice skating on. It is made of what seemed to be blue cellophane with a blue sky background with clouds. The figures are cut out dolls made from construction paper, complete with the print outs of their faces from our staff photography archive. They are on wire stuck through the cellophane into a styrofoam board of some kind. Wow.
The shot looks really trippy and fake. I just added a little off camera fill flash with a hot shoe extension cord with a coffee filter rubberbanded over the flash head to diffuse the light.
"Chet's Audience" by Wes Aldridge
Tonight I wanted to record some reality with my light capturing box, so I went downtown. I walked the sidewalks and alleyways for about two hours in the 30-degree temperature. It was cold, much too cold for me to be aimlessly hunting a shot, but of course I kept on searching.
I came upon the intersection where a bronze statue of Chet Atkins sits on a stool playing a guitar with an empty stool beside him. Though tonight, the other stool wasn't empty. A man (whom I talked to later and found out he was homeless) was sitting there motionless in a deep stare. It was as if he was listening to Chet play. I slung the camera up and popped a shot before he saw me. I walked by the guy and we small talked and I went back to the Jeep.
I drove by the Ryman Auditorium and saw a sad scene: several men were huddled together lying on an air vent to stay warm in the bitter night air. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I drove a few blocks up to the TigerMarket and bought some large coffees and sandwiches and bananas and headed back to the group of men on the street.
I walked up and more guys had shown up to warm there since I had gone to the store. I gave them the food and drinks and asked them to please share. They graciously agreed. I sat down there and talked to them for a little while. It was getting late so I wished them good luck and headed on my way.
I knew that the $16-something-odd dollars I spent on the food wasn't much, but hopefully it will help those men get through a cold Nashville night.
"One Way" by Wes Aldridge
I started thinking a lot about family tonight. Just simple contemplation. So I decided to post a pretty artsy shot from the street musician portrait session I did of my brother. I think there is one way for him to go... just hear the music.
"Legislative Reflections" by Wes Aldridge
"War Memory" by Wes Aldridge
This afternoon I felt defeated, almost depressed. Just watching the sun go down before I leave the office nearly makes me sick. There was nothing I wanted to do today more than shot some photos, but I was stuck in the office finishing up a database from my last shoot and starting to plan my next trip.
I stayed late to try to get ahead of the game to schedule appointments because light was gone and fighting rush hour was pointless; there was no sunlight left to shoot under. I came home and watched some television. Around 11 p.m. I started to feel this overwhelming urge to go down to Legislative Plaza to get a shot. I really can't explain the feeling I had, something forced me to go down there. I bundled up and jumped in the Jeep and headed downtown listening to Shinedown's version of "Simple Man."
When I got there, I saw my angle immediately. I sat up the tripod with a 25 second exposure at f/22 at ISO 100 with my 16-35mm lens. The exposure of the first shot I took, the horizontal above, was dead on the money. I used the reflections of one of the calm pools where fountains spout during the daytime to get the War Memorial building and the Capital building. The vertical shot was at the same exposure settings of just the front of the War Memorial building. I liked both of the shots, so what the hell, I posted them both.
I really like these shots, but I am not satisfied with them. I want to reshoot them when there is either a sunrise or sunset in the sky behind the buildings instead of pitch black. I could see it in my mind; waiting for that perfect moment when the ambient light in the sky faded with enough dull color to even out with the flood lighting on the faces of the buildings. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I know that getting that shot wasn't highly likely before New Years Eve and the end of the year-long photo project. This is part of the sickness in my head, probably in other photographer's heads as well. We just have a way of seeing a picture, even if it isn't really there... and then agonizing over it if it isn't possible at the time.
"Colonial & Dr. P." by Wes Aldridge
Take a visit to the Old Town. I am sure there are stories to be heard and times to be told about. Every place has its own tale, no matter how sleepy and tired it may seem. There is something hidden and barely whispered on the lips that live there.
"Old Wheel" by Wes Aldridge
I found this old wheel, rusted and aging. But I am tired and still under the weather, so I need to rest.
"Bending Religion" by Wes Aldridge
Last day of the Huntsville assignment. We got some great photos, in my opinion, and now I am glad we are leaving. Traveled back to Nashville. Feeling very sick, but trying to fight it off. Slept since I got home and took plenty of meds.
This shot comes from a church we drove by in Huntsville. It was the strangest church I've ever seen. We stopped to take a shot and Brian let me use his fisheye lens. I had wanted to get a shot with it for the blog for a while, and I think it was finally the perfect time for it. The structure worked perfectly with the bending effect of the lens. Note the wall painting of Psychedelic Jesus on the wall. Reaaaaaally trippy.
"The Circle" by Wes Aldridge
Today was strange, too tired to explain.
The magazine is finished now, thank all things good. Home will come soon.
Can you see the circle?
"Sk8" by Wes Aldridge
We were shooting at a skate park today. It was crazy because Brian and I were shooting the same angle on this one, pretty much side by side. The guy skating was coming straight toward us and getting some serious air off a ramp. Brian was shooting his fisheye lens and I was going wide angle at 16mm. When we compared our shots, we saw we had shot at the same identical time. I was shooting somewhere around 1/1000th of a second, so the chance of us hitting the shot at the exact same moment is virtually impossible... but we did. My shot only had one problem; none of the actual skate park is in the frame so it wouldn't do to illustrate the story we were trying to shoot. Brian's shows the guy and the park, so his was the shot we needed. I still like mine though, too.
"Framing the Sky" by Wes Aldridge
The winter time is tough for our photo gigs. Many things hinder good shots for our magazines; brown grass, leaveless trees, bitter coldness, etc. But right now, the thing that really is killing us is the shortness of sunlight. It pains me to watch the sun go down at 4:30 p.m. Ha, but such is life!
Today's shot is from a construction site that Brian and I were doing a dual-protrait of a brother team of land developers. The whole time we were shooting, construction workers were busy at work all around us. When we were packing up after the shoot, I looked up and saw this one guy going back and forth on the building's framework. I was down on the ground and caught this neat angle with the guy stopped on the corner for just a few seconds.
I can't explain exactly what it is, but I really like this shot. It was just another part of that worker's day and he didn't see me take the shot. It seemed as if he was framing up the sky instead of the building at that second.
"Fire Flutter" by Wes Aldridge
A shot from Huntsville.
"Power" by Wes Aldridge
Hello?
Is someone in there?
Can you hear me, or see me? Where did everything go?
Where am I? Where have I been?
Was the vacation as good as it seems?
Or are you just staring blankly back at me again?
"Charms" by Wes Aldridge
So last night we went out for a while, nothing really too wild, but I was feeling good when I got home. I dozed off and started having some strange dream about war-torn Europe in the 1940s. In the movies, it never fails that someone jumps into a bathtub to avoid the blast of a hand grenade.
We had decided last night that we would go to the Titans game today and my friend came over to pick me up. I heard the doorbell ringing like crazy and woke up lying in my bathtub. I guess the dream just seemed so real that the only option was to sleep there. Pretty funny stuff.
Walking down Broadway a guy in a Lexus pulls up and tells us we would want his tickets. We ask him where the seats were for, and he says, "Second row, 45-yard line right behind the Titans bench." I said thanks and bought two for $40. It seemed reasonable, what can I say? Felt like it was my lucky day.
"Clisby Austin House" by Wes Aldridge
I went driving around to find a shot today. I ended up close the namesake train tunnel that gives Tunnel Hill its name. Near there is a historic Civil War battleground where the Battle of Tunnel Hill took place. On the property sits the Clisby Austin House. I have no idea what the signifigence of the place is, but here is a photo near sundown.
"Fiery Ace" by Wes Aldridge
So, I didn't get out to find a shot before the sun had already went down. I needed to do something. Ideas, ideas... I needed one. Grab the Turkey, gobble gobble. Ideas began to flow.
I grabbed my favorite deck of playing cards that I got from the Harrah's Casino in New Orleans on my 21st birthday and went to the kitchen. I balanced the card with a small plastic bowl behind it. I turned the lights out. I sat the camera on the counter top with a 20 second exposure at f/22 set to fire on a 10-second auto timer. For the first 4 seconds of the exposure, I "painted" light on the face of the playing card with a flashlight to make the lettering appear in the shot. Next, I grabbed my trusty Bic lighter from my pocket and lit it as I made wavey passes along the edges of the card. for the remaining 16 seconds of the exposure.
This shot had zero alteration or manipulation in Photoshop, other than the expected color level corrections and such that go along with any digital photography.
This one is pretty damn cool considering I did it in the freakin' kitchen with a flashlight. Just trying to keep it interesting in the last days of the blog. Gobble, gobble.
"Street Sounds" by Wes Aldridge
Thanksgiving once again. Plenty of food prepared by my incredible Southern cooking mother. We had enough to feed an army, but it was just the four of us including dad and brother. A nice, simple, quiet Thanksgiving.
I was thankful for much today; my health, my family, my talents, etc. But most of all, I was thankful that my brother didn't want to kick my ass for making him stay out in the cold tonight on a Chattanooga, Tennessee, street doing the photos for the blog. He was a good sport and just played and sang while I adjusted lighting and tried different angles. Well, I really like this one. I enjoy the little things in it like the dead leaves and paper cup in the right corner, as well as the "DO NOT ENTER" sign in the background. It looks really natural and it puts a good memory and story in my mind.
Its wonderful just to be with family. Hope you enjoyed your day as much as I did.
"The Cloth" by Wes Aldridge
This is a shot I saw tonight of a small, old American flag. I flipped my 50mm lens around to get a macro shot. The grainy detail was the goal.
"Caged Rocket" by Wes Aldridge
Today was strange, yet yielded some good photography. Brian (a fellow employee of the JCI Photography Department) and I drove down to Huntsville to get a few assignments in for the magazine. Its kind of funny, and sad I guess, but both of us are slightyly injured right now. We joked all day long about putting us together and getting a fully physically functioning photographer. We shot at a German restaurant and Brian was standing posed in the frame to help test lighting. I got a great shot of Brian posed up with a dish of food in this awesomely decorated German restaurant. The shot was a classic and he looked really funny, so I thought he would never forgive me if I posted it. So, here is a pretty cool shot instead.
Huntsville is of course heavy into NASA. We were searching for a shot as the sun was setting and we came across this one. Wow. The only thing that was a problem was a chain link fence between me and a really awesome shot. I popped this shot because I liked the idea of the big rocket ship caged in and locked up. Here it is. I, of course, climbed around on this bridge over-looking I-565 to get another angle of this shot without the chained fence. It looks pretty rock and roll, too.
