Seeing 2009 (#49)

This year, for the first time since c. 1986, I've committed to taking my camera along during at least 50% of my daily excursions. This of course exposes me to far more opportunities to capture scenes of interest, and sharply raises my consciousness vis-à-vis my surroundings as potential images.

Thus I was on hand for this moment in time, perhaps reflective of the birth of our universe.

Big Bang Theory, #4013

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: July 15, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/6 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 400; 24mm.

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Seeing 2008 (#48)

Father's Day Eve. One of many captivating sights my wife Julianna and I enjoyed during our post-dinner walk back to our hotel. It was a windy, brisk, and extraordinarily clear evening for summer in San Francisco.

The intense exterior lighting contrasted with the invitingly warm, soft interiors held a powerful draw over both my eyes and heart. Of course I yearned to own not just a suite but the entire structure. I'd spend two hours every night reading in a different room, and our bedroom would have to be in one of the circular corner chambers. Bonsoir . . .

San Francisco Building, #3735

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: June 20, 2009; Canon 20D; f/5.0 @ 1/10 sec; -1 EV; ISO 800; 35mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#47)

San Francisco: taken while sitting in an Irish bar (!) for breakfast (superb Eggs Benedict).

This image absolutely sums up my inexplicably visceral feelings about motorcycles - or, rather more the point, the tragically too frequent fate of those who ride them. (Make no mistake: I love speed and drive my car faster than I should . . . Remaining firmly restricted to four-wheeled vehicles sharply restricts my unleashed capacity for fatalistic behavior and attendant consequences.)

Fatal Attraction Traction, #3739

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: June 21, 2009; Canon 20D; f/5.0 @ 1/50 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 400; 35mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#46)

A storefront in San Francisco.

More than any other image I've produced, I've struggled to determine my own feelings (and thus a suitable commentary) about this submission.

This seems to me a subtly discordant vignette of motherhood: Madonna and child seem oddly disconnected; a sense of wary, distant emotions permeate the scene. The infant seems at best neutral to the maternal affections, which appear to be accompanied with an expression of nostalgia . . . and the woman watches over the pair with an ill-defined seriousness (perhaps reflecting her own feelings about mother-child relationships).

Enhancing the mood as a study in vague conflicts, the proximity of the frame creates a claustrophobic construction, imposing a forced intimacy amongst this trio.

Untitled, #3721

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: June 20, 2009; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 1/15 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 800; 55mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#45)

Father's Day, San Francisco.

Down a side alley, on the way to SF MoMA, 1:49pm. The Sun was very nearly directly overhead, providing perfect conditions for the textures and sharp, plunging shadows. The wall was recessed from the sidewalk, yielding an odd and wonderful lighting.

Moments prior to discovering this scene my wife and I walked past a slightly disheveled middle-aged man, face scorching red, semi-conscious with intoxication even as he continued to nurse a bottle. He seemed too well dressed to be homeless, and that fact, combined with the simply gorgeous weather -- a perfect Father's Day -- made his plight all the more painful to witness.

The tableau offered here immediately seemed to me a mute and concrete testament to the stranger's interior condition, and likely immediate future: dark, and uninviting. Perhaps the title should be A Sign of Things To Come.

Untitled, #3745

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: June 21, 2009; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 1/3200 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 400; 49mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#44)

Late afternoon, after a particularly long and exhausting day at work; I had a bit of time before an evening engagement and so explored a bit in the vicinity of my office. The timing was superb: this was captured with the last moments of direct lighting before sunset.

The scene roughly depicts the state of my mind as this week came to a close. I'm may end up retitling this Metamorphic Exfoliation, or simply Brain Waves.

Metamorphosis, #4125

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: July 24, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/200 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 200; 45mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#43)

Chinatown, San Francisco, California. Buddha revisited.

I greatly enjoy photographing statuary; usually I strive to isolate such subjects against as simple of an environment as possible, making the inanimate form the sole source of power in the image. Occasionally, however, I'll include the object's surroundings so as to establish a sense of place, mood or other contexts . . .

Over Father's Day weekend my wife and I took a long stroll from our hotel to The Stinking Rose, the setting for our first "official" date. During our trek we meandered through the Chinatown district, always rich with interesting photographic possibilities.

Before long we discovered one of those wonderful shops crammed with a myriad of presumably Eastern trinkets -- geared largely towards the tourist crowds of course. A vast variety of objects of all sizes, colors and uses competed for attention, almost to distraction. Thus I was delighted, and surprised, to discover a very large and singular statue of the Buddha -- and a beautiful one at that -- keeping watch over an intersection of narrow shopping aisles.

Beyond the elegance of the artistry put into this piece I was struck by the pose: both hands out, stiff palms in front, as if to warn against further encroachment. From what, I wondered? I was immediately the stuck by the juxtaposition of this serene, spiritual icon against the flotsam crammed into bins and on shelves in all directions, crowding in . . . Small wonder the defensive stance, a deliciously ironic indictment of the economic mess permeating our world of late. Some degree of lost serenity might be regained by means of resisting the siren call of rampant consumerism as a means of therapy.

I can't help but wonder if this Buddha's arms were once relaxed at its sides.

Pushing Buddha, #3686

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 20, 2009; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 1/50 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 800; 47mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#42)

Two views of my office, which is the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Library on the campus of San Jose State University.

Both were taken well before opening, both between 6:01am and 6:22am.
I had taken my wife Julianna to the airport for an early flight last week, and planned ahead for the opportunity to capture this structure while it was still dark enough to see the glow of the interior lights even as the sky began to take on color. In the earlier scene a bicyclist decided to ride right through my scene just as I tripped the shutter for a long (8 seconds) exposure even though, with my tripod and camera bag, it must've been clear what I was doing . . . but my annoyance with the intrusion quickly turned to delight as I previewed the effect of his taillight blinking along behind him.

My grandfather revered books and reading, and I am quite fortunate that he passed this passion down to me . . . thus having the privilege to report to work in this spacious (>475,000 sq. ft.), modern and beautiful structure -- filled with books as well as a large variety of other media and art -- is a daily pleasure deeply felt. I strive to arrive between 30-45 minutes early, before most staff are in (and while still closed to the public) in order to find a quiet spot on the upper floors and sit for some meditation and reflection. A wonderful way, and place, to start one's day.

(NOTE: beginning with this entry the images I am posting to this blog will open to larger sizes than before, adhering approximately to the 1024x768 format . . . the top entry here is sized thusly, although I processed the lower image two nights ago in the smaller 800x600 size I have heretofore been employing.)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Library, Early Morning, #4006

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: July 14, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/3 sec; -1 1/3 EV; ISO 100; 27mm.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Library, Early Morning, and Bicyclist, #3997

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 14, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 8 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 100; 28mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#41)

Contrasts between night and day for your consideration: simple studies in composition and lighting, one taken in natural light the other under the harsh glare of sodium. Both are lean images, with precious few objects to demand attention, and yet it is this very spareness of the arrangements which provides surprise and interest.

The eggs were shot in intense overhead sunlight, outdoors; this image is one of many taken as preliminary studies for some ideas I've been quietly nurturing for at least a decade. My eventual goal is to present a series emphasizing subtleties in form and texture by means of offering the viewer the challenge and puzzle of what primary characteristic distinguishes one egg from another (amongst a clutch of only the white variety).

However, in this case Mom made a rare contribution to the creative process by pointing that she had a crate of brown eggs handy . . . this rendered moot my original goal as stated above, yet introduced a more entertaining, even surprising element to the scene. (Consider this an embryonic first public display of my egg series.)

Eggs #3834 (version II)

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: July 4, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/800 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 100; 41mm.

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The image below is an outcome of my continued delight with night photography. Not so very long ago my beautiful wife (see post# 40) and I took in a film at San Jose's Santana Row; afterwards, as we returned to our car, I noticed the striking lighting and dramatic rays formed by the deliberate furrows in the theater's back concrete wall. I returned to the scene late the following night, and was rewarded by noticing the imperative in the asphalt, which here provides a superb reinforcing compositional anchor for this strictly structured, forceful tableau.

Door(s) Stop #3809

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: June 28, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 2.5 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 200; 31mm.

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Seeing 2009 (#40)

My sweet and beautiful wife, the love of my life:

Julianna #3818

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: July 4, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/100 sec; -2/3 EV; ISO 400; 50mm.

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It is unfortunately too rare for me to have the pleasure of viewing Julianna through my camera's lens, so when the opportunity presents itself I strive to make the best of it. (On the other hand both my father and step-daughter are willing subjects. Hannah's visage will certainly be featured here in future posts; in fact a hint of it can be found in entry 29.) This particular photograph was taken over the July 4th weekend, at a tiny farmer's market near Lakeport.

Those familiar with my body of work know that the majority of it consists of abstractions usually derived from inanimate objects (e.g., entries 10, 13, 26 and 31); any variations of this approach most often come in the form of nature shots (e.g., entries 27 and 38).

While one reason my oeuvre is so heavily weighted towards static subjects arises from my passion for the intrigues and delightful discoveries to be revealed in abstractions, I must confess to another explanation for my focus on inorganic subjects. Susan Sontag illuminates the matter in her book-length essay, On Photography, from which I offer a few quotes:

"There is an aggression implicit in every use of the camera." (pg. 7)

"As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is real,
they also help people take possession of space and time in which they are
insecure." (pg 9)

"Many people are anxious when they're about to be photographed . . . because
they fear the camera's disapproval." (pg. 85)

For me, at least, it is one thing to take a considerable amount of time becoming intimately close to a pattern of condensation droplets on the surface of a vase, and quite another to risk the MUTUAL discomfort which is the predominant emotional response arising from attempting to photograph a person. Sontag's quote lifted from page 9 of On Photography speaks to the notion of hiding behind the lens - using the camera as a sort of shield (she elaborates on this thesis in the context of tourists in unfamiliar territory). In my case I am rather more often intensely, positively engaged - excited - when framing and "capturing" those found objects I choose to subject to my camera.

In recent months I've had a few chats with a fellow photography enthusiast about our mutual desire to turn our sights more on people (both candid shots and more formally posed situations). As Sontag's other observations suggest, the pursuit of this genre requires a degree of courage as compared to the relative shooting-fish-in-a-barrel emotional ease of photographing fountains and star trails. (Well, notwithstanding my perfectionist's angst and perpetually fervent hope that each and every image I produce will induce awe and reverence in my audience - whoa! Did I just admit that in public or was I just thinking again???)

All of which leads me to this: while my first love (photographically) will likely always be mining abstractions, I'm nonetheless increasingly motivated to get people in front of my Canon. My father has been a recently agreeable subject in this vein; I'm hoping my wonderful Julianna will also gain more ease and willingness to put up with my digital intrusions.

Seeing 2009 (#39)

A bit of a lag between posts; 'tis been an unusually busy week or so.

Spent the Independence Day holiday at my parents' home in Northern California; took a large number of shots of which a small few may prove worthy.

The evening of July 4th we lagged in making a commitment to drive the twenty minutes from my folks' rural home into the nearest village offering pyrotechnics; at the last minute all piled into my dad's truck and off we dashed. Amazingly the small downtown was not overly crushed with the locals' cars and carrying-on, so it was easy for father to drop mom, my wife, daughter and daughter's friend off at the lake front; I then rode with him as he sought parking which we found a mere four blocks away.

Timing was good: just as we locked up the vehicle the first concussions of explosions aloft hit our ear drums, and since the walk to the boat ramp with its relatively unobstructed view was short we missed little. I'd brought my tripod on the trip with this event in mind as a key element of my photographic opportunities, so I was mentally set to quickly set up my gear at the first reasonable vantage point. Thanks to Jerry's dontation of those incredibly handy finger lights I was able to hurriedly get the camera in place, compose, focus, and begin attempting to capture the skyward celebration.

Perhaps due to both being a small town and a depressed economy
the show was surprisingly short: no more than ten minutes, from start to finish, including those bursts missed while briskly walking down to the lake from the truck. Consequently I managed to capture barely five images. Still, it was lot of fun (a blast, even) as I'd never before attempted to photograph fireworks.

In retrospect I ought to have done at least some minimal research ahead of time as to suggested exposure settings. As it was I took some wild, random guesses ranging from 16 to 38 seconds @ f/11 (ISO 200), utilizing my normal lens. Below is the best of the lot; beyond significant cropping few adjustments have been made to the original - a slight tweaking of curves and some minor sharpening. Enjoy!

Lakeport Fireworks #3975

(c)2009 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 4, 2009; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 38 sec; ISO 200; 38mm.

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