Queen

I observe a bustling street in Prague’s Old Town through a reflection in an ad display.

A group of guys eat lunch at a sandwich shop with bright yellow tables and chairs. Two women, one carrying a mask around her wrist, pass each other at a distance. A pair of friends walk next to each other, engaged in conversation.

Focus shifts to the ad display in which a man seems entranced by the powerful music of Queen. The faint figures of a woman searching for something and a girl looking around blend into the background.

The focus now returns to the street, where the woman has left and the girl stands alone, appearing lost. We all need somebody to love before another one bites the dust.

Cumberland Tow

Monday, July 12th. 10:52 am. I had just left for Newport, Rhode Island to watch a tournament at the Tennis Hall of Fame. Shortly after merging onto the highway, I hit a small bump and heard a faint scraping sound underneath my car. I figured that some plastic cladding had come loose, and that it was no big deal.

11:29 am. The scraping sound and engine had gotten progressively louder, and it was time to pull over. I got out of the car and crouched to look at the underbody. Uh oh.

To my surprise, the exhaust system had collapsed. A rusted section in the middle was completely gone as both attached ends dragged along the pavement. I took the nearest off ramp and parked at Cumberland Farms, a convenience store and gas station chain, before calling roadside assistance.

Hours passed as I waited for a tow truck. My phone battery approached 10% and Joe Rogan’s voice droned on the radio. Time seemed to slow down as boredom and worry set in. 

Suddenly there was a glimmer of hope! I realized that I had packed my camera for the tennis tournament. Time to get creative. 

I wanted to stay with my car since the tow truck could come at any minute, so I decided to take photos from the driver’s seat. Twisting and turning I hunted for reflections in my car’s rear-view, side-view, and vanity mirrors. I caught passing cars, vans, and trucks filled with people moving about their day while I sat with my life on pause, waiting for a savior.

7 hours later I was back at home and although I wasn’t able to watch any live tennis, I was happy the day wasn’t a complete waste.

Water of Breakheart

It’s a cool Sunday in early June. A thick layer of clouds drops a light gray curtain over the sky as I walk along the trails of Breakheart Reservation.

Hardwood trees stand in solemn silence, their branches and trunks gracefully mirrored in still water. Browns and greens mix in a leafy palette symbolizing death and rebirth.

Although they may create illusions, reflections don’t lie.

Concrete. Graffiti. Rails.

This past Sunday was a cool, breezy day. I strode down from Somerville towards the Charles River with my baseball cap shielding me from the sun and my camera in tow. Although I didn’t want to admit that I knew what I wanted to photograph, my destination was inevitable.

After reaching North Point Park near the Museum of Science, I made a left and walked towards the towering cement columns that underpinned the on and off ramps of Route 93. The ramps cast their rich, dark shadows over the railroad tracks leading to an MBTA commuter rail maintenance facility, and I made my way between the columns embalmed in graffiti towards the rail lines.

An American flag fluttered in the breeze as I circled back along the railroad tracks towards a skatepark tucked underneath the columns. The street artists who decorated the cement columns added the same pop of color to the skatepark, where groups of men and women zipped along on skateboards through half-pipes and bowls, while kids honed their craft on metal scooters as their parents watched on fearfully. 

It was a vibrant environment, and I wished I had a scooter myself.

Digital Imaging Final Project

In this blog post, I want to share the work I created for my final project in my digital imaging class. Previous projects mostly involved the use of brush and shape tools in Photoshop so I wasn’t able to incorporate photos into them. For the final, however, I knew I wanted to do something that required taking photographs.

I ended up putting together 5 collages of everyday life around the apartment, inspired by the work of English painter David Hockney. In the 1980’s, Hockney began creating photo collages made up of polaroids. Over time the collages evolved into abstract representations of the scenes he photographed using a 35mm film camera. Hockney viewed his collages as a combination of painting and photography as he tried depicting depth and incorporating multiple perspectives into his work.

My first collage combines two different perspectives of a lamp in the living room, with the neck of the lamp serving as an element of abstraction. The second collage is of Beaumont, a roommate’s cat, drinking water from the bathroom faucet. Elements of the faucet are repeated, as are two shots of the mirror above which emphasizes strong diagonal lines. My third collage is of the window in my bedroom, with individual photos shifting focus between the shades, the window frame, and the trees outside. The frame bends and twists at unnatural angles in an effort to create depth. I return to the living room with the fourth collage, where I capture the sun-lit curtains in the morning, as well as the shadows cast by plants on the window sill. A single photo of the brick building behind the curtains gives the viewer a little peek into what lies beyond. Lastly, my fifth collage centers around the dishwasher silverware basket. The bottom and left sides of the frame capture the profile of the basket in repeating, undulating waves, while the rest of the collage is dominated by two white lines whose segments are the basket handle from various perspectives.

Creating collages is something I had never done before, and I’m happy to say I won’t stop.

Notes

Saturday morning. Kitchen table. Notes.

Coffee dripping. Pen held stable. Notes.

Repeating lecture. Professor droning. Notes.

Stay awake. Coffee foaming. Notes.

Important term. Pause Zoom Video. Notes.

Term defined. Start Zoom Video. Notes.

Sentence by sentence. Line by line. Notes.

Rest the wrist. Then one more time. Notes.

Best Photos Explained Part 4: Spirit of the Moon

This photograph was taken in October 2020 in upstate New York. I had recently purchased a manual flash (which allows you to control the light’s intensity and direction) and was ripe for some experimentation with long exposures at night.

Once darkness fell I went outside of the house, and thought that the stars on the clear night sky would be my light source. After taking a few test shots, I realized they were too dim and was feeling very discouraged- until I saw a very bright moon emerge from behind the trees.

I decided a 20 second exposure would be suitable given the moon’s strong luminescence, and pointed my camera up towards the treetops. The flash went off immediately after I pressed the shutter, and froze the trees in place with its light. I then pivoted my camera towards the moon, and zoomed in and out for the remainder of the exposure. These light streaks of varying densities and thicknesses were layered on top of the trees, giving the scene a supernatural feeling.

A flash and long exposure is a very potent combination.

Bird Feeder Study

Blue sky. Orange seed. 

Mom’s bird feeder is where birds come to feed.

Gray wood. Gray tree. 

For rainy days feeding birds’ marquee.

To the Pond

It’s a lonely path that leads to the pond, past the house with the small, barking dogs and the sinuous wooden fence. The field before the trees is dotted with mole mounds as fog settles over the forest.

Tree branches lean down towards the water’s mirror-like surface, their lanky silhouettes twisting and turning like a disfigured skeleton. A house rises above the mist, sitting in silence.

It’s a lonely path that leads to the pond.

Lantern's Light

As night settles over Prague, the city’s winding, cobblestone streets come alive with lanterns’ light. Their golden glow melts the shadows and highlights the unique architectural features of centuries-old building facades and walls.

Winding up from the Vltava river and around Prague Castle, I admire the lanterns that lead me home.