Today on the way to work, I finally tried a restaurant I’ve driven by over a thousand times: Chicago Hamburger Co. It has always looked a bit seedy to me, like the lunchtime equivalent of a “greasy spoon.” But, you know what? It was great. It was bustling and very popular. I had the Western Burger, a hot, juicy charbroiled 1/3 pound burger with grilled onions, BBQ sauce, crispy bacon and crunchy fried onion rings. I also had a side of crispy golden french fries. I was so hungry, and enjoyed my meal so much (AND was in a hurry to get to work on time) that I forgot to take a photo of my food. I hope I did a good enough job of painting a mouth-watering picture with my words. Oh, and don’t let the one space in front fool you: when I first drove past, every space in the lot was taken, and I had to park around the corner in front of someone’s house. Oh, and would it be too naughty to mention that there was no shortage of sexy working-class men eating lunch there, too? 😉
Author: Daniel Greene
-
In the Heart of the Hibiscus
My husband, Andy, is getting more and more involved in my photography. When he’s not my muse, he’s my assistant. 😉 He helps me by pointing out to me things that I should photograph. It was he who made me aware of our first hibiscus blossom of the year. I started taking macro shots and just got closer and closer. I never knew the tiny structures at the end (stamen?) were so fuzzy. What I love about this image — if I may say so myself — is the soft, velvetiness of the red hibiscus petals that are out of focus, while the focus is on the pistil and stamen. It reminds me of billowy red velvet.
-
Dennis Cokely "Culturally Rich Realities" Workshop
This was the first time I had photographed a presenter giving a workshop in sign language. Those who know American Sign Language (ASL) can guess what Dr. Dennis Cokely was talking about. Those who don’t know ASL– well, they can have even more fun guessing. I don’t want to give away the content of his workshop to those who know ASL; rather, I encourage them to take his workshop themselves! As for those who don’t know ASL, there would be so much lost in translation if I simply said, “Dr. Cokely is signing X,” that I would be guilty of oversimplifying his message. And his workshop “Interpreting Culturally Rich Realities” is all about not oversimplifying any interpretation! I thank Dr. Cokely for his permission to photograph him as he worked.
While I don’t want to give too much of his workshop away, I do want to use these photos to help myself and others who took his workshop recall some of this repeated points. One of the things Dr. Cokely repeatedly discussed was having multiple lexical items in one’s “mental files” to choose from when confronted with signs or words that represented “culturally rich realities,” or words that are not easily conveyed from one culture/language to another in a 1:1 ratio.
As a photographer of a speaker presenting in ASL, I used the textual analysis and predictive skills I’ve developed as an interpreter to study Dr. Cokely’s rhetorical devices so that I would be prepared with my camera to capture him at the very moment when he would repeat one of his themes. As an instructor, he was very deft at using repetition to drive home a point.
You may view my set of photos of Dennis Cokely on Flickr.
-
Yellow Flower with Fly Upon It
When Andy and I went to the dog park this morning with Buxley and J.J. to meet Robert & Robbie and Napoleon, I decided not to bring my camera. I knew there would be things I’d want to shoot, but I was tired of taking photos– and especially tired of postprocessing them on the computer.
When I saw Robert, whom I’d photographed with his dog, Napoleon, a few weeks ago, he told me I had inspired him to go buy a new camera, and he showed me his new Canon SD630. I couldn’t resist; I asked him if I could borrow it just to take a picture of one of the many pretty little yellow flowers that had blossomed on the sage bushes since the last time we were there.
These flowers are only about 1.5″ in diameter, and they grow on what look to me like sage bushes. I just happened to shoot one with a fly on it. I’m pretty happy with how it came out.
-
Man to Man
This is one in a series of four shots I took experimenting with the “digital multiple exposure” technique. This was my longest and, I think, most effective exposure of the series; that is, my ghostly images are the most apparent in this exposure.
How did I do it? I set the camera to its lowest ISO speed and its smallest aperture. I put the camera on a tripod. I set the shooting mode to remote/timer and the shutter speed to bulb. I walked into frame, aimed my remote shutter control at the camera, pressed the button to start a bulb exposure, and held a position for 30-45 seconds, then quickly moved to another position and held that for another 30-45 seconds, then pressed the button on my remote to close the shutter.
It was fun being creative. It reminded me of an improvisational acting class.
Daniel Greene 