godfreydigiorgi's posterous - photos and other curiosities

November 19, 2009

Walking Zen

The weather's been cold. Very cold indeed at dawn when my walk begins. I shuffle, stumble a little bit sometimes if I'm not fully awake yet. Had to wear gloves this week. But I will not stop walking, such amazing things appear to me on this three-quarters of a mile walk.

She was out there again that morning, the woman who sleeps in nooks and crannys, by fences of houses in the neighborhood. Every day I see her, almost always down the block pushing a basket of her belongings. I wonder: where is she sleeping in this cold night and morning air?

I watch the pavement as it passes under my feet. Again, things appear unbidden as I listen to a lecture on Zen Buddhism. I try to capture them, hold them in a brief moment of time and perception, let them expand to an infinity of Present.

A little book I found at the used bookstore the other day. Had to have it. ZEN in the Art of the Photograph by Robert Leverant.

"When we are taking a picture, we are taking a picture."

Keep walking.

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Filed under // photo still life walk zen

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November 15, 2009

Pepper And Salt On Turned Aluminum

As the Fall continues in its arc to Year's End and slowly migrates into the holidays and Winter, I find myself becoming more and more meditative and silent. I seek quiet and simplicity, I read books that draw me into thought and away from the world.

A walk the other day as early evening fell and I came on a sidewalk cafe, all tables ready to serve but empty due to the chill in the air. This composition of spice shakers on a table fit my mood perfectly. Their monochromatic simplicity and the subtle textures lingered in my mind for several hours.

In the meantime, it has been a couple of weeks of intense business and work. I delivered my fourth workshop (this time on using Lightroom) at the Media Center a weekend ago. Another fine classroom of participants, I truly enjoyed the experience of working with them all. The Media Center folks have been very supportive of these efforts; they have given me the opportunity to offer more workshops in December and January. I'll put a list down at the bottom of this post.

The other intense work has been that I signed up for and am taking a workshop on Studio Production for television. Amazing fun, it is a kick to work in a crew environment. As photographers, we spend much of our time in solitary pursuit of our vision ... not so in the video and film industry. I'm enjoying it very much indeed, and will likely also try to get into the Field Production workshop next month, if I can find the time. What I'll do with these new skills is unknown at present, but the joy of doing has a powerful way of getting me involved with new projects and ideas.

As I wrote this, J.R.R. Tolkien came to mind ...

"The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say. ..."

Seems to nail my mood exactly right now.

On to following the Fall and another walk on this chill Sunday eve.

—

Upcoming Photography Workshops at the Media Center:

December 10-11 :: Photoshop for Photographers: A Simple Approach
January 9-10 :: Lightroom: Starting In The Middle
January 23-24 :: Creating B&W Photographs: A Digital Approach

Offered at the Media Center, 900 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, California, USA

For more information and registration see the website - http://www.midpenmedia.org/ - or write me directly.

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Filed under // abstract announcement bw still life

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November 4, 2009

Trolley Dance SF - Triptych 1 ... and workshop update!

Looking through the Trolley Dance 2009 shoot from a couple of weekends back, I find my photos tended to circle around groups of two and three images at a time: they fall naturally into triptych and diptych presentations. This was a fine dance, and interplay of two women and an organ grinder, in very expressive form around the Balboa Park pool house. Wonderful music, marvelous expressions!

I must do more of these.

It's been very busy since I posted last. Two weeks between workshop offerings cuts into available time. I still have seats available for this weekend's Lightroom workshop ... here's what's coming up.

UPCOMING CLASS OFFERINGS AT THE MEDIA CENTER

Adobe Lightroom: Starting In The Middle

SEATS STILL AVAILABLE...

Instructor is Godfrey DiGiorgi.

A small class focused on your needs and questions.

A two-session workshop for photographers interested to learn how to use Adobe Lightroom. No prerequisites, some familiarity with Photoshop and image processing workflow is helpful. Students are welcome to bring a library of their own work, either on external hard drive or laptop.

Learn how to transition your work from Photoshop into Lightroom, or start from scratch with Lightroom as the principal tool for your image processing workflow. Explore how to organize your work in order to use the Lightroom Library, Import and image processing tools efficiently. Learn how to integrate with Photoshop seamlessly. Examine and understand the use of templates in the Lightroom modules to make your work faster, easier and more consistent. Learn how to use Export as well as the Slideshow, Printing and Web modules to output finished photographs. There will be time given throughout the session for hands-on and Q&A.

Length: 9 hours
Dates: Sat., Nov. 7, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m., & Sun., Nov. 8, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Class Size: 3 – 8 students
Tuition: $135

Adobe Photoshop for Photographers: A Simple Approach

Lab time throughout to practice techniques.

Instructor is Godfrey DiGiorgi

Learn the best professional software program to process your digital photos straight from your camera or scanner. This two-session workshop focuses on learning how to get the most from just a few of Photoshop's tools to achieve great results: Levels, Curves, Layers and Masks. In both lecture and lab time, we will examine organizing your files and how to work efficiently. You'll be introduced to methods and concepts for sharpening and printing. No prior Photoshop experience required.

Length: 7 hours
Dates: Thu. & Fri., Dec. 10 & 11, 6:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Class size: 3 – 8 students
Tuition: $130

Registrations must be made, and full payment received, prior to the first day of class.

Classes will be cancelled if minimum registration requirements are not met.

To sign up – please contact Dave Sorokach at 650 494-8686 ext.10, or dave@midpenmedia.org

... today for the Lightroom class! :-)

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Filed under // announcement bw people photo triptych

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November 1, 2009

Rolling on into Autumn

Distraction and too much to do have been the the story of the past couple weeks. I've been walking every day, and shooting every day, but little time for finishing and posting little. Yesterday morning, though, I was out on my usual Saturday walk with friends and the Muse visited, compelled me to do a little processing in the afternoon.

I guess that's my Autumn Leaves shot for 2009 ... I posted a few more from the walk on flickr.com. This link will take you to a slide show of a dozen photos from yesterday's walk:

So ... why the heck have I been so busy? What's going on with the workshops?

The last Photoshop workshop at the Media Center went very well, that was last Monday-Tuesday evening. Had five students and a very lively conversation both sessions. Teaching Photography and image processing is one of the most satisfying things I do other than doing photography itself. The folks at the Media Center are great to work with, the place is fun with lots of other things going on too.

I'm working on the next things to do now. I think beyond Photoshop and Lightroom, I've gotten enough requests for a "Digital Black & White" workshop that January might be a good time. Stay tuned, you'll hear about it here.

Which reminds me: The next workshop is rushing up real fast ... next weekend!! There are still some available seats ...

Adobe Lightroom: Starting in the Middle

A two-session workshop for photographers interested to learn how to use Adobe Lightroom. Learn how to transition your work from Photoshop into Lightroom, or start from scratch with Lightroom as the principal tool for your image processing workflow. No prerequisites, some familiarity with Photoshop and image processing workflow is helpful. Students are welcome to bring a library of their own work, either on external hard drive or laptop. There will be time given throughout the session for hands-on.
Saturday-Sunday, November 7 & 8

For more information and registration, see the Media Center website at http://www.midpenmedia.org/ or email me directly.

I'd love to see some of you there.

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Filed under // announcement autumn bw leaf photo

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October 23, 2009

Quiet Moment

Sometimes my mind wanders when I am sitting in my quiet office trying to work. At moments like this, I find it is often best to go out, carry my notebook and computer even, and put myself into the midst of the hubbub of a local cafe. Somehow the noise and carryings on of people around me allow me to concentrate better, focus on my reading or my work.

This was exactly what I saw as I watched this woman and her book. It was on the J-Church MUNI line during the Trolley Dance festival ... The trolley was jammed with people, with group leaders talking, with people climbing around and watching the dance exhibitions on the streets we passed through. She never flinched, lived entirely in that world of the book in front of her, and seemed to enjoy the private space it gave her.

_

Media Center - Workshops update!

There's still time to register for the Photoshop (Oct 26-27) and Lightroom (Nov 7-8) workshops I'm offering at the Media Center. I've got a couple of seats left in the Photoshop sessions and am about half full on the Lightroom sessions. I'd love to see you there! See http://bit.ly/3elS9B for more info on this blog ...

Or go directly to the Media Center website at http://www.midpenmedia.org/ for registration.

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Filed under // announcement photo San Francisco trolley

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October 21, 2009

Passing Through

Going to San Francisco, I often prefer to leave my car at the BART station in Millbrae and ride the train in. Both for reasons of cost ... it's cheaper to pay the train fare than most parking garages nowadays ... and just for the photo opportunities that riding the train might provide: street work in and around the platforms, through the window landscape work, etc.

Going to SF on Sunday the Millbrae trains always detour to San Francisco Airport now and for a moment I had this beautiful view of the parking garage as we passed through. Luckily, I had the camera ready to shoot in my bag, with the 25mm lens fitted, and set to Manual focus. A quick twist of the ring and a snap ... and the view was gone.

I like the way the train passageway frames the parking structure, the glow of the lights reflecting in the window but not overpowering it. The structure soars massive and modern, constrained behind the beams and railings.

An "over the couch" architectural shot, well maybe for the office wall.

I have to make a print...

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Filed under // airport architecture BART photo

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October 20, 2009

Street Queen

It was called Trolley Dance 2009 ... the Sixth Annual San Francisco Trolley Dance. I'd never heard of it before, a news commentator talked about it on an NPR local news piece a few days before. Meet up at Dolores Park in San Francisco, buy a day pass on the J Church line trolley. Ride the trolley to Balboa Park, stopping along the way to watch modern dance pieces performed on the street.

Sounded interesting to me. Sounded like a photo opportunity.

This portrait of a woman I made at Balboa Park keeps drawing me back over and over again. The dance exhibition as we arrived began at the street and carried us into the park proper, into a ring of trees. She'd been sleeping there until the music and the movements of people wakened her, and then she stood and watched, enchanted like the rest of us. Her face drew me in: such a radiant smile, such beautiful eyes. A true royalty of the street, a Queen in a different world and time.

I wished I'd had the chance to talk with her; her eyes told me there was much to hear. But I was distracted as the dance moved away and drew me along to the next piece. Instead I have this photo to ponder: colors and smile, replete in mystery and shining beauty. A solid presence in the trees of Balboa Park.

It will have to be enough.

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Filed under // color people photo street

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October 15, 2009

Upcoming Workshops at the Media Center

A call went out from the Media Center in Palo Alto for a studio video production that sounded interesting. I had the time but no experience. So I went anyway. Ended up they were short-handed and I was trained on the spot in the use of the graphics unit, so I got to participate in the shoot as the Graphics person.

Control

Loved it. Back in the control room again ... memories of when I was doing amateur theater, running the stage lighting, working production, etc. A very seductive thing for me. Must do more.

Speaking of the Media Center, I'm offering two image processing workshop sessions and they're coming up soon...

Adobe Photoshop for Photographers: A Simple Approach

This two-session workshop focuses on learning how to get the most from just a few of Photoshop's tools to achieve great results: Levels, Curves, Layers and Masks. In both lecture and lab time, we will examine organizing your files and how to work efficiently. You'll be introduced to methods and concepts for sharpening and printing. No prior Photoshop experience required. Lab time throughout to practice techniques.
Monday-Tuesday, October 26 & 27

Adobe Lightroom: Starting in the Middle

A two-session workshop for photographers interested to learn how to use Adobe Lightroom. Learn how to transition your work from Photoshop into Lightroom, or start from scratch with Lightroom as the principal tool for your image processing workflow. No prerequisites, some familiarity with Photoshop and image processing workflow is helpful. Students are welcome to bring a library of their own work, either on external hard drive or laptop. There will be time given throughout the session for hands-on.

Saturday-Sunday, November 7 & 8

For more information and registration, see the Media Center website at http://www.midpenmedia.org/

And feel free to contact me as well if you have any questions!

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October 9, 2009

Change of Season

It has been hard to write these last two weeks. My head has been full of too many things to think about, too much stuff to do, too much writing to do outside of photography and journaling.

I've been out walking every morning, though, and collecting photos. This morning as I returned home, I heard a rustle in the trees next to me so I stopped. I looked up. And there I found this fat fellow looking back at me. Not skittering away as they usually do, just looking. I had only a normal lens on the camera and it was still quite dark, but better to try than not to get any picture at all...

176 - The Observer - Sunnyvale 2009

He was a handsome little guy and darted away around the trunk after three exposures. I guess the shutter broke his cool.

But the seasons have changed. It's been cool to cold this past weeks' mornings. Dark when I leave the apartment; quieter too. And another season's change is happening: time to think out this blog on a different footing rather than doing it as a day by day 'whatever comes to mind' ramble. I have some ideas, it will be fun.

Thinking, looking for inspiration, I reached for the Tao Te Ching again. My intelligent book fell open to ...

Verse 35

Hold fast to the Great Form within

and let the world pass as it may

The changes of life will not bring pain

but contentment, joy, and well-being.

Music and sweets are passing pleasures

yet they cause people to stop

How bland and insipid are the things of this world

when one compares them with Tao!

One tastes, but the sweetness turns bitter

One sees, but the colors grow faint

One hears, but the sound fades into silence

One may look for fulfillment in this world

but his longings will never be exhausted

The only thing he ever finds

is that he himself is exhausted.

I hope that squirrel has his winter store of food laid aside.

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Filed under // nature photo Tao Te Ching walk

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September 25, 2009

Heavy Morning Air

A heavy, somber sky greeted as sun began to rise. Air thick with moisture, light fog softening the edges of things. I sipped my coffee and watched as other morning travelers stopped in, checked out. The regulars were in and out, we nodded and made our good morning noises as they passed my table.

172 - Sky Light

It's been a week absorbed in thought. What shows after a week of thinking? Not much that you can lay on a table and point to.

My eyes are drawn up as I walk home. The sun brightens the cloud cover, makes it less heavy for a moment. A blankness still prevails. Lines across the sky, a reflection of object and light as I pass a neighbor's home. This one next door burned last week: no one hurt, but a faint acrid odor continues to drift in and out of it. A crow sits on the fence in front of it, preening and looking proud.

173 - Crossings

No crows in the sky. The usual group of five who follow me are elsewhere, the air free of their raucous calls. I hear a plane higher up but still low, past the barrier of cloud ... must be a C-131 coming in to land at Moffett Field, I'd know that sound anywhere. I remember flying on them once upon a time.

That made me smile on this moody morning.

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