Category Archives: Photography

Mar 10

One Word Project: Uncharted

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One Word Project: Uncharted

This word for the One Word Project is “Uncharted.” When I was back home in Indy over Christmas we had a huge snow storm roll through. My family lives in a beautifully wooded area, so snowy weather always makes for gorgeous scenes. As soon as the trees were covered we headed out to frolick in the snow and I grabbed my camera to capture the “Uncharted” winterwonderland.

Taking photos of snow can be really tricky because of the high contrast with the snow, so I used a gray card and I’m really happy with the results.

These photos look up the hill at the back of my parents’ house…Love it!

Now go check out Shelly’s version of “Uncharted” HERE

Feb 22

One Word Project: Home

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One Word Project: Home

This next One Word Project is “Home” and I was really excited to get to take these at my childhood home back in Indianapolis! I took these during one of my favorite times of the year to be home: Christmas! My family has so many Christmas traditions that Matt and I both look forward to each year, so here are some of our traditions captured on film.

The two photos above, Matt and my sister Sara baking Christmas cookies.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations is this little candlelit manger Carousel that acts as our dining room table centerpiece.

Every year we select a 9 foot real Christmas tree. We bring it home, string over a thousand white lights and hang hundreds of ornaments collected by all or us over the years, each with memories and stories behind them.

This is our Christmas dinner feast in action…all of us in our festive outfits, eating our traditional American Christmas dinner.

In a lovely historic area in Indianapolis there’s a little neighborhood where every Christmas Eve the residents line their neighborhood sidewalks with candlelit lanterns. Every Christmas Eve after our church service we drive up and down the streets admiring the beautifully lit sidewalks and yards.

This particular project was a challenge for me because these were all low lighting situations, but again this project just reminds me how much I love the rich quality if film!

Now go check out Shelly’s version of “Home” http://blog.shellygoodmanphotography.com/2013/02/21/one-word-project-home/

Dec 27

One Word Project: Unpolished

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One Word Project: Unpolished

The One Word Project for November was Unpolished. In November Matt and I went on a road trip down to a family reunion in Missouri and stopped to stay with Shelly and Andy in St. Louis. I brought my 35mm camera along and Shelly and I went out early one morning in search of this coffee I love from the local brew in Benton Park. I took these photos along the way. Quite a few seriously ‘unpolished’ and a few just slightly ‘unpolished’ buildings that shine with a beautiful history and a rich note to the beauty that once was. You can’t walk through these historic streets without wondering what once was, as these lovely brick structures undergo complete overhaul (most of which thankfully preserve the historic nature) as the gentrification of the various neighborhoods has slowly transformed and restored. As you see in these photos, some of these areas have been more restored than others. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out Shelly’s ‘unpolished’ at http://blog.shellygoodmanphotography.com/2012/12/26/one-word-project-unpolished/

 

 

 

 

Dec 3

One Word Project: Stranger

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One Word Project: Stranger

This One Word Project word is ‘Stranger’. I took a bit of a different approach to this one. These photos are of my good friend Mary. As you can tell, she’s 9 months pregnant here and glowing! One Saturday morning Mary and I met up for brunch and I happened to bring my camera along. I gave her no warning what-so-ever, as it was a last minute thought, and fingers crossed I asked if she would graciously model for me. Being the good friend she is, Mary was happy to do so.

Although Mary has been a friend of mine for years, her little one is a ‘Stranger’ for now but not for much longer. Looking forward to meeting this little one soon!

 

 

 

Now go check out Shelly’s version of ‘Stranger’ http://blog.shellygoodmanphotography.com/2012/12/02/one-word-project-stranger/

Oct 10

One Word Project: Close

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One Word Project: Close

The focus for the One Word Project for September was the word “Close.” I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for this one and then it dawned on me…ping (light bulb)…I should take a roll using my telephoto lens. I was kind of excited about this one because one of my favorite qualities about photography is the ability a camera has to capture an ordinary object in a new light.

I enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of a camera lens because it gives me the ability to focus in and also to crop out. I enjoy seeing the beauty that the things in our everyday lives posses and to me a camera captures that beauty so well.

So, here are some things I see in my everyday life. I walk past them all the time and rarely take time to notice the beauty they really do hold…from a worn out volkswagon bug to sunflowers in my garden, here I’m taking a “closer look” at the everyday.

 

 

 

 

The black and shots of the peppers below is my ode to one of my favorite photographers, Edward Weston. He’s well known for his series of black and white images of peppers. Love the form, shadow, shape, and all those lovely elements of design that are displayed in the little guys in these images.

 

 

Shelly’s is coming soon! http://blog.shellygoodmanphotography.com/

Sep 7

One Word Project: Shadow

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One Word Project: Shadow

The One Word Project continues and for August…yes August (Shelly and I are a little behind, but September is already coming along) the word is Shadow. I was really excited when I heard that it was shadow because I’m so drawn to high contrast compositions and a composition with an emphasis on shadow, in my mind naturally thinks of high contrast. For these shots I decided to take a trip down the street to the small down town of West Dundee on a sunny afternoon (the perfect makings for shadowy shots).

The photo above is what I would call my classic style of shooting…not so much about what I’m shooting as the composition that is created through the lens of my camera, one full of pattern, line, and a highly contrasting range of shades and tones.

While shooting for “Shadow” a new revelation popped into my head, as my ordinary eyes put on their shadow-finding-filters. The realization was that shadows really are like mini alternate realities of everyday objects. Shadows are beautiful compositions in of themselves as they are an altered version of the objects they mimic. With this realization you can see how my view shifted from focusing on the shadows pouring from an object, to focusing on the world of the shadow and the object as a secondary character in the story. So, hence the shots below of the table and chair sets.

 

Above: One of my favorite photos of this shoot.

Below: I love the way the shadows play on the facade of this old building.

Some of my favorite subjects are old buildings…it must be the architecture side of me coming out. I really enjoy how classical buildings have beautifully thought out detail work that truly is illuminated and made more pronounced when put in daylight that allows shadows to both shade and highlight these details all at the same time.

Hope you enjoyed these Shadow photos! Please check out Shelly Goodman’s photographs for Shadow this month at http://blog.shellygoodmanphotography.com/2012/09/07/one-word-project-shadow/. Shelly is shooting with medium format film and I can’t wait to see what she has!