fourpointedstar

Last year in April I started posting images to my website again; a simple task – one image each day.  I’ve had a photo blog of some form since 2006, and the previous sites each succumbed to the same “life gets busy, and posting photos gets left behind” trap.  But for the past year, I’ve successfully posted each daily image – images that bring joy to my world and images that I’m proud to share.

I started www.fourpointedstar.com/gallery in late 2010 and modeled it after The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture. Along the way, I began posting images according to a theme for each week, but the Gallery fell by the wayside as life got busy.  I’m not certain what made me decide to begin posting images again, but over the past year, I’ve posted an image each day, and worked to fill in some of the missing images from the past – a total of more than 700 images posted over the year.

I’m most proud of each year’s calendar.  It is exceptionally gratifying to see a year’s worth of images displayed and remember each adventure that goes along with each photo. 2018 is the only year that is completed, but you can get a nice overview of most of the photos that I’ve posted by clicking on each year’s calendar below.

**********

A few more nerdy details: 

 – I’ve posted around 2,000 photos since 2010, and since 2013, the images have been scaled so that they look wonderful on high resolution displays and phones.

 – Each week’s images are consolidated into a summary post with thumbnails, and each month gets a “calendar view” post as well.  These are probably the more efficient ways to view the images, but “updated weekly” or “updated monthly” isn’t quite as exciting.

 – I use tagging quite a bit mostly for my benefit; in fact, while I obviously post my images on my website for everyone’s enjoyment, the site itself is mostly for my benefit.

 – I’m never quite sure how much information to include with each photo; like the tagging, I think it’s mostly for my benefit, but I have had a few fellow photographers who have used the technical or location information for their own photo.

 – I don’t try to sell my images, in fact, I shy away from it.  To me, the enjoyment is creating interesting images, attempting to create a business would only distract from that enjoyment.  (And, honestly, my life is already busy enough.)  Similarly, I don’t chase social media followers, likes, or even have comments on fourpointedstar.com; as I read recently “you don’t have to monetize your joy.”

 – I love talking about photography, locations, and technique with others; I will often introduce myself to other photographers to share the experience, and if they are new to photography or simply have questions, I try to share the knowledge and experience I’ve gained.  

**********

For me, photography is about the refreshing breath and the joy that it brings.  I hope that I can share just a little bit of my joy with the people who see my photography too.

One year ago I began posting photos to my website again.  It’s a simple concept really; one image per day with a theme for each week’s images.  I hadn’t consistently posted images on my website since 2014 which had frustrated me; so I’ve begun the process of uploading images from 2014 to 2017 too. In total, I’ve posted more than 630 images over the course of the past year, and you can see them right here: http://www.fourpointedstar.com/gallery/category/weeks/

“681” />

For the past 8 years, I’ve used themes for each week of my images: a location, an event, or simply an idea.   But early in December, as I was reviewing my images from Warren Dunes, I decided to challenge myself with posting an entire month’s worth of themed images.

Around the same time, I was marveling at the simplicity of great black and white images: they can’t rely on colors to give life and interest to the image, leaving the photographer with only texture and composition.   I decided that I would post 28 black and white images in the month of February, and that I would also challenge myself to shooting and editing with black and white images in mind.

As part of my black & white month, I wanted to feature some photos of cactus.   I’ve visited several botanic gardens and conservatories, but hadn’t ever spent the time and focus needed to properly capture cactus.   So, on a cold Sunday in January, I drove down to Lincoln Park, and upon arriving, realized that I’d left my Nikon at home.   After driving home and back, I walked into the Lincoln Park Conservatory, only to discover that they don’t have a cactus room – some days just don’t work out how you plan.

So, instead of cactus, I took photos of plants that I thought would work great in black & white…and someday, I’ll actually take a trip to photograph cactus.

For the second full week of Black & White February, I decided to follow up on an idea that I’d had for a few months – to shoot light trails in Elgin.   I enjoy capturing long exposures, but the added challenge of capturing light trails in downtown Elgin instead of Chicago (where there’s more traffic) seemed challenging.  

While we were out in the bitter cold for the January Lunar Eclipse, I realized that Elgin’s parking garages would make a great vantage point for some light trail images.   I’d taken images from the top of the Spring Street garage, in fact, I’ve led photo walks in downtown Elgin and used the Spring Street garage as a vantage point.  

However, I decided to add one more aspect to the week’s photos: I would attempt to shoot 7 images and capture 7 photos that I was proud of…I didn’t quite make it.   Capturing light trails of traffic when there’s very little traffic turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected.   But I took 14 images, from 6 vantage points, and captured 7 images that I’m proud of.

In mid-December, I drove past the Indiana Dunes and stopped and took the first image; around this time, I’d decided that February would be all black & white images – more on that at the end of the month.  I invited a photographer friend to come along on a dedicated trip back to the dunes and took photos with the intention of creating a week’s worth of black & white images.

We had a fantastic day of photography and conversation, and I ended up with quite a few more than 7 images and some images with fantastic texture and composition.