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“Vanity Shot”
June 9th, 2025
the purple plymouth
Tagged: A7r3
My goodness, there are so many red cars at car shows, so this Purple Plymouth stood out from the crowd. In my ongoing effort to capture unique views at auto shows, I love this off balance scowling headlight, grill, and bumper.
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an abstracted car…
During a chat with some friends, our conversation wandered past the topic of “how do you know that you have captured a great photo?”
When it comes to photos from car shows, I love to capture a new view, a new angle, a new interpretation. Only sometimes does it lead to a “great” photo, but it is a continual challenge to my skills as a creative photographer … to create an image that I haven’t seen before of a car that I’ve seen hundreds of times.
~ 1956 Chevrolet Belair coupe
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This DJI Mini 3 was my Christmas gift, but I’ve only started learning to fly it. With three teenage daughters, the school year is simply too busy!
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Sometimes it’s just the simplicity of the photo.
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I’m not really a “street photographer”, but over the past two years I have been trying to expand my photography. As my friend Arnoldo and I walked through Elgin on that rainy November day, I found several scenes that were not my usual fare, but still felt photogenic to my eye.
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This wasn’t my favorite photo to capture. The railings on the staircase are glass and that just gives me the heebie-jeebies (is that how you spell that phrase?); moving my feet out of the way while trying to hold my camera over the edge.
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As I moved around the lobby in the Hemmens, these lights moved with me creating patterns and shapes. A centimeter this way or that and the entire frame would change; it’s one of the reasons that I love architecture photography, it really does embody that statement of “right place, right time”. The colors, angles, lighting are all impacted by exactly when and where you are standing.
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I’ve heard many people say the right place and the right time are essential for a photograph, but I would argue that the right mindset is also essential. As Sarah and I were standing in the lobby of The Hemmens in Elgin, I was watching the reflections and refractions on the windows and walls. And while my mind wandered, this distant aircraft caught my eye as it traced its way through each window pane.
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As the sun crests the hills, a photographer has a few minutes when the tips of trees and plants are radiating the sun’s fresh light, and the rest of the plant rests in the shadows … a solar spotlight of sorts.
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Someday I’ll learn my lesson, only go waterfall chasing after a nice healthy rain! Rocky Glen in Peoria has a nice vertical hike over a hill and into the valley to reach the waterfall; in the second photo you can see the massive boulder that the water flows underneath after dropping down the cliff face – yes, the same boulder with the carvings & graffiti.
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Normally graffiti distracts from my nature photos; but in this case, the carvings were so pervasive on this rock that it became an artistic subject in itself. In order to capture “Winding Valley”, I had to stand on this rock, and interestingly there were no carvings on the other side of the boulder.
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One of the best parts of early spring is that there is enough greenery to add a nice pop of color, but there is not enough greenery to block a longer scenic photo. And I particularly love the fact that the stream reflects the light blue sky in this photo.
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Any time that I go on a photo walk, I start capturing photos before I find inspiration; generally, I’m visiting a specific event or location, so that means that I have a subject in mind. On the photo walk to the Black Partridge Woods, I knew that I would be capturing early spring flowers, but there is always that first photo that kicks off the inspiration at a photo shoot (at least for me).
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As I climbed up the hill, I found this fallen tree. I love that the branches appear to reach out into the forest. But as I stared at the downed tree, I realized that it may be a wonderful black & white image. I’ll let you decide.
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I’m always amazed at the people who can go on a nature hike and name most of the flowers, leaves, trees, or moss. My brain just doesn’t work that smoothly; do you want to know what generation of Mac laptop first had the G3 chip? I know that, but common names for flowers … well that’s never going to stick in my brain.
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Nearly every year, I take at least one trip down to Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum to photograph the butterflies. The Nature Museum has a wonderful year-round habitat for the butterflies, and in the middle of winter with all of the dull colors of nature, it’s relaxing to photograph something with rich colors.
But a friend challenged me to photograph something unusual in black & white; so I chose the butterflies in my second trip to Peggy Notebaert. Can I create interesting images without depending on the vibrant colors of the plants and insects? I am very pleased with the results of my experiment.
