This image really has to be viewed full size over on Flickr to be appreciated. And even at full size, that’s only 19% of the full image! Details on how this picture was taken are over on the Twin Geeks photoblog.

I think this may be my favorite panorama that I have ever shot.

Two shots taken at the Fremont Sunday Market with off-camera flash using the PocketWizard ControlTL system. I’ve been experimenting with off-camera flash more often, lately!

This shot of a shipwreck on the Oregon coast was shot as a single RAW file, then turned into a psuedo-HDR with Photomatix to bring out the details better, then turned into a black-and-white image with Silver Efex Pro.

A lot of work for an effect I probably could’ve gotten by just bringing the film body and shooting Ilford HP5, but… hey, whatever works.

Fawzi Benhariz, known as Benny, the Rock-Man, or ‘the Stonedancer,’ is an interesting figure in our neighborhood. Benny started making sculptures out of rocks when he was a six-year-old boy back in Libya, whenever he was upset. He says he always found peace in finding the energy of each rock that let it fit well with other rocks.

After coming to the United States about three decades ago, Benny attended Loyola University to get a degree in philosophy. While in school, he’d work through his stress by constructing balanced rock sculptures along the levees in New Orleans.

Benny’s been through some rough times; eventually, he ended up on the streets in Seattle, building his sculptures to find peace in his life and in hopes of earning donations from passers-by. He’s had some dark spells, but he’s making some efforts to turn his life around now. He’s got a place to stay, a website and is working on finding ways to monetize his art — selling posters and postcards I’ve made of his work, for instance — so as to get his life back together.

This picture is one I took yesterday, of Benny resting his hand on one of the balanced-rock sculptures he was working on. The black-and-white of the bright sun and dark shadows, and the masking tape wrapped around the injured fingers, made a very dramatic image.

Made for an odd little set of pictures, because the light was awful (and I’d forgotten my Speedlite), but in the end the quality of light kind of worked for the shots in question.

Of course, it’s important to find some refreshment after a long shoot, too…

Haven’t posted in a while… oops! This is a black-and-white I took at the Seattle Public Library’s Central Branch, the rather distinctive huge glass geometric blob in downtown Seattle. Up on one of the upper floors, I saw this lone student engrossed in their studies, and had to snap a picture. I do love playing with natural backlighting when the opportunity arises.

Took a break during today’s film photostroll to shoot this with the 5D2; I shot +/-2 EV from my target exposure, combined the three shots into HDR with Photomatix, and then turned it back into film-esque black and white using Silver Efex Pro.

Eventually I’ll actually get my black and white film from today developed, too!

Posters on a wall below Pike Place Market make an interesting subject for an almost abstract image. (I didn’t photograph the Sunday Market this week, so I have no market challenge to discuss. Any ideas for next week are welcomed, though!)

Some pictures just require a certain treatment. The original color image here was less compelling or interesting… but a square crop with a black and white Holga-style conversion, and suddenly the image is a more poignant moment caught in time.

On the way to the Brews & Views meetup for the month, Terence and I ran across a street carnival/theater, called “Lullaby Moon” and created by Lucia Neare’s Theatrical Wonders. Apparently a new chapter or variation is performed in some neighborhood around Seattle once a month, the night of the new moon.

We got to the B&V a bit late, because we had to stop and take photos of this serendipitous encounter. Sometimes the best photographs are the ones you really didn’t expect to get to take.