I brought my 88 year old father into the Vietnamese Nail Salon to get his toenails trimmed. He can’t do them anymore and they get REALLY long before he says anything about them.
While I was waiting I noticed this woman getting her nails done. I was particularly drawn to her wide set eyes and asked her if I could take her photograph. I took some photos of her fingers and nails sitting on the towel waiting to be filed.
Later when I was doing the collage of her face photos I connected the finger photos and kept seeing them as little wings. I envisioned her wanting to fly from the Vietnamese Nail Salon to New York or Dallas, to BE somewhere, to fly to the top, to be seen gliding and flying and rolling across the sky.
I later came across her at the local Target where she is a co-worker of my daughter. She didn’t remember me taking the photos at all.
I did a photo shoot with her back in 2007 and witnessed what a vortex of activity and energy she created while she was modeling. I kept having a feeling of watching a human tornado. I took some photos around the house of objects, windows, etc. and put together this collage that really seemed to play off this idea.
I chose this one for the Fourth of July because it is the quintessential eccentric American scene. The guy who lives in this house is a golf fanatic. He has a mini putting green on his lawn, complete with sand trap, water hazard (off to the right) and a pin. In the background is Old Glory illuminated by the sun. Gotta love America!
I was sitting in a design meeting at OSU Medical Center in Tulsa and before it started I noticed the big flag in the atrium intersected with the vertical blinds in our conference room. Easy choice to take the shot right then.
Day two of my week-long series on American colors in celebration of the 4th of July.
I Found this American scene while photographing near the railroad tracks and Arkansas River in Tulsa back in 2006. I think it was part of a run down garage next to a run down house. But that really didn’t matter. What mattered was the undesigned, unanticipated beauty of the American colors in such an unlikely spot.
Last in the series of Color Compositions taken in June, 2008 at the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market in Tulsa, OK. Next week it’s all about the USA!
I like this one a lot due to the bag being right down the middle of the image. I have been working on a REALLY old laptop since January 08 and I have been doing the color based on that monitor. Now I am on my new computer and I realize how many of my images are oversaturated. But in this case I think I like it!
A continuation of the color composition series I started posting last week. This one is a good example of something I was trying to impart to the other participants in our ‘color and composition’ outing at the Farmer’s Market.
That is to look behind, above, inside, around and under things to find shots. Don’t just walk down the middle of the aisle at head height and take photos of one thing or the obvious thing. Check out behind the booths, find what is under one of the tables or inside a bin on the table. Be curious and bold in other words. This was a bin of bags for customers off to the side of a vegetable table. I loved the combination of such a utilitarian thing with the great color arrangement. Being close to the Fourth of July didn’t hurt.
