Freaky Dolls at The Gilded Flea

My friend Dwayne Brooke, guitarist and creative genius, owns a fun antique shop in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, called The Gilded Flea. (Click Here) to check them out.

 

I recently stopped in, while my Mom was in town. Of course, Mom found some treasures. But what intrigued me were these two uber-creepy dolls.

 

Cracked, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor Pre-AI 55mm f1.2 Lens

iso 400, f1.2, 1/60 sec.

 

Mom tells me the doll below has "sleep eyes." I'd say it looks more like out of body experience or possessed eyes, but that's just me.

 

Sleep Eyes, by Reed A. George

Nikon Df, Nikkor Pre-AI 55mm f1.2 Lens

iso 400, f1.2, 1/60 sec.

 

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The Dark Side

Another shot from the French Quarter in New Orleans.

The Darkside, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7

iso 320, f2.3, 1/125 sec.

Edited in Snapseed

 

This is an ornamental wrought iron work above a doorway in the French Quarter. It was creepy. I had to capture it.

 

The LX7 continues to amaze me, even though I've owned it for quite some time. The flexibility of the fast Leica zoom lens (f1.4 at 24mm equivalent, f1.9 at 50mm), multi-aspect ratio framing, zone focusing ability, and so many other features is tough to beat. This is the ultimate compact travel camera, in my opinion. Ready for fully automatic snapshots, or for manual control and interpretive image creation, the LX7 is one of the best cameras I own.

 

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Creepy Shot With the Whole Lotta Leica August Lens - Summicron 35mm f2 Version 3

 

Confederate Dead, by Reed A. George

Leica M9, Leica Summicron 35mm f2 Lens Version 3

iso 160, f13, 1/30 sec.

 

I took the day off today, and drove out to the Shenandoah National Park for some hiking and photography. It was a foggy morning. On the way out, I passed by the Groveton Confederate Cemetery at the Manassas National Battlefield. I walked around the cemetery a little with my M9 and tripod, and made a few shots. I almost missed this one.

 

On the way back to my car, I started looking more closely at the numerous spider webs in the tall grass. Finally, I put it together in my mind, and decided to find a nice one in front of the iron cemetery fence. This one was in a very good spot, in my opinion.

 

I converted the image to monochrome using SilverEfex Pro 2. I also selected a selenium tone, which is uncommon for me. Creepy effect, huh?

 

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Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer Shares His Composition Exercises Made With Lumix DMC-GX1

Blood Spatter, by Mike Johnston

Image Source: http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2013/01/exercise-pics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2FZSjz+%28The+Online+Photographer%29

 

I have to see it often, learn it over and over again. The most important thing about making art is to make art. In a post of "exercises" that Mike Johnston has taken, I see again how you can make interesting photos without going somewhere exotic, or worrying about spectacular subject matter.

 

(Click Here) to see Mike's post on The Online Photographer.

 

I selected "Blood Spatter," because I think it really exemplifies what I'm talking about. I mean, come on. A picture of a toilet paper roll? Yes! And I think it evokes a feeling or emotion - that is the goal of art.

 

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On Crows and Urban Naturalists

 

Image Source: http://www.dianevarner.com/index.php?showimage=408

 

This is the absolute perfect image for me today. I found it on Diane Varner's Daily Walk blog. There's a little prose to go along with it.

 

(Click Here) to see the post on Diane's blog.

 

 

Why does this fit my thoughts today? Well, I just finished reading a great book about urban naturalists and crows last night. It's called Crow Planet, by Lyanda Lynn Haupt (see the link below). This is a great book. It centers discussion around crows and how they thrive in urban environments, but is really about how to be a naturalist without living the true wilderness. Haupt does a good job of helping us to be realists about the "highly disturbed" nature of our greenspaces and yards, yet study nature for what it is today. She carries binoculars and a magnifier with her every day in her life in Seattle, Washington. She welcomes spiders into her home. My kind of gal.
 
So, you can see why I was drawn to Diane Varner's picture above, I think.
 
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And Now From The Darkside - Autumn Is For Death

On the same walk that I posted all the warmth and beauty of autumn from yesterday, I also found this:
 

Death in the Forest, by Reed A. George
Leica M9, Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 Lens (ca. 1953)
iso 200, f2.8, 1/250 sec
 
Autumn is the time for dying. Many animals and plants end their life cycle as the leaves turn color and fall to the ground.
 
I have no idea what this young buck died from. But, looking up, I see what may well have been his last sight of life...
 
 

Final Vision, by Reed A. George
Leica M9, Leica Summarit 50mm f1.5 Lens (ca. 1953)
iso 200, f2.6, 1/200 sec
 
See what I mean about that old Summarit drawing some interesting forms in black and white? You can see the sharpness of the skull in the first image, and how quickly that sharpness transitions into whorly out of focus regions. What a cool old lens.
 
Tomorrow I promise to get off the death theme, really.
 
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