Balloon Glow 2010

It's rarer than a solar event when Forest Park lets you down, whether it be photographically, theatrically, sportingly or scores of other ways, and this happening was no exception. The middle of September and the tradition of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race has been preceded for the past decade or so by a brilliant nighttime demonstration of the participants' crafts along with live music, fireworks and glow sticks/light sabers (and to my surprise, a great many photographers). Timing was a challenge here since every few minutes they would sound a horn and every balloon would have to light up for just a few seconds. Could have used a tripod on many, but a few gems still managed to come together.

won't you help to sing

  

This fellow, Diako Diakoff, started playing some music out in front of the Tivoli while it was still warm. He played a lot of classics and a few tunes of his own. This one's my favorite.

 

 -  Anyway,

getting reacquainted with nature

Sometimes those little river-towns can really surprise you visually and I would be remiss not to have taken advantage of a getaway to Hermann, MO, where German immigrants found a piece of home in this lush pocket of the Missouri River Valley in the 1840's that now mainly consists of two major wineries, a microbrewery and of course a plethora of antique stores. There are definitely shades of kitsch, but the initial drive in from the south (Hwy 19 or H I think) provides a panorama that spawned a flashback to my views of Bavarian hills (and mountains) through the windows on the train.

dorm life

You're a Skyscraper

I've been a long time going through sixteen-hundred-plus images from San Francisco, and I think this will be the swansong for that trip's assemblage of exposures. I'm hoping there was some enjoyment on your part of this whole deal, going through these sets with me. If you didn't enjoy yourself, though, you can piss right off, because I had a great time. Hah. You should be used to the next part:

(makes you wanna say your prayers)

The St. Louis Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens was awesome as usual, and I've only been to the opening day so far. Mayor Slay was there for the kagamiwari: the ritual of smashing a giant barrel of sake open with hammers, and then dishing it out. And so it came to pass that the mayor of St. Louis poured me a drink. I'll be mentioning that at parties for a long time.


Oh! There were many cool things, but the Taiko drummers stole the event for me. I just set my camera on rapid exposure and held down the button. How's that for technique? I guess it's more like carpet bombing than sniping, but the St. Louis Osuwa Taiko ensemble put on a non-stop flawless show to a packed crowd (I cowered at the back) so I'd go so far as to say you can't blame me. Anyway, click that break link below to see a full sequence of the sound and the fury in photographic form.

Stop it.

Jump on that link below for the full sequence. Cheers.

so stark

Anthony Barsanti

Tony's a great friend and an even better photographer - be on the lookout for sequences from him in the near future!

open call for prison architects

I've got so many sequences sitting here waiting to be sorted... I don't know exactly how they'll play out, but I do know they'll go quite a long way. I suppose next week will be strict abstracts the way this sequence ends, but for now, why don't you give these a good stare. I found some of the best bars in the Bay Area.

ride it out

I got into a serious photo binge in the last few days, still fixated on simple shapes and texture. Not much to say, really, check out the latest under the jump break.

Nostalgia

It is summer. What is interesting is while small amounts of water appear clear, large amounts seem blue. In addition, small amounts of atmosphere appear clear while large amounts resemble blue. Should we say water is blue, or is the correct color of water clear? How will the children color clear?
I am enjoying cool toned photographs as of late. I have always been a warm tone kind of guy... interesting.

never complains when it's hot

The other day I sat, camera in lap, wondering where I could go to get some great shots of trees in their full summer plumage.

"No!" A million voices cried out. "No more trees!"

And as I am a loving god, I give you... windows! And then next month, probably more trees.

you're not one of them.

~P.K.

someone said we're there

I went on more than a few photo safaris during the winter, and I'm still catching up with some of them. I'm never so inclined to pick up the camera and drive around as when there's fresh snow on the ground.

aloha means goodbye

Three of Three:

I'm just tired at this point. Look, pictures!

i am no futurist

Part Two of Three Follows.


Looking over my nature scenes from winter in Tokyo, I often got the same feeling I had with the images of constructed elements. Great lines, but very little life. It was January, after all. So I decided to play the revisionist - added some warmth here, juiced a couple images past my normal comfort there, until I was satisfied that the photographs suggested at the same theme. (usually by way of its glaring omission.) Anyway, that's what was going through my head.

come on in.

Part One of Three.

I love lines.

the tones are grouped in clusters

I've just sorted through 1000+ images from a recent trip to Tokyo, and I'm just now getting ready to touch up and post two or three sets over the next few weeks.

I did want to throw a couple images out, though, as a prelude. I can't really think of any way to group the collections other than: images of living things, images of constructed things, and images of the two together, which last thing could be a pretty good leitmotif of the entire city, but whatever. I had two cameras with me, but I wasn't exactly hunting for anything other than compositions I liked. The result was the aforementioned oppressive bulk of image data.

And but so:

Something Worth Fighting For

It has been a while so i thought i would stop by and introduce a new image. Set out on bicycle in ice and fog. Returned with this. I wish i had taken more advantage of the 2 weeks of fog here in St. Louis...
Also feel free to check out some images from a trip at flickr.com/jjbrauner