Farewell Rosenblatt – A College World Series and Omaha Icon (Computer Wallpaper Too!)Posted by drfl on June 30th, 2010

Last night South Carolina beat UCLA for the College World Series title at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.  For 60 years the College World Series has been played at Rosenblatt and the stadium has been iconically associated with the series.  Next year the games will be played in a new facility in north downtown Omaha.  Although the prospect of newer and bigger can be promising, many, including myself, have fond memories of attending games at Rosenblatt and will miss it.  Last year during the series I captured a panoramic with 2 horizontal images stitched together. Today I present an image from Game 14, played last Saturday - South Carolina vs. Clemson.  This is a panoramic of 4 vertical images stitched together for a 40 megapixel detailed image of that game.  Click here for a larger version that can be used freely as computer wallpaper as long as the copyright stays on the image.  Enjoy the memories! 

Here is the section with the billboard, reduced in size slightly.

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 10-22 ef-s lens @ 22 for 4 images
Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Nebraska

Nebraska – From One Extreme to Another – Day 3 – Another WorldPosted by drfl on June 30th, 2010

For thousands of years Nebraska was located under a great inland sea. When the water drained many different mammals, reptiles, and birds migrated into the regain and roamed over the terrain. This great diversity of animals have been studied extensively via the many scientifically interesting fossil deposits throughout the park. Evidence of these fossils can be readily seen as “tracks” in the rocks and deposits that were formed by wind and water over millions of years.

Technical Details:
Canon 50D, 70-200 f/4l @ 73mm, f/7.1, 1/25 sec.
Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska

Nebraska – From One Extreme to Another – Day 2 – Brightly Shining ThroughPosted by drfl on June 29th, 2010

Toadstool Geologic Park is an area of interesting rock formations that come in all sorts of strange shapes.  Here the sun is setting behind  an example of one of the formations for which the park is named, a toadstool.

Technical Details
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/18, 1/160 sec.
Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska

Nebraska – From One Extreme to Another – Day 1 – Clouds and StonePosted by drfl on June 28th, 2010

Leading up to my exhibition at the Governor’s Residence in Lincoln beginning on July 14th, beginning today I am presenting a 10 day, 10 image series of photographs exemplifying two diverse locations in the state of Nebraska.  The first week will bring photos of Toadstool Geologic Park in the far Northwestern corner of Nebraska then followed by a week of photos of Ponca State Park in the far Northeastern corner of Nebraska.  The images are far from the Interstate, this is “Wild” Nebraska.

Technical Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 27mm, f/11, 1/40 sec.
Toadstool Geologic Park, Nebraska

Slowly Moving AlongPosted by drfl on June 15th, 2010

It’s now less than a month away from when I exhibit at the Governor’s residence in Lincoln, Nebraska. When I initially got the invitation, it was over a year before I had to have everything prepared so I procrastinated. Of course, throughout that time I have had various things crop up, and of course, I have captured more images! Realizing my deadline, I just put in an order for 25 new Nebraska images so that I could rotate out some older (and non-Nebraska) stuff for the show.

Additionally, Nebraska Life magazine is doing a small piece on my exhibition, so if you are a subscriber, be sure to look for the information and an image or two in the next issue!

While this photograph will not be in the show as it is not an image from Nebraska, I felt it reflected the theme of the post – slow, but steady.   A little story about the image. My eldest daughter and I hiked a nature trail Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri in early May and had come across this snail moving slowly and deliberately across a fallen log.  We watched him for a good ten minutes, all the while my daughter managed to accumulate four ticks which proved difficult to find.  After finding three, I called it good, loaded her in the car and proceeded to drive away.  When I was on the on-ramp to the Interstate I heard a shriek from the back of the car, “There’s a bug on me!”.  I immediately pulled over and ran to her to find a huge tick crawling up her arm.  Not sure how I missed that one.

Technical Details
Canon 5D Mark II, 50 CM lens, f/5.6, 1/50 sec.
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri

5 Arguments Against “Is That REALLY How You Saw It?” – #1: Are You Empathic?Posted by admin on June 11th, 2010

The best photographs are the ones that evoke emotions from the viewers.  No emotion, no connection.  The problem with photography is that it strips all the other senses from the image, leaving it a decidedly one sense experience.  No smell of the fragrance of flowers, no feeling of the wind whipping around one’s body, no evidence of the sound of water lapping at one’s feet.  As humans, we rely on all our senses to help build a scene, and as we experience the events unfolding before us, we develop emotions related to these events.  As photographers, we are in the thick, capturing images, all the while feeling these emotions.  The camera strips it all, except for sight.  As artists we must become cognizant of not only our feelings, but how to portray them within this confinement.  We must build the serenity, the joy, the sorrow, all the feelings that the scene invokes in us, into the image. 

Going back to the question posed for the week, “Is that REALLY how you saw it?”.  Perhaps, but the better question is, “Is that REALLY how you experienced it?”  Our experiences are what needs to be transposed to print, not just a stale, static scene.

At the beginning of the week I promised I would address how I feel the best way to handle the objections from viewers that question the validity of images.  Simple, I tell them “That is how I experienced it!”  If we can give our viewers even a glimpse into our emotions, our mind, then we have succeeded wholly as artists and that is the only answer that is needed.

Mass Believability? - 1 That must of have been an electrifying unreal experience!

Technical Details:
Canon 20D, 70-200 f/4l @ 91mm, f/5, 3.1 sec.
Omaha, Nebraska