Traveling the Journey of Light | Photoblog Thoughts, feelings, and techniques behind the photography of Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston

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

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

OLOH - The Self-Assignment of One Lens, One HourPosted by drfl on April 21st, 2010

I often participate in giving myself self-assignments and one of my most frequent assignments is what I call “One Lens, One Hour”. In this assignment, I give myself 2 constraints, I can only choose one lens to use and I only have one hour in which to utilize said lens. While I do not usually limit myself to filters or other accessories, I usually go forth with only the camera in hand, lens mounted, and nothing else.

Ever since purchasing the 135 f/2l, I’ve been in a shallow Depth of Field mood and since I only have one other lens that can open wide, I choose to go out with my trusty 50 Compact-Macro. I visited our local Arboretum and shot the beautiful trees that were blooming. Now, I don’t usually photograph flowers, and my last two posts have contained images of flowers, but I think that variety helps breed creativity. Besides, they were colorful and pretty and the weather was perfect during my hour! All images were captured with a Canon 5D Mark II (Extra Crispy) and a 50 CM Lens.

 
Shot at f/3.2

Shot at f/2.8

Shot at f/2.5
 

Omaha Holiday Lights Festival - 2009Posted by drfl on December 28th, 2009

I don’t usually get a lot of time to photograph the city, but every year I make it a point to go to downtown Omaha and photograph the holiday lights that the city places on the trees throughout the mall. On each visit I attempt to make a photograph from a new location or a new perspective. This year was particularly spectacular as we got over a foot of snow dumped on us. I headed down right after the snow and before many people had walked through so that I could get a shot without any footprints. I was the first to make the prints, but of course, when I was done my feet were very cold, but my car was close.

Below are links to previous year’s images. It’s always fascinating to see how the city has changed.

• Holiday Lights Festival - 2005
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2006 - I
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2006 - II
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2007 - I
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2007 - II
• Holiday Lights Festival - 2008

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 17-40 f/4l @ 17mm, f/9, 2.5 sec
Omaha, Nebraska

This photograph can be viewed on my website at: Holiday Lights Festival - 2009

The Imperfect ImagePosted by drfl on July 23rd, 2009

I have always imagined capturing an image of a leaf under the ice.  In my imagination the leaf was preserved in pristine condition with a nice thin layer of ice covering it to add texture and depth.  Last winter at the OPPD Arboretum I went on a particularly cold day to capture some ice pattern abstracts and leaves trapped in the frozen pond.  I found a fallen fellow that was close to what I wanted, but when I returned to my computer I immediately dismissed the image as not “perfect” enough. 

7 months have gone by and I have reviewed the image again and this time I made a realization:  It is the imperfections which help give this image character and make it more “real”.  99% of the leaves I have seen trapped under the ice are somehow “misshapen”, but this is nature at work - decomposing and renewing for the following year.  In this image the bubbles and the notch out of the side of the leaf give it added interest that would not have been there otherwise.  Sometimes imperfection in our work shows a different glimpse of the beauty of nature.

Technical Details:
Canon 5d Mark II, 50 CM lens, f/10, 1/125 sec.
OPPD Arboretum, Omaha, Nebraska

This image can be viewed on my website at: http://www.journeyoflight.com/journey06/photo.asp?pictureid=FrozenInTime&xmlfile=/journey06/xml/color/midwest.xml&x=27

An Evening At the BallparkPosted by drfl on June 15th, 2009

Last night I had the opportunity to go to Game 4 of the College World Series, played every year in Omaha, Nebraska.  The smell of hots dogs, the sound of the bat connecting with the ball, the cheer of the crowd - all remined me why I always enjoy watching the game.  I attempt to make it to at least one game each year and this year I brought my camera along to get a shot of Rosenblatt Stadium.  Omaha is building a new stadium so Rosenblatt only has one more year after this in which it will be hosting the College World Series.  Since it has been an icon of Omaha for several decades I wanted to make sure that I was able to capture an image with the game in play and with the stands filled with a crowd.  Overall, the game was pretty exciting with some good back and forth between Texas and Southern Miss. for quite some time.  In the end Texas emerged the victors, though. 

I took several images around twilight from different vantage points.  This photograph is actually two shots taken and stitched together to create a long pano.

Technical Details:
2 Photos, Canon 50d, 10-22mm ef-s lens @ 22mm, f/8, 1/25 sec.
Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Nebraska