What was the last image you created, and why?

[TheFlyingCamera]

Title says it all. What was the last subject you photographed, and why did you photograph that subject that way? If at all possible, attach the image in question to your post.

 

[HiHoSilver]

Great questions, TFC. If I don't know why - its prob just a learning exercise at best, but not likely a happening image.
My last subject was a local creek. In a couple miles from the house, it has 2 grottos, one decent waterfall & 2 sheer walls covered in ferns. While landscape isn't my main passion I think (rightly or wrongly), I'd be out of my mind not to get some decent shots of local beauty. That landscap isn't my passion will show, but it will also have the learning value. 'Glad I shot it, but expectations remain humble.

 

[frank]

I bought a nice new enamelled colander because the old one was getting rusty. So I put it on my head and took a selfie, just for kicks and giggles.

Photography does not always need to be serious.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

The last subject photographed for which I have a presentable image was a documentary exposure of Lieutenant Colonel Edward J. Saylor, US Army Air Corps, Ret.

Lt. Col. Saylor was the flight engineer on the fifteenth (of sixteen) land-based B-25 Mitchel medium bombers that took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on April 18, 1942. The mission was to bomb the Japanese homelands for the first time after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that directly led to the US entry into World War II.

The occasion was a seminar at Paine Field in Everett, Washington where Mr. Saylor gave a public recounting of the Doolittle Raid, and his part in it. He presented not only facts about the event, but several interesting anecdotes about Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle as well. The audience was filled with younger members brought by their fathers and grandfathers for this rare chance to hear a living historic figure describe first-hand a seminal moment in US history.

I chose to photograph Mr. Saylor (holding the microphone) up against a later model of the same twin-engine aircraft in which he flew that long ago day. The B-25 you see in the background is a 'J' model, while Doolittle's bombers were brand new 'B' models. Nevertheless, I still felt the visual context was worthwhile.

I also attempted to add part of the audience, as they were all listening with rapt attention and in total silence, with only the occasional subtle gasp. My camera position was severely constrained, and sadly that fellow immediately behind and to the left of Mr. Saylor just refused to budge.

On this day as he addressed the public Lt. Col. Saylor was 94 years old, and was the fourth crew member from the original 80 to still be alive. He stood unassisted for over an hour during his presentation, and also took questions afterward. I did manage to speak with him personally for a few moments after the session. He has since passed away.

For any history buffs reading along (I am also one), the following link shows grainy 16mm black-and-white motion picture footage of the Doolittle bombers lifting off the deck of the Hornet into a strong headwind. It's white-knuckle stuff.

Lt. Col. Saylor's aircraft #15 (the next-to-last on the deck) can be clearly identified warming up and taking off between 5:13 and 5:48 of the clip. After having listened to the man in person, I still find myself coming back to view this segment with a sense of historic awe. He would have been 22 years old on the clip and in the bomber.

Doolittle Raid Launch Footage 1942

Here is a scan reproduction of the photograph (apparently we now need to click on embedded images to see them full-size if they have been automatically reduced):

Ken

 

[removed account4]

frank: i didn't realize you were a pastafarian !

 

[removed account4]

scott, the last images i made was this morning and afternoon.
http://www.dpug.org/gallery/showimage.php?i=2288&c=32

i try to make at least one image a day, any way i can. this is the one i made today.
it is a construction using textures and shapes and tones.

 

[Peltigera]

A series of flowers against a black background. They are for an exhibition in Lincoln in April. My reasons for doing them that way is to step right out of my comfort zone - I usually do landscapes and architecture - and show I am capable of more than I usually do. I might yet come a cropper! I cannot attach them as they are still virtual images.

 

[BradleyK]

Yesterday, late in the am, I photographed an elderly Chinese man, sitting on a red wooden box, sorting through produce, in front of a vendor's shop in Granville Island. Why? Three reasons: First, the light was just magnificent; second, the photograph was capturing someone in the daily business of life, involved in one of those mundane, yet poetic tasks; and three, the photograph was taken as part of an ongoing multi-year project documenting life in my city.
Catholic in its scope (or "thematically bereft," to those who are wrapped tighter than I am), I am photographing landscapes and nature, festivals, parades, street scenes, architecture, musicians and artists, portraits, fishers and crabbers, boats, bicycles, rush hour traffic, animals, etc. I'll consider this particular effort complete when all my 35mm E100G/VS and 120 E100G is done - perhaps by the end of this year? Perhaps not...

 

[jeffreyg]

I placed my last image in the monthly assignment but I was a subject I had been meaning to photograph anyway. It just happened to fit the category. Here it is again. A very short detour
http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[HiHoSilver]

Ken, Thank You for posting. 'Great bit of history, excellent shot.

J. 'Pastafarian'. Ohhhhhh. (head smack). Is that like the Dyslexic, Agnostic Insomniac? One who lies awake nights wondering if there really is a Dog?

 

[John_Nikon_F]

Last analog shot was a photo of the Kenmore Camera building in Kenmore, Washington. Mainly was finishing up the roll of film in the camera. The last shot I took would be off-topic for the group, since it was produced by a phone.



Keys to the car are on the hood, and another Volvo 240 is peeking out from behind the driver's mirror. Fujicolor Superia XTRA 400, rated at ISO 250. F3P with 50/1.8 AF-D Nikkor.

-J

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

How about you, Scott? Must be something available from a Rolleiflex and exposed during your last trip?

Ken

 

[eddie]

I haven't photographed anything lately, but I am continuing to create negatives for cliché verres. I tend to work on projects, rather than individual photographs, so my motivation is often to make sure they work alone, as well as in a group.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Running Portra 160, a semi-formal portrait of my sister last weekend, one in which we as a family can all reflect on how she was, at this time, at the relatively early, yet fast progressing stage of motor neurone disease (known interchangeably in the USA as Lou Gehrig's disease), where there is a rapid loss of normality. The portrait I made is the first exercise in portraiture (on the Pentax 67) for decades. That film is still in-camera.

 

[removed account4]

for about3-4 years now i've been working on a series of colorized images.
they all from film cameras and black and white film or paper negatives. some are from 35mm, others 4x5.
this was made a little bit away from me ( 20 mins ? ) en route to get honey malt grain.
its one of a handful of buildings in this stretch of road that are full of debris, or just abandoned.

i made the image for a few reasons. i photograph the stuff around me often. i photograph things
that are here one day and vanished the next. sometimes i miss by a day and its gone. time is slow in this
village this set of buildings has looked exactly like this for 25 years.
the 2nd reason i made this is i am working ona series of tinted photographs that look like tinted postcards
from the 19teens, but they are dreamy and soft and a little different than the typical
ones with "drop ins" like like a woman with a baby stroller to show its "nice" and a smokestack to show "progress".

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

How about you, Scott? Must be something available from a Rolleiflex and exposed during your last trip?

Ken

I'm sorry I didn't respond to this earlier - it slipped through the radar. I went on an excursion back in March over to Fort Foote, which is one of the defensive fortifications built around Washington DC during the Civil War, to protect the city from naval attack along the Potomac River. It is one of the few remaining emplacements of Rodman cannons - they were the height of naval warfare technology from the 1860s to the late 1880s, and could pierce massive amounts of ship armor (10 inches of steel plate) even at 5000 yards. As the technology changed, the Rodman guns were removed, melted down, or in some cases, dropped into foundations of new fortifications to reinforce concrete.

I've been kinda busy with curating the alternative process show at Photoworks where I teach, so darkroom work hasn't been real high on my priority list. But now that I have the Beseler back in fighting trim, I'm going to be putting in some darkroom work to print stuff from Italy and pieces like this too.

I like creating and posting pieces like this because it reminds people that worthwhile subjects are always close at hand- it took me less than an hour's drive from my house, including fighting city traffic, to get to Fort Foote, yet I was one of only five or six people there during the hour and a half I was wandering around.

 

[HiHoSilver]

* sorta off topic * TFC, I love this topic & also love your work. 'Hope the teaching is treating you well - wish I could attend. (wrong coast)

I'm really wanting to settle on a developer - hate proliferating various soups & snots. I'm encourage on one lately, with D76 as a fallback. This matters because I'm shooting very locally & taking in all the past buildings, equipment, vehicles. I had one old, old flatbed truck shot that I wanted to go back to re-shoot. It was gone. So I'm trying to catch stuff before time takes it away. 'Hope to get some shots of another large pipe-organ downtown this eve. I must be on some binge over roots, connectedness w/ where I/we come from - tech/values/social norms. I've loved your shots of Fort Foote.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

* sorta off topic * TFC, I love this topic & also love your work. 'Hope the teaching is treating you well - wish I could attend. (wrong coast)

I'm really wanting to settle on a developer - hate proliferating various soups & snots. I'm encourage on one lately, with D76 as a fallback. This matters because I'm shooting very locally & taking in all the past buildings, equipment, vehicles. I had one old, old flatbed truck shot that I wanted to go back to re-shoot. It was gone. So I'm trying to catch stuff before time takes it away. 'Hope to get some shots of another large pipe-organ downtown this eve. I must be on some binge over roots, connectedness w/ where I/we come from - tech/values/social norms. I've loved your shots of Fort Foote.

Glad my work resonates with you. It's always nice to hear from folks who respond to your images. I chose this topic to try and encourage folks here to think about the value of their work beyond "f/11 @ 1/60th, ISO 200, FP4+, D-76 1:1, Forte Polywarmtone" or "Hasselblad, 150mm f4 Sonnar". I want people to care about the images they make and to convey the connection they have to it.

 

[HiHoSilver]

'Can't remember if it was Barnbaum or Rockwell ( I know they have their detractors here), but the statement was that if you aren't excited about an image - don't bother - it'll show.

 

[HiHoSilver]

"'Hope to get some shots of another large pipe-organ downtown this eve."
Left shortly after posting this, not knowing if I'd have resistance to shooting before the concert. As it was, they were very reasonable & I got a one & a half roll before people started filtering in. Those events/sessions are intense for me - pouring sweat though it wasn't warm. Scared spitless I'll make gross exposure errors from not noticing if a meter setting wandered from being used, handled. First roll out of the tank & they're be alright & look rather nasty sharp. You'll see some later. 'Intense, but very rewarding.

 

[michaelorr]

I like that nice work of art above, @jnanian. The colors are luscious. My last photographs were with 35mm camera, which i have not picked up in years. Put Kodak 5222 film through it, at first to make some images for the MSA Follow the Path, secondarily to see how i wanted to go forward with film for 35mm. As much as i have had fun the past month or so with 35, i still prefer to spend my time with the 8x10 and 4x5 whenever i possibly can. For me, the big "why" prompting my comment here is that i am getting into participation in MSA as a means to learn about how to find, recognize and see images. The subjects are great, and the submissions are just great. I missed the previous one, only having just discovered MSA at the end of the month with no time to work on it. Took one with 4x5, and just posted two images from the 35mm. And, Flying, same sentiments as @HiHoSilver with regard to your work and the creativity it imparts.