A.D. Drumm Images, LLC – Landscape, Portrait, and Fine Art Photography in Rochester MN Photography

October 18, 2011

Kelby Photowalk 2011

Filed under: General photography,Rochester — Tony Drumm @ 5:54 pm

Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photowalk moved from summer to autumn this year, and it was set for two days – the first and second of October. Walk groups could choose which day to hold their walk. Our group in Rochester had the walk on Sunday the second. We walked in downtown Rochester again this year and timed the walk to cover the golden hour around sunset.

It’s always fun to gather with several other photographers and shoot. And, of course, talk about gear and photography. We started by the Mayo Civic Center where I took the shot of the bridge. I particularly liked the reflection and the golden colors against the blue sky.

I shot the group photo with us gathered by the feet of the Mayo brothers. I used a bit of on-camera flash to fill in our faces as we stood in the shadow. The sky was clear, so the sunlight behind us was pretty bright.

Then we headed off. A number of us stayed more-or-less together, but others wandered off in different directions.

I think most, if not all, of us had at least one shot of this building. The bright yellow and orange draws your eye making it tough to not notice. The low sun added to the effect and, with much of the river in shadow, the reflection was pretty awesome. So this is my take on the photo of the yellow building!

Some of us later noticed the hot air balloon as it made its way across downtown. I had opted for my main walk-around lens, my 24-105mm, and I had my 50mm in my bag. Out for a walk, why would I need anything longer than that? Hmm. As soon as I saw the balloon I was naturally wishing I had brought something with more reach. But I did what I could at 105mm. I loved the ring of light on the left side from the setting sun. It just glowed, and a longer lens would have shown it off more. But I watched as it moved closer, moved into a position near the building, so I could at least frame it, have a foreground, middle-ground, and background. A decent shot, I think, but it could have been more.

I found these berries along one of the paths. I looked at the glow from the back-light and the dark leaves behind. They made a nice subject, and I love red anyway! I like to refer to these as red poison-berries. I have no idea what they really are or if they’re poisonous, but I like how it sounds. Goofy, I know.

I saw this young lady sitting in a swing by the river. The setting sun provided a wonderful light. And I saw the river and bridge in the background. I asked if she’d mind me taking her photo, and she generously agreed. She asked if I wanted her to turn around, but no, the shot was perfect like this. It made a nice color photo, but the textures and shades told me it would be a great black and white photo.

There was a time I thought landscape photography would be what I’d mostly like to shoot. I find I’m really drawn to people photography now. Interestingly, I think I’ve enjoyed shooting people for a very long time. I just didn’t realize it until recently. Funny how the mind works!

October 16, 2011

The Fantasticks

Filed under: General photography — Tony Drumm @ 8:49 am

I recently shot my first show at Riverland Community College in Austin, MN. It was their production of The Fantasticks, a show I hadn’t seen before. I shot the show during their final dress rehearsal. It’s interesting to see a show like this and recognize songs that I never knew were associated with a show (Try to Remember, for instance). It was well done and had intesting staging using a thrust stage with the actors walking into the house at times. Lindsey Williams, their new director, did a great job.

The thrust stage gave me a chance to move all around the players to get my shots.

It’s a fun story with a set-up premise of applying reverse psychology to your children taken to an extreme.

Similar to shows I’ve seen at RCTC, there is an interesting mix of ages in the cast, not just what you might traditionally consider community college age. It’s a great thing about theatre in general, where folks from all ages and backgrounds come together, work as a team, make their production together.

Photographing a show presents some challenges, but it also provides some terrific opportunities to express yourself as a photographer, work with interesting lighting, and just make some good photos. As I’ve said many times, I really love shooting moody light. And I find myself looking for shots that place the main character in the moment front and sharp with others behind providing visual support not unlike the dramatic support they provide during the play.

Riverland’s theatre has a stadium-seating layout. Combined with the thrust stage, I had many different angles available. That gave me lots of flexibility to find an angle that works for each shot.

I finished up with a cast and crew shot. I enjoyed the show and the shoot. Today, we’ll be attending the final performance. I’m looking forward to seeing it again and without having my brain in photographer mode. (Although, truthfully, it is in that mode much more often than when I have a camera in my hands!)

I hope the cast and crew enjoy the photos.

 

[P.S. I’ve been putting show photos up in my Events gallery if you’d like to see all of them.]

October 8, 2011

Fall 2011 Colors

Filed under: Beautiful Earth,General photography — Tony Drumm @ 11:47 am

There has been lots of picture-taking in the weeks since I returned from Photoshop World. I’m hoping to write another post or two or three, but I thought I’d start with colors of fall. It’s that time of year here in the north when leaves lose their green and their moisture and their life and blazon the landscape with a variety of color.

Southeastern Minnesota has range of terrain and features, some of which show off the autumn colors. But there is a lot of farmland, too, with a tree here or there and fields of corn or soybeans. It’s certainly different from the Southern Tier of NY state where we once lived. A nice car ride takes us to the beautiful bluff-lands, though, approaching the Mississippi River.

Last weekend, Lynne and I set off to see what we could find, and I drove us south to Lanesboro. Lanesboro sits on the Root River and makes a nice starting off point. Lynne asked what I was looking for, what did I have in mind. I frankly wasn’t sure. I tend to like zooming in tight, showing off a few leaves as in the photo above. Having a mix of fall colors and remaining green is something I like.

But heading to the bluff-lands, I was also hoping to find something more expansive, too. Big wide shots of trees undergoing their change can make a nice photo, but those shots seem to me so overdone. Thus my preference for the tight shots.

I told Lynne I wasn’t exactly sure. I had some thoughts, some visions in my head, but we’d go look a couple places and I’d see what struck me. She was fortunately okay with that!

I bought Lynne a DSLR for her birthday. She had a Canon A-1 back in the film days. She likes the tiny digital cameras now for their amazingly good quality and their great portability. But after using my camera to take some shots, she mentioned how she missed looking through a viewfinder.

Lynne has a terrific eye and sees things I often miss. So, I was happy to provide her a little better platform for her photo-taking. (Now, I just have to convince her of the value of RAW!) This little drive was her first chance to really try out the new camera.

From Lanesboro, we drove east to Rushford. When my son was in scouts, we camped once at the top of the bluff overlooking the town. My favorite moment from that camp-out was walking to the edge of the bluff early in the morning to find a blanket of fog filling the valley like a lake. It was beautiful. I thought we might have a nice view from there.

It took some doing to find the way up the hill. I didn’t remember – not sure if I rode with someone else or just followed someone to get there, and it’s been a while. But the GPS map on my phone came to the rescue. The view of the valley is amazing, and I took a range of shots including a couple of these wide-vista photos. I’m growing to like these more than I once did.

Lynne suggested heading up to Winona which sits on the Mississippi. There is a park on top of one of the bluffs there with a big panoramic view of the Mississippi valley. As we were walking from the car to the overlook, I spotted these wild flowers. There are a few flowers which bloom in fall that are just gorgeous. Not sure what it is – perhaps they are just hardier to survive the occasional frost, but their colors are vibrant and they just photograph really well.

The sun was setting and the view was great. The leaves were brightly colored here and there, but not the entire valley by any means. This was one of my favorite images as the setting sun set the leaves on fire against the background of the fading light in the valley. It’s probably one of my favorite shots of the day.

But for some reason, the shot I liked the best had little fall color and seemed to lend itself to a black and white treatment. This shot was from the bluff overlooking Rushford. The pattern of the corn, dry and ready for harvest, the bordering trees, a roadway through this great farmland, and a single car, all just strike me right.

Sometimes you are looking for something and you find something else. And that’s okay.

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