Everything Is Black & White

I love winter imagery in black & white. Early in the season my dream was to create a bigger collection of monochrome photos, but after looking back have only a modest offering. There were several trials that when viewed objectively, looked best in color. Black & white can be tricky and only a small percentage of images work to my satisfaction. If I don’t see something special in an image, whatever it might be, I prefer to keep them to myself, or better yet, toss them! The images below range from the first dramatic scenes, to the more intimate, such as the slope-side tree surrounded by trails from descending snowballs. And last are some even more intimate nature studies, shot earlier in the season when there was only a dusting of snow. I hope you enjoy seeing everything here in black & white!

‘Winter Steeple’ © Denise Bush

‘Clearing Over Coated Peaks’ © Denise Bush

‘Winter’s Last Light’ © Denise Bush

‘Slope-side Slide’ © Denise Bush

‘Pine Cones & Sticks One’ © Denise Bush

‘Pine Cones & Sticks Two’ © Denise Bush

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Going Back

A few weeks ago I took a second trip back to the Lonaconing Silk Mill in Western Maryland. When ‘time was up’ there last summer they practically had to drag me out. I knew there were many more subjects left to photograph and I wasn’t done! Having shot a lot of the machinery and wider scenes on my first visit, I decided to focus on more of the details this time. The shoes that workers had left behind when the plant closed in 1957 intrigued me. As the story goes, the silk mill workers went home from work one day unaware that the company would cease operations overnight. The next morning they were not permitted back in the building and personal items and tools of the trade were simply left in their places. For many of the subjects I composed both horizontal and vertical versions. I processed and worked on a variety of images in both color and black & white in order to explore their potential before settling on the collection to post here. I hope you will enjoy this trip back in time, when so many Americans worked in home town factories to make their living.

‘Shoe Assortment’ © Denise Bush
Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

‘In Waiting’ © Denise Bush
Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

‘Missing Person’ © Denise Bush

‘Left Behind’ © Denise Bush

‘Going Down’ © Denise Bush

‘Basement Artifacts’ © Denise Bush

‘Basement Remnants’ © Denise Bush

‘Retired’ © Denise Bush

‘Factory Fountain’ © Denise Bush

‘Ladies Toilet’ © Denise Bush

‘Prince Albert (In A Can)’ © Denise Bush

‘Crepe Tags’ © Denise Bush

‘More Spools’ © Denise Bush

‘Tool Caddy’ © Denise Bush

Crying Out For B&W

Some images just cry out for black & white conversion as did the images below. There was actually very little difference between the color versions and the final images. Hearing that the forecast called for morning fog one weekend not too long ago, I ventured into the pines on both Saturday and Sunday. Having captured some foggy images on a recent trip to Chincoteague that I was happy with, I was anxious to create more. Beginners often expect to capture a winner every time they go out but as we learn from experience, this is very often not the case. The weather, light and location must all be aligned, and this is one of the challenges of landscape photography. Here I show both horizontal and vertical versions. When I choose a scene to photograph I like to ‘work it’ … coming up with as many compositions and variations as I can. When is the best time to shoot a vertical? … right after you shoot a horizontal!

‘Fog & Dead Trees’ © Denise Bush
Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

‘Fog & Three Trees’ © Denise Bush
Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

Try, Try & Try Again

Back in 2009 I learned about a broken pier somewhere at the Jersey Shore. Not knowing exactly where it was I went searching for it and finally found it by looking at a satellite map online. It is located at Corson’s Inlet, at the southern end of Ocean City and is now a very popular photography subject. My first trip to the pier was to capture sunrise. I was hoping that something magical would happen with the sky & light. Unfortunately, the first few attempts did not play out the way I had hoped. I knew the location had great potential and resolved that I would have to keep trying to get what I was after. Even the tides come into play since the vantage points became restrictive during high tide. I also included a late day and night shoot in my attempts. My most recent, 6th trip has been the best yet and I think I am getting closer to what I was looking for years ago. Here I used a 6-stop neutral density filter to slow down the shutter and soften the clouds and surf. Note that I have added the dates in the title area of each image.

‘Here It Comes’ 09-20-12 © Denise Bush
Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

‘Sand Reflections’ 09-20-12 © Denise Bush

‘Clouds Over The Broken Pier’ 09-20-12 © Denise Bush

‘Piling Reflections’ 09-20-12 © Denise Bush

‘Moonlight Silhouette’ 08-26-10 © Denise Bush

‘Old Broken Pier’ 05-13-09 © Denise Bush

‘Inlet Pier’ 03-21-09 © Denise Bush

‘Outgoing Surf’ 03-07-09 © Denise Bush

‘Red Sky Morning’ 03-07-09 © Denise Bush

Something Different

On a late summer outing to Eastern State Penitentiary with some lady friends from the camera club, I was determined to come away with something different from before … something different from the many images I have seen of this very popular location. This was my third time there. Each time it was hotter and more humid than the time before but I love the place and as I have written in previous posts, I’ve been fascinated with abandoned places since I was a kid. I started searching for that certain something … that ‘je ne sais quoi’ (that ‘I don’t know what’). It’s the images that are unlike what I’ve already done and seen that excite me. Afterall, where is the creativity in getting the same image that others have captured or one similar to what we have seen before? I broke from the group for a while so I could work at finding something unique, whether it be a subject or camera angle. When I got home I felt I had succeeded in my mission. At first glance there were several in the days shoot that I liked … and that doesn’t always happen. One that caught my attention in particular is the image below, ‘Prison Ghost’. It was created by photographing an existing video installation of a projected figure. I bracketed 3 frames and since the exposures were on the long side, the moving figure blurred creating a ghostly appearance. I was pleased to receive a 2nd place for the image at the camera club’s first monochrome competition of the new season.

'Prison Ghost' © Denise Bush