Postcard from Chicago

There is a unquantifiable trigger in the mind of an artist when they know immediately they have created something special. It is a special feeling that overwhelms one’s state of mind and is impossible to put into words. So it is with this image.

I started with a concept based on a sketch I had done previously. And although the final image turned out to be different than what I had originally envisioned, the original concept was fulfilled. In fact it was fulfilled way beyond my original expectations.

I recently watched a film called “The Prestige” about magicians and their tricks. In it, one of the characters said that to reveal the secret of a trick is to give away its value, and something very special becomes quite ordinary and unspectacular. I thought about that line in depth and how it applied to my photography and paintings.

So for that reason, I won’t go into detail about the creation of this image…except to say it started from an original photograph I took in Chicago that I turned into a sketch. You have probably seen photos of the Chicago Theater on State Street as it is one of great landmarks of the “Windy City.”

Unlike a magician’s illusion, this illusion is real. I created it out of my own artistic voice and it hit an artistic home run, at least in my mind. I titled the image, “The Old Chicago Scrapbook.” But it is not a photograph of a real book. It is the pure invention of an artist.      

Thank you for letting me puff out my chest and brag a little…I hope you understand. I would be interested in hearing your views on this image, if you care to share them.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)
To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Tucson

Spring is bustin’ out all over…to paraphrase an old, old song. It also describes perfectly what is happening now, here in Tucson. The wildflowers are out in abundance. I live in the western foothills above Tucson, and the hillsides are carpeted in yellow and pink. On Monday, I ran an errand…and there they were. Surprised the heck out of me! I was out and about two days before and didn’t see a one. 

Frankly, I am surprised to see any this year. I wasn’t sure we had enough winter rain to make it happen. Last year, we had no wildflowers to speak of. But, it all must have come together because we are loaded this year.

I will let you in on a little secret…this picture is from 2010 when we had a banner wildflower year. But, right now, it looks just about the same. I haven’t been out with my camera yet, but will shortly.

Spring is a special time in southern Arizona. Not only are the wildflowers in bloom (and soon the cactus flowers), but the temperatures are just perfect…it was 72 yesterday and will be 77 today. Baseball has already started, college games are underway; major league teams are in camp and will start the Cactus League games shortly. Even though we don’t have any teams training here anymore, there will be three major league spring training games played in Tucson in March.

In a couple of weeks, we have the Tucson Book Festival, one of the largest of its kind in the nation. And of course concerts and lectures continue. The UofA Jazz Festival will be in two weeks. Spring is an amazing, wonderful time here in Tucson, and you can bet I will be taking it all in…in shorts and a t-shirt of course. 

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Chicago

Now admit it…when was the last time you saw a speech made in 1893 spelled out in lights on a grand staircase? Well here it is. This is inside the Chicago Institute of Art. Here you see just one of the staircases. There are others, all with parts of the speech spelled out in lights. It was quite a sight to behold for the first time.

The speech was given in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda at First World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in conjunction with the World’s Columbia Exposition. The Parliament was the earliest attempt to create a global dialogue of religious faiths, and Vivekananda, eloquently addressing its 7,000 attendees, argued for an end of fanaticism and a respectful recognition of all traditions of belief through universal tolerance. A great idea.

The staircase was the brainchild of Indian artist Jitish Kallat. His goal was to connect two historical moments: the First World Parliament of Religions held on September 11, 1893, and the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on that very date, 108 years later.

The work is called Public Notice #3 and is a comment on the evolution, or devolution, of religious tolerance across the 20th and 21st centuries. I think the latter is more the case. I personally find religious intolerance to be intolerable, but once more, we find ourselves steeped in fanaticism throughout the world, even among religions that supposedly have their origins in the same place.

It’s ironic that this staircase, representing a speech on religious intolerance, leads up to some of the most beautiful paintings in the world. I guess the Swami’s speech fell on deaf ears.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Utah

It seems there is no end to the beauty of southern Utah…and there may not be. This image was taken in Long Canyon, a fantastic part of the Burr Trail. The Burr trail is a side road that comes off of Utah’s famous Highway 12, maybe one of the most beautiful highways in America.

The Burr Trail begins in Boulder, UT and is clearly marked. It winds for 68 miles, of which only the first18 miles are paved. I must admit that I never went past the point where the paved road ends, mainly because it has just rained.

The complete road runs down through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument into Capital Reef National Park and then to Bullfrog in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Almost the entire road can be called “scenic,” to put it mildly.

Long Canyon is 12 miles from Boulder and is 7 miles long…hence the name. It is absolutely beautiful as you might guess from this photo. You approach the canyon from up on high which gives you a spectacular view of the first section of it. When I got there, a rain storm was just ending, so I had fabulous clouds all the way through the canyon. I got lucky that day!

The narrow canyon itself is enclosed by sheer walls of Wingate sandstone which tower hundreds of feet above the road. The sandstone has fractured and eroded, forming alcoves. Some of the dark red sandstone has been leached by water to a whitish shade, and black desert varnish stains some of the vertical walls. There is even a small arch, if you look closely.

If you ever make it down that way, be sure and take a drive down this amazing road…or even part of it. Be sure and stop often in Long Canyon to appreciate all of its treasures. A word of caution…if you want to do the entire drive, make sure it has not rained for a few days. The dirt section of the road can become impassable, even for all wheel drives.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Zion

Wouldn’t you just love to sit by yourself at this spot to watch the sun go down and contemplate your life, nature, and how good it is to be at a place like this? Actually, so would I. When you are at this spot at sunset, especially in Autumn, you are not alone. You are usually surrounded by many photographers…in fact if you want a good spot, you better get there at least an hour early.

Zion National Park is an extremely popular place in November because of the Autumn colors, of course. And this spot is probably the most popular spot in Zion at sunset…or really any time of day.

It easy to find. Its only a couple of miles from the south entrance to the park…and its on the only automobile bridge that crosses the Virgin River. One must stand on the sidewalk on the bridge because if you don’t, you run the risk of being yelled at by a park ranger. And it’s a narrow sidewalk, which is another reason to come early.

The large mountain formation in the photo is called The Watchman. To get a good shot, it needs to be at sunset, so you get a red glow off of the the Watchman and the other nearby rock formations…and you definitely want some clouds. This is probably not the best collection of clouds ever seen here, but it was by far the best of the 4 days that I tried to get the right shot. My friend Dave, who was next to me on the bridge, says he has come here for 10 years and has only been satisfied with one photo over all that time.

So me, I will have to settle for this shot, but I do like it as I captured the sunset glow off the mountains as well as a few clouds. Like some of the other Zion photos shown here, this was a five exposure shot, reduced into one using the Exposure Fusion method.

By the way, if you turn 180 degrees and walk to the other side of the bridge, you will see this view:

  

Not a bad spot to spend sunset at, eh?

(To see a larger version of either photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Zion

In this blog, I am going to give you a chance to compare an HDR photo with an Exposure Fusion photo. In my last blog, I talked about the differences between HDR and Exposure Fusion…without showing you the differences. Today, I am going to give you the chance to compare two similar images.

Back on December 12, I shared a similar image in this blog. The difference between that one and this one is I used the Exposure Fusion method on this latest image. In the December image, I used HDR (High Dynamic Range).

Both shots were originally done using five exposures at the same location, then blended down into one shot using one of the two methods.

You can click on the above link and see the HDR image in the original December blog. But a better method would be to click on this link in one tab of your browser (this image), then click on this link (the Dec. 12 image) in a second tab. What you will see are the two images in a larger size to give you a chance to compare each method side-by-side.

In my opinion, the newest version done with Exposure Fusion image gives a better photographic rendering and is less painterly. But, you decide which is better. I would definitely love to hear your opinion.

If you would like a little more detail on the differences between the two processes and why they differ, I recommend this short article from the Digital Photography School Website. Don’t worry, it isn’t too technical.

Again, please drop me a note a share your impressions.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Zion

This photo was taken early one morning at the Court of Patriarchs inside Zion National Park. It only shows part of the “Court,” but that is fine. Turns out this is the only shot I got this morning with any semblance of the dawn’s early light. My friend Dave, who was with me on this expedition, arrived before dawn and set up our cameras and tripods.

Dave chose a spot further down the Virgin River, while I was a little further upstream on a sandy beach. We had preselected our spots the day before. This location is difficult to find the right spot as there are a ton of trees on both sides of the river. I don’t mind the ones on the other side, as you see here, they enhance the scene. The ones on this side of the river block the view, making it difficult to see the Court in all its splendor. Shooting through trees seldom renders any quality photo.

After setting up, we patiently waited for dawn…and waited…and waited. Oh,  the sun came up right on schedule, but it was behind a cloud. Then, for one brief moment, it partially broke through just enough for me to get this shot. Then hid itself once again while I patiently wait for another breakthrough. It never happened.

Still, I like this photo with its little bit of sunlight and, of course, the setting moon sneaking into the picture. A little pink in the clouds doesn’t hurt either. Sadly, Dave came away with nothing. Such is the photographer’s life.

For those interested in the technique, I exposed this scene in 5 rapid shots, each with a slightly different aperture setting. My original plan was to use and HDR software program to combine the images, then finished the final image off in Photoshop.

But by the time I got to finally work on this image, I discovered a new technique called “Exposure Fusion.” It works the same way as HDR, but (without boring you with details), it combines the images in a different manner. My experiments show that most Exposure Fusion photos come out with a more photo-realistic image, less painterly than HDR.

I will continue to experiment with both processes and see which will win out in the long run. But right now, I am pretty excited about this new process. Stay tuned…and you be the judge.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Oakland

I photographed this image back in May last year while cruising downtown Oakland for architectural masterpieces…something I love to do in big cities This image is from inside the Catholic Cathedral, appropriately named “The Cathedral of Christ the Light.” I titled this image, “A Not-So-Divine Mystery.”

Now I thought that was pretty clever on my part. But to explain, the Catholic Church has a term called “Divine Mysteries”…and according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “This term signifies in general that which is unknowable, or valuable knowledge that is kept secret.” That would be things like communion, where the host turns into the body of Christ…or Christ’s ascension into heaven. In other words, mysteries that cannot be explained in logical, scientific terms. (Apologies to any Catholics or Christians if I get this wrong)

But the not-so-divine mystery here is…what the heck is this thing I photographed? Well, I won’t hold you in suspense. This architectural oddity is above the the rear of the church, where one enters or exits. It appears to be convex on the inside, but outside it is concave. So directly behind this structure is downtown Oakland…and the diagonal lines you see is light coming through. I think it works well as a black and white photo.

Interestingly, there is an exact replica of this structure in the front of the church, over the altar. But this one has a very large projection of Christ that appears to be behind it. It is quite striking, to say the least.  

The slats you see coming into both sides of the structure are louvered slats that run the entire length of the church that can change the amount of light being fed inside. The entire structure is quite innovative and ingenious and I encourage you to make a visit if you are ever in Oakland. It is open every day for visits and tours…and non-Catholics are welcome. After all, they let me and my camera come in. 

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.

Postcard from Yosemite

This is Mirror Lake, although its closer to being a pond these days. It is located at the lower end of Tenaya Canyon, just below the famous Half Dome. I’ve been coming to this spot since I was a little boy. Although I have taken its picture many times, this photo was shot in May of 2011 on my most recent trip. The mountain reflection you see is Mt. Watkins.

In the old days, you could drive right to it. Today, you have to take one of the shuttle buses that drops you off at the trail head to the lake. From there is a mile walk to this spot. Actually, it is not a trail…it is the old paved road my family used to take back in the 50’s. I am not sure when they shut the road down for regular traffic. No matter. It’s a lovely, easy walk along Tenaya Creek directly below the face of Half Dome.

If you would like to see it, I recommend you do it sooner rather than later. You see, Mirror Lake is disappearing.

Mirror Lake is about the last remnant of the Old Yosemite Lake that once filled the entire Yosemite Valley. The lake was created by the melting of the last glacier that helped carved out this magnificent landscape. The original lake was anywhere from 300 to 600 feet deep, but was eventually filled in by the process of sedimentation. But a few remnants of it can be found throughout the National Park.

Today, Mirror Lake is fed by Tenaya Creek, which flows out of Tenaya Lake up in the high country. Over time, the creek deposits sediments from the lake and from its long journey down the canyon, thereby eventually displacing the water. For years, the National Park Service went in to remove the debris in order to keep Mirror Lake in a more pristine state for the tourists.

Eventually that policy was changed so Mirror Lake will one day disappear. A sad ending for me personally as this place is one my sacred icons. But our planet is always changing. The old expression, “Let nature take its course,” is perfectly suited for Mirror Lake.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com.