the Spark that Glows

Holgatastic!

thesparkthatglows — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:30:43 +0000

People, we’re going to take a quick detour. A detour down the road of toy cameras. I don’t want to write a bunch about it, but I’ll tell you this. I have a couple toy cameras: a Holga and a Diana. These cameras are cheap, they’re plastic top to bottom (including the lens), they have almost no controls, and they create wonderfully unique photos. You just vaguely point them in a direction and hope the light is good. They shoot film. I load them up with black and white medium format and develop the rolls in my kitchen. Sometimes this requires hours of me standing in my hall closet, in the pitch black, sweating, trying to load the film onto the spools. And usually it’s worth it. Today I’m just going to showcase some photos from my Holga. I have rolls of film from the Diana to process, but it takes time and I just haven’t gotten to it. But I am very excited about the Diana photos, because you can take the lens off and do pinhole photography! It’s my first attempt at pinhole and I’m excited to see the result. Hopefully I’ll have those soon! But for now enjoy some of my Holga photography!

~Joel

This first photo is actually my very first shot on my very first roll of film with my Holga. Beginners luck?

San Diego Engagement Photos: Presidio Sneak Peek Style

thesparkthatglows — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:16:47 +0000

Look at these trees! They don’t even look real! It’s pretty clear that Dr. Seuss was from San Diego. Tandy and Nate look statuesque under their gnarled boughs. This, dear friends, is your sneak peek of a nice little engagement photo session in Presidio Park! More to follow!

San Diego Engagment Photos: Swap Meet Sneak Peek Style

thesparkthatglows — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:10:29 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of trying something new. Something evil. Something bad. Something fantastic. A little something called a “Corn Brat”. I had never considered such an awesome thing. How did I come upon this little cornbread fried deliciousness you ask? As the March Hare and Mad Hatter would say: “Start at the beginning. And when you come to the end — stop.” Well, I’m not actually going to do that. I’m not going to explain how Drew, Heather and I had come be at the Swap Meet to do engagement photos. Nor will I speak of our final display of purchased goods. Instead, I will jump to the middle and speak of red-blooded American bad food choices.

As we wandered the Swap Meet Drew queried whether I’d ever had a “Corn Brat”. I didn’t even know what it was, so the answer was no. Heather quickly explained that it’s a corndog with a bratwurst instead of hotdog. They both then spoke of a stand that made these hand-dipped, special-cornbread battered items of tastiness. Drew then went one step further and asked if I wanted to one. I quickly answered that I would be a fool to turn down that offer and not try them. Because what red-blooded American wouldn’t want to try that goodness? Drew looked at me and deadpans, “Good. That was a test to make sure you weren’t Al Qaeda.”

We then proceeded to the stand that makes these marriages of cornbread and sausage on a stick. As we stood before the stand I realized, as I watched the mounting giddiness from Drew and Heather, that nothing says true love like a CornBrat. Nothing.

Washington DC: Cherry Blossom Festival of Blawesomeness

thesparkthatglows — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:25:49 +0000

People! I have sucked at blogging as of late. There are excuses. There always are, but let’s not talk about that today. Let’s talk of other things: shoes, ships, sealing wax, why the sea is boiling hot mayhaps…? No? Maybe another time? Okay.

Instead, I will turn my gaze to the recent Cherry Blossom Festival found here in our own nation’s capital. There are roughly something like half a billion Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees (estimate) in and around the National Mall that were gifted to us by our friends on the western side of the Pacific Rim. I’ll let you guess which country gave them to us. (It wasn’t Russia. …and Hawaii is still in the US…you better get an atlas…) The result is that every year, at the beginning of April, there is a two week festival that everyone hopes will encapsulate the brief flowering of these magnificent trees. The one thing I hadn’t taken into account is that, unlike those of us fortunate to have year round beautiful weather, the denizens of this area have been held in winter’s cold embrace which is just now releasing its frigid grip. This means that people come out in droves to simply stand out of doors to see that life is coming back to the trees. The trees are beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but I think a large contingent of the gawking masses are only there to remember what it’s like to be outside.

I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention to any brides-to-be that this would be a fantastic time to get married. Cherry blossoms would be a beautiful compliment to any wedding photos. (Start making plans for 2012!) But enough of my jibber-jabber. Let’s get to the photos. The journey to the blossoms began in Alexandria, thus we will begin with a quick shot I snapped of the George Washington Masonic Memorial from the Metro platform and a few transit photos.

And this is the face I get when I ride public transit: giddy with crazy eyes.

Like I said: thousands of people staring into space, but supremely excited to be out of doors.

We tried some of the blossom refreshments. They were delicious, even though they don’t taste like cherries. You can see our enjoyment below.

My! What big teeth you have, Joel!

Okay, Ladies and Gentles, that’s it for today. See you all in the funny papers!

Winter Breakage pt. 3

thesparkthatglows — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:58:04 +0000

For those of you who thought that I gave up blogging for Lent, you were wrong…probably because I’m not Catholic. And folks, since it is now spring I figured it made sense to post some more winter photos…or rather I should hurry up and get these out here before it’s summer. Here are the some more from my winter blizzard adventure in New York City. Finally the snow had stopped and the sun had come out and city was melting fast. It still took a long time to traverse Manhattan, because the giant drifts of snow you had to climb the days before were quickly turning into six inch deep dark puddles that were sometimes hard to spot and turned to ice at night. So, you while you could feel the sun on your face, your feet were cold from stepping in freezing puddles. I’m sure it was another week until the snow and the puddles had gone away, but we didn’t stick around that long.

If you haven’t seen the first two parts of my winter vacation you can find them Here and Here. And if you’re feeling randy and not quite hip to our current season you can check out some photos I took last autumn in St. Mary’s County and Calvert County in Southern Maryland…because who needs to stay current…

And I’ll leave you with the Chrysler building, because I would be remiss if I didn’t put this photo up, because Iacocca has popped up in my life more times than I ever would have expected. And most of you have no idea what I’m talking about, but I’m sure someone near and dear to me will probably smile.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Wedding Photography

thesparkthatglows — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 08:54:43 +0000

This happened in the Dominican Republic. In the middle of winter.

Bridesmaids

thesparkthatglows — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:18:53 +0000

Stumbled across this this morning. I’m wondering if this will be the Wedding Crashers/Hangover/Wedding Singer/(insert popular movie about weddings) of 2011. I do like Kristen Wiig, but the problem with movies like this is that they only target the prettier sex. But the following did make me laugh: That bride really eats it (nothing against brides, but the typical way that scene plays is bride running across street to or from the altar and usually it doesn’t include them skidding on their face in front of a car), “Versace meets the Gold Rush”, “You have to punch it a couple times.”…hmmm…we’ll see…

Winter Breakage pt. 2

thesparkthatglows — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 18:54:27 +0000

In celebration (?) of the storms that have been burying the midwest here’s the remainder of the photos of my blizzarding experience in New York City. As I was reviewing these photos I was wondering if there was anyone in NYC getting married and how fantastic their wedding photos could have been with the quality of light and the snowing flying off of buildings. That is, if they were willing to even step out of doors. If you got the bride outside you would have about .873 seconds to capture all the photos, because that wind was merciless and would make quick work of any styled hair and could quite possibly rip a veil right off. Oh, and if you have a particularly resilient bride she might survive another 3.4 seconds before freezing to death standing there in just her wedding dress. But, you know, loss of limb due to frostbite and possible hypothermic death is a small price to pay for stunningly magnificent wedding photos. Right? Good. I’m glad we’re in agreement.

Best of luck to all of you around the country that are digging out of your icy enclaves. I think I’ll go for a run. But if you’re still stuck inside you can kill about another two minutes by checking out my first blizzardly post. (I wonder how many other nonsense tenses of blizzard I can use: Blizzardest, Blizzardish, Blizzardesque, Blizzardable, Blizzardic, Blizzardi (plural), etc… gotta get em in now, because I might never get to experience or write about another blizzard. Ever.) I’m not done with The Big Apple, because the sun did come out and turn the snow into deep dark puddles at every corner, so per usual, there will be more photos. See you in the funny papers!

San Diego Wedding Photography — Kelly + Ray pt. 3

thesparkthatglows — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:17:11 +0000

Okay, there are still more photos from Kelly and Ray’s wedding extravaganza out at the Rosecroft Estate in Point Loma, San Diego. This is a problem I get into with the blog. I try to stay current, but there is always a backlog of work that I forget to put up. This is one such instance. (Plus, an inside source says there are more photos of these two from their second reception in Palm Coast, Florida.) And as always, I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you all back to part one and part two, if you missed them.

Something that is fun about photographing people is giving them direction. It’s particularly entertaining with regular folks, which is usually who is in attendance at most weddings. (However I would enjoy shooting a wedding entirely made of models, because then they would take direction extremely well…like good looking, poseable robots.) It’s particularly interesting when it comes to full wedding party shots. For the shot below I gave the instruction, “Don’t smile.” This evokes mixed reactions from the group, because they can’t tell if I’m serious or not. Some people start smiling harder than ever. Others fight the instilled notion that you smile for the camera. Then, usually without fail, someone asks if I’m serious. Of course I’m serious. That’s when the real trouble begins, because now everyone starts to get a case of the giggles. It seems absurd to many to not smile and it’s hard to fight that urge, especially because most people are nervous in front of the camera. And when people get nervous in front of the camera they grin. In fact, the harder they fight the urge to smile the more they start smiling and laughing. Once you get one person to pull it together another person loses it. Sure, in the photo below they all look like stone-cold badasses, but I can guarantee that two seconds after the shutter clicked someone burst out laughing.

And then there is the unscripted, which is what I truly love, because you’re catching magic. It will only happen once and you captured it for all time.

And I will leave you here for now, with this image of bromance. There will be less bromance and more romance to come. And there will be more dancing. (I haven’t forgot that someone yelled “Conga Line!” Hope to see you all again real soon!

Winter Breakage pt.1

thesparkthatglows — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:24:59 +0000

Folks,

Here is a quick telling of my journey to New York City a few weeks ago in the post-Christmas blizzard.

I wish I had had any real way to take photos on the long drive up the New Jersey Turnpike, because it was amazing to see the roadways reduced to a barely driveable white-out, with people pulling off under every bridge to de-ice their windshield wipers and lights. (I could see almost nothing out of my side of the car, due to regular ice build up. Not that it mattered, because there was almost no visibility anyhow.) The bridges weren’t much shelter with 40mph winds whipping snow in every direction. It was the most wonderful thing, after hours of driving at 20mph in the snowy maelstrom, to find ourselves inside the Holland Tunnel. It was eerie to come out the other end, greeted by empty streets in Manhattan.

After the hotel check-in and requisite New York pizza slices we walked to Times Square, only a few blocks from the hotel, to catch a movie, because surprisingly little was open due to the blizzard. And it would be dumb to come all this way and then just sit in the hotel room. This was a difficult undertaking, since halfway there we were almost, literally, knocked over by the insane gusts of wind. We ducked into a 7-11 to regroup and re-evaluate whether we really wanted to be doing this. You know it’s serious when you have to duck into a convenience store to merely decide whether walking two more blocks is worth it. In the end I would say it was worth it, because almost never does one get to experience Times Square nearly empty.

The next day was equally bizarre with city buses, taxis and cars abandoned in the middle of Manhattan streets. The wind was still howling, blowing wind off of building rooftops. Large banks of snow flanked every street. The streets were still pretty empty with many businesses closed.

The day after that there were a lot more people, but navigating the streets hadn’t gotten much easier, with the ice being replaced with deep, cold puddles. It was a bizarre experience to be sure. Had we known we were driving into a blizzard we would have stayed in Maryland. Looking back, I’m glad we did go. I experienced my first blizzard and was able to see NYC in a state it’s not often seen.

Oh, and here are some photos…

When I shot the following photo all I could think of was this Bob Dylan album cover.

And as usual, there will be more to come. There was more snow in New York City and then there were some quiet, but cold times spent in Maryland. Stay tuned.