Category: Location (Page 7 of 8)

"Lake Powell Sunset", (c) Harry Hitzeman

Juried Artist Exhibition at Gallery 7 Open Lens

June 13, 2010 / Hitzeman Photography / 0 Comments

Lake Powell Sunset

I want to thank my followers, you are an important part of my life. Serving you, happily and regularly, is a pleasure for me because you nurture MY life.

Harry Hitzeman at Open Lens Exhibit, with his entry “Lake Powell Sunset”

My wife Marti told me three of her women friends who follow my blog were asking how it went for me at the “Open Lens” National Juried Exhibit at Gallery 7 in Joliet. (Why is it always women who are able to ask about these things? Wait — actually I’ve had two men and one woman ask me directly.)

What can I say? I was happy to be there, but more than that, I felt like I was a part of a tribe who was celebrating seeing and creating and having the desire to buy the camera and lenses and make travel plans to go to the place and pay the teacher and guide and set up the tripod and focus the camera and set the exposure and capture the image and develop it in the software and print it and frame it and bring it to the show. (Sorry for the long-windedness, this is always a danger when I talk about my feelings!)

So to my friends and family and other unknown audience of the world-wide web — it was GREAT! We had fancy hors d’oeuvres and wine and beer and pop and desserts. There were jazz guitarists. There were more awards. And my loving daughter Helena accompanied me, and even took a picture of me standing next to my art hanging on the wall and posted it on her Facebook page.

It was a thrill to take that picture of Lake Powell. It was a thrill to stand in that spot and watch the reddish light of sunset slowly trace its way across the silent rock and shimmering water. Nature’s quiet, slow, eternal fireworks display

And I am happy to let the world see it and experience some peace or joy or mystery or sense of beauty, depending on what they see inside themselves.

In Other News …

I have been shooting and/or developing my Chicago, Arizona, California, and Utah Galleries. This month I will be shooting Oregon waterfalls, lighthouses, seascapes, and sand dunes. Stay tuned for more Hitzeman Photography Gallery Premieres!!

And in Other, Other News …

This week’s BIG NEWS for Chicagoans! Congratulations and thanks to the 2010 Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks, from this hard-working Lighthawk!

“Stanley Cup Vigil”, Chicago, (C) Harry Hitzeman

Masterclass :: Mastering Composition

May 16, 2010 / Hitzeman Photography / 0 Comments

Assignment: Composition on Location

“Imagine that a magazine or website has asked you to illustrate a feature on the techniques of composition and choose a famous landmark as you main subject. Use every trick in the book to produce an unusual interpretation of a well-known local feature.”

— from Digital Photography Masterclass by Tom Ang

Results

This was fun. I try to “use every trick in the book to produce an unusual interpretation” on all my shoots. Or should I say, I look around and try to capture something beautiful on all my shoots.

The tricks are not all in a book, though. I believe they come more from inspiration.

Choosing a single famous landmark for Chicago was something I tried to do and could not. Sears (now Willis) Tower, the Hancock Building, Navy Pier, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, boats, lake sunrises, and on and on. What’s your favorite Chicago landmark? What says CHICAGO to me is the Chicago skyline, and I was able to capture it in pre-dawn light, lit by its own city lights glow.

“Chicago North Panorama”, (C) Harry Hitzeman

See this panorama in full screen slide show mode at my Chicago Set on flickr, as well as images from Navy Pier, Ohio Street Beach, North Avenue Beach, and Millennium Park.

“Building Bloom Vertical”, Smurfit-Stone Building, 150 North Michigan Avenue, from Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois

Death Valley

May 2, 2010 / Hitzeman Photography / 0 Comments

Death Valley National Park surprised me with countless textures and shapes and colors of rock and mud and clay and stone. I wanted to stop the van every few miles and capture images. And there were vast open spaces, no cars or roads or telephone poles or power lines to litter the eye. Not even trees to block the sight line to the bases of mountains rising up in a snowy patchwork.

Even the weather surprised me with its variety – snow (in the upper elevations), some rain with standing pools of water turning the dust red, surrounding dried-out sage brush. Imagine photographing steam rising from the clay furrows at Zabriskie Point! And there were just enough mostly scattered clouds to give color and texture to the sky.

What Death Valley National Park shows me are the phases of an ongoing geological process that’s over 5,000,000 years old. Pretty long time. 70,000 lifetimes or so. I’m glad I had a chance to see it in this one.

Death Valley National Park has the widest variation in geological forms and colors I have ever seen. This image shows the Mesquite Sand Dunes like waves of gold stretching below the Grapevine Mountain Range.

Mesquite Sand Sunes, Death Valley National Park, California

This trip also included a drive to Lone Pine, California, in the foot hills of the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They’re called the Alabama Hills — unusual and beautiful rock formations and a few arches. In the early days of movies, westerns were filmed in this site because of its scenic rock formations and nearness to a local town.

“Sierra Gold Sunrise”, Lone Pine Peak, Sierra Nevada Range, California

Zabriskie Point is a part of the Amargosa Range in Death Valley National Park. Its erosional landscape is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago. The site was named after Christian Brevoort Zabriskie, vice-president and general manager of the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the early 20th century. The company’s famous, iconic twenty-mule teams transported borax from its mining operations in Death Valley.

Manley Peak, view from Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California

Masterclass :: Obtaining Ideal Color

April 20, 2010 / Hitzeman Photography / 0 Comments

Assignment: City Streets

“Working in an urban area where there are plenty of people present, try to capture the busy scene in a balanced, well-composed image. You can either record a general view, or get in close to take a more intimate shot. Take advantage of colors and shapes when composing and organizing the shot.”

— from Digital Photography Masterclass by Tom Ang

Result

This assignment was about looking for ways to compose with color and shape in an urban area with people present. The famous Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park is always surrounded by people. This image uses a clear blue sky to define the three spikes of buildings poking upwards like asparagus, with a huge silver melon of a sculpture stealing the show in the foreground.

Man’s Vegetable Garden.

Antelope Canyon

March 29, 2010 / Hitzeman Photography / 0 Comments

I am grateful to the Chicago Area Camera Clubs Association (CACCA) for awarding my image named “Entry” with an Acceptance Ribbon in its 2010 Annual Spring Salon Competition.

CACCA was founded in 1936, and is a progressive photographic organization composed of about forty clubs in the Chicago area. Over 1000 members are actively engaged in every phase of photography.

“Entry”, Antelope Canyon, Navajolands, Arizona

An Acceptance Award is granted to the highest scoring one-third of submissions, and means that the image will be included in a promotional DVD. It scored a 24 (average of 8 from each of 3 judges) with the highest possible score being a 27 (9 from each of 3 judges).

From the CACCA Judges Handbook:

An image that scores an 8 is a very strong image. Such an image is technically correct and much more. The elements of the image must work together. If there are flaws, they are minor and hard to find. Obvious flaws must be compensated by other elements in the image. Images that score an 8 may break the “rules”. When the rules are broken, they are broken for impact. Technical excellence is expected to a high degree in an image scoring 8. Difficult exposures, effective use of selective focusing and depth of field, as well as other advanced photographic techniques are commonly found in such an image. The image exhibits SEVERAL elements towards which those who are working at polishing their craft should be striving.

Category: Location (Page 7 of 8)

Juried Artist Exhibition at Gallery 7 Open Lens

Masterclass :: Mastering Composition

Assignment: Composition on Location

Results

Death Valley

Masterclass :: Obtaining Ideal Color

Assignment: City Streets

Result

Antelope Canyon

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