Hamilton County Co-Op

I was in Noblesville taking pictures when I noticed a huge group of grain silos just south of downtown. They seemed old and weathered, which is probably what caught my eye, that and the fact that they were so huge with intricate pipe structures. There was no way the camera wasn't coming out of my bag.

I approached the property and started taking pictures. I assumed it was abandoned, just like the Fortville Grain Company I had written a post about three weeks ago. Off to my right, I noticed a man coming toward me with a nervous smile on his face.

"The boss don't want nobody taking pictures." I had already written him off as someone passing through on his way to somewhere else. Then I realized he must work here.
"What?"
"The boss don't like people taking pictures, unless they ask him about it first. Even then he wants to be careful about who can take pictures.
One time he gave a photographer permission and come to find out they had a girl out here taking nude pictures! The only other time he allowed it was for a heavy metal band to shoot a video."
Sensing he was telling me to leave without getting the pictures I had walked over here to get, I offered to speak to the boss directly.
"Well, he's out of town right now"
I assured the guy I was only intending to walk once around the outer perimeter of the property and usually, I manage to keep my clothes on while I work.
He seemed to run out of objections and agreed to look the other way.

Standing close to these silos was like being at an Apollo rocket launch, without all of the cool smoke and fire, of course.

Check out the full set of images from that day here. As always, I look forward to your comments.

Old 238

Highway 238 has been under heavy reconstruction for over two years now. For my purposes, it is the fastest way to get to Noblesville or I-69, though there are alternatives. I can remember, when I was dating my wife, that I could make it from my door to her's in 12 minutes, but that was before they tore up the road.

In the process of building the Saxony Corporate Business Park and Hamilton Town Center shopping mall some of the roads and access had to be reconfigured. As a result, there is a section of Highway 238, perhaps a mile long, that has been clipped off though it still sits there inaccessible.

Seeing that little strip of unused highway sitting there reminds me of that last scene in the original Planet Of The Apes movie. Its the scene where Charleton Heston makes it out to the beach and discovers what's left of the Statue of Liberty.

My wife and I share a house now. I guess I don't need that little piece of road anymore either. Recently, I walked it... to feel like Charleton Heston.

The full set of pictures are here. Don't forget to leave comments, I read them all.

Fortville Grain Company

I have taken a new direction with my photography and I would very much like input from anyone reading this. The blog is open for comments as well as my direct email. I am going to be making posts with some of my images on a weekly basis. I would like to have a huge number of subscribers to my blog available to shoot some feedback to me as I make the posts. If you don't currently subscribe to my blog, consider this my invitation for you to do so. I would also encourage you to invite all of your friends as well. Thank you.







These images are from an abandoned structure in the middle of Fortville, Indiana. It used to be the Fortville Grain Company. You can see the full set of images here Click on the section called "Proof/Events"

I appreciate your comments.
Take Care

Professional Integrity

As a photographer, I am constantly being advised by my peers to limit myself to one area of specialty. Pick one thing to do and hit it hard. Be the best and be known by what you do. Streamline your website. Focus your whole message in one direction. Be consistent.In the marketplace, however, I see a very different and disturbing trend.

In an effort to corner all of the business they can, many service oriented businesses (and what business isn't service oriented anymore) are expanding their service offerings to the point that some professions are being homogenized down to commodity offerings. You know, the Wal-Mart syndrome. Now you can go to Wal-Mart for groceries, portraits, a hair-cut, banking, tax preparation, see a doctor, auto maintenance and now some kind of eye-brow ripping place! Where will it end?

I think the answer is it won't.

Where this trend crawls me is when small businesses start adding photography to their list of services. I have been a photographer for sixteen years now. When I started out, there was a significant investment of time, equipment, process and craft. I had to buy expensive cameras, multiple lenses, lighting equipment, backdrop rigs, darkroom equipment and all of the necessary supplies to process and print images. Now I have made the switch to digital and there are new cameras to buy and then you have to learn computer image manipulation. There are still a zillion things to learn if you want to stay competitive.

Well, here I am making the new equipment investments, learning Photoshop, learning what all my new camera can do and staying current on the latest lighting trends and I see a shop open up on Main Street in the town I live in. The business is graphic design..and photography! The front window is full of portraits and there is a sparse studio set up inside. The owner is a very good designer, but just likes to do photography also. Then I look across the street (literally, right across the street) and there is a business offering tattoos, fine art gallery and photography. Nearby, in another town one business offers a hair salon, massage therapy and you guessed it, photography! All of these businesses are doing portraits. It is worth mentioning that one proprietor is providing all of the services listed for each business. I don't want to deprive anyone the opportunity to make a buck doing something that is very fulfilling, but I wonder how much they enjoy it if it is listed second or third in their list of services. How much skill and technique do they bring to the table?

So what is the harm? Live and let live. They are not likely to be as good as me and that will separate my work from what they can do and customers will seek me out over them, right?

Not necessarily.

Many people have the perception that one is as good as another and if you are charging me $200 for a portrait session and they can do the session for free or for say $15, why should I spend the extra dough for some hot shot that thinks he is worth more? Well I am here to tell you, it's not that the "hot shot" thinks he is worth more, but his cost of doing business is higher because everything is riding on his (or her) ability to bring it when the shutter falls. If you aren't blown away by your photographs and you don't invest in prints from the shoot, we can't make it up with a few extra haircuts. We have poured everything we have into an art form we feel and believe in. We know what we can do, get excited to face a new challenge and thrill to see the look on your face when you see the results. I can't believe there is as much personal suffering and achievement involved if your photographer is distracted by their other occupation's deadlines and challenges.

The same principle applies if your plumber sells real-estate on the side. When you need your plumbing fixed, you call a professional. When you need to sell your home in a tough real-estate market, you don't screw around with a part-timer. If I come to you for accounting advice, I don't want to know that you also happen to sell MonaVie on the side. I want to believe in you as a professional. Don't dilute my perception of you with sidelines, it tells me you don't believe in the thing I am trusting you with, or that you don't work hard enough at it. When people see me, I want them to know me as a photographer, not an insurance agent who also does photography. I am a photographer….and that's it. When I look at you, I am sizing up how the light plays on your face. I am walking around thinking about how I would compensate for the crappy lighting in the doctors waiting room, or in the mall, wherever. I think in the language of how I can use the equipment I have to make something spectacular out of what is available.

I am making myself stop. It feels good to finally get this bothersome topic out in the open. I welcome any comments anyone may have.

Night Out

Went out for my birthday last night. Kim and I had a great dinner at Matteo's Italian Restaurant in Noblesville. Our first attempt at dinner was a trendy Italian restaurant in Indy, until they told us we would have to wait four hours for a table! We quickly decided to go north and I am glad we did. As we entered the restaurant, the hostess greeted us and immediately led us to our table, the same one we had the last time we were there almost a year ago. I don't know why we don't go there more often! The service, atmosphere and food were all great. Basically, we love that place.
As we were walking back to our car, I caught a glimpse of the moon through an alley. For my money, the alleys in downtown Noblesville are some of the more notable photographic features of the area and I couldn't resist grabbing my camera out of the car.

Snow Day!

Central Indiana got pounded with 10 to 11 inches of snow last night. Obviously, schools and everything else are closed, driving is slow. After a few hours of intense shoveling in the driveway, the sun came out, everything looked beautiful and we decided to do the only responsible thing - we took the kids sledding! Apparently everybody else in town had the same idea. There were so many people there, it was like we wandered into a snow festival. In case you missed the festival, here are some of my shots from the day. To be honest, I wanted an excuse to go to the park for some photos of snowy splendor.

Remembrances and Restlessness

When I was young, I would walk everywhere. I was too young to drive, but too restless to sit around. Within a one mile radius of my house, there were suburban homes in all directions, a gravel pit (we called it "fake lake") with woods and weed packed field, retail stores and industrial developments.

When you are on foot, you get a completely different sense of your surroundings then you would from a car. You can take adventurous short-cuts. You find all kinds of things. You get scared thinking that no one would ever know how to find you. You find little places most people will never know exist.

Well I might soon have to make a trip back to the old neighborhood and take a walk around.

I am feeling restless, but there is snow and I don't need to go anywhere. For consolation, I ventured outside and took a few shots.