A Blog About Blogging - Always Moving Ahead

OK -- this is my third blog entry,
and I think I'm starting to get the hang of this.

What I find a little strange about the mechanics
of blogging is this sensation that each new blog is
taking the reader(s) a bit farther away from the
opening chapters -- the important initial topics (music and photography) -- that got this blog up and running in the first place.
For me, my first two blogs kinda set the foundation for so much that will follow.
But the way blogs work, the most recent entry is the one you're gonna see first, so, in a sense, everything kind of works backwards.
It's like reading a book, starting with the last chapter, and then working your way towards the beginning of the book.

I realize I'm coming into this blogosphere (spelling?) a few years after it's already as hip and as happening as the Internet itself, so I have limited expectations regarding how wide a reach this late-coming blog will have. But even if it's just read by a few folks amongst my family and friends, it will have served it's purpose.

Like most artists and writers and musicians, I do enjoy expressing myself, and writing this blog gives me one more way to do just that.
I expect I'll be writing about the music scene here in Central New York State, and folk and acoustic music in general. I'll be posting some photos, and some videos, and commenting on art and photography activities here in the Syracuse area. And as time goes by, I'll probably end up commenting on anything and everything - cats, sidewalks, drug law reform, the amazing new world of modern technology, the difficulty in losing weight, and the vast wasteland that is sometimes referred to as popular culture (I know -- that's harsh..).

The photo of me that I've posted on this blog was shot by a friend of mine, Janet, who I met through the Syracuse Photography Meetup Group.
The SPMG has about 70 members, and they meet once a month for a social get-together (that has some photography involved), and then usually once a month they also meet for a group photography session that has a lot of social networking involved as well.
It's a good, interesting mix of people. Some of the members are professional photographers; some are serious photographers creating and trying to sell their art; some are amateurs who simply want to improve their skills and network with other folks who share similar interests.
Information on the Syracuse Photography Meetup Group can be found at
www.photo.meetup.com/444

photo of Larry Hoyt by Janet Lee
www.janetleephotography.com

to be continued....

Photography: Capturing the World

"Capture" is one of the words often used when referring to the act of someone shooting a photo -- the photographer captured a great moment, an interesting image, a revealing expression.

That is one of the reasons that I am fascinated by photography, along with millions of other people -- it has the ability to capture and preserve the visual aspect of this amazing world around us.

I love all kinds of photography -- nature, landscapes, cityscapes, you name it -- but I'm particularly taken with portrait photography.

Generally speaking, I'd say that human beings are the most interesting subjects on planet Earth. And in "capturing" any one of these most-interesting subjects, when a portrait works, it reveals something of the personality of its subject.

Of course, the photo's setting and the subject's overall body language count for much, but in the realm of portrait photography, certainly, it is the human face that expresses so much.

One thing I've noticed about portraits -- it gives the viewer the opportunity to stare, close-up, at someone else's face. To look into the mysteries that lie within someone else's eyes, or see the subtleties of someone else's expressions.

I have posted dozens of photos I've shot over the years on various other on-line websites, and through this blog I'm sure I will be mentioning those other sites over the course of time.

But for now, I'd just like to post on this blog a few portraits I've shot. At some point in the not-to-distant future, I'd like to use this blog as a vehicle for selling some of my photography on-line. But that's for later.

For now, this second blog entry of mine is for the display of some portraits that I've shot. Enjoy.

The Portraits:

-- the brunette with the brown vest is Amy, photographed where she works at the Coffee Pavilion in Hanover Square, Syracuse, New York.

-- the blonde woman wearing green is Melissa Tiffany, the owner and curator and curator of the Orange Line Gallery

http://www.orangelinegallery.com/

-- I do not know the name of the gal in the mirror; this is one frame of a video I was shooting as these young ladies were getting ready for a wedding.