David Sorcher's PhotoWorld: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Trick of Treat???

©David Sorcher 2013

Well, it's All Hallow's Eve, the Celtic new year holiday of Samhain (pronounced Sowen or Shahvin) and it is truly my favorite time of year. It has become a holiday of tricks and treats and ghoulish costumes, but truly it is a time to honor and converse with our ancestors and prepare for the long, dark winter to come. However, in light of what Halloween has become here in the States, please enjoy this gallery of ghouls, ghosts, zombies and goblins. :-)

©David Sorcher 2013

The above images are from the Kings Island Halloween Haunt, the annual Cincinnati Zombie Walk, and the USS Nightmare.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween and......pleasant dreams....bwah, ha, ha!!!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

A Moment in Montréal

©David Sorcher 2013

One can never spend enough time in Montréal. At least that's my story and i'm sticking to it. It is a unique place both culturally and architecturally and is probably the closest thing to the feel of a European city experience within driving distance from my midwestern existence. It also holds a special place in my heart as it was the home of my dear wife Veronica when i first met her and obviously become my favorite destination point during our long distance love affair period. Unfortunately this visit was little more than a drive-by.

©David Sorcher 2013

Montréal is a city of public art and building size murals are common. You never know what might greet your eyes around every turn.

©David Sorcher 2013

I have to say that this city has the most "friendly" squirrel population anywhere i've been. I placed friendly in quotation marks because they do seem to have something more nefarious than friendship on their agenda. But you can literally walk right up to them. This is not shot with a long focal length. Of course they are hoping for a handout, i'm sure. I am afraid i disappointed this little fella.

©David Sorcher 2013

The city is renown for two of my favorite things. There is practically a bakery on every corner (the French love their bread almost as much as i do) and good coffee options are everywhere. We were having unusually warm weather for mid-October and the outdoor cafés were still bustling.

©David Sorcher 2013

This is Fairmont Bagel, one of the oldest and best known bagel bakeries in Montréal (since 1919). The city has a longstanding Jewish history and bagels were brought here by Polish immigrants about a century ago. This brings up an ongoing debate i have with my wife, who loves Montréal bagels. You see, i am a New Yorker and grew up with New York bagels. There are distinct differences between the two i won't go into here, so i am always teasing her that Montréal bagels are not "real" bagels. I am sure many will beg to differ. ;-)

©David Sorcher 2013

I just loved the light in this barbershop window. I really like the way the shadow is formed on the wall of the second Hollywood sign that is on the window just outside my frame.

©David Sorcher 2013

Just a taste of nightlife color as dusk turns to darkness.

©David Sorcher 2013

Well, technical i am at a friend's home in St. Jerome, not Montréal, as we head out of that city and eventually the province of Québec on our way to visit more friends in the Ottawa. Never enough time spent in that town, but i am sure we will be back there soon.

Friday, October 25, 2013

And the Children Shall Lead...

I love to photograph children. Their innocence, their infinite potential, the lack of inhibitions or pretense, make them the most perfect of all human subjects. But they are also quick and unpredictable at times and present their own set of photographic problems.

I got to meet some new cousins at our Canadian Thanksgiving as well as being joined by my two favorite nephews and we all took a nice long walk together in the park. The best way to get to know kids is to play along side them.

Ben ©David Sorcher 2013

Meet Ben. There's something about this kid that i immediately liked. That stick became his automatic weapon of choice for the afternoon. I love to catch kids at play in their natural state and environment. They move fast though and i recommend short shutter speeds if you want reasonable sharpness.

Ben ©David Sorcher 2013

Of course, i like to capture a good mixture of portraits along with the action shots. Ben's a natural and i felt like i was on a fashion assignment for Child's Wear Daily with this shot. That style is all Ben by the way. His parents don't know where it comes from, but they have always let him dress as he pleases. I swear this look is going to be in the windows of Barney's NYC next month.

Evelyn & Olivia ©David Sorcher 2013

Like Ben, i also met Evelyn and Olivia for the first time this day. We played the "shy" game for quite some time, but fortunately by the time we hit the park i had received at least a partial seal of approval from both parties.

Evelyn ©David Sorcher 2013

Evelyn eyes me from atop her father's shoulders.

Olivia ©David Sorcher 2013

A field of milkweed provides a great distraction for getting candid moments.

Evelyn & Olivia ©David Sorcher 2013

I guess that by the end of our hike i was the fully accepted event photographer. Olivia was quite insistent that i come out in the backyard to take her picture with Evelyn. Who could argue with these faces? I was hired!

Ethan ©David Sorcher 2013

This is my nephew Ethan on the following day at Andrew & Erika's farmhouse. There is definitely a different dynamic at work shooting kids you know. We have a standing relationship, a history of shared experience that comes into play as i shoot. And yes, that can be both a good and a bad thing for pictures.

Jacob ©David Sorcher 2013

Ethan's brother Jacob up close and straightforward. I am not sure how he manages to look so honest AND devious at the same time, but it seems to be something boys of this age are very good at.

The Boys Club ©David Sorcher 2013

Back to the previous day in the park with the boys, who have found a natural fort of fallen trees for this photo op.

Little Rascals ©David Sorcher 2013

While there was a certain self-imposed segregation of the sexes on our park walk there were also a couple of opportunities for mixed groupings. I am not sure where Ethan was off to at this point.

Hopefully i've pick images to show you that go beyond mere family interest. I always warn my students with children that they are more than welcome to shoot them for class assignments as long as they are making images that are interesting to people beyond their own family units. When shooting our dear ones it is all too easy to be swayed by personal sentiment in our edits.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Canadian Color

One of the things i was excited about before our Canadian road trip was an opportunity to photograph some of the northern fall colors. The trees hadn't quite turned down here in Cincinnati and this trip gave me a chance to have two shots at autumn colors because they should be changing by the time i return. And sure enough, as we drove back and forth across the Canadian Shield on the 401 we witnessed a brilliant display of bright reds and oranges and golden yellows. Trouble is i was doing the driving and we had little time on our busy schedule for photographic detours. Relatives and friends were waiting at the end of those long drives and those visits were our priority.
But here are some shots for you color junkies out there. Not what the season tantalizingly dangled before my windscreen on the roadways, but powerful colors none the less.

Kingston; Canada; Lake Ontario; Umbrella

Green Squid ©David Sorcher 2013

This umbrella reminded me of a big land squid in the late afternoon sun.

Fifty/Fifty ©David Sorcher 2013

This sunset view is out the backyard of Hugh & Diane's (my wife's uncle & aunt) place in Kingston, overlooking Lake Ontario. It's a view i could get used to. :-)

A nice grouping of primary color is found in the most mundane of subjects. Actually, a slight bit of natural fall color can be seen in the background trees, but clearly the man-made color dominate here.

OK, finally some natural leaf color, eh? We took a nice long afternoon walk with most of the family one day and i thought for sure the autumn colors would be there. But really there were very few and many of the trees in this park were still pretty green. Go figure. I did get some great shots of the kids that day which i will probably post soon and to be fair, this day, this trip, really was about family, not finding fall color. Good thing that now that i am back home and much further south i will have another shot at it.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Down on the Farm

So sorry for falling down on the job folks. For me a two week gap in blogging is really inexcusable, but between being involved in the two shows that went up last month and traveling again, this time to a completely different part of Canada, i have just let it slip a bit.
So yes, Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving. Yes Gladys, they do have a Thanksgiving up here, it is in October instead of November and it has nothing to do with made up stories about Pilgrims and Native Americans sitting down together for a meal of wild turkey and maize, watching endless games of American Football or planning your shopping mall mode of attack for Black Friday the next day. But like the American holiday it does have everything to do with families and we have been road tripping along the 401 visiting with friends and family and enjoying the splendor of the great, not yet white north.
Today's offerings were shot at my cousins (by marriage) Erika & Andrew's place, an old farmhouse in Yarker near Kingston. So much of my lens attention this trip has been focussed on all the family kids (you may see a few of those eventually) and other relatives at these holiday gatherings, but i found a moment of solitude to walk on the back end of the property on an unusually warm and sunny autumn afternoon and hope you will like the results. :-)

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

This Too Shall Pass

Autumn is upon us. The wheel of the seasons moves steadily forward. The leaves explode in brilliant colors of golden yellows, oranges and reds, only to lose their battle with gravity and fall fluttering to the cooling earth below. Slowly our world begins to die. Or so it would seem. We have all lived long enough to know this as nature's last blaze of glory before the long cold sleep of winter, but that spring will certainly not be too far off, bringing with it renewal and rebirth. I love this time of year and all the bittersweet beauty it holds.

Certainly if you have been following my work at all you know i have a bit of an obsession with this kind of subject. This purple finch (yes, i know, it looks red) came from a student of my good friend Josh who brought this "gift" to him especially for me after i gave a presentation in his class. Well, it is my birthday today so it does seem appropriate. :-)

This moth was another gift from the 11-year-old daughter of another good friend and neighbor. Well, it's on loan at least. Apparently she has a little collection of such things as this and cicada shells and the like and expects it back. A girl after my own heart. Fall is a time for exploring analogous color relationships and the certain sense of serenity that they suggest.

Lastly a close-up of the finch. I'm not sure i'm done with this bird yet. I started shooting too late in the day and was a bit frustrated as i tried somewhat in vain to chase the quickly failing light of day for my shots. I'm not convinced i actually got the results i was looking for, but these shots were at least on track and i hope worthy of showing.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

A Moment Before Coffee...

OK, so you are probably getting a little tired of looking at shots from Nova Scotia as it was all i posted for the entire month of September. Perhaps it's time for a bit of a break (not that i am quite done with it yet). But October is here and the season of long shadows is upon us as both summer and the sun slip lower in the sky, so i thought this offering was appropriate. I have told of my love of house light before, the sun sneaking through the curtains in the early morning bringing messages of the day or bidding it's fond farewells at the setting of the sun. This is my kitchen sink early in the day and i could not help but be seduced by the alternating patterns of light & shadow. A moment before coffee to recognize the beauty of simple things.