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the night shoes
Eight years ago (already!) my friend Al and I met in LA to take a weekend photography class with the incredible Sam Abell. It was a lot of work, a lot of learning, and some photographic successes.
The class took a late afternoon field trip to Union Station where we composed-and-waited to our heart’s content. Then some of us explored nearby Olvera Street, where we arrived just as the shops were shutting down for the day.
Olvera Street
Los Angeles, California
photographed 2.18.2017
Arched
It was one of those compose-and-wait situations that Sam Abell talks about. And I didn’t have to wait very long before a group of pedestrians were right there, under the arc of the water, just where I wanted them to be.
Rose Kennedy Greenway
Boston
photographed 9.5.2021
Window/Frame
When I’ve taken classes from the wonderful Sam Abell, he always speaks of the use of internal framing to make photographs more layered and more interesting. Although he was really encouraging more subtle uses of internal framing, sometimes there is a flagrant example. Like right here.
(Maybe all photographers are like this – the scene as they saw and photographed it seems like it’ll be there forever, unchanged, as though the photograph became the scene. I am that way, so when I passed through this town a week after I made this photo, I was very disappointed that the machinery had vanished.)
Yeso, New Mexico
photographed 3.14.2019
An art lover
“Compose and wait.”
I’ve taken two classes with Sam Abell, and he stressed that concept both times. (He practices it, too – look at his work and you can tell!)
I am not a patient person so composing and waiting doesn’t naturally occur. But look what happens when I actually c-&-w! An art lover – though she appears to be a little skeptical about this particular piece – steps right into my composition, just where I needed her to be.
Thanks, art lover!
The Cliffhouse Project
Lubbock, Texas
photographed 9.9.2017
If I ever needed you
I think this person probably sensed I was back there, taking pictures. It seemed like I was there for about an hour, waiting on just the right pose. I’m not saying this is the right pose; all I’d admit to is that it is a pose…
Union Station
Los Angeles, California
photographed 2.18.2017
One Day | One Image 