Diane Smook Photography Blog

A New York Moment – Man with Reindeer

dianesmook — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:43:41 +0000

I love New York. I love having an iPhone with a camera. This is what I saw on the corner of 75th and Madison a couple of days ago.

Why is he carrying a big, stuffed, white reindeer? Where is he going?

We will never know.

Happy Holidays to All!

dianesmook — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:14:16 +0000

I am beginning to relax now, as gifts and cards are wrapped and addressed and on their way. I would like to share some of the cards I have sent over the past few years.

This magic moment occurred early one morning when we woke up to a fresh snowfall. In my robe, I ran for my 6×7 film camera and shuffled out to the patio to take this photograph before the snow melted or blew away. Within a half hour, this beautiful scene had become ordinary.

During the next couple of years, I was busy building a portfolio of color botanicals and used images that seemed seasonal in color and feeling, although shot during the summer.

This red poppy was a particular hit.

And this clematis looked to me like it could decorate a Christmas tree.

This year I had a lucky break. After a blizzard last December, I took a walk and photographed this snowy scene (and blogged about it). I could relax all year knowing that I had this wonderful image in my library.

With these images I wish you all a Joyous Holiday and a Happy and a Healthy New Year!

Two Grandsons, Three Photographs

dianesmook — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:12:08 +0000

My two grandsons are nearly the same age, but live on opposite ends of the country. They are not often in the same place at the same time. It is a lucky summer for me when I can photograph them together with my film cameras to make classic black and white prints. The year-to-year changes are sometimes subtle, sometimes not, but always interesting:

Julian and Anthony at 15 (2006)

Anthony and Julian at 16:

Anthony and Julian at 20

I love these photographs.

100 Years Old and Going Strong!

dianesmook — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:28:47 +0000

My friend Faity Tuttle is truly amazing. My husband and I were thrilled to celebrate her 100th birthday with her last month. About a third of the celebrants were children, grand-children and one adorable great-great. Food and drink were plentiful, dancing and partying superb. Here is Faity looking spectacular:

I have wanted to work in black and white film this summer and Faity agreed to let me photograph her everyday life at the historic farmhouse where she has spent July and August since the 1940′s. Yesterday I met up with her as she was finishing her coffee, having already taken her daily pre-breakfast walk. When I asked about the plans for the day, she mentioned that the garden needed some work. Faity proceeded to get her weed-whacker from the shed and whacked away at the borders, as I shot away with my big 6×7 film camera. I was blown away. Is she amazing??? I can’t wait to get the film back from the lab.

ps. Check my post a year ago regarding Faity’s 99th birthday.

A Beautiful Sepia App on my iPhone

dianesmook — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 20:11:56 +0000

I downloaded Aisu Sepia for my iPhone this week and I love it. I have worked with sepia toner in my darkroom for many years. Images from my portfolio, Portraits from the Garden: An Uncommon View, are on my website.

My friend Sophia and I drove to The Cloisters a few days ago and it seemed the perfect place experiment with this app.

This is the perfect spot for black and white photography, and the sepia seems to add to the mood. It personifies the medieval history of the collection and accentuates the details.

Even in 2-D!

Believe it or not, these images are right out of the camera. I haven’t adjusted contrast or brightness.

I’m sure that this knight never thought he would be immortalized digitally with a cell phone.

A delightful day. And the App was free from the App Store.

Ferocious Hail Storm

dianesmook — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:33:53 +0000

Our garden is trashed.

Shortly after we arrived at our farm on Friday, the skies darkened and our hill was pelted with hail. Usually a hail storm only lasts a few minutes, and these were really big hailstones, so I ran for my camera. Turns out that I didn’t have to run. There was wave after wave of hail, followed by torrential rain. I began to wonder whether the Rapture people were right after all – that the end of the world had arrived!!

You can see the hailstones bouncing around. The plants in the pots are being pummeled. They are REALLY big hailstones! The storm lasted about 45 minutes. It seemed like a lifetime. When my husband and I walked around to survey the damage, the grass crunched under our feet. The asparagus in the vegetable garden looked fringed on top. Any late tulips were history. The leaves of the large maple tree overlooking the patio are now all over the patio. Bits of leaves were glued to our windows.

Look at the size of these hailstones!

The hail was deepest on the patio and on the soil and mulch in the garden.

In some places, the runoff was like a river. There are piles of mulch, soil and debris all over our lawn.

The oddest thing is that a mere mile from us, there was a little hail and no damage. Mother Nature can be very arbitrary. As we bemoaned the fact that we had just planted giant zinnias and other annuals grown from seed, all destroyed, I had one thought. In the Midwest, people were looking at their HOMES totally destroyed. We were looking at plants. You can replant flowers and foliage. Maybe it wasn’t such a calamity after all.

Triploid Grass Carp to the Rescue

dianesmook — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:45:11 +0000

Our pond, although supplied with fresh water from 5 underground streams, has become unpleasantly filled with vegetation each summer. My friend Maria mentioned that triploid grass carp could clean it up. So we applied for a license and the local authorities inspected our pond. These fish are supposed to be sterile, but the fish and game people have to be sure that there is no overflow into another body of water JUST IN CASE they somehow reproduce. Last Saturday we picked up the 4 carp that we were assigned as the correct number to eat the greenery in our pond.

The carp were waiting for us at White Oak Farm in Hillsdale, NY, relaxing in a large, aerated container.

Meanwhile, Fred Laing, who is tremendously knowledgeable about these and other fish matters filled our 2 picnic coolers with water and gave us instructions on transporting and handling the fish.

Then he netted our fish and put two into each cooler. The fish didn’t seem to mind.

We got large carp so that they wouldn’t be bothered by the large-mouth bass that have turned up on the pond, carried in as eggs on bird feathers.

We drove straight to the farm and gently dumped them all in.

Each one paused, got its bearings, and swam away.

I hope they live and prosper!

Finally got an iPhone!

dianesmook — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:29:47 +0000

I have waited and waited for this iPhone. When Verizon got it, so did I. This is why I wanted it:

This is a perfect New York moment, and then it was gone.

A few days later, the temperature was in the 70′s and I passed Rockefeller Center. I love it. People are eating at the outdoor cafe watching skaters.

A rare March day. Then winter returned and no one sat outside.

I went to see the AIPAD show at the Armory. The street itself was a work of art:

Is this from the Con Ed art collection?

“A Woman’s World” Photography Exhibit opening March 3 in NYC

dianesmook — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:32:53 +0000

This should be a terrific show. In celebration of Women’s History Month, Macy’s has generously donated the 8th floor walls, across from Au Bon Pain, to display photographs recognizing the strengths of women by celebrating their advancement outside of the home, and honoring the importance of their work within it. The exhibition will feature work by members of Professional Women Photographers, an international organization based in New York. The exhibit was juried by photographer Karen Marshall – there were many, many entries – and I am honored that my portrait of Choreographer Isabel Gotzkowsky was included.

I took this portrait of Isabel a few years ago during a rehearsal at Dance Theater Workshop as she created new works for Isabel Gotzkowsky & Friends, her dynamic small dance company here in New York. Isabel has always liked this photograph because “it was the last time I looked relaxed until after the week of performances was over!” The image was part of my solo show in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called Becoming Dance: Images of a Process.

The exhibit will be on the 8th floor of Macy’s at Broadway & 34th Street from March 2-23. The opening will be next Thursday, March 3rd, from 6-8pm. A talented group of photographers will be represented in a large variety of work and I hope you can join us.

For those of you who love modern dance, Isabel’s next season will be June 9-12, 2011 at Dance New Amsterdam.

December Blizzard

dianesmook — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:26:59 +0000

When the snow stopped falling yesterday at about midday, I decided to take a walk. The panorama when I left the house was lovely.

Then the wind began to blow. It was a challenge to keep my lens dry.

It was too deep in most places to walk in the field, so I kept to the road. I came to an orchard, where a stand of spruce shielded me from the relentless wind.

There was a frozen apple in one of the trees. A bonus for some lucky deer when it finally falls.

Past the orchard I was back in the wind. There is a pond where we all swim in the summer. Sure looked different yesterday.

The grasses were blowing wildly

The air above the frozen pond was filled with snow. It was beautiful in a wild way, but very cold, so I retraced my steps in the road and headed home. And the wind and the snow kept blowing.