Okay, that's not the real name. But it is near the old Yankee Stadium.
Technique: the usual #infraredpaintingdlb
One of those images that forced me to "mask" that bridge, girder by girder to turn it black. I swear I heard the old Rolling Stones song Paint It Black while I was working on it which gave me the idea.
How many times while you are doing something so tedious do you say to yourself: now this is really a dumb waste of time? Or – are you really going to spend the time to mask a bridge just so that you can turn it black? Don't you have anything better to do with your time.
Hmmm. is it Saturday yet? This would be a good one for #paintitsaturday and I also found a tag: #paintitblack (who knew). And there's also: #beforeandaftersaturday

And I thought, just for the heck of it I'd show you what it looked like straight from the infrared camera. These are what all the infrared shots that you've seen look like before I start to play with them.

If you tell me that you like the untouched version better it will really confuse me

Oh, and I even threw in the thumbnails from Lightroom so you could see the process – sort of.

black bridge, BEFORE from infrared modded camera.

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In album 2012-02-03

black bridge, BEFORE from infrared modded camera.

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In album 2012-02-03

Black Bridge – the painted version. www.BeckermanPhoto.com

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#photostorydlb
Photo courtesy of (shot by) James Maher (my prints in the Palace Restaurant, 34th street just east of Park Avenue, two floors)

What were my goals when I took my place on the web in 1999 to sell photographs? Very simple, to make a living at it without changing what I shot. In other words, I can remember saying to myself (I talk to myself a lot) that I wouldn't change what I was shooting to make sales.

And I can't say that I have. (Maybe I should have). But the idea was that I would continue to photograph whatever struck me at the time. There were assignments over the years but usually I only took them on because they interested me (a fairly large number of theater shoots).

My idea was to sell high quality art to the general public and bypass the gallery circuit. Now, what seems like a million years later, but what is only about 12 years, I look back and think about the mistakes that I made along the road.

There were so many of them. I'll give you an example: back in 2000 I decided that a good way to get my images out was with screensavers. I bought a screensaver maker, and included about 20 of my best shots and posted it on my site.

Well, it got about 5000 downloads in the first month and caused me to use a more expensive hosting plan. I also found sites that would offer your screensaver and before you knew it my screensaver was being downloaded all over the world at an incredible rate.

So, I say to myself (I told you I talk to myself a lot, sort of like this stream of consciousness) okay Dave – what would happen if you offered to make a screensaver for people. In other words, I put up a program I wrote that allowed people to choose 20 of my photographs and for a dollar they could have a personalized screensaver with their favorite images from my site.

And what happened? You guessed it. I didn't have a single sale! Well maybe I had one, but I had worked on the program to let people make their selections (and even arrange them) for about a month – and no one wanted it. Was the problem that it was asking them to do something – or was it the dollar?

I wanted to find out. So one day I offered the make your own screensaver for free!

Guess what. Before I could remove the offer, I was swamped with free orders and was stuck making about 40 personalized screensavers. Eek. Bad memories.

And that was my real introduction to the world of selling on the web.

I often made similar mistakes that didn't take into account the amount of labor associated with what I was charging.

That happened in a big way when I took a contract to make postcards for a firm and I'll never forget that… but will continue in next post which I've already called The Postcard Fiasco.

(The Palace Restaurant picture – you can make out The Secret Garden by Dave Beckerman as the first print on the left. Prints are also in the Hilton Millenium Hotel, downtown New York).

my photos on the wall of the Palace Restaurant. Good burgers. 34th east of Park Ave.

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Pretty cool now to go back and look at the work I've posted with the #colorpaintingdlb tag. I know that you can select to just show your own stuff once you are there – but it would be extra cool if there was a parameter for the search url so that it shows your own stuff to start off with otherwise it just looks like a bunch of duplicates.

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Google+ stream: #colorpaintingdlb
See the latest about #colorpaintingdlb and find people who share your interests. Google+ search streams bring you updates from your circles, public Google+ posts and news from around the web.

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I mention that I'm not crazy about the last infrared / palindrome image that I posted but c'est la vie. Still, here's a nice link from the #infraredpaintingdlb that sure does have a bunch of good ones bunched together.

One other note about hash tags like the one above for you TECH FOLKS at Google. It sure would be good if there was a management system for hashtags. Basically you could delete / combine tags. In this case I see that I have #infraredphotographydlb and #infraredpaintingdlb and I'd like to combine them so that wherever a was it is now b or the other way around. It's the usual stuff that's developed by third party programmers for blogs – in my own case WordPress which has a tremendous number of plugins for dealing with hash tags (though in their world they're just called tag).

If such a third party gizmo already exists for G+ I sort of doubt it because I don't believe there's an API out yet that can write to your posts…

But anyway – it would be a good thing.

#hashtags

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Google+ stream: #infraredpaintingdlb
See the latest about #infraredpaintingdlb and find people who share your interests. Google+ search streams bring you updates from your circles, public Google+ posts and news from around the web.

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#infraredpaintingdlb
"They opened the space ship and we saw an odd accumulation of metal work stretching across a glowing river. Our hosts urged us to step out into this liquid environment and we found that we didn't sink but could walk on what felt like lime Jello…"
Opening of the imaginary sci-fi short story – From Here to Infirmity

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#colorpaintingdlb And what is he staring at / into? I can only say that it was a chocolate shop (now gone). Lot's of excellent chocolate in the window.

www.BeckermanPhoto.com
Night Collections, part palindrome

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Cherry Blossom Trees Central Park

Cherry Blossoms, Central Park – www.BeckermanPhoto.com

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Any real reason for putting these on their own page. Not sure yet. Just trying to learn more about how the pages work.

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Beckerman's Photo Favorites
The photographs and posts that I like the best

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I know that I usually write up a whole bunch of stuff about the recipe I used but this one I've been futzing with for so long that unless I had had the foresight to write it down somewhere…

It gets to a point where it feels like alchemy sometimes. But one thing I can say – no HDR in this one no matter what it looks like.

The place is a museum. And I'm sure that tons of DUMBO people can tell me more. First one to say, "good capture" gets banned (just kidding). Have a good night. And for those following my cat (Buddy's) saga — I think he's on the mend. Will find out more when blood work comes back tomorrow.

And I know that I shouldn't mix cat stories and DUMBO paintings – but any recommendations for a "soft" dry cat food? I think he's been having trouble chewing and I've been taking his Science Diet stuff, putting it in a plastic bag, and smashing it up to make it easier for him to chew and that's working.

Ciao for now.

#colorpaintingdlb

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Thought experiment. Someone asks you what camera to buy. They are "just a beginner." It seems to me that you'd need to ask the person a few questions before you could give any sort of useful answer.

For example:
1. How much can you spend?
2. What do you plan to use it for?

And based on certain questions that you begin with, you could create a semi-intelligent series of questions.

At one end you have possible questions… and at the other end you've got how many possible categories:
1. Point and shoot
2. DSLR
3. SmartPhone

Should a newbie buy a camera online if it saves them a few dollars?

Am I over-complicating things? Probably.

And of course within those categories you've still got all the brands… models…

The reason I posted this was that it is a common question for me, and frankly, most of the time if the person has a decent smartphone I suggest that.

And if they aren't using it, I ask why.

And they say, because I want something better.

And the intelligent machines responds: what do you mean by better?

And the person says, something clearer. Or, I want something that takes better pictures…

But of course I get the same responses if the person has a digital point and shoot.

Do you still have the old point and shoot?

No, I threw it away. It broke somehow. Maybe when it fell in the bathtub…

Back to the main subject.

How do sales people decide what to offer?

If I get someone that says, I'm interested in learning photography. I really would like to study it.

Then I have a chance. I'm going to suggest an inexpensive DSLR if it's within their budget but when I suggest a prime lens they aren't going to be happy.

Anyway – just thought I'd see if there were a series of questions you could ask that would help answer the newbie question – or whether there really is no answer.

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Thought experiment. Someone asks you what camera to buy. They are "just a beginner." It seems to me that you'd need to ask the person a few questions before you could give any sort of useful answer.

For example:
1. How much can you spend?
2. What do you plan to use it for?

And based on certain questions that you begin with, you could create a semi-intelligent series of questions.

At one end you have possible questions… and at the other end you've got how many possible categories:
1. Point and shoot
2. DSLR
3. SmartPhone

Should a newbie buy a camera online if it saves them a few dollars?

Am I over-complicating things? Probably.

And of course within those categories you've still got all the brands… models…

The reason I posted this was that it is a common question for me, and frankly, most of the time if the person has a decent smartphone I suggest that.

And if they aren't using it, I ask why.

And they say, because I want something better.

And the intelligent machines responds: what do you mean by better?

And the person says, something clearer. Or, I want something that takes better pictures…

But of course I get the same responses if the person has a digital point and shoot.

Do you still have the old point and shoot?

No, I threw it away. It broke somehow. Maybe when it fell in the bathtub…

Back to the main subject.

How do sales people decide what to offer?

If I get someone that says, I'm interested in learning photography. I really would like to study it.

Then I have a chance. I'm going to suggest an inexpensive DSLR if it's within their budget but when I suggest a prime lens they aren't going to be happy.

Anyway – just thought I'd see if there were a series of questions you could ask that would help answer the newbie question – or whether there really is no answer.

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+Bette Kauffman and her class discuss Newsstand, a picture that now seems somewhat prescient.

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Bette Kauffman – Google+ – Newsstand, Street Portrait 1993

It…
Newsstand, Street Portrait 1993

#PhotoStory-dlb

It intrigued me that the newsstand vendors who were often immigrants were surrounded in such detail with…

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Place: Bronx, New York
Workflow: #palindromedlb
This was the subway station that is near the end of the line in the Bronx and was where I emerged at the end of the daily trek into the city. From here, I walk along Jerome Avenue then make a right onto Gunhill Road and walk down to a small street called Putnam Place which is about one block long and directly across from Woodlawn Cemetery.

Jerome Avenue was where I had all my first jobs. Citron's Hardware store where I learned to stack lightbulbs. Mr. Singer's jewelry store where I learned to gift wrap tiny little packages.

My early jobs were all held when high-school let out at 3 p.m. and were boring except for the fact that I made my own money for the first time.

And then I worked two full days on the weekend. I was 15 and 16.

The only pleasure that I had, was being able to go to the blue-collar luncheonette on the corner of Gunhill and Jerome and order a cheeseburger deluxe at the counter with workmen.

These were the beginning of a life of boring jobs. If I had thought that school was boring – well these were mind-numbing. I suppose that I must've done somebody wrong at some point to be saddled with these jobs – but what it was – I guess I'll never know.

I once sat down and enumerated the jobs I've held so far – and it amounted to something like 30 separate jobs. And I'm not counting one day jobs, or all the temp jobs I had at one period when I worked as a typist and later as a word processor.

I really didn't find a job that I enjoyed until I found my way to the ad agency that I've mentioned a few times and by then – maybe I was 40 years old? And the reason that I liked it was because of my boss who was another Bronx guy – though ten years older than me. We simply hit it off and could get things done and at that time – being a computer engineer / programmer – you had leverage. You had freedom. You knew that with the skills you had, and the way the economy was – that you could always get another job when the corporate politics got to be too much.

Well – that's the backstory and I'll give this a #photostorydlb tag so I can find it again when I tell the story of my life. (Like I'll ever get around to it.)

Oh – and look at the picture carefully. It's filled with secrets that don't make much sense.

Mosholu Parkway, Bronx
Palindrome – www.BeckermanPhoto.com

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From b&w HIE (infrared film)
#infraredpaintingdlb #colorpaintingdlb

www.BeckermanPhoto.com
Grand Central Terminal
Infrared Film

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