What I like about Castleberry Hill is the relaxed artsy atmosphere with a variety of surprises around each corner and an interesting mix of industrial/urban flair, art galleries, pubs, cafés, music shops, and colorful houses. Here is what wikipedia has to say:

Castleberry Hill is a neighborhood in central Atlanta, Georgia located adjacent to and southwest of the Central Business District. It is a federally recognizedhistoric district since 1985 and became a City of Atlanta Landmark District in 2006. A designated ‘landmark’ district’ helps preserve the neighborhood from overzealous developers.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2000, the area has experienced an influx of residents and new businesses. The area, which is made up predominantly of Walker, Nelson and Peters Streets is home to a growing number of small art galleries, restaurants, and loft residences. The area also offers pristine local shopping, grocery, such as Boxcar Grocer, and spa services, like iwi Fresh. Other notable area eateries include No Mas! Cantina, a spacious Mexican-themed restaurant, bar and fine home furnishings establishment, often used as a point of reference. Castleberry Hill residents gather at local watering holes, such as Elliott Street Pub and Bottle Rocket. The crowd is normally a mix of AUC students and recent grads, residents, downtown workers, and attendees of downtown events (Philips Arena and theGeorgia Dome are located nearby.)

Castleberry Hill is home to both the Second Friday Art Stroll and Flux Night.

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Blue Ridge, GA:

Blue Ridge is about 1.5 hours away from Atlanta by car and more on the touristy side. It is conveniently located to provide access to the Blue Ridge Mountains. From wikipedia:

Blue Ridge is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Georgia. With key water features, such as Lake Blue Ridge and the Toccoa River, as well as being surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the southern tip of the Appalachian Trail, the area draws tourists and outdoorsmen from all over the United States and abroad.

Outdoor activities include fishing, kayaking, boating, tubing, swimming, hiking, camping and blueberry picking, to name a few. The downtown area of the city is populated with several shops and antique stores. The tracks for the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway bisect the downtown, with the Scenic Railway itself operating out of the town’s historic 100 year old depot. The downtown area also serves as host for several seasonal festivals.

 

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Helen, GA:

From Blue Ridge I took one of the scenic drives to finally return via Helen. Unfortunately I rained most of the time so that I stepped out of the car only once. It (somewhat) stopped to rain when I arrived in Helen. Here is what Wikipedia says about Helen:

Formerly a logging town that was in decline, the city resurrected itself by becoming a replica of a Bavarian alpine town, in the Appalachians instead of the Alps. This design is mandated through zoning first adopted in 1969, so that the classic south-German style is present on every building, even the small number of national franchisees present (such as Huddle House and Wendy’s). Because of this, tourism is the main industry in Helen, catering mostly to weekend visitors from the Atlanta area and also, motorcyclists, who enjoy riding the beautiful roads of the Helen and its surrounding areas during all seasons. Helen is extremely crowded in late October, when autumn leaves typically peak. It also hosts its own Oktoberfest during September, October and November. There are many events and festivals throughout the year. One of the most well-known is the annual hot-air balloon race, which is held the first weekend in June each year.

While Helen is claimed to be of classic south-German style this is not completely true – trust me, I know: I am German. However, it is not that far off. The main issue probably stems from a too aggressive copying of these elements and a recombination that is “unstable”. There is one particular location with the bridge in Helen (see below) that reminded me quite a bit of Nürnberg. This weekend Helen was also the venue of the SoWo 2013 (German) Volkswagen Import Car Show which considerably added to the atmosphere: the city was full with German cars, German number plates, and various adaptations and uses of the German “Umlaute” such as, ü, ä, ö as you can for example see in the very first shot above.

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Inman Park, Atlanta, GA:

And one final one from Inman Park…

I learned about Jose Vazquez’s work via his feature on the flickr blog. I was extremely impressed by his urban photography and the fact that his tool is an iPhone. So I wrote him and asked for an interview to share his thoughts and work with you guys. 

Please tell us about yourself.

I’m originally from Florida. After graduating high school, I spent five years in the United States Marine Corps. After being honorably discharged, I began college at the University of California, San Diego. After receiving my B.S. in electrical engineering in 2007, I moved to Brooklyn with my family. I’m currently living in Jersey City, NJ with my wife and 11-month old son. I got into photography around 2009 when I bought my first DSLR. I was frustrated with how boring my travel photography was, so I decided to buy a “big” camera. Little did I know back then it isn’t so much about the equipment, but the technique. I’ve been shooting since then and haven’t looked back.

What pushes you to shoot? What do you shoot (for)?

I shoot for the sheer pleasure and love of freezing moments in time. I’m not a professional, so everything I shoot is for me. The world around me inspires me to shoot – especially my son. It’s a beautiful thing seeing it all through a camera lens.

What is your style?

I don’t think I have a particular style. I enjoy shooting everything from abandoned buildings, to people in the street, to nature. My post-processing style also runs the gamut from heavily processed HDR lo-fi black and white.

When you shoot, do you go out with a plan, or do you let it happen?

I usually just let it happen. The only time I have a real plan is when I’m going on an urban exploration shoot.

Are there any photographers/artists/role models that influence your work or inspire you?

Honestly, I’m inspired by so many people I follow on various social media networks. There’s never a shortage of inspiration. If I had to choose a professional who inspires me it’d be Joe McNally. The man is a lighting god!

You were recently featured on flickr’s blog because of your urban exploration using your iphone. Can you tell us a bit more about it and why the iphone?

One of the greatest opportunities and experiences I’ve had to date. I bought an iPhone almost a year and a half ago and for a while I was shooting with it exclusively. It’s an amazing camera for its size, and the ease of shooting, editing, and sharing made me fall in love with it. As the old adage says, “The best camera is the one that’s with you.”

Do you have a specific goal for the development of your photography?

I’d like to get more into portraiture in the next few years. I love photographing my son, but I quickly learned that portraiture and flash photography is a completely different beast. I love a challenge though, so my goal is to master lighting and start photographing more people.

What projects are you currently working on? 

I’ve been teaching myself photographic lighting in an attempt to improve the portraiture aspect of my photography.

Is there a project you are especially proud of

The project I’m most proud of is the collection of photos I’ve been amassing of my beautiful son. Ever since he was born he has taken front seat in my life and I absolutely love taking photos of him every day.

Is there any specific advice that you have for us?

My advice is always to first learn the fundamentals of exposure. We have so many tools available to us now with Photoshop and the myriad other image editing programs, but a great image begins in the camera. Also, get out there and shoot, shoot, shoot.

Now let us have a look at some of your favorite shoots.

“Tunnel Seating” I love this image for many reasons. For one, this was the location of my first ever urban exploration experience. It’s certainly a place I won’t soon forget. I’ve been to various other places since, but for me this signifies everything that urban exploration is.

“Refuge”  This is one of my personal favorite HDR images. It was taken at the beautiful Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during a snowstorm. I love the contrast between the warmth of the terrace and the winter scene outside.

“The Forgotten Cell Block“  Another favorite HDR image, this one in black and white. This is from Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. The long, decaying corridor is what drew me. The vanishing point sealed the deal.

“Beak Envy…I Know You’re Feeling It” I grew up in Florida and had no idea I was surrounded by such beautiful wildlife. It wasn’t until I started seeing the world through my camera lens that I noticed it. This is one of my favorite wildlife portraits taken at a park in Fort Pierce, FL. It’s an American White Ibis.

“Snowy Bow Bridge“ An iPhone image taken at Central Park’s Bow Bridge. This was one of my first iPhone creations. One of the great things about the iPhone are all the great apps available that can transform a photo into a work of art.

“Brooklyn Pilings” Taken at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. I was knee-deep in water when I shot this and it was worth every minute. This image was also selected for the cover of an upcoming novel.

“Little Angel” One of my favorite images of my son. I snapped this while experimenting with off-camera flash. I was very pleasantly surprised with the results.

Thank you very much for your time!

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Do not forget to checkout Jose Vazquez’s work:

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/jmvazquezjr/
Website: jose-vazquez.artistwebsites.com/

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A couple of weekends ago I went with William Frank Fox to Tucker, GA. This was more of a random trip without any specific aim however I thought I’d share some of the shots with you. Make sure to read William’s blog post to learn more and see his shots.

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A couple of days ago I did a shooting with Elle Lenz close to Atlantic station. The location was a bit overcrowded with a lot of other photographers. I suppose the extremely nice weather basically asked for it. The shooting was again a bit more on the casual side however this time I used two Alien Bees – it was simply too bright for available light and I could not have managed to balance the light otherwise.

Finally we are getting into a regime where shooting is fun again. While the last shootings were available light only, today I had to use strobes. Due to timing constraints we shot around 2pm, i.e., the sun was high and strong. Without strobes it would have been virtually impossible to get enough light into the face to get an overall pleasing look without harsh contrasts. The difference in lighting was probably somewhere between 3 and 4 stops. I was actually surprised to see several other photographers shooting bare in the harsh light, i.e., without reflector, diffuser, or lights. Whenever possible, I recommend to shoot either in the morning or the late afternoon, so that the sun is not so strong. Also, in particular in the golden hour, you get amazing light for free. Shoot into the sun while metering your model’s face and you can get an amazing, dreamy look. Add one light (e.g., a speedlite) for definition and you are golden.

The setup. Summer style shooting with lots of light and slight vintage look. Elle wanted to have something more natural, outdoors. So I thought the ‘girl from next door’ would be great. We probably shoot for around 2 hours – enough time for me to get a minor sun burn. Apart from the light, one of the other major challenges was the wide shirt: one wind blow and your model just gained 50 pounds. We had to constantly readjust the shirt. Also, to my surprise, I had some minor Moiré coming from the shirt. I am used to this from my M9P as it has no low pass filter on the sensor, but I was surprised to see this with the OM-D. I guess their LP filter is on the weaker side, which is good as you get (much) more detail but occasionally results in Moiré.

The location. Area close to Atlantic station. We shot at three or four different locations moving with the sun and against the crowd.

Gear.

Camera: Olympus OM-D
Exposure: f/2.8 – 5.6, 1/100 – 1/500, ISO 200
Lens: Olympus 75mm f/1.8
Lights: 2 Alien Bees B800 with shoot-through umbrella and one bare

Lighting. I used between one or two Alien Bees depending where we shot. Some of the shots were taken in open shade. In this case one bee as a kicker was enough. The challenging part in this case was more the mix of light of different color temperaturse: the bees being daylight calibrated at 5000-5500K (depending on output level) vs. open shade light which clocks in somewhere in mid to low 4000K. Moreover shooting with the bees limited me to sync at 1/250s so that I had to shoot at some aggressive f/10-f/11 – at best a hair short of diffraction. The setup itself in the two light case was a standard two light setup – I spare you the diagram. Since we wanted to go casual, natural, and lifestyle I did not use a separate rim light (which might have looked a bit artificial).

The shots.

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Before I start talking about the Signatur series, I would like to thank Kaitren for giving me the opportunity to show my work.

So what is the “Signatur” series about? I started to experiment with unsharpness some time back in early 2009. At that point it was more like technical fascination with bokeh rather than some other, deeper motivation. However, shortly after the technical fascination blew over, I realized that every location has something like a unique light signature. Even though one might not identify the location by the context that is depicted, the mix of colors and lights might still capture essential parts of the atmosphere of that particular place. The “Signatur” series is about capturing precisely this atmosphere, devoid of any distractions from actual, specific objects or subjects.

I chose five particular shots from the series – the whole series can be found here. In the following, I want to give you guys some more information about the shots.

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Paris, 2010. I took this shot in Paris back in 2010. What you see here is the lights from the Eiffel Tower at night. It creates this warm and serene atmosphere. One can look at it for hours and one is totally calm and relaxed afterwards.

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Hannover, 2011. Taken around Christmas 2011 in Hannover, Germany. The lights are from the christmas decoration you will find everywhere in German cities around that time of the year. Typically they are part of the large christmas markets which brings together people on the streets despite the typically freezing cold weather.

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Nürnberg, 2012. One of my favorites. I am not going to talk about this one however: this is the photograph that is featured on the Yahoo! notebook and the Yahoo! skin for the iPad and you can read more about it here.

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Singapore, 2012. What you can see in the photograph here is the skyline of Singapore taken from a site close to the Marina Bay Sands hotel. I deliberately chose a much higher definition here to emphasize the character of the skyline. The Marina Bay area is one of those hot spots where everybody meets in the evening. There are live performances, many tourists, and restaurants.

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Atlanta, 2013. The last one of the shots I have chosen was taken on the Beltline here in Atlanta. I took it on one of the numerous bridges overlooking parts of the city at night. The Beltline is transforming Atlanta quite rapidly and connects neighborhoods in a new way and walking there in the evening gives a pretty unique feeling.

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A couple of months ago I was approached by Yahoo! whether I would be interested to have my “rush hour” shot from Nürnberg on the cover of the official Flickr journal. Since I had been using Flickr for quite some time and since Flickr played an significant role in my photographic development this was a nobrainer.

The story behind this shot is somewhat personal. I perfectly remember when I took it. I was on the way back home in Nürnberg and just had dropped-off a friend of mine at the train station. That evening some nostalgia kicked in and I took a drive through the city – I was about to leave for Malaysia. It was bitter cold and it had rained a bit earlier so that the lights reflected like crazy. I just recently had bought a Sony Nex-5n and had a Leica Summicron 35mm mounted on it. Having had the camera next to me on the seat, I started to shoot while driving. I set the focus to minimum distance, opened up the aperture and composed on the display while making sure to not get into an accident. Music was blasting – I was in the zone. When I came home and checked out the shots I only realized then how intense the colors were and how much of the atmosphere was preserved by the simple mix and combination of colors.

So here is how the Flickr Journal looks like. Yahoo! sent me two of those notebooks – they look great.

They also turned into a Flickr Skin for iPad which I find pretty cool.

On a related note, five of my favorite shots from this abstract series will be exhibited at one of the Starbucks in Atlanta from Saturday on. I got some big a** prints (16×24) and after having gotten the wrong frames delivered a couple of times I finally got everything together with more than an embarrassing month delay. Details will follow in a separate post with some more background information.

Full disclosure: I do not receive any compensation from sales of any of the products above.

After too much color obsession over the last couple of weeks, actually months even, I felt it was time to go back to some monochroms to appreciate the quality of light and dark again. So I ventured back into contrasty and grainy black-and-whites.

Just deep shadows, strong highlights, and lots of grain. I mostly spot metered to get a more accurate control of the exposure and to consciously decide on the light balance and contrast. The setup is pretty simple: spot meter where you want to have your middle-grey, lock exposure, then recompose, and shoot (or sit out the right moment). I believe where black-and-white offers so much more freedom is precisely exposure. There really is no right exposure – just your exposure. (I believe this is a bit different for color where heavily over- and under-exposed shots tend to have “weird” colors). You want deep blacks and selected highlights? Go for it! You want tons of detail in the shadows – yours as well. Typically we are not aware of this wide variety of different looks that we can achieve and this is partially due to things such as matrix metering. Sure on average they will improve your keeper rate, however, they will ultimately limit your freedom of expression in terms of choosing your exposure. Matrix metering will take a nice average where you have some shadow detail and some highlight detail – but in many cases we do not want the average exposure but a selective one. Moreover, relying too much on these tools will cripple our sense of light.

Think of these shots below as exploring the limits of dynamic range and aggressive exposure. Also, most of them were shot last week on one of the few days where there was sun and I shot into the sun frequently to acknowledge its existence, hoping to see more of it soon.

Btw, I highly recommend to look into Ansel Adam’s and Fred Archer’s zone system if you are into black-and-white to understand its subtleties better. Adam’s on their invention:

I take this opportunity to restate that the Zone System is not an invention of mine; it is a codification of the principles of sensitometry, worked out by Fred Archer and myself at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, around 1939-40.

In this framework, think of spot metering as deciding where you want to have Zone V and which parts in the picture should have still distinct detail in the shadows or in the highlights.

All shots below, were taken in Atlanta, mostly around Atlantic station (yes – it bores me too), Poncey-Highland, and Old Fourth Ward.

More in the gallery.

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Two weeks ago we did a casual shooting in Grant Park and surroundings. Just one camera – no other gear. We walked around the area quite a bit and shot against various backgrounds and settings. I loved the more dynamic style of this type of shooting.

I like the trade of gear with flexibility. You depend more on the “goodwill” of natural light on the one hand but you can walk around and spontaneously shoot at various locations on the other hand. The weather is still somewhat sub-optimal with lots of overcast days. While this is a downer for the mood it is very good for shooting without additional lights. Think of the clouds as a HUGE soft-box. Spot meter against the face/skin, add 0.3EV to 0.7EV to make the skin look natural and you are in the game – do not forget to adjust the white balance to get the right skin color.

It is a bit like mixing street photography with editorial stuff: still somewhat planned but with lots of unpredictable elements.

The setup. Street photography + editorial. Casual shooting.

The location. Grant Park neighborhood. We more or less shots in the whole neighborhood around Oakland Cemetery.

Gear.

Camera: Olympus OM-D
Exposure: f/2.8 – 5.6, 1/100 – 1/500, ISO 200
Lens: Olympus 75mm f/1.8

Lighting. Natural light only.

The shots.

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