Tag: New Hope

Tired of Chasing Perfection

Tired of Perfection by David duChemin (David duChemin - World & Humanitarian Photographer, Nomad, Author.)

This is a little bit all over the place, and it’s raw. But that’s the point of this whole thing. I could do with a little more raw right now. I’m tired of perfection.

I want each image I create to have an emotional impact.

Tired of Perfection by David duChemin (David duChemin - World & Humanitarian Photographer, Nomad, Author.)

This is a little bit all over the place, and it’s raw. But that’s the point of this whole thing. I could do with a little more raw right now. I’m tired of perfection.

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Perhaps it’s time to sit and reflect on why I picked up the camera so many years ago in college. Or why I stopped and then started again later in life.

In search of this perfection, we’re losing the poetic. The grit. The nuance. I see fewer and less story. Less humanity. I’m all in on beauty, but that’s not even what I’m seeing. It’s all just so damn saccharine. My god, all the shiny, happy – perfect – people. It must be exhausting trying to be all that all the time.

I worry that the desire for perfection is killing the spontaneity and the life in our photographs, never mind the honesty in them. ~ David duChemin.

I went searching through the Lightroom catalogue and found these two images from 2001. They were taken on my first digital camera—a Sony DSC-S70. I didn't know much about light and composition and framing etc. But I look at these two images, and they hold more emotional impact for me than any recent image I’ve captured. The quality of the image isn't what draws me in. It's not the contrast or the sharpness of the focus. What makes this photo precious to me is the feelings that come up each time I view them.

I want to reconnect with that feeling. I want each image I create to have an emotional impact.

To me!

child on train platform
Shaan. Waiting for the New Hope-Ivyland Train. New Hope, Pennsylvania | Tuesday 2 October, 2001 | Sony CYBERSHOT | 21 mm | 1⁄470 sec at f/4.8 | ISO 100

Maybe chasing perfection isn't the perfect thing to do.

We want connection. We want hope. We won't wonder. We want to look at something and feel something deeper than whatever it is that moves my finger to click the Like button. ~ David duChemin

Changing Seasons June 2017

As I stated in posts through the month, it rained in May. Then it rained much more in June. For most of May, I photographed wet things under the softbox of an overcast sky. For most of June, I shot whenever I could. These images are all from various trips during June. Some of them are from other posts from during the month.

Fireworks, Labmbertville
During the summer the border towns of New Hope, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey hosts a firework display every two weeks.
Chairs, Green, Rutgers Gardens
During one rainy weekend in June, I dropped my son off to orientation at the Rutgers Honors College and then roamed the grounds of the Rutgers Gardens until he was ready. It rained the entire time.

Asbury Park Boardwalk, Asbury Park, New Jersey —Nikon D5100 + Nikon 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ (24 mm, f/4.0, ISO100), © Khürt L. Williams
Asbury Park Bierhalle —Apple iPhone 7 + Apple iPhone 7 back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 @ (3.99 mm, f/1.8, ISO20), ©

The Montgomery Township Independence Day Fireworks at are held each year at the Montgomery High School. It's a big deal for the town drawing a few thousand people. My kids have always enjoyed playing on the lawn with their friends and then returning to sit with us right before the fireworks display starts.

The Changing Seasons Monthly Photo Challenge is a blogging challenge by photographer Max "Cardinal Guzman". Each month I will post one or more photos that I think represents the month.

New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks: Goat Hill

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Lambertville, New Jersey & New Hope, Pennsylvania will again be doing their First Fridays fireworks shows again this summer. I photographed the fireworks last year. At that time, I was down at The Station Inn on the bank of the river, just the near the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge. I did not like the vantage point. I felt that I was too close to the water. I had to tilt my camera straight up and shoot with an extremely wide lens (11mm). The crowd was also not appreciative of a phalanx of photographers blocking the view and a few people yelled at us. Someone threw small pebbles. I got some decent shots but I decided that I must scout for a different location from which to shoot the fireworks.

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This year, the Photografriends Meetup Group planned a field trip to shoot the fireworks. The location for the shoot was the Goat Hill Overlook in Lambertville. As you can see in the photos above, it has a fantastic view down onto Lambertville and New Hope.

I arrived early (around 7 PM) to make sure I could secure a spot for my tripod and to pre-focus the lens. I think it's challenging to focus on objects in the dark.

The parking area is at the bottom of the hill and there is about a half-mile walk from the parking area to the overlook. The path is not paved but rather covered in stone. I brought my headlamp and flashlight. I could see from the thick tree cover on either side, that the walk back down the hill would be in complete darkness.

fireworks, new hope, Pennsylvania , Lambertville, goat hill, overlook
New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks
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Sunset on that day was around 8:40 PM, and we have a good view of the sun setting almost exactly behind New Hope that evening. I experimented a little. Typically I shoot in manual mode, with the lens set to f/16 and the shutter speed of fifteen seconds at ISO 100. I started out with that setting but then tried stopping down to f/18 and f/20 and increasing my exposure times to twenty seconds and thirty seconds.

I think these came out quite well. The longer exposure allowed me to capture more streaks and multiple explosions in one exposure. However, I wish the photos were a bit sharper. I think the streaks are a little soft. I'll have to work on focusing for the next time. Hey, I have the whole summer to practice on this.

fireworks, new hope, Pennsylvania , Lambertville, goat hill, overlook
New Hope and Lambertville Friday Night Fireworks
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