What was I thinking? The new face of photography.

When digital photography first appeared I was determined to remain steadfast and loyal to film. The cameras were either poor quality or incredibly expensive. Today the technology is better and the costs have come down. And I have abandoned film entirely as have many photographers. Some of today’s kids will never even know what film was. I had already given up my darkroom years ago. Kodachrome was my friend. But it was expensive to process and you had to develop everything, sight unseen. You might spend the costs to develop a roll of slides only to end up with just a few you were really happy with. And then there was the cataloging and storage and projectors or light tables to view them. What was I thinking?

Digital has not only freed me to shoot all I want, see what I like as I do it, and make corrections on the spot, so I end up with more images to keep. It has the instant gratification of Polaroid. And the ease of storage and retrieval with today’s software, DVD’s, big hard drives, and metadata make life so much easier. What was I thinking?

It has created a world of photographers and image makers from the entire population. With camera phones, 10 megapixel point and shoots, email and photo storage sites on the web, it seems everyone is taking, saving, exchanging, and sharing pictures. And the film industry is fading into obsolescence.

One of the most amazing changes for me is the ability to experiment with my pictures. To make photo art.

Thank you Adobe for bringing us Photoshop! Today I can do at my computer in a matter of minutes what would have taken hours, maybe days, in the darkroom, with costly chemistry and paper and a lot of wasted material through trial and error. Not to mention repeatability! There’s conversions from color to black and white, split toning, solarization, posterization, soft focus and color reversal and stitching. There’s sketching and watercolors and blur and stretch and warp and liquefy. There’s filters and actions and plug-ins galore. It’s an amusement park of imagery and design. And I haven’t even scratched the surface.

These images show a before and after. The original and the new creation. And these are mild compared to the things people are doing with this program. I learn something new every week and it just keeps coming. It’s creative madness and I wish I was retired so I could do this every day.

The first image is the original unaltered capture, either raw, tiff, or jpg. I don’t often show these since most images need at least a little adjustment to levels or saturation, something to perk them up. The next image is after working some photoshop magic.

Some images offer options for various treatments. The first alteration here of the bike photo is from an action called Retro. The next is a Sketch action applied to the Retro image.

Toned black and white conversions in Photoshop are so much easier than what I used to go through in the darkroom. Here, even split toning or a slight hand colored look is easy to achieve. The bridge and spring trees is accomplished by using a single color channel that is turned into a selection and then colorized for tone.

Some images lend themselves well to the feel of painted graphics or the look of print making techniques. This image has been posterized to appear to look like a serigraph.

This photo took on the effect of watercolor painting very successfully.

Here an action that simulates a comic book illustration is applied.

The possibilities are endless and the creative stimulation fueled by new discoveries leads to unexpected art. Every image has some potential. It has changed the way I look at photography forever opening new avenues with each creation session. Photography has a new face. Thank you Adobe.

All Images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved
Except the Giraffe photo which is Copyright © Tessa Cannon.

Summer’s End in Ottawa

The last day of Summer was graced with beautiful blue skies and a stiff warm breeze in Ottawa where Jack and Joyce exchanged their vows and joined their lives. My wife has known Jack since college so I’ve known Jack about as long as I’ve known my wife and he is one of our dearest friends. Jack and Joyce are both parents of beautiful young adults from previous marriages and so are experienced people. But their wedding ceremony made it so clear how young at heart, romantic, and in love they are with each other.

We had driven up on Friday in order to have dinner with them and our friends, Peggy and Vito, and a few of Jack’s family from out of town. We met at the Green Papaya, a wonderful Thai restaurant on the Quebec side, across from the incredible Museum of Civilization. After dinner we strolled across to take in the view of the city across the river. Ottawa is so beautiful. A gorgeous, fun night.

The ceremony on Saturday was at Keg Manor and Maplewood Gardens. A beautiful old mansion converted to a restaurant with a sweet walled garden.

Later, in the patio area, Jack sang to his bride. And Jack’s beautiful daughter, Hanna, performed two lovely songs for the newly-weds. Dinner was splendid with more songs from the groom and beautiful words from Joyce reminding us to live every day to the fullest. The party afterwards moved to their house where we partied and socialized until after midnight.

There were more musical performances at the house from Joyce’s son’s band. Not my genre but extremely entertaining.

In the basement of the house is Jack’s Grotto. The Grotto is famous among those who know Jack and it has existed in several iterations over the years in Jack’s varied residences. He is a collector of the unusual. The Grotto houses Jack’s collections of old postcards of the Flat Iron Building and “Painted Moon” photos, about two hundred corkscrews, and the prize collection of grotesque lamps. The lamps are the real attraction. He’s been collecting them for years and they have to fall into specific criteria. Besides being odd, tacky, and grotesque, they cannot cost more than $10. It’s a cozy, tiny, museum, where friends gather, converse, drink good wine, and experience an incredible, eclectic collection of odd things.

We had a marvelous time. And to Jack and Joyce and their wonderful kids, we wish you all the happiness and love, just as you have always shown it to all of us. You are special people and it was a joy to meet your family and share your celebration.

All Images are Copyright © George Cannon, All Rights Reserved

Sorry, Post Removed.

For those who are looking for the story on the sand mandala that was recently posted, I apologize. I have had to remove it due to contract and copyright issues between the museum and the monastery that evidently do not allow for the exhibit of these images that I took here. So, again, my apologies.

Eli is called to the Torah

On Saturday I attended and photographed the bar mitzvah of Eli, son of my good friends Jonathan and Eve. An incredible passage and celebration for a young person marking their movement into young adulthood within the Jewish community.

It was a beautiful, moving ceremony filled with joy and friendship and family, and I was delighted to be able to photograph it for them. Jonathan and Eve and their son were our next door neighbors (this was before the addition of their other son, Noah). We live on the edge of a huge gorge with a dramatic drop of about 200 feet at the edge. It’s spectacular to see, but dangerous for small children, so Jonathan and Eve and Eli moved to a new house rather than obstruct the beautiful view with a fence. The house now belongs to Eve’s parents, Joan and Joel, who are now our wonderful neighbors to the south.

The ceremony took place at Tikkun v’Or Synagogue in Lansing under a beautiful blue sky, a day that was Kodak picture perfect. Eli is an impressive and handsome young man with deep thoughts and concerns matched with the spirit and exuberance of a teenage boy. The service was touching and tender filled with the love of family and community and a beautiful example of how a community can come together to support and bless the growth of a young man and celebrate all that he is and represents.

He had obviously made a deep and serious commitment to this process after some personal struggle over it’s meaning and significance. His parents are both loving, generous, spiritual people that have given him the freedom to express and decide for himself the value of such life lessons and commitments. And it was a courageous decision on Eli’s part requiring a great deal of study and hard work. Congratulations to you, young man.

Aunt Gini and Uncle Irving hosted the Kiddush luncheon afterwards in the tent outside and dinner and a larger party took place later in the evening by Cayuga Lake at Taughannock State Park. The stiff breeze off the water subsided as the evening progressed and fabulous food by Word Of Mouth Catering from Trumansburg was a treat for everyone.

Fantastic, lively music from the Cornell Klezmer Ensemble had everyone spinning and dancing while the sun set over Cayuga Lake. As a photographer, these events are such a wonderful opportunity for capturing the whole sense of family and community. The beautiful faces of children, the friends not seen for years, and the love expressed on such an occasion are moments to be recorded and savored. They are our culture, our history, our future, our lives expressed fully in an all too brief moment.

It’s seldom that we have large gatherings of this type. Weddings, monumental anniversaries, retirement parties, family reunions, and bar and bat mitzvahs. With family spread far and wide, friends that we only see on such occasions, they are moments of great love, friendship, and sharing. The photographer gets to be inspired and witness this expression of love as both guest and participant and hopefully leave the family with cherished evidence to accompany their memories. It’s a good thing.

“Sweet 16″

This past Sunday was my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. This milestone is one that every teenager looks forward to for many reasons, but first and foremost is driving. It scares me to think of her behind the wheel without her Mom or me there, but on the days when we are driving all over creation and waiting on her while she does her teenage thing, I feel like I will relish the time when she can do her own transportation.

For a sixteen year old, driving means freedom. Not having to depend on asking for a ride, looking to parents to give up whatever they are engaged in to deliver you somewhere and pick you up later. It’s like receiving your wings and being able to finally fly solo. For the parent, you cross your fingers and say a prayer and launch your fledgling trusting that you have taught them well and that they will use good judgment and common sense and that others will not harm them, while knowing full well how dangerous the highways are. It scares me but I know from my own memories of getting my license, that it is an experience that marks a major feeling of coming of age, a trusting, a responsibility, an opening of the cage door and release to the world. Travel with care and awareness my daughter, and come home safely each day.

My daughter is a smart, responsible, amazing young person. A dancer, a gymnast, a poet, an artist, a lover of all living things, a vegetarian, a musician, an excellent student, and the most loyal of friends. She is also a typical teen with a messy room, a love of cool clothes, and a willingness to show great affection to her friends while being very reserved about showing it to her parents. More often than not we are an annoyance (because we usually come with requests and rules), but occasionally are also a welcome friend and advisor. Those are the rare moments that I live for. I wish daily that she would be more willing to say, “I love you” or “thank you”, but know in my heart that she knows she is a blessed and lucky young woman.

She is outwardly happy, sitting at her computer singing to herself, she has a great laugh, though I know from her poetry that she has been hurt, and lonely, and sad, and has felt loss of loved ones and friends. She is sensitive, caring, thoughtful, empathetic, and wise. She is artistic, curious, dedicated, and generous. She is stubborn, and strong, and can persuade me to do most anything. And she is the light of my life.

So happy birthday, my girl. Life holds great promise for you and your future. Whether you pursue a career in dance or become a zookeeper, or find along your path a new desire, you will undoubtedly succeed and shine. Your talent, your dedication, and your love of life will propel you to the achievement of your goals. I could not be more proud of you.

Love, Dad