Stranded

When I was in a band with my friend Pete a lot of the songs we would write would be heavily influenced by the music we were listening to at the time. In the same vein I find my photography sometimes influenced by what I've been looking at a lot lately. I mentioned Paul Strand in my last blog - I had just watched the documentary 'Paul Strand Under the Dark Cloth' and read a section of a book about him. Strand was one of the first photographers to shoot abstractions playing with light and to really start to appreciate shapes - machines for example. His work helped end the pictorialist movement in photography by bringing about a modernist movement towards straight photography - which I strongly favor.
Yesterday morning sun was shining through my basement window and I decided to grab my camera and channel some early Paul Strand(above photo).  Its also its been influencing me out and about lately

Both bike shots were one second exposures with my Minolta X-700. I use the self-timer so I don't shake the camera when pressing the shutter release.  I know I said I was going to retire it - but I had already taken a few shots on a roll that I needed to finish first. Underneath the Route 8 Bridge - my fingers almost froze off shooting these.  Of course I didn't even realize until I tried to change to my wide-angle lens.  
I couldn't decide which "International Under the Bridge" shot I liked better - so I posted two. I took 5 or 6 Route 8 bridge shots that were pretty cool. There was really great light Tuesday afternoon.  Paralleling the lines on the tractor hood with bridge was my 'Strand' vibe here.   'Rockport Fire Co.'
More of this roll tomorrow....