Pups n Me

A hodgepodge of my thoughts related to Mount Pleasant and photography

Looking at my photography related things bought on Amazon and Wallmart   shows the amount I have invested over the years. The photo of all the film equipment I gave away.

Does not show that I am some great photographer. I see lots of people with expensive equipment on Mt Pleasant and the pics they take.

I too take lots of bloopers, the trick is to only show the good photos you take 😉

These "investments" only show my passion for photography through the years.

I had been coming to Mt Pleasant when in high school with my pals, thinking great thoughts looking over our turf.. (probably girls n cars or sports) 😋

Climbing up the 'bear claws' (I think) a Japaneese family came by and did a video of us. We thought we were movie stars.

Before I returned later in life, Rising Park was already on Google Maps.

Rising Park is great, but my main interest is Mount Pleasant. When doing an internet search for rising park or Mount Pleasant there are gobs of them.

I managed to have the location "Mount Pleasant in Rising Park" on Google's map.

Like any business or location on google maps, the public can rate or add their photos.

On Google maps photos identify the contributors . Clicking on owner from either map, all of those are pictures I uploaded.

Of course I don't own any thing and am not connected to those in the park system. I guess, some how, someone in Google Land made me an honorary admin.

I get email when people add photos to the rising park map, I have seen photos posted that have nothing to do with the park and had them removed... corrected a couple things and added a couple.

Pics n Stuff

The standard format 4x6 Without cropping multiply the short side by 1.5 (with out cropping)

4x6    6x9    8x12    10x15    12x18    16x24    20x30

Canvas enlargements made, part of the pics might be wrapped along the edges.

Those I have taken pics of on Mt Pleasant could copy them.

=======================

Since 2010 I have taken hundreds of photos of and from Mount Pleasant

A few low's from suspicion and gossip hurt a short time. (taking police when they came )

Being alone outside of town with my pups, the people I have seen in the last years were in grocery stores, a gas station, the doc or those I encounter taking photos of.

Taking pics of people of all ages, I believe the oldest being in their 70's and the youngest, when I saw a young guy taking a pic of his wife and baby. As soon as they left the hospital, they came over to Rising Park.. and I asked them to take a pic of the family together.

With digital cameras everyone can take endless photos and they do. With so many there are beautiful photos captured and posted daily. What makes a photo worth buying an enlargement?

There are paintings sold for great amounts. Many if put in a yard sale where no one knew who painted them could be bought for five bucks. Who took a photo or painted one being a factor I suppose.

The event that the photo was taken of another... Who is in the photo can demand high amounts

Looking on line many photos as low as $10 or hundreds of dollars of some place never seen or visited.

If you live here (Fairfield County) and share the love of Mount Pleasant, we are soul mates.

Most people (that I have photographed) I have seen once but others more.

Boys playing in the snow with my Saint Bernard pup, some years later I saw him again, bigger than me with his little one on his shoulder.

A couple of teenagers who later got married and asked me to their wedding. I climbed up on a cliff with my pup to capture some cool shots.

Penni and crew used to bring me and the pup gifts at Christmas and leave them outside my door like elves.

Those I have taken photos of, I have given a link where they could copy them. Every once at a gas station, in a grocery store they will approach and ask if I remembered them.. usually don't.

Sometimes they still have pics I had taken of them on their phones and show me.

A few months after losing my wife in 2010 I have been bringing my pups out to take photos and get pets on our photo safari.

Planning to capture the sun coming up behind Mt Pleasant, up before daylight.

Capturing clouds float over Mt Pleasant in a time lapse. I have sat for hours with my Pup.

Trying for a sunset, in one video I did capture a plane flying over the sun as it was setting.

To do a timelapse, I have a few but keep trying for 'the perfect' version..

Sometimes on Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve.

To capture Lancaster you need to check for a clear day and be on top before morning.. but after the haze clears.

To capture a great pic of Mount Pleasant in the fall, I went over on a nice day when a cloud blocked the sunlight. I must have waited for 20 minutes for it to move for better saturation and the shadow on Mt P to move. I have pics from Forest Rose in the spring, summer and fall.

Every once in a while someone wanted to pay me or asked how much I charged 😊 It ain't happened yet.

Making a profit 😋 I guess that would happen after $5000 plus dropped in  my pocket.

***

Back tracking, I was the only kid that brought a camera to the park to take pics of pals

The only pic with me in it, guess Ralph took it.

(Think it was kind of a box camera that used 120 film)

In boot camp in South Carolina they had a dark room for the guys to enjoy. I think that was what got me hooked.

In the 60's I bought a used fold up camera at Leveck's. I setup at a small pump room on the side of the house. My first attempt of loading the film on the reel was a goof. I didn't know you had to peel the paper off the film .

My first new camera was a Minolta 101 …

Back in the film days we didn't know what selfies were. Coming up on Mt Pleasant with her camera (Instamatic?) we took pics of each other. 

When I see people doing that I always ask if I could take a pic of all of them together.

Somewhere along the line we “needed” a printer with a scanner. It came with a free copy of Micrografx Picture Publisher. (an early version like photoshop) .

Through the years I have been nailed to that for hours.

I always had film cameras but my kid was going to be part of a wedding. I realized I bought the other girls computers in school, but not her. A good excuse: I bought her and myself digital cameras (around 2005?)

Married, retired, I just hung out at the house, content. It was when I found myself alone with my pup that I began my Mount Pleasant adventures.

It is getting a bit harder for me to make it up the trail, resting or leaning on a tree about 6 times.
Coming down is not bad, used my phone camera but I bought a bright flash light this week.

In past years I had large photos / metal wall art made and gave them as gift. It seems things are not valuable of they cost little or they are free.

Thinking.. wonder if a very high price tag were put on them or attributed to some great 'artist' van gogh, vermeer, da vinci ... hmmm
If you go to the art shows here, there are lots of great photos and photographers, in decisions . Toss a coin and pick one as the premier master 🎨 Put a high price tag on their photos listed.

If people would buy "wall art' like this "to hang on their wall, I thought some might invest in an iconic enlargment that might even be passed down in time to come.. 

How much you wonder, check businesses that print specality photos for their price. Of course you would not use a cheap store pic frame (I did and they fell apart).

Next ask what you would pay to have a great photo frame made and how much you might pay a photographer to plan a great day to go to an area to capture the image .

If people pay $300.. $1000+ for 'wall art' things they have no connection to, might they pay such a price for art containing images of things they feel a connection to ?

Retired with a small income, but spend lots on photography. In the last years I had several 20x30 metal prints made and donated them.

This year I thought, hmmm wonder if I could put some of them in a frame shop for sale and get enough back to pay for my cost.

Multiple photographers put their pics in their shop for sale.. organize, do art shows as a commerical enterprise. Guess making money at something you love is cool... but

After leaving the frame shop, I wanted to hurry to make up on top before sunset. One of the guys who talks to me sometimes came up and I asked him if he wanted one of the photos.

When I took them out a couple girls came down that I had just photographed and gave them photos. 

They are 12x18 but need a frame.

As long as I remain healthy, I guess it will be like groundhog day, repeating my past 

As for photos , my goal is to promote Mt Pleasant and believe such photos would be a boost.

 

.