Safety Third

My name is Rob, and I refuse to be careful. I bought a new lens this weekend. The transaction was nothing exciting, but the guy that sold it to me said something to me as I was leaving that gave me pause for a second.

"Be careful."

I hadn't really noticed the trend before then, but it's certainly there.

Now, I understand people that care about me saying this sort of thing. it's as if they're saying if you could, please, try not to die before the next time I see you. That's not a completely unreasonable request.

I don't think he had much reason to say such a thing to me. I mean, sure, I was driving an hour and a half back to Huntsville, and driving is "dangerous". I suppose I could have died in a horrific accident on the way home. But, really, what are the odds? They're so insignificant, so minuscule, that I couldn't possibly be bothered to calculate them, much less let them into my conscious thought and distract me from whatever it was I thinking about on the way home.

It's not so much the saying that started me thinking, or even that people are concerned about my well being on a real or superficial level.

It's more about this: When did we as a society become so damn afraid of everything?

When I was a kid I got sprained ankles, and banged up elbows, and skinned knees on a regular basis. I'm sure I suffered more than one concussion playing hockey when I was young. The only time I was told to be careful was when I almost fell off the top of the monkey bars I was walking across, or I almost ate it when standing on the cross-bar of my bike riding down the road.

This was common. Expected, even. Those injuries were how you knew you did something stupid, and, maybe, to be careful next time you try it.

I know this rant is a little bit ridiculous. But seriously, stop being scared.  Stop being careful. Stop worrying about what could go wrong, and just go.

It's worth it.

Ghost In My Rearview

My name is Rob, and I'll do work for a good cause. When I shot the Brother Cane show back in August, I met this guy named Flip. He was playing bass for the band. He seemed really  happy to be playing that gig. I didn't know if it was nerves, or excitement, or if that's just how he is, but he was bouncing off the walls back stage in preparation for the show ahead of him.

He and the rest of the band put on a hell of a show. After the concert, he was still just as giddy as before. In talking to him, I found out he's in another band here in Huntsville called Rearview Ghost.

After checking them when I got home, I decided I definitely needed to see them play the next time I had the opportunity.

As it would turn out, I got just that opportunity a few weeks later when they had a charity gig at Fubar to benefit CAJA. They were playing with two other bands for the event - Whiskey Dix and Within Reason.

When I spoke to Flip about it, he was all for having me photograph another concert he was playing in. But, since it was a charity gig, he didn't have any passes he could give away.

No matter. I wanted to see them live, and I can get behind supporting the cause they were raising money for. Plus, with a DSLR strapped around my shoulder, I was bound to get a decent vantage point at the front of the stage.

Apparently I have the air of a professional. Or something. Through out the night, people were apologizing for being in the way, and scurrying this way and that whenever I'd hold the camera up to my face.

Talk about making my job easy. I think I came away with some pretty stellar shots.

Go have a look-see.

Character

My name is Rob, and I'm a car guy. I have been since I was a little kid. I went through a lot of different stages in my life. When I was little, it was all looks. There was the raw and vulgar design of Ferarris and Lamborghinis, and the absolute beauty of Aston Martins and Alfa Romeos. I had no concept of how quick 0-60 in 4 seconds was. I just knew that cars were nice to look at, and that I liked to go fast.

Once I reached driving age, I also reached the age where I liked to tinker with things. I modified most of the cars I owned in my late teens and early twenties. I discovered the joy of small displacement, large turbocharger engines. There isn't much that can compare to the throaty, nasty noise of an open-to-atmosphere wastegate at full-tilt.

During this stage, I kinda lost track of the design element of automobiles. I couldn't care less what a car looked like, what condition the paint was in, or anything else, as long as it was fast. I started to develop a penchant for ugly cars. They possessed a certain character that drew me to them.

I outgrew that phase a bit once I realized I was an adult, and had actual responsibilities. Having a car that could get where I needed to go without having to change a head gasket on the way started to show a little more importance.

Things came full circle after I got into photography. I started noticing things about design and functionality that hadn't been present before. I'm still drawn to cars with character.

This brings us to my first photo-shoot involving a car - my dad's 2000 BMW M coupe. I'd wanted to shoot his car for the longest time, but just couldn't even seem to find an opening in my schedule. For his birthday this past year I decided I was going to make it happen.

When I started scouting locations, I landed on a back drop of the Tennessee River bridge, and the parking garage downtown.

The shoot couldn't have gone any better than it did. The sunset behind the bridge was amazing. The rain came and went while I was driving to the parking garage. That little shower gave the concrete a certain sheen that added a lot to the roof top photos.

That shoot was the first time I felt like a real photographer. For a long time, I just sorta wandered around and waited on inspiration to make itself present in my head with what was surrounding me at the time. A lot of times I would see something I needed to photograph, and it would just come out all wrong - nothing like what I saw from my mind's perspective. It felt like all my good shots came out of luck. Taking 40 pictures of the same thing, and just stabbing in the dark at what settings, or viewing angle I needed to use.

With this shoot, I had a pretty clear image in my mind of what I wanted, and I was able to successfully capture exactly what I was looking for.  I'd made it. I could 'see' things before I actually saw them. It's a wonderful feeling. It just goes to show you, sometimes practice can make perfect.

Check out the gallery and tell me what you think.