These things we build.

About four months ago, Annie, Mike and I were itching to do something photographically; I had spent a few weeks that summer camping in the American west and had rekindled my love for landscape photography. Alas, our day-to-day responsibilities and finances would not afford us the opportunity to travel frequently enough to slake our thirst for travel photography. Instead, we decided to start a photo project that would evenutally become this website. My focus since then has been applying traditional natural landscape photography aesthetics to our urban world. Though our immediate plans for The Windy Pixel have expanded to include a portrait project (more on that later) and guest bloggers, the idea of an urban landscape photoblog remains central.

Photo by Justin Kern – feel free to use images with links and credit – no commercial use without permission.

I was all by myself last Saturday morning when I headed out to catch twilight; unfortunately, the winter had made me soft and I’d hung back checking email for about 5 minutes – after all “civil twilight” didn’t start until 6:00 Am – HA! This wouldn’t have been a problem a few weeks ago due to the constantly overcast sky, but a crystal-clear sky meant twilight started a full hour before sunrise. As I slipped eastward on the Eisenhower, I saw 2009’s greatest five minutes of twilight wax and wane behind the wheel of a car – my camera useless in the back seat. Fortunately, situations like these are very forgiving – a great twilight means a brilliant crimson sunrise, and any mistake can be a great teaching moment — you’re only early enough when you make it there early.

The twilight long gone, I managed to make one or two interesting photographs before I left for more caffienated pastures. On my way I met a very nice guy named Tom setting up his tripod and DSLR for a bit of his own HDR photography. I gave him a Windy Pixel MOO card and said hello – he was nice enough to send me an email later that week.  So, another warm hello if you’re still reading Tom! We hope we’ll see you on a Windy Pixel photowalk sometime this spring (details will show up here on TWP in the next weeks).

Here is my favorite. While I’m feeling philosophical, I’ll say the following to elaborate on why I bother with this website and these photographs.  A great photograph happens when those things in front of the lens and behind the lens work in concert.  I don’t make either the things in front of or behind the lens (or the lenses), I just transport the camera; but I do it to remind myself that these things we build – rusted, broken, gleaming, dingy, dirty, dry, wet, aged, metal, oxidized, plastic, ugly, dull, and flawed though they may be, are beautiful.  These are the moutains, flowers and meadows of our civic seed.

Prints available.

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