Orange Bus

As I was planning the 50ft memberships I took a few hours and dug through the past few years of my photo library to find images not yet shared here on the site. As I shoveled through thumbnails I noticed a number of images that I liked but needed a little more love in post processing work. Images like the one above of a nearly empty bus in Korea.

Since buying the Fiji X-Pro have been debating on whether or not to ignore internal camera processing and use only RAW images. The trick is that most modern mirrorless and compact digital cameras tend to bake into basic image correction based on the lens and sensor giving you ideal images using internal camera processing yet I still fill up my hard drives with JPG+RAW files because RAWs offer that little bit of extra dynamic range that can come in really handy if I don’t get my exposure right when I take a shot. Still though, most of the time I get pretty close to my ideal shot straight out of the camera and the JPG file is my path of least resistance to getting the image I had in mind as I shot it.

This image above is an example of a mediocre exposure in camera where I blew more highlights than I wanted to so I used the RAW image and more post processing work to flesh it out. In this case I took liberties with the post work and shifted the whole tone of the image to suit my needs, so much in fact, that I ended up saving the adjustments as a new ‘preset’ for future use. One I’m sure you will see used again down the line because my home baked preset/starting points also show the evolution of my own personal taste in the tone of my own photography. It has shifted a number of times through the years because I love to explore new approaches and aesthetics to achieve different moods and emotional responses through the finishing touches of a photograph.

How about you, fellow photographers? JPG or RAW, and do you enjoy the challenge of finding your own way when setting up your post processing or do you like to lean on preset packs such as those from VSCO and others?

Slight Freedom

Last year was slow for me in the music discovery department. It was an atypical year in many ways so I didn’t end up putting as much time into seeking out new music as I usually do. I found myself gravitating to a lot of ambient music last year, or quieter music at least . Among my favorites in this department was a beautiful record of solo jazz guitar by Jeff Parker called Slight Freedom. While most people know Jeff’s work with the band Tortoise, he has a few releases under his own name and with others but this is his first truly solo record as far as I know.

While the album is only four tracks long, totaling about 37 minutes of music, the album as a whole holds a warmth and weight that I can’t get enough of. The music is immediate and elemental and was recorded in real-time with a minimal set of tools at hand without overdubs, an approach that allowed for an intimate listening experience that I really admire. It gave the album a sense of timelessness and still today after treating myself to a vinyl copy I have been putting it on quite a bit lately.

If you listened to 50ft Radio Vol. 15, then you heard one of the cuts off this album because I started off the mix with the track Super Rich Kids which is Jeff’s loose take on a Frank Ocean song (though you wouldn’t know it after listening). I love his subtle use of field recordings and audio loops which pull everything together to create a gentle landscape of sound.

If your looking for a peaceful album to give your day a few moments of calm you really can’t go wrong with Jeff Parker’s Slight Freedom. Digitally it is available for sale on iTunes and worth every penny. If you would like a vinyl copy, which is a beautiful sounding pressing on heavyweight vinyl, and read more about the release you can do that here on the label page for the release.

Macchiato

I still love coffee you know. While there is not a coffee shop in town that offers what I would consider a connoisseurs cup there are a few nice shops around to have a good sit and enjoy something tasty. Among my favorite cups in town is this traditionally prepared double macchiato. Not the make believe Starbucks version made to fill their three existing sizes but two shots of espresso with a simple dollop of foamed milk on top. It smooths out the espresso without totally killing the dark, sharp flavor of it. If you have not treated yourself to one, I suggest you seek it out. Good stuff.

I came across this image I had taken a long while back and thought it was time to get a new coffee-centric wallpaper up, something that should probably be happening more often if you ask me. Enjoy!

50ft Radio Volume Fifteen

I have had a new mix sitting in iTunes for ages. I started it back at the same time I started the last one and it has since evolved into what we have here today. It’s a catch up mix, music I meant to share long ago plus some recent favorites in there for good measure. Mostly laid back again, next time around I will kick it back up to a danceable pace!

This one is a little shorter as well, hope to start getting these out more often and part of doing that is not hoarding music for quite so long and make these a little more reasonable in length. Oh! This time around there is a 50ft original hiding toward the end, also a snippet of a recording from Kyoto because why not. Speaking of music, I have a music of 2015 post in the works as well, better late than never right?

Still have a podcast feed going for these though its not published on any podcast sites because I would rather keep these more in the underground. You will have the excuse the messy notes that show up though, I’ll sort that out at some point or another. Heres a link to pop in your favorite podcast app: https://fiftyfootshadows.net/feed/podcast If you would rather, a direct download can be found here.

Also I know how much you guys just love spoilers with these mixes though I encourage you to listen through once before looking, here is the track list. The mp3 has chapters inside as well so if the listening app of your choice supports chapters then you will get links and artists names.

Last but obviously not least, this series is about the love of music and spreading that love with all of you. If you enjoy a song then by all means, look up the artist, buy their music directly from them, go to a show, shake their hand. The closer the better. They can’t keep doing what they love without us.

Snow Cones

Though the weather here in North Carolina has turned warm and sunny again this week, we had a heavy snowfall not long ago, a nice powder that left most everything around us covered in a calm white for a couple of days. The muted glow of a snowy night is so relaxing is it not? A day into the storm it was hard not to grab our cameras and shoot a few things nearby. The photo today was taken out one of our windows through a screen which is why it has a haziness to it. I stole YoungDoo’s 5D and 135mm lens to shoot these seed pods full of a healthy white snow because I thought some of you who enjoy the winter would find solace in the scene. Enjoy!

50ft Memberships

After nearly 10 years of operation fiftyfootshadows has seen the landscape of photography online morph and change in all kinds of ways. Communities have come and gone, trends have caught fire and flickered out. As often as things seem to change I have been right here, in my own little world on 50ft, jogging along side the shifting landscape. I love this work and I am eternally grateful for the encouragement and kindness everyone has shown through the years. Let’s start by looking back for a moment and where we have been, then move onto the new.

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