photography
The Story Behind the Photograph: A Study of Rhythm and Feet No. 6
©2009 Kiffanie Stahle, A Study of Rhythm and Feet No. 6
This image was taken almost a year before this version came about. I took this image of The Polymers at Old Ironsides in Sacramento, California. For the few months prior to this, it had been a running joke between us that I wanted a photograph of their feet.When I first looked at the image, I liked the composition, but knew that it needed something to make it special. Almost a year later, I was riding home from school on my bike, and bam, I saw this processing in my head. I raced home and started working on it. A few hours later, I had processed the raw image to match my mental picture. I love how this image combines the gritty feel of film, with the modern elements of digital photographs.
Biscuits
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Biscuits.
I was intending on posting a different image today, but last night I attended the Lightbox SF Mixer at La Boutique. At one point I was having a conversation with Julie Michelle about some of the things that we both were seeking from the local artistic community. I mentioned that I would like a place where I could go and take work for critique. A place where I felt comfortable asking if an image really worked. Or a place that I could take a series to find out if the images worked together in the way I thought they did.
The image above is the type of image that I would take. There is something that I really like about the composition of the image, but for some reason I just don’t think it actually works, regardless of the treatment I give it. Which makes me think that something must be off in the composition. The black and white treatment above is my favorite so far, but I’m still unsure what I think about the image. So, my fellow readers, does it work?
The Story Behind the Photograph: Doggie Love
© 2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Doggie Love.
I frequently get asked for the story behind certain images. Because this is a frequent request, each Monday I have decided to share a story behind one of my favorite photographs. This story, I shared a couple months ago in my monthly newsletter.
I captured this image back in February while I was out shooting in the Haight. Living in San Francisco, I come across so many interesting people walking down the street each day. I often make up stories for the people that I see reguarly and am curious how my stories compare to their real lives.
In a quest to learn more about the people around me, I’ve begun taking a few street portraits. This is something I’ve been wanting to try for more than a year, but up until recently my fear of how people would react has prevented me from starting this process.
This particular morning, while walking to the Haight I decided that I couldn’t go home until I had asked at least 5 people if I could photograph them. This lovely woman was the first person I asked that morning and even though it was her doggie’s feeding time, she graciously allowed me to take a couple photographs of her and her dog and learn a little about them. Her kindness buoyed my courage and allowed me to ask four more strangers if I could photograph them that morning. This photograph is my favorite of that morning, probably in large part to her kindness.
Doggie Love
© 2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Doggie Love.
This image I’ll be featuring at the 200 Yards third show opening at Free Gold Watch this Saturday. The opening will be from 6-10 pm, March 12. The story of this fun street portrait I told in my March monthly newsletter. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do!
Winter Summer II
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Winter Summer II.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the gorgeous weather we have been experiencing as of late here in San Francisco. My roommate and I have begun calling it “Winter Summer.” On Sunday, I went for a walk from my house in the Mission up to the Haight to once again try to capture some interesting photos to submit for Round 3 of the 200 Yards project. The weather was perfect and as I was returning home I stumbled across this view, I love how this image perfectly summarizes the good parts of this City: the hills, the weather, Muni, and the old buildings.
Hills Brothers Coffee
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Hills Brothers Coffee.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this lovely brick building down on the Embarcadero (yes I know I’ve been spending a lot of time down there lately). I like how this processing effect made the image look older than the present day (although there are lots of hints that we are in 2011 San Francisco).
Da Wharf
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Da Wharf.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this building that I found along the Embarcadero wharf the other day. I loved the ladder to nowhere and the pipes along the right hand edge. A little iPhone processing brought out the worn details in the building and I really like this image.
Embarcadero Juxtaposition
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Embarcadero Juxtaposition.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this juxtaposition of old and new along the Embarcadero. The other day while walking down the Embarcadero I was noticing the layering effect that you get when looking towards downtown. In the distance, there are the shiny glass buildings of SOMA. While across the street there are old brick buildings. At points you also have the stark concrete of the Bay Bridge. At some points (including the one above) you get all three in one frame.
Bel Air
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Bel Air.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this shiny, vintage Bel Air that I ran across the other day in the Financial District. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car this shiny and pretty.
Winter Summer
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Winter Summer.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: a little corner of the San Francisco Mission. This week we in San Francisco have experienced one of the about 10 seasons we seem to have in this city, the winter summer. Sorry to all of you that have been bogged down with snow and rain, but this week we’ve had sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s. I went for a walk earlier this week to enjoy this lovely weather and liked how the blue sky contrasted with the yellow of the cross and with the white of the adobe.
Lone Glove
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Lone Glove.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: a photograph that I took a few weeks ago, but somehow got lost in the shuffle. This lone, little glove was sliding around the light rail car last time I was visiting my family in Sacramento.
Golden Hour Reflection
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Golden Hour Reflection.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: a reflection I found the other day while wandering down Market Street during the photographer’s favorite hour AKA “The Golden Hour.”
Vents
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Vents.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this row of vents along the side of the SF MOMA.
Benday Dots
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Benday Dots.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: a closeup of an art installation I ran across on the Embarcadero the other day. I was in the middle of reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and the dots reminded me of old school comic books.
Lingering Christmas Lights
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Lingering Christmas Lights.
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: some lingering Christmas lights I found while walking to the grocery store last night. I much prefer this lingering piece of Christmas over the piles of discarded Christmas trees on every street corner in the neighborhood.
Destruction
©2010 Kiffanie Stahle, Destruction
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: some sort of construction equipment that created a huge mess while tearing down a building.
Raygun Gothic Rocketship
©2010 Kiffanie Stahle, Raygun Gothic Rocketship
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the Raygun Gothic Rocketship that has been installed on the Embarcadero since August. I love the retro-aspect of this sculpture and attempted to emphasize it with my iPhone processing.
Dial
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Dial.
This image was taken on the same walk to the SFMOMA as the iPhone photo I posted last week. True to my photographic fascination for old objects, signs are no exception. I loved the colors of this sign (which I admit I have enhanced via photoshop) against the sky. I also find it amusing that the crop I selected resulted in the sign stating “Dial.” As always I enjoy hearing your feedback about new images.
Cracked
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Cracked
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: my roommate and I walked from our house to the SFMOMA to check out the Henri-Cartier Bresson exhibit. On our way we decided that we would take pictures along the theme of ‘cracked.’ This odd little plastic thing implanted into concrete was my favorite shot. I like the pop of color in the gray background.
Old School Bike Seat
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, Bike Seat.
Every semester I have grand plans of being able to keep up on both my art projects and my schoolwork. And every semester (about a month in) the art projects seem to fall by the wayside and school takes over my life. While I have more free time in my last year of law school than I did my first year, I still have yet to find the right balance of art time and school time. While that is no excuse for not updating the blog, that’s where I’ve been.
Earlier this week, I was avoiding doing some school work and looking through my photography archives. The main reason I started back through the archives was because I am craving a trip to Abbey Country. But in the process I came across this image. I took it when I was out and about shooting for the 200 Yards Show at Heart a few months back. While I ended up settling on another image of the bike for the show, there is something about this image that really resonated with me this week. In playing around with this image, I settled on a browner-tinged single tone image, rather than traditional black and white and like how it turned out. Hopefully, it resonates with you this week as well.
Rattlesnake Grass
©2010 Kiffanie Stahle, Rattlesnake Grass
This image was taken over the summer while on a fantastic camping trip to San Simeon with some good friends. I played around with it a bit and wasn’t sure how I felt about the image. To me, it was a little random, which I thought was representative of California Annual Grasslands, but I wasn’t sure the random-ness created a good image. On the other hand, I really liked the curves of the rattlesnake grasses and the processing technique I used (it reminded me of a photo that had sat out in the sun for the afternoon). However, I wasn’t sure how the viewer would react to the image, because I was mixed about the photo.
At the beginning of July, I joined an online photo community, Weekly Shot. When I heard about Weekly Shot the concept really appealed to me. I was looking for an online photo community, where I could get feedback on my photos but I wanted that feedback to be done in a manner that was less about if they liked me and my style and more based on the image itself. Weekly Shot seemed to fit the bill.
Last week the theme for Weekly Shot was Ground Level. A few weeks back, I decided that I was going to submit images not in the hopes of getting “featured,” but shots that I really wanted feedback on how the image worked. Since this shot fit the theme, I submitted it. The feedback on the shot was mixed, but somehow it got featured. So now I open the shot up to a wider audience. Does it work?
P.S. It’s easy to leave comments on the new theme, just click on the comment link on the line right below the post.
Jars and Canisters
©2010 Kiffanie Stahle, Jars and Canisters
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the final shot from the Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple Fair. Near all the old machines they had this table of objects. I’ve been in a bit of a mason jar collecting phase as of late and I love the colors of the food canisters.
Maytag Washer
©2010 Kiffanie Stahle, Maytag Washer
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: another one of the machines I found at the Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple Fair. This old Maytag washer was well used and I liked the textural component of the “Maytag” label on the side of the machine.
37.751151, -122.420147
©2011 Kiffanie Stahle, 37.751151, -122.420147.
This is the second image that I’ll be featuring at the 200 Yards show opening tonight at Heart (24th and Valencia). The other I posted a few weeks back. If you are in San Francisco please stop by tonight and say hi, or stop by Heart anytime before September 20th and check out the show.
