Thursday, November 30, 2006

The Millers Island Lighthouse


Photographs by David Robert Crews

The photo at the top doesn’t have people in it but the bottom one does, because I always shoot a variety of shots for any scene. I never know what a potential photo buyer may want or need. In certain situations, having people in a photo used for commercial purposes means that I need a model’s release from them, and they may want to be paid for being in the shot. I also watched the boats moving out on the water very closely, so I could get various numbers of them in my shots, and they had to be in the right places around the lighthouse to make it a pleasingly composed and balanced photograph.

This is the pier at the bar and restaurant called Dock of the Bay, in Millers Island, Maryland. You can sit at an inside or outside table and have a fantastic view of the Chesapeake Bay. The food is good, the music is often live, and the staff and patrons are quite gregarious.

During Hurricane Isabel, and previous storms, the restaurant was flooded. Today if you were sitting where I took this shot from, you would see a breakwater out there in the middle of scene, which is made of large white boulders. The Dock of the Bay’s new newspaper add has a photo that is composed about the same as mine but with the breakwater in it. I like these photos without that obtrusive pile of rocks a lot better. The rocks are white so that they have high visibility for boaters, but it makes for a considerably less photogenic scene
.

Sunset At The End Of A Pier

Photography by David Robert Crews


This photo was taken when the pier was owned by Pelican's Restaurant and Bar in Millers Island, Maryland. Then Hurricane Isabel came along and temporarily wiped out the business capabilities of this piece of property, and it did the same to some other business properties, and it destroyed or nearly destroyed many nice homes. I have to get down there to see if this restaurant is open again. If Pelican's hasn't been reopened, there are several other good eateries down there where I can get a delicious meal.

Oh, the wavy effects on the photo is from it being in small file JPEG format; that digital limitation does help prevent any worthwhile copyright infringement by a person who would take it and say it’s their own or use it for commercial purposes without paying me, but the print of this and the larger file of it look gorgeous. Let me know if you want to purchase a copy.






Produce Wagon at Bauer's Farm

Photography by David Robert Crews








Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Big Sky Over Todd's Inheritance

Photography by David Robert Crews

This is the view from Old North Point Road, just outside of Ft. Howard, Maryland, out over Shallow Creek towards the Chesapeake Bay. It is a view of great historical importance, because it was from this area that early Americans spotted the British coming up the bay to attack Baltimore during the War of 1812, and the alarm was sent out to the mass of defenders making ready for battle in and around the City of Baltimore.








Foggy Day In Gunpowder State Park

Photography by David Robert Crews

I like being outdoors in all kinds of weather. This is freakin' magical out here in the fog. It's soft and comfortable if you dress warm and waterproof for it. All my senses respond with wonder and send signal pulses of pleasure to my brain in almost any kind of weather.





Industrial White

Photography by David Robert Crews

I don't know what it is I like about this photograph. Maybe it was just the challenge to shoot and print a mostly white subject with a white foreground and background, all very dull, weak looking whites. With spots of red and rust to deal with.

When I created this photograph, I was regular busy-bee in the Dundalk Community College photographic dark room, on a regular basis, and this shot tweaked my interest in seeing just who the hell I really was as a photographer at that point in life.

To me, the structure looks like an inspiration for an illustrator of science fiction comic books or video games or movies.






2000-2001 New Years Eve Baltimore Fireworks

Photography by David Robert Crews


Photography by David Robert Crews

These are the 2000-2001 New Years Eve fireworks in the Baltimore Harbor. There are plenty of fireworks photos in this world, consequently the ones I shoot usually have a local landmark in them so people can see where the photos were taken.








Battling Knights At The Maryland Renaissance Festival

Photography by David Robert Crews

Photography by David Robert Crews

If you left click on these images and enlarge them you will see that I caught the lances and the wooden swords breaking into pieces and flying up in the air. I managed to grab the action by squeezing my shutter in time with the sounds and not the visual cues.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Equestrian Photography







All Photographs by David Robert Crews

I love animals and photographing them, both tame and wild.

Unfortunatetly, my disbilities keep me from making enough money to get a nice photography business going, which would include this type of lucrative photography. I can't take on any paid photo assignments, because I never know when my back and neck injuries are going to knock me to the floor again.

But if I was paid what's owed me by those who owe me, not just the money but also admission of the truth about what I did to earn the money and the respect I'm due for being a person who could accomplish such oft time quite dangerous and in all ways important tasks, then I could build my portfolio of stock photography up to a level where I could support my photography work with sales of stock photos. Stock photos are a collection and selection of photographs for sale as prints and for use in publications, including on web sites. With the money from stock photo sales, I could do a lot more of all the types of photography that I do so well, and many people enjoy seeing a whole lot. If this goal of mine should ever come to fruition, I'm sure that I could work off some of this damned depression that wears me down everyday and all night long when sleep comes in fitful bursts to me.

I may not be able to support myself and pay all my bills by doing my photography, that is why I recieve a monthy disability check from the Veterans Administration, but I have an innate drive to do all I can to make people feel something good and contribute to society by producing my great photographs for all to view, and/or own, and enjoy.

I have about a thousand unedited negatives which can yield me many excellent, professional photographs to add to my stock of photos, and I have about two dozen 8x10 prints, which I custom printed in Dundalk Community College's color photo lab, that need to be scanned into digital files so I can put them on my web sites.

An artist's grant of some kind would allow me to get this photography work moving at a much more productive pace. Got any positive ideas for me on this subject?






Monday, November 27, 2006

Baltimore Blues Society Picnic

Photography by David Robert Crews

The headline act at the Blues picnic was one of the Granddadies of electric Blues guitar, Hubert Sumlin. Here's a backstage view of local Maryland area Blues musicians backing up one of their heros and teachers, Hubert Sumlin. Hubert had just returned from playing at Mick Jagger's birthday party in Switzerland, he's one of The Rolling Stones' heros and teachers too.



Photography by David Robert Crews


The guy kneeling amongst the relaxing crowd at a Blues picnic is an old friend of mine from the 1960s, Dale Patton. Dale was the lead singer in a band called The Psychedelic Propeller, my neighbor, Austin O'Baker was the drummer in the band. I used to hang out with them and was dubbed their equipment manager, so I could get into their gigs that were in bars. The band members were all under 21 years old at the time, the band did play a lot of gigs in Georgetown, Washington, DC, where the drinking age was only 18, but I was only 16-17, and I liked to dance with the girls and have a rockin' good time. I did help to carry the equipment in and set it up. Dale helped found the Baltimore Blues Society.

We were all some of the first music fans around Baltimore to buy record albums by Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, any Blues musician's, Country Joe and The Fish, Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa, The Cream, and we had those albums and knew the music on them well for many months before any of these musicians' records were played on any Baltimore radio stations.







Fort McHenry In Baltimore

Fireworks In Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Catfish Hodge At Fells Fest 2000

Photography by David Robert Crews

Blues Man Catfish Hodge started playing the Blues about the same time I started listening to them, I guess that makes me an Old Blues Man too.








Friday, November 24, 2006

Selling Plants And Flowers At The Fells Point Festival 2000

Photography by David Robert Crews


If you click on the photo and enlarge it you'll see that the big smiling face in the background is a tugboat smokestack, then there's a tall sailing ship behind it, all to make the day more interesting and fun.



Photography by David Robert Crews


Fells Fest 2000

Photography by David Robert Crews

Coblestone streets, kids in strollers, venders in the background having a good time, and a whimsical dummy, all part of the scene at Baltimore's Fells Point Festival. I shot several negatives of this scene. One neg has the button on the dummy's chest in perfect focus. I did that because I hope to learn all the techniques of some digital photo shop program one day and then I can take the in focus button and put it on the dummy in this shot with the crowd and the background in focus. You wouldn't happen to know where I can get a good, used, unwanted Pentium 4 would ya? I'm a disabled veteran living on a small VA Pension, and I work as hard as I can on my photography and writing, just look around on my blogs/poorman's web sites and see for yourself.


Photography by David Robert Crews


Right in the middle of all that family fun I run into this pink dog with an attitude. This is Fells Point after all.







Dancing In The Street


Photography by David Robert Crews

Photography by David Robert Crews

Dancing to the Salsa Music in front of the Spanish stage on Baltimore's Broadway during Fells Fest 2000.








Spanish Dancers Fells Fest 2000


Photography by David Robert Crews


Photgraphy by David Robert Crews

A little bit of work in Adobe Photoshop would take that traffic light off her head. But I have to learn how to do that. And get a good enough computer to do it on---poverty sucks. Anybody wanna help a starving artist? I need a grant.








Spanish Stage At Fells Fest 2000

Photography by David Robert Crews







Fells Point Antique Dealers Association

Photography by David Robert Crews

Outdoor antique sale on The Square in Baltimore's Fells Point.







Fells Point Antique Sales On The Square

Photography by David Robert Crews