I carried my grandmother’s old Polaroid SX-70 with me everywhere last year after my parents brought it with them on a visit late summer.  Once I realized the “chewed up Polaroid” pattern – the last 4 of every box! – I stopped carrying it anywhere.  Losing 4 shots out of 10 when each shot costs roughly $2 was too much for me.  This will, of course, be corrected soon as I plan to begin the search for a working SX-70 very soon, especially with the recent success of The Impossible Project.

For those wondering, the Satellite Diner & Lounge is in Spokane, WA and was one of my favorite places to go for an early morning breakfast after a late night.

My parents were visiting a few months ago — okay, it’s been 8 months, and I’m just now posting photos from their visit — and one night we decided to visit Mystic, CT to see the Mystic Seaport and have seafood at Abbot’s Lobster in the Rough.  Mystic is also home to Mystic Pizza and is where the movie of the same name (Mystic Pizza) was located.

This photo is from the Mystic Seaport and is what happens when you show up to a tourist spot after the tourist spot has closed. At first I was disappointed we got there too late to see much of anything. Photographically, this was perfect timing as the sunset was very nice to shoot, and there were no people out and about while I was shooting.

Sometimes these things work out.

There are two things that strike me about this photo: one you can see quickly, one you cannot.  The first that you probably think you’ve seen is that my camera wasn’t level when I took this photo.  If you thought you saw that, you didn’t.  My camera was quite level, as verified by the bubble level on the tripod the level sitting on the top of my 4×5 camera, and by my iPhone because really, something just didn’t look right!  When I stepped back and looked again, I realized that the sidewalk WAS sloping downhill, and that the door WAS squared up to the downward sloping sidewalk.  That alone would have made this building interesting. But really, there’s a building there that not overly long ago was an auto shop, in a town that’s clearly been all but deserted for years, whose siding is plywood.  This place wasn’t in the styx, it was actually past the styx.  The whole town was a hotbed of photographic opportunities. Unfortunately I missed most of them because it took so long to get there, and I didn’t know where I was when I got there, much less how to get back.

The second thing was the guy that came riding up to me as I was preparing to take this photo on his camouflaged 4×4 complete with gun rack and gun wanting to chit chat with me about what I was doing there in his town. I’ve had experiences with people walking up while I’m taking photos asking “whatcha doin’?” My first reaction is to answer “uhm…  taking pictures” even though in my mind it’s something more like “pondering Keppler’s 3rd law of interplanetary motion and how it relates to that building.”  I was also nervous I was going to get the “This is private property… Why are you here? What makes you think you can shoot here?” discussion.  But he was just a guy who had grown up in the town while it was still thriving, left after his childhood, and has since retired on the outskirts of what used to be the downtown area.

All in all, the whole day was worth it.  I didn’t get a ton of great shots, but I did learn a lot from that man, and had fun talking to him as well.  As an added bonus, even though I had no idea where I was, I got back home that night.

Some wedding cakes are definitely more memorable than others.  You can watch Food Network almost any night and see Duff (Ace of Cakes) of Charm City Cakes or TLC to see Buddy Valastro (Cake Boss) of Carlo’s Bakery whipping up some monstrosity of a wedding cake — see Duff’s 10-tiered wedding cake as an example of a wedding cake clearly on steroids.

The one above, from Rachel & Jesse’s wedding, sticks out in my mind as one of the more memorable cakes I’ve seen at a wedding.  After a while the 4-tier white, pearlescent flower-dy, rose covered, etc. cakes all start to blend together until in my mind I see a perliteose cake of undiscernable size. Not Rachel & Jesse’s.  Sure, it’s dreadfully simple. But in all reality, it served its purpose dutifully. You see, Rachel & Jesse are what most people would call “fun-lovin’, full-of-life, crazy people.” Jesse was actually a little disappointed that I declined to “have a few” during their reception.  True story.

Back to the cake. Rachel & Jesse cut their wedding cake (not the cupcakes) and gave a slice to each of their parents. After that, and before that, the real wedding cake (above) was free to be picked over, pawed at, eaten, and voraciously attacked by the kids and adults in attendance.  And not once did you hear a sad child cry out “but mooooom… I want caaaaake!”  Why? Because when the kid took a “slice” of the cake, there was another “slice” sitting under the table to replace it.  The cake was being eaten all night, but within minutes each time, it was restored to newness.  I loved it; so did the kids.

And, yes, it was tasty too. Just don’t tell Jesse I sampled the cake but not the beer.

A couple years ago I was walking with a friend through downtown Portland when we spotted this bike rack, and quite bright bike, at roughly the same time.  I took a few minutes to waddle around the bike rack and snap a few frames, and boy am I glad I did.  This picture isn’t a perfect shot, but it’s one of my favorites nonetheless.

Speaking of favorites, if you ever find yourself in Portland, OR, you better find yourself at Voodoo Doughnut at some point in your visit.  Trust me when I say that the bacon maple bar (yes… a maple bar doughnut with a slice of bacon on top) is a WHOLE lot better than it sounds.

I was working with a client last fall at Lighthouse Point when I spotted this guy headed out on his sailboat. Right as I spotted him, the bird in the foreground landed, so I started shooting away. I rather like how this shot turned out, and the timing was tight. Just seconds later the bird headed off to find a better spot for watching, taking my shot as well.

“Into the Sunset” is not only a horribly cheesy title, it’s also technically wrong.  The sun was setting behind us, but who wants to call a photo “Away from the Sunset.”  Yes, it’s technically correct – which pleases my overly analytical brain – but not only a corny title, but also a title that has more negative implications than I care to deal with.

This was one of those fun moments I get as a photographer when Matt & Lisa were out of their wedding garb, and just being themselves while entertaining guests at the post-wedding-post-brunch-reception beach party and bonfire.

Several years ago, while in Spokane, WA, I worked with Thomas to get some nice portraits for his portfolio.  At the time, he wanted a few standard headshots, different looks, all on a white background.  When we were done, he was very pleased with the results and a few weeks later wanted something more dark and foreboding.  The first stop of the day was a cemetery somewhere outside of Spokane.  These ruins of something were on the way back, and I wanted to shoot in there for a while.  I convinced Thomas to work there, just for a little while as it was getting cold and dark.  As it turned out, the photos we got inside these crazy walls were the best photos of the day.  Even though Thomas had seen the photos from the cemetery on my laptop already, he agreed to try one more spot (this one) and after all was said and done, this was the best shot we got that day.

Lesson learned: Never stop looking for a better shot.

It’s time for Mike Pittman Photography to switch over to Senior Portrait Season.  The weather is getting warmer, and juniors in High School across the country are planning to get all gussied up and ready for their big day in the spotlight.

This photo shows absolutely none of the above.  I was working with David & Tab on their engagement portrait and decided to do some more edgy stuff with them when the young lady above yelled down the alleyway “HEY!  Take my picture!”  I ignored her because I’ve heard that time and again by people passing by.  Then she said, “HEY!  I said ‘Take my picture!’”  This time I turned, and when I spotted her, said, “yeah, okay.”  Her response was priceless: “Wait, really?  You want to take my picture?”  Me:  “Yes.  Don’t yell at people to take your picture unless you’re going to let them take your picture.”  I took three photos of her before she sprinted, and this is the best one.

I think it’s a good and fun way to kick start senior portrait season!

American Theater

At first glance, you may not quite see what this is.  Yes, it’s an American flag that’s been created out of scrap tile.  Yes, it’s an advertisement for New York’s American Theater.  Yes, it’s a neat piece of art.  It’s also a telephone pole.  Go figure.  The tile art wraps around the pole, and the full piece is about 6ft from top to bottom.  That’s a lot of tiles; it’s also a lot of space used furniture advertisers can’t use on that telephone pole to hock their wares.