Freising Frames

Currently I am in Göteburg, Sweden, attending the 2013 Volvo Adventure, where high schoolers from around the world (our team is the only team representing North America and the United States) make presentations on their selected environmental projects. To find out more about all of the projects, I will edit this post soon with some links.

Farmland in Freising, Germany

But before I arrived here, I went through more than a day of traveling. On our journey, we made the most of a six hour lay-over, and visited a local village in Gemany called Freising. Since my entire family is German, I felt at home walking the cobbles and experiencing the culture for myself. And because of my passion for bicycles, I also felt homey witnessing the insane amount of bicycle traffic, or should I say amazing amount of bicycle traffic–p.s. the U.S. could learn a lot from Europe about commuting on bikes.

Some German treats–there is a bakery probably every three shops (I personally saw about 8 bakeries on one street in Freising).

So, here are some of the shots that I took while traveling on planes to Sweden–it’s feels great to finally be settled in. Everything shot in this post is digital.

A boy anxiously awaiting the end of the flight to Munich.

During our lay-over, we took a bus to Freising, and had a great time experiencing the culture, eating some tasty treats, and taking advantage of the photo-ready landscape. It had been a while since I was a tourist, so I embraced my inner street-photographer, and shot my borrowed Canon 60D to death. I shot with a superfast Nikkor 50mm f1.4, which was great in low light but almost impossible to focus quickly–I’m getting used to it as opposed to shooting f1.8 (which is surprisingly that much easier to focus properly) and I’ll just say: f1.4 is growing on me. All images © Eliot J. Grigo.

Kiera Haining, a member of our U.S. team, on the bus ride to Freising.

Patriot Pictures

Stars and Stripes © Eliot J. Grigo

A short poem I wrote in honor of Memorial Day. Regardless of how much I disagree with war, and the pain and death that it causes, I can never disregard the men who sacrificed their lives for their belief in this country, that I live in today.

I felt the sun on my brow this morning.

The leaves so green,

so very, very green.

It had rained for days on end,

the clouds never giving way

for the sun to poke through the white pillows.

But today–in their honor–the sun

shines on my brow

this morning.

Watching the Parade © Eliot J. Grigo

I had missed the majority of the parade this morning, so I shot some street stuff of what I could during and afterwards, I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day! All images © Eliot J. Grigo.

Buttery Bokeh

Driving Dream © Eliot J. Grigo

A few portraits from my last color roll–shot on my Nikon FM2. The colors and bokeh are quite buttery, which is something I love about color film and a 50mm f1.8. Enjoy.

Driver © Eliot J. Grigo

Juniper Shade © Eliot J. Grigo

The Youth © Eliot J. Grigo

 

Fee…Fi…Fo…FM2

So I decided to whip out my Nikon FM2, and start shooting some 35mm film, and it’s hit me like a giant with a bat. But really, it’s fun. This entire post was shot on Ilford 400, with Nikon glass, 50mm 1.8.

It’s a camera that doesn’t scream “I’M A PHOTOGRAPHER AND I TAKE PICTURES”. Even if you are a photographer, you can be a more subtle one by carrying around something that’s smaller than your face–this is good. It’s light, and with a handy lens like a 50mm 1.8, it’s unstoppable. I’m very excited to make some more images with this camera, and do some interesting series.

CMCA Sneak Peak

CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) in Rockport, Maine, is hosting an art show for all of the local high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools in the midcoast area. Most of the walls of the show consist of works of various students, but I have had the honor to be offered 4 meters wide of wall space for my own work. The show is this Saturday, April 27, 2013, from 2 pm to 4 pm–make sure to stop by and see some wonderful work from students all over the Fivetowns District.

Half of my wall space is Book I: “Fictions”, and the other half is Book II: “Daydreams”, which is being exhibited for the first time! There is also a collection of polaroids I’ve done with a unique installation method.

My Polaroid installation. Mounted around 40 polaroids to the paper that comes from medium format film.

Myself setting up my corner for the CMCA art show.

Need directions? Click on the image below to view Google Maps.

Switch to Spring

The Coldest Winter © Eliot J. Grigo

In Maine, the switch to spring can be gloomy, wet, and dark–but I can better describe it in photographs. All images © Eliot J. Grigo.

Nautical Niche

Here is a passage of a short story I wrote. It is about my initial discovery to photography when I was younger, and taking my first ‘good’ photograph. I no longer have the picture, but I remember taking it vividly.

I was firing off frames with a small point-and-shoot camera with a battery life that lasted as long as it takes to make a pizza. I walked along the wharf, empty of imagery. Or so I thought. Then I peered over the edge and saw three docks forming a puzzle-like structure. The narrow gaps between the planks of gray aged-wood served as diagonal contrasting shapes. The harbor water rippled smoothly, like fine blown-glass. I changed my settings and squeezed the small shutter button. Click. I was ecstatic, as if the picture was a gift to me. It was the moment when photographs made sense–they are the fractions of life that stimulate the eye, and that’s what I loved about this image. Looking back, that photograph was a random scene in my hometown, that gave me a conscious epiphany to make photographs. It was one of those moments where my cheeks genuinely lifted, a sign of my realization that I was smiling because of a new found creative hobby.

Often I go down to those docks and try to find that picture again. I never can. Just goes to show that some things really only happen once, and even if the picture is of objects, those objects can change, or disappear entirely. All of these pictures in this post I took in the same harbor just this week.

On a walk down to the harbor I ran into some children of a friend of mine, and took some pictures. The boy’s name is Brian. One of his hobbies is to speed around on his Strider bike–someday he will be an excellent cyclist.

All images © Eliot J. Grigo