Sunday was a busy day for class of 2012 graduates in Elkhart County, Indiana.
Five high schools held their commencement ceremonies, and I covered graduation at Goshen High School for the Elkhart Truth.
Below is a slide show of some of the proceedings.
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Fairfield High School Class of 2012 || Class Motto
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
This past Friday, May 25, 2012, I covered Fairfield High School’s Class of 2012 commencement for the Elkhart Truth. http://www.etruth.com/article/20120526/NEWS01/705269954/0/SPORT
Below is a slide show of activities up until I had to leave to meet deadline.
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Discovering My Small and Infinite World || (May 18, 2012)
Creative individuals are fortunate that our influences and the things we do in life revisit and refocus us on a regular basis.
There are and have been many creative individuals in my family, but without a doubt the most important one in the here and now is my wife Jennifer, who is a photographer too.
“The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?” - Tennessee Williams quotes (American playwright. 1911-1983)
Recently, I convinced Jennifer to add Instagram to her iPhone, and she did, and now it is part of her photographer and photojournalist “personae.” She has started a project, which she calls her “Hoosier Relics” (shots of basketball hoops that have a lot of character – you can follow her on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/#!/fuji400).
We had a lot of fun together one recent evening as we drove back home from Best Buy (we now have Wi-Fi!!!) as we stopped at various places so Jennifer could shoot hoops. I am really looking forward to owning my first iPhone and discovering the world of Instagram photography, but until then I’ll continue to rely on the photographic tools I have.
Jennifer’s passion for her project, and another major influence that happened to me soon thereafter, has instilled a desire in my photographic consciousness to find vintage Hoosier Americana scenes and subject matter.
That said “major influence” was my discovery that Neil Young and Crazy Horse will release their first album together since Greendale came out in 2003. The album is called Americana and “features traditional American songs like ‘Tom Dooley’ and ‘This Land Is Your Land’”. Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/neil-young-and-crazy-horse-to-release-new-album-americana-on-june-5th-20120319#ixzz1vhpjwiZK and watch the video for ‘Clementine’ at: http://www.neilyoung.com/.
On Friday, May 18, I had some time to explore an area of Elkhart County, Indiana, near Olive Mennonite Church, where I was to attend a women’s tea as part of their 150th anniversary celebration, which I am covering as a correspondent for the Elkhart Truth. I hung out with a horse on Prairie Road, photographed an old tractor next to a grain silo, and then went to the church. As I was leaving, I walked across the street to the cemetery, and photographed a tombstone with the name John. There are many John’s in our family, including my father John Newbold Shephard, whose creativity as a package designer and especially as a model railroader has left a creative mark on me, which I’ll continue to revisit and refocus as time goes by.
Below is a slideshow of some of the images described above, and others that I’ve revisited to add a vintage Photoshop treatment. We invite you to visit our website at: http://www.siwphoto.com/
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I’ve discovered HDR (high dynamic range) toning in Photoshop, which I am now using in conjunction with the “artistic watercolor filter” to create images for this May Flowers Watercolors series.
May Flowers Watercolors #1 (Photoshop watercolors series by Mark Shephard)
I have found that to achieve a digital photographic watercolor that has balanced tonal values once the “artistic watercolor filter” is applied, it is important to initially tone the file prior to HDR toning so that there is no shadow blockage. Watercolors normally feature gentle shadows, which isn’t done with black paint but a suitable primary color.
May Flowers Watercolors #2 (Photoshop watercolors series by Mark Shephard)
May Flowers Watercolors #3 (digital photographic watercolor by Mark Shephard)
Visit our website at www.SIWphoto.com
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MAY 12, 2012
Today I covered Church Community Services’ first Amazing Elkhart Race, which was held to raise money for the faith-based interdenominational non-profit agency, and “to spotlight what’s amazing about Elkhart”. The event proved that when groups within a community come together for a common cause, a lot of fun can be had by all.
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Here’s the story.
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MAY 6, 2012
It was a beautiful Sunday morning, so I grabbed my macro lens and went outside and photographed flowers for my “May Flowers Watercolors” series. It can be a challenge to acquire the needed depth-of-field at 100 ISO (Group f.64 – http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247121/Group-f64- would argue the more the better), especially when you have to shoot at a fairly slow shutter speed, and only when any breezes have stilled.
May Flowers Watercolors #2 (digital photographic watercolor by Mark Shephard)
http://siwphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/May-Flowers-Watercolors/G0000GeNqoRY39i0/
Later in the day I worked on creating some abstract expressionist photographic manipulations from a photograph that I had shot the day before at the old Selmer Musical Instruments plant in Elkhart, Ind. Below are the original photograph, and three works, which I call “Extremities”, that evolved from that image.
A detail shot of graffiti on the old Selmer plant in Elkhart, Ind. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
Music Factory Graffiti #7 (24″x 16″ abstract expressionist digital photograph by Mark Shephard)
Music Factory Graffiti #8 (24″x 16″ abstract expressionist digital photograph by Mark Shephard)
Music Factory Graffiti #9 (24″x 16″ abstract expressionist digital photograph by Mark Shephard)
Here is the link to a previous post about my abstract expressionist “extremities”, “Abstract Expressionist Photographic Art Created Using Geometry and Perfect Numbers as Guideposts” - http://siwphoto.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/abstract-expressionist-extremities-created-using-geometry-and-perfect-numbers-as-guideposts/ - and the link to the “Abstract Expressionism” gallery at our website - http://siwphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery/Abstract-Expressionism/G0000jUrfsBpOEFg/.
MAY 5, 2012
Today I worked as a correspondent for the Elkhart Truth and covered Elkhart’s First Lemonade Day. “Some 500 local kids have squeezed valuable life lessons from their participation…and their business ventures around town have sweetened their understanding of how small businesses work.”
Read my story at: http://www.etruth.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?aid=2012705059915
Elijah Wiswell, 11, prepares a sign on his lemonade decanter at Wellfield Botanic Gardens Saturday morning as part of Elkhart’s First Lemonade Day. Wiswell, who was one of some 500 local kids participating in the event, had one of three stands at Wellfield, which was also hosting the Tulips & Tunes Outdoor Marketplace & Festival. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
Harrison Harte, 9, watches the proceedings Saturday morning at his lemonade stand on Jackson Boulevard as part of Elkhart’s First Lemonade Day. His grandfather Denny Bender helped drive traffic to Harrison’s business venture, which also received an assist from visitors to a family garage sale. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
Ja’Vona Emerson, 12, and Aolani Stane, 15, enjoy strawberries while their friend from the Tolson Center, Gladys Leon, 10, looks over signs at their Sunny-Side Lemonade stand on Elkhart Civic Plaza as part of Elkhart’s First Lemonade Day Saturday. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
MAY 4, 2012
Former television journalist Jane Pauley, who was diagnosed with having a bipolar disorder at age 50, was the Oaklawn’s 50th Anniversary Spring Spectacular guest speaker tonight. I photographed her with patrons at Goshen College’s Sauder Hall.
Former NBC anchor and journalist Jane Pauley (third from left) poses with Laurie N. Nafziger, president & CEO of Oaklawn; Tricia Sloma, news anchor for WNDU, and Gloria Holub, Oaklawn communications manager, at Oaklawn’s 50th Anniversary Spring Spectacular held at Goshen College’s Sauder Hall. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
MAY 1, 2012
Painting is something that I’ve always thought about doing some day, but until that day presents itself, there is always the Photoshop option. If you’ve visited our website at www.SIWphoto.com you may have come across an abstract expressionist gallery. Another style of painting that I’ve always appreciated has been watercolors. I remember my Grandmother Ethel Shephard painting flowers with watercolors late in her life. Her son Tom (and my uncle) was a very talented illustrator in Cleveland, Ohio. (http://ohioauthority.com/articles/region/sketchbook-cleveland-huntington-reservation-artist-Karen-Sandstrom)
The watercolor below is my first attempt at capturing the flowers in our gardens with a macro lens, and then painting a digital watercolor in Photoshop.
Today I’ve started a series I’m calling “May Flowers Watercolors”. This was the only flower on this shrub in our garden that was blooming, and so I grabbed the macro lens and started shooting. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
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As of April 26, 2012, I have begun a longterm project in the spirit of discovery, art, photography and photojournalism. On April 26, 1607 Captain John Smith landed in Virginia, and a whole new group of people started to discover America. With that in mind my project “Discovering My Small and Infinite World” will be updated in this blog on a regular basis. Also, be sure to visit Shephard Imageworks on Facebook, and if you are interested in prints of images you see here, you can visit said gallery at our website. (www.siwphoto.com)
Well, where to begin. I guess I should start by saying that as photographers, we all want to be able to travel to exciting new places that seem different, and as Frank sings, to a world that is “new beneath the blue Umbrella sky”.
Sometimes that isn’t a feasible situation because of one thing or another, so when that is the case I guess it’s best to realize that even though we may want to explore the infinite world outside the small world in which we live our daily lives, we can still take our cameras out and discover infinite possibilities in that latter small world until we build roads and tracks that lead to a wider horizon.
APRIL 30, 2012
The last day of April was a rainy one in Elkhart, Indiana. A pedestrian walks along the RiverWalk next to the Elkhart River. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
This was the first series of images I made after getting out of my car along the RiverWalk in Elkhart, Indiana. The picture happened rather quickly, as the man was approaching from the left. I adjusted my exposure manually (1/320 sec. @ f/6.3 at ISO 320 / the focal length is 168) and positioned myself and my camera’s automatic focus point ”lickity split” and then fired a burst of four frames as he walked through the frame of the trees.
APRIL 29, 2012
This morning I attended service at Olive Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana. The congregation is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the church, and I will be working on the story in the coming weeks for the Elkhart Truth.
Charlotte Yoder Neumann and her husband Gerd, who now live in Germany, were married in the church in 2010. They were welcomed back and given the opportunity to offer the service’s message. Charlotte talked about how she enjoyed the romantic story of Rebecca and Isaac in the Book of Genesis, and Gerd was brought to tears speaking about “God’s search, our response.”
I look forward to attending more events in the coming weeks at Olive Mennonite Church.
Charlotte Yoder Neumann prays during service at Olive Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana. Charlotte and her husband Gerd were married here in 2010 and now live in Flensburg, Germany. They were welcomed back to the church Saturday and given the opportunity to give the service’s message: “God’s search, our response.” (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
Olive Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Church members lead the congregation in song as a service begins. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
Olive Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Indiana is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Church members lead the congregation in song as a service begins. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
APRIL 28, 2012
3 1/2-year-old TaraNova Glick died on July 13, 2004 after being abused by her mother’s new boyfriend.
TaraNova’s life was celebrated and remembered Saturday night as her family and “Tara’s Tears” hosted the “I Care” Candlelight Vigil for Child Abuse Awareness at the Elkhart Civil Plaza. TaraNova’s father Israel Glick, center, talked about child abuse prior to the start of the program and a dance performance by the YGB Praise Team from Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church (above).
“As far as a community period, if you even think that a kid is being abused it should be reported. It might be something little, it could be something big. It’s just something that should be reported and then you go from there,” said Glick.
A proclamation signed by Mayor Dick Moore was read to those gathered that honored TaraNova Glick and the other children affected by child abuse and neglect. “Child abuse prevention is a community problem and finding solutions depends on the involvement of people thoughout the communtiy.” The proclamation by concluding “therefore, I Dick Moore, mayor of the city of Elkhart do hereby proclaim Saturday, Apri 28, 2012 as TaraNova Glick day. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard – www.eTruth.com)
APRIL 27, 2012
Well, today I’ve learned a valuable lesson.
I had accepted an assignment from RV Business to photograph Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who was in town to meet with leaders in the recreational vehicle industry. The Elkhart Truth later asked me if I could shoot some pics for them too, and made it clear that I should not submit the same images.
No problem, right? I guess it all depends on how different entities get along in this very competitive marketplace we live. You wouldn’t think that a trade magazine and a local newspaper would have competitive issues, but you would be wrong. Hopefully no damage has been done to my relationship with a client whose business is always appreciated.
“Whenever I’m caught between two evils, I take the one I’ve never tried.” – Mae West
While being given a tour of the RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum, Governor Daniels actually used this quote by West as he was being shown a 1931 Chevrolet Housecar that was used by the movie star.
Gov. Mitch Daniels holds a press conference at the RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum in Elkhart Friday after meeting with industry executives to discuss business. (Photos By Mark Shephard)
Gov. Mitch Daniels tells a joke while touring the RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum in Elkhart after meeting with industry executives and holding a press conference regarding business issues. Joining Daniels on the tour are B.J. Thompson, owner of B.J. Thompson Associates, and chairman of the PR committee for RVIA; Thomas McNulty, RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum executive director; and Al Hesselbart, historian for the museum. (Truth Photo By Mark Shephard)
Gov. Mitch Daniels tells a joke while touring the RV/MH Hall of Fame & Museum in Elkhart after meeting with industry executives and holding a press conference regarding business issues. Joining Daniels on the tour are B.J. Thompson, owner of B.J. Thompson Associates, and chairman of the PR committee for RVIA; and Al Hesselbart, historian for the museum. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
APRIL 26, 2012
Today I stopped at an Elkhart Western railroad siding in Elkhart, Indiana, and introduced myself to two engineers who were busy changing brake shoes on covered cement hopper cars. Trains are an exciting way to travel, and I very much look forward to more such opportunities on down the line, but the following quote makes clear that there will be plenty of things to accomplish at each station during each journey.
“Only fools want to travel all the time. Sensible men want to arrive.” — Metternich
Chip Underwood and Roland Bayly, engineers with Pioneer Rail Corp., change brake shoes on covered cement hopper cars along a siding in Elkhart, Indiana. (Photos By Mark Shephard)
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Shephard Imageworks of Elkhart, Indiana, presents a 2012 locational portrait photography special that includes a two-hour session, and a CD with 20 custom toned and retouched photographs for $150.
Access to your own gallery on our website at www.SIWphoto.com will allow you to choose images from your session.
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Your gallery will offer you various prints sizes from wallet size to 10″x 15″ with your choice of glossy, matte, lustre and metallic surfaces.
We also feature rolled canvas prints, canvas wraps, key tags, mini photo magnets and large photo magnets, luggage tags, license plates, puzzles, easel-backed photo plaques, mousepads, mugs, travel mugs, aluminum water bottles, beer steins, aprons, tote bags, t-shirts and sweatshirts.
We combine the improvisational qualities of photojournalism and the glamorous aspects of fashion photography with the many possibilities that portrait photography offers on location, and then later in Photoshop. Your images will be presented to you so that you’ll have different Photoshop techniques and variations to choose from.
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“Truth gets well if she is run over by a locomotive, while error dies of lockjaw if she scratches her finger.” - William C. Bryant
Valves inside a New York Central Mohawk 301 Locomotive bask in late afternoon sunshine at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart, Ind. (Photo By Mark Shephard)
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