When photographing people, or kids… little people like Elaina here, don’t be afraid to move in close with your camera as it will provide more impact to your picture. Most folks have a zone around them of about 2 feet and when you get closer they can become uncomfortable, but with family and folks you know it’s different and by moving in close you can usually invoke some sort of a reaction from your subject, usually a laugh or smile and that’s when you click the shutter!

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic app with the Helga-Viking Lens and the Float film. Post processing was done in the Snapseed App.

Today I was shooting a picture of my niece Elaina on this small couch and what to my surprise, but her brother Damion went over and sat down next to her. I love how she is looking at her big brother! It’s expressions like this that you should always strive to capture when you’re photographing children, or anyone else for that matter. It can mean shooting a lot of pictures to get that one image, or sometimes it only takes a few. This was my fifth image I shot of them.

Another reason to shoot a lot is because kids move fast and if you’re shooting with a camera phone indoors then the shutter speed of your phones camera is going to be slow and could have a lot of blurry pictures as a result. Plus, the more you shoot, the more comfortable you’ll get with your camera and that holds true weather it’s a camera phone, film or digital.

Photo was shot with the iPhone 5s camera and the post processing was done with the App called ShakeItPhoto.

Today’s photo is a portrait of Taelor, a young man who shadowed me last summer when I was still working at The Messenger newspaper here in Madisonville, Ky. He’s still got the photography bug and this week one of his aunts gave him a Pentax film camera, which he’s fairly proud of and he’s not even taken his first picture with it yet.

I grabbed this portrait of him and his camera today at church, where he brought the camera so I could take a look at it for him. It needs a real good cleaning and the meter battery has to be replaced, so I brought the camera home with me to take care of some of these things for him, so perhaps he can start shooting pictures with it. We’ll still need to go over the basics on how everything works, but he picks things up fast, so if the camera is working order, then I know he’ll give it a try.

It’s encouraging to me that he wants to do some shooting with film when in today’s world of youth it’s all about digital and seeing your results right away. He may not shoot a lot with it, but I’m encouraged that he’s willing to give it a try.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s with the Hipstamatic App using the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film setting.

What can I say, I love old machines! I spotted this old Chevy dump truck sitting next to a building here in Madisonville, Ky and couldn’t resist adding it to my ongoing series on called “Machines.” Some day perhaps they’ll be a book.

I’ve never really been a car or truck person per say, in fact most times I can’t tell you what year the things I photograph were made, but I do know when something makes for an interesting picture, at least to me. Besides, I know enough people in my life that are interested in these things that can provide me with details on the model if I need them.

If you’ve ever thought about starting a ongoing series like this, don’t be afraid to pick something that you’re not really familiar with as it’s a great way to learn about something, if that’s what you want to do. Also, look to things that are common in your everyday life that you will have access to, such as young children. As they continue to grow you can do all kinds of different series on them such as take a picture of them with the same background every week for a year and you’ll be surprised how much of a difference there will be from the first picture and the last.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film. Some sharping was done using Topaz Adjust in Photoshop.

I stumbled across this old grocery store in Robards, Ky with these roadsigns on the corner post and it really brought back a lot of memories for me. That’s one of the things I like most about photography is that pictures have the ability to invoke memories of either the moment captured or  remind us of days gone by.

When I first saw the sign one of the things that popped into my mind of course was the T.V. series called MASH. I loved that series and think I’ve watched every episode at least twice. For you that are under 30 or so, do a Google search if you don’t know what it is. They used to have one of these in the compound.

Speaking of compounds, the second time I saw a sign like this was during a military exercise called Bright Star, which was held in the Sharia Desert where we lived in a tent city. I was there with a team of photographers and motion picture cameramen documenting the operation and we were living in the same type of tents they used in MASH with nothing but the sand for floors. I can still recall when we first arrived there water was so scarce that people were allowed only 3 minutes to shower, with only 1 minute of water, 30 seconds to get wet, two minutes to lather up and 30 seconds to rinse off.  There were many other place over my 24 years of service that had signs that pointed the way to home, but this was just a few that came to mind.

The other thing that struck me with this sign is that of the nine places listed here, I’ve been to five of them! Hawaii, Japan, Korea, Germany and Robard’s City Hall.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the built-in camera. Post processing was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust.

I love photographing in the fog! It adds such a mysterious look to photographs, especially when you can catch a scene like this where someone’s walking away from the camera into the early morning sun. All too often people have a tendency to put their camera away when the weather is bad, not that I’m saying fog is, but things such as rain, heavy snow, ect. With just a little bit of pre-planning for it a person can come away with some nice pictures!

This was shot using my iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic App with the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film. No post processing was done.

Out wandering around enjoying the nicer weather I decided to swing by Loch Mary Lake in Earlington, Ky to see if I couldn’t find something that was calling out for a picture when I came upon the father and daughter fishing. I liked how the tall trees were towering above them and clouds in the sky so this is what I captured! Giving a good sense of scale will help improve your photos, use it whenever you can.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the HDRpro app. Post processing was done in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust.

Now this is something you don’t see very often anymore, a caboose on the end of a train, on a mainline railroad! Today I was lucky enough to catch a CSX Maintenance of Way Rail train picking up rails from along side the Henderson Subdivision tracks that run through downtown Madisonville, Ky. The rails were replaced with heavier ones over the past few weeks and the crew was working it’s way through picking up the old rail. It’s an interesting process to watch and I’ll be posting a video of the operation here tomorrow, so stay tuned.

This photo is actually of the train backing up. It was making it’s way back to the yards to allow a few trains to pass.

The caboose is an Ex. B&O, the “Spirit of the B&O” 175th anniversary Caboose, renumbered CSX 90-4000. I’m glad to see CSX keeping the paint and lettering in tact.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the built in camera. Post processing was done in the Snapseed app.

Adriana is one of my great-great nieces and today was her first day at church! Capturing any kind of first in someone’s life is a thing that special memories are made of. She seemed to have a great time, stayed awake most of the time, even though she did sleep through the sermon, but that’s alright, she’s just a baby. You have your phone with you all the time… use it to capture those special moments in your child’s life. You say your phone doesn’t take good pictures? Any picture of a special event like this is better than no picture at all!

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s using the Hipstamatic app with the Lowy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film.

From left young railfans, Nathan, Andrew, Michael and Brian, trackside on the Nashville Subdivision in Nashville, TN.

Today I was in Nashville taking part in a Macro Photography Workshop at Dury’s Camera. While listening to the presenter and watching the pictures flashing on the screen, I kept hearing trains pass by as they blew the crossing right up the street from the store. While I love photography in all aspects one of my favorite things as many of you know is to photograph trains and I got to the point where I couldn’t stand it any longer. The workshop was about over anyway so myself, my sister and a fellow member of the photography club, Steve King, set out to see if we couldn’t catch a couple of trains before we went downtown to link up with another friend, Ray Quijano for dinner at his townhouse.

Well, the above kinda sets the stage for the picture you see here. Being a railfan (foamer as we’re affectionately called) I was really surprised and pleased to see and meet Nathan, Andrew, Michael and Brian, four young railfans that were busy shooting videos and photographs of the trains that were coming and going just off of Fogg Street.

I can honestly say that in all my travels around the world, and that’s 66 different countries, photographing trains, these four are the first I can recall meeting that were there for the specific purpose of shooting video and photos of trains. They were also very safety minded as well. When I first got there I was just trying to decide where I wanted to setup and Andrew didn’t hesitate to mention to me not to setup too close to the right-of-way.

They were polite, energetic and excited about what they were doing, and from what I gather, have been doing together for sometime now. I don’t know their parents, but I can say that from what I observed and gathered from meeting them today, they’re doing a fine job of raising their sons.

There’s still hope for the future of railfanning! Below is a short video I shot of them trackside.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s with the built-in camera app. Post processing was done using Photoshop CS6 and Topaz Adjust.

March 15, 2014 Young Nashville, Tennessee Railfans from Jim Pearson on Vimeo.

One of the reasons I love to carry my iPhone with me all the time is because otherwise I wouldn’t have pictures like this one, because I probably wouldn’t have my D800 with me as most stores seem to get upset when you come in with a professional camera, but usually could care less when it comes to a cell phone camera. This is a shot of Damion at Ft. Campbell Commissary as we were checking out today. He’s gone with me several times before, but today as we were waiting in line he noticed for the first time the duct work up in the ceiling and was very fascinated by them.

When out with your children, keep an eye out for those moments like this that make for another great memory.

Shot with my iPhone 5s with the standard camera and post processing was done in Snapseed.

Sometimes you plan and setup to wait for a picture… and you wait, and wait, and wait. That’s how it was with my plans to photograph a CSX Maintenance of Way train that was going to pick up the old rail that was replaced through downtown Madisonville, Ky on the CSX Henderson Subdivision. It’s really an interesting process to watch, but there was a problem with a connector that attaches to the old rail and by the time they got the problem worked out they decided to put the train into the yards at Atkinson in Madisonville for the night. So, this is my picture of the train and for the day! Look real close and you can see the speck of the train way down the tracks. Sometimes that’s how it happens.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s with the Hipstamatic App using the John S lens and Ina’s 1969 film.

Well, they’ll always be girls to me no matter how old or how many kids they have. This is a photo from today of my nieces Tracy and Ashley with their daughters, Journey and Elaina. The moms are actually my great-nieces and their daughters are my great-great nieces, and that’s a lot of greats. Anyway, this picture came about today when their mom, my niece Jeanne, wanted a picture of all her grand-kids and try as I may this afternoon Damion, the oldest just wasn’t in a picture taking mood (really needed a nap) and so while I shot some with my D800 I did a few with my iPhone and this is the one I like the best. I shot it with Hipstamatic, but I didn’t really care for the square crop and so I cropped in Photoshop during the post processing.

I used the Lowy lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film and used Topaz Adjust to add a little bit of soft blur.

There’s been a lot of activity by maintenance crews along the Henderson Subdivision of the CSX railroad through downtown Madisonville, Ky and I’ve been working on capturing some of the crews at work. This is a shot of one of many welders that were working on welding rails as part of the track upgrades through the area. I shot several photos of him working on a section of rail, but when he leaned over to use a bar to adjust a catch basin for the molten metal use to seal the joint between the track and the crossing I knew I had my shot for the day.

Photo was shot with my iPhone 5s with the Hipstamatic app with the Libatique 73 lens and Ina’s 1969 film. Post processing was done in Photoshop.

Today after church we stopped at sis and Damion’s favorite after church eating place called Silver Star. Damion loves the grilled cheese sandwiches. Me being the photographer I am was taking pictures of him as he was eating when all of a sudden he looks to his right and goes Ooooo! We’d been eating for a few minutes and he had just realized that there was a little girl sitting in a high chair in the booth next to us. Of course they talked back and forth in that secret baby-talk language for a short time before he went back to eating. Sometimes pictures just happen, of course it helps to capture those moments when they do. By the way, in this pose, doesn’t he look like Spanky in Our Gang?

Shot with my iPhone 5s with the Hipstamatic App with the Clauch72 film and Lowy lens. No post processing.