Month: February 2013

Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style Workshop by Nick Roberts

Nick Roberts – Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style Tickets in Louisville, KY, United States.

I’m conducting an intensive hands on HDR Workshop “Using HDR Photography to Create Your Own Personal Style”  March 22-23 at Outdoor Photo Gear’s new location: 13305 Magisterial Drive, Louisville, KY 40223.

Flaming Sky Over Louisville
Flaming Sky Over Louisville

Class size is limited so that I can give each workshop participant my close attention. Full details and registration are located at the above link.

Waterfront Park Afternoon
Waterfront Park Afternoon

King Cotton’s Abandoned Temple

King Cotton's Temple
King Cotton’s Temple

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Tuesday I was down in Moulton, Alabama to attend my maternal Aunt Helen Parker’s funeral. She had a long life of 94 years and though it was sad to know she had passed on it was also reaffirming in the way the passing of a loved one draws a family together. Aunt Helen had started her life as the daughter of sharecroppers in the Alabama cotton fields but through hard work she and her family rose into a comfortable middle class farm life. She, as so many others in the south, had worked hard and risen above the tough times that almost all rural southerners endured especially through the Great Depression. Throughout her long life her faith and love for her family strengthened and supported her through the loss of two husbands and many others in her large family. Aunt Helen ended her life surrounded by her nieces and nephews who all loved her dearly. Her life was one of persistence and compassion and we will all miss her and remember fondly her lilting “I love you” which she always said when she hugged us as we were heading out her door after a visit.

On my way to Moulton I passed through Decatur Alabama and saw these large buildings alongside the railroad tracks on the west side of the city. I had never been down that particular street before and in all the times I had travelled down there I had not seen these unusual structures. I am always drawn to abandoned industrial sites and decided that on my way back home I needed to stop and photograph them. When I asked my cousins what they were they told me they had once been part of a large cotton oil and cotton meal manufacturing complex.

When I arrived there I found a business office in another building nearby and asked if I could go in and photograph the place. The receptionist said that they belonged to the city of Decatur and that she didn’t know any more about them. I decided that I would find an opening in the fence around them and see for myself what mysteries they held. The sky was heavy with cold gray clouds and a light mist was falling as I unpacked my cameras and scouted for and found an opening in the fence around the property. The wind was pretty strong and the metal on the buildings rattled and creaked; it was as if the buildings were speaking to me telling about their earlier days as productive structures now left to decay and eventually return to the earth.

I shot everything that day in a three frame bracket set of -2, 0, and +2 EV. I then merged them in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2 before finishing them in Aperture 3. In some of the interior shots I went into OnOne Software’s Perfect Effects and played around with some of the many presets. The images below are from that experimentation and application within the Perfect Photo 6 Suite from OnOne after being merged and tone mapped in NIK HDR Efex Pro 2. I like the way that the two software programs complimented each other and allowed me to bring out the greens that the moisture inside these buildings had created by feeding mosses and molds on the corrugated steel. My final processing with all these images was in Aperture 3 where I used various adjustments and completed the sharpening prior to exporting the final images you see here.

Inside the Temple #1
Inside the Temple #1

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Inside the Temple #2
Inside the Temple #2

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Inside the Temple #3
Inside the Temple #3

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Speeddemon2 Photography Partners with Waterfront Development Corporation

A Postcard From Louisville
A Postcard From Louisville

For the past six months I have been very fortunate to be granted the opportunity to showcase the Louisville Waterfront Park and it’s latest addition the Big Four Bridge.   The “Crown Jewel” of the park was the conversion of the abandoned Big Four Railway Bridge which has now been rescued from it’s former status as “The Bridge to Nowhere” and given new life as an intercity/interstate connection for pedestrians and bicyclists in Louisville Kentucky and Jeffersonville Indiana. I recorded not only the final five months of the construction project but also the men who did the hard physical labor that it required. Throughout that time I created a photographic record of these men, their names and their accomplishments, which is going into the Waterfront Development Corp. archives.

My goal, from the first day I set foot on the project, was to record and preserve the faces and the names of these men so that future generations would know who they were and what they looked like. I feel that too often in our society we overlook the contribution that labor makes to the success of great civic projects like Waterfront Park; I envisioned an archive that would allow them to be remembered as a significant part of the history of the Big Four Bridge.  Their dedication to their trades as Ironworkers, Carpenters, Equipment Operators, Laborers and Bridge Builders shows in every facet of the bridge. I hope that their pride in, and love for, the Big Four Bridge will never be forgotten and that in some small way my photos will celebrate these men.

From my involvement with this aspect of Louisville Waterfront Park I decided that I wanted to stay involved with the park and continue to share my images of Louisville Waterfront Park with the City of Louisville. When Ms. Margaret Walker asked if I was interested in a continued partnership with the Waterfront Development Corporation I immediately said yes. After conferring with the President of the Waterfront Development Corporation, Mr. David Karem, and Ms. Walker we agreed that I would continue to record and share my images of the continued evolution of the park and the activities that take place there with the Waterfront Development Corporation and the public through the Waterfront Park Photo Archives.

Yesterday Margaret Walker announced our partnership with the following press release:

 “The Waterfront Development Corporation is pleased to partner with photographer Nick Roberts on his photo documentation of the workings of Waterfront Park. Nick’s series of photos of the last five months of construction of the Big Four Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge are an invaluable resource and an important addition to Waterfront Park’s photo archives. We look forward to continuing this partnership as Nick captures an ongoing behind-the-scenes look at Waterfront Park construction, operation and events.”


I look forward with anticipation to the future of Louisville Waterfront Park and the opportunity to share my images and feelings with my fellow Louisvillians for years to come.

Snow in Waterfront Park

Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow
Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow

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No HDR here just a good exposure processed in Aperture 3. This image relies on composition as it’s strong suit. The repetition of curves in the ramp, ramp shadow and shoreline are set against the strong geometry of the bridge, concrete veranda and the skyline as well as the linear pattern of the trees in the swing garden.

Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow #2
Louisville Waterfront Park in the Snow #2

This image is also a single frame without any HDR processing applied. It was also processed exclusively in Aperture 3. Once again the composition is balanced between the strong linear elements of the concrete veranda and the rows of trees in the swing garden set against the curves of the shoreline, ramp and the ramp’s shadow.