NYC 02: Chinatown Handball

Chinatown, Manhattan, NY. 7/16/06.


©2006 Rash Photo
I spent most of my day Sunday in the lower east side watching games of handball in the park near Canal and Allen St. I have very little experience photographing sports, so this attempt to document one of Sunday's better matches may not seem very polished. This set contained some of the better action shots, however I will upload a second set later this week from another match which has a quite different aesthetic. I captured several games, spanning about 3 hours of shooting with an end result was two quite differnt approaches in terms of how to best deal with harsh lighting and the lack of fill, as you can undoubtably see. Obvioulsly, there might have been more preferrable times of day to shoot at this park, and some lighting issues that could have been worked out with a bit of extra gear. However, I felt pretty comfortable with most of the images I could work out of the camera and lenses I had strapped to my back for a day in the city on a bicycle.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

NYC O1: Rok N Roll Amusement Park

Siren Music Festival. Coney Island. 7/16/06.


©2006 Rash Photo
I spent the day at Coney Island feeling ever so out of touch with contemporary indie music. The fact that I had only heard of two of the bands playing the Siren Festival should have been a clue that I' have become so jaded and indifferent that winning me over as a new fan was a hopeless challenge for the day's performers. I should have just spent my time and money riding the Cyclone, but that's a story and series of photos for another day. I was hoping that the weather wouldn't break into the sweltering temperatures that have plagued North Carolina for the past few weeks. Luckily it was a very mild day with periodic rain, which kept everyone from getting too sweaty, smelly, and grumpy. My friend Ann Lee now plays keyboard and sings with Serena Maneesh, a noisey art-rock band from Norway, who were flown to America by the Village Voice soley to play the day's festival. The photos above are a combination of Coney Island regular attractions and the Serena Maneesh performance. Enjoy!

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 11: Fruit and Veggie 02

Pomegranate and Leia.


©2006 Rash Photo
Here's a quick set of photos from the Fruit and Veggies Series. Leia is a good friend and was quite patient as we played with different ideas for these photos. These were shot several months ago, but I wanted to post something before leaving for NYC. tomorrow morning Next week the blog will hopefully feature all pics for this weekend's trip. See you then...

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Hong Kong (Jan 06)

Hong Kong Dec 2005-Jan 2006.


©2006 John F Rash
This is quite a large set of images for this blog. Usually, I like to only have 3 or 4 daily images at the most, but I wanted to share some photos here that may have been skipped over in my Hong Kong photo show in Greensboro earlier this year. If you have seen any of my Hong Kong photos you have probably seen at least a few of these images. I am hopeful that there is something new here even for the people that know me. I have so many great photos from this trip that I may do another Hong Kong Jan 2006 set in the future. Of course, it would be more ideal to return to Hong Kong for another week or two of shooting for a set of totally new images. Maybe I can find a project or a grant to fund it? I have no experience in such matters, but certainly would learn if I could get a free photo vacation out of it.

I'm currently learning Mandarin, and I am very interested in travelling to mainland China sometime next year for photography and language experiences. However, I would be happy spending the next year or three in Hong Kong again, as it is the most photogentic city I've visited thus far.

Speaking of travel... This weekend I am travelling to New York and plan on spending at least one full day gathering images. I've been to the city many times in the past, but have rarely had the time or the equipment to dedicate any part of my trip to photos. Hopefully I will be able to share some nice NYC images here next week.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 09: Tasuma

Tasuma. Greensboro Arboretum 7/09/06.


©2006 Rash Photo
My friends Will and Sandy have been playing music together for nearly 8 years. Their newest project has taken the name Tasuma, and can be found playing around Greensboro on a weekly basis. We got together at the park on Sunday evening and attempted to do some band promo shots. The lighting was a bit too harsh at times, and it became very difficult to balance the light on both of their faces in the location we chose for the shoot. However, I think some of the images came out quite nice. Here are a few so you can see what I mean.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 07: Studio Laces

Studio stots of shoelaces. 7/06/06.


©2006 Rash Photo
Here is an attempt at learning more about object lighting and also how to create interesting designs with shoelaces. It was challenging to find interesting shapes for the flat strings, and the curled string seemed to be interesting enough on it's own. However, I keep thinking the first image here looks like a candle from a birthday cake.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 08: Highland Shoes

Highland Games Celebration, Grandfather Mountain, NC. 7/8/06.


©2006 Rash Photo
I decided to check out the big Highland Games Celebration in the mountains of North Carolina this weekend. I spent most of my time taking in music and trying to get photos of the athletics, but happened to find myself shooting feet here and there. Not that I'm one of those feet fetish guys (but I've heard tale of one at UNCG who also has a photo blog online), but I found a few intersting shots while observing the lower section of the traditionally dressed attendees. I had a friend in college who always took cutesy feet photos, and I guess these images might fall more into that category than having a story or narrative to contribute. However I still found these to be the one outstanding set , unlike any other Highland Games images I have seen around. Enjoy.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 06: Greensboro (my city)

Shots of Greensboro on a December morning in 2005.


©2005 Rash Photo
This is my city. I wanted to build a slideshow of images to use as an example of how to document a place (for my multimedia storytelling class). The original slideshow was set to an audio track from the Greensboro based band Dawn Chorus. You would never tell looking at these sunny photos that the temperature was around 25F that morning. My hands were numb and my face a bit frozen after gathering almost 20 different location shots. The Radio Flyer tricycles may seem a bit out of place with the other architectural focused shots, but they were so beautiful I couldn't leave them out. The first two images you see in this blog are litterally what I saw in front (Coffee Shop) and behind (hardware store w/ radio flyers) me as I stood on Spring Garden Street that morning. I entertained the idea of making these into xmas cards last year, but didn't have the time before leaving for Hong Kong. I suppose it's still not too late, and my friends could end up with one of these images in their mailbox sometime in the future.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.

Entry 04: Alex

July 2, 2006. The Werehouse, 3rd Street Winston Salem. Model: Alex.


©2006 Rash Photo
Here is an experience that shows that not all photos taken in urban areas with train tracks, run down factories, and graffiti have to be cliche. The environment served more as a painted backdrop, than an actual location, which was certainly for the best. This photoshoot went surprisingly well, and again proves the power of available light. I experimented a bit with a textured reflector and luckily had successful results, however I was a bit worried at the time that the skin would look uneven as a result. Really fun shoot and very nice model.

All images and words ©2006 Rash Photo / John F Rash.