Barn In The Alley

/ BillMcNamee.com/

Here is a small collection of images captured in the Fall of 2021in Westminster, Maryland. Westminster is a typical mid-Atlantic small town with a fair amount of history and older architecture. Westminster is also the home to McDaniel College. The core historic district in Westminster spans either side of Main Street and the area around McDaniel College.

These images were taken while exploring one of the many little alleys in the western historic district near McDaniel College. They are of a lovely little older barn overgrown and outlined with ivy. The door hardware is vintage and rustic. The planking and shutters are weathered, showcasing both character and age.

Captured with a Fujifilm mirrorless camera and a Fujinon XF 18-55mm f2.8-4.0 LM OIS lens, these images were processed and converted to monotone in Lightroom. Three of the images were converted to black-and-white. One of the images had a bit of an off white tint added.

Enjoy!!

Icicle Lights In Monochrome

/ BillMcNamee.com/

Icicle lights are a must every Holiday Season at my house. On the house. On the fences. On any straight architectural surface I can reach. Soft white lights and very classic!! And… Only incandescent lights. No flickering LEDs for me. They just have that magical Christmas look.

Here is a close up image of some of the icicle lights. This photo was captured in color but converted to a high contrast black-and-white image using Lightroom. I love how the lights hang in the darkness of the night.

Enjoy!!

Shades of Night: Colonial Williamsburg

/ BillMcNamee.com/

"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day."
- Vincent Van Gogh -

Welcome to the official sneak peak for Shades of Night: Colonial Williamsburg, my latest book project which is currently in production. All the images in the book were captured in mid-November of 2021while on a short getaway with my sweet Sally after most of the Covid-19 restrictions had been lifted.

The theme of the book, and the images within, showcase Colonial Williamsburg at night, empty of people. The images are dark and foreboding with the only light coming from the carriage lights and candles of the homes and shops and the vintage street lights. Chilly and silent, I felt I had stepped back in time. It was walkabout like no other I have experienced.

Enjoy!!

Stone Chapel Railroad Crossing

/ BillMcNamee.com/

Waking one late August morning, back in 2015, I decided to venture out and capture some local images. The light was an intense golden tone, warm in texture with blue skies and high clouds. The perfect conditions for high contrast black and white images. 

For years I have been driving past a railroad crossing on Stone Chapel Road in Westminster, Maryland. This backroad in Carroll County is my preferred route to soccer fields, baseball fields, and Westminster High School. It is a winding and meandering road with sections open to the sky as well as covered by old growth trees.

I have passed this railroad crossing many times. Each time, I have looked to either side and thought… This crossing would be lovely to photograph. This morning, those thoughts became reality. 

Walking around the crossing this morning, visualizing the images in my mind, I could not help but think… Rails emerging and disappearing into the landscape. Beginnings… Endings… The future… The past… How many trains have been up and down these rails? How many engines, passenger cars, and freight cars have traversed this crossing? So similar to each of us, our lives, and the people we come to know and love. Always in motion and ever changing. 

The images presented below were capture with a Canon DSLR with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS lens. All the images were processed using Lightroom with a slight vignette and grain added. The frame ratio on all images is 16:10.

Enjoy!!

The Irish Lass

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Look into those eyes… Look at that sweet and innocent face… How can you not?

This is Tegan, an adorable little Irish lass I had the pleasure of photographing in the spring of 2006. Tegan’s mother contacted me after seeing some portrait work I had posted on one of my older web sites. She was impressed with my casual and candid style. She wanted to do an informal photo session with Tegan in traditional Irish dress inside their home. 

The images I captured, though, were more than just a photo session commissioned from a proud mother. They were to be a loving reminder presented to Tegan’s father as a lasting memory of a moment in time. Tegan’s mother was suffering from brain cancer and was not expected to live. My images were her gift to both her husband and, in time, to Tegan. 

Knowing this, I arrived at Tegan’s house determined and focused on capturing the best images I could. I love working with and photographing kids. Anything and everything can happen. The moment I met Tegan, though, I knew our session would be delightful. 

Tegan was friendly and relaxed. She watched and played with her doll as I setup remote strobes around the family room. She was a natural subject and never gave a thought to the man with the camera. She was playing only to her mother. Her world was all smiles and joy for the woman next to me. 

The session lasted about two hours. Tegan’s mother was thrilled with the color proofs I displayed on my laptop after the session. The images posted here are a few of the final images I delivered to Tegan’s mother. She loved them all. I loved that I was able to truly capture Tegan and bring her mother some happiness.

A few weeks later, Tegan’s mother told me her husband loved the images and was very thankful and appreciative. I corresponded with Tegan’s mother for a few months before we lost touch. I can only assume her condition got worse and she passed. I often wonder about Tegan and the girl grew into. She would be 12 or 13 now, a young woman beginning to make her own way in the world. 

All the images presented here were captured with a Canon DSLR and a Canon EF24-105mm f4L IS lens. The remote strobes used were Canon Speedlites with their light bounced off a white ceiling. A custom white balanced was established for the photo session and applied to all images. Originally processed in Photoshop as monotones back in 2006, all images have been tweaked in Lightroom for clarity and sharpness. 

Enjoy!!

Havre De Grace With An iPhone

/ BillMcNamee.com/

Creativity finds you where and when it does. For me, it is usually behind the lens of my camera. You see... Photography is my passion. It is the fire in which my creativity burns. So it was this past weekend (January 12, 2019) as I found myself traveling through Harford County, Maryland.

I was not there with the intention of doing photography. I did not have my camera bag or any of my gear with me. It was an unplanned and impromptu adventure. I knew I had made a mistake ten minutes into the trip.

Driving through BelAir and Aberdeen on my way to Havre de Grace, I sorely wished I had my camera gear. The weather was perfect. It was an overcast winter’s day, mild but with a biting chill in the air.

I was headed for the Chesapeake Bay and The Promenade. A scenic 3/4 mile boardwalk on the south side of Havre de Grace, The Promenade, offers vistas of both the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River.

This destination was not the reason I travelled to Harford County, but it was location that called to me. Years had pasted since my last visit. So many years, in fact, I could not remember how long it had actually been since I last strolled the boardwalk.

Arriving at my destination, I parked next to the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum. Looking out from my car, there was the Concord Point Lighthouse with the Chesapeake Bay beyond. Now, I truly regretted not having my camera bag.

Instinctively, though, I reached over to the passenger’s seat and picked up my iPhone. Not the camera I wanted, but the camera I had with me. A trusted camera. A camera that has been with me, from one iPhone to the next, for many years.

I left the car behind, iPhone in hand, and made my way to the northern end of The Promenade. The surroundings were still and quiet. There were few people. The only sounds came from the waters and the birds of the Chesapeake Bay.

I love this silence, the silence of nature. I love to capture this silence in my images. And so... I walked. I walked and took in the natural silence while capturing the images you see here.

The images presented here were captured with an older iPhone, an iPhone 6. All the images were processed in Adobe’s Lightroom and converted to black-and-white with Mastin Labs Presets. Detail and depth enhanced by increasing clarity, sharpness, and contrast. Frame ratios are 6:7 and 16:9.

Enjoy!!

___

Originally Published: January 15, 2019