Joel Dinda's photos with the keyword: escape

Not exactly the photograph I planned.

I didn't know, when I started this project, that it would develop into a two year commitment--one to take the photographs, and a second to try to explain them. The building's the local Masonic temple, which is a rather ugly structure wrapped in tin siding. It sits on the edge of Mulliken's downtown park and presents park visitors with a large and forbidding wall, broken only by a door, a single window, and this fire escape. I'd decided months before that the escape would be the last 366 Snaps photo subject. So a year ago I headed downtown to find a couple dozen photos from a variety of angles. Please take note of the ice.... ========== A Photo a Day: advice * Set some simple rules. Just getting out there to take a photograph is hard, some days. Adding a layer of complexity is unwise. * Take photos early in the day. You may well take/post a better photograph later in the day, but at least you'll have something to work with if the day heads south. * Budget time. Between taking the photographs and processing them I usually spent 45 to 90 minutes each day on 366 Snaps . Some days were quicker, of course; some were slow. * Create sub-projects. These give you fallbacks for the dull days. * Scout out locations. Every day. These give you fallbacks for the dull days. * Experiment. Be creative. This goes without saying. But it means different things to different photographers. * Boredom is the enemy. Shoot anyway. * Busy-ness is the enemy. Shoot anyway. * If you miss a day, keep shooting anyway. This isn't a test, it's a project. * The last month is hard. Everyone I've followed during a daily shoot project reports this. I'm confirming it. * Some days you won't be happy with your daily photo. Those days you need to just go with what you've got. And learn from the mistake. ========== Would I do it again? Yeah. With even fewer rules. But not starting tomorrow. I've got some non-photographic projects I've been neglecting. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 24 Title of " roll :" Fire Escape Other photos taken on 12/31/2012: I spent much of the day playing with a lens adapter--attaching various Minolta lenses to my Nikon D300. The results were interesting, but in the end I concluded it wasn't a gain as my Minolta lens kit's much like my Nikon lens kit.

As I noted yesterday, a year ago I'd pretty much had it with shooting pix around the yard and in the village. So I drove to Grand Ledge and wandered around downtown for a while. It was, all in all, a satisfactory, if short, road trip. ========== This building--built as the Odd Fellows building--is across River Street from the Grand Ledge Opera House . It's an interesting place that I've photographed before , but never from this angle. (You want to read the Grand Ledge Historical Society note in that pic's comments!) I do like that fire escape. And the marvelous brickwork. The 366 Snaps photo was actually of the weathered post; the stairway down to the river is just a framing device. And is where you go to feed the geese . ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 35 Title of " roll :" Grand Ledge Other photos taken on 6/12/2012: The Daily Flower Census, taken as usual with the Nikon 1, consisted of Cosmos and Daylilies and the Honeysuckle. No Raccoons , but I caught the neighbor's cat considering an invasion....

Mulliken's founding story-- I sketched it in yesterday's commentary --includes a claim that the Masonic Temple was moved to our town from Hoytville. These days the temple's an unattractive, nearly windowless hulk that's downtown's largest building. But I find its fire escape a tempting photographic target, and you'll see it again in the project outtakes. Eventually I just decided the escape would be the last 366 Snaps photo . And so it was. ========== Last March 8's photos were all shot from Mulliken's downtown park. It's an interesting set, as I was playing with depth of focus, framing, and camera angles using a really capable camera/lens combination. A couple ideas would eventually find their way into the daily project, but most were failures. In the end, I went with a novelty shot of the signs in the recycling center. ========== This photograph is an outtake from my 2012 photo-a-day project, 366 Snaps . Number of project photos taken: 12 Title of " roll :" Downtown Mulliken Other photos taken on 3/8/2012: none. ========== Source: I first learned about the Masonic Temple's evident migration from Hoytville while reading a story about Roxand Township in the October 8, 1991, Lansing State Journal . I'm skeptical. A friend who grew up north of town tells me that before they wrapped the temple in aluminum it was an attractive place. I believe her.