Photography Seminar

Vassar Brothers Institute Series

2015-2016 Season Explore The World!

Paolo Nigris, The Art of Photography

Wednesday, December 9  at 7:30pm

Poughkeepsie High School Auditorium,70 Forbus Street, Poughkeepsie, NY

Doors open at 6:45pm, Program at 7:30pm

Vassar, Marist and D.C.C. Students, Faculty and Staff are invited to attend the presentation for free.

Join me in a conversation about what makes a photograph special. I will use his images around the world to explore and understand visual perception issues, the way how we see it, and examine visual principles that help photographers to create photos that stimulate the viewers. By covering the different genres of his photography, he will discuss basic design and composition concepts, and the difference between individual perceptions, and also cover the key elements of photography (light color, shape, moment, opportunity, texture), talk about visual perception that apply not just to photographers but to anybody interested in any form of visual art.

This special workshop will include a Critique Session, allowing participants to see their photographs and other in new ways, define their vision, and discover new points of view. Any artist interested in the critique session should send three of their best images in advance – we will project some of these photos to stimulate discussion among the audience. I will evaluate and critique the images in a group environment and use his years of image making to discuss the visual perception, offer suggestions to the individual photographer, as well as the group.

Submission requirements: Please e-mail in advance to paolonigris@me.com what you consider your best three pictures, in JPEG format, and high resolution.

About the Vassar Brothers Series: http://vassarbrothersinstitute.org

Reaction Ferry In Basel Switzerland (Münsterfähre)

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Reaction ferry crossing the Rhine, Basel, Switzerland

Münsterfähre

In Basel you can cross the Rhine without motorized assistance, using only the natural power of the river's current.

A reaction ferry is a cable very that uses the reaction of the current of a river against a fixed tether to propel the vessel across the river. Such ferries operate faster and more effectively in rivers with strong currents. This historic ferry of Basel have no motors, hand-operated by tiller, they cross the Rhine by tacking against the current, held in position by a rope suspended above the river and letting the current push them across from landing to landing.

The tiller  and the control cabin. Downtown Basel with the cathedral in the background. 

The ferry in Basel “ LEU” operate using an overhead cable suspended from towers anchored on either bank of the Rhine. A "traveller" is installed on the cable and the ferry is attached to the traveller by a bridle cable. Controlling the cable or the rudder the ferry is angled into the current, and the force of the current moves the ferry across the river.

Once called the “Flying Bridges” of Basel, the Basler Ferries originated in 1854 when the Middle Rhine Bridge (Mittlere Rheinbrücke) was the only way to cross the river between the center of Basel (Grosse Basel) and its growing suburb “little Basel” (Klein Basel).

The cable. In the background the Hoffman La Roche building, icon of Basel.

The cabin is the control room, the ticket office, the living room and a photographer dream.

Polar Warping

Polar warping images are two levels of abstraction. The images on the left side are plain photographs without manipulations, taken directly from the camera. They represent reality even if, most of the time, they are abstract details extrapolated from a bigger scene. Although the degree of abstraction can affect the perception of reality and the aesthetic judgment, these photographs still represent something existing at the moment of capture. They represent some part of the world in a simplified form. The images on the right side are manipulations of the image on the left. Manipulation involves warping, cropping, rotation, color adjustments, and polar coordinate changes. These additional warpings represent my personal and graphic vision. Each one of them is different and most of them are not recorded, so they are unique and probably not reproducible. 

The book is available at : http://paolonigris.contentshelf.com

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Amagansett, NY

Santa Fe NM

Varese, Italy

Silvaplana, Switzerland

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Light, Shape & Color

Light, Shape & Color

Conversation about what makes a photograph special

Friday, December 12, 2014

7:30 PM 

Mid Hudson Photography Club

LaGrange Town Hall

   120 Stringham Road, LaGrangeville, NY 12540

http://www.lagrangeny.org/about.php

Water Towers

New York City Water Towers

These images of the water towers in New York City are not only an tribute to these iconic structures in the city landscape, but also an excuse to explore hidden details and jewels of the New York City architecture.

This is an unique opportunity for me to experiment with shapes, form and texture, that are a frequent component of my photography journey. 

In the 19th century, New York City required that all buildings higher than six stories be equipped with a rooftop water tower. This was necessary to prevent the need for excessively high pressures at lower elevations, which could burst pipes. Pressure in the city’s pipes will take water up only about half a dozen stories, so a building taller than just a few floors requires either a pumping system or a system of tanks. A water tower also provides emergency storage for fire protection. 

Even today, no sealant is used to hold the water in. The wooden walls of the Water Tower are held together with cables but leak through the gaps when first filled. As the water saturates the wood it swells, the gaps close and become impermeable.

The rooftop water towers store 25,000 to 50,000 litres of water until it is needed in the building below. The upper portion of water is skimmed off the top for everyday use while the water in the bottom of the tower is held in reserve to fight fire. When the water drops below a certain level, a pressure switch, level switch or float valve will activate a pump or open a public water line to refill the water tower.
For over a century, the basic design of these tanks, which are essentially giant wooden barrels, has gone largely unchanged.
Installing, maintaining and replacing wooden water tanks in the city is largely handled by three companies: Isseks Brothers, the Rosenwach Group and American Pipe and Tank. Pressure in the city’s pipes will take water up only about half a dozen stories, so a building taller than just a few floors requires either a pumping system or a system of tanksThe changes in water-tank construction over the past 100 years, Mr. Hochhauser said, have amounted to little more than the introduction of power tools, and perhaps the movement to sell the cedar from the discarded old tanks (they last about 30 years) to hip furniture makers specializing in reclaimed wood.

Water tanks for buildings can also be made of steel, but they are less recognizable because they are mostly enclosed — imagine how hot a steel vat would get on a rooftop in August, or how quickly it might freeze on a January night. Wood does very well outside.

Flickr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/93276562@N07/sets/72157633887522137/