The Pointed Pundit

Assignment 4: Editorial Portrait of an Entrepreneur

2012-01-30T20:53:00.000-05:00

As I read this assignment, I knew immediately who I would approach. In 1985 my wife, Cynthia Brown Howe, decided to capitalize on her life-long love of sewing to concentrate on making window treatments.

Then, it seemed a perfect solution. She could make a few dollars while still being available to shepherd our three young children. Working out of our basement, she fashioned a “workroom” and hung out her shingle.

Today, the kids are gone, the clients are many and the “dungeon” -- my term for her workroom-- is in adequate.

The Project 52 assignment called for delivering two 8.5” by 11 photographs in the subject’s environment. This presented a challenge. Space in the dungeon is tight.

As you can see from the lighting diagram, it was virtually impossible to capture images from a variety of angles. Trying to squeeze an umbrella into the area was difficult. Camera right was the only spot it would fit.

Camera left I used a collapsible disk reflector leaning against the wall to bounce to open the unlit portions of her face.

The shoot above does not meet the proposed layout’s requirements, but I love it.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
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Project 52, Assignment 3

2012-01-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

Since the beginning of the year, I have been participating in Project 52, a weekly photography assignment. For week 3 the assignment was to capture a still life, an exploration of color, contrast and texture. This cabin log is my submission.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
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Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/pointedpundit

Thoughts on Places to Ponder

2011-12-06T15:56:00.001-05:00

Places are like a party. You visit many. Some you cannot wait to leave. Others leave no impression at all. Some you pass taking no notice. A few intrigue you.

Those precious few invite you to stay and ponder the beauty of your surroundings. They inspire you to take a closer look and explore them. As you ponder them, their beauty stir rarely thought of thoughts.

Like parties, a few linger. They leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF
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Travel's Lure

2011-07-28T09:25:00.000-04:00

As I sit at my computer plotting my August vacation, I was reminded of a short T. S. Eliot poem I read while in college:

EXPLORE YOUR OWN BACKYARD

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know that place for the first time

T.S. Eliot

There can be no doubt; I suffer from a severe case of wanderlust, particularly when it comes to my photography. T. S. Eliot is right. Great photographs wait close to home.

Yet the sirens of travel continue to beckon.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF
Google+ https://plus.google.com/107857513177068394874/posts

A Favorite Portrait

2011-07-25T10:19:00.000-04:00

I recently worked with Katie Schenker, a gifted dancer and model.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF
Google+ https://plus.google.com/107857513177068394874/posts

Facing the Future

2011-07-15T14:29:00.000-04:00

One of the aspects of photography that I love is there are no new pictures. The light changes; the background changes; the models change. Yet the themes remain constant.

A short time ago, a high school classmate of mine, Deborah Beall Wittrock published a great picture. The image of her husband and granddaughter added a touch of universality. The symbolism of two generations, hand-in-hand, facing a now calm sea was touching.

Everyone recognizes that seas can become stormy. Yet when the young girl faces them she will have memories of her grandfather’s guiding hand to help her navigate the treacherous waters and shools.

On a recent Florida trip I copied the concept. My granddaughter Abby was making her first visit to the beach. I was ready when she reached for the guiding hand of her mother.

Perhaps as a former Literature minor, I read too much symbolism into these photos. As Oscar Wilde once wrote,

“Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation.

Yet, the two photos speak A Thousand Words to me.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

Finder at his Best

2011-06-16T20:54:00.000-04:00

Buried Secrets

By Joseph Finder

Hardcover: 400 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (June 21, 2011)

ISBN-10: 0312379145

ISBN-13: 978-0312379148

Five Stars

Joseph Finder newest novel, Buried Secrets, is his best. And that is saying something.

The second in Finder’s Nick Heller series finds Nick working out of his home town, Boston. There he’s urgently summoned by an old family friend who needs his help.

His eighteen-year-old daughter, Alexandra, has been kidnapped. Her abduction was sophisticated. Executed with precision; no trace evidence is left. Alexandra, whom Nick has known since she was an infant, is held prisoner in an underground crypt, a camera trained on her. Her suffering streams live over the internet for all to see.

This tale has everything: hedge fund operators, an uber-patroitic lawyer, zealous FBI agents, former lovers and shady investors.

If you start this thriller, be prepared to write-off the rest of the day. If you love thrillers like I do, you won’t put it down until you reach its last period.

Finder is one of this country's best thriller writers. His previous previous thrillers, most recently the New York Times bestsellers Paranoia, Company Man, and Killer Instinct were great. Buried Secrets propels his talent to a new level.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

2011-06-08T09:37:00.000-04:00

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

Laverne Under Pressure

2011-06-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

While preparing for a photography workshop I plan to attend later this month, I came across this picture of Laverne. It is one of my favorite portraits.

A customer service associate at a home imrovement chain, she is competing in an annual competition designed to reward cashiers for their speed and accuracy.

The look of determination on Laverne’s face got me to thinking about a book I read several years ago What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith

At my advanced age, I have spent too much time working for myself. Sure, I recognize the importance of teams and team work. But I prefer to descend from my aerie, join the team, complete the project and return to the solace of personal contemplation. This works best for me.

Goldsmith, an executive coach, argues in his book, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, that success delusion, holds most of us back. We, (read I):

1. Overestimate our (my) contribution to a project.
2. Take credit, partial or complete, for successes that belong to others.
3. Have an elevated opinion of our (my) professional skills and our (my) standing among our (my) peers.
4. Ignore the failures and time-consuming dead-ends we (I) create.
5. Exaggerate our (my) projects' impact on net profits by discounting the real and hidden costs built into them.

All of these flaws are borne out of success, yet here is where the book becomes interesting. Unlike others, Goldsmith does limit himself to teaching us (me) what to do. He goes the next step. He teaches us (me) what to stop. He does not address flaws of skill, intelligence or personality. No, he addresses challenges in interpersonal behavior, those egregious everyday annoyances that make your (my) workplace more noxious that it needs to be. They are the:

1. Need to win at all costs.
2. Desire to add our (my) two cents to every discussion.
3. Need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
4. Needless sarcasm and cutting remarks that we (I) think make us sound witty and wise.
5. Overuse of "No," "But" or "However."
6. Need to show people we (I) are (am) smarter than they think we (I) are (am.)
7. Use of emotional volatility as a management tool.
8. Need to share our (my) negative thoughts, even if not asked.
9. Refusal to share information in order to exert an advantage.
10. Inability to praise and reward.
11. Annoying way in which we overestimate our (my) contribution to any success.
12. Need to reposition our (my) annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
13. Need to deflect blame from ourselves (myself) and onto events and people from our (my) past.
14. Failure to see that we (I) am treating someone unfairly.
15. Inability to take responsibility for our (my) actions.
16. Act of not listening.
17. Failure to express gratitude.
18. Need to attack the innocent, even though they are usually only trying to help us (me).
19. Need to blame anyone but ourselves (me).
20. Excessive need to be "me."
21. Goal obsession at the expense of a larger mission.

It is too late for me. I am too dysfunction. If, like Laverne, there is hope for you, this book is a witty, well-written start to addressing your unconscious, annoying habits that limit your ability to achieve that higher level of success.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

Andrew and Alex

2011-05-31T10:07:00.000-04:00

In my Bible study, I have found several characters in the New and Old Testament I admire. One of my New Testament favorites is the Apostle Andrew.

He is not well known. In fact, if you were to exclude lists of the apostles, his name only appears three times and only in the book of John.

Yet, in my mind, in his three brief appearances he models the Christian life. Let’s take a look at Andrew’s first appearance in John’s gospel, Chapter 1, Verse 35. John the Baptist is stand with two of his disciples as Jesus walks by. John tells us he exclaims, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

Jesus invites the trio to where he is staying for the afternoon. Andrew winds up staying. And in the next sentence -- a sentence that often moves me to the edge of tears -- he seeks out his brother Simon, later known as Simon Peter and shares, "We have found the Messiah," and invites him to meet Jesus.

I wish I had the courage to share my passion for my faith as freely.

I love Mexican food – the spicier and hotter the better -- a passion my wife, Cynthia, does not share. When we lived in New York, there was a Tex-Mex restaurant – Anita’s Chili Parlor – located near where we lived on West 75th Street. Located on Columbus Avenue, it featured side walk dining and great food.

Cynthia does not share my passion. She would sit there eating Anita’s version of hamburger, shaking her head in disbelief, while was gobbling down Anita’s hottest dishes.

As we had children, they inherited Cynthia’s taste for hamburger. Until Alex, he inherited my taste. Whenever I would sample a particularly hot sauce, I could not wait to bring the bottle home to share with him. Last spring he dragged to a dive located in Salem, MA where they served a great roast beef on an onion roll with one of the hottest horseradishes I have ever tasted. I will always treasure the moments we spent sitting in the car watching the sun disappear over Beverly bay, chowing down that rare roast beef, swapping the sweat from our sinuses.

Yet with what I consider the most important thing in my life – my faith – I am not as eager to share. I allow my love of Christ be tempered by my knowledge of Alex’s feelings toward personalities in the church/ I fail to allow the most important part of my life generate the same enthusiasm generated by a Tex-Mex meal.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

Year of the Portrait

2011-05-26T16:32:00.000-04:00

My most recent photographic goal is to improve my portraits.

I have read some great books including Scott Kelby's Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It, Joe McNally's LIFE Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need to Shoot Like the Pros, John Loengard's LIFE Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need to Shoot Like the Pros and Me Ra Koh's Your Baby in Pictures: The New Parents' Guide to Photographing Your Baby's First Year.

I uncovered tips in each that lead to improved portraits.

Later this month I am looking forwarding to working with Elizabeth Opalenik at a week-end workshop entitled "Movement and Dance." She and I see the light differently. I look forward to being challenged by working with her, the models, camera settings and simple lighting techniques.

But for improvement, nothing beats standing in front of a subject and clicking the shutter. Working with those portraits, the most important ones for you, underscores the film director, Aaron Rose, when he said:

"In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary."

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com
Facebook at http://goo.gl/6HAux
Twitter at http://goo.gl/WYROF

2011-05-17T10:08:00.000-04:00

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Simply Beautiful Book

2010-12-09T11:15:00.009-05:00

I have spent the past two weeks mesmorized by National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs.

Award-winning photographer Annie Griffiths takes readers on a visual journey through some of the most stunning photographs to be found in National Geographic's Image Collection.

Images were selected to reflect her theme of beauty. Chapters are organized around the aesthetic concepts that create beauty in a photograph: Light, Composition, Moment, Time, Palette, and Wonder.

The photographs speak for themselves. They are enhanced by quotes from scholars and poets.

This book is a rare find. Purchase it for any photographer on your list. They will treasure it for years. It is perfect for lovers of beauty, of photography and the world around us.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Turkey Bowl Disappointment

2010-12-03T10:33:00.000-05:00

I love to photograph raw and unfiltered emotions. I found one at the recent Turkey Bowl played on Thanksgiving day between Darien Blue Wave Football team and their traditional rivals, The New Canaan Rams.

In this capture Darien Co-Captain Charlie Kunze attempts to hid his disappointment, perhaps even frustration, at being forced from the game with an apparent ankle injury.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Favorite Shots of 2010

2010-12-01T12:12:00.001-05:00

Favorite 2010 Shots - Images by Craig Howe

A mentor of mine coached me to "stand in front of more interesting subjects" if I wanted to take more interesting pictures. The year 2010 was a great year; it provided a multitude of "interesting subjects." It is only December. I am looking forward to more "interesting subjects" before exploring the light in 2011.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
http://www.craighowe.com/

Maple Leaf in its Fall Glory

2010-10-15T08:57:00.000-04:00

Having been brought up on Maple Avenue, I have always been partial to the Maple leaf. I found this one with its amazing array of color on a tree that grows over my driveway.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

October

2010-10-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

The poet William Blake praised my favorite month, October, saying:

“'The spirits of the air live in the smells Of fruit;
and Joy, with pinions light,
roves roundThe gardens, or sits
singing in the trees.”
Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,
Then rose, girded himself,
and o’er the bleak Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.'

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Laverne Races the Clock

2010-10-06T21:21:00.000-04:00

The Home Depot designates October as Cashier Appreciation Month. It is a fitting celebration. Cashiers act as the store's last life of defense.

The average Home Depot carries between 35,000 and 55,000 SKUs or individual items on its shelves. It is the rare customer who knows where to find exactly what she or he is seeking. Happy customers are the foundation of any company's success. Often the only employee they interact with is the cashier, who has the opportunity to turn an unpleasant shopping experience around.

One of the events during Cashier Appreciation Month is the Cashier Olympics. It is a test of the associate's product knowledge, accuracy and speed. A great cashier is invaluable. In this photo, racing against time, Laverne Willoughby, tries to identify fastener, so she charges the customer the correct amount.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Vermont Sunrise

2010-10-04T10:47:00.000-04:00

Early one October morning as I was racing from one son's football game to the other's fall Lacrosse tournament, I caught two flashes of yellow out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed my camera and investigated. This is the scene.

John Loengard, the legendary photo editor for Life Magazine, once wrote that a great photograph communicates "... some missing feeling, some sense of beauty, or a bit of mystery in the fabric of live."

For me, this picture address all three.

Craig L. Howe

The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Canyonland Sunset

2010-05-09T16:13:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from a photographic tour of Canyonland National Park. Organized by Jon Fuller of Moab Photo Tours, it was a four-day excursion into the far reaches of this national park located in Southern Utah.

For those of you who have never been, this is a magical land. It speaks to my soul. Its vistas are beyond words, particularly for someone like myself who hails from New England. The tour was impeccably organized. The addition of Tom Till, a landscape photographer who was born in nearby Moab and counts among his credits photos published in Life, Time, Smithsonian, Outdoor Photographer and National Geographic, was a plus.

Myself and five other visiting photographers spent four days exploring Canyonland National Park's crooks and crannies. Using equipment and guides provided by Tag-Along-Tours and inspired by Tom's we experienced the week of a lifetime.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

College Lacrosse Comes to Darien

2010-04-12T08:52:00.000-04:00

Endicott Gulls vs Roanoke Maroons - 2010 - Images by Craig Howe
I love to shoot sporting events. The problem is that I am not very fast. To compensate I attempt to use my fame knowledge to locate myself so that I can take maximum advantage of the light and anticipated events.

Yesterday, the Gulls of Endicott College meet the Maroons of Roanoke at Darien, CT High School

Roanoke came alive in the fourth quarter to pull away from Endicott, 14-10. The Maroons, ranked #7 in the country, improved to 12-2 on the year while the Gulls, which received votes in the USILA Top-20 Poll, dropped to 7-5.

The Maroons, who have won 12 games for only the eighth season in program-history, ended Endicott's five-game win-streak. as the Gulls were dealt their second-biggest loss of the season

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

There is Always a Lesson to Learn

2010-04-09T09:28:00.001-04:00

On a recent trip to Lake Tahoe, we flew into Reno, NV. Looking around for something to do that evening before motoring to the lake, I discovered the Rodeo was in town.

Having never been to a rodeo, I purchased a ticket, grabbed my gear and headed for my seat in the second row. I captured this moment. Loved it, only to be humbled about two weeks later.

It seems there was a fellow shoot located directly in front of me on the floor. His shot, taken at the same moment-- published I hesitate to add -- was tighter and at a more effective angle. was vastly, in my opinion, to mine.

Once again I was taught that planning for photo shoots always results in better captures.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Another Spring Sign

2010-04-08T09:20:00.000-04:00

The thermometer may have read 93 degrees yesterday, but a calendar check revealed it was only April 7th. Trees, like the temperatures, are a bit confused. As I peer out my aerie's window, the can see dogwood's budding blossoms. It will not be long before this is my view.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

A Surprise Around Every Reed

2010-04-07T07:51:00.000-04:00

There is rarely a day when I step out my door with my camera that I do not have a plan. The thing I love about photography is it is a rare day when my plan works.

This picture is a case in point. I was working on my Rings End Road Project one day when I chanced upon these flowering reeds. As I attempted to compose a shot, the egret emerged.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com

Two Weeks of Beauty

2010-03-26T05:41:00.000-04:00

The Washington, DC Cherry Festival is in full swing. Until April 11th, the more than 3,000 cherry trees donated in the name of the city of Tokyo to our Nation's Capital, strut their beauty.

If you have never experienced this festival, it is worth the trip.

Craig L. Howe
The Pointed Pundit
www.craighowe.com