Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri, photograph copyright Erik M. Lunsford

Feather in the sand, Stuart, Florida, photograph copyright Erik Lunsford

The Day is Done

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o’er me
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life’s endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

Construction sites have worked their way into my daily assignment schedule lately, given the photo of St. Charles and this week’s addition of a site in Festus, home to a huge development that is returning to building following a break in the ongoing recession. While some on staff may groan about these assignments, I find them to be a delightful retreat from the norm, granting me the freedom to explore and find photographs that speak in a quieter visual language.

This particular assignment was perfect. Picture a desolate block of wintry Midwestern land in a semi-rural community south of St. Louis seated next to a bluff. A huge expanse of flat land looks like a wound with the excavated dirt. Only a handful of houses and apartment buildings inhabit the development. In the distance, a knife has cut the bluff in half, offering a great semi-aerial view.

The first action was a drive to the bluff using a side road that connected to neighborhoods overlooking the development. Then, a short hike in freezing woodlands offered up a perfect view above the bluff looking down at construction workers in motion. The only difficulty was getting close enough to the edge without slipping in the mud. That fall would have certainly cut the day very short. After making a few photographs, I returned to ground level as the sun began to peek through the clouds, casting short bursts of strong light.  I quickly eyed up an unusual mound of dirt that matched the roofline of a nearby house. A small aperture and a ray of sun was the perfect combination for a photograph. It is a shame that the image speaks of abandonment instead of construction. For the newspaper, certainly it could have been improved had there been workers on the mound, but the residential site was devoid of activity. I personally like it empty. It lets me enjoy the quiet atmosphere and the play of light.

How do you handle these assignment? How hard do you work it until you are satisfied with the results? Are you happy with photographs that have less of a human element and more of a landscape feel? I love it because some days I do not particularly feel like following a subject around or dealing with a multitude of people on assignment. Some days the freedom to find pictures that involve little more than a sense of adventure and a good pair of shoes is refreshing Maybe it’s a feeling of disconnect, or maybe I just need a little fresh breath of basic photographic air.

Development, Festus, Missouri

St. Charles County has long bucked the local economy with a wave of new housing and commercial businesses. Now the ongoing recession has hit the county headfirst with a dramatic slowdown in housing starts and unfinished construction. How will economic authorities figure out how to lure new jobs and industries to a city that is struggling to thrive? Take a quick read of our A1 story by Tim Logan at STLtoday.com

As photojournalists under the banner of a newspaper masthead, often we tell stories on tight deadline. This particular story offered a shocking two half-days of research, driving, and shooting to accomplish two photographs; one demonstrating a slowdown in housing and the other a juxtaposition of industry and residential. After scouting several developments and commercial areas used in the story, I settled on New Town, a master-planned community similar to the Truman Show, in the outskirts of St. Charles County. While walking the neighborhoods, I happened upon a street sign on the ground with vacant and unfinished houses in the background. The cleared muddy ground mixed nice with the manicured lawn. It seemed to resonate agriculture-turned-residential. Once the scene was established, it was just a matter of waiting for the perfect light. In this case, it would be the last few remaining minutes of sunshine as the sun met the horizon along the flat farm ground. The only worry was lighting the street sign. By exposing for the houses, the foreground would get lost in shadow. Either use fill-flash (despise it) or find a new angle. Fortunately, the last minute or so of sunshine cast a ray of light, highlighting the sign.

The second photograph, used as display in the print edition, required more scouting of neighborhoods overlooking the freshly minted neighborhoods. Fellow staffers gave advice from previous location scouting, but it came down to finding the right place at the right time to make a photograph. Oddly enough, there was a large dirt mound in the middle of a land plot directly overlooking the National Cart Company (below, they make all the shopping carts we love to photograph) and unfinished neighborhoods of New Town. Perfect! Once again, patience and good lighting paved the way for a photograph

Which is the favorite? The first photograph of the houses, because it has (in my opinion) a better quality to it with composition with the added tension of a wayward street sign. It tells the story quickly with a strong quality of light and mood. While neither of these two photographs excel past an average daily newspaper photo, at least it was nice to relish the opportunity to spend at least a short amount of time following the light.

(both) St. Charles County

8×10 view camera, photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Just look at that camera — it’s hard not to salivate over it. Maybe I can get the paper to buy one?

Mobile large format camera, photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Oh well, another day. Just to rub it in, check out Kipp’s work. He has some contemplative social landscape work that quickly reminds me of Joel Sternfeld. It’s pretty fantastic stuff.

Outside Salt Lake City, Utah. Photograph copyright Kipp Wettstein

Find all your need about Kipp at his site here.

Anyone see the PDN Annual work? There are a few well-known photographers in the editorial and student categories that I recognize, including Vincent Laforet and his derby work (go purple, go), Benjamin Lowy (former PD intern), some fantastic fashion runway work by Paolo Pellegrin, and a few others worth a look. Carolyn Drake always gets my nod. Her work has always stopped me cold not just for the content, but because the images speak a lot of her personality. She is always my go-to photographer for contemporary work in-and-out of the United States that always holds a personal feel. It’s a shame I couldn’t have talked to her longer during her short stint in West Palm Beach.

Some of the other non-ad work isn’t exactly grabbing my attention. It’s a subjective opinion of course, but I’m really looking for work that speaks more about the photographer than the content. That’s just my thing, especially after hammering Post intern Anthony Soufflé yesterday over the lack of vision in his portfolio (he has the vision, just the edit isn’t my favorite). I really want to see more Strazzantes, Paolos, Kashis, Lyttles and Litherlands, Drakes — those photographers that you look at their work regardless of content and know that it’s one of them that made the picture. The highest compliment someone could pay me is when they say, “that looks like an Erik photo.” Sadly, I haven’t heard that lately. Maybe I’m homogenizing.

And for the record, some of the work just frustrates me for being a bit over the top. However, that is again a personal opinion. Someone could should critique my work and say the same thing.

The ad fashion work is great, and one of my personal bets payed off. I saw Raymond Meier’s work in the last NYT “T” Magazine spread on Natalie Portman and loved it. The color, light, mood, and just plain style absolutely takes my breath away. There are some great ideas in the ad side that I’ll steal er, get inspired by for upcoming shoots.

PDN Website, Raymond Meier for T: The New York Times Style Magazine

Lastly, the LA Times stole my idea not really on the “Missed Connections” stories in the personals of Craigslist. Not only did they blatantly take it from the clutches of my hands again, not really, they did a fantastic job with a beautiful layout and great information. Videojournalist Katy Newton nailed some great stories on video about the lookers that got away. Oh, and to top it off, she’s finding new stories once a week. This is positive proof, friends, that when you pitch the same story over a year ago on deaf ears, then it’s loud and clear enough that you just have to take the story and do it yourself. Even my friend Emily Rasinski emailed me the link in shock. “They stole your idea!,” she said. No, Emily, they didn’t. They just got their act together first and hit a home run with it. Nice work Katy. Take a look.

Have anything else of interest that I missed? Send it along and I’d love to take a look. Tomorrow and Friday you can find me in Jefferson City covering the last days of state legislation. Also, I am spending a lot of my time posting for the Post-Dispatch’s new photo blog, Pictures. Stop by and say hello.