4 WHEELER DIRT BIKE

Main Street Tennis
1) I happened to drive by the tennis court down by Victory Drive the previous night and thought that would be a nice photo for the "Urban Lights", but unfortunately no one was there and when I came back later the lights were off. So when I happened upon this one at the top of Main Street the following night and there were actually players there yet I took advantage of the situation and took a couple of photos. I chose to focus primarily on just one player instead of both due to fencing that seemed to cause a distraction and blurriness to the player in the far court. I wanted to compose this shot horizontally due to the distraction that the bright overhead lights could have caused. I also wanted to showcase the strength of the fencing lines and the tonal variations due to the light reflecting off them.

2) The tonal variation created by the light's reflection off the fencing and light post gives separation from the background and depth to the picture, along with the lights behind the distant fencing. The dimension of height is added to the photo with the light post. Additional depth is created by the dark bike rack and post in the foreground along with the white from the nets.

3) The only light is what was created from the overhead lights on the tennis court. This light casts soft bluish tones on the fencing structure and give the overall shot a cool feeling about it.

4) I didn't really have any technical challenges in getting this photo, The amount of illumination from these lights made it relatively easy to get the depth of field, along with an exposure of 1 sec. I had my white balance set to tungsten and this helped create a crisp, clear focused picture.

5) I don't know if I have developed a style of shooting other than from the hips so to speak. I try to keep an open mind most of the time and don't have any preconcieved idea about what I want. I do like nature, landscapes, old abandoned farms so I do look for those kinds of things. I was always amazed at how much those lights illuminated up such a small area, making it seemingly daylight there, so when I came across this opportunitity I took it. I wanted to try and capture that brightness and at the same time the coolness of it. Even on a hot summer night the color projected by the lights seem to make it feel cool.

There's this young Italian guy who bikes to the coffee shop quite often, with flowers and a cigar tied on his handle bars. I don't personally know him but I see him all the time drinking his cup of coffee and reading some book. I didn't know he owned this interesting bike until he caught me taking a picture of it one day, and he just said in his most charming voice and Italian accent - "Go on, take as many pictures as you want" and smiled.

There is a certain swagger about Italian men that strikes the right balance between arrogant and insecure, manly and boyish, and the best of all -- sexy and silly. Maybe that's why women can't seem to get enough of them.