Macro

1956

Posted by Jeff

What was happening in the U.S. when this penny was made?

President: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Vice President: Richard M. Nixon
Population: 168,903,031
Life expectancy: 69.7 years
Homicide Rate (per 100,000): 4.6

US GDP (1998 dollars): $438 billion
Federal spending: $70.64 billion
Federal debt: $272.7 billion
Consumer Price Index: 27.2
Unemployment: 4.4%
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.03

  • Autherine Lucy, the first black student at the University of Alabama, is suspended after riots (March 1).
  • U.S. tests the first aerial hydrogen bomb over Namu islet, Bikini Atoll with the force of 10 million tons TNT (May 21). Background: nuclear weapons

Makes Cents

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball 2010

A few years back, I bought some vintage Russian bellows for my my DSLR. I also found a beautiful 2.8/50mm  Carl Zeiss lens that combined with the bellows,  makes these beautiful macro shots. This image is from a simple 1970 (the year I was born)  U.S. Penny.  I love the clarity of the scratches , the depth of the shadows and the vibrancy of the color.

I wonder how many people have held this penny? Where has it been? What has it seen? What has it purchased?

We rarely get to see this much detail on a penny. Who really looks at pennies any more. They’re almost useless. I remember buying  penny candy when I was a kid at Christies Candies in South Toledo. Personally, I hope they’re here to stay. There’s just something so symbolic and nostalgic about a penny. Besides most of them are made right here in Denver and I always try to support the local economy.

Line of Fortune

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball 2010

Today we took a long walk with the dog in River Front Park. I knew that I was looking for imagery for today’s blog but I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I shot photos of broken glass, a lone brave kid standing in the cherry creek and details of a public art piece shining in the bright sun.

After our walk, we went to Spicy Basil for lunch, one of my favorite Denver restaurants. My fortune read, “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t see the same light.” As a photographer this really spoke to me. After all photography is the study of light.

As I was going through photos from today, I thought this shot really showed how different we all can really see things. When looking at this large steel structure filled with great lines and form, I saw one line and a lot of beautiful texture and color. I saw how the light relfected of these two different planes and how they were divided by a thin line of bright white light.

Crash Bulbs

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my failures in life. I’m absolutely at a crossroad in my life path.  I’ve pondered the lessons learned as well as the mistakes repeated.

This photo reminds me that even the worst failures can be turned into art. We have the power to create something from destruction. I often photograph keepsakes that have broken beyond repair or vegetables that stayed in the crisper way to long to be useful. It feels great to  give another life to something that  has seemingly come to the end of it’s existence.

Projektor

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball 2008

This photo was chosen, in part, by my mom, Mary Lou Ball with the #39 which I believe she chose for my current age.

This shot of an old 16mm film projector was taken at an artist retreat in 2008. It seems a shame that beautifully built equipment like this is rarely used these days. With digital video and computers, 16mm film is almost a dead art form.

Layers

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball 2008

This photo was chosen, in part, by a random selection by Shawn Britt with the # 123.

This piece was shot on the back wall of The Other Side Arts. Back in 2002-2003, we allowed local graffiti artists to use the back of our building to create pieces. In this photograph you can see the many layers of paint as they chip away. I shot it with a selective focus lens with a Canon 20d.

Ant and Popcorn

Posted by Jeff
Copyright Jeff Ball 2008

For the next few weeks I have asked friends to choose a number between 1 and 527 which correspond with folders in my archive. Each day I will use a different number chosen and create a piece from the photos in that folder. This piece was chosen by Christine Zipps with the # 11.

I have always been fascinated by ants. I went through a period in 2008 when I did a lot of experimental shots with ants. This shot was taken with an old set of bellows on my digital camera with a Russian lens I found online. The field of focus was so narrow that it was difficult to get an entire ant in focus. This ant was eating a piece of popcorn on my kitchen floor.

You can also find a time lapse video of these ants on my site http://jeffballphotography.com/?p=144