Through the Pinhole Lens

Second Time's a Charm

2010-11-26T23:02:00.003-05:00

Last year we took a trip to Washington DC and unfortunately we arrived just as the biggest snowstorm in recent memory came down. That trip in terms of sightseeing was kind of a bust. Though I did get some nice snow shots. This year was a lot more productive. I think we ended up hitting 4 or 5 museums in one day. Check out photos below! Feel free to leave comments!

Thought this was kind of hilarious. For those that don't know, that's Samuel L. Jackson (ie Snakes on a Plane, Pulp Fiction, etc.) I guess he's the unnamed founding father.

M.C. Escher comes to life?

This was in one of the displays at the National Air & Space Museum. Why?
Just for fun?

Replica of an underwater reef made entirely of yarn. Amazing.

(That's for you Michele!)

Spontaneous Mid-Air Jump!

Seems fitting for me.

Curator gets a rocking chair?

Fall is here!

We played around a lot with reflections on this trip, this was the best out of all of them.

Broadway is Back!

2010-09-20T23:07:00.021-04:00

Finally back in business with my 2nd annual shooting of Broadway on Broadway 2010 for Broadwayspace.com. For those of you who don't know or didn't read last year's post, Broadwayspace is a social networking site for theater fans.(basically facebook for theater) The location of the press box was a little less then ideal compared to last time, but I got some great shots nonetheless.

For the full gallery of my photos, click here.

Nobody Puts Baby In a Corner

2010-01-14T21:44:00.008-05:00

A couple weeks ago, one of my best friends from college and her family came up to Jersey to pay a long awaited visit to myself and some other friends. One of those days, while her and her husband were out on a day trip, I decided I'd bring my camera to our joint babysitting adventure.

She's a tough kid to keep in one place for a photo, but I managed to catch her a few times during the day.

I Pledge Allegiance...

2009-12-30T13:13:00.010-05:00

This is a continuation of my last post from Washington DC. I've always thought flags have been an interesting subject to photograph. You could take a picture every second and the picture would be completely different as long as there is some kind of wind blowing. What better place to find lots of flags then the nation's capitol. Here are some variations that I took.

Perfect Timing

2009-12-26T15:04:00.007-05:00

Last weekend I took a trip to Washington DC for a much needed vacation. I was hoping to get to a bunch of museums and all the monuments, but one of the biggest snowstorms in DC history put a stop to that. The entire city was pretty much shut down. Museums, Restaurants, stores, all closed up for the weekend. Although I didn't come away with as many photos as I had hoped, here's some I did come away with.

Yep. That's the White House. In the blizzard. And that was only the early part of the storm.

The next day. Big difference after the storm passed. You can actually see things.

The Treasury building. After the snow stopped falling, the next day, there must've been at least 10-15 people shoveling a walkway to the door.

We were even closer to the Washington Monument in the blizzard and we had no idea.

The sign that the snowman is holding says, "Global Warming" with a big slash through it.

I just thought this was a cool looking sign.

Who doesn't love icicles? Just don't get your tongue stuck when you try to lick them!

People attempting to cross country ski in front of the monument. Kinda wierd...?

Lincoln Memorial. We didn't actually make it that far!

Check back soon for my next post. I took quite a bit of flag pictures.

Macro without a Macro

2009-11-30T19:27:00.008-05:00

Last week was my 5 year anniversary and of course I had to get her favorite flowers, Lilies. The sad part is, they never last long enough, so this time I decided to take a few time-lasting photographs.

Milestones

2009-09-30T00:41:00.002-04:00

Recently, The Phantom of the Opera hit a major theatrical milestone. Not only is it the longest running show in Broadway history, but they just reached an amazing 9000 performances. Broadwayspace.com contacted me to shoot the event.

To make that performance extra special, unannounced to the audience, the producers had the legendary composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, director/producer Harold Prince, and original choreographer Gillian Lynne.

They rushed some photographers and myself up to the stage right as the show ended. That's when the cast gave their bows and the Phantom had the "9000" cake brought out.

To see the rest of my photos click here. http://www.broadwayspace.com/photo/photo/slideshow?albumId=1159669:Album:365199

No Business Like Show Business

2009-09-17T00:37:00.012-04:00

Every year Broadway has a big concert in the middle of Time Square to welcome in the rookie Broadway shows and celebrate the ones continuing to perform. They call the event "Broadway On Broadway." This year, I was hired to shoot the event for Broadwayspace.com (A Social Network for people who love theater, you should check it out!) I have never been to a "Broadway On Broadway" concert and especially not as press, but I had a lot of fun.

Here are some of the photos. You can check out the rest on the link at the bottom of this post.

Check out the rest of my photos here:
http://www.broadwayspace.com/photo/photo/slideshow?albumId=1159669:Album:364359

Break-Time's Over!

2009-09-08T22:14:00.000-04:00

During the first week of August, my aunt asked me to bring my camera equipment to her son's wedding. Sometimes, the hired photogs don't necessarily take everything you want them to and sometimes there are just certain people they can't get because they're so busy with the bride and groom, rightfully so.

They did hire professional wedding photographers, so I tried to stay out of their way as much as possible, while still capturing what I felt was interesting. It was actually my first time "shooting" a wedding, so I learned a lot and since have become interested in shooting more events.

In total, I took about 400 photographs, I've posted a few for your viewing pleasure. If you were at this wedding and would like copies of any of my photographs, you can reach me at BradResnick@gmail.com.

Family Picnic

2009-07-20T22:20:00.001-04:00

My Uncle Stewart and his mother picnicking with friends. You gotta love the Resnick's van in the background.

How Far Back Can You Go?

2009-07-08T23:35:00.001-04:00

This is a picture of my great grandfather, Harry (left), my great uncle Norman (center), and...my great-great grandfather, Samuel. He was Harry's father in-law.

How many people can say they have photos of their great-great grandfather?

That's What Friends Are For

2009-07-01T23:00:00.002-04:00

My grandfather, Al, (top-center) poses with all of his childhood friends. He tells me stories of playing games in the dirt with their pocketknives, which by the way, all of them carried. How times have changed...

Take a Break!

2009-06-28T23:47:00.009-04:00

Taking a quick break from the usual family photos to bring you some photos I took at my cousin's wedding this weekend. Let me know what you think!

Reading is Fundamental

2009-06-23T22:50:00.005-04:00

I have about 1500 photos so far, and this is by far one of my favorites. Don't ask me why.
(My great grandfather Harry and his son Norman)

You thought that was cheap...?

2009-06-17T23:26:00.004-04:00

Six cents for a scrub brush? Ten cents for 3 bars of soap? Cover your entire kitchen floor for less than $1? Talk about recession prices...

A New Deal

2009-06-01T23:33:00.004-04:00

This is one I really like. It is from a parade in Bayonne, NJ. The style really brings you into that time period. And if you look really close in the center of the photo you can see a sign that says Roosevelt for President.

More Family Photos

2009-06-01T23:08:00.007-04:00

I cracked up the first time I saw this photo. Just some family and friends being silly. Who knows what they were trying to do!

In front-Felix (He owned a beauty shop next door). Felix's wife is behind him to the left. Then my great grandfather, Harry; His son, Norman; Finally, his wife, Minnie.

This is in front of the hardware store. Yes, there used to be a gas pump. Hardware stores were like Target back then. We carried everything.

Left to right: Joe Wigodnor (cousin); Norman (my great uncle); Harry (my great grandfather); Charlie (Harry's Brother); Leonard (my great uncle).

Family History

2009-04-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

One of my most recent photo projects, is scanning and cataloging old photographs my grandfather took when he was younger. He had given me a box full of negatives back when I was in high school and for whatever reason I didn't start really going through them until this past fall. They are all in black and white and from the 1930s-1940s. They range in subject anywhere from friends/family, to still life, landscapes, etc. Some of my most favorite ones though, are of my grandparents shortly after they were married. This one was taken in the early 40's.

Here's another one. My grandmother in front of my grandfather's first store. He sold linoleum, mattresses, bed springs, rugs, and more. Look at those prices! This one was probably sometime around 1939. They were married in 1940, 3 months after my grandmother graduated high school.

For those of you that don't know me, my family has owned a hardware business, since 1912. My great grandfather (fathers side) started it. It is currently still in business. In or around when these photos were taken, my grandfather had a disagreement with his father and started his own store about 20 blocks away. It only lasted a few years, then he ended up going back to the family business.

It's incredible looking at these photographs, knowing what I know now, almost 70 years later. Since going through these negatives, I have searched for and uncovered hundreds more negatives, slides, and prints that my grandfather has taken over the years. Some are color and some are black and white. I've learned so much about my family and it's past while uncovering it all.

As I continue to work on this massive project, I will be posting more photos, some with full blog entries, others just with some captions. In the meantime, I urge everyone reading this to go out and learn as much about their family's history as possible. Find any old negatives your parents or grandparents may have, ask them anything they remember about them, record those conversations if you can. I guarantee you will find out things about your family that you never would have guessed.

Feel free to post questions about uncovering your family's past, comments on my photographs, or anything else.

Narratives Part 2

2009-03-16T23:58:00.008-04:00

Last week I talked about how I view narratives. It's easy to find them from portraits or landscapes, but can you create them from scratch?

Part of my thesis for Rutgers, was about just that. I created scenes that, in my head, reflected the style and feel of "B" horror or science fiction movies, with a small twist.

I'm lucky enough to have such great friends who help me out on crazy ideas like these.

They are all using the available light from the location, which I think adds to the tone of the photos. (Above) This one was interesting because, I chose to not expose the film for too long in order to create the shadowy figures. It adds a little more mystery.

(Above) This is my favorite of the series. It embodies, to me at least, the style I was going for when I thought up this project. Since I did not shoot digitally, I had no way of knowing what would actually show up once they were developed.

(Above) This one feels very much like a movie still. I think it's fun to try and come up with movie plots based around some of these photographs. They can all be one movie or they can be completely separate.

Can you come up with any plot lines?

Narratives Part 1

2009-03-16T20:42:00.016-04:00

What are narratives?

When we're little kids, our parents read them to us. In school, we learn about fiction narratives in English and non-fiction ones in History. Sometimes we'll even pay $10 to sit in a dark room with a couple hundred people to watch a 3 hour narrative. They follow us throughout our life.

For those of you that know me, much of my photography is based around narratives. Even for photos that are not obviously a narrative, there's always something hidden that you can find. I've always tried to use that in looking for the right photograph to take.

Half the point of art is for the viewer to interpret and to find or make up their own narrative for the work. It only needs to make sense for the one person interpreting the piece at that particular time.

For instance, look at the clashing of old architecture and modern technology. What kind of story could be construed for this photo? Yes, this could easily be a car commercial, but maybe it's a time machine, traveling to the ruins of medieval cities.

This man could be doing the only thing he knows how to do to help him survive. He goes fishing everyday in search of the evenings dinner. Or maybe he's just relaxing after a long day at the office.

If you can come up with any narratives of your own for these photos, leave them in the comments section!

Check back next week for the second part of this series.

Past and Present Collide

2009-03-11T16:15:00.021-04:00

This past summer my Aunt's niece came from France to stay with us for a month. She's about the same age as my sister, Jessa. Since she had never been to the U.S for an extended period of time, we decided to take her to as many of the "standard" American sights as possible. One of the obvious sights is the Statue of Liberty.

I, of course, being the travel junkie that I am, couldn't pass up this photographic opportunity, especially since the last time I was there was probably elementary school.

When you're that close to something of such importance to this country and the world, you can almost feel what our grandparents and great grandparents felt when immigrated here.

Recently, I uncovered and started to catalog some of the photos my grandfather took when he was younger. The majority of them are from the 1930's-1940's. I will post more as I go through them, but specifically he had a few that were taken of the Statue of Liberty. It's pretty cool seeing photographs that I took, next to his, taken over 70 years ago.

1930s-ish

Present Day

Welcome & Blog Thoughts

2009-03-11T16:06:00.001-04:00

This is my official welcome to all of you out there in the interweb! I plan on trying to keep up with this blog as much as possible as well as constantly add new photos that I've taken.

I'm actually kind of intrigued about this whole blog phenomenon that has taken our society as of late. It's kind of a wonder how we use technology as an emotional or some other kind of outlet. Private thoughts used to be your own private thoughts, though now, everyone seems to want to share them with the world. (Myself included, although more photos than thoughts) It's especially interesting how it has transformed the way people get their news about the world. Celebrities and other personalities are using it as outlets to talk to their fans and spread their work or ideas. I think it makes people feel more connected and attempts to take away that whole idea of "celebrity" that has swallowed our society, which could in turn get rid of all those tabloid magazines.

I had a blog, once in the past and used it to express my thoughts about, well...whatever. I think this blog will be used also to express thoughts, but hopefully on a more intellectual scale, but mostly used to update the world with new photos and projects I'm working on, personally and professionally.