I have learned that opportunity can present itself in strange ways.  And that is so very true with journalism and photography. Well, at least it is from my experiences.

Luck is really important and it is possible to create your own. When it comes, being prepared to capture the moment is when the professional aspects of photography are realized. But a good portion of luck is outside of the realm of being able to manipulate your chances of coming away with a successful image.

I was recently photographing a high school soccer game at Episcopal Academy. It was on their brand new campus, which is nicely done, though it seems has a parking shortage when it comes to game time. I did the “wrong thing” by parking along the roadway (along with lots of parents who were there to see their kids play). But I knew I would be only there just a short time.

I barely grabbed a few shots of the game when campus security showed up and gave all of us parking lawbreakers a warning. The township police may stop by and could give us $400 tickets. We were all thankful for the notice.

I was at a loss of where I could park and knew I could miss the game if there was not a spot to be found. But I ended up parking about five playing fields away on another part of campus in the last open spot. By the time I returned, a good 15 minutes went by and I missed most of the first half. But that’s when luck visited me. As I approached the field from behind the goal, a play unfolded and I was in the perfect position to get the photo. I wouldn’t have been in that sport at exactly the right time if all of the other circumstances weren’t precisely aligned.

August is over and I’m glad. I like summer, but its end is good thing since the goals I set came together perfectly. It’s usually a “down” time with very little work but this year was an exception. Work was plenty and the summer was filled with personal projects such a Burning Flowers, important business planning and the filming of the Iceland documentary.

So far Ben and John G. filmed interviews me with and the Albert Jónsson, The Icelandic Ambassador in Washington, Fr. Cannuli, the Villanova University Art Gallery Director and most recently a talk I gave to a class at The Art Institute in Philadelphia along with an interview with a former teacher, Mark Thellmann. The subject of the talk was how as a still photographer I am incorporating new technologies such a video for the web and how to fold all of it together and build good relationships within everyday situations.

Next up will be the bulk of the documentary, the interviews with me. It’s always unsettling, not that I mind being on camera (I actually like it), but I feel the need to be clear and concise. In other words, I need to convey the thoughts I have toward the Iceland project in minimal words and in the way a good writer’s words are finally edited. Yet this will be one take filming since it’s a documentary and something not to be practiced or staged. So it’s an issue of me becoming a naturally-at-ease-interviewee and yet another goal to set.

I am tired of technology. I sometimes want to go back to shooting film and ditch the computer and memory cards. The rebuild of a new Photoshop computer (should be simple as I have done it a dozen times or so) went poorly. I started to think I had a dumb computer. Really, I was thinking it was stupid.  So stupid that it seemed to forget I even installed Windows XP.

For how much I would like to I can’t blame Microsoft and switching to a Mac isn’t the answer. That was the response from many who are not tech oriented and who dislike what they call the Evil Empire. I have seen many bizarre problems with Macs and would have no chance to troubleshoot one if I had a problem.

What does all of this have to do with driving in Iceland?

Well, I wouldn’t be able to put together a video clip full of rough edits in less than an hour and then send it off into cyberspace for everyone to view if I didn’t have this technology. I guess I’ll learn to live with it.

I made a deal with a former teacher of mine at Antonelli, Mark Thellmann, who teaches at The Art Institute in Philadelphia. He agreed to be interviewed for the Iceland documentary. In return I would talk to his class about the Iceland project, the documentary and ideas behind all of it. So I put together a few minutes of video for a trial run at AIPH so I can test out their multimedia system.

I always thought one of the best ways to see a country (walking is really the only way) is by car. So here is a glimpse into Iceland with its rain, snow, sunny meadows, rainbows, wandering farm animals, scary mountain roads, geothermal plants and sheep.

If I were twisted I would have enjoyed last night’s burning. But I almost didn’t bother shooting since I was tired, and very frustrated. During the last two days I was a slave to mind-dulling troubleshooting that computer junkies love. Well, I don’t enjoy that. I had the task of rebuilding my main Photoshop computer. It revolted after three years of service. It’s now completely dead.

I had to figure out cryptic BIOS settings (still hate that part), route a mass of intertwined cables to 8 hard drives and turn a screwdriver lots of times to transplant what still worked from the old into the new. I stuffed all of these parts into a sleek black case with cool angles (its designer must be fan of stealth aircraft). I pushed the “On” button, fought with glitches and eventually had a new computer running.

It’s during these times I miss shooting film (but only then).

So I didn’t feel better after burning more flowers, it would be disturbing if I did. At times I even feel wasteful. People love flowers and good thoughts are behind them in almost every situation. That guilt quickly fades when I get back to my computer and view the results.

Last night I worked past dusk. The darkness, flames and petals created intimacy I usually find when sitting by a campfire. The increased saturation and contrast all played their part in creating this new palette I discovered. My images taken in brighter conditions at the beginning of the project just didn’t have that feel.

Now, I’m about to wrap it up. Unless new ideas on how to burn flowers come to me, I’m done. I have plenty of images to submit for this year’s ASMP project and plenty to shop around for a new exhibit. The only thing left to try, and I’ll have to plan carefully, is burning an entire bouquet.

I’m not talking about the SciFi Channel show that is pretty bad (yet addicting, and I’ll still watch it). I discovered a few good ways of making fire/flower images after dark. My previous photo shoots have been in twilight, so this time I mixed circumstances up a bit. I needed a new idea on how shoot this new idea. The photos I haven been taking were beginning to look the same.

I also bought a fire extinguisher. Maybe it’s naivete, but I feel pretty safe considering what I’m doing. Just in case something gets out of hand it’s good to have one handy. I visited a volunteer fire company to ask where I could find flame resistant gloves (so I wouldn’t repeat the burning hands incident). I explained what I was trying accomplish and after a few strange looks (I continue to get a lot of those when I tell people about this project), they put just enough fear in me through their warnings that I thought it best to buy one.

I added the weekend’s images to the gallery.  54 have advanced to the first round of editing — so far I have shot 4,020 images for a total of 51GB of hard drive space!. I also bought a new domain, BurningFlowers.com, since I am tired of sending out a clumsy URL when showing these images.

John Gelety shot and edited this video of me photographing flaming plantlife during yesterday’s photo shoot. The “film guys” will use some of the footage of me working for the Iceland documentary. The really cool part is the deer running away at the end!

“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire.” I am taking that quote totally from the writings in a Rush tourbook (thank you Neil Peart) who in turn found that phrase written on a wall in a bar in Montana. It’s a quote by Reggie Leach (who played Ice Hockey for The Philadelphia Flyers in the 70’s).

I set myself on fire tonight. Well, not really, though I did have liquid fuel drip down a flower’s stem setting my hand on fire. Ouch.

I think I’m undergoing spontaneous combustion of sorts with the burning flowers project. I’m plowing through photographic uncertainty and making it up as I go. It seems to be working. I am hoping the success part comes next.

Tonight was my third shoot/burning session as Ben Kanes, John Gelety and Ben’s wife, Livia, joined me. They came to continue filming the artist documentary on my Iceland project and needed footage of me working. I hope to have a video clip from tonight soon!

I am nearing the 3000 mark (the amount of photos I have shot) and just posted an updated gallery with tonight’s images. I like about 30 so far. A good ratio. I also started to design a new site for the burning flower project. I promise to have that running soon rather than posting these templated galleries.

The real work has begun. After last week’s test shoot, I discovered that this half-baked idea of shooting flowers on fire works well. During the first shoot I lit roses drenched with torch fuel. Nice effect, but I needed something more. After thinking through the possibilities of how to add color to flames, I ordered lamp oil that burns in different colors.

A few days later the oil arrived and and or my first test images I tried white roses. But the colored flame was not nearly as bright at the standard oil and I had to wait until dusk. A few days later I tried again in the closing hours of the day. Success. The blue flames were not as nice as the red. I have yet to try the green and gold. But I have a September deadline for this project, so the I am in good shape to get this right and make good images.

Before the third shoot, the trip to the Pathmark to buy flowers was amusing. I mean, I already get strange reactions (until people see the photos) about the idea of photographing burning flowers. At Pathmark, the checkout lines were long. The customer service counter girl, who usually does not ring people up, saw I had only a bundle of flowers. She had sympathy for me and said something like “I’ll gladly ring you up, you shouldn’t have to wait in line since you are buying flowers, it’s such a nice thing to do.” I didn’t want to ruin her moment and tell her what was really going to happen to the flowers. I smiled and said thanks.

It’s like the thought that runs through my mind when people see flowers and comment on how beautiful they are, I want to say “You think they are beautiful now, let me burn them and then you will really see beauty.”

I like change, especially when it pushes me in unexpected directions. Until now I never intended on exposing my life in a blog, Now that I started (this being the official first entry) I find it intriguing.

I also never thought I would be the subject of a documentary. I spent the last 20 years photographing all sorts of people and places. Now the lens is aimed in my direction. I’ll be telling the story of how and why I photographed Iceland during filming over the next several weeks.

To kick it off, I spent last Friday traveling with an “indie” film crew, Ben Kanes and John Gelety. Amtrak took us to Washington D.C. to the Icelandic Embassy where we interviewed the Icelandic Ambassador to the US, Albert Jónsson. He was a guest at my first large exhibition at the Villanova University Art Gallery in 2007. He was our first subject to be interviewed. I even made the embassy’s news page last year, it’s strange to be in the limelight.

We left at 10am and were back in the Philly area by 6. A perfect day thanks to good planning, good fate and the professionalism of all involved. It was a good way to set the tone of the project and this blog (in a positive karma kind of way).