Scott Fillmer » 50mm

A Bumpy Ride but Arrived a Mile High in Denver

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:58:29 +0000

So we are in the Mile High city for a few days for the birth of our second grandson, Luke, but while we are here we get to take a side trip over to Colorado Springs and visit with a ministry group there. On a side note, there are an amazing number of ginormous ministry groups here in Colorado Springs, like Focus on the Family, Compassion International, Promise Keepers was at one point, and so on… amazing. We are going to get to talk about the kids in our sponsor program from Cornerstone like the girl you saw in my previous post. I’m always excited to get to talk to people when it deals with ministry and photography at the same time. It’s one thing to get to work in an area you are passionate about but it’s really fantastic when you get to combine two passions together, even if it’s just to talk about future possibilities.

So, quick photo of the day above, which is actually from yesterday. We ended up landing in Denver in horrible weather (which is rare out here). It’s also freezing out here, well, it’s not 100*F out here, but all the resort towns are expecting snow this weekend. Until next time…

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Amsterdam Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: AMS-EBB

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:16:04 +0000

This is a continuation of my series, airports and a 50mm lens. Since I was in Europe this time I didn’t really get quite a much material as I normally do in a place like Atlanta. For one thing, once I get outside the United States shooting [photos] in an airport isn’t quite the same. The laws are different all over the world. I know what I can and can’t shoot in the U.S., and I can stand my ground in most cases in my own country. Not so much once I get outside the U.S., so this series changes a bit, to err on the side of caution.

Europe is usually ok about photographers as long as you aren’t obnoxious and you don’t look too suspicious but Entebbe is another story. I didn’t take hardly anything once we landed over there but on my next trip I know on the way back home there are a few things I would like to capture. I’ll see. In October I may be as tired as I was when we left in August, but EBB right now is about one single shot.

Here is a quick shoot of Amsterdam. There was a lot I didn’t get since our connection was so short, but next time I have a 5 hour connection so I should be able to improve upon this shoot. If you are wondering what’s the point… well, I actually consider this street photography, something I have really come to love over the years. Trying to capture a mood, or an expression, without someone standing in front of you going “smile” isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but sometimes it’s just more genuine. To me it shows a more realistic view of life. Everything in this (and all my 50mm airport series) is shot with one single focal length lens (obviously a 50mm), and to me, it tells a totally different story than the post from Atlanta 8 hours earlier told.

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Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: ATL-AMS

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 01:16:40 +0000

I have this random series I have done on my blog for years called “airport in 50mm” that looks photographically at a particular airport with just a 50mm lens. I did this for this last trip except for the airport in Entebbe where I wasn’t sure if I would get shot by the guy holding the M-16 for taking a photo but I was pretty sure they would confiscate my camera and or SD card so I skipped that one, maybe when I go back. I always find it fascinating that you can take photos of the same place but capture a totally different perspective each time, but they always are because every day brings to live a new perspective (see the last Atlanta post). This was the first stop along an extremely long set of flights from Atlanta to Amsterdam to Entebbe. Each image was taken with a 50mm prime lens.

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A Much Needed Lazy Day 4th of July This Year

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 20:44:44 +0000

Today was a much needed day to do nothing but sit at home and read and enjoy a day off, so Ebby and I sat out on the patio and read and did much of nothing. Funny, this is pretty much what she does on a daily basis, to her there was no difference today than there was yesterday except maybe more time with me and less time with Deborah. Looking forward to the fireworks in Auburn tonight. If you are in Auburn and haven’t been yet it’s always a good show (see some shots from a previous year). Don’t think I am going to have the energy to post the fireworks photos from tonight after we get home but they will be up in the next few days. Enjoy tonight and get out and see some fireworks celebration in your area if you can.

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The Mike Fisher and a Gibson Guitar at Cornerstone

Scott Fillmer — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:11:57 +0000

The Photo of the Day today is of Mike Fisher who got his first chance to play guitar with the main worship band. It was pretty cool to see Mike playing with the worship band today, and although there is always almost no light in the worship area it does make for a more dramatic shot. I love the low light stuff, deep shadows and small reflections, like the light bouncing off Mike face in the second shot. Congrats on your gig this week Mike, keep moving forward.

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Orange County Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: SNA-MIA

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:59:20 +0000

On my recent trip to California I decided to continue my 50mm airport series I started a while back. I generally carry all my equipment with me on the plane since a lost bag will result in a non-existent photo shoot, and a few trips ago I started trying to get the creative juices flowing by using one camera and one single fixed focal length lens (a standard 50mm) to cover each new airport.

This past week the new airport was Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA). I have usually flown into LAX and since I had not been to John Wayne in a while, it was next on my photo list (ATL has long since be shot, see my post Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 1, if that is your interest). For the extremely busy location of southern California, Orange County is a great place to fly in and out of and almost has the feel of a Midwestern Lubbock or Amarillo feel to it as far as the traffic goes. I also didn’t get harassed by security, police, FBI, or any other uncomfortable PAX in the area, wonderful.

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Miami Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: MIA-ATL

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:14:06 +0000

This the third and final part of my airport in a 50mm lens perspective (see ATL part 1 and DEN part 2), at least until I jump on another plane and end up at an airport other than ATL, DEN, and MIA. Miami was the most difficult out of the three to shoot. It was hot, humid (yes I was inside), very very crowded, and all under construction.

That just means I had to look around more than I usually do and find something that said this was MIA and was (to me) photographically pleasing. For this post, I chose these 4 images below.

I love the second shot, the plane. This old plane was restored and hung from one of the walks between terminal buildings. What caught my attention was the print just below the name of the pilot.

Passengers travel in this vehicle at their own risk

I did find one nice architectural images of this roof line which seemed to open like a bottle top. I would have preferred to get the faces of the travelers but in an airport you must be wise when holding the camera. With so many irritated passengers around every bend waiting for delayed flights, I wasn’t real interested in inflaming the minds of many.

I always liked the Miami airport. So much diversity even in the airport itself, but modernizing the terminals (which they are doing) would also make it a nice place to fly into while waiting for a long connection. All images in each part of this shoot were taken with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken.

To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way.

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Denver Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: DEN-MIA

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:31:44 +0000

This is the second part of a three part series on three airports I photographed in 50mm. The first was Atlanta (ATL), Atlanta Airport and a 50mm Lens // Part 1, this one being Denver (DEN), and the last will be Miami Airport (MIA).

Some of you may know I use to work in the airline industry, once had my pilot’s license, and traveled quite a bit, so I was trying to do something a little different this time. Many times you go to a place you have been many many times and you see nothing worthing of photography, but that is rarely the case.

I forced myself to look around and see what made my current environment special, and many times you have to get creative. The fountains are the center point of the lower floor of the common area, but completely surrounded by terrible backgrounds.Â In Denver, a newer airport, one thing stood out, the roof. I have flown in and out of Denver many times and never really paid attention to the architecture of the roof. It is obvious driving to DEN from anywhere in Denver. A large white tent like structure that towers over the flat landscape.

The last one is simple but that’s what I like about it. There is a certain amount of peace at 35,000 feet when you have no control over anything. The sky turns from haze on the ground to an almost black of space above.

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Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: ATL-DFW

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:15:17 +0000

This past weekend I was in 4 different major airports, ATL, DFW (was supposed to be ORD), DEN, and MIA. I decided early on that I was going to do a shoot of each airport, as viewed by me, through a 50mm lens, and this is it. This is part 1 of part 3. Our flight was so delayed leaving ATL that I did not shoot one image in DFW, but I have been in that airport so many times it didn’t really bother me that I missed it.

All images in each part were shot with a Nikon D700 (in full frame FX mode), hand held, with a 50mm Nikkor f/1.4 lens. Comments, suggestions, critique, or criticism are all welcome. These are shown in the order they were taken. To see the larger sizes all at once just click on the first image to open the light box gallery and you can scroll through the larger sizes that way. To me, each image tells a story. I could discuss each one below the image but each person’s story is different. One of my favorites here is the guy waiting at the gate.

I think this is mostly because he is on the phone with a bluetooth device and right behind him is a pre-paid phone dispenser. While at the gate frustrated passengers discuss the finer points of air travel with the gate agent, he is happy with just going through the menus on his phone. Almost a peaceful way about him since he isn’t involved in the line at the gate.