Of Blondes and Boardwalks…
My buddy Chris Klug, in a comment from my last post, said that I portrayed New Jersey as dark and moody. This coming from a guy who does wonders with B&W and many of his posted images are just that! 🙂
Well, isn’t New Jersey darky and moody? Crooked politicians, jughandles to no end, struggling towns like Newark and Camden. In a Tweet this week (oh, btw, I’m on Twitter now so already I’m getting info and inspiration from it – MarkK_NJ on Twitter. Check me out for those last five minutes of spare time I know you all have in your life), an old college chum and celebrated crime drama/noir writer, Duane Swierczynski, Tweeted that most noir seems to be set in NYC and San Francisco. Fair enough. But hey, there’s JerseyStyle Noir, too..let’s give the Dirty Jerz some credit!
Anyway, I can appreciate Chris’ thoughts (probably typed while he took another bite of a Primanti Brothers sandwich and sipped some Iron City beer. But to refute the thought that NJ is a dour and dark state, much like Batman’s Gotham City, thought I’d throw some color at you today.
Most of these were shot last weekend down in Asbury Park. Me and The Little One, as I mentioned last post, went to check out the Danny Clinch exhibit of Springsteen shots. It was a bit humid down, there, with the fog starting to roll in. Olivia is just old enough to start taking direction so if I see a pose I like, she’ll be more than happy to repeat it. But most of these were just me ripping digital film and hoping I got something. Plus it was fun. You put a blonde on a boardwalk and people stop and watch. And smile. And laugh.
The above was shot in Convention Hall in Asbury Park. Pretty historic building that has seen a host of big-name concerts over the years (in addition to Springsteen, The Ramones, The Doors, etc.). Left this one on the cool side because I liked how the silhouettes looked.
The Little One…ordering one of the last cones of the summer season.
I really liked the B&W version of this one too…but in deference to Mr. Klug, I looked at it again in color and like this version as well. You decide. B&W is is here..
And after getting said ice cream…the Little One started to feel her oats. Looking over the sea like a true Jersey Girl…
Finished that one with the Nik Tonal Contrast to make the sky and boards pop a bit more.
Even got the chance to shot some still life. Worst Use Of A Natural Resource, I call it.
So, yes, there’s some color in this hard land. You just have to scratch the surface and find it.
Oh, a little fandom here…In my last post, I talked about Bruce Springsteen and the [Legendary] E Street Band and the string of concerts that they’ll be playing over the next week at Giants Stadium. On Wednesday, me and David, know to all as The Geek Whisper, took in the opening night show. It was his first Springsteen show, my 6th or 7th. We had general admit/floor level seating so it was a doozy. And not just because I got the chance to pat Bruce on the back and tell him “Good job!” Check out this post from David, and watch the video. At about the 12-14 second mark, you see a red-clad arm come in.
Yep, yours truly.
And go check out Chris’ blog and work. He’s got a great eye and is passionate about detail. If you aren’t up with Patterns of Light and Dark, you should be.
Big week coming up. The packing has started. Appears I’ll be logging almost 20,000 air miles in October. Stop back Wednesday to get the low-down…
© Mark V. Krajnak 2009 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved
Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 50D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS4 or PSE6 and Nik Software
JerseyStyle Photography 
Light, Dark…. don’t mean nuthin, they all still have that Jersey Noir style. Fantastic images Mark and the model is excellent. I think I like the color version of the Last cone of the Summer although maybe the B&W, tough to decide on that one.
Welcome to Twitter. I just gave you a follow (I’m @JamieSanford), you’ll find lots of interesting things happening in the Twitterverse.
Ah, Convention Hall . . . that placed changed my rock n’ roll tastes forever, as I saw Todd Rundgren there for the first time. Front row, ears still ringing 35 years later, blew me away. Him and his new band, Utopia. I went on to work for Mr, Rundgren about six years later, going on tour with him and a new incarnation of that band.
This was especially ironic as it was my grandmother’s favorite place at Asbury. Asbury was a day trip for my grandparents, taking little-ten-year-old me from Linden to the shore and back on a weekday in the hot and humid NJ summer. There were places to eat and boardwalk prizes to be won in the cool, shady interior of the Convention Hall. We would rest there in-between trips to Howard Johnson’s (almost next door) to get ice cream (24 flavors!) and games of miniature golf with my grandfather (gramdmom didn’t play, she just watched us and smiled).
The image of your daughter and that boardwalk made me smile, sir.
Thanks for the shout-out, too, as I just posted a bunch of images this morning. Timing is everything.