VOL 15 ISSUE 7 | July 2020 |
Here was the view of the Neowise comet from Ahwatukee on July 18th, 2020. I took this shot from the south side of SouthMountain in the parking lot of Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School. I bought the app Stellarium+ to help determine where the comet would be after sunset. I shot this with a Canon D5miii using a 70-200mm f2.8 IS2 USM lens with an image doubler +2X III. I had a 3 second exposure with aperture at f6.7 and the ISO was at 1250. I also used a tripod and a Pixel remote shutter release. I love astrophotography and this was the first time I photographed a comet (unless I have any shots buried away of HaleBop from when I lived in Nashville).
I've been anxious to share this song with the world for quite a while now. This is one of those magical songwriting times when I sat down at the piano and this song just sorta' "miracled out of nowhere!" The title of the song was a toss up between "Nothing Moves Me Like You Do" or the following line in the song, "My Miracle Is You." I decided to go with the latter. Lyrically it is pretty simple as I list some of the things in this world that I find to be really moving - things like sunsets, rainbows, autumn leaves, and lightning. Musically it is not too complex, but does integrate some interesting chords in my opinion. But what I think I am most proud of is the production of the song. I actually did some research on line to learn how to write horn parts and then hired the horn section from Spark Jack Daddy (Mike Krilla on sax, Paul Brewer on Baritone sax, Mike Fowler on Trombone, and the notorious Danny Torgerson on Trumpet) to go into the studio and play them. I recorded the grand piano track in my living room and then sent it to a few friends to add their parts including Webb Pickersgill on bass in Colorado, Roger Wiedabach on Drums in Ahwatukee, and Marty Lucas on guitar in Peoria. Guitarist Rick Tovar also stopped by the house during the Covid pandemic to record some killer guitar parts and later that evening the vocal harmonies were tracked by the beautiful Lindsey Lockwood, the multitalented Roger Wiedabach, and also a few of my own. Video coming soon I hope. Please click the image above to give a listen to the song. Nice comments are appreciated!
This is actaully a throwback to a project I did in 2004. Since I wasn't doing the Green Pages that year, this may have been one project that you missed. I scanned the slides from this photoshoot this month with my new macro lens and this is one of the gems that had been in storage for a decade and a half. The model was Anaiah and she flew in from San Francisco for this project. She did the costume design and sent me the sketches in the image above as a "go-by". I was originally contacted by photographer Kevin Schirmer who worked with her to set up this photoshoot. We started the painting in the early afternoon at Jim Goodwin's photography studio in downtown Phoenix. It was a very hot summer day so I used alcohol based airbrush paints so that the paint wouldn't run from sweat. She was comfortable doing fine art nude photography which allowed the outfit to be "nothing but paint" (well except for the boots). Once completed, we drove to the base of South Mountain at a little abandoned building known as Scorpion Gulch. Kevin got quite a few great shots and then I took a turn. I shot mostly digital photos but did also shoot one roll of slide film. This is one of my shots on slide film that has been archived since then. I think it is a strong contender for my second bodypainting book, don't ya' think?
E-ya later,
Mark Greenawalt
Mark@MarkGreenawalt.com
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Nothing. Waiting for the pandemic to just to go away.
copyright Mark Greenawalt, Future-Class X Publishing - Phoenix, AZ 85044
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