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“Elmira’s Flat Iron Eulogy”

This past year I haven’t gone out and done much “fun” shooting…. shooting stuff just for the hell of it. Just didn’t feel it. Well today was my day to break out of my “Covid-19 Coma”
21 years ago when I was scouring old Elmira, looking for some Grand Old Warehouse where I wanted to locate my soon to be New Studio, this building immediately caught my eye. It was so unique, and could have been a really neat Studio setting, but even in 2000 the place was way beyond repair, that is unless you had a Million Dollars to pump into it. So needless to say I moved on & found and rented my first home just around the corner at 352 State Street before buying my current 211 Studio Building here in Horseheads.
So after seeing all the recent, advanced deterioration of the Flatiron’s roof & upper bricks & the rest of the decay that was destroying this unique Elmira structure, and then learning that it’s days were soon to be numbered, I made my trek downtown to put this Grand Old Lady to Photographic Sleep!
Enjoy, and remember to click on images to enlarge to full size!
PS: if anyone from the City of Elmira or Chemung County DPW sees this, (I believe you guys will be tearing it down) please message me. I want to ask you a question before this building gets hauled away brick by brick to the eternity landfill. Thanks!

 

“Jeepy Grape Graffiti”

Across North Main St. from my 211 Studio in Horseheads NY, is an old railroad track siding/spur that is still used today by the Host Company that supplies fracking sand to local fracking sites. They are always moving freight cars filled with sand in and out as they empty or load the sand into or from their warehouses. From a distance I noticed some bright Graffiti on this one car while walking my dog, and as I got closer I saw how beautiful this one car was painted!  So I grabbed the camera, shot some neat images of the sand hopper car, then I drove my 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited over & parked right next to it for these Super Shots! As my hero David Letterman always likes to say…”There is No OFF Position on the Genius Switch!”
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Ryanna

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Downtown Dolls

Discovering the Back Alleys of Seneca Falls with Mary Beth and her Ladies..
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Can’t quite put my FINGER on where I’ve seen this one before? It just BEATLES Me!

From Mary-Beth & Malcolm’s Seneca Falls Wild Wedding Weekend in mid August 2017.
Hey Ray! This one is for you Buddy.. Happy Birthday too!
(SHOOTER’S NOTE: Man, you don’t even begin to come close to realizing just how busy certain Downtown Intersections can be, TILL you try shooting in a LIVE one!!!!)
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Cornell Gothics Magic

Rebecca & Peter – July 22, 2017
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Deja vu…..All Over Again!

My Wedding Shooting Philosophy has always been…”When something works…USE IT!”
So once again a few weeks ago,  I found myself at this Classic location, with my Wedding Guys for this Cool Shot! What made this shoot doubly neat, or more accurately “more Quadruple-y Neat” is the fact that FOUR of the guys appear in BOTH Images!
in 2014 was Jon & Katie’s Wedding…..and this year 2017 we were back for Greg & Ashley’s Big Day.
With this gang…I have a good feeling we’ll all be back here again!20170429-RB1_482620140906-RB1_8082

“Heights Heroes”

Over the winter I did my third local Fire Department Members Shoot here at the 211 Studio. Here are some of my Favorites from the Elmira Heights F.D…..what I call my “Hero Cards” I created for each Firefighter. Full Bunker Gear, Special Six Light Studio Lighting Set Up, A Neat Beat Up Urban Distressed Background, Smoke  Machine Cranking, and ALL kinds of Neat Firefighter Props to play with! How Much Fun is that? Then throw in a little Creative Photoshop Tweaking to really bring them to life. Enjoy, and maybe you’ll even recognize a Family Member, a Neighbor or a Friend. Thanks to all our Firefighters for your endless hours of Service to our Community!
And Next………Who’s going to be my NEXT Local F.D. Subjects? Contact me now to set up Next Winter’s Shoot for your Department (because I can’t do these full Dept. Shoots during my busy Wedding Season, which just started.)
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Political Vandalism Strikes the 211 Studio!!

Back in September of this year I posted a Blog/Pix detailing my latest creative Art Project that I was working on here at the 211 Studio. It was a Reproduction of some Tired, Old, Weathered, Rusty Iron RR Bridge Girders from the 1800’s, that I installed as the middle archway of my Client Lounge/Meeting area. So with the turn of events over the last month, it was just a matter of time before some new, creative Political Graffiti would make it’s appearance on ‘The Bridge”, and here it is! I can’t wait to try it out for real on a full size Bridge or RR Boxcar very soon!!!  20161207-rb1_5981

211 Studio Rivets & Rust

For years I’ve always loved the great look of ancient, old  Rusted Iron Railroad Bridges. That Rust combined with Millions of Hand Set Rivets, Pounded into place well over 100 years ago. I’ve used my favorite bridge for numerous photo shoots (first 2 pics), and recently I’ve noticed on the newly renovated MSNBC Studios Set, where they now have exposed some of the very same structural Beams & Girders, and you now frequently  see them in the background of the  newsroom. That gave me an idea…. I always like to try to push & expand my artistic abilities, so here’s the latest in my ongoing Studio Personalization.
This is my Client Lounge, where I meet with Clients & chat about their Weddings or Portrait Shoots. What was once just a plain wallboard separation between these two sections of the room, they are now part of my very own rusty old tribute to these great old structures.
I then thought….whats an old beat up bridge in the middle of nowhere, without some Graffiti? So I thought for a bit and added a few select, important, recognizable  symbols & lettering that were common & meaningful during my lifetime, and THAT really brought this thing to life!  Pretty cool, isn’t it??? GET OFF THE TRACKS! HERE COMES THE TRAIN!”

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