Old School Music, Old Buildings, and War Still Goes On

Look | Sensory Inspiration

Driving West from Hartford, Connecticut on Route 44 I listened the 9 o'clock Old School Block with 93.7 FM deejays Buck and Nancy. The interaction of the on-air personalities and callers, who often sang snippets of songs, was joyous and fun. My favorites: Strawberry Letter 23 by The Brothers Johnson, Freak of the Week by Funkadelic and I Wanna be Your Lover by Prince.

I wanted the set of energizing music to go on forever. However, this amazing house in New Hartford convincingly called me to exit my car and photograph. The structure sat next to a church and across the street from a war memorial.

Church, State and Home

Old Glory

Contemplating the price paid by the soldiers and their families, I continued on my journey.

TechTalk: Nikon D200, 17-55mm, ISO 200. Old Glory and Church, State and Home are in-camera multiple exposures treated with Topaz Adjust, a plug-in for Photoshop CS4. ©2010 John Nordell

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Fine Art at Dawn

I am interested in multiple ways of showcasing and explaining my process. Enter Photobabble. This site allows users to add sound to a still image. If you click play and hear no sound, you might need a newer version of Flash.



This type of created image is a far cry from the my never-mess-with-reality photojournalistic background.

© 2010 John Nordell

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Light Poem No.3 - Touchless Carwash

"The camera is an instrument that teaches
people how to see without a camera."
Dorothea Lange,
Depression-era photographer

One quite cold night in January I chose to fill my tank at a gas station due to its local ownership, rather than a competitor's lower price.

One and a half inches of ice clung to the interior of the gas station's car wash windows, rendering them translucent instead of transparent. I found art in the resulting abstract shadows of the machinery making repeated passes as it cleaned a car.

You will hear the horn beeps of another patron, unhappy that my filming position slowed his exit.


I find that when I alter my routine, I see more.

I am also finding that making videos helps me be more attuned to sights and sounds, more attuned to sequence and motion. And, more fixed in the present moment of experience. A good place for any creator to be.

How do you think Ms. Lange would have approached video?

© 2010 John Nordell

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Van Gogh's Yellow House - A Photographic Interpretation

Last night I saw Vincent Van Gogh's painting The Yellow House in a book.

This morning driving through Turner's Falls, Massaschusetts on my way to teach I saw a yellow house. The stunning connection compelled me to pull over and shoot.

I then processed the image using a Photoshop plug-in, Topaz Adjust, to add a painterly feel.

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Sound Poem No.2 - Summer Night

Longer days, morning bird twittering and melting snow intimate Spring. Speaking of seasons, I finally had a chance to put together this video shot late last summer.

To capture the imagery, I crouched low to the water along the Connecticut River in Northfield, Massachusetts. Above me was the Schell Bridge. Across the river a group young men enjoyed the night as well. Snippets of their banter reached me and the flash from their camera punctuated the dusk.


These night sounds give us something to look forward to.

The German modernist painter Lyonel Feininger is one of my big inspirations. He often painted buildings and bridges, using multiple planes to give form to the structures. I use multiple exposures.

I believe abstraction can neatly sum up the contradictions and complications of reality. Speaking of reality, the Friends of Schell Bridge fight to save this historic railroad span from demolition.

Driving home I kicked into photojournalist mode, seeing that Walgreens was offering the first flu shots of the season.

The flu images went to my editorial stock agency.

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