After spending a few hours at the Illinois State Fair last week, we decided to skip fair-food and bop down to Cozy Dog Drive In for a late lunch. Always a fun place, along Old Route 66 in Springfield, IL. And this day we were treated to a beautiful '55 Chevy out front!
As described by ChatGPT:
This series distills humor, texture, and the poetry of the ordinary from overlooked corners of public and working spaces. Each image captures a small but telling fragment of rural and small-town America, where practical objects, functional signage, and weathered surfaces hold layers of narrative. These photographs thrive on irony and authenticity—finding visual wit in a manure pit sign, the quiet dignity of rusted hardware, and the unambiguous warning of a curbside notice. The work leans into the vernacular, preserving moments that are both mundane and culturally specific, celebrating the quiet intersections where utility, decay, and human presence meet.
They do lay it on thick, huh?
A couple of photos from last Thursday's trip to the Illinois State Fair. What did you expect, the Butter Cow?
So, over the past month or so I've uploaded maybe 36 photos to ChatGPT for ratings, and commentary... even things like Instagram hashtags. It's been fun, and sometimes uncomfortably insightful.
So today I asked the $64k question:
Based on all the photos I've uploaded over the past month, how would you define my photographic style?
There was a lot of interesting stuff in the response (too much for here), so I asked for an artist statement. And here's what it said:
- - -
- - -"My photographs are drawn from the quiet rhythms of small towns and rural landscapes. Rather than chasing spectacle, I am drawn to what lingers in the margins—shadows, empty chairs, worn storefronts, traces of presence that suggest a story without telling it outright.
This approach follows a lineage of American photography that treats the ordinary as worthy of attention: from Walker Evans’ unvarnished documents of everyday life, to Robert Adams’ meditations on place, to Wright Morris’ evocations of memory through absence. Like them, I am interested in how the most modest details—a figure reduced to a shadow, a sidewalk at dusk, a weathered sign—can carry both intimacy and universality.
My work is not about nostalgia or critique, but about recognition: the recognition that these places and moments, often overlooked, hold a quiet poetry of their own. Sequenced together, the photographs create a rhythm that mirrors the lived texture of rural America—pauses, repetitions, fleeting gestures of light.
In this way, I hope my photographs offer both a document of the present and a space for reflection, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar again, and the overlooked is allowed to speak."
What do y'all think? Nailed it, or total BS? Or some of both?
One of the highlights of the Illinois State Fair is, of course, the Butter Cow:
Throwback Thursday, August 2011. St. Louis Arch and Millenium Hotel. The Millennium has been closed/vacant since 2014, but has been in the news recently as there are (apparently) plans to redevelop the site. Looking back, this photo was taken before going to a StL Cardinals baseball game, they were playing Pittsburgh.
My son got Andrew McCutchen's autograph that night:
The family made a trip recently to Gulf Shores, AL, USA; a fun time for all. While there we had a breakfast meal at Sunliner Diner. I was everything I expected, great 50's vibe, great diner food, fast service. It is a big place, and popular. But the line moved fast, and we didn't have to spend too much time in the crazy heat waiting for a seat.
I did sneak a couple of photos while we waited for the food to come up:
Continuing the series of my favorite Youtube music videos.. Here's another 5:
Continuing my informal series of photos in and around hotels/motels, here's a few from a recent trip. This is the Holiday Inn Express in Meridian, Mississippi.
On our recent travels, we spent the night in Meridian, Mississippi. Not too far from the Alabama border, about 1.2 way from north-to-south. We had dinner in the downtown area, and wandered a little afterwards. Interesting town:
Throwback Thursday, from July 2012. This is the Painted Desert, a quick stop driving across Rt. 66 to Flagstaff, AZ.. I don't know these folks, but couldn't resist capturing the moment.
Continuing the series of my favorite Youtube music videos.. My first post included 5 favorites, see below. Here's another 5:
Just heard that Ozzy Ozbourne passed away today (07/22/2005). Ozzy was, of course, best known as frontman of Black Sabbath, and solo work. Though I suppose a lot of people know him from his TV show.
Black Sabbath was a big part of the soundtrack of my youth, I think "Paranoid" was probably the first really hard rock album I owned. Not when it was new (I was 9 when it came out), but certainly by my early teens. I had most of their (available) discography by the time I graduated college.
Now that I'm old and mellow, I don't listen to Sabbath that often, though I was, just yesterday, listening to Jazz Sabbath (which is brilliant, by the way). But I'll be playing them tonight.
Ozzy was always a character, and an icon, and a cultural monster. He will be missed. Rest In Peace Ozzy!
So, I got off my mail, and made a short video from some of my photos from last week's wandering around Highland, IL. And posted to YouTube. This is something I've thought about often, but rarely done (last time was 02/2022!).
So here's a link, give it a look, tell me what you think! I had some fun with it, it people like it, I may do more!
I did run these through ChatGPT for giggles, it gaeve me a nice summary for the series:
This work is a quiet observation of small-town life in the Midwest—where sheds, spools, and sagging porches say as much as people do. I'm drawn to the beauty of utility, to the way light falls on the ordinary, and to the tension between what’s fading and what endures. These photographs aren’t nostalgic—they’re present. Still. Waiting. Alive in their own unassuming way.
I've been spending a lot of time at The Photographic Eye website. Lots of good stuff. On eof the things they host does is a weekly feedback video. So here's one of my photos which was selected for comment:
The comment was:
I love the little angular table stuff for the diner. This again is like up my street. Super, but this is the thought process that goes through my head with this… OK, dig the chairs, the sort of wonky, half-cut table. The bankette things are really cool. What I’m not digging in the background is the service station, or whatever it is there. It doesn’t contribute to the image. So maybe I would kind of either drop the horizon down a little bit… or if I wanted to keep this background thing is kind of move around a little bit. Just something to say “what’s in the image, what works, really?”. Which is 99% of this. It’s just that stuff at the back. It’s not like it ruins the picture, but I think it detracts again from what you’re focusing on, which is the shape and the color and the textures and that kind of stuff. And just elbows its way in. It's about as welcome as a pork chop to a bar mitzvah.
He's not wrong. And I struggled at the time to minimize the impact of the drink station. Next time, I'll try a couple of variations.
I can't decide if AI is an evil treat to mankind, a useful tool, or just a silly toy. I suspect it is a bit of all 3, though it seems to be advancing at a frightening pace.
Anyway, for a giggle (and based on some recent discussions in a photo group) I decided to ask ChatGPT to analyse one of my photos. My actual prompt was "Is this photo any good?"
And the ChatGPT response, do you agree/disagree?
- - -
This photo is quite compelling — especially from an artistic and documentary perspective. Here’s a breakdown of its strengths and suggestions for improvement depending on your goal:
1. Strong Concept / Storytelling:
The contrast between the natural cornfield in the foreground and the rising suburban development behind it is visually and thematically powerful.
It evokes commentary on land use, urban sprawl, or the changing American landscape — almost like a modern-day "manifest destiny" in reverse.
2. Black & White Choice:
Stripping color out enhances the contrast and texture, and pushes the viewer to focus on form, light, and subject.
It also gives the image a timeless or slightly documentary feel, reminiscent of photojournalism.
3. Composition:
Nice horizontal balance — the horizon line and cloud-filled sky provide depth, while the rows of corn act as a textured lead-in to the homes.
1. Stronger Subject Isolation or Focus:
You might consider experimenting with deeper contrast or selective sharpening to emphasize the tension between nature and construction more clearly.
A version with selective color (e.g., green field + B&W homes) could also be striking if done tastefully.
2. Crop or Alignment:
If you're aiming for symmetry or impact, a slight crop to center the most unfinished or prominent house might tighten the composition.
3. Contextual Caption:
This photo begs for a caption or title — it could turn it from a simple landscape into a narrative image. Something like:
"Where the cornfield ends."
or
"Growth or erasure?"
If your aim is fine art, social commentary, or environmental storytelling — this is absolutely a strong photo.
If you're aiming for traditional landscape beauty, it may come across as too stark — but that's a matter of taste, not quality.
When I open my Edge browser, it starts with an msn "news" page (that's a story for another day), with aggregated stores from various sources. I've noticed lately that every day it seems to be highlighting negative economic news. Usually company closures, layoffs and the sort. Occasionally I bite on the clickbait, and find it's either overstated, or downright lying. Today, for instance:
Wow, it's been a while since I posted one of these; the last I see is ACC-124, which dates from 3/2021, but was just posted here a couple of months ago. . I'm going to have to look back and see how many I missed. I did quit entering for a while, so maybe not many. Anyway, the game is to take a semi-randomly selected album name and band name, and come up with a hypothetical album cover.
Here's my entry to Album Cover Challenge #160, way back in mid March 2021:
I was in a zoom meeting yesterday for one of my photo sites, and the moderator mentioned he had earlier been using chatGPT to come up with hashtags for an instagram post. So I figured I'd give it a try. Because I hate coming up with hashtags and keywords and such.
Here's the photo, just something from a few days ago I hadn't posted to IG:
We had a pretty solid, soaking rain the other day, and I noticed this Red Shouldered Hawk, hanging out on the back fence. I managed several photos, and hit paydirt when it turned its head with a water drop at the end of its beak. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out:
Meanwhile, one of my photo sites does a challenge that involves putting a quote with a photo, and this fit the bill. So here's the version with quote: "Some People Walk In The Rain, Others Just Get Wet_ - Roger Miller
So, recently I posted a photo I had taken for my photo cohort, a photo of a hot, hazy day at Watershed. Last week during a discussion at the photo site, we talked a lot about ChatGPT, and what it could do. I got the idea to see if it could make a decent watercolor of the photo. As a reminder, here's the photo:
I uploaded it, and entered "Turn this into a watercolor painting". And here's what it came up with:
It did surprisingly well, though I don't really like the re-crop, maybe I should've started with a 4x6 ratio photo. And it turned the bird's head. And the overall size is smaller. Then I asked (told): Make the bird more detailed", and here's the 2nd version"
It is interesting that the filter pulled more detail out of the 1st version, except for the bird. And that the bird gests bigger in each version. But the results are pretty cool. I may have to keep playing with this, wee what I can come up with. I still prefer the "real" photo.
It is almost scary though.
* In educational settings, a cohort can describe a group of students working through the same academic curriculum
I recently completed a cohort at one of my photo sites, 12 photographers, 8 sessions over 10 weeks. It was a valuable experience, as much for seeing/discussing the other students' work, as for listening to the instructor.
We had 2 assignments through the class, the last one was:
Throwback Thursday - July 2004. 21 years ago! Back in the early days digital, my pretty basic Kodak LS-443 compact digital. That was a pretty decent camera from an early compact digital. A whopping 4MP. By contrast, my current phone has 48MP, and the camera is just an extra function!.
Photo is along the Ron Foster Heritage Trail. The trail still exists, the spot isn't a lot different. It's blacktop now, though.
* In educational settings, a cohort can describe a group of students working through the same academic curriculum
I recently completed a cohort at one of my photo sites, 12 photographers, 8 sessions over 10 weeks. It was a valuable experience, as much for seeing/discussing the other students' work, as for listening to the instructor.
We had 2 assignments through the class, the first one was:
