Feb

every picture (re)tells a story

This morning I dropped by Left Bank Books in the West Village and came across a beautiful little book by Wim Wenders called “Places, Strange and Quiet.” I love Wenders’ work and with a title that spoke to my heart, I had to have it.

In the book, Wenders captures forty-four places that are melancholy and silent, yet charged with possibility. Time capsules, as he calls them. Number 9 and 10 are of a ferris wheel in Armenia from 2008. The first portrays a cloudy, calm landscape that is nostalgic and isolated. The second, from the opposite angle is sinister and exposed. Alongside the fold-out photograph is a brief passage:

“Every picture tells a story…”
Sometimes only the reverse angle
tells the truth. – Wim Wenders

9 years ago Short URL Comments

Art & Photography/Blog/Travel

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Mar

tonight I feel infinite.

downpour in the west village by meagan kirkpatrick

I took this photo over a year ago, and it’s still one of my favorites. I didn’t really know how to use my camera back then, and I’m pretty sure it’s not in focus, but there’s just something about the rain that makes one feel infinite.

Mar

endless winter.

Last week I came home from pilates just as a snow storm was setting in. Famished and tired, I bolted upstairs, inhaled an apple and some of my favorite cheese for dinner, and headed out back to capture the falling flakes.

I’m still learning my way around the 6D, but as any photographer knows, everything is new again with a new camera. And there’s something magical about watching the snow swallow the grid of the city. Here are a few of my favorite snaps from the night.

crossing 12th street by meagan kirkpatrick

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10 years ago Short URL 2 Comments

Art & Photography/Blog/New York

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Mar

cruising altitude.

cruising altitude, by meagan kirkpatrick.

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Art & Photography/Blog/Random/Travel

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Mar

I peer outside at the Rothko-like horizon.

Darkest blue, grey, marine… The windows are freckled with icy wet flakes. I pull out my phone and snap a few photos. I toggle with the filters, sending one into cyberspace with the caption “Munich Sunrise.”

Mar

These streets will never look the same.

Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like. – David Alan Harvey

If You Can Make it Here / Photo by Meagan Kirkpatrick (July 2011)

A few months ago, after shooting almost 50,000 photos on my T2i, I decided it was time to upgrade. Reticent at first, I eventually caved when a friend of mine (who taught me most of what I know about photography), sent me a text saying my “night shots could really use a full frame sensor.”

That was the final straw. I will forever be a nighttime photographer, and my Rebel T2i was like the little red caboose that couldn’t quite get up the hill.

I put my cherished and reliable friend up for sale on Facebook and with seconds of clicking “post,” it was gone.

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Feb

Still… (Reflections on Photography)

Man Underwater by Anna Vesna

I’ve always appreciated art. My brother’s an incredibly talented illustrator, and I spent almost three years working with Vimeo, where I watched films every day and attended offline screenings regularly. I was profoundly affected by the ability of motion pictures to move people, as redundant as that sounds. They can make you laugh, cry, cringe, and most of all: think.

But since coming to Shutterstock two years ago, spending countless hours among 24 million images, and then going home to my own DSLR, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the still image.

Portrait of a Girl by Aleshyn Andrei