Thanks, Tom and Bjorn, for the comments.
Tom, I took a road trip to Austin and whenever I take these road trips, I always leave time for stopping along the way and shooting whatever my eye catches. Sometimes, the trip itself is more fun than the final destination.
Bjorn, I grew up fascinated by the photos taken by Garry Winogrand and Elliott Erwitt. Both photographers brought a very sly sense of humor to their photography, something I try myself although I am not near as successful as those two gentlemen. Still, I keep trying.
My technique for processing my B&W work is really very simple- pretty much the same things I did in a wet darkroom. I think what makes the images "pop" a bit is the amount of time I spend on processing them. I am a stickler for detail and I want the images to almost have a "3-D" look to them and I also want the images to look normal to the human eye, which, as we all know, is very different than what the eye of the camera sees. It is not unusual for me to spend an hour or more on an image- usually much longer than that. Sometimes I will process an image and let it sit for a few days and come back and start again. It is very reminiscent of how I used to make wet prints.
By the way, Dire Straits is one of my favorite bands. I saw them live in Dallas several years ago.
