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A Self-Portrait of Graceland


A Self-Portrait of Graceland
Photo Information
Copyright: Reed Radcliffe (rlrad) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 139 W: 10 N: 338] (1301)
Genre: People
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-05-01
Categories: Daily Life, Humorous, Architecture, Decisive Moment, Friends/Family, Portrait
Camera: Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/25 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Map: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Travelogue: Memphis In May
Theme(s): Photos of my favorite photographers [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-05-10 20:09
Viewed: 2123
Points: 12
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This was shot on the Graceland tour in Memphis, Tennessee last week on our Memphis in May trip. Graceland is an amazing place, drawing some 60 thousand people through it's doors every year. The tour is like a cattle drive, you queue up and wait for a bus to take you across Elvis Presley Boulevard to the actual grounds, then queue up in front of the house to wait to be allowed entrance to the mansion. Then you are herded through the rooms slowly, close enough to the people in front and behind you to get to know them very closely. The sound of tour guides screaming "NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY! TURN OFF THE FLASH ON YOUR CAMERA!" is still echoing in my mind. Why is it so many tourists keep their flash enabled when they take their vacation snapshots?

Graceland has been left in pretty much the same state as it was when Elvis died in 1977. Hence, tourists are subjected to quite a bit of shag carpet and mirrored ceilings. This photograph was taken while walking down the basement steps to the billiard room. The walls and ceiling are covered with mirrors. Since we were moving slow I figured I would take an opportunity to get this shot. That's me holding the Nikon with the shiny Sigma super-wide lens, and my celebrity-seeking wife, Linda. She wore her sunglasses all weekend long, even in the rain and I never quite figured it out, but did screw up and tease her about it once. Of course, when I did that, she left them at the hotel and the sun came out for a little while... Figures.

Anyway, this is just day two of Memphis in May, tomorrow I will be back to the blues, but I'll likely sneak some other Graceland shots in from time to time. I do have another on TE today, too.

Have a great week!
lebjohnson, mukesh, teamill, shelbeesmom, Reflex, gcifromsocal has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Reed
Comme promis, je suis venu admirer l'originalité de ce self-portrait. Tu as eu un bon réflexe et tu as réussi en plus une belle composition aux belles teintes, les déformations des personnages apportant un petit côté étrange et drôle à la fois.
Amicalement
JJ

Very unusual self prtrait Reed. Well caught (I like your non-
chalance there - quite thematic!) The distortion of 10-20 is
making the unusual proportions thrown up by escalator slant,
even more eerie. Very well and sharply done

Mukesh

Very cool shot Reed, and again the note is very informative, and also well-written and made me laugh!
Yes, I've heard before about being herded like cattle through this place, but I'm sure it's so interesting, and I would surely go there too, if I ever had the chance ... even though I've never been an Elvis fan in any way, shape or form!! (yikes .. dare I say that?!?)
Great perspective here, showing the cattle moving obediently through the stairwell. Great idea to shoot up into the mirror. You were all wearing headphones as part of the tour, I take it?
Nice original shot Reed.
Have a great week
Trudy

HAHA! Awesome Reed! That is cool that you saw this, and were able to take the shot, even moving, with low light! You could not have used flash here at all..geez, we would have 20 flashes! Good job on this! The lady in the red seems to be enjoying the fact that she is in the picture! HAHA!
B-)
Linda

  •      
  • pozaru Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3606 W: 843 N: 2570] (20182)
  • [2009-05-13 5:03]

hehehe, what a cool shot !


congrats&thanks,
v

Very creative shot ! Not easy to take this : you have a short time to try and you did it well. Original vertical composition with a good control of the light. Well done !
Best regards
Jean

Hi Reed - Very clever and creative self-portrait. Good use of the super-wide.
Have a great weekend!
Gilbert

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