Foto Vida

2010-10-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

These are final selects for a group show representing work by 16 photographers (including myself) who are members of the DC based photo group "Cult of Frank". The show will open at the gallery space above Social on October 29.

Spring Fashion

2010-02-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's Spring ... if only in the fashion world. For the past two seasons I've been doing some catalog work for Hu's Shoes and their clothing store a block away, Hu's Wear - two very fine, very hot little boutiques in G-Town. If you ever want to learn how to light fast and light well, catalog work is an experience you need to have. I've posted a few of my favorites here:

( ... and in case you are wondering, I've very much learned to appreciate some of these very cool shoes.)

The basic idea when working with a white background is to light the model and the background separately. That's the only way to get the exposure you are looking for for both. Usually this means having a bit of distance between the two. I used a touch of high-pass filter in PS on these just for fun (You can see the "unfiltered" version on Hu's site). Very little, however, was done to touch up the background - just at the models feet

A-Salon (#1)

2010-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

Members of my photo group met yesterday afternoon at A-Salon in Takoma Park to try out a new studio space, and practice and share some lighting techniques. Here are a few portraits from the session.

All set ups are variations on simple 2 light set ups plus a light for the background. My main objective was to check out the space - 3oo square feet and a double cyc wall - and its rental possibilities. Infinite Space.

Interiors (#1)

2010-01-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

I just started shooting for on-line restaurant review magazine "Urban Daddy". Here is the first of what looks like will be more.

The whole shoot took an hour including set up and break down. Because things were moving quickly (we asked a patron or 2 to move at the bar) I shot everything with 2 speedlights. The color balance with these things are always the trick. I set my camera to daylight and gelled the flashes with a 1/4 CTO. I let the lights read just a bit to warm things up. The warm paint and wood created another layer of tonality.

You can read the article here.

Style Profile (#3)

2010-01-13T07:35:00.000-08:00

Damn ... It's been a long while since I put one of these up. I've been busy, busy with "work" photography and much less so with things that I care to put up on line. At some point I'm sure they will make it ... For now another Brightest Young Things shoot.

BYT has been working on a list of best dressed - I've been told the list's origins, but it slips my mind. I've wanting to work on some editorialish, fashiony, portrait-type work for a bit now. I love people and lighting and I am looking to find a way to take my technique up - and especially to see if I can discover the limitations of the lighting gear that I own - happily I think I still have some room to grow. When I was asked if I would be willing to do some photography for this project I jumped at the chance. The shots here are from the 3rd shoot, Tyler Lee Larish, a stylist with Immortal Beloved in Logan Circle. I'll be sure and get some pics of the other two shoots at some point.

Here are a few of my favorites from the interview - go here for the BYT post.

The rest are on my flickr page.

For 2 of the interior shots I was lighting with 3 speedlights - one light aimed at the wall behind the camera to create an ambient light level, the second with an umbrella aimed at the subject for a bit of fill (the light that created the ambient tended to be the strongest source in the small space - I suppose I could have reversed it, but that's the set up that I liked that I "found" first. Or, maybe it isn't as easy as I think, because I was trying to stay with a small f-stop??), the third light with a snoot aimed at the subject to get a bit of punch on the face and to create a little vignette in the frame.

I was really happy with the play of hard and soft shadows and the evenness of the light. The speedlights are a bit hard to control with the slow recycle time, but I think it turned out well ... with a happy accident or two - note my elbow shadow in the first portrait. My next goal is to try to add some shadows with a bit more intent and to control the shadows and specular on the background a bit more. I'm renting a studio for an afternoon with some friends next Monday, hopefully I'll be able to work on this and a few other things then.

Festival Month

2009-09-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

I made it up to Mount Pleasant for the Latino Festival yesterday. There are a lot of festivals in September - Adams Morgan Day, H St Festival, Ren Fair just to name a few - all with requisite crafts, crowds, lemonade stands, and a variety of foods grilled and/or fried and consumed on a stick. Few in my mind compared to the spectacle of the Latino Fest yesterday. I made it to the Ren Fair the day before - brought my film camera with high hopes, but feeling a bit uninspired, I managed only a few shots. Yesterday I topped 800 with my digital - so many bright colors and open faces, and genuine pride conveyed by each participant. It made me feel like I was seeing something very special.

All and all probably a few too many pictures, but ... so much to see. I hope you take a bit of time to view the rest of the set here, and better yet see it for yourself when September comes around again.

Lukas

2009-08-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

After a couple of months of talk, I finally got the ball rolling on a fashion / editorial project with my friend Lukas. (Why does it always seem to take such a long time to achieve any sort of artistic collaboration in this town? - just saying ... ) Here are a few shots that we are hoping to use as a springboard for the real thing. They are shot with my DSLR. Each uses a pair of small strobes to create or enhance the existing lighting.

Not to bad for a first go-round ... I'm thinking 4x5 for the final images

Know Your Rights

2009-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

Some photog friends of mine were having a discussion last week regarding photographer's rights while taking pictures in public. I wanted to put up this link regarding a photographer's first amendment rights. Printable reminder here.

More photos - hopefully - later in the week! Best,

B(L)ackstage at the Black Cat - It's Friday! Come read my Blog!

2009-08-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

First a few photos from the Black Cat earlier this week - then a little rant.

I've got all this stuff about photography going on in my head these days. The feeling is a bit like being a flea on the back of a dog that's spinning to catch its tail. (or maybe it's just a leftover from my week of country solitude - minus 5 dogs and an old tabby cat) Anyway, I've been doing this gig with an on-line magazine called Brightest Young Things (or BYT for short) just for a bit of fun and exposure, and it has been fun - press credentials, free entry into events, etc. The best part is I'm basically free to roam photographically speaking. Again, maybe not be the best thing since it has got me thinking and feeling a bit flea-ish.

However, and I think this is my point, I have come to certain (possibly fleeting) conclusions about camera technology and the medium. First, the camera is a wonderful tool with endless possibilities, and in my head it kind of irks me to hear good people say limiting things like, "I don't like flash; I only use available light" or "this camera is bad because of the high ISO grain, so avoid 3200 ISO", or "if you do use flash it should be off camera", and face recognition focusing - what's that? Which leads me to my next point. As camera technology becomes better and better my inner flea is saying it's going to become easier to take photos that look just like everyone else's, and who really wants that?

Several month's ago I'm watching some music in the Black Cat's "Backstage" room, and there's this guy taking pics with a flash, and he has one of these little white domes on top of his flash to "soften" the light or something. The idea being the dome allows some of the light to escape out the side of the flash and bounce off the walls, ceiling, etc. to fill shadows and reduce the harshness of the light. However, the Backstage walls are flat black, and the ceiling is like 14 feet high, so the only thing he was accomplishing with this little dome was to blind the audience behind him. It didn't matter what direction he swiveled his flash or how many times he looked at his preview window it wasn't going to work - It certainly didn't matter how many times he repeated the mantra about creating "soft" light ... at a divey rock show ... in a pitch black basement of a back room. I think you get the idea.

Long story short, when I was asked to shoot a small rock show, Royal Bang up from TN, the other night at the Cat, I jumped (get it ... flea ... jump) at the chance. Whew! And the flea will now retire from his soapbox. At least the dog has stopped spinning for the time being. Which is a pretty good thing.

We're Movin' to the Country

2009-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sadly, just a week of house sitting in southern VA, so a taste is all it was. We packed ourselves and some light provisions plus our 2 dogs and 3 ferrets, and we drove 4 hours, past cell phone coverage and past the range of a reasonably speedy internet. Our final destination 2 acres of land and our friends country cottage where we joined our cadre with their 3 country dogs, 4 chickens, a horse and an old orange tabby. Not really much to do but eat fresh - eggs from the hens and blackberries, just past season - sit under the walnut trees while listening to the finches and the humming birds - walk through the neighboring tree farm - laze in the river, not even a rope swing to get things moving. (more here - warning - many, many dog shots)

( Yes, that is a horse turd in my dog's mouth)

6 second hand held shot under the full moon.

Shots from the Road

2009-06-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Summer is just started and it's already flying by - a few shots from the car window as we make our way out to Senica, WV for a bit of camping, relaxing and rock climbing.

Honfleur - Impressions of an Art Opening

2009-04-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

I attended a fun photo opening at a very special little gallery in Anacostia last weekend. You can read about the Honfleur Gallery here. The show was a collaboration between 4 pairs of local fashion designers and photographers and was co-produced by Rachel Cothran (Project Beltway) and Heather Goss (Ten Miles Square).

WARNING: Photo Geek Stuff Ahead (Please feel free to skip ahead and just look at the photos.)

In my continuing effort to deconstruct the "art-gallery-event-opening" genre of photo journalism (just kidding - sort of - but see here anyway) I handheld my rangefinder camera set to f16 at 1/2sec. and finished off a role of Delta 3200. f16 gave me a DOF of between 8' and infiniti - so basically I just set it and snapped away.

The idea came from an image that I took while in the Dominican Republic. The image is sharp in places, but it also has a softness from both the DOF and from a slower shutter speed - probably about 1/30 of a second. I really found myself being drawn into the photo, and I wanted to try and recreate the effect - plus the rangefinder isn't a whole lot of fun to focus.

So ... here's a quick selection. The rest here.

... and one last photo, the only one of the bunch where I changed the exposure or focused - really just happy about this one, because I guessed at the camera settings based on the pics from the Easter shoot the previous weekend.

A Russian Easter

2009-04-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a 4 week photo essay workshop with Frank Van Riper at Glen Echo Park, and it has given me a great reason to make some fun photos (not to mention gotten me back on my bike for the ride out to Glen Echo). I think that photographers at all levels would benefit from this kind of motivation - for this reason alone the class has been well worth the time and money.

For the class we are encouraged to come up with a set of photos (12ish) to form a narrative. I chose to photograph Easter mass at a St John, a Russian Orthodox church in North West DC. I had photographed the mass there 2 years ago, and I wanted to expand on the idea of those images by documenting the preparation for the holiday, and by meeting some of the people in the church community.

I photographed on two days. The first day I shot was the day before Palm Sunday when the church spruce up happens. I even got to ride the lift that was driven into the main gathering space to dust the chandelier and change the old incandescent light bulbs to energy efficient LED's - is their anything better than "camera privileges". The second day I shot was Easter mass, which is celebrated by candle light late on Saturday night. The bells tole as Saturday becomes Sunday and Jesus rises. (The Orthodox church celebrates Easter a week after the Christian church)

More shots here.

The first set of photos was shot with my Nikon F3 using a 50mm or 28mm lens with old school Kodak ISO400, C-41 type black and white film. The candle light mass shots were taken with either my Mamiya 7 or my old Canon L-2 rangefinder camera using Delta 3200. Using available light I hand held all the shots at f4 and w/ speeds of 1/15 or 1/30 of a second.

A special thanks to Father John and the church community who showed me around, and made me feel most welcome.

The Piano

2009-03-28T11:39:00.001-07:00

Quiz time:

You are a professional photographer. A friend who you havn't spoken to in several weeks (Mike, I don't care if you have been in Tanzania all month) calls you up, because he needs help moving Joys piano. Do you:

Reply "Hey sure, how hard could that be?"
Confuse him with the line rhetorically sticky line about "a friend in need"
Tell him your back if feeling a bit tweaked and you hurt your shoulder throwing the tennis ball for the dog - not entirely untrue.
Explain to him that you are a photographer and do not work for free.
Grab your camera and go.

Continue on for the answer.

It's a beauty, made in the mid 1800's in London.

Why does Joy look so worried ...

... Oh ... right.

It was a bit tight. Lucky for everyone I had my leatherman in my camara bag, so they could remove the top and get it into the back of the van.

We still almost lost Rob.

Justin's new facebook photo?

Faux-hawk portraits.

Doesn't look that heavy to me. In case you were wondering I did ask them to turn the piano around, so the back wasn't facing me. These guys were so not on the ball.

Spring Cleaning

2009-03-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'm re-vamping the portfolio, removing photos that don't fit and in the case of the Pogues' 9:30 Club show, making a new home for them on my blog. It isn't that I wouldn't want to be known as a concert photographer, each week ticking off another show from the list of 100 acts to see before you die (or before they do?). But .. well .. take a look here, and tell me who the rock star is.

***

Set one: Shane takes a drag from a cigarette and spits into the mike. The packed house howls and sways, and we raise our drinks and pretend to understand what he is saying. Shane plays on. His body is old and broken. His music is not. Two songs, and he takes a break, exiting stage left, down the stairs and into the blackness (or as Shane might say, "blech"). I get the impression that he is being taken away to his dressing room on a two-wheeled dolly cart. Set two: I raise my camera, a 1957 Canon rangefinder L-2, into the air and snap a photo. The bouncer points and tells me, "No professional cameras!" What this old thing? .. well yes the lens does come off .. but this old thing? Come on! "Fine" he says smugly, "Not enough light without a flash anyway. You're just wasting your time." snap, snap, snap. Thanks .. and in case you missed it, Shane is smoking on stage again.

Getting Back - Working Backwards

2009-03-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

Time to restart - i.e. This post's title has little to do with its content, if anything it is a reminder that I havn't done this for several months, and that this is a starting point, and that this point will be proceeded and followed by other posts that I've had in my head during these last months of winter. Time pauses; the narative now moves in both directions.

***

Things have been slow, but opportunities are coming (and so I continue to be happy in photographer mode). Several weeks ago I was excited to be invited to a special press day with Maya Lin at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. (Thank you Rachel!)

Maya Lin, for those who don't know, was only 20 and still in undergraduate school when she submitted the winning entry for the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall. Today Maya functions as an architect, sculptor, and memorialist - all the while refusing any of these titles, instead refering to herself as an Artist. (I might also add humanist, environmentalist and activist to the list.)

Her appearance was thoroughly enjoyable. After a brief introduction delivered from behind a clear lexan podium, Maya led a group of jurnalists, students and special guests through the exhibit upstairs. She was exceedingly generous with her time, answering questions for more than an hour as we walked from room to room - always patient, thoughtful, introspection but not lacking in energy, passion or joy - at one point climbing the sloping side of one of her sculptures and suggesting that she would like to find a few days where visitors are encouraged to do the same.

A true rendition of the light was difficult with small flash and equal amounts of natural light from the skylights and from the incandescent gallery lights. As one moves from room to room I think this only adds to the understanding of the pieces and to the aesthetic of the photos, so I let it be what it was. I rented a fixed f2.8 zoom - trying to convince myself that I don't need to buy one yet - to try some more things with DOF. I've been pretending that the zoom lenses that I've been using are fixed by pre-visualizing my photo, setting the zoom on the lens, and then looking through the viewfinder to compose the photo - doing this is helping me to learn the effects of different lens length and f-stop combinations. I also find my pictures are better when I use a fixed lens (and my feet to zoom).

Again .. Go! see the show! More photos here.

2 New Portraits

2008-10-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

So - something a bit different. I've enjoyed doing portraits for a while now. Before I started this photo thing, I really like painting them. There's just something really nice about working with people and expressions and light, and even though I'm trained as an architect, I find working with people much more engaging than the hard rational line or, for that matter, the landscape . Here's a couple recent experiments:

The first photo is taken with Maria under a tree, back lit by the setting sun, with a bit of on camera fill flash on her face. The ambient is intentionally underexposed, so the flash on her face pops a bit. I used several Photoshop masks/photo-filters to darken and cool the edges of the photo and also to warm the light on her face. My intent was only to enhance the original capture, so the final here is not really unlike the original.

The second image is a studio shoot with Rachel. I lit her face with a single soft-box. The backdrop was lit by a speed-light that was gelled with a light blue gel to give the background a tone similar to her eye color. Overall I like the image, but I was going for a specific look, so the original capture needed a bit more PS work. Take a look at Platon to get an idea about what I was up to. I love the way he lights his subject and the background "correctly". His subjects seem to be enveloped in the light and not just lit by it. My favorite aspect of his work is that he is using a very simple, often single, light set up. I'm really in favor of this non-gearcentric approach and just learning to do a few things really well. I think it allows him to concentrate on his subject and releases him from fussing with his equipment. A couple things that I noted about his images while trying to reproduce the effect:

First, the single light that he uses appears a bit higher, so the light is a bit more raking. This brings out a bit more detail in the skin - not very flattering maybe - and with Rachel's smooth skin it may not have made a difference. I do think the higher light does add some weight to the images.

Second, the light on the backdrop doesn't reflect to create a hair light effect on the subject allowing a crisp line that separates the sitter from the background. I had a lot of trouble getting this balance right in my little studio and still haven't figured out how to spot the background effectively yet. I'm sure that Platon does some PS work to get the final pics, but not what I had to go through. Anyway - love this stuff, and looking forward to doing more of it. Any takers? Drop me a note.

Why I like photographing kids

2008-10-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I did my second kid photo session - I think from now on instead of "photo session" I will use the term "kid safari" - so lets start over .. Last weekend I went on a "kid safari", find a kid, travel to an "exotic" location (National Mall), turn him/her loose, and the chase is on! Just change the "big" in big game hunting to "little", and there you have it. Kids are great, and I think it would be tons of fun to do full time.

With this in mind, if there are folks who are reading this with children or who know anyone with children, I'm building a portfolio and am offering my services free - limited time only. All I'd ask is to allow me to use the images in my portfolio, a few kind words on your neighborhood parent list serve, and maybe a free juice box during the shoot.

So a few reasons why I like to take photos of kids:

They always try hard at everything.
Their attention span is comparable to my own.
They are curious about everything.
They eat dirt.
They are drooley and their noses run.
They don't worry about double chins or which is their good side.

Here is a selection of my favorite images from the afternoon: (you can see more totally unedited, bug bites and all, pics here.)

A few things to note in the categories of "lessons learned" and "things to practice". In framing the subject, I think in general it is very important to 1) create space around the subject and 2) get all of the important body parts in the frame. I'm all for breaking the rules, but there are a number of shots that I think would have been nicer if I had gotten a bit more of the foot or the pointing finger or the ear, etc. Initially I think its very hard to concentrate on the entire frame and not just center the eyes in the middle of the picture, leaving off feet or hands. Once the subject is framed I am then looking to compose the picture using other background elements, a ray of light, the edge of a building, a spot of color, etc. Not saying that I always get it, this is a reminder to myself as much as anything that these are things that I want to practice. A few other notes. 1) Get down to the kids level. 2) Kids love to climb up, get down, peak over and around. These are all good opportunities for shots. 3) The catch light is best when there is maximum contrast between shade and sunlight. Most of these shots were done with the kid in the shade and with some aspect of sunlight filling, bouncing, filtering in, etc. 4) Set the camera focusing to continuous, because this might as well be a sporting event.

I shot all of these with my 70-210 lens and with some degree of on camera fill flash.

What are you wearing? A selection of black.

2008-10-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Just a few days after the blue jean fashion show at the Swedish Embassy, Maria and I rented a car, slipped on our biggest, blackest boots and drove out to the not quite anywhere, not quite somewhere of northern Virginia, a.k.a. the burbs, for a heavy metal music review at Jaxx Night Club.

First, let me say that I think everyone needs to fear (and at least be very suspicious of) the suburbs. This goes double when the reason for being there is named the Slave to the Metal Tour. So let's just say that our first impression of the place did little to alleviate this fear, or help us forget the hour we just traveled through rain and rush hour.

Situated between a Lebanese restaurant and a Korean-neon convenience store in one of those totally foreign, oddly similar strip malls, Jaxx, an icon of metal music to those "in the know", was .. well .. smelly (I totally forget what smoke in a bar is like.), a bit torn up, a bit torn down and very well worn. The most solid thing about the club being the pipe metal railing separating the stage from the sunken mosh pit (no glass bottles please), realm of sweat and teens with hawks (and intrepid photographers of which we were several). Not that it was a problem when no one patted me down at the door after I set off the metal detector, but somewhere in the back of my mind I did recall that possession of a fire arm is legal in VA bars ..

Fortunately, it didn't take long to forget the trek. Our initial suspicion, slammed and shaken when the music kicked on (with many thank you's from the bands to the sound technician - always the first sign of a good venue). Really and truly I miss this sort of music. Plus, I was allowed to get up on stage for some close up action shots!

Really, I love shooting in these conditions, when the light ranges from total darkness to blaring spots. I know it throws a lot of people into fits - but with music raging I find it hard to care. I shot all of these in RAW but did little to edit them beyond - what else - bumping up the black intensity level. You can see some of my favorites below - not all the best perhaps - but I'm trying to create a sense of the music and the venue with the set. You can view the rest (500+ images including Maria mugging at the Chinese food restaurant next door) here. My strategy was to move around a lot, try different angles, wait for some interesting light, frame the subject, but also compose the shot with the background in mind. Enjoy - I did.

A very special thanks to Tom and the entire band, DieManic , our host for the evening, who invited us out, and provided us a pair of free passes.

Fashion in the House of Sweden

2008-10-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Another fashion event last Friday night. This one at the "House of Sweden" on the Georgetown waterfront. The featured designer - Nudie Jeans, a Swedish, eco-minded apparel company with a message combining green business practices, human rights awareness, and rock and roll. Take some time out and read about them. They are doing some really cool work.

I arrived just in time to grab some shots of the embassy as the sun dipped low. It's a fabulous building both inside and out and it's in a fabulous location - later it was noted that it was the only embassy with a waterfront view - very nice. If I were an architectural writer and not just an architect, I might be able to speak poetically about it's clean modern lines, imaginative use of materials, and it's open democratic facade. However, that's not my talent, so check out some of the photos. Better yet, go see the building for yourself. They would love to have you I'm sure.

So, cool space + fashion + rock-n-roll = lots of great picture taking opportunities. Here are some of my favorites (the rest are here - er .. not quite yet):

The lighting was really all over the place. On the roof the light was dropping fast and was eventually overwhelmed by some harsh spots (One has to wonder if the neighborhood historic review board (OGB) or NPS forbade installation of lights to keep the light pollution down). On the first level the main space was lit by a gorgeous "light ceiling", a stippled plenum (note geeked out architecture word) that gave the whole space a wonderful even glow - great fun for photos and low enough to bounce fill flash. Also, during the main event the stair connecting the lower level and the first level was used as a vertical runway, and it was lit by some hard video lights - much brighter than ambient. The models would ascend the stair through a glaring spot and then turn into what the camera perceived as relative darkness - pretty challenging (unless your were feeling the rock music, and then it didn't really matter that much).

For all the different lighting conditions I made an attempt to balance the different ambient and flash to give a believable (not necessarily a realistic) look to the scene. In most cases this meant a slow shutter and wide f-stop. I also tried to tune into the different colors of the different light sources - the blue of the early evening sky, the orange video lights, etc. Inside I bounce the flash a lot (even in some cases off of the floor while I crouched down during the fashion show).

During the fashion show, I also took a number of shots out of focus. First because I thought it was in keeping with the presentation of the jeans - tattooed models, rock music, and hard lighting. Second because I was interested in seeing the quality of the bokeh for the lens that I rented. (if you don't know the word bokeh - you should check it out, because its kind of cool)

(note: I promise to make all of your wedding photos very sharp and wonderful)

To the folks at the House of Sweden - tack så mycket! (I learned that when I visited back in 2000, and its always nice to hear the language)

Where's DC (to me)?

2008-09-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

Fall makes me restless, very restless. A teasing, tapping, breeze saying, "no time to sit". I let my hair down, do a little dance, and bask in what the summer no longer holds in its sweaty little grasp. At least that was the experience of my youth growing up in a place of sharply delineated seasons. Today DC is my reality, so when September comes and the thermometer still reads "90" I get confused - actually, really confused. (I recently confirmed the effect with a high-school friend now living in Virginia Beach.)

A direct result of my confused state, two nights ago I didn't fall asleep until well after 3am. During the night I began retracing my steps, asking myself how I ended up here and what I had left to see in this very oddly shaped city. Trying to recount my earliest memories from pre-k and asking myself what the meaning of this photographic life I'm trying to create is, a real late night jumble of thoughts to be sure which almost had me biking down to the Mall to watch the sun come up.

When the day finally arrived I grabbed my camera and wandered down to the mall, to search, perhaps, for some evidence of the fall, or at the very least to break out of the house, get away from the computer and make use of a beautiful (albeit warm) day.

I settled on the idea of blocking familiar, idealized views of the capital. ("Hey! It looks just like Where's Waldo", exclaimed Maria.) The idea opened a world of new possibilities. Everything was in play - fire hydrants, tour buses, and parking meters. My inspiration: a friend's suggestion to photography her kid on the mall looming over the Washington Monument. My dis-inspiration (is that a bit like saying ir-regardless??): stock DC images, Jeffer-sun-set, White (fluffy clouds) House, and other idealized riffs(-raff).

Here are my favorites: (See if you can find the Capital building in each of these images!)

More here:

.. and in case anyone is wondering. For these pics I got out my old Nikon AI 28mm manual focus lens (I find that manual, and especially fixed lenses allow/force me to think and move, resulting in better photos. The 28mm being one of my favorite when attached to my old F3, a bit less so with the digital zoom factor when attache to the D300, but still wider than normal) and a polarizing filter to darken the sky (also allowed for wider f-stops and freedom to play with DOF), and on some a bit of fill flash (just from the camera's pop up). I've been spending too much time in front of the computer playing with Photoshop and the like, so here I'm shooting and showing -just a bit of a vignette added to draw the eye into the center of the frame.

I think I may still add to the set - Maybe with a telephoto, maybe some other monuments with some day break mauve or an orange dusk.

.. oh and this from the botanical garden, because I just like the name and that it's from Brazil

Fashion of Goodwill

2008-09-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm just realizing - not a lot of blogging for the last few weeks (apologies to my faithful fan base - wink, wink.). That's all fine and good, because I've been substantially busy with some actual picture taking, so, while blogging is fun, I would much rather be taking photos. The best part of all this picture taking? Some of it is actually paying! - still waiting for the check to be true - but, in theory, a real paying gig. Maybe even more exciting, the images may actually be published. For now we'll just say I'm theoretically published with a promise to keep you all (wink, wink) posted.

On Thursday night I attended a really fabulous event, the Fashion of Goodwill fundraiser held at the French embassy (Thank you Brendan and Em for the press pass!). You can read more about the event in this Washington Post article, and read what other people are writing here and here.

For such a fabulous occasion, I thought it more than appropriate to rent a really fabulous lens, the Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VR - hot dog! (rent yours here for just $30/day, but be sure to reserve ahead of time). As photographers there are often times when we forced to admit that the right high-end gear will not improve our picture taking ability. This is not one of those times. Even though I already own a perfectly good 70-210, sharp and lovely for studio sessions - slow and dumb in low light, I could not have taken these runway shots without this fast VR lens. Granted the 2.8 VR is about the size of my forearm, and by the end of the runway show, my back was tired and a bit cranky. However, the lens performed flawlessly. Even when I turned the lens into the lights for that rock-n-roll wedding dress effect the lens was only occasionally fooled. Basically, if I missed a shot with this baby it was, in all likely hood, my own darn fault. Here are a few of the ones pointed directly into the light - love the view. FYI, these pics were shot in RAW but are pretty much right out of the box as they say.

More photos from the evening including more straight on runway shots can be viewed at my flickr site here.

There's Nothing Like the Fair

2008-08-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of some time away from the work place, I visited my parents earlier this summer on Cape Cod, the place where I grew up. I hadn't been back to "The Cape" during the summer months for a long while. As luck would have it, it was the week of the Barnstable County Fair. For us locals the fair really seems to get to the heart of the Cape's culture in a way that boating, the beach and country clubs don't. Needless to say I was anxious to share it with Maria. Being a Cape event means that it isn't big, crowded and overwhelming, nor is it small and boring. Instead it's more like just enough, basically a fun event where people of all ages can come to enjoy all the same things - just maybe for different reasons. One of my best fair memories was of Arlo Guthrie performing Alice's Restaurant when I was probably about 8. At the fair you have arts and crafts, farm animals of all types, giant vegetables, tractor pulls, a petting zoo and of course .. funnel cake (or if you are from New England just fried dough). Oh right! and of course rides and a midway with prizes that can probably be purchased for half the price of a play (or maybe a Chinese worker's day rate - but I digress). I wish I had all week to photograph and not just one night, because to me it's amazing that all of this still exists. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Something we never had growing up was the "demolition derby". We went Wednesday night especially to see this. Maria, being into recycling and repurposing and all things "green", I think had the idea that smashing already junked cars together into a rusty, unrecognizable pulp was all at once totally idiotic and, in a Bizarro World sort of way, a wicked awesome use of garbage. Either way it was very high drama, and she begged me to stay for a few rounds.

If you squint you can see some of the dirt that is hitting my camera from this spin out.

And of course - FIRE! The firemen on hand took an eternity to cross the arena to put out the blaze as the driver frantically waived his arms for them to hurry it up. I love the faces as the crowd reacts!

And the winner is .. #7! - well at least he was judged to have won this round. Someone said the car was a Gremlin, to me it looks more like a Colt. It was pretty hard to tell. The best part, beside the fact that the car was 1/2 the size of just about any of the other cars, was that both its rear wheels were those little spare donuts that you keep in the trunk in case of a flat.

To pay homage to the driver and his little auto, I spent a bit of time editing the photo in a "cinematic style" using a Photoshop tutorial I found on line here - not too bad. I think it's fun to play with these sorts of things. I don't know if its something that I would necessarily use in terms of "photography" (it's a bit more graphic design), but I think that its a good lesson in perception.

Oh right! Rides ..

Kids and Cameras

2008-08-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

I photographed my first two-year old last weekend, a little girl belonging to some good friends of mine. I had done some portraits of other children - both older and younger - but not a two year old! I'm sure every age has its challenges, but after this humbling experience (one that I oddly enough aspire to have again), I can easily imagine this age to be among the most challenging. I planned the shoot for an open grassy clearing protected by large shade trees in an area adjacent to the C&O Canal. The idea was to be able to shoot in all directions to best capture the fast moving subject. I used the dappled light that filtered through the trees to create interest in the background and the bright sky beyond to create the catch light in the eyes (and in some cases a blown-out, highly illuminated background). The location was a good one, resulting in some very nice images. Above all else, I was happy that I didn't suggest a "studio" session, which I'm certain would have failed miserably. To start, there was no way that she was going to sit still! Then there was her general feeling about the camera being pointed in her direction. When she wasn't hiding from me, she was vividly scowling in my direction - I was told that she summed up my performance a few days after the shoot when she told daddy, "I no say cheese, Mark scary". I was, however, (somewhat) comforted by the fact that she also thinks the evil electric eels in the Little Mermaid are "nice". Anyway - two year olds - whew. Here are a few of my favorites.

More of the set here.

One last thought as I reflect on the experience - to some degree or other everyone wants to see children smiling for the camera - seems natural enough to want to think so. The following, however, is the image that dad says is her "classic shy" way. Maybe then in some way this capture will remind them more of how she was as a little girl - that's the goal I'm guessing - and then at least I don't need to worry so much about not getting a smile sent my way.

Its "All Good"

2008-08-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

My first photo Blog – a quick reminder of a place that I’ve visited before and may not return to again, the All Good Music Festival, in Masontown, WV.

I took pics of all sorts of things. Most in the category of typical summer music festival photos - i.e.: sunsets, hay fields, tents and trailers, umbrellas, bubbles, hats, Frisbees, body art, hips and hoops and groups of friends lounging in the grass, bright colors, festival fare - A setting provided, people acting the part. I did my best to capture the textures and temperature and to create a set of images that would take me back at some date in the future.

You can see the images here.

With so much of the expected I decided to give myself an assignment, so I spent one afternoon photographing folks and their sunglasses. The idea struck me as a good one with everyone having a pair - most of them funky, and it was a good excuse to say "hello", point the camera directly into their face and snap a photo, one that was intimate and expressive but still provided the subject with a degree of anonymity. The best part was, I got to be in most of the shots via the reflection (that's me there with the Red Sox hat on, festival goings-on over my shoulder). Everyone got a kick out of the idea. I would like to have taken some more, but at some point the crowd expanded. The volume of the music rose to the point that I couldn’t easily explain the idea.

These are the best of them (probably about half). I made some small adjustments in post production to kick up the intensity of the sun and the colors - hopefully not so much that the effect distracts, and they look fake. I'm still working on some PS techniques. I'm seeking some help from a more knowledgeable friend on Monday - maybe I'll do a few "before lesson" and "after lesson" side-by-sides to show off what I learn.

... and one more of Maria's sox (ha! take that spell check.)