Video from a fellow traveler….

This is a video from Zack Arias- His video touched me because the questions and musings are so close to my very own….
OK – WordPress won’t allow me to “embed the video- so here’s a link.

Zack Arias-Transform

You know it when you see it…

I don’t always get a wall hanger “the perfect shot” everytime I’m out. Sometimes I get crap  documentary shots of the locations I visit. This is one of them.
But that’s not what I’m pointing out today- nope, I’m here to tell you about what happens when you start to develop a point of view….

Power outage

Epiphany zone ahead

The power was out at my home last night-  it made me think a little about how we live parallel lives nowadays.
I started to noticed that the only photos that existed were the ones that were printed and on display- The ones in my computer ceased to exist until power would be returned.
I thought about how many people a day I interact with online as opposed to “real life” and surprised myself with how many people I would lose contact with if it were a permanent situation. ( I didn’t mind the “no TV thing- I would’ve watched something I downloaded on my Ipod Touch if I got desparate!)
Most of us seemingly live a “normal” life everyday, and never give the “cyberworld” we live in a second thought- but for a brief moment ( OK, a couple of hours) I was firmly planted in the one world and not the other-I felt suddenly a bit out of place. THAT was a strange feeling.
It’s not that being online, or having electronic photographs is where I prefer to live- it’s just a part of who I am now. I’m able to communicate with more people, share new ideas from across the country, hear what others have to say; that I wouldn’t be able to any other way.
 But , by the same token- it’s nice to unplug for a while and take stock of the things that make up a life- here and now.
I live connected in both worlds.

15 Year update #2

I’ve sort of gotten bogged down looking thru my negatives and slides lately- I’m catagorizing them into “scan piles” or which ones I think are the best use of valuable scanner time!

15 year update #1

I’ve found that after the first couple of steps on any journey, the road seems easier to travel. Keeping that in mind……

I’ve started going thru old slides and editing the ones to scan- we are talking thousands here! I have counted close to 5,000 being thrown away so far!
One of the things to realize, especially for those that have never shot film before ( can that really be true!?!-YEP ) is that as a slide shooter B.D. ( Before Digital) I would have to shoot multiple frames of the same subject in case I needed to send an original off for publication, or if one got a scratch or something.
And of course, there were those slides that I previously kept that were the best I could do at the time. With time comes experience, and with experience comes a more critical eye- hence , the massive editing of my slides!

The cool thing is, in a way, it’s become a retrospective look at where I’ve been- and this isn’t always possible with digital. We tend to delete what doesn’t work and keep the “keepers”- With slides and negatives, you have to go back and thru them occasionally to see what you’ve got- and then it’s there right in front of you- your mistakes you’ve learned from, the images that almost worked, the things you see you want to go back and re-shoot, etc.
That’s where I’m at now- I’ve found images/slides that have inspired me to go and reshoot them, to do them better now that I can. 
I moved on from film years ago- I don’t miss scanning frames and touching up dust- something I’ll be facing again REALLLLY SOOOOON! But as far as the experience, I wouldn’t trade it for anything- In order to see where you’re going; sometimes you’ve got to see where you’ve been….

Here’s the link to the original “15 years”  post- You’ll be able to find this series by looking at the tags on the right if you want

15 years of stuff

I’ve been very good about my workflow and making sure that all new images have been catagorized and put in my computer system for easy retrieval, but what about all the previous work I’ve done? well, read on….

My take on cooking up images.

 

   Someone saw an article in a magazine lately that showed how to do a certain technique to get a certain look to an image. Just happened to be a look that I happen to like; in fact -I do to a lot of my work. ( the “Weiner” above is an overexagerated version, ok? Or maybe not sooo much, hmmmm….)

I was asked how that made me feel- having my “secret” out there for everyone to see….hmmmm.. The “politically correct” answer or how it made me REALLY feel?

How about both?

   First of all, I’ve written “how to’s” for Lexar, Fujifilm, PPS, WV Wild and Wonderful, to name a few with just this kind of information, so It would be hypocritical for me to say anything other than ” Hope the check clears! “
Honestly, the internet is full of people spilling their guts on how they do everything, no matter how cool originally it may be- so that nothing seems unique as it once did for long; same goes for magazines ( this one was an industry magazine of how to’s and stuff) but by the same turn, it’s the stuff we all ( me included ) want to learn about! Otherwise, what’s the point?

   I wasn’t miffed, or mad, for that matter. There will always be people that just don’t care for that sort of “look” or technique on something; and that’s OK. I’m interested in the ones who want to BUY my work and don’t ask questions “how”.
   The main thing for me is this: I don’t do any enhancements or even take a shot with the thought “hmmm- maybe this will sell”

   I am only interested in A: Is this something my client want’s to convey or B: Is this relevent to what I want to say as an artist?

   If I can answer either of those two questions with my photography, then that’s what I do. I don’t want to be defined by a technique; the technique is only a tool- like my camera is a tool. Technique can become pase’ I want to stay relevent and open to new possibilities!

   So no, I’m not upset that people can look at my “secret sauce” for images online or in a book- that’s how we all learn and I didn’t come up with something that wasn’t already thought of by someone else anyway- It’s the main ingredient that makes the meal- everything else should just compliment the flavor……

          You should see what I’m cooking up next

 

 BTW: If you’d like to see some of my work- click here:  Photographic Design