I have been in the middle of a different post for a few days now. It’s been a busy week. I’m writing from California right now, and most of this week was busy as I tried to get enough work done before getting here.
(For those of you in LA, sorry I didn’t mention I was coming. Surprise!)
As I prepped for the trip, I decided to bring along a little bit of work. So, I decided to get a mobile hard drive.
Time for something a little different. Wait…is it different?
Anyways, here’s a poem I’ve been working on. I believe it will eventually make itself into a hypertext piece. I guess we’ll see how it matures.
The first page is meant to be first. The following can be read in any order.
The photo was taken with a D200 with 17-80/3.5-4.5.
Took this photo on Saturday night. Some of the stuff was gear I carried all day. The rest just chills there during the day.
I figure someone out there might be curious. My load for the day:
Nikon D700 with grip and 24-70/2.8 Lens
N80 with 50/1.4 D Lens
EL2 with 50/1.4 AI Lens
SB900 Flash
Rosco Gels
Kodak Ektachrome 1600, Fuji Provia 400X, and Ilford Delta Pro 3200 films.
Lots of batteries.
And in other news, I’d like to show off my new $500 paperweight.
Here’s one more from the weekend. We found the drawer on the sidewalk. Figure out our settings there. Then pulled it out into the street.
Justin sent it to me to process and post because he felt it should be with the other pics. I put my watermark…just to put a watermark. But really, he was the photog. I was the creative.
It’s good to mix things up in photography. Sometimes you should photograph what’s there. Don’t intrude. Don’t interfere. Get the right angle and moment, but don’t touch a thing. However, at other times, you should have your hands all over the props. Find crap on the street. Pose things. Pose people. Construct the photo.
Two different ways of thinking as you compose your photos. One way is about using only the situation you’ve been given. See it from different angles. Anticipate what will happen. The other way is to see it all in your head and set things up to mimic that image. I think it’s good for all photographers (and all artists) to exercise both modes because it opens your mind to new things. Also, I find that most photog jobs require me to use both modes of thinking to some degree.
Oh, and if you were wondering, this photo and all photos from the last post were taken during the middle of the afternoon. We just underexposed the ambient and went heavy on the flash power.
Keep mixing things up out there!
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Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage |
Quote from Bullet With Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins.
Thanks to Tim for putting the song in my head by quoting them in his comment on the last post.
Met up with some photog friends and flashes in the Village on Saturday. We just ran around for a bit and took some silly shots. Justin Ong, Thomas Yu, and Brian Fortson.
We all took different pics. I plan to link to the other guys’ pics once they’re up.
UPDATE: I added one more photo in the next post.
Justin’s post his here.
Here are mine, accompanied by quotes that have been running through my head lately.
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What does the billboard say Come and play, come and play Forget about the movement (Anger is a gift) |
I was writing page after page of thoughts as I tried to answer cate songbird’s question, and I realized that maybe there’s a much easier answer.
Do I feel that my artistic vision is compromised by covering weddings (since practically speaking, that is a viable business)?
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.
Before continuing with answering cate songbird’s comment to Motivational Post 2, I’m going to slightly tangent and post something I wrote a while back. I didn’t post it before because it didn’t flow with the posts I was writing at the time, but now it seems to fit.
I don’t believe in “capturing moments.” The idea of capturing moments is just some flowery naive BS.
Don’t get me wrong, Continue reading
This post and the next will be responses to cate songbird’s comment on my previous post.
cate songbird:
I think I’ve asked you this before, but why do you do photography? And do you feel that your artistic vision is compromised by covering weddings (since practically speaking, that is a viable business)? Does one not have to do with the other or are they connected?
Why am I photographer? Continue reading
Believe in yourself!
Be true to yourself!
You are special!
Find your own true vision and follow it! Take those photos that you see in your head! Those photos that only you can take because you are your own unique individual with your own unique perspective!!
I’ve always liked the quote from the de-motivational poster for Individuality from despair.com:
So you’re thinking about being a photographer? Finally got your dSLR and taking some awesome pics? Your friends encouraging you and telling you your pics are amazing?
First piece of advice: