A little over a week ago, we returned from a weeklong vacation. It’s tough, sometimes, getting back into the groove of things. You’ve seen some of this over this week – a missed posting (first since April, I believe?), postings not on time… Well, here’s what’s occupying my thoughts: the cruise. Click to continue »
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Another “about me” update
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009The “about” page has been updated again. I suppose I wasn’t really happy with it, even after the second revision. Just too… indirect, removed from the audience. The current one is simpler, and more honest in a direct sort of way.
So again, for posterity, the about page used to be:
About
This site is an excercise in personal improvement. Or perhaps an experiment. When I originally started it, just a few short months before this writing, it was intended to be a repository of my learning. I used sentances like “one of the quickest ways to learn is to teach” and “you get to learn along with us.” Fancy words for saying “I need to write some of this stuff down before I forget it.” And that’s still true. There is an educational aim to the writing, but the topics are expanding past that. This is still primarily where I scribble down notes. The focus is still on small point-and-shoot cameras, like the sd500. But first and foremost, it is an excercise in self-discovery.
Licensing and Photo rights
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs on this site are the sole property of Me. No permission, implicit or otherwise, is given to anyone for any use whatsoever. If you wish to purchase pictures, either for personal, republishing, or commercial use, please contact me and we can talk about rates.
A note on abstracts
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Indian Pass - a hike to the south of Anchorage on the New Seward Hwy
When I originally started this blog, I had a stated purpose. I believe it’s on my “about” page right now: to learn. Well, I’m learning. For example, I’ve learned that I like to take abstracts. I never really thought about it before, but they’re always there. Even when I take landscape photos, it’s not about the obvious subject, but the way the subjects trace lines in the picture frame.
For example, when I took the photo to the right (in hindsight), I was seeing the sloping lines to the sides of the photo. Blame it on my (old, long in the past) background in economics. I like graphs, and I saw one in this photo.
I just didn’t know it until I started this blog.
Photography and Style
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009I suppose this is a symptom of having read too much, but over the years I’ve read thousands of posts, hundreds (well, over one hundred to be sure) of books, and attended dozens of lectures. Paid out of my own pocket for a few one-day lessons/seminars, even.
A subject that keeps coming up is “know your style”. This is similar, in my mind, to the phrase “find your voice” that I heard so often in writing classes.
And just like in writing classes, I think it’s utter hogwash.
Yeah, you’re probably not convinced – there isn’t a wide range of photographic styles really shown on this site. Mostly environmental landscapes with a few abstracts. Well, that’s what I show here. I’m not interested (right now, at least) in showing my portaits, or my experiments, or my higher-end photos. This blog is mostly about my experiments.
Look , my “style” depends completely on my mood. Wintertime? I’m in a dark mood. Lots of dark photos, heavy on the shadows. On vacation in a warm place in the cold, Alaskan winter? You’ll see bright, almost overly-saturated photos. I’m loving the respite from daily grayscale (and that’s really what Anchorage is like in the winter!), and I focus on that. In-between? Anything goes. Alaskan summers I can get into strange grains, or lose myself in odd effects. Having a bad day? You’ll see textures creeping in to my images. Strong emotions of any sort? I start getting into abstracts. Around family? Suddenly I go all photojournalist on you.
“Know your style” indeed. Photographic style is deeply personal, and depends deeply on the person.
For posterity – changing the “About” page
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Just for posterity, I’m leaving the original content of the “About” page here:
This is really selfish in a way: the only reason this site was built was for personal self-improvement. If you’ve ever taught before, you quickly realize that one of the quickest ways to learn is to teach, and that’s what we’re here for. So that’s it: we’re here to learn, and you get to learn along with us. Or laugh at us – we won’t hold it against you.
Licensing and Photo rights
Unless otherwise stated, all photographs on this site are the sole property of Me. No permission, implicit or otherwise, is given to anyone for any use whatsoever. If you wish to purchase pictures, either for personal, republishing, or commercial use, please contact us and we will give you our rates.
Effective last Sunday, it has been updated. Barely two months in & critical self-reflection has forced me to change the contents.
Tastes are Subjective, ctd.
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
Reflections in Las Vegas
Continuing the thought of people liking or disliking photos: I have to confess that I don’t really like abstracts. It’s kinda strange – I don’t see much in them when I look at them, but I do seem to take a few that are moderately successful. Yesterday’s image, for example, was (in my mind) an abstract that few people like. To the right is another.
This also came from the NAPP conference – in fact, the day before I had watched Jay Maisel’s presentation, where he mentioned that he always takes pictures out of the windows of each hotel that he stays at.
I was inspired, so I did the same.
Again, one of my favorite photos. There’s structure, blended colors, and yet a waviness, irregularity to it. You can somewhat see what’s there, but it’s distorted.
So I showed it to friends and family. For this one, maybe three people liked it? Better than the last photo, and interestingly: the person who liked the previous, didn’t really like this. I don’t think it fit his orderly frame of mind.
Tastes are Subjective
Saturday, May 9th, 2009Yesterday’s post reminded me of an observation I’ve made over the last few years. Tastes vary widely, particularly in art. I don’t mean just art art, but anything with visual appeal.
For example, look at this pic:
Lamps at Mandalay Bay
I took this picture last year (with my SLR, sorry) while attending the NAPP conference in Las Vegas. Every room had these lamps and I just loved the way they looked. Not in real life, mind you, but as objects in a photograph. The lamps are almost symmetrical, yet not quite. Yet close enough. The shadows recede in a deep, glowing beauty. Light case above creates a negative image of a shadow, which strikes my eyes as inverted hills, or odd valleys. The posts on the lamps evoke the horns of a bull. Again, inverted.
So I love this pic. It really sings to me. I showed it off – to friends, family, other pros… a total of one other person liked it. That was it.
There is no moral to this post. I don’t really care what other people think of the pic, just an observation on how one simple image can be so hard for people to see past.
Interpretations based on experience
Friday, May 8th, 2009A couple of days ago I was reading over one of David Zizer’s posts at Digital Pro Talk about charging prices for photos. I don’t really want to get too far into that, since I’m not really aiming at pro-level discussions here (hey, I blog for fun & a challenge, not cash). What struck me was when he started criticizing a photographer:
I recently saw a photographer at one of our local parks photographing two young children ages around 4 and 5. The photographer was using a wide angle lens that certainly did little to enhance the portrait – we’ve talked about why I use a long lens on all my portrait shoots [link]. He was also using a flash diffuser on his on-camera flash – no directional light – hence no beauty in the lighting in my opinion.
It’s just interesting to me: he immediately saw on-axis lighting. My first thought (having not been there) was that he might be like I was a few years ago: using a softened on-axis flash to add fill. Done lightly, you can pull of some almost strobist effects (without the coolness factor) by using natural light as the primary.
Just an interesting observation. My perspective is doubtlessly focused more on that since I use the compact camera so much – I really lose the ability to use off-camera flashes.
Another thought that came to me – and again, far be it for me to know what was going on there – was that this probably wasn’t a portrait session. Not in the traditional sense, at least. I mean, maybe it was, but wouldn’t that be awful, a portrait with a wide-angle lens? I almost wonder, though, if the goal was an environmental portrait – something that shows who they are and what they do. I still agree, it could be done in a more flattering way. But I’m not so sure I could judge that guy’s work.
Accusations of Lomography
Thursday, April 30th, 2009Someone who has seen my personal shots recently accused me of being a student of the lomography school of thought in photography. I nodded, shook my head, and quickly changed the subject.
Why? Primarily because I had never heard the term before. Wikipedia has a nice entry on LOMOgraphy if you are so inclined. I had to read it before I understood what the accusation was. I wasn’t being accused of being some schlock photographer, following a trend of using cheap cameras like the Holga. No, I was being accused of liking the honest, natural, non-staged expressions of people who aren’t expecting the shot.
So yeah, I like that. But I also like the unexpected angles (and occasional sweet shot) that comes up when doing the whole “shoot, don’t think” approach. See the over-the-shoulder post.
Why Chimp?
Monday, March 30th, 2009Why am I doing this? Really, I just want to scribble down the things I’ve learned before I forget. That’s it.
See, I track almost 100 photography blogs. Each one has a different focus and topic. On any given day I have two- to three hundred posts to glance at, read through, and internalize.
That’s a lot of information.
So I read things, then forget them. The few things that I’m really ready for sink in, but then I don’t use them and they slip out. Writing them down helps me learn. If it helps you, then that’s great.
Now, tracking all of these blogs has given me a bit of perspective on the concept of a block. Some really are blogs: daily details about unimportant things. Barely above Twitter. Others are a bit better: more personal, very giving. These are really more of online journals, in my mind. A very few are extremely informative and insightful, written by experts. These are the online magazines, far to professional to even be considered in the same country as the others.
This site is more of a journal. It will have my daily tasks, things that I’ve learned, things that interest me. It is mostly about photography, but I will freely wander away on other topics.
Please come along for the ride. Hopefully there will be something interesting for you.