This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..
>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.
Portrait on location• click to embiggenA Portrait setup• click to embiggenSuddenly, I am knee deep in client requests for portraits made on location.
I can honestly say that I have never pursued portrait business, other than portraits made for business clients. In fact, other than family members, I have probably made less than a dozen non-business portraits. On the other hand, I have made hundreds of business client portraits - corporate CEOs for use in annual reports, general workers (business and labor) for annual reports and corporate capability publications, editorial / magazine feature and cover uses, to name just a few types of business portraits.
While some portraits were made in work environment available light, reportage style, many were made with setups similar to that shown here. In some of those situations, the lighting requirements were much more complex than the pictured setup. It was not uncommon to be using 4-5 lights and multiple scrims and fill cards and hauling all the stuff around was a pain in the ass. But, of course, it wasn't my ass hauling all that stuff around because that's what god made photo assistants for.
The lighting setup for yesterday's session - 3 different persons - was rather simple. The main light was a strobe with a large reflector with diffusion screen attached, and a fill card to soften the shadows. The background umbrella light was connected to another strobe power pack on which the wireless triggering sync was turned off. That was so because I wanted to bathe the background in the warm tungsten light of the modeling lamp.
I still use strobe equipment for 2 reasons - first) it's what I know and, second) at this time, I don't do enough of this kind of work to justify the expense of acquiring professional quality LED light panels.
FYI, I still keep my hand in this market because it is much more lucrative than the general (public) portrait market. In the business market, I don't have to compete with the Sears / department store portrait studios and other not-so-skilled-but-cheap purveyors of less than discriminating pictures. And, the income helps feed my art / personal habit.
His first fish, ever ~ Bog River Flow / Low's Lake - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenThe early history of the Adirondacks - post Revolutionary War through the Civil War - was marked by vast exploitation of the region's watershed woodlands and it was that exploitation that sparked a conservation movement which led to the establishment of the Adirondack Park (1892) and the addition of the "Forever Wild" amendment to the NYS Constitution (1895).
As devastating as the early exploitation was to the natural environment, an even greater "plague" swept over the Adirondacks (post Civil War) with the publishing (1869) of Adirondack Murray's book, Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks. That runaway best seller led to an invasion of tourists who became know as "Murray's Fools". Not that there weren't an ample supply of tourists prior to that date, but the book created a new stampede of New England "city dwellers" (Murray was a Boston-based preacher) many of whom were referred to by locals, especially the guides, as "sports".
One of the nastier results of this influx, added and abetted by many locals (aka, guides), was the extirpation of many native Adirondack species - the moose, wolf, Canadian lynx, beaver, fisher, eagle, osprey and many others, all wiped out by the pressure of "sports" and their local counterparts (especially trappers) on the wildlife to be found in the region. Apparently, for either fun or profit, most thought there was a nearly unlimited "supply" of hunting, fishing, and trapping targets. Unfortunately, that was proven wrong by many of Murray's Fools and their local counterparts.
Fortunately, as a result of this "sport"ing abuse, a modern ethic of conservation and preservation came into being. One component of that ethic (fishing wise) is known as catch and release wherein fish, even those over the legal size limit, are released after being caught. And it was that ethic which I instilled in Hugo immediately after his first ever catch - I explained to Hugo that this particular fish was not only under the NYS general regulation size limit, but that it also was the sporting thing to do to return the fish to the water and let it grow and thrive for some future fisherman to catch and, hopefully, release.
Not that catching and keeping legal fish - within the size and number limits - for consumption is a bad thing. In fact, we kept and ate one 12 inch specimen for lunch but, for many fisherman it is the pursuit and, when successful, fight to land a fish which matters. That is why, in enlightened fishing competitions, especially those judged by the total length of a day's catch, each competitor is trusted to make his/her own measurements of each fish caught, after which the fish are released. That practice would be in contrast to stringing (aka, killing) the fish caught throughout a competition's time period in order for measurement to be made by a tournament official.
Like, say, these participants did in a local fishing competition (as pictured in our local newspaper).
That said, it might be that the tournament was held on privately owned and stocked water where no regulations apply and, therefore, no local or state fishing regulations apply. However, irrespective of time or place, many enlightened F&G clubs consider it a vital part of their mission to teach, by example, and apply modern conservation and preservation ethics. Most likely, the EF&GC does try to foster such an ethic but, IMO, and as evidenced by the published picture, they failed miserably in teaching by example during this particular event.
Mom, dad, and me ~ Back in the day • click to embiggenOn the entrya trip on the way back machine, Bulldog (no link provided) asked/stated, "Maybe a photo of mom n dad??? Isn't this site about photos (in some way)?????
OK, here's a picture of some pictures from back in the day - (l-r) me, circa 1971; me, 1965; mom and dad, circa 1979. FYI, all pictures, except my senior picture, made by me - the one on the left was pictured by me using a mirror. The color picture is of my son's (Aaron, aka the the cinemascapist) 3rd grade class, 1986.
So, bulldog, there you have it because, in some way (say what ???????), this blog is about pictures.
Mom, dad & me ~ Rochester, NY • click to embiggenSome guys ~ Rochester, NY • click to embiggenI'm back from spending 3 days in Rochester (NY) attending some HS Alumni events. The reason I attended was to take part in the 1963 football team (of which I was a member) Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony. 15 of my teammates also attended and it was definitely fun to see some of the guys. FYI, I was one of the few without a new hip or knee.
The following day, I took my plaque to my parents grave site. I wanted to honor them for their hard work and support which allowed me to attend an all-boys private Jesuit high school. That said, they both followed the '63 team - to include all of our away games, none of which were closer than a 4 hour chartered bus ride away - as part of the Parent's Athletic Booster Club.
The visit to the grave site was bitter sweet, although it was made all the sweeter by the fact that, literally and figuratively, they and all of the other parents had a hell of a fun ride because (in part), unlike the football team, they had liquor on their bus.
FYI, the wife made the teammate picture so that I could be in it.
Cheese ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen Welcome ~ Bainbridge, NY • click to embiggen Brew Pub Window ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggenDuring my recent wanderings around NY's southern tier, I had the opportunity to show my kitchen life book* to a number of complete strangers. One of those strangers was a person, Hans, from Switzerland (now a US citizen) with whom the wife and I shared breakfast at the B&B at which we were staying. The others were pure-bred Americans.
Hans, about halfway through looking at the kitchen life book, commented that the "arrangement" of colors, shapes, and light and shadow created an entirely different viewing experience of looking at the pictures that was independent of the depicted referents in those pictures, whereas a pure-bred American, our hostess at the B&B, was a woman whose expressed reaction to the pictures was that she could "identify", so she said with a smile on her face, with the depicted scenes / referents in those pictures. Suffice it to state, each viewer had different experience of viewing and reading the pictures.
It should come as no surprise to those who have read some of my recent entries or followed The Landscapist for any length of time, that I believe that Hans had a richer viewing experience than that of our B&B hostess.
CAVEAT: lest anyone get their knickers in a twist, re: me and my high horse, I wrote that Hans had a richer viewing experience - I did not write (or imply) that he had a better viewing experience. Without a doubt, there is a difference between the two viewing experiences but each experience and what was taken away from them was absolutely correct and proper for each individual.
That said, from my picture making POV, Hans "got" much more of what I was/am trying to capture and express in my kitchen life pictures - or, for that matter, any of my pictures - than did the pure-bred American. So, for me and my picture making intentions, Hans' expressed reaction, as far as it went, was much better or more complete than the pure-bred American's expressed reaction, as far as it went.
Now, getting back to the question at hand, I am not about to draw a hard and fast conclusion from a sample of 2 but ....
... my son, The Cinemascapist, also has some experience in this regard - while I don't have any exact figures, I would estimate / guess that the majority, by a wide margin, of his print sales have been to Europeans. In addition to that fact, his work has been written about (and lauded) in a host of European and international publications as opposed to in the US. And, his work has been accepted into a host of European photo competitions / festivals, many more than here in the US.
Does any of this mean that Europeans are better at getting Art/art? Maybe I should amend the question to read, are average Europeans better that average Americans at getting Art/art? While I am certain there are Art/art "experts" in any culture but there is some evidence that, taken on the whole, some cultures seemed to be more attuned to nuance and depth in Art/art than are others.
Any thoughts on the subject? And, BTW, I have posted 3 wide-ranging pictures, genre wise, for your viewing and reading consideration. Comments would be greatly appreciated.
*Recently, without knowing what I was getting into and in response to an email discount offering, I made a photo book using AdoramaPix's photo book making service.
After following my normal photo book making procedure of creating all my pages in Photoshop (to include text/typography) and then placing them on blank pages on a photo book making service site, it was not until I had reached the "Place Your Order" section of the site that I realized that I was making a "true" photo book. That is to say, a photo book comprised of actual photo prints as opposed to one made on a printing press. At that point I was hesitant to hit the "Place Your Order" button for a number of reasons but, throwing caution to the winds, I did so nevertheless.
Upon receipt of the 10×10 inch book, I was very pleased with the result. In fact, I was absolutely delighted with the result - the pictures were printed on a very nice heavy-weight luster photo paper. The color, saturation, and tonal values were spot on the money (be certain to disable their "Photo Correction" feature), almost indistinguishable from the prints I make at home on my hopped-up Epson Ultrachrome ink wide-format printer. And, all the pages were of the "lay flat" variety.
Quite impressive and highly recommended, to say the least. I will be making more "true" photo books at AdoramaPix.
Dancing ~ Pour House / Westmont, NJ • click to embiggenThe purpose of my recent visit to South Jersey (as if the wife needs a "purpose") was to attend an inlaw's 60th birthday bash. Prior to that visit, as I was speaking to the birthday boy - the wife had suggested that I call him, as avid high school athelete, he would interested / impressed with my recent notification of being inducted to my high school Athletic Hall of Fame - he asked that I take pictures at the party. Of course, I said, "No problem."
However, what that meant for me was that I had to dust off the "old" but still trusty Oly E-3 dslr - a camera which I only use when the EPs don't fit a specific bill - which to say, I don't use it all that much anymore. Which is unfortunate and a bit of waste since the camera is built like a tank and will last virtually forever in a physical sense.
That said, and in addition to dusting off actual dust, I also had to dust off my how-to-navigate-around the camera's mechanics. Not exactly a herculean task but it is rather incredulous - one might even say "stupid" - that, in the Tower-of-Babel (proprietary wise) digital age, there is no functional standardization from camera to camera - IMO, proof positive that cameras are being designed by marketing people / non-photographers.
In any event, the reason for using the E-3 was simple - it has a built-in flash whereas the EPs do not and I don't own, or intend to own, any flash attachments for those cameras. So, for the intended picturing purpose - making pictures of people, mostly likely moving people, in a very dark place - the E-3 with its built-in flash was the way to go. But .....
.... like so many dslrs with built-in flash capabilities, the on-top-of-the-pentaprism pop-up flash was next to useless when using a lens of any physical size/length other than a very short/small length and/or a lens with a lens hood - the flash simply wasn't high enough on the camera body to avoid casting a shadow in the lower area of a picture caused by the top/front of the lens / lens hood being in the path of the light from the flash. More proof positive of the stupidity of the aforementioned camera design committees.
Fortunately for me, I have a pancake lens for the E-3 - a very small Zuiko 25mm f2.8 prime. With that lens attached to the camera, there was no problem at all.
Action figure ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenThe effete Canadians call their museum stores "boutiques", except for the "boutique" at the Canada Science & Technology Museum where it is called the "scientique".
That cultural reference aside, as Hugo and I were perusing the stuff on offer in the "scientique", I espied an Albert Einstein Action Figure and thought, "What sentient and thinking person wouldn't want such a figure?" So, I purchased one. My only disappointment was that it didn't include some miniature chalk and a small blackboard. I mean, really - what the hell else would Albert be doing, action wise?
However, my disappointment was much mitigated when Hugo opened the package and declared, "Grandpa, it looks like you." Upon my inspection of the figure, I must admit that he has a point. That point has since been seconded by quite a few others. Although, to be fair: a) I only look like that on a bad hair day or, on many occasions, first thing in the morning, and, b) the figure does lack my ultra-chic $1,000 eyewear.
All of that said, my current dilemma centers around the question of whether I should keep the figure next to my computer as a constant reminder of my innate genius-ness, or, do I rubber cement it to the dashboard of the wife's car as a constant reminder of how lucky she is?
Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 11:42AM ;)
Portrait on location • click to embiggen;)
A Portrait setup • click to embiggenSuddenly, I am knee deep in client requests for portraits made on location. ;)
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