Polaroid Series

Here is a series of shots from the other day.

Best of Photobooks 2007 List

Well is seems that everyone with a blog is doing their Best of 2007 list, so I will be no exception and give my favorite photo books of the year. There were many new photographers who published their first books in ‘07 as well as some more familiar names. In no particular order here they are

Welcome to Pyongyang by Charlie Crane

Driftless: Photographs from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier

Andre Kertesz The Polaroids

5×7 by William Eggleston

In the Shadow of Mountains by Steve McCurry

Fashion Magazine by Alec Soth

The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings by Kaylynn Deveney

Oh and btw, A Photo Editor is Rob Haggart.

The day after

Well Christmas has come and gone. Hopefully you all got everything you wanted, at least those who were good this year. My little girl was pretty well behaved this year, so Santa was pretty generous with doling out gifts to her. I was told at a Christmas party I was at by someone that when they were a kid they actually received just a lump of coal. We laughed because today I don’t even where you’d get a lump of coal and then it was mentioned that nowadays there are fake lumps of coal, that are plastic or candy or something, a joke gift.

I know Christmas can be too commercialized, but seeing children’s faces is just the best.  And you know it can be fun when you do find that last item on the shelf.

  

 

 

Artist Portrait

This week I had an assignment to do an artist portrait for an upcoming article in WNC Magazine. Nava Lubelski is a very talented artist based in the River Arts District, which is the pulse of the Asheville artist community and a place I often love to visit. Nava’s work is was very intricate and I documented her working on a couple pieces as well as taking some portraits. Its really enjoyable to meet artists and learn about their work and way of communicating. Just a couple weeks ago I was up at Penland to photograph another artist and while there I got the grand tour of the place. Penland has artists from all over the world come to teach workshops and classes.

Here’s a pic of Nava that I liked. We had her sitting at one of the tables she works on.

This is what Christmas is all about

I took my daughter iceskating today for the first time. It was so much fun for both of us. Its times like these that I’ll always remember. She was so nervous at first and cried after just a few minutes. But as she saw me attempt to gracefully glide around it appeared I was enjoying myself and she wanted to again join in the fun. This is what the holidays are all about, this is what life is all about; these special moments that you can share with your child or family.

UPDIG and the case of the intern

So I just had an interesting conversation with someone in the art department for a magazine I did a recent shoot for. This young man, probably an intern, asked me for a RAW file! Now I’m not totally surprised as I’ve heard from a fellow photographer he was asked the same thing by this magazine. The fellow wanted to inquire about getting a larger file than the JPEG I sent. Yeah, like I’m going to let an intern edit my RAW file and run it with my name next to it. No thanks. Now by habit I usually send my clients JPEGS and if they need TIFFs I’m happy to do it. The photos they are running will probably be no more than a quarter page. Somehow this intern thought I just shot JPEG in camera and gave it to him, rather than it having come from a processed RAW. People, there is very little difference in output between a TIFF and 10 or higher quality JPEG. There are some graduations in color that the TIFF does better but according to the UPDIG site, both are acceptable file delivery formats. If you have a JPEG you can still just save it as a TIFF, it doesn’t require a new TIFF from a RAW image. This art department just thinks bigger must be better. A JPEG 9MB file must not be as good as a 30MB TIFF. Well, save the JPEG as a TIFF and voila!

Have any of you conformed to UPDIG? There has been a lot of talk of it in my ASMP chapter and it makes some good points. I think it serves to better educate the photo receivers rather than the photographer, as most of us have been going by their recommended guidelines for quite awhile now. I really like UPDIG’s statement that a photo user should really never ask for a RAW file. The intern tried to tell me that they get the RAWs from photographers. Who of you are doing this? and stop it! Why a photographer would do this is beyond me. As I stated when this request was made of me, I was there, I can best process the image to what my vision of the scene was when I took it and my intention in the finished product. Giving away a RAW image is in essence delivering an unfinished product. Don’t do it!

Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera

After seeing Andre Kertesz’s great book of photos taken with his Polaroid SX-70 I had to hit Ebay and pick one up. I haven’t been able to put it down until today when I ran out of film (that stuff is not cheap). Its been a lot of fun. The SX-70 film is no longer being manufactured, but there is this stuff called SX-70 Blend which works well. It is about twice the price of 600, however. The 600 can be used but requires first doing some modifications which I may do at some point to end up not going broke.

Here are a few that are worthy to share. I strongly suggest you look into getting your hands on one of these bad boys if you can. As Ferris Bueller says, “If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up”.

 

NC Wildlife Magazine

I found out this afternoon that I was the second runner up in the NC Wildlife photo contest. My photo will be in the January 2008 issue and I get some well deserved cash money.  The contest was sponsored by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission which is an agency of the state.  Here is a little bit about them:

Since its inception in 1947, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) has been dedicated to the wise-use, conservation, and management of the state’s fish and wildlife resources. Our policies and programs are based on scientifically sound resource management, assessment and monitoring, applied research, and public input.

The WRC consists of wildlife and fisheries biologists, wildlife enforcement officers, educators, engineers and administrative staff in nine districts across the state. Whether you enjoy hunting, fishing, boating or are just interested in Tarheel wildlife, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is here to enrich your outdoor experiences.

Moving so today is short and sweet.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

-Rodgers and Hammerstein

Scott Peterman

Scott Peterman is featured in the new PDN and I’ve recently seen some of his work being kicked around on some blogs. He is one of the many notable Yale MFA photo alumni, having studied under Todd Papageorge, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia and others I’m sure.  Scott’s photography begins with landscape. His urban sprawl images are really amazing. Below are two in particular that I really like.  Seems everytime you turn around there’s another great photographer with ties to that storied Yale program.

Copyright Scott Peterman

Portraits by Yve Adams

My good friend and fellow photographer Yve Adams sent me some recent portraits she’d taken in her native Ohio. I really enjoyed them and found it different from her other work.  The photos are so sincere and candid and the couple seem so relaxed. Maybe its because Yve works on a closed set? Can you tell?

 

 

Copyright Yve Adams

Death Squads

I just came across this photo while looking through the featured selections on the International Center of Photography site. I don’t think I can add anything more than what the caption says.

“Mano Blanca,” signature of the death squads left on the door of a slain peasant organizer, Arcatao, Chalatenango Province

Copyright Susan Meiselas

For Today

My Mother Was of the Sky

My Father Was of the Earth

And I am of the Universe

And you Know What its Worth

-John Lennon