Interview with Lorena Bobbitt and the phallic lamp.

Maybe it's just me. I don' know, but Anna had the same reaction and we
looked at each other at about the same time laughing. These images
where taken with my iPhone of my TV while watching a Univision
interview with Lorena Bobbitt. The interview is 15 years after that
historical day where she chopped her husband's penis off. Now I could
think of a ton of different items to place behind Lorena as a prop for
the set. The stylist decided to use a lamp with a shape that...
well..., If you don't get it than you are of a healthier mind and you
don't need to know.

Victoria one to one

Victoria is 4 years old. She is quite the livewire and fun to be
around. She is always curious whenever I am taking photos and when I
asked her if I could shoot her portrait she automatically gave a big
smile. Probably because she thought I was going to do it just then.
Anna, my partner/creative consultant/wife, helped me to keep Tori
still for the time it took to shoot this newest addition to the 1:1
project. She was one of the toughest to shoot because every time she
moved around things changed. The hair moves, the angle of the face,
etc. And since I only see her throught he lens at one inch at a time,
I can't tell if she moves until later. That said, I think it works.
That is one other element to this collection of images that make this
so powerful. What does a person think when a lens is a few inches away
from the face? What does a 4 year old think? She hasn't been broken
yet as to the reality of the world that we are all judged based on our
appearance. She hasn't found the need to put make up on nor has she
developed her personal bubble yet.

Lots of projects. So little time in my life

It is very very very important to have personal projects. They help to feed your creativity beast and allow you to learn new things without loosing a client if you screw up. I currently have a ton of projects going. One issue that sometimes arises is loosing track of your time and letting some of them fall to the side. But when I finally do catch up on them, I feel even more fulfilled inside than ever. Because I am accomplishing a goal that I set on MY time for ME. When it is done it is MINE and nobody gave me a deadline, I did. Nobody was hounding me to get the product to their office so they can use it for their benefit. 

One such project is my one:one project. So titled for the use of a 60mm Micro lens set at a 1:1 ratio to photograph faces. It takes an average of 150 to 200 images to complete a face and a few hours to get these images together on a file that ends up being in excess of 5GB in size. My final goal is to print these images in their full size of average 10 feet high.

This is one of my most recent ones of my 8-year-old son, Corbin. He was very patient for me for the 5 minutes it took to photograph him. Next to put together is my 4 year-old neice, Victoria. Do I need to say how fun that was to get her to sit still for five minutes?

 

Photos from the window seat

Being passionate about EVERYTHING you do is tough. How many times are
we traveling and see a beautiful seen outside the plane window and say
to ourselves, "wow how beautiful, let me get my camera out of my bag
in the overhead compartment and set this up and shoot through this
shitty airplane glass and hopefully get a shot that would make me
happy." I know I would say it a lot and never do it. Well, on my way
back from Mexico, Anna and I decided that was exactly what we would
do. I used a 17-55mm lens on a D200 and adjusted accordingly to reduce
the flare and scratches on the glass. I then brought the images into
CS4 and adjusted again to reduce haze until I was happy. Now that I
have told you how easy it was to make these images, does that minimize
them???

A lot of comments are made as to how the barrier between an amateur
and a professional is gone. The affordable cameras, software, etc.
make it incredibly easy to obtain an image in some form, but does that
still make everybody an artist? I can sure enough go to Michael's
art's and crafts, buy a ton of paints, canvas and every tool that
would make Picasso blush, but I guarantee I still make stick figures.
I could take all the 'How to' classes available, attend the workshops,
seminars and buy all the gear a person could want. What it still
always comes down to is the vision and desire to capture/create great
images. I am VERY happy with these and now excited about the next
flight. I think I will be doing this on every flight. It will always
be different. Try it!

The Wells Point

I met David H. Wells a few months back during a meeting with Aurora Photos. Great guy and wonderful to spend time with. He has a wonderful passion and personality that makes you his friend from the start. He launched a website that I think will be very inspirational to many. It is called The Wells Point and can be found at http://thewellspoint.com . It wealth of inspiration through podcasts and other free information. I highly reccomend it to everyone. One of his speeches I thought hits home to many of us is his podcast titled, "some thoughts on being a professional photographer" (in the craftsmanship section). I am sure many of my friends are going to like this one.

AA

Finding opportunities and GOING FOR IT!

While recently in Tequila, Mexico, I spent a day photographing the Agave fields and a Tequila factory. Towards the end of the day we where all tired and ready for the half hour crazy Mexican drive back to the house. As we were driving by, we locals gathering for what was apparently a rodeo. There is not one photographer (except for maybe the master Jay Maisel ) that sees a scene and opportunity for great images and says to him/herself, "I am too tired. Next time." or "I just don't have the access." or They'll never let me shoot there." or one of many other excuses we give ourselves to justify not shooting something. I am not saying I don't give myself any one of those excuses as well. This was just one of those times I didn't make 

an excuse. I rather said to myself, "When will I be back here again and how hard would it really be to get access and what images would I have if I DON'T shoot this." Sure I was tired at 

the end of the day, and if asked if I would do it again I would say, "Hell yeah!" Maybe next time though I would go out with one of Nikon's new line of cameras with the ability to capture high ISO with little to no noise. I do love the Nikon CLS system and the ability to have a wonderful partner to hold my flash for me for the portraits.

Mexican Quince Anos

A few shots from a Mexican Quince. What a party this was.

A few shots from Tequila, Mexico

Hitler's impression of the D3X price

This video was hilarious. But my emotions towards the arrogant, blatant and uncalled for increase in price was exactly the same. How about this for an analogy. You are speeding down the highway of technology and ability. You pull off to the side of the road to fill the tank with some gas. You have a credit card for BP because it is good to stick with the same gas, but when you drive to it, you see the cost per gallon (or per megapixel) is 3 times the amount as the cost at the other stations that serve the same or similar quality gas.

What do you do???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnwf2RShNV0

I made a comment on Editorial Photo about my outrage and a friend suggested I should have been a little more political about it. Perhaps I should wait until I have one in my hands and do an honest comparison before making statements about how pissed I am on this price, but I tend to listen to Rob Galbraith and his comparrison's a lot more than my own. I was waiting more than 6 months for the D3X to upgrade which is very necessary in the digital age, but at this price I am very curious to see how many are purchased. 

Anybody remember when the iPhone came out and people where waiting for hours to buy one only for Apple to lower the price by a third a few months later?

Days in Lives (A visual Walk about)

Recently I was mentoring a young photographer in Japan who is curious
as to what it takes to make great images. One of the few things I
mentioned to him was to make a visual walk about. Something my Mentor,
Chip Maury taught me many years earlier. But I also like to live by
examples and teach by examples. I arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico
Thursday evening and yesterday morning did one of these walk abouts.
Of course having a wife that speaks fluent spanish helps in gathering
permissions for portraits and the ability to sign model/property
releases for stock, but no matter how much advantages a person can
have (gucci gear, access, etc) none of it matters if you can't push
yourself to SEE. Watching expressions, contrasts in light, emotions in
gestures, colors, etc. Becoming aware of the backgrounds, fill the
frame with what is important and waiting for the defining moments that
will make the image.
This is just a quick edit of a few hours driving and walking around.
AA

Aaron admiring his work

just a quick look at what I was doing a few hours after returning from Atlanta.