My Confessions...

Let me mention something special about my wife. She absolutely loves to photograph young children. If you have known her or have watched her work with toddlers, you would instantly see there is something the young kids naturally gravitate to. Maybe it's her infectious smile, maybe it's the fact that she grew up in a daycare.  When parents would drop off kids for the first time... Dawn was quick to distract kids and make them forget those fearful feelings of being in a new situation..  This is a life skill that is critical for us working in this age group, and I don't have this skill but more importantly, our competition never will.  Dawn often interacts with the kids while I shoot.  This is not just my work or her work, this is a tag team effort of her life skill and mine.

Sac Anime 2012, quick post

What do you do when you are stuck in Sacramento for 8 hours and need to burn some time?  We decided to see the latest superhero movie  Ghostrider II and stumbled upon the Sac Anime meetup...  Geared for fun, we met the most wonderful people...  And I got to play with my camera, getting the camera ready,  I gave myself a challenge. No flash, indoors, 50mm fixed focal length.  As usual, more pictures than time so I thought I would share some of the fun pix.

Amazing artist www.leilanijoy.com  If you think she does cosplay well check out her artwork!

So , there were too many pictures to post  these were the first two people walking inside the door and I noticed this white wall.  Pretty photogenic but I have no clue who they are...   I decided to create a comic book look out of them and it took a while but I needed to learn the process in photoshop. Once I was done I decided to do a few more.  Unforunately, they get a bit addicting and I think I got carried away.  Truthfully, they look best in 40x60" prints, that is the trouble with me and internet pictures, I believe in details and the internet is not a help with this.  Oh well maybe if I played within the constraints these would look better.

  Follow along the cheesy story.

OK, I got tired of creating a story line because I could not automate this comic process, and it took a few hours each after learning how to properly make them. Sorry.

Not really in costume, but in a blue t-shirt, my son was transformed back into his alter ego.  He got such a kick out of watching me dress him into this outfit.  the mask didn't make it because I got tired of dealing with the shadows.  Below he is in his figurative birthday suit, has the look of business in his eyes and above he is totally happy.  that also worked against the mask.  Can't beat joy.

as part of the process, this is a byproduct.  I will print them off on paper and give to my son to color.

Composite Photography, Part one

I have been working on what is called composite photography for a few years now, I guess I have been working on composites before I even knew what they were called. Composites in  this format, combines multiple images and graphic design to produce one final work of art.

 I was always in awe when commercial photographers work with graphic designers to create an amazing work of art for a magazine.  It would stop me from turning the page and stare... for me that stare is a compliment, getting a person to think is probably one of the greatest compliments a person could give to a visual artist.

Performing this type of work requires a lot of pre-planning and even more post production. Truth be told, they begin as most creative works do, they begin as random ideas or what if situations. Sometimes it's better, that the client not know these random thoughts because they begin to develop expectations as they  create their own artwork in their head.

Unfortunately, I tend to tell the client because they are unwilling to stand in front of the camera at my whim.  I guess I should tell them that even if I have this inspiration, there are only a couple of images within a complete session that might consume me enough to produce artwork and some of those may not make it to the final publishing, and some unfortunately do.

While on a mini-vacation with my wife, I wanted to collect stock footage in Seattle.  I would point things out randomly and say I want a picture of that. Get me a picture of that... sometimes it was just something I wanted to share with a family member back home. As a way to tell them this is why I was thinking of you during that trip.  Dawn and I got lost there with a purpose. I wanted to see what this town was all about and you don't get that vibe until you drive around and get lost in a town and Seattle was cooler than advertised.  

The pink elephant, awesome,  what a great tribute to PT Barnum, he has only been about 120 years but his influence is everywhere. Humbuggery (bull) at it's finest. P.T. Barnum way ahead of his time, but this is a digression for another time. Expect to see this elephant in a future work. 

As you can see, when Dawn and I came across this mural, which I later learned was called the Queen Anne Mural. It had been tagged by vandals unappreciative of The beautiful mural was painted by www.onesevennine.com (Angelina Villalobos). As you can see the image had been horribly tagged but I knew i could restore her beautiful work

A hundred blog posts

I must have about a hundred blog posts that have never been published... Someday, I will use these random incomplete thoughts (on the subject of photography) for a book. Until then I am practicing and am recording this journey.

Part of the reason I blog in the first place is my ability to go overboard when I talk. So, I write to an audience of one, me. I do this just to clear my head but hope that someday the outcome is a philosophy that will be a list of my core competencies that will help any photographer on their journey. Until then, I open some of these confessions to you.

I can tell you now, much of this is not original thought but a compendium of knowledge drawn from many sources. I will have stood on the backs of many ancient and modern philosophers and educators, including my wife and children, as they are the greatest teachers in my life. They ask the greatest questions, and they know I can put them to sleep with my answers.

Sympathetic Harmonies

Finding what makes a photograph beautiful is really easy. It's just the smile on your child's face as they are playing outside. It's the moment you said I do. It's the Halloween costume that made your child light up and turned them into their favorite superhero. One of my favorites was when Diego donned a chain mail outfit at the Scottish festival. I was so nervous that the heavy mail was going to make him buckle his knees. He loved it but didn't expect it to be that heavy. These have been a few of the pictures this week that changed my mood and brought joy to my heart.

Being a family of photographers we tend to have extra prints lying around almost everywhere. Guilty little treasures to be found in a book, hidden in the visor of the car, in a desk drawer, I mean they are everywhere. These are not always our best shots but are just simple pictures of our kids being themselves at that age, and that brings me joy. They reveal the way things were

yesterday, last month, five years ago, and are funny little portals in time, to see how things never seem to change.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that photographs shouldn't only stay archived or stored on a computer hard drive. Try to treat them as little treasures in your day. Print up a few extras to make sure they are found. Be a little pirate and hide your treasures in obvious places for others to find, keep them hidden in the mattress, junk drawer, or even on the fridge... happiness is contagious.

My kids grow up way too fast, and using the photographs in this way also slows my life down, they are the chords that strike the sympathetic harmonies making my heart sing.
G

Jessica Simpson Reinventing Natural Beauty?

I was in the grocery store yesterday and seen the May cover of Marie Claire with Jessica Simpson in her natural beauty state. The headline tags were: The Real Jessica, No Make Up, No Retouching, No Regrets.

I look closer at the cover and did not see the person but a photographic concept telling a story. Am I to believe that a celebrity without make up is Shockingly CONTROVERSIAL!? But why? I can pop up TMZ on my Ipod and see her without makeup? What is she selling... After a few clicks on the laptop the truth was revealed. She is probably promoting her new reality show... " the price of beauty on VH1". Digging a few clicks more, I begin to laugh because, Miss Jessica Simpson was trying to bail out her Make Up artist from jail only four months ago, (link) but I digress. Let's get back to the picture.

If I am not mistaken the Marie Claire image (found here) was captured by the professional photographer, James White. The cover image may have not been retouched but was manipulated by light and camera. The photographer was telling a story. He wants you to focus on the flawless skin... but she must remain beautiful. After all the magazine must sell! I assume he saw the roots growing out and decided to crop the image close so the MARIE CLAIRE font across the top will detract from the roots not being maintained. Mr. White knows what to do to make someone beautiful and controversial.

He uses a specific lighting technique I would only reserve for the 16 year old model, not the 30 year old starlet... unless I was selling this concept. Does Jessica pull it off? I don't think this is a very flattering picture of her but it does the job selling the Marie Claire cover story and create controversy.

The image appears to have been shot with a single strobe, slightly camera right with a butterfly lighting configuration. The wardrobe specialist added in a plain cotton outfit with neutral colors to continue the illusion. Nice work James.

Here is a vimeo interview with James White on twilight series.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages....”

When was the last time you have been to the circus. Honestly, It's been a few years for my family. The first time I went to the circus was with my kids. We saw the famous circus clown Bello Nock. The kids loved it... We loved it. There wasn't a moment that we didn't have fun.

Over the years, I've developed a strange fascination for the Circus. There is a lot to learn. For example, the term "hold your horses" came from the circus. This was because when the elephants walked by the horses they scared the heck out of them.
The term " Toss your hat into the ring" became a political boxing term when President Wilson famously tossed his hat into the center ring of the circus.
I also learned that the most famous circus phrase "Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of all ages..." must be said by the Ringmaster of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus before every show.

The last phrase is my favorite... Children of all ages is not about the show being age appropriate for all your kids. the phrase speaks to the child within... its about the spirit of the person, regardless of their age. To me, the circus brings out the children of all ages.