Morning Pics

Now I have wet slippers Really been enjoying my mornings in the garden here. Here is a pic of some of the veggies I planted the other day.

Been thinking about killing the original pixelrust photo page as it is almost redundant now. I really like the new wordpress engine running this part better then that one, but I like the single image post as well. It's just clean and simple. So screw it, I'll keep both running simply because it amuses me.

This here pic was taken with my trusty Canon G9. The macro on that thing is fun as all get out. I have a fancy idea of doing a trypdich of these three images (two links there, fyi.). But I have not laid them all out yet. I like these as a sun flare series though.

(I can hear that little voice in my ear going, "Decorative art! BAH!" and I have stabbed it with a rusty swingline stapler.)

And motion comes in.

Megan Fox Photo Shoot with Red One Video Camera - Esquire

Have you watched that enough times yet? You probably noticed there's something different about this Megan Fox cover tease for our next issue: It wasn't shot with a camera. At least not a still camera. For the first time in Esquire's history (and, we imagine, magazine history in general), a cover image was shot as a video. Using the RedONE, a video camera that captures images at four times the resolution of high-definition, photographer-director Greg Williams (see below) recorded ten minutes of loosely scripted footage with Fox — getting out of bed, rolling around on a pool chair, inexplicably lighting a barbecue.

Soon the AD will put a video camera on a tripod and edit from the frames?

Navel Gazing.

My work has been very technical as of late which I am finding odd as I like to think of myself more in the vein of the imaginative  worlds. But the simplicity of an object  has been very relaxing and satisfying to capture. I think my ideal project would take elements from Joel Peter Witkin, Kim Cheever, Lucas Samaras, The early Starn Twins and a touch of Crewdson. But that is a high hill to climb and the fall is quite long.

The table top work has been really nice in that it helps me with learning to work on that scale with lights. It's really simple and commercial, not super challenging, but a obtainable goal for an evening. I am working my way towards breaking the bond between photography and illustration, where the camera supplies the source files for the final composition. And this is a nice break to just focus on the craft of photography and lighting.

How to compose?

The Lazy Rule of Thirds | Whimsical Fashion Photography

To find the real story behind the “rule of thirds” we need to go back in time, not to the renaissance, not to the Greeks, and not even to Adam nor Eve… even further. We need to go to the creation of the universe, why is that? Well I’ll tell you why. There is a number that determines how a sunflower’s seeds grow, it determines the path a hawk takes when diving at it’s prey, it is echoed in the breeding habits of rabbits and it even determines how the spirals in a spiral galaxy are laid out. It’s all very simple in it’s beauty and best of all, it’s all true. If you want to wrap your head around it further then I highly recommend the book The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio

Too much photoshop.

Danish Photoshop Debate Leads To Disqualification

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (April 13, 2009) – Ethical questions surrounding photojournalists' use of Photoshop in image processing is not a controversy confined to the American market. Currently the embroilment rages in Denmark, where at least one photojournalist has been disqualified from a contest because it's been determined that his image manipulation went too far.

I agree wholeheartedly with this call. His images are super tweaked out in a HDR program and fall well outside what I consider right for Press footage. This is heavy, heavy tweakage to the image.

That and super hdr images done poorly look like flickr trash....

Know your Market

Edward_ Winkleman

1. Determine whether your work even belongs in the commercial end of things: Many artists who want commercial galleries are conflicted about what is commonly discussed (at least in many art schools) as the corrupting or irrelevant influences of the commercial art market. Personally, I have no qualms about artists who eschew the art market...in fact, I find it highly impressive if done for the right reasons. I know many artists who like to think that way about their work, though, who will just as happily sell work if it doesn't cost them anything personally. (I think of a certain neo-Marxist who attacked me at a panel discussion for being the source of all ill in the art world because I'm a commercial art dealer only to confess over vodka that he too had sold work and liked doing so.) All of which is my long-winded way of saying start off doing a bit of soul-searching. I don't agree that the commercial side of the art world is automatically corrupting. Too many amazing artists were all too happy to work within it and/or work to improve it. Still, there's no reason to assume you need a commercial gallery just because you're an artist. You may not. It should be something you choose because it fits in with your vision of your career.

Good read on getting into galleries, something I have dabbled with over the past, hell, 20 years? Well I have learned that it's not for me. But for people interested in it this is a good read. I do like that he calls it "commercial" and makes no bones about. The gallery world is the same as any other business and I think this is something a lot for struggling art students fail to understand. Art for arts sake does not exist once you contact a gallery. You are marketing a product.

Now, there are no value judgements going on here on my end, so don't get your panties in a bunch. It's just being honest. And this article will help you achieve those goals if you choose that road.

VIA Conscientious

Iphone pic test

Testing out the wordpress app for the iPhone. This is a shot from Monday up on mt tabor. Nice bike ride...

Ink and water photos

Shinichi Maruyama

As a young student, I often wrote Chinese characters in sumi ink. I loved the nervous, precarious feeling of sitting before an empty white page, the moment just before my brush touched the paper. I was always excited to see the unique result of each new brushing.

Once your brush touches paper, you must finish the character, you have one chance. It can never be repeated or duplicated. You must commit your full attention and being to each stroke. Liquids, like ink, are elusive by nature. As sumi ink finds its own path through the paper grain, liquid finds its unique path as it moves through air.

Remembering those childhood moments, of ink and empty page, I fashioned a large 'brush' and bucket of ink. I get the same feeling, a precarious nervous excitement, as I stand before the empty studio space. Each stroke is unique, ephemeral. I can never copy or recreate them. I know something fantastic is happening, "a decisive moment", but I can't fully understand the event until I look at these captured afterimages, these paintings in the sky.

Simple and yet amazing.

More Long Exposure

Vicki DaSilva Format Magazine Urban Art Fashion

Vicki DaSilva’s photography is bright, bold and undeniably complex. She’s not only behind the camera, but in front of it, carefully crafting the light installations which serve as the subjects for most of her pictures. Though based in Pennsylvania, much of DaSilva’s work was influenced by the time she spent in NYC during the rise of graffiti and hip-hop culture.

What makes her work fascinating is that the effort isn’t apparent, only the skill. Most of her locations are outdoors and they suggest a consciously formed clash between the natural and the artificial, the dark and the light. She uses the words ‘light graffiti’ and ‘light painting’ to describe her work and the terms couldn’t be more fitting. She doesn’t just break through that invisible fourth wall; she leaves her tag all over it.

Using 4ft and 8ft tubes to light paint on a area.

night!

2007 Gallery

New Orleans Nightscapes Gallery 2007

I have always really enjoyed night work.

Pictures!

Holger Pooten Photography

Mood by Gregory Crewdson, some over retouched and some images based off of the chinese guy who does the flying people, but interesting as commercial work.

For future thought

The F STOP » Professional Photographers Discuss Their Craft » Article Archive » Is photography really dead?

It’s probably fair to say that because of CGI, traditional studio photography will begin to fade away in the next couple of years. But to make great ‘photographic’ images, as with retouching, a healthy relationship between the CGI studio and photographer still needs to be a part of the image creation process. The role of the photographer is simply evolving, as is ours from just a retouching studio to a full creative production facility. Whilst we have a strong grasp of photographic technique, it’s preferable in many cases to also have a photographer’s eye looking over an image, as they can often help define the lighting and camera angles and spot errors that the untrained eye can’t always see.

So I am on the fence about this one. I was one of the first to call out the end of Photo Labs back in the 90's, but I don't know if photography will go away. I saud all the labs around will go away and there will be a few custom labs left around to do high end art stuff and thats it. Which is pretty much where we are at.

But this discussion about the death of photography we hear now is based on two fronts:

One, video is killing photography. Everything will be motion based and print is dead.

Two, CGI is killing photography. Why have shoot a product when you can just 3d render it.

Here is my main thought on both of these discussions. MONEY.

It all begins and ends with money. You think a retoucher is expensive and time consuming? Have a 3d model built and see what that runs. You think renting a studio for a still shoot is expensive? Add on all the hot lights and grips you need for a motion shoot. Plus sound and video editing. These are more expensive by factors of two all around. Don't forget that all of this take way more time to produce as well and time is money. You are not walking away from the shoot with a rough edit of the commercial to show the client the next day. That is weeks away. Same with 3d for any kind of decent rendering.

So I do not really see photography going away really. but on higher end shoots I see these other aspects being incorporated in the bag of tricks one uses to achieve a final goal. Video for "Harry Potter Newpaper-esque" loops on websites and 3d for incorporating impossible to achieve effects.

Night photos by Tim Simmons

Tim Simmons – work I like this take on night photos a lot. Very elegant and smooth. I am getting some people together for some night shooting and this is some nice motivational material. Very clean lighting.

I am wondering if I can run my profoto's from my truck without melting the battery.... hmmm....

Pano Pic from a River stroll.

St. Johns by the river

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Took this a few weeks back and started working on the post the other day. It's 13 images stick together. Started to hail about 5 minutes after this was taken and it was very dark under that bridge.

Wachella Falls

hiking

 

Shot on a hike in Wachella Falls here in Portland. Posting this more as a test to see what images look like in this format.

 

While I like what I have going on now, I do not know if I care for how many pages there are. So I playing with ideas to consolidate things. I just don't know if I like the idea of images sharing a page with blog postings. Comments are on to see how much spam I collect.

  Update Code is all screwy and comments give me a fatal error anyways. Keeping them off.

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