Silver Falls, North Falls Panoramic
Went on a the 8.9 (8.7?) mile Silver Falls hike this past weekend. Here is a panoramic I took of the North Falls while there. Awesome hike but my old ass knee started doing funny stuff about mile 5-6.
I should be posting some more images from there shortly. Backed up with work so the fun stuff has to wait. Actually really enjoyed shooting and working on these. Been awhile since I have really enjoyed my own photography. You may know the feeling.
Hand held pano even though I had a tripod with me, go figure...
Non-Destructive Cropping!
I actually found something in Photoshop CS5 that makes me a happy Panda. Non-Destructive Cropping.
Cropping non-destructively After you create a cropping rectangle with the Crop tool, select Hide from the options bar to preserve the cropped area in a layer. Restore the cropped area anytime by choosing Image > Reveal All or by dragging the Crop tool beyond the edge of the image. The Hide option is unavailable for images that contain only a background layer.
RIP
I didn’t use a light meter; I just read the light off my hands. So the light varies, and there are some dark images. Also, I’m sort of a nervous person with the camera, so I will just shoot arbitrarily until I can focus and compose something, and then I make a shot. So generally, in those proof sheets, there are only three or four really concentrated efforts to take a photograph. It’s not like a professional kind of person who sets it up so every photograph looks really cool.-Dennis Hopper
Scott Davis
Upon returning to California after his studies in New Mexico, Davis took the unique moods of the desert and applied them with deftness to urban settings. By nature, Davis is a loner and seeks settings that can be as much one place as any other anonymous spot on a street or lost highway. His saturated nightscapes are composed with a single existing source whose light hugs and frames elements in the subject matter. This effect yields work that is luminescent in a manner that evokes night as much as day. You can feel the heat and lingering effects of drenching sunshine imbuing the streets, pavements, parking lots, buildings, valleys and billboards. Moreover, in his latest work he explores by taking pictures of buildings specifically on San Fernando Road. This focused survey has brought his work to a new plane that culminates his vision and training. In 713 N. Victory Boulevard, Davis captures a desolate corner that makes a viewer look twice because its richness and depth evoke a tangible painterly sensibility that makes one look back for confirmation that it is a photograph, rather than a hyper-real painting. There is no trace of Hollywood glamour; solitude is palpable and LA takes on a majesty unlike its actual, sprawling self. One can imagine if Edward Hopper were a photographer these are the pictures he would have taken.Scott Davis, another fine photographer at Hous Projects.
Marian Drew
Drew sets her deceased on kitchen tables amidst fruit and fauna in a manner that evokes Renaissance still-life painting. In particular, reference and parallels are found in the vanitas genre, which were constructions by painters to warn of the bouquet of hubris man weaves. The senselessness of death for Drew’s subjects is poignant even more so with the realization that these animals will not be consumed as the fish and fowl shown in classic still life. Sport is cruel; careless discard is unforgivable. Rather than bucolic examples of a landowner’s fortunes or flexed exertions of man’s control over the natural world, Drew’s tables are dressed to implicate the disregard humanity has for the wild animal. The warmth of home, sweet home’s family gathering to share a meal is tainted when barriers are removed between the beasts and us.
Marian Drew, photos. Nice stuff. I am a fan of this look.
Good phtography of the Oil Spill
Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico - The Big Picture - Boston.com
And to repeat, "Drill baby, Drill."
Beacon Rock Hike
[gallery link="file" columns="2"] Went for a hike at Beacon Rock this weekend. Nice easy hike with some amazing views. You would have to work hard to take a bad photo so there are a few more here.
Lacamas Creek Hike
[gallery link="file" columns="2"] Went on a hike at Lensbaby for a few shots for a change of pace. Was fun to be that loose.
The rise of The Poison Picture
Fair Trade Photographer: Microstock: why would a reputable company do this to themselves?
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this one has a lot to say. It says microstock. It says perfect-people perfect-world lowest-common-denominator cookie-cutter pile-them-high sell-them-cheap image.Why would a reputable company want to be associated with those words?
And from the comments:
This is another technology game-changer... it is always impossible to know what will come along and how it may turn an industry on it's head. This is something that I believe will turn microstock on its head and put it in its place - which is on the websites of micro-companies and fly-by-nighters, and not on the website of any company which values its image.
Picture buyers (and designers) who think they can get away with using microstock images have now got to contend with the fact that with one click of their mouse, anyone can find many many examples of the same image being used across the web. And that just makes it far too easy for a company's reputation to be ridiculed.
Major corporations are already aware of this and that is why you will no longer find microstock images on their websites.
Say hello to the era of the Poisonous Picture....
Good write up if you ever have to sell a better image to a client.
Thanks Charlie!
Puppet warp in CS5
Interesting to see how this works with high resolution files. Content Aware Scale introduces way to much artifacting so I have no faith in Content Aware Fill. This might be useful though.
On a side note, how long till we have a icon which denotes a picture as a Illustration versus and real Optical Photograph?
Erwin Olaf interview
The F STOP » Professional Photographers Discuss Their Craft » Erwin Olaf
Olaf: I work with several retouchers for every project. It’s like in the film industry, there’s an editor. I see myself more as a director nowadays than as a pure photographer.F STOP: What do you like about 60s and 70s lighting? The top light?
Olaf: It communicates that we are in artificial world, because it’s not natural. I prefer a little softer, and not really hard light, but soft box light most of the time. But it is a dream world, you know.
F STOP: And everything in your shoot reinforces that?
Olaf: Yes, it comes all together and it builds up to one atmosphere.
Some very interesting points in this interview. Good read.
Thanks Jamie.
Snow!
Just took a few snaps last night of the snow that hit us. The wife was none too pleased, lol!
Kyle Alexander does good
Kyle Alexander a friend and danklife client recently shot Snoop Dogg's Youth Football League for the Wall Street Journal.
Go Kyle!
First frost
[gallery link="file" columns="2"] Woke up this morning to some frost and the patio table we have had some cool patterns on it. So in the vein of Minor White I thought I'd throw a slaved flash under the table and shoot through the frost with a macro. Fun stuff.
But yeah, Frost... it's freaking cold.
Truth at Paris Photo
Art is about life and the art world is about money although the buyers and sellers, the movers and shakers, the money men will tell you anything to not have you realise their real motive is cash, because if you realise – that they would sell your granny to Nigerian sex slave traders for 50 pence and a packet of woodbines – then you’re not going to believe the other shit coming out of their mouths that’s trying to get you to buy the garish shit they’ve got hanging on the wall in their posh shops … Most of the time they are all selling shit to fools, and it’s getting worse.
-Damien Hirst
Time Lapse Cover Design For Macworld
Photographer Peter Belanger captured his work for a Macworld cover design by using time lapse and the finished video is remarkable. The amount of camera equipment used to get what appears to be a fairly simply shot is surprising.
VIA Derek Cooper's well done blog. I shall read up on some of his lighting now. And yes, getting the right table top shot takes a TON of gear and time.
Still life study with Grapes.
Still life study with grapes shot yesterday in the studio. Went to a wine shop for a tasting last Friday and it got me to thinking. Looking to get a triptych out of this series. It's heavily influenced by Joel-Peter Witkin, Zeke Berman and Pieter Claesz.
Here is the lighting setup:
Zeke Berman
One of my college hero's seems to have finally got a good web presence and I am stoked to see that he is successfully playing with color. His 1985-94 series really made a impact on me as a young photographer. The tonal values on the glue gun strands in a real life black and white print is something to see. I remember spending hours in the studio / darkroom trying to get a tonal range close to his. The one time I got close and pulled the prints out of the fixer so happy only to have dry down kill it.
Major bummer......
Reason number 102937464538 why I hate the chem process. Dry motherfucking down.
Of course it's safe.
OK, so I had to splurge on some color with this one. This is the Eagle Creek trail. It kinda freaks me out a bit. That drop is a doozy.