[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.
I have long argued that musicians need to drop the notion of making money from CD sales through record labels and concentrate on making money from the experiential awareness that surrounds their brand; a brand they own, no one else. The downside to this for musicians is that they need to get organized and work hard, or arrange for what I call the “fifth Beatle” to help with online communications, selling merchandise etc. Consider this from Russell DaviesCreating music is only the first step to creating something valuable and timeless. For instance, David Byrne played a building. Music released as part of an event is the future – Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows was the first step toward the album release as event, if it’s an album at all.. How it’s done is also important. The container has changed forever. Remember what Rishad Tobaccowala has to say to advertising agencies trying to embrace the social web – “The future does not fit in the containers of the past.” It is no different for bands.
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
Three minutes before midnight on March 12, 1928, the St. Francis Dam catastrophically failed. There were no eyewitnesses to the dam's collapse, but a motorcyclist named Ace Hopewell rode past the dam and reported feeling a rumbling and the sound of "crashing, falling blocks," after riding about a half-mile (800 m) upstream. He assumed this was either an earthquake or another one of the landslides common to the area, not realizing he was the last person to have seen the St. Francis Dam intact, and survive.
Dam keeper Harnischfeger and his family were, most likely, the first casualties caught in the floodwave, which was at least 125 ft (38 m) high when it hit their cottage in San Francisquito Canyon, approximately 1/4 mile (400 m) downstream from the dam. Forty-five minutes before the collapse, Hopewell, the motorcyclist, also reported seeing a light in the canyon below the dam—the dam itself did not have lights—suggesting Harnischfeger may have been inspecting the dam immediately prior to its failure. The body of Harnischfeger's wife was found fully clothed and wedged between two blocks of concrete near the broken base of the dam; their six-year-old son's body was found farther downstream, but Tony Harnischfeger's body was never found.
As the dam collapsed, twelve billion U.S. gallons (45 billion liters) of water surged down San Francisquito Canyon in a floodwave, demolishing the heavy concrete walls of Power Station Number Two (a hydroelectric power plant), and destroying everything else in its path. The flood traveled south down San Francisquito Canyon, flooding parts of present-day Valencia and Newhall. The deluge then turned west into the Santa Clara River bed, flooding the towns of Castaic Junction, Fillmore, and Bardsdale. The flood continued west through Santa Paula in Ventura County, emptying its victims and debris into the Pacific Ocean at Montalvo, 54 miles (87 km) from the reservoir and dam site. When it reached the ocean at 5:30 a.m., the flood was almost two miles (3 km) wide, traveling at a speed of 5 miles (8 km) per hour. Bodies of victims were recovered from the Pacific Ocean, some as far south as the Mexican border.
Was talking with the Chimney repair guy up here about this the other day. Pretty interesting story. Here is a NPR story about it The St. Francis Dam Disaster on NPR as well.
Those snare hits are cracking, good lord! Thanks Nathan!
Last week I was on the phone to an old friend of mine, a guy in his late forties, who was born and bred in Michigan, and is living there now. He was telling me about his uncle, who, about four decades ago, got his highschool sweetheart pregnant. So instead of going off to college, he found himself with a new wife, a child on the way, and an assembly-line job at General Motors. But even though this situation clipped his wings considerably, he still ended up having a nice life in the end, with a home, a big yard, two cars, a steady paycheck, weekends fishing or hunting deer, and vacations in Hawaii every year or so. “The days where a blue collar guy like my uncle could have a nice life without doing much,” my friend said, “those days are gone. Gone forever.”
And in the back of my mind, I’m thinking the same is starting to happen to white collar guys more and more, as well. But it’s not quite out in the open yet. Society’s not quite ready to have that conversation.
Interesting Read over at Gaping Void.
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.
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]The Project we did for Nike Football went live. The Nike Combat Overview image can be seem here. Multiple composites upon composites. The background plate had to be usable on it's own for wall murals. The uniforms are based upon illustrator files. Had to line up not only the lit and unlit shots but also a baselayer shot. The lit and unlit shots are all done with toning too.
By clicking on the player you can Explore the Uniform and see the individual images up close. I can not go into all the details here of the work, but I am quite proud of the texture of the pants.
This was a very fast turnaround of under a week for this whole project with the individual files being 80 megs when flattened and the group shots being 150 megs. So this was not done at web resolutions, this was done at painful 5 gig psd file sizes. Very fun and challenging project which we were very happy to be a part of.
Combine multiple audio inputs for use in GarageBand - Mac OS X Hints
I was looking for a way to have multiple audio inputs into GarageBand, say using my Digital Line in, two iMics, and anything else that will get audio, but GarageBand only lets you choose one input at a time. But with a tip from the guys at Rogue Amoeba, there is a way!Using the Audio MIDI Setup application (in Utilities), choose "Open Aggregate Device Editor" in the Audio menu. Here you can create a virtual device that combines all your other inputs. Click the + sign to create a new device, then check "Use" off on the devices in the list that you want in your virtual device. If you like, double-click "Aggregate Device" to change the name to something of your choosing.
In GarageBand, choose your new device from the input list and there you go! Theoretically, you can buy four iMics and an USB hub and you can have eight inputs -- but I don't know the maximum number of audio streams that can be used simultaneously over one USB channel. But, this is a lot cheaper than buying an eight-input device which can run up to $800. Enjoy!
This made my day!
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:
Some new images I worked on went live over at Go Lite recently. Fun job shot by Jamie Kripke.
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.
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.
Just going through the archive and I found some outtakes from a HDR study which failed horribly, but the images on there own are quite nice. So I took it to B&W as is my thing right now.
On a side note, HDR looks great on the web but generally looks horrible printed. Just a FYI to all the Flickr folk out there.
[gallery link="file" columns="4"] So I have been into Baroque painters as of late. The quality of light I find amazing, the attention to the details and great composition makes this a great time to study up on and learn. The use of everyday objects also have a way of taking one back to that time and place. It reminds me to shoot current items so that they will be grounded in time.
Today I have been looking at Pieter Claesz. (web gallery link)
"Pieter Claesz (wiki link)(c. 1597-1 January 1660) was a Dutch still life painter, born in Burgsteinfurt, Westphalia (now Germany) and active in Haarlem, where he settled in 1621. He and Willem Claeszoon Heda, who also worked in Haarlem, were the most important exponents of the "ontbijt" or breakfast piece. They painted with subdued, virtually monochromatic palettes, the subtle handling of light and texture being the prime means of expression. Claesz generally chose objects of a more homely kind than Heda, although his later work became more colourful and decorative. The two men founded a distinguished tradition of still life painting in Haarlem, but Claesz's son, Nicolaes Berchem, became famous as a landscape painter and was also know for his talent in music. Claesz's still lifes often suggest allegorical purpose, with skulls serving as reminders of human mortality."
More of the Desaturated Studies I have been doing. I really enjoy those yellow trees peaking out.
A compositional study.
Though it was interesting to see these next to each other.