A Personal Challenge

Aaron Johnson pens a cartoon called What the Duck about a Photographer who's a duck. Of course I have subscribed to the RSS feed so I can see his new strip everyday. The other day he illustrated something that I could relate to because of a recent shoot that I had. It was a cartoon about the creative cycle called "Bipoloroid":



I recently did a newborn shoot at my home studio. I've never shot newborns before other than my own son, and those were more happy snaps than portraits.

First of all, the shoot took forever! Newborns don't do anything on your schedule and I was prepared for that. I even took the opportunity to shoot some of mommy and daddy both bottle feeding. But try as I may, I couldn't come up with good poses, even with as much time as I had. Not only that, I couldn't get the poses I researched to look right. I was really struggling. I felt like even forgot how to use my camera and lights. I knew I would have some pictures that they'd love, but I didn't feel like they would be my best pictures, and that bothered me. It bothered me so much that I told Amy that I didn't think I would shoot portraits anymore. Amy thought I was crazy. She knew there were some gems in there. I kinda knew too that when i went back to edit them, I'd find ones that I was proud of too.

I was telling a co-worker about the shoot and my challenges with it and he said "Dude, that should make you want to shoot that even more! Why do things you're completely comfortable with? You'd get bored of that pretty quick. Besides, those pictures are great, and babies are hard to photograph." He's right. As simple as that sounds, he really inspired me.

I've got another newborn session pending and you'd better believe Sweet Caroline will get the Paparazzi treatment when she comes!

Challenges? Bring it on!

A fairly typical family portrait. You gotta have your backup. If all else fails,they've got this:


Part of the down time to urge the infant to cooperate. (yea right!)


Mommy takes a turn with the little one


One of my favorites


Actually as a Diptych, I like this one (or these if you still count them as two) the best.

More Film Mumbo Jumbo

I keep talking about shooting film. I like the fact that not many people shoot film anymore. I think that makes me more unique, even if I do have to work harder and spend more $$ to achieve something others can do magically on the computer.

I found this wonderful tongue in cheek article on a blog: 10 Things I Hate About Film

If you're too time constrained (or lazy) to hit the link I especially like number three:

"3. COST OF FILM

Yikes, that stuff is outrageously expensive! The cost per photo skyrockets compared to digital, and the price of film makes you have second thoughts about taking useless photos. I think we’re definitely better off spending all that money on new digital bodies, super-fast glass, new computers, software licenses, and backup hard drives. Because you know that $3 to $5 per roll can add up really fast — especially since we all love to grab about 500 photos each time we go out with the camera."

I saw a comment on someone's Flickr stream where someone asked a photographer, who started in photography digitally, then moved exclusively film "I bet that without the digital experience you gathered, playing with real film would've been much more expensive and entirely too frustrating." to which he replied "I think you're right again."

Comments on his other photos indicated someone thought he was a film snob. Hardly. He started with digital! I hope I don't come across as a film snob. As I write this I lament about 90% of my photography is digital. And I love the flexibility it provides. But there's just nothing like holding a print or watching the image appear on paper in a darkroom.

On the other hand for most high volume professionals these days it makes no sense to shoot film. Check out Vincent Laforet's "After Action Report" from the Bejing Olympics. "In Beijing, with a total of 6 cameras, I shot: 28,444 files for a total of a whopping 480 Gigabytes of Images!" Silly. Just silly. In terms of film "...shooting this much volume equates to shooting 790 rolls of 35mm 36 exposure rolls of film." For my last wedding, I shot at least 1000 pictures in an 8 hour span. That's about 28 rolls of film. At $20 per roll for the film, processing and prints, that's over $550 added expense.

For art, portraits and other low volume shoots, I'll still take film. Can I have my film cake and eat digital too?

By the way, I just found my new favorite photographer: Mark Tucker

Inflation

I dont know when the phrase was coined, but I think it's plenty time to update the saying "I feel like a million bucks."

I hereby declare the phrase updated to "I feel like a billion bucks." or any denomination seen fit for your current status. For example, I'm not feeling like I'm at my creative peak, so I feel less than perfect. So I might feel like about a hundred grand. If I were in alot of pain or quite sick, I might feel like about 5 bucks. When I nail the shot I have in my minds eye, I'll feel like a million bucks. But when Caroline is born, I'll really feel like a billion bucks.

Another Shameless Plug

In another effort to raise college money for my kids. Shoot forget about college money, I'm worried about daycare tuition at this point! Just kidding. But seriously, so many people have said "You need to submit some of your stuff for stock!" I had heard of Photoshelter from some of my blogging peers and checked them out. After submitting some images, they accepted me as a photographer and am now offering my files for royalty free stock image sales here:



If you need an image, please think of me.

Wow

Can you believe this?:

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3349&navigator=3

Who would buy such a thing? Did you see the pricetag? Most publications woul have to ax another photographer to get the lens!

Scared to DEATH

I know it's been a while since I blogged, but my son Noah has been in town, then we went on vactation in conjunction with returning him to his mother. I'll write about that soon.

Things up untill now have been pretty quiet on the pregnancy front. Untill yesterday. Yesterday was the "Official Anatomy Review". Sounds so, uh, official right? Anyway, we were both excited going in. The radiologist kept us in suspense long enough that we thought we'd have to come back. Finally she said "Well I'm pretty sure I know it's a girl, but I really want to be sure. I want to be the first to tell you!" The baby was sitting such that she wasnt able to get all the measurements the radiologist needed and made it hard to tell if it was a CJ or Caroline. Finally she moved enough to be sure. Caroline it is! I think Amy and I were both sure it was a boy. That would be convieneint. Just throw him in JJ's clothes, and take him along on all the boy things JJ, Noah and I will do. JJ knew way ahead it was a girl. Everytime he refered to the baby it was "She": She's hungry, she's this big, she's this or that. Oh, and he'd say "her name will be Caroline" (even though we had a boys name picked out too-Charles Jackson). He would even sing "Sweet Caroline" without being prompted!

Immediately after the appointment, Amy called like 5,000 people and I just called my parents. I really didnt know what to think. A newfound sense of protectiveness came over me. I'd love for my boys to have a long life of motorcycles, hot rods and fighter jets. Heck, that's what I still want for myself! But Caroline's already so much different in my mind. Will she play soccer or want to cheerlead? Will she want to chase a high paced career or be a housewife? Will she be a tomboy or girly girl? What should I want for her? Anyway, I dont know what to think, all I know is I'm scared to death about having a girl. I feel like having boy's is no problem. They're so much fun. I know what to do with boys, exactly what I do/did. Now with a girl, what do I do. Have tea parties, play dressup? Am I allowed to do that? All I know for now is that after she's born, she's mine unless she's feeding.

So all you men with daughters, give me some hints.

What would one of my blog posts be without some pictures?

Here the arrow supposedly points to the proof that we're gonna have a girl:



In this picture you get a good view of her face. Unfortunately it shows more of the bone structure of her face making her look like skeletor:



Here's the nice normal ultrasound shot people show their co-workers. The radiologist was nice enough to color balance it pink (even though Amy doesn't like pink):