tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57588173041826385762011-08-01T20:11:56.057-04:00Pictures, stories and general ramblings from Charles P. Allen, Photographer.Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-61194157077883022022009-07-19T14:01:00.002-04:002009-07-19T14:16:35.074-04:00

So I know why the cobblers whole family doesnt have shoes. The same reason why I dont have many family pictures at all. In fact, I have more pictures of Noah and his mom than I do of Amy and the kids. Not because I'd rather shoot her than my wife, but that I'd rather spend time with my wife than take pictures when we're together. Anyway, I knew I NEEDED to take some pictures while I had all

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-17236803335312376792009-07-14T21:04:00.006-04:002009-07-14T21:30:53.962-04:00

Last time I was in Lens Crafters picking out some glasses, I happened to notice the mirrors the have on the walls are posted a little high. Now I'm not a short guy at 5'11" and 3/4, and I still noticed the height. I thought "What about the poor short people of the world", then the song about "Short people got no reason to live" popped into my head and I thought about the show "Little People Big

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-49426970007309606072009-07-13T08:29:00.002-04:002009-07-13T08:38:41.734-04:00

I didn't know my friend Ashley was pregnant until I saw something about it on Facebook. I contacted her and told her she needed pictures done. She was already in her 8th month. By the time we got around to taking these pictures she was 13 days out from her due date. She was a trooper though! I kept saying "Are you comfortable?" as we hiked up to the waterfall. I really didn't want to deal

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-787219406793074792009-07-12T14:52:00.003-04:002009-07-12T15:05:34.613-04:00

Here's a few of my favorites from Amy's cousin Shannon and her new husband Anthony's wedding. They are such a great, fun loving couple. They are my first couple that opted for the "first look" so we could get a few extra shots before the ceremony. It was the first wedding that I took the time to incorporate off camera flash in most of the staged shots. I was super pleased with the results.

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-39933197286770130952009-07-09T12:54:00.005-04:002009-07-09T14:25:06.281-04:00

I was strolling through some pictures the other day and thought "Man, these look different to me than they used to" I'm not talking about editing style or anything. These were straight out of the camera. The tones were much smoother and colors more pleasant. I cant think of anything that I've changed about my approach towards taking pictures. It seems almost like something about my camera

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-11749373822481125142009-07-07T12:39:00.002-04:002009-07-07T12:48:37.582-04:00

I had the privilege of shooting a co-workers wedding. Natasha is something of a photographer herself and working in a Visual Information shop, there are a handfull of others she could have asked. But she asked me. Thanks Nattie! Here are a couple from her day:

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-26436935524449564072009-07-06T15:53:00.005-04:002009-07-06T16:10:48.294-04:00

Well, not really a relationship. David Hobby of Strobist featured a series of behind the scenes videos on Dave Hill in a recent blog post. So I watched the videos and was curious as to the result, so I peeked over to Dave Hill's website. I can't stand that over produced, comic book, fake as all getout style! I throw up a little bit when i see stuff like that. I saw him using a Mamiya 7,

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-57448571491265860912009-07-02T11:25:00.001-04:002009-07-02T11:25:05.869-04:00

DC Drive HDOriginally uploaded by Charles AllenI read this post the other day about carrying a camera all the time. I dont know why I thought I was the only one that thought like that. He took the words out of my mouth. Especially with this: "...when I am driving around, such as when I am coming home from work, I will try to compose photos of what I am seeing out of my window in my mind."

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-68068479578647736882009-07-01T10:03:00.001-04:002009-07-01T10:03:39.946-04:00

Natasha EricsonOriginally uploaded by Charles AllenI took the time to experiment a little with the antique 4x5 camera I have. It takes forever to set up and the results are a little unpredictable with such an old camera, but this is also my first print from it. It's like a large format Holga, a nice effect when it works out, but not commercially viable. I'm looking to buy a modern large format

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-51606448180335282542009-01-12T12:33:00.003-05:002009-01-12T12:58:00.994-05:00

So I've been a little conflicted about photography as art. I subscribe to too many photography blogs and some of them lean towards the "artsy" side of photography. While I appreciate some pictures I see classified as "Fine Art" others I think are just bad pictures. Jackson Pollock famously splattered paint and called it art. I think some of these photographers whimsically snap pictures and

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-817317181578047982008-09-23T10:41:00.003-04:002008-09-23T11:02:14.033-04:00

I'm constantly trying to justify why I insist on doing some things the hard way. Like black and white photography. My friend/co-worker and fellow serious photographer Joe Brygadier insists he can do anything digitally that can be done "the old fashioned way" and I have to agree with him on so many levels. In fact he agrees with me on most levels too, but we have a healthy film/digital dialogue

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-941991348639324952008-09-23T09:16:00.004-04:002008-09-23T10:41:17.100-04:00

There are some great photographers out there who blog. David Hobby AKA "Strobist" has a world famous tutorial blog that will make any novice photographer an advanced amateur. Chase Jarvis is one of my favorite current commercial photographers and is on the cutting edge of the industry. But Joe McNally is one of the best storytellers in the business. He's been there and done that. He

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-75441155531422829952008-09-22T13:09:00.005-04:002008-09-23T15:54:08.614-04:00

Every once in a while people will ask me learn photography like me. Well, here's a good answer:No, but seriously, the Digital Photography School online has this tutorial today about 5 Elements of Composition in Photography. The author also defines the "Rules" of photography (like the rule of thirds) uniquely: "Instead of looking at composition as a set of ‘rules’ to follow - I tend to view it

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-86648998142662399452008-09-19T11:14:00.013-04:002008-09-19T14:13:36.290-04:00

So I was pretty excited about selling stock pictures. That is until the agency I used decided to stop licensing pictures. Yea, Photoshelter had traditionally been a hosting service for photographers digital files, but decided to try to improve the photography market by charging a more reasonable price for photographers instead of the microstock agencies who undercut photographers. They also

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-26465086705062504722008-09-19T11:14:00.009-04:002008-09-19T13:35:05.606-04:00

So I've been seeing a lot of politics showing up in my photography blog reading and I don't like it. If I see a great photographer making a political statement I don"t really agree with, I feel like I cant like his/her work. If I wanted to talk politics, I'd tune into CSPAN. It started very subtle with a mention of this or that, but Photo District News ran a piece where famous photographer

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-59290311289907410702008-08-28T14:33:00.005-04:002008-08-28T19:43:39.514-04:00

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

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-21793660250668554612008-08-27T10:33:00.009-04:002008-08-28T08:32:09.717-04:00

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 FilmIf you're too time constrained (or lazy) to hit the link I especially

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-57557780524192288322008-08-22T14:40:00.002-04:002008-08-22T14:50:32.166-04:00

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

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-77284741179347351272008-08-19T14:44:00.005-04:002008-08-26T15:45:46.392-04:00

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

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-40835374106348688562008-08-14T16:44:00.002-04:002008-08-14T16:47:45.811-04:00

Can you believe this?:http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses_all_details.asp?id=3349&navigator=3Who would buy such a thing? Did you see the pricetag? Most publications woul have to ax another photographer to get the lens!

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-46824024967900656682008-08-14T15:57:00.005-04:002008-08-15T08:15:36.292-04:00

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

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-10078682931865623632008-07-11T14:40:00.007-04:002008-07-14T14:42:20.115-04:00

A co-worker of mine is getting married next year and asked me to shoot her wedding. Engagement sessions usually come with the package, so I was glad for the opportunity to shoot her and her fiance (who's a senior at a university in Montana) this week. What a great young couple. The seem perfect for eachother. So young with big lives ahead!

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-72942987302267381672008-07-09T13:52:00.002-04:002008-07-09T14:22:07.912-04:00

I love kids. I know that's not the manly thing to say, but I really do. They're such a blessing. They carry on our names and our traits. They're just amazing in so many ways. That's part of the reason I love maternity pictures too. It's such a happy time in a new parents life. This young couple go to our church and I asked them if I could shoot some pictures of the belly. I wanted to try

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-67888415716425066882008-06-26T23:59:00.002-04:002008-06-27T00:05:23.696-04:00

...The boys play. I wish I could say he asked for this. Then I might be in a little less trouble. She said he could have a mohawk if he asked for it. Mommy's in Dallas for the last part of this week for a church food service conference. She seems like she's having a good time. She'll think twice about leaving the boys at home alone again. Next time I might use our savings for a motorcycle.

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-19521073615604594832008-06-23T10:52:00.004-04:002008-12-11T16:40:34.979-05:00

Amy just went to her 10 week appointment and we have our pictures of the baby.Here's Pat:Amy hates me calling him/her Pat. She says it reminds her of the Saturday Night Live skit. The baby's real name will be Caroline (middle name to be determined, either Marie or Grace. My vote's for Marie) or Charles Jackson (C.J. or Jack).Anyway, Pat and Amy are doing well. Amy's still tired all the time,

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-89984827108307902492008-06-21T20:54:00.005-04:002008-06-21T21:52:59.243-04:00

I've set up a website specifically for YOU to order prints.http://callen.zenfolio.com/I'll update the gallery regularly to hopefully keep interest. I've got 20 of my favorite summer pictures up right now, and in a couple months, I'll add a fall album.Check it out even if you dont order prints, and forward it to all your friends!Let me recommend this print in honor of the July 4th Holiday!

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-54678096869595332902008-06-17T10:23:00.004-04:002008-06-17T10:29:55.393-04:00

..and by shoot, I mean photograph.I put that up on my website as the first line of my "About" page as well as the about paragraph to the right here. A friend of mine laughed and laughed about that. It is meant to be funny but it can be very serious too. In this day and age, people are getting shot left and right, and it's a very scary prospect bringing up a young family in the DC Metro area.This

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-63737694944956248802008-05-28T22:03:00.004-04:002008-05-28T22:19:37.469-04:00

I'm so excited. We didn't think she'd be able to get pregnant again. Amy had an ectopic pregnancy a year and a half ago. They had to take one entire tube. The other side had severe endometriosis. We were told we'd have to get IVF for sure. I was going to switch insurances in the fall to get it partially paid for, but we got it done the old fashioned way! I'm not sure how much JJ actually

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-7533471711549367402008-05-25T20:23:00.003-04:002008-05-28T08:22:35.966-04:00

Edit: I dont mean any disrespect to the teachers of the world. My sister-in-law is a wonderful teacher who cares deeply about her students. My wife was a 1st grade reading teacher when I met her (and she can read just fine). The title is a poke at myself since I don't earn my living with photography but think I'm qualified to teach others about it. So I taught a photography workshop Sat.

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-54750031507152025522008-05-21T13:40:00.002-04:002008-05-21T13:47:20.814-04:00

I usually include a pre-wedding session of some sort if a couple books me for their wedding. This lovely young couple was a pleasure to photograph in DC over the weekend. They seemed to have a lot of fun, which in turn allows me to have fun too.

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-48803635721607851372008-05-19T19:09:00.003-04:002008-05-19T19:53:44.846-04:00

For my "day job" I'm an Audio/Visual Production Specialist. I'm a videographer, editor, and motion graphics animator. It's something I've been thrown into. I enlisted in the Marines to be a still photographer, but they made me a videographer instead. Instead of protesting (which may or may not have done any good given my prior experience as a still photographer) I thought I'd take that

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-44807502766891267432008-05-18T21:46:00.001-04:002008-05-18T21:48:12.322-04:00

At the risk of turning this into a parenting stories blog, here's another parenting story:So our neighbors had an open house party for their daughter who graduates college this week. Me, Amy, and JJ went over had some chicken and burgers and hung out with everyone. John has been an extra handfull lately and this night was no different. Everyone was going about their business and having their

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-23366266284966094892008-05-14T10:54:00.002-04:002008-05-14T11:02:01.140-04:00

So my favorite way of keeping JJ from running off is to carry him on my shoulders. Well, he's potty trianing, and I've always been afraid he's going to pee on my neck. Yesterday it finally happened. He didn't pee while he was up there, but he went to run off, and I scooped him up and put him on my shoulders to a SQUISH sound and a warm wet feeling and knew that my worst fear had come true!

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-30064723379761593782008-05-01T09:14:00.006-04:002008-05-01T10:30:26.748-04:00

Caution: The following post is my OPINION ONLY. I dont want to start the Digital vs. Film debate AGAIN (although that might drum up some publicity for my blog).I started photography right on the cusp of the "digital revolution". In design school, we shot color film, had it processed and scanned the negs. I felt cheated. As a combat cameraman in the Marines, the year I got to my first duty

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-78588497523360772432008-04-29T20:04:00.003-04:002008-04-29T20:10:29.415-04:00

Go check this guy out. http://russellkaye.blogspot.com/ He does a thing called the "Friday Give Back" where he gives away an origional print. I've just submitted for his print called Utah and was only the 6th e-mail. I'm about to e-mail from a couple different e-mail adresses to see if I can still snag it. Maybe that's not the right thing to do. Anyway, check him out. I really dig his work.

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-50483046730368962082008-04-21T08:26:00.005-04:002008-04-21T13:45:33.758-04:00

So I wrote a blog the other day complaining about my job. I was really whining. I got a comment reminding me that employers dont like to be badmouthed. At first I wasnt going to take down that post, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it might be a good idea to take it down. Not for my job security sake, but for future job prospects (and the fact that I sounded like a bratty

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5758817304182638576.post-29380507566339347802008-04-16T17:19:00.004-04:002008-04-16T17:39:08.285-04:00

I thought I'd make my first blog not the "About Me" thing, although I definatley need to get that in here sometime. I wanted to give a taste of how I'd try to have this thing go. So with that, I'm off to my first attempt at blogging! I try to keep up with some major photography blogs everyday. Alot of them are good reads and I've got some saved in an RSS feed so they're easy to find. I read one

Chuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06607863810448934740noreply@blogger.com7