Justification

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 going.

I read something completely unrelated today on the Time magazine website (a neat article about travel) that actually articulates how I feel about the genuine quality of film and traditional darkroom prints:

"No matter how much we crave it, authenticity is hard to come by in this country. We don't get it from our wide-stanced politicians, we don't get it from our lip-synching pop stars, and we rarely get it during our travel experiences."

Oh how true

The Masters

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 admittedly has been fired from every job he's had but is arguably one of the most successful photographers of his generation.

He has a lengthy blog post this morning. He starts with quip about the economy and being a creative type in a down market. He goes on to talk about some of the jobs he's been fired from and ends with quite a profound conclusion:

"It ain’t the way it used to be, but what is? There’s never been any guarantees, or forgiveness, or for the last 10 or more years, fairness, in this industry. But here’s the thing.

"...We make pictures. At the end of the day, we create something potentially significant that did not exist at the beginning of the day. We go forward, despite the uncertainty. Because this is an act of love and passion, which defies reason and prudence.

"And we make that occasional good frame, the one that sings, the one that lifts our hearts and the hearts of everyone who sees it. That well and truly is as good as it gets."

I know some people don"t share my love for photography, but I count my blessings everyday that I'm able to do my work through a lens. I cant imagine it any other way. It may come at the cost for my family of a more lucrative traditional career, but enjoying what you do with a wonderful family who supports you, is truly as good as it gets.

Photography Lesson

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 more as a set of ingredients that can be taken out of the pantry at any point and used to make a great ‘meal’ (photograph)."

Pretty good advice for those of you just starting out with a camera. Or for those of you more technical minded folks who have the camera mastered, but can't seem to get good pictures. We learned a lot of these principals in design school, and every design element can also apply to good photography.

EDIT: [EV +/-] Exposure Compensation blog had a great post the other day "Of Design and Photography". It's actually more of a book recommendation. He gets a little more philosophical about photography and design as it relates to viewers, but is worth a read (the blog that is. I cant vouch for the book).

EDIT 2: There's a part 2 of the Digital Photography School article mentioned in the main body of this post. I knew there were a few of the design principals left out. I just didn't remember which ones (since it's been so long since school). Anyway, he goes over the rest there.

The Economy

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 insisted on giving photographers 70% of the sale instead of the ever decreasing percentage the bigger houses are passing on. Good idea in theory, but as long as there's photographers willing to undercut themselves by selling to microstock or the big houses charging subscription rates, there will not be room in the market for agencies like Photoshelter to do the right thing.

So thanks to those of you friends and family who were willing to sign model releases and tolerate me asking for "Active Senior" moments. I might still try to find a place to license these pictures for me.

Maybe I need to look no further than doctors offices. Maybe the insurance companies will pay for a couple prints if the Md's will write a perscription for a nice picture series.

Politics

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 Jill Greenberg was commissioned to shoot the cover of the Atlantic magazine. I'm not going to rehash it here, but it's been all over the photography blogosphere. This guy who writes a right wing blog has been writing a lot about it and has included some screen shots of the extra stuff she did to the pictures. One of my new favorite photographers, Mark Tucker, an Obama supporter, condemns her on his blog.

If you must use photography in politics, another of my new favorite photographers, Richard Avedon (or shall I say recently discovered. He died in 2004.), did it well in 1976 to chronicle the bicentennial presidential election in Rolling Stone. In order to NOT express his personal opinions, he allowed his subjects to choose their own pose and clothing so his biases would not skew the picture. Please check out his work. He's got a great timeless style.

Check out some of the people outlined in 1976 and their job titles.



I was only born in the late 70's, so I didn't realize that George H. W. Bush was the Director of the CIA.



I think I knew that Donald Rumsfeld was the first Pres. Bush's Sec. Def., but I didn't know he was even before the Regan Administration. There are some other neat pictures in there like JFK's mother:



Part of why I love photography is that it freezes time. Look at the styles:

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):

Engagement Session

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!

Maternity Pictures

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 some off camera flash in the field and take some portraits in a different place. The shoot went better than I thought, and I learned alot.

I'm planning on taking some pictures of their daughter when she's born too. I'm excited about getting into that area of photography. Let me know what you think.













And of course some film. My first roll with a $200 Craigslist steal!

When Momma's Away...

...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. Shoot, I might do that anyway with these gas prices! I did get all the laundry done though.

10 Weeks

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, but seems to have more bursts of energy lately. She's going to Texas this week for a church food service conference so hopefully she'll be well enough to participate and learn what she needs.

Amy's due January 15th. I'm hoping Pat will come about 2 weeks early so we can claim him/her on our tax returns! Start the baby pool! I'm taking bets on the due date.

I've got two amazing little boys so it'd be nice to have a "daddy's girl". At the same time, I know how amazingly fun boys are. If we have a couple more boys, we can start a hockey team!

So anyway, start ordering those prints from my last post. Proceeds go towards having a new baby!

Selling Pictures

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!

I Shoot People...

..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 all comes to mind because David Hobby (THE strobist at strobist.com) put up this fathers day post: "A Father's Day Reminder: Shoot Your Kids". I immediately thought of people who might read that out of context and the repercussions people have had from saying shoot instead of photograph.

As most of you may know, I'm a US Marine Corps Veteran. I that's where my funny tagline comes from. When I was in boot camp, my drill instructor had a USMC license plate frame that read: USMC Infantry. I kill people for a living. Fitting I guess, albeit a harsh way of saying it. I thought I'd play on that to a photographers favor.

A colleague of mine is also a Marine Veteran of over 25 years. He told me of a day he was tasked with going to shoot the president as part of his official duties as a Marine Corps Photographer. As soon as they drew their weapons, he knew the mistake he made. When he told the security detail what he was there to do, they detained him immediately! It took quite a while and a bunch of phone calls before he was able to be released to his command. Needless to say he didn't shoot the president with film or otherwise.

These days I'm very clear that I photograph people and shoot landscapes.

This is me after shooting a bunch of people (with a video camera that is. I was lucky enough to never have to fire a weapon in a hostile environment):

Amy's PREGNANT!

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 gets it. He kisses mommy's belly, talks to the baby and repeats that we have to be gentle with the baby. He thought he and I both had a baby in our belly's too, but we got that straightened out. It seems like he's getting it, but it'll be progressive thing. He'll understand the phases as they come.

Anyway, of course I had to take some maternity pictures already:

He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.

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. evening. I didn't post anything about it here, 'cause I didn't want anyone to see me in case I fell on my face. I think I did pretty well though. I followed guys who were talking about small flashes. They mostly talked about gear and technical ideas and I demonstrated lighting scenarios.

I had my big backgrounds and studio strobes and started with the basic 3 point lighting setup where you set your main exposure with one main light, then fill the shadows with a light a half to three quarters stop less than the main, and a back light no brighter than your main light.


The next setup I went through was the standard glamour setup, the butterfly light. One soft main light upper and a soft lower fill light (a half to full stop less than the main) directly above and below the camera at about a half to full stop difference.


The last setup I demonstrated was the newer trendy style I've been seeing alot of lately: Two hard light's 45 degrees behind the subject equal exposure value as the main soft light directly above the camera.


People really seemed to be interested in what I was talking about. They were really paying attention to what I was doing (at times better than I was when I forgot to plug my camera into the lights). They asked good challenging questions to which I was able to give good answers. Some of the students you could tell had just bought their camera, and others had been shooting longer than me, but had never had the opportunity to use studio lights.

I had a really good time teaching. I'd like to do more of it.

Engagement Session

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.

My Latest Masterpiece

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 opportunity to learn something new. I never thought it'd take me this far. I've learned more than I ever dreamed and continue to challenge myself more than I could if I had been strictly a still photographer. I'm very lucky to do what I do, and especially to have been thrust into it. I've known all my life I wanted to do something with the visual arts. Ever since I remember I loved to draw pictures. I remember after I learned you could earn a living in the visual arts, I would sell my drawings to my relatives for a quarter each. I'm sure they felt obligated to buy them. I've come a long way from drawing in the church pew and hawking my scribblings.

Anyway here's a taste of what I do:

About the video. It's an opening to a conference for my agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency, or DISA. This year the conference was held in Disney World, and around 3,500 people attended. It was quite the production. Along with producing this opening video and all the posters and graphics, my shop was responsible for running video cameras during the plenary sessions to be displayed on 30' screens (sort of like you'd see on awards shows on TV). This video played the first day right before our director, a 3 star Air Force general, spoke. The opening and closing graphics were done in Adobe After Effects and the piece was edited in Apple's Final Cut Pro. I had never even opened After Effects just a month before starting this project and I was able to pull out these animated graphics consistent with the theme of the conference.

Never Talk Politics...

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 own conversations or watching the Celtics beat Cleveland when JJ paused and said "Backbama". Now I knew what he was saying and reading this, you may know what he was saying. I think everyone else had an idea what he said because they all focused their attention to John. Without prompting he said it again, this time much clearer: "Brack Bama". Tony, our neighbor and a DJ for a Jazz station on satellite radio said "Did he just say Barack Obama?" Yea, he did. I have no idea why or what prompted that. We were visibly embarrased. It almost made me feel like it looks like we have some political agenda we're so passionate about we're raising our son to think like us. That's just not the case (although we will emphasize the importance of our right to vote and to never talk politcs). Amy even said "It's not like we talk politics with him." After all we're ferociously non-committal, er, independent. Someone in the room said "What about McCain?" Well, he just hasn't been in the media as much lately. Besides Barack Obama is more fun to say.

Nightmares

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!

The Case for Film

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 station, was the first year they used their darkroom as a storage closet. I finally bought a home darkroom setup and learned to process and print black and white film.

I love it. I love the print. People say that you can do anything digital that you can do with film. Even my boss, a vietnam veteran combat cameraman who tells stories of souping film in combat helmets by a river on a moonless night, says I'm wasting my time in the darkroom. I still maintain that there is a difference in the final print. That's the thing. People are so used to looking at pictures on Flickr and in e-mails that they forget that it's the print that matters. Maybe it's not better or worse, I just think it's more artsy. I've seen tutorials on how to get that film look. I've got your tutorial: "Shoot film" Don't get me wrong. I still shoot digital, but you wont catch me trying to get the film look with it. By no means would it make sense for your average portrait, commercial, or wedding photographer to shoot film. It just costs too much for the consumables and takes way too much time to do any kind of volume. But for those who still want a beautiful silver gelatin print, it becomes that much more valuable.

The root of my belief is back in design school when we shot color film to scan. People would take the beautiful blues and greens of Fuji Velvia and desaturate in Photoshop. What a waste. I believe in exploiting the inherent qualities of a media to create a product that matches your vision. For the longest time, I never shot black and white film or even converted color pictures to black and white. I thought "why would you waste all that beautiful color!" I gradually started to see artists using black and white for a mood, texture or just a feeling. Now I wish I could do more. One of the challenges I'm facing is that it is more time consuming. With a young family and home to keep up, I havent had time to work in the darkroom in months!

Check out this blog from Black Star Rising: http://rising.blackstar.com/the-digital-influence-2.html
He talks about teaching out of date processes in design school where the digital revolution has replaced many techniques with many more precise tools. Photography is a different animal where precision isnt paramount. Take Holga cameras or "lomo photography" for example. They have quite the cult following for a camera known for light leaks and unreliable plastic lenses. They make some beautiful art though. People exploit the inherent characteristics of those cameras for their artistic purposes.

I recently wrote a comment in a Flickr group about how I'm bummed film seems to be going by the wayside. Someone replied "Ah, nostalgia. In any case, you can make arguments like these every time a disruptive technology affects a particular field..." I guess he's right. Maybe it is just nostalgia, but I'm banking on people looking at the classic techniques and embracing them for what they truly are. Art. A true craft. Not just "technology" to be replaced.

Here's a recent article in the NY Times about a photographer using antique processes.

Eventually I'd like to get into the real antique and "alternative" processes like Platinum printing. Check this guy out: http://www.garyauerbach.com/ He's got an exhibit in the Tucson Airport. $800 for an 8X10 inch print! $1000 for an 11X14! They're beautiful prints though. It's expensive to get into, but rewarding on the flip side. Not to say that I wont keep my studio set up in my living room to take those obnoxious pictures of JJ with my D200. Not to say that I dont crave that new D3, or 10 wireless flashes to go with it, but there has to be a balance.

My favorite film picture to date. It almost seems like it could have been taken when the car was new.

Art

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.

State of my Sanity

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 punk teenager). Dont get me wrong, I still dont like the situation I've been put in on this specific project, but this too shall pass, and at the end of it all, I love my job. I really do.

My previous job had much more to complain about, like not showering for a month at a time:



Now I shower regularly

Where does YOUR photography come from?

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 from Chase Jarvis' blog ( http://www.chasejarvis.com/blog/2008/02/kader-attia-it-comes-from-within.html) the other day that was really inspiring. He goes on about a person in particular, but it's not the person that's so inspiring, it's on little thing that he describes about the conversation:

" We're swapping stories and nuggets of fun information, when suddenly he pauses, looks me straight in the eyes, taps his fingers on his chest and drops this bomb on me in his cool French accent:
'You know, Chase, we’ve got to find our art from within.'
Pause.
It’s so simple, yet so easily glossed over in our day to day lives as creative professionals.

Later the same day, I read this on the PopPhoto website:

"...Rodney Lough Jr. -- also an eminent large-format landscape photographer and teacher (www.theloughroad.com) -- asks his students to reveal the worst thing that's ever happened to them: Step One in unleashing their inner 9-year-old.

Welcome to the Zen side of photography. Butcher, Lough, and others believe that nontechnical -- even nonvisual -- approaches lead to better pictures. The idea: to tap your creativity through intuition and self-contemplation, to forget your preoccupations, and to enjoy the moment of shooting."

Very profound. I bring this up because my best friend has accused me of having a very "generic" style. He once said to me: "You know Chuck, you're a brilliant photographer, but, I dont know... I feel like I've seen all your pictures before." I steped back and thought about it, and he's right. Not much of my work is truly inspired by ME. It's inspired by some other photographer or picture that I've seen. I've struggled since then to try to find more photography from within myself instead of within the camera. Tell me if you share my plight or if you have insight into this subject.

Here's MY inspiration: