7 Things Photographers Should Never Do

http://www.lightstalking.com/7-things-photographers-should-never-do

This is very interesting. I especially like the last don't in the list.

The Outhouse 500

For the last few years I have been working on an adhoc project of sorts. I get a real kick out of photographing events like this that are put on by some of the smaller communities in the area.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with the shots I have made. I have a lot of very nice images that I should put together in some form that I can show people. Maybe it's time to do a book.

These events whether single day or multiple day affairs are great to photograph because they are so accessible. In most cases you can get very close to the action and generally no one gives you any problems about being there.

If you like to photograph people these types of events are perfect for it.

These images are from "The Outhouse 500" in Coopersville MI a small town a few mile west of where I live. I have wanted to shoot there for a couple of years now but something always came up that prevented me from going. So I made the effort to go this year and I'm glad I did.

It was a hoot.

2010 Jammie Awards

My oldest daughter invited me to go see the Jammie Awards with her last night. She knew a couple of the people playing. There were a number of bands and solo artists who performed small sets over the course of the evening on two different stages.

For those who don't know what the Jammies are I'll explain. WYCE is a local community supported radio station in Grand Rapids Michigan and for the past 11 years the have given awards to local musical talent at this special awards show.



Here are a few of the shots I made.

Playing Can Be Creative

The other night I went to the studio of a friend of mine. We are putting on a lighting workshop for a couple of local area camera clubs and we needed figure out what we were going to cover, lighting setups, as well as some other details.

Larry rounded up a couple of models to work with. It was a great time because we got to play with all kinds of lighting arrangements we wanted to try and to figure out what would work out the best at the workshop. If we wanted to try something to see how it looked we could.

We did a lot of "what if we put a light here" or "what about a blue or red gel on the background light" kind of things. It was very refreshing to just mess around with light without the constants of shooting for a client's needs.

We got to play.

My New Favorite Photographer

I like the work of many photographers both old ones and new ones. One of my all time favorites is Edward Weston. This has changed a bit. I had to move Weston over and make room for Vivian Maier.

The work of Vivian Maier, a french woman living in Chicago doing incredible street photography, is worthy of being shown in any great museum in the world. Her work to me is similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson, it has the same kind of "divisive moment" feel to it. I also like that the images were shot using an old TLR and they look to be full frame and in a square format.

Here is a prime example of an extremely talented photographer, working in obscurity, and producing an incredible body work over a long period of time coming to light. Her images were recently discovered by by a guy named John Maloof. Her story is on the blog he has created to feature her photographs. I ran across a link to this blog about a week ago and I subscribed to the RSS feed.

So here is the link to the "Vivian Maier-Her Discovered Work" blog http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

"The Seduction of Potential"

As I have said in the past I am a fan of Brooks Jensen the publisher of Lenswork. His most recent podcast really hit home for me. I really can't add too much more, so here is a link so you can listen for yourself.

"The Seduction of Potential"

What is the Best Camera?

OK so when someone asks you "what is the best camera?"

How you you answer?

This question is impossible to answer without more information, what are they going to use it for, what is their skill level, how much do they want to spend, and so on.

For me the answer is "The best camera is the one in my hands". I know this is a flip answer and it has been made by many other people, but there's a lot of truth in it.

What good is my $8000 DSLR with the most expensive zoom lens possible, sitting in it's camera bag back at my house doing me? What if all I have is the camera in the cell phone in my pocket and the mother ship from Alpha Centari lands 100 feet in front of me in broad daylight, which is the best camera in that case?

I take a camera with me a lot, and I always have my cell phonecamera. Bringing a camera with you as much as possible insures that you won't have the "boy I sure wish I had my camera" experience less often. I know that even if you have your camera with you can still miss capturing that great image, but without it it's a guarantee that you won't get the shot.

So like American Express says "Don't leave home with out it!".

Saint Ansel and the Myth of the Zone System

I am sure I will be crucified for this one, but here goes.

My friend and shooting buddy Steve refers to Ansel Adams as Saint Ansel. I think there are two reasons he does this, one is he is truly a fan of Adams and the other mainly is to piss me off. At least in a friendly way.

Don't get me wrong I like AA's work and if you were to ask most normal people who he was, they could tell you that he was a great photographer. I'll give odds that they probably have seen only one or two of his photographs. He has become larger than life, a cultural icon, a person of mythological proportions.

There are not many other photographers who have achieved that kind of recognition. I am not trying to take anything away from his accomplishments, but I think there are many other photographers who were his contemporaries that don't get the notice that they deserve.

When you put a group of photographers together especially ones who shoot B&W and the conversation turns to photographers, Ansel is generally the first name thrown out. It's sort of like recognising the Beatles and no one else. Rolling stones anyone?

What happen to people like Minor White, Wynn Bullock or dare I say it, Edward Weston. These guys were much more then just a footnote in photographic history, but Adams is the person that the myth was created about. I find this interesting.

We all have our favorites, but I think we need to expand our horizons. It doesn't hurt to look at the work others even if we are not that big a fan just to broaden our scope a bit. We could gain a new perspective on how we look at things.

Then again I could be full of it............