A great couple and a great location at the new Design Center of Austin.
Thanks to Katie Hayes for the support and some beautiful 2nd photographer imagery.
Following up on simplifying equipment, thanks to my fellow classmate Mark for pointing me to this article, Less Gear Equals More Enjoyment. Brian Auer speaks to National Geographic legend Sam Abell about his simple equipment approach to photographing.
And I love the comment from Rafael, sharing Sebastião Salgado’s wisdom that taking 100 images in 10 seconds was not photography but diarrhea.
within the last few months, i’ve shifted from primarily shooting with zoom lenses to shooting with two fixed lenses. and that’s pretty much all i prefer now when i shoot digital.. canon’s 24mm f/1.4 L and their 50mm f/1.2 L.
not only do i gain a simplified and expected perspective, but the images are tack sharp at 100% and have a quality of light and color that can’t be beat for this range of equipment. i used to load myself down with 2 heavy cameras with zooms and often would be fighting with my gear. i now have to physically move in and out a lot more but it keeps me and my eyes active and i like traveling light. i feel i can focus on the picture making process much more.
one of my professor’s in my master’s program, homer sykes, has frequently reminded me to slow down and not shoot like i’m handling a machine gun, to be more thoughtful and purposeful with my images. and i think the switch to fixed lenses has helped me do that. i don’t feel like i need to shoot every detail, interaction, etc. anymore. and visually, i’m giving myself a little more breathing room.
the switch to film has helped me slow down even more (partially because i pay a few dollars for each image in film, developing, and scanning) i should be getting the film back from the texas-mexico border shooting in the next two days and will share some of that shortly.
in the mean-time, enjoy two images from a recent wedding from my two favorite lenses
Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f/1.4 L:1/200 sec at f/2.0
Canon 5D, Canon 50mm f/1.2 L: 1/400 sec at f/1.8
It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your animal cookies.
One of the most painful effects of the financial turmoil for me has been the recent bankruptcy of the Mother’s Cookies company. After 92 years of creating my favorite animal-shaped food, they’re abruptly shutting down and discontinuing the cookie, citing increased production costs and the credit freeze.
So hurry while supplies last at your local stores. Or order online to preserve these treats for future generations.
Read more here.
I’ve been spending the last few days shooting an independent project on the border of Mexico, tying in to our masters program new group theme of “borders”.
I’ve joined the minutemen of Texas to document part of their October round up. It’s an interesting mix of people with a variety of motivations. The main event is night watches along the border, watching for travelers (aka illegal aliens) and reporting any findings to border patrol. It usually is a group of people sitting in the dark with walkie talkies, night vision, and beef jerkey until midnight.
The picture here is from my night vision from my current post.
I’ve been shooting this project entirely with a medium format range finder, the mamiya 6. It’s been an inspiring switch back to film, having to slow down, make each image count, and putting much more though into the whole image making experience.
I’ve also been doing some audio capture for the first time so I’ll hopefully be making a multimedia presentation soon.
It’s nice I can blog from my iPhone, maybe that means I’ll finally make more regular entries.
Well I’ve got another 3 hours on my post here so back to “protecting the border” I go.
local jewelry designer, anne kiel, has also been keeping me well employed with new product and portrait photography for her latest line of silver jewelry. i was also recently recruited to design a fresh and clean new website for her.. check it at: www.annekiel.com
Alrighty, looks like I need some discipline on habitual updates. Today’s update is what I’m currently preparing for printing. It’s an image I shot in 2005 on an urban neighborhood street in Christchurch, New Zealand during a five month journey across Southeast Asia and Australasia. It was shot with a classic 1950′s Leica M3 camera.
I’m having a standout mounted print made for Austin Art Garage’s Political Action Art Auction. You can read more about the cause, the event, and how to win this print here.
with only 36 hours in paris, there wasn’t much time to myself. with the little time i did have, i found some interesting images around the eiffel of the mostly african immigrants hawking their souvenirs
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the assignment for central college is to document their 6 european abroad sites, mainly for promotional usage. much of my shooting involves working with students at their universities, dorms, city areas, etc. here is a sampling from the first day in paris
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with inspiration from some of the great photojournalists we’ve been studying in the masters program, i’ve invested in some nice fixed lenses by canon. as opposed to zoom lenses, i have less flexibility in changing the composition in one location; but i gain a consistent view, an expected result, and tack-sharp images with a beautiful bokeh.
here is a recent shot on the college abroad assignment with my standard 50mm on f/1.2
and here’s one with my fixed wide angle 24mm on f/1.4
