Easy Peasy Photography. Oh yeah, right!

As far as Mondays go, today was a pretty decent one, mostly because this morning's shoot went off smoothly, post-processing was a cinch and I have a beer in one hand and the AC is cranked down. Work on the other hand has been demanding as ever.

Before I forget and get carried away, here is a snapshot of my studio.

It's nothing to write home about and the equipment is very middle grade stuff, consisting of mono lights, but it gives you an idea of what I have to work with. Most days I shoot product stuff which can get pretty monotonous, and then you tend to get brain-dead and do everything in rote. Yes, it can be pretty soul-destroying work, but then again, any job can become that way if you let it. I don't plan on shooting antiques for the rest of my life, but it gives me the opportunity to work with lights, and to experiment with lights in a way that most people could only dream of.

There isn't much that I haven't done with those lights. I've schlepped them all over the place in their Pelican case, and yes, I would love to replace them with some high grade equipment, but that type of budget doesn't exist right now. In the meantime, here is an image of what I what I shot today with those same paltry lights, and a few gobos. The client was ecstatic. Your thoughts? Click on the photo for a larger image. By the way, I really would like your thoughts if you feel you have an idea that could add to the photo.

I am still working on my 10000 hours, and one of the things that I have figured that I need to do is slow down when setting up a shoot and be sure to think through the situation ahead of time. If I can scope out the place well before the shoot I will and if I can't, I will definitely draw a diagram of sorts indicating where I want the lights, and which ones will be gelled, because when the pressure is on, those notes I have made pay off. Essentially, you have to be intentional about what you are doing. Don't waste valuable time being in fibrillation mode when you need to be massaging the client or coaxing a light or changing batteries or adding a snoot. You get the idea.

Something else I have discovered is that I will not be rushed. I understand that the client wants you to set up and shoot and to wrap it up and go away as soon as you can because it's cheaper for him or her, but I won't be rushed. I need to think. I need to walk around, and make whatever adjustments need to be made. Post-processing is fine, but the days of fixing things in Photoshop are over. Trying to fix stuff that could've been fixed on set is tedious and darn right expensive, when all you had to do is turn off the lights or move the prop etc.

Being intentional about your photography isn't necessarily something that comes easily, and yes, it may even slow you down, but ultimately, you will speed up because you'll be correcting bad habits and will be covering all the bases to ensure a perfect picture.

The Best Kind of Camera

Canon? Nikon? Minolta? Sony? What is the best camera? C'mon, you know the answer to that, but before I launch into that, can I say a word about the weather? I'm over summer! Seriously. June is supposed to be the wettest month in Houston, and so far its proved to be the hottest. Today was a high of 96 deg. F and from what I hear, we're supposed to see temperatures in excess of 100 tomorrow and Thursday!

Why do I dread it? Well, today I had a shoot in a teeny, but old building set close to downtown, but it had no air-conditioning whatsoever! We brought a few fans along, ice, iced water, etc., but by the time I left I was dead.

The other good news is that I got my new IPhone 32 MB phone this weekend, notwithstanding a tummy ailment that I was suffering from because of a rather serious bout of food poisoning.

The line wasn't long at all. One of the reasons that I was excited to get the phone was because of a number of functions: a 3 megapixel camera, a video, GPS and the ability to geotag. That is brilliant. Consequently, I have had to start taking it on myself to follow my own advice, and the advice of others that the best kind of the camera is the one you have with you! I've taken some fairly decent photos with it already, two videos and some really crappy photographs that will never see the light of day! Here is a photo that is half-decent. The subject is nothing special, and the camera is my Iphone that is about it.

We were all gathered at my son's house for a braai (the South African word for a BBQ) this past Saturday afternoon as I was trying to get the hang of it. Previous to this, I had had a another brand that didn't sync with Mac and attempted to be some kind of berry, but well, 'nuf said about the past. My son had asked me to bring my camera with to take photographs of him playing his guitar. I obliged, and this is the result.

See if you can figure out the lighting for yourself. I'm not used to all the Stobist "talk", but here it is for those who may be interested: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L on my 5D, 1/80 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 640. I turned the bedroom light off and opened the blinds (camera right) to make use of natural light, but that left the part of his body facing the camera quite dark. I put my EX580 Speedlight flash on, dialed it onto iTTL and then set it way down before diffusing it. Even so, you can still see some shadows around the right-hand side of the guitar on the wall, but they are soft and I don't find them obtrusive. Oh, I processed that in Lightroom 2.0 and then used an action I have in Photoshop CS3 to make it smaller.

Let me know your thoughts. I haven't forgotten to put up photos of the studio I work in as well as other things, but will do those on a dry day! :) Sure they will come.

Drudgery or Beauty?

Why photography? Well, when I was a little kid, my grandfather gave me my first camera and from that instant I knew...crap! That is not my story. I loved collecting stones: amethyst, tiger's eye, rose quartz, and changed gears. Then I collected coins, then stamps, then fantasized about being a missionary doctor or famous pianist or perhaps a famous preacher and sort of managed that for a while. The truth is, I had a 1000 different interests as a kid, but being a photographer wasn't one of them. I became a photographer because I had an interest and the opportunity presented itself. Simple as that.

My first camera was an old Brownie camera that I inherited from my Mom, which took some pretty darn good black and white photos and which I used up until 1980 when I bought a used camera from a theology professor, my first that I bought, that had a blade that could slice through the negative in a darkroom. I forget the name, but somehow the name Ricoh jumps out at me. I could be way off.

After that I was given a Canon AE-1 as a Christmas gift by my then parents-in-law and that was a baby I used for as long as I can remember. It went everywhere with me. It was the first SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera that was available to the masses of which I was one. The only problem was that film was expensive and I wasn't a "pet" of the photographer on campus who had access to the darkroom, which later closed down at any rate. By the time you bought film, shot it, and then had it developed, you'd spent a lot of money. So, I shot slides, many of which I still have and need to transfer into digital files. It was THIS camera however that I blame for setting me on the Canon road, a brand I continue to use today, even though Nikon seems to have surpassed Canon at the present.

Skip a number of years, a few point-and-shoots such as the Canon G2, which was a great camera for what it could do back then, and some wanna-be SLR bodies, and I bought myself a Canon 10D which I thought kicked ass! 6.3 Megapixels! Whoop! I almost fell over myself trying to get to the store! :) It cost $1500. Now, if you look at Digital Photography Review, a site I totally trust and one I consult when I purchase new equipment, (and who I am linking to to get this photograph from) this camera now costs $250! Still, it was a workhorse, the camera that I learned much of my art on even if the noise level becomes unbearable at 1600 ISO.

My current workhorse of choice is a Canon 5D (and trying not to slip on the puddle of drool on the floor after working with the 5D II a few weekends ago!). Once again thanks to dpreview.com for this image. I don't shoot namby-pamby floral and perfumed weddings or high powered corporate execs meticulously groomed and enjoyed air-conditioning. The camera has to function in high humidity up to temperatures of 110 deg. F in the summer and in winter (okay, I live in Texas!) it drops to 30 deg. F some nights (not counting wind-chill factor), but the shutter has to do it's work. Dust is everywhere, and I cannot clean the chip every 5 minutes. The camera gets bumped, bruised and manhandled and still I get great shots!

I only shoot in RAW and generally only use the manual setting. Occasionally I will with the Tv or Av setting, depending on my subject (and that has also caused me to make stupid mistakes too because I forgot to change my setting!) and have a variety of lenses I'll shoot with and lights, again, depending on the circumstances.

No Profoto 8 or 7As or B lights for me I'm afraid unless I rent them. Talk about mega $$$ but absolutely incredible light. That the equipment that Annie Leibowitz uses. Check this video of her in action. It's amazing!

My point is that the best camera to have is the one you own. It doesn't matter if it's an old Brownie or a Hasselblad with a Capture One digital back, or the camera you have in your cellphone. Use what you have to take the best pictures you can. Art isn't always captivatingly beautiful, but it tells others how you see the world and how you think. It tells others that you are unique and that is a thing of beauty in and of itself.

Standing on the shoulders of others

As a kid, I remember going to the beach with my family. Getting there was a nightmare. Five kids in the backseat, my Dad refusing to stop, my Mom insisting on us learning the names of rocks on the way down to relieve our boredom, but once we got to the beach, we all rushed into the Indian Ocean. Of course we wanted to go as deep as we could, which was about 2 feet! Not deep at all. So my Dad would pick me up, put me on his shoulders, and take me into the deep places I could only dream of going.

That is what the giants of photography such as Chase Jarvis, David Hobby and Joe McNally do for photographers every day. Not only do they challenge us to greater heights, but they put up with our questions and whining as we attempt to claw our way to the top of the heap. Once in a while, they lift us up through their blogs or their workshops and help us see the possibilities that exist.

Here's a link back to the original, but I am taking the liberty of posting Chase's blog here, because it inspired me so much. To view the videos, please follow the link back to Chase's blog.

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IN PHOTOGRAPHY (originally posted 12/07/2008)

I recently synthesized -- stumbled upon, really -- a great response to a question I've been asked at least 10,000 times. It's a simple question on the surface, but I've always seen the answer to be so complex.
Until now.

Q: "Chase, how do I 'make it' as a photographer?"

Prior to today, I either tried to respond with some enthusiastic bullet points about passion, creativity, and hard work; or I lamented that I didn't have a good answer; or replied with a)"I don't know, but I'll call you when I get there"; OR b)"Call me on my cell at 3am on a Saturday night when I'm 5,000 miles from home - I'll be awake working and I'll tell you then."

Obviously all these answers lack something. From here on out, however, I'll be excited to steer that broad question to this two-part answer:

1. Be Undeniably Good. Last year, in an interview with Charlie Rose, the famous comedian Steve Martin gave this advice to anyone trying to make it in any field:
Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them and nobody ever takes note of it 'cuz it's not the answer they wanted to hear -- what they want to hear is here's how you get an agent, here's how you write a script, here's how you do this -- but I always say, "Be so good they can't ignore you." If somebody's thinking, "How can I be really good?", people are going to come to you. It's much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.
Part 2 of this answer and a link to a great video after the jump. Hit 'continue reading' below.
--
It hit me like a ton of bricks. It's simple, but profound and unarguably true. And in case someone responds to that suggestion with, "Ya, but how do I get to be so good that people can't ignore what I'm doing?", then I'll drop part 2, complements of Malcolm Gladwell:

2. Dedicate at least 10,000 hours to whatever it is you're looking to master. In his enlightening talk at the 2008 AIGA Business Design Conference, about innovation and misconceptions regarding what it takes to become a success, Gladwell discussed this concept from his new book Outliers: The Story of Success. "Genius and creativity don’t necessarily spring forth unbidden, they require time and support to experiment, try and even fail." I found his talk really entertaining, and I'd imagine you might too.

What's fun about photography, of course, is that anyone can pick up a camera these days and make great pictures, straight outta the gate. No brainer, really accessible, relatively little effort, nice pictures. I love that about photography - it's why everyone has a camera these days. The technology is really wonderful.

But, if you want to "make it", whatever that means, I think you need to start by being undeniably good. And if you can't intuit how to be undeniably good, then start by dedicating 10,000 hours to it. That will get you where you want to be.

VERY IMPORTANT: Do NOT be discouraged by this answer. On the contrary, let this be your golden ticket, the keys to the kingdom. Let it be refreshing that the answer to your questions about mastering photography isn't bound by money, gear, or even DNA. It's right there for the taking.

Tomorrow I'll throw up a few photos including one of the studio. Until then, ciao for now.