A Foggy Morning

Every once in a while we get a really foggy morning in Southern California. There is nothing like black and white and mist. If you don't believe me ask Michael Kenna, who has made quite a nice living making photographs in dew. Although, because of the saturated moisture in the air, everything is messy and moist including the gear, it's quite peaceful photographing in fog. And, the fog hides a lot of unwanted background stuff, or at least it softens it. It's been an abnormal dry and warm winter in Southern California, and sadly there has been few misty morning like the Saturday I made these photographs.

Thoughts from Jake Stangel

This morning I was reading A Photo Editor and came upon an interview with a young buck photographer named Jake Stangel. Although his work is not my cup of tea, yet what from what I read of and by him I'm very impressed. He's a photographer's photographer, and seems to be a good guy. He has a blog, and on one of his posts he shares the 4 things he believes are most important to becoming a professional photographer. It's sound advice, and even an old pro could get something from reading them. No 4 is to initially shoot small with local weekly journals, i.e. get your feet wet. He has a list of items that he suggest the emerging photog to know before doing an assignment, and this photographer wholeheartedly agrees with all of them. I've actually copied the list. Of course it's like anything: you read, read, read but there is nothing like experience. And fortunately or unfortunately you learn the most and hopefully only once when you screw up. He suggests it, but let me drive it home-- I don't care what or who you're shooting for, treat every assignment as if it's your last. Shoot it, to the degree your budget allows, as if it's an assignment for Vanity Fair.

Quote

There is a great blog post where all 35 of the Magnum photographers give their advice to young photographers. It's a great read. My favorite quote is by Dennis Stock, "make an articulate image."

Rishwain Boys

Since their oldest son Gabriel was a baby I have been photographing the boys of my good friends Erin and Brian Rishwain. Often I photograph them a month before Christmas, so Erin can use one image for a holiday card. This can present a challenge because I'm always attempting to make a portrait, while Erin wants me to take a fun, smiley, and animated photograph. This year we reached a compromise. For her I pulled out the 5D and shot away until she saw something she liked on the back of the camera. This year, now that the boys are old enough to hold still for at least a minute, I brought the 8x10 Horseman. Working with an 8x10 is never easy, yet making a portrait with it is a real effort. Too shoot people with the 8x10, working the camera must be second nature. At the price of sheet film these days improperly exposed film is a very expensive waste. Yet, when you nail an exposure there is just nothing like it. I'm not sure you can see the quality of this exposure on your screen. If you can't let me assure you it's full of detail. And the tonality is extremely rich. I hope to annually photograph the boys, a la Nick Nixon, using the Horseman. The boys are restless, especially Julian on the left, but after they start to see the results I believe even they will begin to appreciate their annual portrait. I also intend to make Platinum/Palladium contact prints. I'll keep you abreast of my progress. Cheers

Nothing

I am desperate for another project, and nothing is coming to me. I've had ideas, but ideas and a buck 50 will buy you a cup of coffee. I've looked at a thousand websites searching for a spark of an idea. I've looked at the work at all 50 of the 2011 Critical Mass winners. I search for something that is not derivative of me or others. So, today, desperate, frustrated, I packed up the Super Graphic and drove around just searching for a photograph. Anything, and sadly I found nothing. The high clouds, which beautifully diffused the sun when I was packing my gear disappeared once I left my house allowing the harsh contrasty sun to dominate any potentially decent photograph. Especially after having been in Tuscany and Paris last month I'm feeling creatively stifled, and sometimes I just hate where I live. It's so culturally unalive and uninspiring. To demonstrate my frustration, this is the first blog post where I omit an image. Bahhhhh.

Herman

Yesterday with Fluorescent lights that I purchased at Home Depot I made these two portraits of my friend Herman Johnson. I met Herman at a photography class at Long Beach City College. We collaborated on a project and have since become friends. I have a lot of respect for Herman. He's been through a lot, and done time. Yet, through it all he's one of the most positive people I know.

I photographed him with both the Super Graphic 135mm F 4.7, and these two examples here with a Nikon 50mm F 1.4 with an adapter on the Canon 5D Mark II. I am very pleased with the results. I'm also liking, even though it's been done again and again, the cyan-blue color cast of the Fluorescent bulbs.

Memphis, TN

Last September Sydney was working in Memphis, Tennessee, so I decided to visit and keep her company . We had some good barbecue, both wet and dry, went to Graceland, which was not as tacky as I had assumed, and spent an evening on Beale Street in downtown Memphis listening to blues. We also took a long walk along the Mississippi. When Sydney worked I drove around Memphis, and West Memphis, Arkansas looking for pictures. I'm in love with my Super Graphic, so I travel with it while the 5D collects dust in the cabinet. I didn't make a lot of exposures, perhaps 15 total, but the ones I did make I am quite please with. We were lucky with the weather. Michael Sebastian who lived in Memphis for about 4 years wrote to me that in summer that part of the south could be as hot as the gates of hell. But we got a break with the temperature--it never rose above 75 and neither did the humidity. Although it poured the day we left, most days there was these high light clouds that illuminated the Mississippi Delta with sweet diffused light. I loved photographing there, and if get the chance to return for a couple of months I'll do a project called "chillin." Folks just hanging out waiting for what comes next. Here's sampling of some of the images I like best.

The day before we departed I was photographing amidst this horrible dilapidated demolished area that had at one time been the location of a convenience store off of highway 51 just north of Memphis. I was bending over my camera case to grab something and in the corner of my eye I spot something very small with 4 legs walking towards me. My senses told me it was a rat, so I jump back and let out a loud sissy scream. Turns out the rat was a scrawny kitten not over 6 weeks old. Well that kitten won the lotto, and is now living in Lakewood eating 3 squares a day. I thought he was a boy, so we named him, what else, Elvis. Turns out my understanding of feline genitalia is lacking, and Elvis is not a boy. However, Elvis is keeping her name.