Photography Post Vol. 2

[airfrogusmc]

I just wanted to also say the remarks about originality were in response to my work not being original and I responded by trying to make a point of not much is original. Then look at the folks making the comments. One I couldn't find any work here on the site and one of the other has a photo of his bed with blown out highlight and is talking about originality. Well heres a great shot of a bed so his subject matter isn't exactly blazing trails. Heres a shot from over 40 years ago of a bed by a great photographer and her shot is dead on technically and visually.

A killer image by Imogen Cunningham

http://caraphillips.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/theunmadebed.jpg

Sometimes being true to your vision should trump everything and just because something isn't original doesn't make it flawed. That was and is my point.

[amnesiac]

Best viewed large on my photostream

[xcoalesce]

[party pooped]

[Rob060]

just got my first gig as an intern/assistant for mel lindstrom. pretty successful commercial photographer based out of san francisco. he's got two studios and they are fuckin NICE. went to the one in sunnyvale and was blown away how big it was. so i'll be doing photo retouching on models and stuff, editing out muffin tops etc. stoked.

[airfrogusmc]

just got my first gig as an intern/assistant for mel lindstrom. pretty successful commercial photographer based out of san francisco. he's got two studios and they are fuckin NICE. went to the one in sunnyvale and was blown away how big it was. so i'll be doing photo retouching on models and stuff, editing out muffin tops etc. stoked.

Congrats and a great opportunity to learn a ton.

[Marw]

Bunch of random pics from the last weeks:

An ccident, but I like it!

[i like turtles.]

[party pooped]

holga

[Protocol]

recently got a 350d, from first few shots.

[Rob060]

Congrats and a great opportunity to learn a ton.

thanks. yea, i plan to. i'm mainly doing it to learn the business side of things because photographers that take good pictures and know how to run a business and promote themselves are the ones that make the $$. hell, some of them don't even have to take good pictures. studio work is also where i'm the most inexperienced so i'll learn a ton in other areas too.

one of the first things he said he was going to do was help me get better prints of my work. it's always been so hard for me to get good prints because of horribly calibrated school printers and sites like mpix/bayphoto just seem to lack a certain level of detail and i don't like the papers i've used from them. being able to get perfect prints in house on his calibrated systems will be worth it alone.

[airfrogusmc]

thanks. yea, i plan to. i'm mainly doing it to learn the business side of things because photographers that take good pictures and know how to run a business and promote themselves are the ones that make the $$. hell, some of them don't even have to take good pictures. studio work is also where i'm the most inexperienced so i'll learn a ton in other areas too.

one of the first things he said he was going to do was help me get better prints of my work. it's always been so hard for me to get good prints because of horribly calibrated school printers and sites like mpix/bayphoto just seem to lack a certain level of detail and i don't like the papers i've used from them. being able to get perfect prints in house on his calibrated systems will be worth it alone.

Yeah I learned more in 6 months working for a successful photographer about running a successful photography business than all of my business classes in college put together.

I did custom color & B&W printing ran the studio and did most of the large format table top shooting. Without that experience I doubt I would be a successful as I am today.

Good luck and again learn as much as you can, If you can assist on shoot do it and if you can see how he deals with clients, markets, and runs the money part that will be very valuable. Most really busy successful commercial photographers have reps to do most of their marketing and really good studio managers and accounts to handle those areas as well.

[tsxser]

Shot and edited on the iPhone.

[Rob060]

this kind of shot is the reason i need a new camera like the d700. i took this in the back seat of a car with only that head lamp on, using my tripod because i didn't want to push the iso. and the shutter speed was so low i had to get it just right when he held still for a split second. and the low light focus is pretty horrible on the 10D.

[Ma Junior]

I never said it was a great photograph but it is an accumulation of all I have seen and lived as are most of the photographs we take. This image for me is about days of youth and fading life. Its about contrasts and extremes.

Again its part of a series and one piece of a puzzle of a larger whole. But this represents a loss. Its upside down to show its spilled its contents. Its weathered that represents a passage of time and in some cultures small boats are used for funerals. So this image represents a painful passage in my life.

I completely agree that everything has been done already to a certain degree. Its up to us to push harder to strive to be better than those of the past. I would however say that your argument above may be completely in your head, which is very dangerous. I don't think anyone would make the connections you are making. For me, if one is going to try to make a statement, then it should be clearly inferred from the work, without need for explanation.

[rvoe30]

What do you guys think about using cheap lamps like this

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Work-Lights/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZaqn9/R-100354514/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

as an alternative continuous light source?

[Rob060]

hmmm, i'll take one of each

[kromophobic]

What do you guys think about using cheap lamps like this

http://www.homedepot.com/Lighting-Fans-Work-Lights/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhcZaqn9/R-100354514/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

as an alternative continuous light source?

In general I'm going to say you won't get great results for several reasons. First is power. You'll have to be shooting wide open, high iso and/or slow shutter speeds. For still lifes it might be ok if you're shooting on a tripod. The main thing though will be the lack of light modifiers ie: umbrellas/softboxes/ various reflectors, and these might pose a fire hazard as well... Invest in strobes or camera mounted flash and get some radios,

[home]

can anyone recommend a good / cheap / portable (ie. not SLR) film camera for me? i've also got an lx3.

looking for a nice rusticated shot. will probably use it for black & white.

a friend recommended me an old olympus that can be picked up on ebay, but i've since forgotten the model name. it had an attachable flash on the side.

edit: olympus XA / XA2?

[airfrogusmc]

I completely agree that everything has been done already to a certain degree. Its up to us to push harder to strive to be better than those of the past. I would however say that your argument above may be completely in your head, which is very dangerous. I don't think anyone would make the connections you are making. For me, if one is going to try to make a statement, then it should be clearly inferred from the work, without need for explanation.

Good for you. But then explain the work of Duane Michals?

I have done bodies of work where I included writing on the images, poems underneath the work, multiple images, etc. Its up to you to first be true to your vision and your work and you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you take an image.

And most of the greats were never about the one image mentality which seems to be very prevalent today but instead bodies of work where each image was but part of a larger whole. Like pieces of a puzzle that make up something bigger and better. A book, an exhibit, a body of work that will if successful reveal something about the subjects, the photographer or both. But it all starts from being honest with your work.

Photographers communicate with things like color, line, implied line, form, focus, texture and how well you understand this language will help you understand the meaning of the work. It takes practice and years and there are many levels of this understanding. And if you take a great photo and it doesn't fit in the project then its what Ralph Gibson refers to as a point of departure and shouldn't be used with the current project you are working on but maybe the catalyst for a new project.

Do you have any idea of why this image by Weston is considered one of the greats? And would it be considered thus if not for his other work?

Click here.

http://caraphillips.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/weston_pepper_number30.jpg

[the filipino dream]

[party pooped]

[party with tina]

hey party pooped

i like your style

http://topographos.tumblr.com/

eggshell sorry lol

[bchhun]

a friend recommended me an old olympus that can be picked up on ebay, but i've since forgotten the model name. it had an attachable flash on the side.

edit: olympus XA / XA2?

the olympus xa would be a good choice. it's a little tedious if you're used to auto focus, but it's nice, quiet, and compact.

[Markmont]

Shot by idruthat

Late WAYWT X-Post

--Markmont.

[party pooped]

^ rep'd that in the waywt thread. Great pose and capture.

[riff]

[Rob060]

might shop out that sign, if i wanted to really get picky

[richter]

some photo stories from this semester

fashion show:

blue man group:

[richter]

ROTC Combat swim test:

climbers: