Something Fishy
June 20th, 2011
Would you know this photo was taken with my fisheye lens if I didn’t tell you? Maybe if you look very closely, but I don’t think most viewers would notice. I like that. I’m pretty pleased with that lens because the fisheye effect is not overwhelming and I can often put together a photo that works and doesn’t scream “fisheye.” I always prefer if the methods don’t intrude on the image. I think I’m going to keep having fun with this lens and I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do with it in some slot canyons out in the southwest the next time I make it out there.
This is, of course, old friend and model Ikaros Ex on our hot hike in Kentucky a couple weeks ago. This was before we got to the waterfall that was our destination and shortly before we encountered that giant bug on the trail.
Back To The Woods
June 17th, 2011
Here is Ikaros Ex again. This was taken on the second day of my Kentucky trip as we were hiking to a waterfall. This was on the trail where we later encountered the rattlesnake. It was about this time when we saw that huge bug on the trail. It was still way too hot, approaching 100 degrees, but hiking in the woods wasn’t awful, just hot. Of course the sun was out bright and hot and making every photo a challenge because of the extreme contrast. So it goes.
Hiding From The Kentucky Sun
June 13th, 2011
As I mentioned earlier, I spent a couple days last week down in Kentucky shooting with an old friend, Ikaros Ex. This was the first time we have been able to do a real outdoor shoot together, though we have done a few photos in the past. We started the first day at her place in the country where this photo was taken.
Looking outside today, this would have been a great day for the Kentucky shoot. Unfortunately, the days I was in Kentucky were far from ideal. The sun was out in full force, making lighting a challenge. Add to that oppressive heat and high humidity and it made our shoot real work on both days. But I think we still managed to get a few worthwhile photos…in addition to the shots of the creatures that I already posted.
There will be more coming, but I’m going to make this short today because I’m actually procrastinating on working on the mess that I’ve hauled out of my garage and now have sitting in the yard and driveway. I’ve been making slow progress on sorting it into “keep” and “toss” piles, but I need to get it all out of the yard today so I can mow the grass. And, since the heat has gone away and left us with very pleasant temperatures I think I better try to get this done before the blazing heat returns.
More from this and other shoots soon.
Kata D-3N1-30; 3 in 1 Sling Backpack Review
June 9th, 2011
Reviewing equipment is not something I do a lot on this blog, but my new Kata D-3N1-30 has inspired me to write about it. I bought this backpack because I wanted something with a little more non-photo space than the Lowepro Fastpack 250
that I’ve been using for several years. I also thought it would save some weight by not having a laptop compartment, which I don’t use when I go out into the woods.
I put my gear into the Kata D-3N1-30 and headed out into the woods for a day of shooting. The new backpack failed to be a useful pack in every way possible.
First, it actually has less non-photo storage than my old pack. That’s not a design failure, of course, but it would have been helpful to have measurements in the description to help know the actual size of the pack.
But here are the design problems I encountered with this pack:
1. No water bottle holder. Anyone going for a hike with photo equipment is going to need to take something to drink. Not providing a way to carry that bottle on the pack is a problem. There are two small zipped pockets at the top sides of this pack. They seemed to be large enough to hold bottles, so I used them to carry my drinks. But when my last bottle of Gatorade tumbled over a cliff while I was trying to get the pack on my back I decided that those pockets really will not work for that purpose.
2. The harness tries to do too many things and as a result does none of them well. It’s supposed to be possible to use the pack with the straps in a variety of configurations: Normal, with a strap on each shoulder, as a sling pack with just one strap diagonally across the chest, and with both straps criss-crossed from the shoulder to the opposite hip. None of these configurations are comfortable enough to use for an all-day hike. The straps are not wide enough to be comfortable. They are attached too far apart at the top. A normal arrangement with the straps like most packs results in the straps wanting to slide off the shoulders. The crossed arrangement with one strap is uncomfortable for any distance and allows the pack to flop around too much when doing things like scrambling across rocks or up and down cliffs. The idea of crossing both straps across the chest…well, that’s just not going to work, is extremely uncomfortable and nearly impossible to get in and out of.
3. The zippers don’t work. I like the idea of being able to swing the pack around to the side and access my camera. That works just fine with my Lowepro pack. It doesn’t work at all with the Kata because the zippers are nearly impossible to open. The padding around the gear isn’t stiff enough, allowing the zippers to fold and jam…I could never get access to the camera without taking the pack off. Total design fail. Another problem caused by the weak padding is that once the camera was out of the pack the lenses on either side of the camera would move their padded partitions into the camera’s space…so then it was nearly impossible to get the camera back into the pack. It required way more force than I like to exert on my camera to shove those lenses aside and push the camera back into its spot in the bag.
This bag looks great on paper, but does not even begin to perform in the field. Mine will never go into the woods again on my back. It will live in the studio and be used for storage of gear that I don’t use often. I guess I’ll go look again at the Lowepro Fastpack 350
and see if it might do what I want. It seems to be bigger than my model 250. What I really need is more non-photo equipment space so I can get my rain gear, first aid kit, trail mix, lunch, wet wipes to clean up the models…all that sort of stuff that I like to carry, in the pack where it belongs. I wish they made a “300” model without the laptop pocket.
Nude Kentucky Wildlife
June 8th, 2011
I’ve spent the past couple days off in the wilds of Kentucky taking a few photos. It was hot. I had a few encounters of a kind I’ve not had before. It was hot. I went to a lovely waterfall. It was hot. I also shot at a friend’s home in a secluded place in the country. And, did I mention that it was hot?
I was around 9 years old when I started wandering out into the woods to spend the night. I love the woods. I love being outdoors. I’ve hiked around in 47 of the 50 states. I’ve hiked and boated and swum in the Amazon rain forest. I’ve hiked and done rock climbing in the Alps and in many spots in the U.S., including the desert southwest. In all those 50 years of being outdoors I’ve never seen a poisonous snake in the wild. Until yesterday.
Wandering down the trail on the way back to the truck from a waterfall, there he was, right on the trail. Rattle going full speed and his eyes right on me. He was definitely not interested in letting me go on down the trail. And I was definitely not interested in challenging him for the territory. So we did a bit of bushwhacking to give him a nice wide berth. I appreciate his inclination to warn us rather than just attacking. That’s a nice thing about rattlesnakes. That blurry thing sticking straight up on the right is his rattle, warning us to keep our distance.
On that same trail we also saw this creature above. I put my boot in the shot below to give you some sense of scale. That is one big bug! I have no idea what it is and I’ve never seen anything like it before. Maybe one of you readers can identify it? I was thinking centipede, but it seemed to only have six real legs, so that probably isn’t what it is.
But I can assure you that neither of these creatures had a single stitch of clothing on. So I’m counting them as nudes. Of course I shot some nudes that are a little more along the lines of what you are used to seeing here…those will be coming soon.
The Way Herb Sees It
June 4th, 2011
Usually any photos you see here on my blog are taken by me. But Herb Ascherman has generously given me permission to make an exception and post some of his photos here. Above is one of Herb’s photos of Brooke taken in Herb’s studio with his 8×10 view camera. Take a look at that pose. And then remember that Herb was using a 4 second exposure for these photos.
I also must point out that what you see here, a jpeg on a computer monitor, can in no way come close to representing what Herb’s platinum prints look like when you hold them in your hands. Those platinum prints are absolute objects of beauty in themselves. In another act of generosity, Herb also spent a few holders of that 8×10 film on yours truly. So I really do know how hard it is to hold completely still for a 4 second exposure. And Herb sent me a beautiful platinum print of the photo below.
I really like Herb’s portrait of me. I think he made me look something like Rodin. Not so sure I’m worthy of such a monumental presentation, but I can’t help enjoying seeing myself in Herb’s light. And Brooke makes a pretty nifty background too, don’t you think. Thanks Herb.
A Different Way To Photograph
June 3rd, 2011
When Brooke was here visiting I drove her up to Cleveland so she could work with a friend of mine, Herb Ascherman. Herb is a fine photographer with quite an international reputation. And he works in the classic manner, using black and white film in an 8×10 view camera and making his prints using the platinum/palladium process. I can tell you first hand that those platinum prints are wonderfully beautiful objects…a real joy to see.
Now, I’ve worked with an 8×10 view camera. But when I did it I had to use many more four-letter words…in fact, I don’t think I heard Herb curse or snarl at the camera even once. He worked the ground glass, shutter and those giant 8×10 film holders like it was second nature for him…which of course, it is, since he does this all the time. He did take many fewer photos than I usually do on a shoot…but then again those sheets of 8×10 film are a lot more expensive than the electrons I use to record photos.
The sky was overcast on the day we were in Cleveland, and Herb prefers to work with natural window light. But there wasn’t a lot of that light, so the exposures ended up being four seconds long. That’s a really long time if you are trying to hold completely still. But Brooke is an amazing model and did a great job.
Below you can get an idea of what things looked like from where Herb was standing. I took all these photos with my little Canon S90. Herb has shared his photos with me and I’ll share a few of them with you in my next post. Stand by for beauty…and maybe a little bit of beast.
I’m In a Great New Magazine
June 1st, 2011
I had different plans for my next post, but a very nice surprise turned up today. That’s it above. A new magazine L’Allure des Mots has just published their first issue. There’s an interview with me, accompanied by a bunch of my favorite photos, starting on page 62. But the whole magazine is beautiful, a real work of art, cover to cover, so you’ll want to look at it all.
Obviously I’m very pleased and proud to be a part of this wonderful new magazine. I’ll get to the post I was planning in a day or two.
Meanwhile enjoy.
The End of the Gorge
May 30th, 2011
Here are a couple more of Brooke in the gorge location. There are more from this shoot that I could post, but in my next post I plan to move on to something else that Brooke and I did while she was here. It is truly something completely different, so come back in a couple days for a total change of pace…literally.
Hope you in the U.S. are enjoying the Memorial Day holiday today and remembering what the day is about. ‘Nuf said.
More From The Gorge
May 25th, 2011
Here are a couple more photos of Brooke Lynne from our shoot near my childhood home. Brooke seems to be doing well over in the south of France where she is spending the summer modeling for painters. You can follow her adventures on her blog.
I’m starting to get a little caught up on stuff, though I still have a bunch of scanning to do at the studio. I’ll probably try to get to that tomorrow. And I’m working on setting up some more shoots with local models and a minor short trip or two to some good locations not that far from home. So there will be some new things to share here soon, I hope.
But I don’t know how I could top the work I did with Brooke at this spot. I’m going to see about it, though. I plan to go back there with a couple of my favorite local models sometime soon. Brooke and I ran out of time and only got to about a third of what is there. And the progress of Spring into Summer will have made significant changes to what is there by now. So it should provide a great source of new photos for some time to come.
