Monthly Archives: February 2011

Everybody loves a show!

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Everybody loves a show!

Most of the photographic jobs I do these days involve live band photography. Shooting a show can be tricky…the lighting is unpredictable (and often close to non-existent!); the crowd makes moving around to get your shot difficult (sometimes near impossible), and musicians are always in motion.

While these (and many other) factors can make live band photography difficult, they are also the lifeblood of it. The key to good band photography is NOT stopping motion. The key is to bring the feeling of being at the show to a still image. The crowd, the lighting, even blur…they are all part of that. Feel the music; be a part of the crowd…AND TURN OFF YOUR FLASH!

Photography isn’t only about the visual, it’s about the visceral. What you’re feeling as you take the picture often comes through in the image, whether you intend it to or not.

One of the beauties of digital photography is instant feedback. If something isn’t working, try something else. Another beauty of digital photography: you aren’t committed to a given image. Take risks; you can always delete what doesn’t work later.

That being said, the most important thing in ANY photographic situation is to understand your equipment. The best equipment money can buy means nothing if you don’t understand what it can (and can’t) do and how to use it.

Taken with a Casio Exilim EX-Z9, an inexpensive (street price was about $130; MSRP was about $160) compact point and shoot. In case you care, mine is orange.

Crüxshadows, 31 August 2008 at Dragon*con in Atlanta, Georgia. Other photos from this show, all taken with this camera, can be seen here.

Looking forward; looking back; collecting images.

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Looking forward; looking back; collecting images.

Things I am a sucker for: the smell of darkroom chemicals, black and white images, empty roads and gates in fields.

Living in a rental apartment with lots of windows, white walls I can’t paint, and limited space means that having a darkroom is out. This was a huge adjustment, as I grew up having a darkroom in the basement of my house. I got my first camera when I was three, and I started working unsupervised in the darkroom when I was 10 or 11. I grew up on the fumes, and I associate the smell with my best memories of childhood.

As for black and white, in the world of digital photography, we get so obsessed with brighter, more vivid colors that we forget photography is, at the core, about light and dark. Color is a fairly recent development.

Great color can save an otherwise boring image.  An image can be all about great color.  There is nothing wrong with color. I use it; I love it.  My true love, however, is black and white: I love the way the shadows and the light create shape and depth; I love the moods that can be evoked with a simple exposure shift; I love how the grain becomes a vital part of the scene…I could go on and on…

As for empty roads and gates in fields? I have no idea where that comes from.  Is it the feeling of being alone in the world? Is it the idea of looking down the road less traveled? Is it simple curiosity?

I collect empty roads and gates in fields the way some people collect coins. Why do people collect anything?

Is taking pictures any different than collecting figurines or stamps?

Taken with a Fuji IS-1, using a 093 opaque filter. What this means: This image is pretty much pure infrared. All light below 800nm is blocked, and >88% of light above 900nm is passed through (I used a 093 IR filter, aka an 87C).  The human eye can see ~390-750nm, so this filter effectively blocks the entire visible spectrum.

Why this camera is special: most digital cameras have hot mirror filters protecting the CCD.  The IS-1 has clear glass.  This means the sensor is more sensitive to IR light than most digital cameras, which means I can handhold it for IR exposures and use a lower effective ISO.

Taken in the New Jersey Pine Barrens on 20 February 2010

Why, yes, I did have to clean giraffe slobber off my lens.

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Why, yes, I did have to clean giraffe slobber off my lens.

In February of 2000, I did a “photo safari” at San Diego’s Wild Animal Park. It was an unbelievable experience. I had my hand in a rhino’s mouth…I had to wipe giraffe slobber off my camera lens…I shot 32 rolls of film and could have (happily) shot 32 more.

I keep saying that I’m going to go back and do it again. And one day I will.

Taken with a Minolta Maxxum 7xi, Sigma 17-35mm lens on Konica 200ISO print film.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Helga Viking Lens, Cano Cafenol Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

You need:

2 sticks of butter (softish, NOT melted)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3 cups (1 1/2 bags) milk chocolate chips

•preheat oven to 350F
•grease cookie sheets (or use non-stick or parchment paper)

•mix sugar (both brown & white) and butter in large bowl til creamy
•add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and beat til fluffy
•gradually add flour, baking soda, and salt
•fold in chips

•Drop rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets, bake for 8-10 minutes

Let stand on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks…eat & enjoy!

hints: use real vanilla, not imitation…and don’t use margarine-with the extra vanilla they’ll be too oily.

for white chocolate chip cookies, use 2 cups white chocolate chips and a tablespoon of molasses.

Makes about 100 cookies.  Using milk chocolate chips, each cookie is about 60 calories.

Changes

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Changes

This is the caterpillar of a Monarch Butterfly. I took it at a butterfly farm in Aruba in April of 2006.  It was an amazing trip…Aruba is a beautiful island.  Aruba’s weather is pretty much perfect, and everywhere you look there is another photo opportunity.

Why this picture? Changes.  I’m working on making some changes in my life…changes for the better, I hope. I’m losing weight, learning healthier habits, and paying more attention to the things I feel are important. I’m trying to remember to take time out to notice the little things around me.

Taken with a Minolta Maxxum 7D, extension tubes, and a 28-105 f4-5.6 Canon lens at a focal length of 40mm.

Annie, Annie? Are you OK?

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Annie, Annie? Are you OK?

It may seem silly when you take CPR that you have to check the responsiveness of the dummy as part of the “procedure.” It’s not.

The training works.

Going through the dialogue word-for-word usually means nothing is being missed.

The last patient I had that went down in public? He came to after his first shock (delivered by a bystander, prior to EMS arrival) and walked out of the hospital 4 days later with a brand-spanking-new implanted defibrillator. When we (the paramedics) got there, he couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

Photo taken with an iPhone 3GS, with help from the Hipstamatic app. (Lucifer lens, Dali film, no flash)

Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Hot Sauce

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Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Hot Sauce

there are a couple of ways to make the sauce…this is the down and dirty way:

  • 1 jar of apricot preserves (if I’m doing it this way, I prefer an all fruit variety…peach works well, too)
  • 1/2 to 1 cup of Frank’s Red Hot (adjust to taste)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice

-mix all ingredients, adding lemon juice slowly until sauce is the consistency of a medium-thick barbeque sauce…adjust ratio of fruit-hot sauce to taste.

-cover tenderloin with the sauce and refrigerate for 6-8 hours

cooking the pork:

-heat oven to 450F

-drain sauce into bowl, place tenderloin on roasting rack or broiling pan and cook for 10-15 minutes

-let oven cool to 200F and continue cooking tenderloin until inside temp of meat is 160-170F (2-3 hours, depending on weight), basting meat with remaining sauce.

ENJOY!

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting…and a variation

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Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting…and a variation

This is a lovely frosting for gingerbread; personally, I prefer the variation.

  • 1lb confectioners sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • milk

mix everything but the milk…add the milk a little at a time til desired consistency is achieved…a few tablespoons only usually. this will ice 2 pans (or about 24 cupcakes)

VARIATION:

I ran out of vanilla one day and decided to substitute dark molasses, being too lazy busy to run out for more vanilla. It needs the lemon juice to temper the “sweet,” but I prefer this variation to the original.

frosting: cinnamon buttercream variation

  • 1lb confectioners sugar
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 tsp dark molasses
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • milk

mix everything but the milk…add the milk a little at a time til desired consistency is achieved…a few tablespoons only usually. this will ice 2 pans (or about 24 cupcakes)

Gingerbread Recipe

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My Gingerbread Recipe

  • 1 1/3 cup of flour
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (dark brown if you can find it)
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

 

  • 1/2 cup butter (softened, NOT melted)
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1/2 cup molasses (i use blackstrap molasses-light just doesn’t cut it)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg

heat oven to 350F
spray 8” pan

in large bowl, combine first 7 ingredients

add boiling water to molasses, butter & vanilla

combine all ingredients (egg last), and mix thouroughly

bake at 350F until done (20-30 minutes)

also: you can do as cupcakes (convenient single-serve gingerbread!!!).  cook for 18-20 minutes @ 350F. makes about 15 cupcakes.

Hello, from your friendly neighborhood moray eel!

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Hello, from your friendly neighborhood moray eel!

This is the first photo ever I posted to Flickr. As of this moment, there are 4,247 photos in my Flickr photostream. The stream has been active for 2256 days. That works out to only (almost) 2 pictures per day…and people tell me that I take too many pictures!

It was taken with a Konica KD-500Z on 22 June 2004, and posted on Flickr on 21 December 2004.

I loved that camera…