Haircut!
To my utter surprise,
this morning she let me get away with it. Well,
mostly. I couldn't get her to let me go completely
bald on the sides (just the smallest comb), but it
looks really cute and he loves it. And honestly,
knowing the tidal wave that he is, it fits him
perfectly.
But why a mohawk? You see, my wife and I were punk
rock back in the day. We reveled in the music and the
straight edge lifestyle - as did all of our friends.
We were hardcore - boots, painted/studded leather
jackets, bright green Manic Panic dye and yes, the
most awesome haircut of them all: the mohawk. I wore
one for awhile - jet black and almost a foot tall. It
was supreme when put up, although it made driving a
chore as I'd have to tilt my head at a very
uncomfortable angle. Yes, imagine it. I even met my
mother-in-law to be for the first time in such glory.
But time crawls on, and 15 years later we are a
happily married couple with 4 kids and the lovely
family baggage that generally entails. Soccer.
Ballet. Boards of Directors. Corporate lackey. etc.
So I wax nostalgic at times regarding our more, ahem,
vivid lifestyle.
So here is one for the mohawk. Go Liam!
PS. Kids today have more-or-less normalized what was
fringe and exciting about punk, which kinda makes me
sad. But I do see some of that original spirit every
once in a while, so it ain't all posers and corporate
"edgy" garbage.
Fleshing out the Portfolio
Ah! Christmas!
Older hardback volumes are especially prized - not so much because of potential value (as most are not worth much themselves) but specifically because they are not cheap paperbacks or new reissues with tacky dust jackets.
This is what my wife had waiting for me this AM, all wrapped in a pretty bow...
I especially like the Everyman LIbrary volumes
because they are inexpensive and yet sturdy enough
that I don't feel bad throwing them in my camera bag
when I go out for a shoot.
I'm heading to Germany soon, and at least one of
these will accompany me on the long trip eastward.
Happy Holidays!
I'll be knee-deep in wrapping paper, shortbread and family cheer for the next few days. Here is hoping you have an enjoyable, relaxing and photography-filled holiday season!
I've also updated my portfolio with more photography from my archive (this time all color stuff).
Print Delivery
I was curious to see what I was going to get because I've had quality problems with my Epson R4200 recently that have been driving me crazy (leading most recently to a printer replacement 3 days before the printer's warrantee expired). Epson was awesome - I said I was unhappy with the printer and they sent me a new one in less than 4 days. How cool is that.
Back to the print job - I printed everything in-house on very spendy fine art fiber paper. The order had several larger prints and I chose to use Innova's F-Type Gloss paper as I have depended on this paper for all top-drawer printing for the past year. The Innova paper is nice, but I've recently discovered Harmon's Fiber FB paper and it has impressed me in initial testing. Now I hear that Illford has a new Baryta paper as well that rates high up on the scale and costs less than its competitors.
Read the Bartya paper review here...
These new papers really make for interesting times. Two years ago there was nothing for a fine art black and white photographer to really like, as I have never liked the matte fine art papers that many are printing with. I wanted something that approximates what I was getting with Seagull or Illford fiber papers in the darkroom.
Finally, in reference to the Epson, I'm about ready to be done with all the warrantee exchanges I've had to do lately - a camera body, two lenses, a printer and my color calibration device. Sheesh.
Newsletter
The newsletter itself will just notify you when new posts are made to the website.
P.S You can also subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite RSS reader.
Lightroom Resources
I got a big print order
in the mail late yesterday from my color lab
(where I send my high volume work) and was upset
with some of the quality. Furthermore, they took 3
extra days to get to me and I'm a bit miffed about
the delay. Christmas is almost upon us and I've
still got loads of work to do.
Happy Holiday!
Emerald Ballet Theatre Gallery Added
Canon 40D (from a Leica M8 user's perspective)
Mind, until January of this year I was a dedicated
film shooter.
Why? Simple because I loved my Leica glass and bodies
too much. I shot both an M6 and a Hexar RF with a few
standard lenses that just knocked my socks off. I
loved what I got with those cameras/lenses. I didn't
like the darkroom as much, but the tactile nature of
the machine and print were enough to keep me silver.
In 2006 I decided to get a Bronica 645 as a way to do
some medium format work on the premise that, if I was
going to soup, I should do it with big negatives. I
loved that camera too and the results were even
easier to scan/print than the 35mm stuff.
My did I stick with film for so long? The reasoning
was twofold - I couldn't get the hardware that I
wanted to shoot with in digital and the black &
white printing space in digital wasn't up to snuff
yet. The media and ink-sets were either non-existent
(paper) or too rudimentary (ink) to provide a tactile
print that *I* like to make.
These two things finally changed in 2006/7 with the
introduction of the Leica M8 digital camera and the
Epson Ultrachrome ink-sets. The M8 is a wonderful
camera - and the best part is it lets me use my Leica
glass. The 1.3 crop factor is pretty easy to work
around and those lenses....ah...those lenses. Yes,
the M8 shutter is too loud. Yes, the white balance is
random. Yes, you're limited to a usable range of up
to 1250 ISO. But the files are nice and its a
wonderfully small, unobtrusive camera to use. No
wiz-bang goofball stuff, just a shutter speed dial,
an aperture dial and Aperture priority when moving
fast.
The Epson r2400 is a decent printer as well and I'm
generally happy with the prints I get from this unit
- that is when I'm not having head clogging and
random lines appear in my prints. I just sent my
almost-one-year-old printer back for an exchange
because I think the printer head was damaged. The new
one is working great so far. Kudos to Epson for being
so straight up about it.
Now to the Canon part.
I've been shooting in a couple of ballet studios for
a year now - a couple of documentary projects
(here and here) on
dancers and the experience of growing up in the
dance world as centered around a local studio. Its
been a lovely experience and I've grown
exponentially as an artist shooting these lovely
dancers as they go about their work. And until
December of this year, I shot everything with my
M8. Its a lovely camera, as I mentioned, and I've
gotten some spectacular results. Consider,
however, that the M8 is mostly a manual
photographers camera - we're talking manual focus
and lovely prime lenses. I've gotten really good
at focusing on these dynamic subjects and
exploiting the best that Leica lenses can offer.
However, the camera isn't as fast as I'd like it.
The buffer holds about 8-10 images before it
starts to slow down, and I hit that wall all the
time as I shoot. And sometimes I needed longer
lenses (performances for example) that the Leica
could offer.
So I decided that it was time to try the dark side.
I've actually owned DSLRs for years (Nikon D70 and a
Nikon D40) but they were always the lower end
consumer cameras because I kept saying to myself that
I couldn't justify a large outlay of money on them as
I didn't like the experience of shooting them. But
that put me in a catch 22 situation - the consumer
level cameras are not up to the performance or
quality of the pro counterparts and so of course I
wasn't going to like using them or the results I got.
So finally I decided that the time had come for some
long-reach lenses for performance work (sometimes I
can't stand on the stage and shoot away). And maybe
I'd give auto-focus a try. So when the Canon 40D hit
the market and people were raving about it, the
camera interested me. So I went for it. I bought a
40D and the kit 28-135 lens. I didn't like the kit
lens much - it was too slow and not wide enough so it
went back. Then I meandered thru the Canon lens
offerings for days - excruciating really to see the
twisted logic that compromises a zoom-lens range.
Picking primes is easy. Add the crazy crop factor of
the 40D (1.6x is much more troublesome than the 1.3
on the M8) and it took me awhile to decide.
Finally I bought an EF-S 17-55 2.8 and a EF 70-200
F4L. I had to send both my first 40D back and my
17-55 2.8 lens for quality issues. Anyone who
complains about Leica quality with the M8 forgets
that all manufacturers have issues with new products
and Canon has had its fair share in the last year.
The former had an erratic meter and the latter wasn't
focusing properly.
What do I think, after putting about 4000 exposures
on the 40D?
- I miss my Leica glass. The L glass is close, and I certainly have *not* tried every canon lens, but I get consistently better results with my M8. Granted, this is a new camera and a new way of seeing, so I'm sure I'll get better, but the Leica still has the je ne sais quois that makes my pictures look and print better. I'll probably buy a prime or two for the Canon, but versatility is part of the draw and zooms give you that.
- Auto-Focus - I had a lot of shots that were out of focus or not-focused where I'd like. Like I said, I'm really good at manual focus, and I found the 40D doing all kinds of goofy things. The 17-55 2.8 lens went back because I suspect it had IS or back focus issues and If found my keeper rate went *way* down with that lens. The L lens was much better, so lets hope the new lens is better.
- I like rangefinders for their size, viewfinder and simplicity. I like the DSLR for raw performance (17 RAW images before it chokes - I can hardly get it to stall on me) and some of those extras that clutter the experience but can really add to your toolset when you master them.
- Canon has better low light ISO performance, but the faster Leica primes make up for most of that. I can use 1600 ISO on the 40d with no issues. 3200 ISO was a bit too problematic. The Lecia will do 1250 ISO quite nicely with the latest firmware updates. Yes, I need to try Canon prime, fast glass, but I lose the versatility of a zoom.
- Battery life is excellent on the 40d. It just goes on and on. The leica is certainly acceptable in this regard as well. I can get 600 easy on a battery.
- CR2 is a pain. And converting to DNG as part of the Lightroom import is a time-consuming process. Sidecar files? Come on... And the 40d files are variable in size (unlike the M8 DNG's) so it eats up a lot more CF card space.
- The canon is big and heavy. And my camera bag is now overflowing with stuff. Canon lenses are freaking huge. And heavy. I pity someone carrying a larger compliment of this stuff. But overall, the camera is comfortable to use and isn't getting in my way.
- The 40D has some cool features (user programable dial settings), Auto ISO, sensor cleaning etc.
- I still need to learn to use Auto-Focus more effectively. There are lots of different auto-focus modes/metering modes and I'm not really comfortable with any yet. I love the simple center-weighted, patch-focused predictability of the M8.
- The 40D's shutter is much quieter than my M8. Sigh. I miss the shutter on the M6 - that quiet snip sound it made.
- I'll probably buy the battery grip as I find I shoot more portrait than landscape. I like that the 40D can provide that versatility. I swear the 645 format is perfect for me looking at my shots for the past year.
- The 40D's auto white balance is no better than the M8 - completely random and annoying. If I were a jpeg shooter, this would kill me.
EBT Gallery Update
I've added a gallery page with permanent links to these new galleries on my portfolio page. Click to see them all...
If, for some reason, you
are having trouble seeing the galleries, please make
sure you have a monitor that is capable of a
resolution of at least 1024x768. I've optimized the
galleries for this size of monitor because I've heard
from a few people that they were not seeing the
purchase options at the bottom of the image frame.
If you are still having troubles please feel free to
look at this page for troubleshooting advice
or contact me and we can get you up and
running.
New Emerald Ballet Theatre Galleries Online
There are about 300 images spread across 12 galleries - and the best part is that you can purchase each and everyone directly from the web gallery with Paypal. When you click on the image, you'll find a pop up on the bottom left of the image frame that contains options for various sizes. There are some wonderful images from the past 3 months, including the run up to last week's spectacular Nutcracker performance.
- Gallery 2
- Gallery 3
- Gallery 4
- Gallery 5
- Gallery 6
- Gallery 7
- Gallery 8
- Gallery 9
- Gallery 10
- Gallery 11
- Gallery 12
Note: if you want to order one of these pictures as a Christmas gift, please consider that we have less than 2 weeks until Christmas and processing the order will take at least 1 week. Don't forget to check "Local Pickup" if you want to pick them up at the studio and you'll avoid shipping charges.
Please let me know via email if you are having trouble viewing the galleries...
Nutcracker? Check!
Both performances on Saturday sold out, and the crowds enjoyed an amazing show - especially considering the time frame we had to put it all together. Congrats to the dancers, to EBT's staff, and all the volunteers for pulling it all together. From a new studio opening in September to this is really meteoric. Apart from the traditional dancers, we had a crew of Brasilian Capoeira artists perform as the core of the solider crew, and they did an amazing job of introducing their blend of martial art and dance into the familiar story line. A stroke of genius and I hope it becomes a long partnership.
I was there for both performances, but spent most of my time selling calendars and setting up and prepping for the planned Nutcracker character shoot. We did the traditional "get your picture" with the characters. It was pulled together in short order, but I was pleased with the result. We also managed to get the EBT calendars in time to sell at the show and sold out of the first run by the end of the second performance.
I've still got a few hundred pictures to go thru from the dress rehearsal - Lightroom stands up well to the task - I've cranked 4000 images thru it this week! I also have 2 books on order to put together and shipped off to the printer. So I'm probably in for a few late nights this week...
Commissions
The lowdown, humble reader, is that you can hire me to wield my photographic axe (as it were) in your service. I specialize in documentary black and white photography (and it shows in my various portfolios) so browse thru it and then consider the opportunity of having me document that person or event of significance.
Base price is $250 for a personal session, which includes a two hour session, an online gallery selection and a basic set of prints. Gift certificates are available in the store (at a discount until Christmas 2007) and they make great gifts for the holiday.
Consider the ability to tell your story visually with help from a fine art documentary photographer is something that you will treasure for years. priceless...
In other news, I'm working hard at Emerald Ballet Theatre and will be posting some new galleries of The Nutcracker production that is debuing this saturday.
All performances have sold out earlier this week - which was exciting for us but there are a lot of people who waited a bit too long. This is a wonderfully eclectic performance that will really add to your holiday experience so I hope you can join us.
See Emerald Ballet Theatre's website for more information...
Have a great holiday.