Category Archives: Opinion

Vision

Posted on by
Reply

I just came back upon Don Giannatti’s “Project 52” web site.  I had seen the site several months ago, but it slipped from my memory.  I have been a member of the flickr group for a long time, but, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited the group page.  On this site, there is a weekly photography assignment. The assignments for this year start on February 1.  So, I looked at the 2012 assignments.

The first assignment is to create a Vision Statement.  This is basically a statement describing why it is that I take pictures.  As described on the web site, “Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home.”

To me, the reason I enjoy photography is it differs from other modes of expression, and there is something that is transcendently stimulating when I see a really great image I have taken. In 2012, my Aperture Library has over 7700 images.  Every once in a while, as the image would come up on the screen, there was a moment of awe.  Kind of, “Oh boy.  That is good!”

It is becoming easier to take technically perfect images – those with proper exposure, composition, lighting, whatever.  I can look at those and think, “That’s a good image.”  But there is the added, intangible element that is included in an image that is really great.  I take photographs because I enjoy that feeling of producing a picture that is really great.

Now, what kind of image around the house can I make that illustrates that?

Best of 2012

Posted on by
Reply

I have gone through the over 7000 images from this year and chosen five that I think are the best.  I am not going to rank them.  Rather, I will present them chronologically.

The first one is from Galveston.  Earlier this Spring, Debbie was walking on the beach and saw that someone had started to pile rocks on each other.  As other people came along, they created their own piles of rocks to the point where eventually, there were hundreds of piles of rocks.  I took this picture of one of the piles.  I used a strobe and softbox to help me make the sky a little darker and to help define the surfaces of the rocks.

SONY DSC

Earlier this Summer, Pat Jones asked me to serve as a second shooter at a wedding.  I enjoyed the process.  The wedding was at an interesting outdoor area in Roundrock.  As the sun was going down, we got the couple to walk with us. There was a place in the woods where the setting sun was coming through a break in the leaves of a tree.  I positioned them in the spot where the sun hit their faces and got this picture.

SONY DSC

For the Waco Wild West 100 Bike Ride, last year, I stood at the end of the Washington St, Bridge and tried to get pictures of the cyclists with the suspension bridge and the Hilton in the background. I got some similar shots this year, but noticed that the river was absolutely still.  So, I went down along the river and shot up at the cyclists on the bridge, with the reflection in the still water.

SONY DSC

Ashley Henager wanted to get some pics at an old house in Speegleville.  A couple days before, she contacted me and asked it we could change and shoot with her husband and son.  I loved the idea.  We shot at Midway Park.  Noah was as cute as could be, but he really wanted to get in the water. He kept trying to get away and get in the water, and at one point, the tug between them resulted in this picture.

SONY DSC

Finally, the last shoot with a model I did was with Heather Lynn Johnson.  I have already discussed the lighting issues, but this shot was really great.

SONY DSC

The Skull Fetish of Motorcyclists

Posted on by
Reply

SONY DSC

There is an obvious fetish in the motorcycle community. Although skulls are the most common expression of this fetish, it goes a little wider than just simply skulls.

SONY DSC

Skulls are painted onto motorcycle parts, and they are incorporated into parts that are cast.

SONY DSC

They can be rather straight forward depictions, or more stylized.

SONY DSC

They are universal in the culture.

SONY DSC

But, I believe the skull is just a convenient icon for a broader involvement.

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

The skull fetish is really an expression of a wider fetish with the morbid.

 

Second Shooter

Posted on by
Reply

I was not paid as the second shooter on the wedding, and that was what I wanted.  This way, I am able to use my own images.

I recently read something that made me really think about that.  Sal Cincotta has an on line magazine called “Behind the Shutter.”  In it, his wife has an article about second shooters.  She says they always pay their second shooter.  They  learned a hard lesson about that early when they had a second shooter who was not paid.  That person shot over their shoulder.  Thus, they go the same image as the principal photographer.  They then used the image on their own web site, claiming credit for it. So, now, they pay their second shooters and the second shooter uses their memory cards and must surrender them at the end of the shoot.  They are not allowed any use of the images at all.

In some respects, I think that is as immoral as what the second shooter did.  I understand that the principal photographer is the one with the job, and has the right to sell and market the images.  That’s fine.  However, for that person to take credit for producing the image isn’t right.  If I shot as a second shooter, and made a really great image, I would not have a problem with not selling the image to the client, but I would have a problem with never being able to use or display that image as mine.  And, I would have a great deal of problems with someone else taking credit for the creation of that image.  They are no more entitled to that credit than the second shooter who shot over their shoulder.