* the camera roll *

so i had a shoot not too long ago for men’s journal. this is the first time i’ve ever shot for them. it was a series of portraits of a former us navy seal sniper, shot on location at a shooting range out in the california sierra nevada foothills. great story by rick telander.  ran in the december issue, although this was shot back in july.  had to wait until it ran before i could show these.

the shoot involved my assistant stephen and i setting up a white seamless in the parking lot of the shooting range:

gotta say, the photo equipment geek in me kinda loves doing shoots like these. lots of gear, props, location…

although this was one of their feature stories in the december mag (with alec baldwin on the cover), they ended up only running this photo as the lede image:

not complaining or anything. the pic was across a two-page spread. this was one of the pics that i liked from the shoot (not just because it was shot on a hassy with film). i was just hoping that maybe some of the other portraits on the seamless would have found its way into the layout. oh well.

as an experiment, i also shot some video with the 5d. wasn’t something i really planned, and was definitely an afterthought during the shoot. so as a result, i think i’m missing a few key things that would have helped the video editing. nevertheless, i did a down and dirty edit on quicktime (not even final cut or imovie), and the magazine ran it in their website:

so i apologize for my absence these past two months or so.  the ole missus and i got a bit sidetracked and went off and had ourselves a junior.  this is what i’ve been up to these past two months:

kinda nuts how quick they grow.  like weeds.  at left is in the hospital around day 1.5.  center pic is about the two week mark.  right pic was about a week or so ago.

one of the many things that i love about this kid is that he doesn’t seem to give a damn when i pop him with a strobe.  i’ve been concocting all sorts of photo ideas for him.  torturously embarrassing photos that i want to take of him in ridiculous buntings and outfits, set into absurd backdrops.  think terry gilliam.  i plan on starting these after the holidays.

miki johnson, the social butterfly of the photo set, just posted this on her facebook, of some really cool rock portraits:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/10/ten-killer-rock-n-roll-photographs.html

you know what i really like about these?  it’s that with the exception of the albert watson shot of mick, they’re all super simple images.  no fancy lighting, no big studios, no big productions.  just great immediate moments.  simple, honest and unmolested.

so wardrobe stylist rachel esterline turned me onto this iphone app for photo:

www.shakeitphoto.com

it’s billed as a polaroid emulator for the iphone camera.  i’m kinda digging it.  no, i’m REALLY digging it.

i’ve always had a thing for shooting in squares.  my mind sees differently when composing in squares.  that’s why i’ve been devoted to hassys for just about my entire photo life thus far.

up until recently, i was a bit schizophrenic when it came to picture-taking.  when i would shoot with a 35mm-style camera (horizontal aspect), i would default to photojournalism.  but when i would switch to a square camera, something just clicked.  i became a different photographer.  i’m sure it had something to do with jiggling my mind around a bit, forcing my eyes to confront the change.

i’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the years and years of television that i watched growing up.  years and years of looking at a flickering horizontal screen.  nah, that had no effect on me whatsoever…

nevertheless, it’s taken me about 4 years to break myself of this habit.  i think i’m about 95% cured.

well, when i started taking with the iphone, i initially approached it from a “purist” point of view.  or at least as much as one can be a “purist” while using a cameraphone.  i didn’t want to crop, i didn’t want to do too much manipulation beyond basic toning.  if it wasn’t full frame, it was crap.

so this shakeitphoto app is me sorta breaking my own rules.  well, but only sorta, since i’m now forcing myself to shoot iphone pics with square in mind.  i’m such a rebel.

here are some pics con shakeitphoto:

so here’s someone else who’s been doing some cool cameraphone pics:  http://cellularobscura.blogspot.com

this is work from shawn rocco, a staffer at the news and observer in raleigh, north carolina.  really cool stuff.  shawn gets it.  it’s fresh, inventive, witty, personal, intimate.  digging thru his blog, it looks like he also recently put together a little blurb photo book of his cameraphone work.  damn, he beat me to it.

i’ll most likely be visiting relatives who live in the raleigh/durham area over the winter holidays, and i might give shawn a buzz and see if he wants to meet for coffee or beer.  seems like a guy that i should have on my radar.

oh, and here’s him shooting some portraits of my man obama back during the campaign:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWym8q13-sw

also…  here’s another photog who’s doing some cool iphone photo stuffs.  this from richard koci hernandez, formerly of the san jose mercury news:  http://vimeo.com/5557033

richard had been one of the more innovative and creative newspaper photogs out there.  he’s a year or two older than me, and was tearing it up as a newbie staffer at the mercury news back in the early/mid 90s when i was still in the photoj program at san jose state university.  a bunch of us photoj students would freak out over his really great photos.  not sure if i have this completely right, but richard folklore is that he got the job at the merc right out of college, when he showed then merc photo boss geri migielicz a portfolio of black and white work from his trip to somewhere in central america during holy week.  i remember that work being stupid amazing.  just amazing.  think sebastião salgado amazing.

randoms

http://www.projectletour.com

from a little excursion me and the missus took last month to bali: