Boston, October 27, 2010

   I was walking around Boston on Wednesday and grabbed some amazing candid shots of people just walking around.

    It is so much fun to capture images like this!



images from my trip to Atlanta

I have my images from my trip to Atlanta posted on my Facebook page.  Please take a look and let me know what you think.   I really enjoy this type of photography and wish I could spend more time focusing on this.

            http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=134403&id=88182606922&l=e70a4a68bb

Wedding workshop

I finallygot around to posting my images from the workshop that CDIA had for their students who graduated.  I cannot believe how much i learned.  It is always nice to see a different perspective on things and to avoid falling into a rut.  Here are my



 



 

 

 

 





 



 



 

 

I know that it was a lot of images and I am sorry to those people with dial ups.

The Wedding of Elise and Matt

       

 I shot another wedding yesterday.  The lucky couple was Elise  and Matt .  They had a lovely service out in Worcester and a rocking reception at the Leicester Country Club.  I cannot believe how lucky I am to capture these moments in time.  Trust me, that is not a line.  These couples are going to be looking at their albums for the rest of their lives.  Here is just a few of my favorites.

This one has to be one is my favorites.  When I heard where the wedding was suppose to be, I researched online for other wedding photographers who shot weddings at the same country club.   When I saw this bridge, I knew that if I was only able to get one formal of the lucky couple, it was going to be there.

 

 

 

 

FAMILY VACATION

   My family and I got back Sunday night from a much needed vacation.  I am in the process of updating my Lightroom and will post more images shortly but this is what I have for now.

 

 

We went up to Dwight, Ontario.  It is a very small town outside of Huntsville.  My wife's family has had a place up there for almost 100 years.  This is Carin swimming in the lake. 

I will give more information in the next day or two.  Trust me, there is a picture of the lake that is out of this world.

Joel Sartore

Every time his show is on PBS, I have to watch Joel.  He is a fantastic photographer.  I am in such amazement of his work.  If you ever want to learn about light, see the light, or understand the light, watch his show.  Joel shows you fantastic examples of that in his work using light effectively.  On the show, he went to Mt Vernon.    The orange glow of the sunrise highlighted the house in ways that few people understand.  (let alone appreciate) 

Check out this image from a rodeo that Joel did.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/b/burwell-big-rodeo-507845-lw.jpg

Andrea and Jason

I was lucky enough to shoot the wedding of Andrea and Jason on Saturday.  It was so much fun.  I am in the process of editing the images and here are my favorite three so far. 

 

I cannot believe how lucky I am to be able to capture the day when people decide to spend the rest of their life together.

My latest wedding

I did another wedding over the weekend and it was so much fun.  I worked with Melissa again and we hit it off as a team.  I have learned so much from her.  I have come a long way.  I cannot wait to start getting my own gigs.  I will have them up on my web-page in a day or two.  (Sorry, I make my selects and then go over them in a day or two.  (It makes all the difference in what I select.)   And for my fans of the wide angle, yes I did the reception again using my wide angle.

Roberta_Wedding_268

Here is one of the TA's from school's  photographs. (I uploaded it from his Flickr account.)  He is the one that gave me the idea of using a wide angle lens.

Roberta_Wedding_268

Originally uploaded by studio617

wedding shoot

  I came back last night full of energy!  The wedding was so much fun.  I wish Matt and Lisa all the luck in the world!

  The primary shooter was Melissa St. Laurent and we learned so much from each other.  I taught her about her camera and she taught me about wedding photography. (She just made the switch to digital)  She wants to work with me the future!

 

 

  During the reception I tried something totally different, using my wide angle and the pictures came out fantastic!  I got the idea from one of the TA's at school, Chris Shelley.  He is the one that suduced me to the dark side of photography.  I was taking portrait class and he came in and started playing with the wide angle lens and got me hooked.  Here is an image from that day.

 

 This is Howard and he in one of the film instructors at school.  Everyone who has seen this shoot loves it.  (Well, except my wife)  His friend's and family all think it looks just like him.

Gregory Crewdson’s work

I have been checking my blog stats and I cannot believe the number of hits that I have been getting b/c of my Gregory Crewdson’s  post.  (Sometimes over 100 hits per day)  That is just amazing.  That magic of the web. 

   I found another blog on wordpress referring to Crewdson's work. 

http://shapeandcolour.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/gregory-crewdson-beneath-the-roses/

He is much more articluate then I am.

Awesome Photo Blog

I was reading a magazine about Buddhism, trying to find the inner peace in myself before I strangle it, and they featured photographer from NYC who has an unbelievable photo blog.  His name is Travis Ruse and the website address is http://www.travisruse.com.  He goes into the NYC subway and takes candid shots of people on the train.  He does not ask for permission because they are in public and they do not have any expectation of privicy.  (http://blog.photoblogs.org/2006/02/19/selling-pictures-of-strangers/)  I am the firm believer in not asking.  As soon as you ask someone to pose, their face changes completely.  Look at this image, http://www.travisruse.com/archives/2007/03/f_train_4th_ave_13.php, look at how relaxed their faces are.  That is what happens when you get candid shots.  It also catches people when they are vulnerable, which some people argue about.  I would have to disagree.  You are capturing "realism"  You are capturing life in a real way.  Need time you are in the subway, look around and see around you. 

here is the rule in mass taking pictures on the subway.

http://bostonist.com/2007/07/26/mbta_photo_poli.php

"One of the risks of appearing in public is the likelihood of being photographed." Diane Arbus

The Pros

I have gotten my frist gig!  They want me to do some second shooting over this weekend.  I cannot wait.  I am just waiting for the boss to email me the details!

Gregory Crewdson

Watching CBS this morning, they featured a photographer named Gregory Crewdson. He creates dream like states in his photos that are unbelievable.  He spends hours creating his dream photos and they sell for big money.  His prints are limited to 10 images and they start at $80,000.  So he does million dollar photo-shots.  He does a lot of "staging" in his images, a little photo shop work but they are really great at getting a story across.  He still using film, large format.  (8x10)  Check out this image that i found on another person's wordpress blog

http://lartenvalise.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/04beneaththeroses300dpi.jpg

That image says so much.  It makes you wonder the man's story.  My first impression is a sales person who's car has broken down in a small mid-west town.  My old boss use to have a car like that one.  (I am in sales)  Look at all the lines in the image.  The telephone lines, faded crosswalk.  I know that I am rambling here but everytime you look around, there is something to see. 

His work kind of reminds me of Walker Evans urban landscapes where lines always meet.  I hope to be on the same level as Greg one day.

One last image to look at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/images/crewdson.jpg

Just stare at this iamge for a while.  Notice how all the traffic lights are yellow.  The traffic light poles line up with each other.  The tax man sign on the left.  (We always have to pay taxes.) Just keep looking and you will see something new.

Gallery Show

I was at CDIA tonight for a gallery show and it was totally awesome.  This time the instructors where doing the show.  I had a TA asked me which photo I would like to take home if I could and it was this one:http://www.randallarmor.com/p2.html. 

It was a great time to do some networking with some of my old instructors.  Tim Lynch gave me a vote of support.

Ansel Adams

  

Most people complain that today's photographers "cheat" by using photoshop.  I would have to disagree.  With photoshop you can adjust contrast, levels, burn and dodge without wasting chemical, paper and time.  People have always played with their work.  Ansel Adams moonrise hernandez new mexico was one of his most corrected image.  It took him untold amount of time to "correct" that image. 

Another image that I saw of Admas was on a valley in the Rockies.  (Sorry I do not remeber the name of the print but I saw it at the MFA in 2006)  He was UNHAPPY that the beautiful valley had a parking lot so he took it out.  If you did that in photoshop today people would get all upset. 

Outdoor Photographer stated some of the same things in this article

http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/content/2007/mar/bw_digital_age.shtml

I found another page that backs up the Ansel Adams connection

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HMU/is_2_29/ai_83243284

Boston on a sunday afternoon

This is one of my images from Sunday. I just love the new 50 mm 1.8 lens!    Yes, you cannon folk, they make the same lens for you too.  It was the best $110 lens that your money can buy.