Nothing like a photoshoot in your computer room, with clothes from the Thriftstore. You know how we do. Photographically, I like this one because the shadow from the flash actually adds a little something to the photo.
Labels: snapshots
Anyone have any idea who the guy next to him is?
Labels: snapshots
Taken with a friend's real old school camera at an Austinist meeting. I've done this a couple times now, where I take a throw-away photo with someone else's camera and it comes out pretty awesome. My friends' band Meanest Capacity used one on the cover of their demo CD. Always fun when that happens.
Labels: snapshots
Shot at a fundraiser at a beergarten here in Austin. Quick observations:
– It was easy to see, even as he dished out base-catering boilerplate, how his charisma could have attracted so many supporters.On a personal note, even though I was shooting for Austinist, I wore my WaPo press badge so no one would give me any gruff. Then I had to check myself several times from offering polite applause whenever he said something I agreed with. It's a weird profession I've chosen.
– He didn't take himself too seriously, even once jokingly imitating the few seconds before his "Yeeaaarrr!" moment.
– It was, however, a starstruck candidacy even before that sound bite: he's pretty short. Like, maybe 5'6". I vaguely remember reading somewhere that taller presidential candidates usually do better against shorter ones. I guess no one wants to describe their president as "impish."
Languishing somewhere in the nether regions of my photostream, I found this image, which I consider among my best, amid a bulk upload of other shots from my trip to D.C. last March. I remember thinking, at the time of the shutter click, that I'd gotten off a pretty good shot, using my rolling suitcase as an impromptu tripod for the Optio. The train rolled in. Off we went.
Six months later, in a fit of productivity, I was looking for a new desktop for my computer at work. Pulled this image up, nodded approvingly, set it.
It wasn't until my computer was shutting down that day — in that brief glimpse when the programs close and the icons vanish, and what's left is an image, full-screen, as if framed — that everything fell into place. To cloak it in poetry: Here was a story; it's hero still yet unformed. Photos, though, are simpler than verse. The best photos are a collection of details that all move toward a single statement, a single emotion. Like a herd of buffalo running toward a cliff, each detail, when examined individually, reinforces the direction of the others, and the sum is always greater than the parts.
You had to see it big to catch everything in this picture. Viewed at 500 pixels, the picture reads as a central, blurry figure against three simple compositional zones. But full-screen it reads almost like an arc, and the details do the heavy lifting. The track and power lines emerging from the darkness; the bright structure above the figure; the BWI Airport sign; the woman-as-generic-traveler at the very far right — all swirl around this kid in the middle, whose eyes, we can now see, are cast away from the track, back toward where he just came from. The uncertainty of travel is now inserted into what would otherwise be a typical picture of bland transportation.
All of this registers instantly when you see the image large. It registers again as you read it left to right, each detail balancing the next. And there is no way that a photographer could ever control all of these elements, or think them through one by one, before pressing the button. They are captured mostly by luck, a little by persistence. What separates the great photographers from the professionals is the ability to repeatedly see these pictures coming, or the patience to wait for them to appear, and then to capture the image and also something of self-expression in those few, lucky moments.
POSTSCRIPT: I realized about halfway through that last paragraph that analyzing a photo can pretty quickly suck the joy out of any picture. And, furthermore, committing that analysis to a lengthy ramble can pretty much suck the joy out of reading, too. So, you know, sweet, killed two artforms with one post. Apologies. But this is a useful way for me to talk about my aesthetics — a lofty and self-important exercise, but a necessary one, at times, I think, if I'm to give some direction to the tens of thousands of photos I insist on taking.
Labels: photography, snapshots
One of the reasons I don't ever really want to go pro at photography is it just gets redundant. Assignments inevitably mean other people were assigned to shoot the same thing or almost the same thing. Everyone's stuff comes out looking the same.
It doesn't mean the photos are bad in any way — more often all are quite good — but whoever wanted to be known for their works of endlessly recreateble art?
Labels: photography, snapshots
Man, last week was pretty awful. I'll be back with something on Sunday.
Labels: snapshots
They didn't allow photography in this exhibit at the Hirshhorn, so this photo is a bit taboo. Since the guy specialized in some large-format, super-detailed images, I guess I can understand that you might want to protect the images from forgeries ... but it still really hacks me off.
Museums and galleries are rich, rich environments for artists to work from, to draw from, to imitate, and to recreate. There's something inherently interesting in the juxtaposition of art and viewer, or the appreciation of art from the many ways it can be displayed. I stumbled onto this in photographing sculpture, but that is most likely just because of my interest in representing 3-D forms in photos. Given that photography has long incorporated existing art — especially the art of the masses, advertising — in unintended and unexpected ways into new works, the caution seems especially dubious. Restricting photographs from a photography exhibit is like restricting charcoal and notepads from a Picasso exhibit, and if I'm ever lucky enough to have my own gallery show, photography will be encouraged.
There are probably considerations I'm not aware of, especially on the legal or business sides of art, but it seems to me that photography restrictions are a silly precaution that negatively affects orders of magnitude more viewers and supporters of art than those who want to abuse the privelege.
(Also, Kriston, do you happen to remember the name of this photography exhibit? It was the one by the Japanese photog who also took long exposures of drive-in movie theaters. I've lost the show brochure I picked up.)
UPDATE: This guy has some blurry photos from the exhibit that I'm not sure how he snuck — there were security guards all over the place when I was there — that give you an idea of a few of the interesting photographic possibilities at this exhibit alone.
Labels: art, photography, snapshots
Man, right after I threw up that last post, I edited this photo, also from the D.C. trip. I've looked at it several times and never thought it was worth much, but tonight I stuck in gray scale and now it's probably one of my favorites photos I've uploaded in the last few months. Probably had something to do with that book of black and white Kertesz prints I was looking at earlier tonight.
See it large for full effect.
Labels: snapshots
Today I wrote about the State Fair of Texas, which this year features, in addition to Fried Coke, a butter statue of Marilyn Monroe's famous subway-vent photograph. The above photo is from when I went to D.C. last spring for training with the Post. Found a bunch of good shots from that trip that I never uploaded, so I'll be posting those here for the next few days.
Also, tonight I got to see a sneak preview of the first episode of The Wire, season four. The short review: I must now order HBO immediately.
Labels: snapshots
With thousands and thousands of photos that I've shot and then forgotten about, I wonder how many great ones are just sitting my hard drive, waiting for their big break? This one is almost exactly a year old.
Speaking of forgotten photos, you can see the very first frame I ever shot with my Canon 20d, also of Amanda, here. I suspect that the significance of that frame means a lot more to me than everyone else.
Labels: snapshots
This here photo is one of those ones that I'm kind of surprised everyone agreed to. Usually someone will say, "Aw, c'mon, let's just start the game," and be difficult about it. Maybe everyone went along because Reid was in town.
By the way, if you haven't seen Flickr's new map feature, it's pretty wacky. You can see exactly where this portrait was taken by clicking here.
Labels: basketball, snapshots
