The lion and the tamer

the lion and the tamer, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Throwback

at the house of reps, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Took this in the Texas House of Reps and it reminded me immediately of something I would have shot in high school or early college. There are a few stylistic give-aways — a silhouettefeaturing geometric shapes, an attraction to subdued greens and other earth tones, lots of negative space, etc. — but the biggie is the use of a telephoto lens (300mm) from long range. Fully extended, the lenses make everything flat, almost reducing the elements to a single plane. Compare to this image, taken earlier this year, after I started to rely heavily on my 50mm.

Back in the day, I probably fell back on this technique because it kept my acne-slathered face far away from the subject. Oh, just kidding. I went back to the well often because it was easy to replicate — just zoom. It was also pretty impossible to mess up the exposure, which is a huge plus when you're using film and paying for it with student loans.

Obamamania!

barack obama 5, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

As posted all over my Flickr stream and on Austinist, Barack Obama spoke last weekend at the Texas Book Festival to a crowd that packed the state Capitol's House of Reps chamber. The sense of excitement in the room was palpable, hundreds of people lined up for hours early for the chance to get their copy of The Audacity of Hope signed, and I see no reason to doubt that Obama will take a shot at the presidency in '08.

My impression: Even though he was obviously tired from his travels, he projected an air of calm confidence without arrogance that is both seemingly genuine and extremely magnetic. But he is no revolutionary. He is an anti-demagogue. And given people's growing dissatisfaction with today's political climate, he may be perfectly primed to ascend. As a guy sitting next to me said, "When he's in the room, you just get a sense of this big soul." The grandness of the term, applied to a man who's political persona revolves around modesty, reinforced that Obama has done something very smart, with this book and his political career. He has somehow come to represent hope.

There were, of course, many other good writers there, too. I'll try to get something up on the other panels I saw. Then again, listening to how both the flooding of Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 could have been prevented are decidely less fun to write about.

If you lived in Cali, you could spend your weekend here

marin beach run, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

This is less than an hour from the heart of San Francisco. Muir Beach South, I believe.

San Fran photos coming ... slowly

reid on the beach, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Came back from S.F. with 456 photos, which is about right for my usual average of 100 shots per day while on vacation. It'll take some time to edit them since I've got all these obligations over the next couple weeks and my camera's sensor or lens was very dirty and a lot of the shots have specks I'll have to clean up. Reid was whining about me getting some shots up, so he gets first crack, though. Something elegiac tomorrow.

Checking in

Quick update: sorry for the disappearance. I went to San Fran for a mini vacation last week. Touched down yesterday with a wicked head cold. Have been couped up under covers all day today. Will return soon. The Left Coast is a helluva place.

Why won't summer just go away?

dad swimming, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Buried in my stream beneath mounds of wedding pictures, this photo was actually taken months ago. Who knew that, as of this writing, unseasonably warm temperatures and a busted A/C would still us sweltering in mid-June like heat.

I plan on making this my official picture on my website before long, too. And honestly, I keep meaning to sit down and write something substantial, maybe a what's-up-with-me post, but it never seems to happen.

Wedding drudgery

dance floor balance, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

My God, I forgot what a chore editing wedding photos can be. Looking ahead to several weddings I have to shoot in the coming months, I went back to the last one I did, which I'd never finished editing and assessed what I did right and wrong. I'm bad about liking too many photos when I shoot a ton like this, and that was the case here, where what started as a two-hour project took more like five. But at least I have an example of what I can do when I really shoot the hell out of a wedding.

Ah, whew, by the end of it I didn't know whether to laugh



cry



dance



cry some more



take a shot



get carried off by a horde of women



or hide under the covers.



Whatever, it's done. High five.

Never blame your equipment

ventimiglia, italy, 2006, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

The photo I mentioned earlier, from a street in Ventimiglia, Italy, where we had a layover between stops after missing our direct train from Nice to Milan. Shot from the hip with my Holga, a camera with a plastic lens, two makeshift f-stops, and one shutter speed. Might be better than everything I shot with my $1,400 digital rig, with the number of variable settings expressed in terms of factorials.

I had forgotten about this frame until I saw the contact sheet. I'd also forgotten the fun of not knowing what to expect from a roll of film.

We know drama

thrush 1, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Over the last year, mainly thanks to Austinist, I've found that play rehearsals are among my favorite subjects. They set up bright lights for you, then act out inherently dramatic encounters. What more could a photographer ask for? Really, I have no idea why some pubs, primarily the New Yorker, insist on doing shlocky, static portraits of cast members in a studio whenever they write about a play.

This is from "Thrush", the newest production from Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater and the first in their new performance space back in my old Eastside 'hood.

The hits just keep on coming

hirshorn circle thing, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Another photo that's been updated for printing, although this one was from a digital "negative," so the difference in old and new versions isn't as pronounced.

The third and final refinished photo

the umbrella will protect me, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

The last re-scanned photos from my film days, for now. I've got an awesome, awesome shot with my Holga from Europe that I need to get scanned, too.

Another hi-res version of an old favorite

the stairs to nowhere, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Number 2 of 3 that I recently had scanned and have re-edited.

Back in the day

nick all alone, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

I grudgingly paid Precision Camera to rescan this negative for me so I wouldn't have to mess with Photoshopping out all the dust specks from my scanner at home. Once again, looking at the original, it's hard to believe I was ever satisfied with my initial version. (Another example of this progress is here.)

All this is a round about way of saying that I needed a high-quality scan of this image to make prints from. Those of you who've been asking for a print sale, you may be able to guess what that means...

More light kit experiments

amanda profile, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

This time from just last night, also with my strobes. Eric Uhlir's going to show me the ropes on some super-fancy soft-boxy stuff soon. I'd really like to nail down a preferred set of equipment so I can go about learning its ins and outs. I'm still never happy with the stuff I shoot with my flash units.

I buy an expensive (for me) new flash kit, and this is what we do with it

i buy an expensive (for me) new flash kit, and this is what we do wit it, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

Title about sums it up.

From over a year ago at the E.C.

For once, something worthwhile comes from the Texas Capitol

victims of family violence, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

I met this family on the steps of the capitol today. I could see all these red figures from my office window, so I wandered over after work. Turns out each one commemorates a woman who was killed by someone she was close to, usually a husband or boyfriend. Inside each Texas silhouette is a brief rundown of the crime that took her life. It's part of the Texas Conference on Family Violence.

This little girl had lost her mother. "Here she is! We found her! We found her!" she was saying as I walked up. "Okay, go stand next to Mommy," the woman with her said. I never got their names or the circumstances of the mother's death, since the family was gathered around the placard and I didn't want to invade their privacy. I offered to snap a photo with their camera of all three of them next to the memorial (along with this one for Austinist) and then went on my way.

A wedding shot

karri with bouquet, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.