Dylan: Studio Baseball

This, along with the swimmer photo posted earlier, might become the start of a studio sports series.  This shot was lit with an umbrella camera left and behind Dylan, while there was a bare bulb strobe camera right.  The "dust" is baby powder.  It took quite a bit of experimentation (and an entire bottle of baby powder) to get the effect just right, and the floor was rather slick for days after this shoot.

Hypothermia Shoot 1: Glacial Swimming

Seth, Mendenhall Glacier

 Four shoots,  three lenses, two assistants, one softbox, one nearly frozen glacial lake, all to finally get the single, final image seen above.  But such is the cost of experimentation to learn a new technique.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

A dedication

For those of us destined to learn photography through trial and error, no piece of "equipment" is as valuable as a willing guinea pig. The easiest people to drag into my own experimental photographic learning process has always been my friends.

Of these friends, Sean has always been one to particularly give whole-heartedly of his patience and self-confidence over the years. But while Sean has been valuable in learning the science of photography, as one of my best friends for well over twelve years, he was the one to teach me how to begin to perceive the small triumphs, the agonies, the beauties, and the little dramas present in the daily script of humanity. Though obviously I have many more years of learning to do, by showing me how to "see" the deeper conflicts beyond the facade of humanity around me, he has helped define the way I observe the world, the person I've become, and this is hopefully reflected in my images. These are lessons far more influential than lighting techniques and apertures.

So to you my brother, I wish you more than the best. May your turbulent and listless journey soon bring you to the joy, love, and fulfillment you so richly deserve.

It came from the Caribbean

I think everyone who is passionate about a particular discipline has an “ah-hah” moment, that instant where the spark of a budding interest turns into an obsession.

Mine was on a ship patrolling the Caribbean Sea. It was just after sunset and we were preparing to send a boarding team over to another vessel, myself included. We had geared up, and in the fleetingly relaxed moments before putting our “game faces” on, my friend Kevin and I were on the flight deck joking with fellow shipmates on the level below.

Having played with my first camera (a tiny point and shoot) for a month, I noticed then for the very first time in my life the varied colors of light surrounding the scene, and the tense yet jovial mood. Handholding my tiny camera on a rolling ship for a full second, I managed the picture above.

Now, this image is blurry, noisy, somewhat out of focus and perhaps not really a great image at all. Nonetheless, at that moment, I remember thinking to myself, “wow, cameras can do that?”

The images in this journal represent the years since that moment in 2004, that one second exposure in the middle of the ocean. They document my first, exploratory steps into understanding light, capturing humanity, and telling stories. It has been a fulfilling journey of learning and frustrations, but I also know the learning and frustrations have only just begun.

I can’t wait to see what challenges and opportunities to learn are coming next.