Where have I been?

Hey there everyone! Seems like it's been awhile since I posted a new blog. So where have I been? Working on finalizing a new project with Jeffery Saddoris that we call Faded and Blurred.

What is Faded and Blurred? In one word, community. A place where we openly share ideas, concepts, and knowledge. A place where "We look out for each other". Where we help each other. Where we nurture each other. Where we learn from each other.

It is our hope that it becomes an interactive experience. Going forward we will be adding forums and tutorials to ask and answer questions. We expect a high level of participation. The home page is up, the blog is up, the info for our 1st walk is up. You did know about the walk, didn't you?

In the spirit of keeping it easy, we have built in Facebook integration. If you have a FB account, you can log in, leave comments, post topics and replies in the forums, all with your current FB info.

We have plans for doing many photowalks. We hope to use these as a way to meet you, share and laugh with you, motivate you, get the creative juices flowing, and most importantly, help build the community. We also have plans to help out local causes. Hopefully be able to organize our ranks, and loan our services to people and causes in need. The most important thing any organization can do to promote their cause is to attach a face to it. We want to help create those images. We want you to help us, so we will occasionally put the call out for volunteers to help us do that. What does that mean? It could mean taking pictures. It could mean requiring professional services. It could mean requiring some elbow grease and muscle. Whatever we can do.

Please, go have a look around. Tell me what you think. Remember, today is day 1. It will grow. It has to grow. And please, tell your friends. Let's all be a part of something bigger than us.

http://fadedandblurred.com/

For those of you that attended my last Lighting on Location class at Tri, please send images to Sam at samgao@gmail.com. He is looking forward to giving images to the wonderful models we had. If I don't see you at the walk, I will see you in 2 weeks when school starts up again for the fall semester.

Frank

Thank you Summer session

I want to take a small moment to thank my summer students for their continued support and the great interaction that you provided. These summer classes were by far my most rewarding classes yet. We had great participation in class, and we kept the attendance high in each class.

Thank you for being engaged and open minded. For allowing me to show you new things, and for absorbing the ideas that were brought to class. Take from it what you will, some of you will implement many ideas, some of you a few, some of you are already on your way, and some of you are just beginning. But you all were active, and that's what makes the experience for everyone much more rewarding. I never have anyway of knowing what you know or want to learn when you arrive, so unless you speak up, I may never cover areas you deem important, not just what I think might be important to you.

Remember, just because school is out for the summer, the shooting doesn't stop.

I've been thinking a lot recently about what we as photographers really do. Is it create art? Sure, some of us do. Is it commerce? Again, some of us do this for money, yes. But is that the only time we pick up a camera? No.

We capture and preserve memories. For our clients, but more importantly, for us. Would you never take another picture if you thought you would never make a dime with your camera? If you ask any photographer what their most prized images are, I am willing to bet very few of them will pick their commercial endeavours. Most will pull out a special album that may have never seen the light of day to the public. Pictures of their families, their parents, their childhood homes or family vacations they went on. They will be of old friends, lost loves, loved ones lost. How often do you hear of someone saying that if their house burned down, they would go in and grab the TV first? I am not including any imagery in this post because I want you to think of you most cherished memories. Are their pictures of it?

Do you have kids? I just recently was given a box of childhood things from my mother. We moved around A LOT when I was a child. There were probably 10 pictures in it. I wish there were more. I have often seen my wife and sister going through albums of images from when they were children, laughing and remembering things, filling in the blanks for each other about who was in that picture or where they were at, how old were they, wow look at the outfit on mom! I have visions of my own children sitting at a dinner table long after I'm gone and doing the same thing, laughing about what a geek I was because I always had a camera. And then being thankful that I always had a camera.

Go, now, and find a way to document important and mundane things in your lives. Sometimes the day to day events are so much more meaningful to us as we get older. It's what bring the smiles to our faces as we remember the way uncle so & so used to belly laugh, or your dad used to give you "the look".

Then find a way to back up those precious memories. Hard drives and space are cheap. Off site solutions are plentiful. Back up to DVD and leave a copy at your office or your parents house. Carry a portable hard drive in your car that you back up to every other week. If you need ideas, ask me in the comments. If you have a routine, let me know down below, maybe someone will determine that may work for them.

And don't forget to create memories for yourself. Laughing and doing something you enjoy. Like going for a walk. While taking pictures. With a few old and new friends. Come join us on 8/29/09 as we celebrate community, photography, and the art of capturing memories.

http://fadedandblurred.com/

See you there. It will be a memorable experience

Faded & Blurred....

Some of you have heard rumors and murmurs about a new project that Jeffery Saddoris http://jefferysaddoris.com/ and I are undertaking. We are calling this new endeavor "Faded and Blurred" and we have several ideas and irons in the fire. One of the first things we will be doing to kick off this new project is a free photowalk. We will be photowalking in Venice Beach on August 29th, from 3pm to sunset. We will be meeting in front of Muscle Beach at 3pm, so don't be late. A map of the beach is here:

http://www.venicebeach.com/images/vbmap.jpg

We would also like people to sign up for the walk, so we are in the process of building a website that will allow you to register so that we can have an idea of how many people will be attending. That website is here:

http://fadedandblurred.com/

It is currently under construction, so don't mind our dust, but there will be much more content coming in the next few days and weeks.

So while we wait for teh site, let me know down below in the comments section who is interested. And we have some custom designed T-shirts available, specific to this walk. We will design a new 1 for each walk, and then they will dissappear...

There are several color options, and mens and women's styles available. That link is here:

http://www.mysoti.com/mysoti/product/471537

And lastly, why are we calling this "Faded and Blurred"? Because "Sharp and Vibrant" are so overated...

Frank

What is photography providing to you?

I took my daughter to the Los Angeles Arboretum this week. This is not news, we have family passes, and are often there 2-3 times a month. They have recently redone the entrance building, and have added the flags that you see in this post. 6 flags with 6 single words on each. The words were meant to describe the experience you may derive from a trip to the Arboretum. But I read those words and had my own single word:

Exactly

These words are exactly what my photography does for me and provides to me. Many of us have arrived here through a passion for photography. We have been told we have "the eye" or we have always enjoyed taking pictures. We become the "family & friends" event photographer. We get invited to all the family birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries, etc, so the family knows good images will be taken. And then the inevitable question arises. Can I make money doing this?

One must be very careful when trying to monetize a passion. If you came to this honestly, and just have to share your work with the world, and are able to satisfy your clients with your imagery, satisfy yourself with good quality work, and put some money in your pocket, congratulations! But please be careful that your passion, doesn't become your job. If you lose the spark, or the drive becomes more about making money, and less about the image, it shows. And as soon as that happens, you have lost a creative outlet that was providing the energy to fuel your passion.

Here are the words on those 6 flags (6 flags, more fun!) that photography provides to me, and I hope it is providing to you. If you feel like you lost one or all of these along the way, please stop and examine that. Find a way to get that back and re-ignite it. It's important to us... This first word is pretty self explanatory. I love shooting. Anything. Everything. The time spent with the camera. The time spent reviewing the images. The time spent with family and friends. Teaching. The time spent scouring the new B&H catalog. Like when I was a kid and the Christmas edition of the Sears catalog came. I love being out and about with my camera. I love capturing other people in love at their weddings. It has brought me so much closer to friends and family, and it has allowed me ways to show my love to others.


This next word, Enjoy, is a biggie. If you have stopped enjoying your time spent in photography, please find a way to reconnect. Shoot something new or different. Go out shooting with a fellow shutter bug for a day. Make something for yourself. Again, if this has become a job that you dread going to everyday, perhaps it's time to find another job? Photography is a creative endeavor, much like any other artistic medium. When the sole focus is on making money, the work suffers, and you have lost an outlet to enjoy yourself.

This is a no brainer. If you are currently working in a 9-5 job, what is it you do on the weekends to unwind and relax? You grab your camera. So if your a mechanic, or a Doctor, or a Barrista, and have a tough day at the office, you come home, grab your gear, and head off to shoot a beautiful sunset. Even if the sunset isn't particularly spectacular, you still wind up getting immersed in the art of photography. It allows your mind to focus on something else and forget about the labors of your day. But what if your a full time working pro? Does that mean in order to relax you need to take up golf? No. There are so many specific niches in photography that you probably specialize in something, so how about trying a different subject matter than the norm?

This should be happening all the time. Discovering new techniques. New subjects. New locations. New Photoshop actions. New friends. New feelings. New passions. New self revelations.

Explore the not so obvious, yourself, your feelings, your reasoning for doing this, your drive. And explore the obvious, new locations, travels, friendships, love of photography.

A sense of wonderment in photography is a tangible and beautiful thing. You can see it in the eyes. It provides the spark that we need to continue to grow as artists. Don't ever loose it.

Frank

Death Punch!

For those of you in my Lighting on Location class, you should recognize these guys. I had the opportunity last night to shoot a live performance of the Punk Rock band Death Punch. What you see here was all shot with my old 5D (just in case there was any melee's or spilt beer), and it was all shot with only 2 lenses, the 50 f1.4 and the 35 f1.4L. And all shot on the same settings, ISO 1600 at f1.4. No flash, all available light, using only the AV mode, so the camera was picking my shutter speeds.

I have never shot a live music performance before, so I was excited about the possibilities. Most venues don't allow flash, so I didn't bring one. Of course, this venue probably would have let me bring in studio strobes on stands if I wanted. Live and learn. But, I am happy with the way these turned out.

These were all processed in Lightroom. I haven't done any cropping even. Prior to giving them to the band, I will clean some of these up, and I have about 100 more I am really happy with. I ran the new Default settings we have been discussing so much in my Wedding classes, and it really tweaked the colors. I loved it, so for this set, I left it. Shot them last night, posting them today.

The effect that Lightroom gave them is kinda gritty (aided by the ISO 1600) and the colors are saturated. This is Punk, it ain't pretty...

The band was awesome, I had a great time, and I had a couple of fellow friends shooting with me, they were in definite need of a diversion, and a live Punk show was just the answer. I am excited to see what they got, as they were using flash, and much lower ISO's. But for a 4 year old camera that has been banged around for years, and is normally used to quieter, much more reflective and intimate wedding shoots, I think it performed admirably. After all, ISO 1600 at f1.4 is Canon country. (sorry, couldn't resist) You can see a lot more of my images here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankwise/sets/72157622001083244/

As I edit some more I will add them there.

This is the last week of the summer session at Tri, so here is what's going on this week.

Monday night we will review the semester, answer any questions you might have, and relax with some inspiration from Mike Colon

Tuesday night we will be shooting

Wednesday night we will be gaining more inspiration from Jerry Ghionis' work.

Feel free to bring food on Monday or Wednesday, pot luck is welcome!

See you all soon,

Frank

What do you want to learn?

Hey there everyone! I have talked to many of you about up coming classes at Tri, and many of you want to know what comes after Beginning and Advanced Wedding photography. Well, currently at Tri, there isn't anything after those. Consider those classes like Algebra 1 and Algebra 2. These classes are offered each semester, and they are always the same classes.

With this in mind, I spoke to Alan (our director at Tri) about the possibility of creating a NEW wedding photography class, and he thinks that would be great. My question to you would be "What haven't we covered in these classes that you would like to learn more about?" Leave me a message in the comments. I probably have until the end of the week to come up with a rough outline, but I am asking you, my students, to help design it with relevant information you would like to learn. Beginning Wedding and Advanced Wedding aren't going away, so this new class would need to have brand new content to be accepted. Is there more specific Photoshop/Lightroom that needs to be covered, shooting information? Or hell, does it even need to be wedding related? What do you want that you haven't gotten or seen offered from Tri?

Go!

Frank

I'm extremely humbled...

and very honored. I think many of you know that I participated in Scott Kelby's 2nd annual World Wide Photowalk 2 weeks ago. Several of you were with me. And many of you also know (because I haven't shut up about it) what a fantastic time I had, and that it was an incredibly fun day. We walked for the better part of 9 hours all over China Town, Union Station, and Olvera Street. We wandered together shooting, sharing, talking, laughing, and teaching. We shot in some places as a group, and in many places we each found something that intrigued only us. And it was all okay. We waited while everyone found and shot what they were looking for and then headed off as a group. I got to know some of you very well, and am a better person for the experience. So much so, that Jeffery Saddoris and I are organizing our own walk on 8/29 in Venice and we hope you'll be able to attend.


At this point your probably wondering why I am writing another post about the walk. Didn't I just do last week? Yes. But the walk has left an indelible mark on me. I did it as much for the camaraderie than I did for the pictures. And yet, in my mailbox yesterday, they crowned a winner of our shoot. There were more than 30,000 photographers participating in 900 walks all over the world. Each local walk would crown a winner, and that winner will be entered into the world wide pool of winners, and 1 Grand prize winner and 10 honorable mentions will be selected. Say hello to the Chinatown walk winner. I actually first heard I'd won on Twitter. What an amazing little program that is, but I will save that for another post.

The winning image is the one you see here. We started our walk at 8am, while Chinatown was still sleeping. It was very calm and peaceful, which was exactly what I'd seen when I noticed the reflections of the lanterns in this Koi pond. To say I'm honored is an understatement. I am truly humbled. There were so many great images, and again, I was already a winner just by participating.

Damon Webster, our walk leader and host of http://www.photoinduced.com/ had this to say about my image, "The winner was chosen for the depiction of Chinatown, and a feeling that it gave of a culture in its delicate reflections and composition. I could almost hear the music of a Ruan when viewing it. Congratulations Frank "

Of course, my wife has a way of making sure I don't get a big head when she said "so now your up against all the other winners from around the world. There are a lot of places much more beautiful"

Thanks honey!

Many more images shot by myself and the other Chinatown walkers can be seen here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1175978@N21/pool/

Coming up this week in class:

Monday night lecture

Tuesday night model shoot, in a brand new location (I heard you all say "Finally!")

Wednesday night Engagement shoot, bring your gear.

Have a great week, and see you soon!

Frank

We are all on a journey...

Hey there everyone! I hope to have a couple of posts this weekend, but since it's August 1st, I'm starting with this thought. When we met with David Jay last weekend, we talked about how we as photographers spend a lot of time looking at others work. Sometimes there are issues associated with this. If you are looking at others work and admiring it for what it is, or gaining inspiration, or learning techniques that is fabulous.

But how often are you looking at anothers' work, and comparing yourself to them? Are you putting yourself down because your work is not as good as theirs? Getting depressed because your portfolio is not nearly as nice, or you don't seem to be as creative? Maybe your Photoshop skills aren't on the same level? You aren't making as much as they are shooting weddings? Or any other number of reasons that you wind up thinking maybe you should hang up your camera, turn it into a paper weight.

Ron Dawson posted a blog yesterday about a similar subject to. He's a film maker, but many of his ideas directly relate to us. He's says "I’ve decided that for one month I will refrain from watching the videos of anyone who I consider a potential competitor. I’m calling it the “Comparison Kills Creativity Campaign.” It’s purpose, to rejuvenate the spirit and get your creative juices flowing as never before"

His post is here: http://bladeronner.com/?p=664

He would like us all to take the next 30 days. I agree. And here are some of my thoughts on the subject. I can expand here on some things I started on my Facebook page. Please add your thoughts in the comments below.

We are all on a journey, and we are at different waypoints along our travels. Let's not go backwards by comparing ourselves to people far ahead of us, or belittle people far behind us, just know that we are all hopefully still making progress. Some days the progress will be small, some days many miles will be traveled, and still other days we need to wait while some maintenance issues need to be dealt with.

Occasionally on your journey you will need to stop and refuel and refresh, maybe check the map to see where you are going, make sure you are not heading in the wrong direction. Consider these stops moments of reflection, and times to check on what other people are doing. And occasionally on your journey, you may find a place that you really love. Your going to stay there awhile, maybe put down some roots, find a place where you are comfortable and can call home. Then you have found your style. But don't forget to take a day trip now and then, or an extended vacation... I have a feeling I will be on my journey for a long time. There is just so much I want to see...

Some people started on their journey long before we ever did. They knew where they were headed, while some of us spent a long time figuring out where we wanted to go. Some people are traveling very fast on their journey, and some of us are taking the "scenic route". But we are still making progress, and still heading in the right direction. All of our journey's are taking a different road, there is no direct route from here to there. You need to know that that's okay. Even desirable. It's a lot of fun to occasionally sit down and reflect on where we have been, the things we have seen, and the people we have met along the way.

That's why we take pictures, after all, isn't it?

Frank