September 11th, 2009

Before working more on TJ and Jess’ wedding I took a break to work up some images I took after the wedding. These images are from a beautiful graveyard located next to Hale Farm and Village.

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July 30th, 2009

Courtesy of my friend Cameron Davidson I have acquired a Holga lens in a Canon Lens mount (he sent it to me in exchange for the Community Coalition for Haiti which he supports).

Holga is a historical camera which was originally made to be incredibly inexpensive. Many photographers (especially those who began photography before the ultra-clean days of digital) are endeared by the Holga’s soft dreamy appearance.

Canon mount Holga lenses are available from HolgaMods.com.

Because the Canon sensor (it’s “film”) is physically smaller than the medium format film for which the Holga was originally designed the images do not exhibit the characteristic strong vignetting.

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July 4th, 2009

This post is the culmination of six months worth of research, experimentation, and refinement into high-magnification macro photography. Taking pictures of extremely small objects with extremely high resolution systems is an incredibly technical endeavor with great challenges and even greater rewards.

I’ll be posting an article for my readers interested in the nitty-gritty of the techniques and equipment used for this work.

More Ultramacro Shots

June 24th, 2009

I took these shots while on the workshop using my Phase One 645 Body and a self-made pinhole lens (body cap + coke can+ jewler’s drill + gaffe tape).

February 7th, 2009

Leica is a treasured and storied name in photography, having an illustrious past and a following akin to religious fanatical or Apple fans. I made it over a decade in photography without holding a single Leica camera in my hands. During this trip to Moab I had the privilege of shooting a Leica M8 Mark II which was a loan arranged by Guy Mancuso compliments of Leica itself. Let’s be clear: my usual shooting kit consists of gear totaling around $60,000, so I am no stranger to high-end gear, but shooting the M8 still felt like I was stealing breath from the devil. The prestige and aura surrounding the name “Leica” would be difficult for any non-photographer to understand.

The ergonomics, functionality, feel, pure joy of shooting this camera was truly amazing. However, once I opened the files I felt instantly disappointed. Being used to the unparalleled image quality produced by a Phase One Digital Back I am extremely spoiled. The two camera systems are not in the same price league ($4k street vs. $40k street), nor are they in the same league quality wise.

Still I loved losing my Leica virginity and look forward to the private indoctrination ceremony whereby masked Leicaphiles brand you with a Red dot (the Leica trademark). Here are some of the images I took from around of only four natural double-arches in the world (where one arch ends with the beginning of another arch).

More of My Leica Images from the M8

January 14th, 2009

One of my passions is creating traditional-chemical-based cyanotypes. This blue-toned printing process is a hands on art form in which an image is permanently printed on normal cotton rag fine art paper. Having grown up shooting film, processing the film myself, and printing the film in a traditional darkroom I love the ability to get my hands wet and create the final image rather than just “push print” and to yet again watch a latent image materialize at the bottom of a photo try after exposure to light. Since maintaining a full black+white wet darkroom based on a silver-halide process is now extremely impractical, cyanotypes allow me to tap into that magic again. Because of the chemical process it depends on cyanotypes can be done in a general purpose room and requires very little specialized gear.

After the Jump: a Step-by-Step Tutorial

January 6th, 2009

Pinhole photography is one of the oldest and truest forms of photography. Rather than a lens, a hole is used to project the image onto a light sensitive medium (film or digital). It’s really that simple.

More often than not when you see work from a pinhole image shown in a gallery it is from a home-made camera taken with a sheet of film.

The images you see here are from a modified Phase One P30+. This 32 megapixel digital camera system is normally used because it provides top notch lenses. So it is not without irony that I choose this platform for my latest pinhole project.

32 megapixels worth of soft, ethereal mush. It’s almost insulting to the camera.

Some fun links for pinhole:

Technical Calculators for Pinhole work

6 month long exposures by pinhole

After the Jump: More Pinhole Images

October 1st, 2006

To rest after chasing fish around, I tried to document the amazing variety of plants (and plant-like animals) that lay along the ocean floor.

September 30th, 2006

When you watch documentaries about the Great Barrier Reef there are fish everywhere. Schools of fish crash together and brightly colored fish hide behind every corner. It was perhaps my greatest surprise that the Great Barrier Reef was exactly like in documentaries.

Here is just a sampling of the fish that stayed still long enough for me to photograph.

September 30th, 2006

The ocean floor is full of valleys and hills that form some wonderful landscapes. Schools cling to the side of these valleys and hills adding an extra level of interest. Best of all, the landscapes don’t move, which is a relief after chasing shy fish.

September 30th, 2006

By the light of day the waters of the Abel Point Marina become brilliant blue.

September 30th, 2006

The last day of my vacation I was determined to take a scenic flight of the Whitsunday Coast. The only aviator who had a slot free was an old gruffy Aussie who did acrobatic stunts in a bi-plane. I opted for the scenic flight, but at the end he threw in a few flips and rolls for fun.

In between loud obscenities and gasping for air I was able to shoot a short clip of the acrobatics.

During the more relaxing half of the flight I shot some stills.

The Whitehaven Beach (above and below) which is supposedly has the purest sand of any beach in the world. Looks like a man and a horse to me.

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