Daily Digital 11.11.2009

It’s a pleasure to be able to take my camera and tripod on my daily walks.

Who Am I

We are all constantly making up definitions of ourselves. They sometimes arise out of an ah ha moment and there’s a sense of freedom and pride to the thought, this is who I am. But like everything else in life at some point that definition doesn’t seem to fit anymore and in fact feels confining. Then we may have a new ah ha moment and a new self definition. My photographer friend, Guy Tal, writes masterfully about this as pertaining to an artist in his blog, here.

I would find myself being transported many times when I hiked in nature so I started taking photographs there. I was particularly inspired by the work of Galen Rowell. Although Galen’s work is pretty diverse, I went around shooting mostly sunrises and sunsets with wide angle lenses always trying for a particular look. At some point I realized that I was no longer photographing the places where I liked to hike. Instead I would go to particular locations at sunrise or sunset and try to “make” photographs. I found that definition too confining, and I embarked on a project to communicate the beauty of all of nature — not just the obvious places.

My background was street shooting, but I found that the low ISOs of color film and need for sharpness made walking with a camera on my shoulder and just taking snapshots impractical for the types of images that I wanted to capture. Eventually I switched to a 4×5 view camera to capture even greater depth and detail.

What started as pure artistic experimentation and expansion became a new self-definition and prison. I was very pleased with this image of myself. No one could question my intention and sincerity when I lugged around all this equipment and painstakingly crafted these high quality images.

Bob Dylan said “He who is not busy being born is busy dying.” This goes for us as artists and as human beings.

At my age and physical condition, carrying a 4×5 camera and lenses around on a hike to perhaps casually take photographs is not practical and certainly not fun. I was able to sell a computer I had for enough money to buy a Nikon D300. A D300 with a zoom lens on my shoulder is easy, and I found there are images I’m getting that I never would have otherwise.

The above image is such a one. Though I had a tripod with me, I purposely shot it hand- held to poke holes through my arrogant large-format persona.

There’s a quote from the photographer Paul Caponigro making the rounds of posts of photographers that goes, “I want to be free enough to see, everyday, with fresh eyes.”

Amen

I’m a Whore

I was very fortunate to start my career in commercial photography by apprenticing with one of the top advertising photographers in NYC. Tony was very demanding and could be quite abusive, but it was always in service to getting the work done and done with perfection. At the end of the day when job was over he pulled out his stash and wanted you to get stoned with him and relax.

Tony was a tough Italian guy from the Bronx. He was very good and worked very hard to produce professional work but he never had any illusions about what he was doing. I remember one interaction he had with a particularly pompous art director on a shoot for a hair care product. The art director was complaining about the difficulty of being an artist and working in advertising. Tony just replied, “I’m a whore. People come to my studio and pay me to f**k. I f**k.

What does this say about those of us who consider ourselves artists? Are we that pure and saintly? I recently passed by a very well-known nature photographer giving a workshop in Yosemite. He and his group were out in a meadow, but I knew who he was by the vanity license plate on his vehicle clearly displaying his name. The plate was on a shiny deluxe SUV, where the trim that’s normally silver was gold. I was disappointed. “What a huge ego,” I thought. Does it diminish him as an artist? His large prints that I’ve admired and that have inspired me in the past, I still admire.

Which brings me to my own ego and purity: It’s easy to be arrogant and self-righteous when you haul around the heavy 4×5 camera and painstakingly compose and expose your photographs. Is a 4×5 crappy image any better than one shot with a digital point & shoot, or does a stunning digital image move one any less than one shot on 8×10 film?

I’m purposely accompanying this post with this recent shot of Half Dome and the elm tree taken with my D300 in Cook’s Meadow. Though I’ve personally never seen this view before, I’m seen lots of images of this elm and Half Dome taken from this meadow, so I’m sure I’m copying somebody. I still love looking at the image, however. I hope you enjoy it too.

Trees

The first time I remember appreciating trees, more than just noticing that they were there, was when I discovered the giant Redwoods in northern California. I was in my early 20s and I remember standing among these tees along a highway called the Avenue of the Giants. They really had a presence. They were so tall and quiet and seemingly wise.

Years later I tried to photograph the giant Redwoods in Muir Woods. I was using a little 35mm camera with lots of fancy technology. When I started using a 4×5 camera I felt more comfortable. By working at the slower pace that 4×5 demanded I was more conscious of my surrounding and I felt I was giving the trees their proper respect.

I think I really began to appreciate trees living in Fairfax, CA. We don’t have mountains, rivers, the ocean or lots of wildflowers. But we are surrounded with rolling hills and these wonderful, expressive Oaks, Madrones, Bays and more.

I am so fortunate to live among these thees. They have brought me much happiness and peace.

I discovered the tree below on a sunny morning when I was checking out a new trail. I made a mental note to come back when we had some fog. A couple of weeks later I lucked out and made my way up the trail. However this beautiful Madrone was flirting with me from behind the fog.

I braved the poison oak to take her portrait first. Then I turned around got close to my friend, put on a wide-angle lens and took his portrait.

13.1 Megapixels of Fun

If you remember the old song “101 Pounds of Fun” then hopefully you’ll get my pun. I got my D300 a couple of days ago and I was out shooting with it yesterday morning. This is what I got. Today I was wondering around all these lichen covered rocks. I’ll be back there with my camera in a day or two.

This time of the year, before the rains start, is usually very boring for photography. But now I’m really excited.

Going to the Dark Digital Side

Today I’m taking delivery on a used Nikon D300 and I’m very excited. So many large format photographers have gone exclusively digital in the past few years that I feel like a blasphemer. I got this camera for a number of reasons. First, I want to have a decent camera when people want to hire me for portraits or other jobs. Second, there are a number of images for which a 4×5 view camera is a very poor choice. I want to do some serious macro work where even my 300mm lens will be too short. I’m also looking forward to doing some night photography with high ISOs.

Maybe I’m just a gearhead who needs a new toy. We’ll see.

I took the photo above with my D100. With the cropping I probably can’t make a decent print larger than 11×14. This will be the first place I go with my new toy.

Color Magazine, the November Issue

It’s on the newsstands now. I have a few images on pages 104-105. It’s a beautiful issue with some great photography.

Local Boy Makes Good

I’m currently part of a national juried exhibit in Novato, and the local paper, the Marin Independent Journal, was interested in local artists who were participating in the show. As a result, I got this great write-up yesterday.

Unfortunately the on-line version doesn’t have the reproduction of the print version, but you can go to my website for that.

iAM, my new iPhone App

I’ve just released an iPhone app that utilizes my photographs. When iAM loads, it will pair one of my images with a profound and uplifting quote. I’m using quotes from contemporary spiritual teachers as well as Lao Tzu, Einstein, Emerson and others. It’s designed to be used as a daily contemplation. You get a beautiful, quieting photograph and something profound to contemplate. I plan to continuously upgrade it with new images and more quotes. I’m looking forward to your suggestions and criticisms.

New Photographs

This is a photography blog after all, so I thought I would post some new photos. These were taken of Alpine Lake which is part of the local watershed. Over half the water from my county comes from these man made lakes created by damming up Lagunitas Creek. During the winter rainy months, the lakes will up with water and during the spring, summer and fall the water gradually retreats revealing first new green grasses and finally barren dry gullies.

The addition of a heavy morning fog a few weeks ago made for some great conditions. These were all taken that one morning.

In spite of my wise-ass blog about critics, your comments are always appreciated.