contradiction in terms pt 1.5

So after a longer weekend than planned that included a small family trip to Port Lavaca this past saturday and then family portraits for my family on sunday back in Austin, I am finally finishing the post about this image:



more after the jump

contradiction in terms?

I ran across this image today. And its got me thinking. I'll expand on my thoughts later this weekend. But feel free to leave your comments or thoughts on this one. Do you think it holds true?

inspiration and creativity - part 1

I have neglected this blog so much lately. I have been making up excuses to myself and others about why I dont use this as much as I should. So I am making an early New Years resolution to at least do one blog a week...even if it is just some random ranting to stop the ideas and thoughts from rattling around in my head so loudly.

So.....where do I start first?

more after the jump

damn DAM!

yes
digital asset management

im finally getting around to going through old images from 2 and 3 years ago
and archiving them correctly
for ease of use and finding them
keywording
metadata
changing the naming conventions to the one i use now
the whole nine yards

"the first rule....."

as i promised a couple days back
i am updating the blog
with some images from my latest shoot and project

the original shoot was conceived with only three models
but
as i have had issues in the past
i ended up booking 5 models
just in case someone canceled
needless to say
they all committed
and
all stayed in contact
and
all showed up on time

the makeup artist
i cant say enough about Lauren and her hard work
she was amazing and patient

i worked out the lighting in my head for a couple different days
and
decided to actually draw it out
so my assistants would know what i wanted and needed them to do

fortune cookies are awesome

so
i have this tattoo on my left wrist
of an anatomical heart
it has to do with a fortune cookie i got many years back
that said:
"you wear your heart on your sleeve"

i recently came across this image


it made me start thinking about some of the things i have chosen to do in the past couple years
i quit a really good and secure job in the insurance industry
to go back to school and finally finish my degree
original plan was to do my BFA in studio art and a minor in history along with my teaching certification
somehow
i changed plans with about a year of school left
to pursue my photography
and
its been the best decision ever!

first rule....

of fight club......
yeah
i know
cheesey
but
i just wrapped up a shoot with 5 models
one amazing MUA
and some great people assisting me

ill be posting the lighting set up
and
some behind the scenes shots soon
before i drop the first processed image from the shoot

Help Portrait Part 2

so
things are shaping up
and moving quickly already

my best friend, Dez is the one heading up the Austin movement for Help Portrait.

Jeremy gave him the go ahead on the website for Austin
We will be adding more info and updates as we get them

If you are wanting to volunteer your time, services, help pass out food/drinks, whatever it is you can and want to do
do not hesitate to contact either one of us

Help Portrait

i came across this project today while sitting outside the school studio

i think this is an amazing idea
and can bring a lot of joy and happiness to a lot families

so
now the quest begins to find designers, makeup artists, hair stylist and others willing to do a big production style event
to make some really great memories for some really deserving people

if you are interested, want more info or want to get involved
please do not hesitate to contact me

Thai, anyone?

recently did some work for
their 3 year anniversary comes up at the end of the month
and i got to shoot
(as well as eat)
some of the menu for their anniversary

watermarked for my "sister" site to lovelife

the longest solar eclipse

i came across this earlier today about the recent solar eclipse. sure, its an old post since it was on the same day as my birthday but the images contained in the link are just amazing.

78 Photography Rules for Idiots!

you can see them HERE

Thanks to Ivars Gravlejs for making this wonderful list!

destruction and mayhem

yesterday i had a drive fail
that hadnt been backed up in quite awhile
ughhh
data is still there
just need to work on recovering it
so
reminder to everyone out there
back up your files DAILY!
if you shoot or edit something new
back up the drive you saved it on
to another drive
or offsite storage
immediately after saving to your working drive

on a side note
this morning
my computer got infected and overran by some viruses
which subsequently caused some interesting charges on my bank account
im in the middle of disputing them and trying to get the money back in my account as we speak
the computer has been cleaned up
and is running normal again
still trying to figure out how the virus got in
oh well

so
lessons learned this weeek
dont take anything for granted
just because it has never happened to you
or hasnt happened yet
doesnt mean it wont

4th of July

images.....
and
prints are for sale!

Eastman Kodak announces it is retiring Kodachrome film

The Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday it’s retiring its most senior film because of declining customer demand in an increasingly digital age.

The world’s first commercially successful color film, immortalized in song by Simon, spent 74 years in Kodak’s portfolio. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s but in recent years has nudged closer to obscurity: Sales of Kodachrome are now just a fraction of 1 percent of the company’s total sales of still-picture films, and only one commercial lab in the world still processes it.

Those numbers and the unique materials needed to make it convinced Kodak to call its most recent manufacturing run the last, said Mary Jane Hellyar, the outgoing president of Kodak’s Film, Photofinishing and Entertainment Group.

“Kodachrome is particularly difficult (to retire) because it really has become kind of an icon,” Hellyar said.

The company now gets about 70 percent of its revenue from its digital business, but plans to stay in the film business “as far into the future as possible,” Hellyar said. She points to the seven new professional still films and several new motion picture films introduced in the last few years and to a strategy that emphasizes efficiency.

“Anywhere where we can have common components and common design and common chemistry that let us build multiple films off of those same components, then we’re in a much stronger position to be able to continue to meet customers’ needs,” she said.

Kodachrome, because of a unique formula, didn’t fit in with the philosophy and was made only about once a year.

Simon sang about it in 1973 in the aptly titled “Kodachrome.”

“They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day,” he sang. “... So Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.”

Indeed, Kodachrome was favored by still and motion picture photographers for its rich but realistic tones, vibrant colors and durability.

It was the basis not only for countless family slideshows on carousel projectors over the years but also for world-renowned images, including Abraham Zapruder’s 8 mm reel of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963.

Photojournalist Steve McCurry’s widely recognized portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak’s request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum, which honors the company’s founder, in Rochester.

For McCurry, who after 25 years with Kodachrome moved on to digital photography and other films in the last few years, the project will close out an era.

“I want to take (the last roll) with me and somehow make every frame count ... just as a way to honor the memory and always be able to look back with fond memories at how it capped and ended my shooting Kodachrome,” McCurry said last week from Singapore, where he has an exhibition at the Asian Civilizations Museum.

As a tribute to the film, Kodak has compiled on its Web site a gallery of iconic images, including McCurry’s Afghan girl and others from photographers Eric Meola and Peter Guttman.

Guttman used Kodachrome for 16 years, until about 1990, before switching to Kodak’s more modern Ektachrome film, and he calls it “the visual crib that I was nurtured in.” He used it to create a widely published image of a snowman beneath a solar eclipse, shot in the dead of winter in North Dakota.

“I was pretty much entranced by the incredibly realistic tones and really beautiful color,” Guttman said, “but it didn’t have that artificial Crayola coloration of some of the other products that were out there.”

Unlike any other color film, Kodachrome is purely black and white when exposed. The three primary colors that mix to form the spectrum are added in three development steps rather than built into its layers.

Because of the complexity, only Dwayne's Photo, in Parsons, Kan., still processes Kodachrome film. The lab has agreed to continue through 2010, Kodak said.

Hellyar estimates the retail supply of Kodachrome will run out in the fall, though it could be sooner if devotees stockpile. In the U.S., Kodachrome film is available only through photo specialty dealers. In Europe, some retailers, including the Boots chain, carry it.

taken from MSNBC.

first post....

on the new blog
for the soon to be released
new site design

this is going to be a good
but long summer
school is already testing my patience
but
i am enjoying the classes i am enrolled in
so far

missed the Photo Expo that was going on this weekend in town
that was being put on by Precision Camera
but
since i didnt have a whole lot of expendable cash
to buy things i want and need
so
no updates about that though

trying to get caught up on editing some new images
so all new content will be available when i decide to unleash the new site

cheers!