I have not posted in a while. Got busy and distracted. Anyway, today I was going through my archive, and I found this photo I had forgotten about. For anyone wondering what is going on here, I slowed my shutter speed to 2.5 seconds so I could ensure that I captured the flash when this little girl took a photo of me. The direct light into the camera caused some odd colors, so I converted it to B&W which I like better. I like how her face is a big burst of light and her arms seem to be flapping. It’s like a mysterious fairy is trying to catch me. I wish I knew what her photo of me looked like.

Occasionally I just like sharing something inspirational. I just discovered this site and  it is so cool!

gotopublicschool.com

This photo is part of a project they featured by Chris Engman

Luke Laczak, a volunteer I photographed in Haiti during a pro-bono project for Physicians for Peace recently wrote an opinion piece for The Post Standard in Syracuse. It’s a thoughtful piece worth reading as we approach the one year anniversary of the earthquake.

I was in New York on Monday and Tuesday. The initial motivation for the trip was to have a Fine Art print made at Laumont Studios for an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Center in March 2011. Laumont has printed for Stephen Shore, Mitch Epstein, Nan Goldin and my personal favorite, Elliott Erwitt. In short, this studio is bad ass and I want the best possible prints for the show. They have a whole process of going in and talking about your project needs, from scan to framing.

So, I was standing at a large table talking to a printer, Alison, about paper preferences when I hear a person come in and call over another employee. My back was still turned when I heard a man say, “I’d like you to meet Elliott Erwitt.” My jaw dropped and my eyes opened wide. I turned around and sure enough there is Elliott Erwitt in a puffy, black, knee-length parka. I turned back to Alison and mouthed, “oh my god!” It’s like I was a 13-year-old girl with Bieber fever. I went on talking to Alison like it was no big deal that Mr. Erwitt was at the same table as me. I tried to drag out my meeting in the hopes that I might walk with him to the elevator, but unfortunately my meeting was done and his was just beginning. It would have been darn unprofessional to interrupt. That was my brush with Elliott Erwitt, my favorite photographer. For anyone reading this outside the photo world, Elliott Erwitt is a living legend. He is 82 and still shooting. Learn more about the man here and view some photos here. Below is one of my favorites. In the next few days, I’ll post about the rest of my New York visit, which included showing my portfolio around.

I thought my next post would be about Haiti, but I am still trying to wrap my head around that experience and avoid posting a blabbering mess. The first week back was eventful. I was in a minor fender-bender at an intersection. Initially, this was a huge bummer, but it triggered an exciting development. The accident caused me to miss an ASMP meeting in Richmond about estimating jobs. It was put on by a group called Wonderful Machine that represents and promotes photographers. I e-mailed the rep to see if I could obtain the presentation via email, and he emailed back to say he reviewed my website and wanted to bring me in as a member of Wonderful Machine. Boom! My car accident leads to membership in Wonderful Machine. I was told they accept roughly 15% of the photographers they evaluate. True or not, flattery is the way to any artist’s heart! By the end of the week, they featured one of my Halloween Photos for the  holiday weekend. I’m eager to see what kind of work comes from this new relationship. Below, is how my profile looks on their site when searched by region. One can also search by specialty.

My wife sent me this story from the Rumpus that loosely fits with a few other posts I’ve written about photo manipulation in the 19th Century. There is a show right now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York featuring collages made by women in the 1860s. This is 50 years before Picasso and Braque are credited with inventing the form. I love the colors in these old collages. The one below is by Constance Sackville-West. It reminds me of a song (Jerusalem) by Dan Bern in which he sings:

She believed collage was the greatest of all the arts

And was busy pasting pictures of horses

Next to ads for laundry soap

Next to Mohammed Ali

I have written a little bit in the past about manipulated photos. Today, the NYTimes has a short story with some good examples here. In the slide show, slides 3 and 4 about a 1902 Ulysses S. Grant photo are particularly interesting because of the level of compositing.

I attended one day of the Look3 Festival this past weekend thanks to John Loomis who kindly gave me two tickets for free when he learned he could not attend. I went mostly to hear Gilles Peress speak. It was definitely worth it. Some of the most interesting photographers are the ones who do things far outside the visual realm. Peress for example has a degree in philosophy and teaches Human Rights. I was familiar with a lot of the work featured in the slide show Saturday, but two pleasant surprises were Real Beauty by Jodi Bieber and Greenland by Ragnar Axelsson. The festival was interactive in that it asked attendees to share work via a slide show. A photo of mine was selected and is the last one in this show below. The theme was Fortune. This dog is fortunate to get such good health care, probably better than my own. Also, he is adorable and his name is Cash.

Look3 – Day 3 – Images by Festival of the Photograph

I have known for a long time that my dad had an old wood field camera up in the attic. I know this because I broke it when I was a kid. I was running around the house in my socks, slipped on the hardwood floors and slid into the camera which was on old wood legs. It fell to the floor and the brass plates that connected the camera to the legs popped off and bent. It’s been stored away ever since. I decided recently to restore it and take some pictures. The camera is probably turn of the century. It was designed to hold glass plates and film came on the scene in 1888. I have fixed most of the light leaks, but still need to repair the brass.

While doing some research on old photography I discovered Sergei Prokudin Gorskii. He made color photographs in the early 1900s by shooting one scene with 3 B&W glass plates with red, blue and green filters respectively and then combining them later. It’s ingenous, really time consuming and beautfiful to look at.

this is my camera. I’ll post photos from it as soon as I can.

On the way to the polls today, I saw this sign. It was kind of funny so I had to take a picture. I know for a fact that signs have been stolen from both sides. This is the first election in which I have volunteered my time on several weekends to a candidate. It got me out in to parts of the community I don’t often visit, and I am really grateful for that. I hope that I and others stay involved.