October 25, 2009 I was contacted by a gentleman named Tom. Turns out Tom found my blog about his home/live music venue Snack Manor. And even better, he liked it. Tom asked if I would be willing to attend another show, but with the understanding that I would take a whole helluva lot of pictures. I was flattered and agreed. Free show and great practice? Don’t mind if I do! As a side note (and another reminder of how good to me Jeff is) I bought a new lens online. A fixed focus that would help with the low light. I really really really wanted this before the show, it showed up less than 24 hours after I ordered it because Jeff paid the 40 bucks to overnight it. Thanks Jeff!!! So anyway. Point being – this was my first outing with this brand new lens. I packed it up, threw on my boots and made the trek over to pick up Sisco. My escort for the evening. Out of 700 photos I picked out 100 to give to Tom. And 15 to display. I tried to pick not only the better images but the ones that I felt captured the energy of the event, venue and people. I pumped the ISO all the way up, resulting in the grit of the noise and the ability to get a faster speed. There is also no post production. These are the raw photos as they were intended. This isn’t a normal shooting style for me. But I really think it fits here. The program mode was too slow for me, so I keep it on 1/2 shutter speed for the band shots and 1/30 for the shots around the room. I felt welcomed into a home with my quite intrusive camera. Best low light practice ever. Thank you Tom and all of Snack Manor! GOOD NIGHT CHICAGO!!!
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I love black and white photography. I go back and forth between loving it and hating it actually. But I always love high contrast. So, eh, you figure it out.
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All I know about computers it what I accidently picked up while he was taking them apart, putting them back together and modifying them.
On October 9 Jeff and I attended the 3rd Aurora Art Walk. He – as an artist, me – an innocent bystander. The concept is simple and genius. You submit your work and enter to be a featured artist. You set up your booth with your goodies at one of 12 locations in downtown. Jeff had balls enough to do just this. His booth was unique because he was live drawing as the night went on. He does digital paintings, as I’m sure you know, so we lugged his computer and tablet over. The fire museum let him borrow a projector and he pinned a table cloth to a garage door. The home spun-ness combined with the palpable feeling of creativity feels amazing on my skin.
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November 14, 2009. So I’m sitting at my computer desk. Starring off into nothing. Waiting for something to happen. When Dom brings me this cute creepy little toy he has. I think to myself I need a picture of this thing before he tears it apart completely. DING. I haven’t taking a picture in about a week, that’s kinda a long time for me. I post maybe 5% of what I take. I genuinely just enjoying the weight of the camera in my hands. But its been a stressful couple weeks. Stress blocks up my creative juices. I made a little makeshift photo studio by putting a big piece of fabric over the dryer and walked around the house looking for some cool trinkets. It took me about 30 minutes to decide what lens I wanted to use. The 35mm fixed focus or the basic 18-55mm. I went with the 18-55mm because the fixed focus focuses too tight when I’m so close and I wasn’t sure about the effect. I was also having this problem where the photos were looking really muddy. Jen says I was losing pixels but I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. The normally very helpful google wasn’t doing any good at all. (“wet photo” wasn’t returning ANYTHING about pixels) No matter the ISO they still had this wet feel to them. I realized I have my camera image size set to medium. This only using 5.6 mega pixel, which on my 22” monitor looked like shit. Like my camera phone in 2003. So up that to large and it uses 10mp DING. Threw it on 400 ISO and shot at between 1/20 and 1/40 shutter speed. (I tend to use shutter speed about 80% of the time with manual focus. If I NEED the shot in one shot I use program and AF) Also changed the white balance to fluorescent cause of the big rectangular buzzing light in the laundry room and WALA! I rather enjoy these little journeys of learning about my camera. Plus my Frankenstein cookie jar is awesome. I know your jealous. Its ok, really.
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Various random images that make me feel like the 4th of July.
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These are some of my favorites. My goal as a photographer is make you feel or sense something.
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I like to take photos. I like psychology too. I like to see pictures of people that give you an insight to their mind. (see: Diane Arbus) Off the heels of my last post, I had this idea that I wanted to photograph strangers. Real photogs do this everyday. I don’t normally do well with new people. I choke up. I’m boring. Blah blah blah inset explanations and excuses here. So the idea is simple and went something like this. Take pictures of people that I don’t know. Where is there alot of people? Public place…the Mall. How? Ask them….? DING! so crazy it MIGHT WORK! Walk up to strangers, introduce myself and ask if I can take their picture. This is exactly what I did tonight. There was only one objective. Get 10 people to let me photograph them. The following it the photographic evidence and the psych experiment that it turned into. The Pitch “Hi there guys, sorry to bother you, my name is Teresa. Im working on a project. I was wondering if you would mind if I took a photo of you.” I pitched 17 times. I got 11 yes, 5 no, and 1 “no habla english”. The first two said no. I wanted to give up there, but I knew it was my confidence that was turning them off. First lets talk about the nos. 1 – A Mexican couple, 40-50 yrs old. The man did not look me in the eye. The woman giggled and looked at her husband and said “oh no” hehe 2 – A 40ish woman with her 20ish daughter. The mother laughed, never totally stopping walking, and said “oh no, not with me looking like this!” 3 – A man in his late 30s, with a blue tooth headset and a very young beautiful daughter that was playing around the fountain. He looked me straight in the eye, never looking at the camera that I was gesturing to. He said “I’d rather you didn’t”. This is the only negativity I got in this experience. He obviously thought that it was a scam of some time. I thanked him for his time. 4 – A young family. Parents in their late 20s or early 30s. 3 kids under 7. He said sure and shrugged, she looked at him like he didn’t hear me correctly. She said “I’d rather not” to him, and “because of the kids” to me. This disturbed me. What did she think a would happen to her kids if a photo is taken of them? I then realized that the last man may have thought the same. Thats sad that anyone would have to worry like that about their children. 5 – A lone man in a jewelry store. He looked about 30. He said “ya know, no” then quickly added “not to be a dick or anything”. I told him it was no problem and he wished me luck. The no’s were pretty diverse. And just as interesting as the yes’s. So, if they said yes, or sure or shruged and put on a smile. I am only allowed to take one photo. This is because I need to think about placement more, and because I want to capture their first expression. No practising. And no 1-2-3 SNAP. The didn’t get that much warning. The goal is 10 photos. More stats. As I said in the last blog – there was 17 attempts. 11 yes, 5 no, 1 Spanish speaking only. The Pitch; “Hi there guys, sorry to bother you, my name is Teresa. I’m working on a project. (lifts camera) I was wondering if you would mind if I took a photo of you. (smile)” 6 people out of 16 asked what the project was. Yes’s and no’s. I explained it was as simple as it seemed. Go up to strangers and ask to take their photo. Notice I didn’t say it was for school, I didn’t intend to lie. But most assumed it was for school and said my “class” or “school”. 4 of 11 asked what I wanted them to do. Or how I wanted them to stand. I said, however you are comfortable. The others seemed to either already have a patented pose or never taken a photo together before. After each shot, I showed them the picture (2 said “that will be fine”) and said “Thank you” sincerely and with eye contact. Every couple did two things. Said thank you and walked away with a smile on their face. This may be is a testament to politeness or reflex. (“enjoy your movie” “you to”) but I want to think that there was a human connection. I had made their day more interesting. I wonder how many have already told someone about this random encounter. While looking through the pictures, which are in order of shooting, you can see who is comfortable with each other, who may be new in a relationship, and who wasn’t so sure. There were small stories with each nervous chatter in the 30 or so seconds we spoke. After two nos I found…
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There is a History Museum in Newton, NC. Its about 10 miles from the house. My trainer buddy Leslie and I wen tone warm Saturday afternoon in May. This is the creepiest place I have been in for more than 2 minutes. Its an old court house, we were the only people there and it FREAKED me out. It did this in overexposed black and white to attempt to make them look as scary at it felt.
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Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Viewfinder_photography I used my Argoflex and Nikon D60. Jeff made me an epic contraption.
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Jeff and I decided to take the 12 hour ride and go up and visit Aurora. There is so much art and creativity flowing in that place now that we are gone! Jeanne Norris has already decided to have a get together that evening so we tagged along. Jeanne is warm and worldly in the greatest sense of the word. She's an extrovert and has more stories than you will sit and listen to if you are lucky. Thanks for letting prowl around your house, Jeanne!
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I haven't taken any photos in a while. I didn't really feel like trying to take photos around town because I honestly haven't seen much that I would like to photograph around here. Besides my tastes have changed a bit. I like this catalog kinda style. I tried to make each couple seem to have their own personality. I tried stickers and putting their names by the toes. But I decided against it, to just keep it simple. These are all mine and Jeff's shoes. He threw out his boots so I couldnt take a boot photo. I also wish I hadn't left the laces out on Tina & Tony. :( Taken with my D60, two lights nailed to two boards leaned against the walls of the guest room and a bounce flash. They are sitting on two sheets of canvas on a desk. Hope you like. :)
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