First off, it is an honor to be featured on such a great photography blog. As long-time readers, we’ve often enjoyed reading the “Weekly Guest Blogger” feature so it’s a bit surreal to be taking part.

About a year ago, we all came together (from various freelance backgrounds) with a strong desire to share our strengths in close community with one another. The idea behind us being a “collective” is that we believe that together we can create work at a higher caliber than we could as individuals.  We all fill different roles at different times, which is something that helps us grow individually and as a functioning unit. It is a spectacular feeling to share in both the struggles and triumphs with people who you not only consider artistic peers, but friends as well.

Here’s a video that walks through a recent shoot we did with the band Shapiro.

Click here to view on the iPad/iPhone.

And here’s the before and after of the image in the video:

For more from DuckDuck Collective, check out their website, blog, podcast, and follow them on Twitter.

Photo by Karen Lenz

My New York adventure started over four years ago while I was working as Studio Manager for the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. I was with the workshops for three seasons, and during that time I was fortunate enough to work closely with an incredibly diverse group of photographers, from Norman Jean Roy to Joe McNally to Platon. My first winter season in Santa Fe was also the first workshop for Platon, and I ended up hitting it off with both him and his first assistant (Andreas Konrath). Immediately after that season’s end I traveled to New York, checked into the Vanderbilt YMCA (which is a MUST if you want the true New York experience) and began my first of three internships at his studio.

Internships are an integral part of the hiring process in the New York photo industry. It is not the only way to get your foot in the door, but it is the most common. Out of the six full-time staffers who have been through Platon’s studio since he moved to the states, four of us started out as interns. Interning is not a glamorous life by any means. In my case I started scanning contact sheets, walking the dog (and picking up poop), filing, organizing, cleaning and doing general errands. But if you are eager to learn, have a good work ethic, are easy to get along with, don’t have a sense of entitlement and don’t mind doing ANY job that’s asked, then this is a good way to get to know the people in the studio, and for them to get to know you. After two shorter internships, I was asked to come out and do one three-month trial period, which ended up turning into a full-time position.

I worked as Studio Manager and 1st Assistant for the better part of two years, and during this time I worked harder than I ever had in my life. The weekly average came out to somewhere between 60 and 80 hours at the studio, and the pay was barely enough to survive (especially in New York), but the life and work experiences that I had were utterly priceless.

Out of all my experiences with Platon, I would have to say that a few of the most memorable would be: being in Chicago for the Obama election and D.C. for the inauguration, photographing Michelle Obama in the White House, photographing Annie Leibovitz for the London Sunday Times, and the Portraits of Power series of world leaders taken in the hallway behind the General Assembly at the United Nations.

Platon photographing Tony Blair at the UN During the World Leaders portfolio 9/09.
Published in The New Yorker Online 10/09
© Nick Rapaz

As many of you may already know, Platon is not into complicated lighting techniques. Instead, he has chosen one primary setup that works well for him. When he walks on set, everything from lights to cameras are always in the exact same place. This allows him to focus on the interaction with the subject and making a good picture, instead of spending all his time figuring out the best lighting setup for the situation. As an assistant, the challenge comes in figuring out how to give him the exact same setup regardless of whether you are shooting at Milk studios in Manhattan, the belly of a Navel war ship, or in a 9’x3’ corner of the UN hallway surrounded with secret service agents and SWAT. The key to doing this is staying calm and focused, being resourceful and able to jerry-rig almost anything out of gaffers tape and a Swiss Army Knife.

Although the lighting was not particularly difficult, the stakes were always unbelievably high, and the time given for a shoot was often measured in seconds rather than minutes. If you had any technical difficulties, you had to be prepared to recover instantly. The time it took to change a modeling lamp would easily be enough to lose the subject and the shoot. This meant that you had to carefully choreograph a solution to almost every possible problem on set, and carry enough equipment to have multiple backups readily available.

Our actions on set were rehearsed and executed like a dance. Working with two to three assistants max, we all knew what to do and (when in sync) moved with the fluidity of an octopus. At no time was this more memorable than the evening of the last presidential election. We were put up in the same hotel as Obama and were there waiting for the first official picture of him as president. We were told that we would have approximately 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes to get the shot, from the time we entered the room. That meant setting up a white background, lights, cameras, and computer all of which had to be brought in on a single rolling cart that could pass through an X-ray machine. We spent a couple of hours in the hallway of the hotel practicing and somehow got the entire setup down to under 15 seconds. We then spent the next fifteen hours in the hotel room, dressed in our best suits, waiting for the call. Every time the phone rang we leaped to the cart with a rush of adrenaline and started out to door, only to find that it was our local contact or photo editor with more updates. At 2am they officially decided that the photo was not going to happen and we were allowed to leave the hotel and walk through downtown Chicago as thousands of people filled the streets in celebration. Although we were never granted that first official photo of President Obama, our accomplishments on that shoot were no less impressive, and the experience and emotions of that day and night will be with me for the rest of my life.

Various test Polaroids on set from 07-09.

I have personally never been very star-stuck. I think that is a big part of what makes a good assistant. As I look back over some of the people that I’ve met in the last few years, it is pretty damned exciting and a bit surreal. But when you are on set and face to face, they are ordinary human beings. Instead of getting caught up with the fame, I’ve always been more interested in seeing what someone is really like. The way a subject treats the assistants on set provides huge insight to how they are as a person. The best example of this is the photo shoot of Michelle Obama in the White House.

It was a nerve-racking process to get there, assemble the gear, and transport it to the White House. Everything had to fit onto two rolling carts in order to make it down the mall (which does not allow vehicle traffic of any kind), and through security. Once at the gate we had to lay out and open all cases, then wait on the other side of the guard house before proceeding into the waiting room. We were given a briefing on etiquette and procedure around the first lady. The buildup was immense, but when Michelle walked in the room, all that formality and tension melted away. She was the warmest and most down to earth woman that I have ever met. She greeted Platon with a kiss on the cheek and then proceeded to walk over to me and the other assistant for introductions. The shoot was amazing, Platon was on his A game as always, and by the end we had 30 or so people packed into the room waiting to get her off to the next appointment. I remember seeing her on the other side of the room being rushed out, and when she made eye contact with me, cut through the crowd of advisers, walked straight up, extended her hand in the most electric handshake I’ve ever experienced, and said, “Nick, it was so nice to meet you, thank you for all of your help today!” She then did the same with the other assistant before leaving the room. Now this is the first lady of the United States. Out of all the things that she had on her mind at that moment, remembering the two of us in the corner and taking the time to thank us by name was beyond anything that I could have expected. She is a woman of true sincerity and class.

A similar situation occurred when we photographed Annie Leibovitz. The idea of one great photographer taking pictures of another is fascinating in and of itself, but this was Annie. After all the horror stories that have been passed down through the assistant grapevine, none of us knew what to expect. She walked on to the set, immediately went up to each assistant, extended her hand and warmly said “Hi, I’m Annie.” My response was a formal, “It’s an honor to meet you.” But inside it was a sheepish, “I know that.” For the next hour the two icons bantered back and forth about life, love, family and career. At the end of the day, she was an amazing and beautiful woman, and showed each one of us tremendous respect. She thanked us all and left each of us with a profound sense of admiration.

Platon photographing Annie Leibovitz and Annie shooting back.  05/08
Published in The London Sunday Times Magazine 5/08
©Nick Rapaz Photography

I could spin tales all day of the adventures that I had with Platon, but realistically, these are not my stories to tell…they are his. And if any of you have ever heard him speak, you know that he tells the tales better than anyone ever could. My perspective is merely as an assistant.

Last year the economic crisis, combined with the decline of print media, came to a head in the New York photo industry and most studios began to frantically restructure in order to stay alive. This was especially essential for the editorial studios. At this time I, like so many full-time 1st assistants in the industry, suddenly found myself making the transition from full-time to freelance. The nine months since have brought new and monumental challenges (especially in a city with living costs like New York), but they have also broadened my views of assisting, and the photographic industry as a whole.

I have shared some of the highlights of my time as a full-time assistant, but I think it is also important to contrast this with freelance assisting and lay out some simple observations that I think could be beneficial when considering taking this step in the industry.

The first major consideration when looking at assisting is whether you want to pursue a full-time or freelance position. Both have significant benefits and drawbacks. If you choose to work full-time for one person, you are going to be exposed to only one view, and no two photographers do things the same way. The benefit of full-time is that once you learn how a specific photographer works, you are better able to efficiently serve them and be a much better assistant overall. If you work for multiple photographers you can be exposed to a rich variety of lighting and shooting techniques. I have personally found that I have learned more technically in my subsequent time as a freelance assistant, and my personal style has benefited greatly from being around a multitude of styles. One day you are putting up dozens of flags to make sure that no extraneous light reaches the subject, and the next you are on set with Bert Stern letting the background light wrap around your subject and flare out the lens. I personally enjoy the diversity.

One negative side to freelance is that every time you walk on set you have to constantly be tuned in with the other assistants, trying to absorb the etiquette and techniques expected by this photographer. There is a major humility factor knowing that you are always “the new guy” when you walk on a set for the first time.

Another drawback to freelance is that you are seldom a part of the business or production end of a shoot. You get a call-time, show up for the shoot, and walk away when it’s over. I personally don’t enjoy the “business” side of photography. I would rather focus on making the pictures. But there is more to this industry than making art. You need to know how to run a solid business…especially today. As a full-time assistant you are better able to learn the inner workings of a studio.

The last and greatest drawback to freelance is stability, especially today. When I first came to New York it was generally accepted that a freelancer was going to make significantly more than a full-time. Every day that you work you would be earning between $200-$450 a day, plus overtime. Most of the established freelancers were working 60-75% of the time. As a full-time assistant you are generally looking at $100 or less a day. In the last year this has all changed. The people who are busy are still making good money, but the rates are starting around $150-$250, with very few opportunities for overtime. In addition, few photographer are working with the regularity that they were in the past. Most of the freelancers I know are working around 10 days a month, and that is considered pretty good today. There are of course exceptions to this, but overall many assistants have had to supplement their income with work in rental houses, tutoring, retouching etc.

Regardless of whether you are a freelance or full-time assistant, it is still a great way to live in a city like New York, learn the industry from the inside and start your career. You just have to be proactive, resourceful, and most importantly you need to keep your ultimate goal in mind. If you wan to be a shooter, then make sure that you establish a realistic time line for your own work. Spend all of your free time building your own portfolio, and continue to develop as a photographer, as an artist, and as a person.

In closing, I am not sure what the next step will be for me. I am sincerely grateful for the experiences that I have had so far, and hope that they will be equaled by experiences in my own shooting career. I am currently freelancing as much as possible and would consider taking another full-time position if given the opportunity. I am currently focusing as much of my energies as possible on building my own portfolio, and figuring out how to stand on my own two feet as a photographer in this ever changing industry. After all…that’s why I came out here. Either give it everything you’ve got or go home.

Thanks so much to Scott Kelby and Brad Moore for inviting me to participate in this highly informative and influential blog. I hope my contribution offers a slightly different perspective on the life of another photo assistant in New York.

You can view Nick’s work at Rapaz.com, and see him helping Joe McNally out alongside Brad in this Kelby Training Online class!

So what’s a typical day like assisting Joe McNally? First things first. When you’re a photographer’s assistant, especially for someone like Joe, “typical” goes right out the door.

To start, here’s a bit of the back story:
While I was in school for my undergrad, I was lucky enough to get a summer internship with Joe. In retrospect, I can confidently say that I learned more in those three months than in my entire college education. Now, people ask me all the time how I pulled off an internship with such a person, and my answer really comes down to persistence. I had seen a presentation of Joe’s at the Maine Photographic Workshops, really loved his work and became a fan.

Communication Arts Magazine puts out a great photo annual each year, and lists the contact info for everyone who makes it in… So that next summer, when browsing through, I saw a photo of Joe’s, called the studio, interviewed, and Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s in the History Books now, but this weekend’s Worldwide Photo Walk, by any measure, was a really amazing event. To have that many people (final count: 32,000+ registered walkers), all sharing a social event of this scale, and taking millions of photographs, is just a very special thing to be a part of—just ask anyone would joined one of the 900+ walks around the world on Saturday. Just….wow!

On Sunday, I ran into one of the participants on my Ybor City, Florida walk, and he was going on and on about how much he enjoyed the walk, and how surprised he was at how much he enjoyed it. He said he had never done anything like that before, and really didn’t know what to expect. In fact, he said he really wondered what all the fuss was about, but now he knows. That spoke volumes. You can read about it. See pictures of it. But you just have to do it once, and then you “get it.” Now, he totally gets what all the fuss is about.

One of the most exciting things for me, was watching our Twitter group (hashtag SKPhoto) and Tweets from walkers around the world during their walk. I Tweeted a number of times during my local walk, posting photos and comments, but just sitting there at the restaurant afterward, and seeing posts pop-in with comments as walks were starting or ending all over, was just incredible. Almost kinda surreal as it was all happening in real time.

My local Ybor City event was a blast. I had such a great group—just the best folks, and although it was fairly hot in the sun, we had lots of overhangs and balconies along our route, and some non-expected cool breezes that helped a lot, and really made for a pleasant walk, considering we were talking in Florida in July. (The group photo at the top of this post was taken by Erik Kuna).

RC Concepcion came along to help me out, and he was really helpful (he did a mini-session on shooting for HDR), and he got some great shots himself, borrowing an SB-800 flash and setting up shoots along the way.

I hardly took any shots at all—I spent most of my time visiting with walkers in my group and answering questions, and it was just as well, cause the few shots I did take were pretty lame, as is evidenced by my Lightroom grid above (click on it for a larger view. Please don’t chuckle). But it didn’t spoil my day—I had such a great time.

Our ending spot was The Spaghetti Warehouse in Ybor Square, where we had one long table for 50 set up just for us. The restaurant really rolled out the red carpet for us—they were fantastic—very accommodating, and the service was excellent! We spent about two hours sharing stories, photos, laughs, and lots of great spaghetti!

Anyway, it was just such a kick to think that the same thing was happening, had just happened, or was about to happen all over the world that same day, with photographers all sharing in the experience.

SPECIAL NOTE: Tomorrow I’m doing a Photo Walk Q&A for everyone who walked in, or led a Walk, with lots of info on stuff you guys want to know, so make sure you check back here tomorrow for LOTS of new details, and contest info, plus where to see lots of really amazing photos.

• My thanks to everyone who attended my walk, and who participated in other walks around the world.
• A big, big thanks to the volunteers who organized and led walks around the world (We couldn’t have done it without you).
• Also, a thanks to my book Publisher Peachpit Press, for their major support of this event, and to all the sponsors who pitched in to make this something very special.

Hey, whatdasay we do this again next year!

About six weeks ago my wife told me she had a surprise for me. She had planned a special 8-day family vacation trip to Italy’s Tuscany region, and to celebrate my 5th year of being named the world’s #1 bestselling author of computer and technology books, she had set up a special photo shoot in Italy that was (her words) going to “blow my mind.” I so love this woman!

Anyway, last week was the week for our vacation, and as you might expect—it was absolutely incredible, and yes—the photo shoot she set up for me totally blew my mind. More on that in a moment. Accompanying me on this trip was my entire family, my Brother Jeff, and my brother-in-law and his family. But first, let’s look at how I left all my photo gear behind:

It Started With Missing Our Flight to Italy
We were scheduled to fly from Tampa to New York’s JFK airport, and then catch a connecting flight to Pisa, Italy that night. Unfortunately, our flight was so delayed (due to weather in New York) that we actually missed our connecting flight by about 20 minutes (no, they didn’t hold the plane), so we had to spend the night in New York and catch the next evening’s flight (this took our already short 8-day Tuscany trip down to just 7 days—including travel. Ugh!).

There are worse places to have a one-day layover than New York City, so we had a ball—we went shopping (though unfortunately B&H Photo was closed because it was Saturday), took the kids to the world’s largest Toys r’ Us (yes, we rode the Ferris Wheel inside), and my brother and I went to the famous Katz’s Deli for lunch, and I had the best Pastrami sandwich of my life.

Then we went back to our room for a quick nap (well, mostly for my daughter’s nap). I had brought a nice compliment of camera gear for the Italy trip (a little more than usual, because my wife had this special shoot set up, though she still hadn’t told me what the surprise shoot was going to be). I took my Nikon D-300, a 12-24mm lens, my trusty 18-200mm VR lens, a 50mm f/1.4 lens, my Epson P-7000, a tabletop tripod, and my Gitzo Traveler tripod, and lots of accessories and it all fit perfectly in my smallest camera bag—-my LowePro Stealth Reporter (which even has the NAPP logo and the word “Instructor” stitched on the front—a gift we gave to all the Photoshop World instructors one year).

Anyway, when I’m out of my hotel room, I usually tuck my camera bag and laptop out of sight, so they don’t get stolen while housekeeping is making up the room (a typical scam is for a thief to walk by a room being cleaned by housekeeping—they see a laptop or camera, knock on the door and act like it’s their room that’s being cleaned as they tell the housekeeper that they forget their laptop, and they walk off with your laptop, camera gear or both. So, I always hide mine).

You Snooze, You Lose
Anyway, after I got up from my nap, I saw my luggage, my laptop bag, and my NAPP instructor camera bag all lined up by the door, and I thought to myself, “Great, my wife thought to get my bag out of hiding.” I took it down to the airport shuttle; watched as the bellman carefully loaded it into the van, and off we went to JFK to catch our overnight flight to Italy, albeit a day late.

When we got to the airport, I had just gathered my camera bag, laptop bag, and luggage when my brother says, “My camera bag is missing!” We start searching around, then he opens my camera bag, and says, “This one’s mine!” As luck would have it, he had the exact same camera bag (with NAPP instructor stitched on it) that I did. As it turns out, while I was taking my nap, he checked out of his room and brought his luggage down to our room. The camera bag I saw lined up at the door in my room was actually his camera bag. At that moment I realized that my camera bag had been left behind, still hidden back in my hotel room.

It Gets Worse
I walked away from the group, and as I frantically dialed the hotel, I started to string together long phrases of words that could not be spoken on TV (even today). I got a hold of the front desk, and told them my story. They sent the head of security and the head of housekeeping immediately to my room to retrieve the camera bag. I gave them the exact location of the bag (they wouldn’t be able to miss it), and they would call back as soon as they found it, then we would arrange to have it rushed to the JFK Departures terminal where I would meet them, and still have time just enough time to make my flight.

They called back. They said the room had already been cleaned and there was no camera bag.

Adding Up The Loss
Needless to say, I was pretty much freaking out at the thought of losing my gear, and of not having any gear on my trip to Tuscany. I started to mentally calculate how much I had lost between the camera, lenses, P-7000, memory cards, filters, battery grip, and on-and-on, and it was easily over $5,000 worth of gear.

Once I got through airport security, I called the Police (unfortunately they said I would have to physically come in to a station to file a report). Then I called the hotel manager, and I politely explained my entire situation, while taking my concerns about my gear being stolen in her hotel up a notch. She said she would call the head of security again, and said she would see what she could do, but she didn’t sound hopeful. She’d call me if they heard anything. (Sigh).

It’s too late. I’m on the plane.
I’m sitting on the tarmac, and they’re just about the close the cabin doors, and the head of hotel security calls to tell me that somehow, they found they bag (without much further details). I was thrilled (relieved, overjoyed, etc.), and I told him my assistant would contact him and first thing on Monday we’d have it over-nighted to my address in Italy. I thanked him profusely. Apparently, the call to the manager worked.

In Tuscany, with No Camera
So I got to Tuscany on Sunday with no camera, but at least my brother-in-law had brought his Nikon D-60 and two lenses: the 18-55mm that came with his kit, and the wonderful Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5 – f/5.6 VR that I talked about two weeks ago. Luckily, he was more interested in shooting video on his Canon video camera the first few days, so he let me shoot with his D-60 a couple of times on Sunday late afternoon and Monday (I just shot to his SD card, then we downloaded the images onto a jump drive for me). By the way; the shot you see above was taken with his D-60, handheld with the 70-300mm VR, set to JPEG mode (click on it for a larger view).

When It Rains….
On Monday, my assistant Kathy calls me to tell me that the earliest I’d have my camera was Thursday evening, so I’d miss my special wife-arranged photo shoot Thursday afternoon, and basically I’d miss shooting the whole week, and would only have my camera one single day—Friday—the last day of the trip before heading home. Ugh!

I did what I had to do
Once I learned his, I bit the bullet and headed into the biggest camera store I could find in Florence and bought a Nikon D-5000 kit (it came with a 18-55mm VR lens), and the same 70-300mm VR lens my brother-in-law had (I couldn’t just borrow his, because we both had rental cars and we usually went our separate ways during the day), and a Manfrotto lightweight tripod and ballhead (loved the legs, but the ballhead was really too small).

This set me back around (wait for it….wait for it…) $1,950 (arrrgghhh!!), but I figured when I got back I could sell the gear on eBay, and I’d only be out $600 or so (I’d rather be out $600 than spend a week in Tuscany with no camera). Hey, at least they threw in a nice Tenba camera backpack with the Nikon logo stitched on it (It actually worked out really well)!

This I hadn’t planned on
If there was one thing I hadn’t planned on it was this; I fell in love with the D-5000. In fact, I’m keeping it. I was absolutely shocked at its high ISO performance. I took shots, hand held at 1250 ISO in a square in the town of Siena, and when my brother and I looked at them that night—full screen on my computer, you could barely see any noise at all. It was like ISO 400 on my D300. I was just amazed!!!! So, I pushed that thing up to 1600 ISO any ol’ time, and I was shooting at night handheld without a second thought.

Also, it has so many of the features of my D300 that I felt surprisingly at home. In fact, I could only find one thing that I really wished it did that I couldn’t figure out how to get it to do; I wanted to assign the center OK button to zoom in to a 100% view (like I do on my D-300), but I don’t think it offers that feature.

I was also surprised to learn that the image quality was fantastic (very D-300-like, but if you shoot in JPEG mode I would set the Picture Control setting to Vivid to make the color more punchy. While there, I would increase the amount of sharpening as well, but outside of that, I love that camera for travel work because it’s so light, compact, and takes such great images (even in low light). By the way; I never used the video! (I only had one 4GB SD memory card. It’s a long story, but that’s all I had. I should have bought more, but that’s another story).

The Fate of My D-300
So, what’s going to happen to my beloved D300? I’m selling it. It was my back-up camera, and the one I used for travel photography, but now I have a new low-noise, lightweight, replacement that even shoots video, so it’s time to wave bye to my D300 (and its sale will help offset the cost of my original problem).

What Was Your Wife’s “Big Surprise” shoot?
Are you ready for this? On Thursday morning, up pulls a red convertible Ferrari F-430, which my wife had rented for the day for me to drive through the hills of Tuscany and find a place for a sunset shoot of the car. Does it get any better than that?!!!

I’ve always been a Ferrari freak (which is why my wife chose to rent a Ferrari in the first place), but however great I thought driving a Ferrari would be—honestly, it was 10 times better than I imagined. Totally a surreal experience. I drove it from Montaione to Pisa, and everywhere in between. It really felt like you’d imagine a Ferrari would feel. It was more than just great looking and really fast. It was a race car on the street. Oh yeah, I got some cool shots, too! (You’ll see some tomorrow. I had my brother take it through some curves as I shot—-he really hated that—wink, wink) and then we took turns driving and shooting, and just having a ball. It’s a day I’ll never forget. Do I have a rockin’ wife or what!!!!!

OK, Let’s See Some Photos
Tomorrow I’m running a series of photos from the trip, so I hope you’ll stop by and check them out. I’m back home now, (and probably back in the office by the time you read this, taking lots of ribbing for leaving my camera gear behind). But hey, I lived a dream—-I went to Italy and fell in love (does it still count if the thing you fell in love with was a camera?).

Shooting Time vs. Family Time
Although I limited my shooting time (after all, this was a family vacation first), I did get to shoot for five hours by myself on Friday, which was great fun (although four hours of it was driving time to and from my shooting location in “The Crete” area of Tuscany). Tuscany is just a magical place, and it’s a very target rich environment for photography (and for food, and architecture, and landscapes, and history, and…..)

I really tried my best to make sure my photography didn’t get in the way of our family time, so I just took my camera along wherever we went, and I shot along the way (kind of like a photo walk). Of course, my wife went out of her way to make sure I’d get interesting things to shoot during the week, and anytime I needed a few extra minutes to “get the shot” she was totally cool with it. I took far fewer shots than any previous trip (less than 950 photos for the entire week-long trip), but I had such a relaxing time; got some great time with the wife and kids, got my internal batteries totally recharged, and still got at least a few decent shots, which I’ll share here tomorrow.

We are very excited to have JoeyL as our guest blogger today!

WARNING: If you’re familiar with Joey’s work, you know that he travels all over the world photographing many different cultures. His post today contains some National Geographic-y type images of natives, and since these natives don’t tend to overdress, there are a few images where the natives have exposed breasts. If you’re sensitive to seeing these types of images, then please don’t click the “Read the Rest of this Entry” button below. Even more importantly, now that you’ve been warned up front, don’t post complaints about the images (I’ll just delete them).  Now, here’s JoeyL!

Read the rest of this entry »

Greetings from Atlanta‐Barbara.

Splitting my time between our Atlanta commercial photography studio, my wife Helene Glassman’s portrait/fine art studio in Santa Barbara, and teaching digital photography programs means I spend a lot of time in the air. Today as I start to write the beginning of my guest Blog entry, I am flying to do a program in Chicago.

As I was shooting snapshots of clouds out of the window and thinking of what I would like to write about, I took notice of the date. I realized that in two weeks it will be exactly 30 years since graduating from the Art Institute of Atlanta and official start of my professional career in photography. In those thirty years I then realized that exactly 15 of those years have been in a film‐based work environment and the other 15 years have been in a totally digital capture environment. A very interesting moment in time to reflect on….

A lot has changed in those 30 years. Although the tools we work with have changed and the final product is somewhat different, we are still doing the same job that we have always done. What was important then is even more important now. Where quality counts, doing just an OK job is not going to be good enough. For me as a photo-illustrator, I now have the tools to make things as perfect as possible which makes the clients very happy.

As I have been giving programs at photography schools around the country, I am meeting some incredibly talented art students educated in the latest digital imaging workflow techniques and software. It’s exciting to think about their futures ahead of them as they get ready to start their new careers. For those of us who are not currently in school, staying a head of the learning curve by being active members in your specific trade associations (like NAPP) and attending seminars isn’t even a choice any more. It’s a necessary part of your continuing education you must put yourself through to be competitive.

We must all constantly be working hard to improve our portfolios. That’s where the self‐assignment comes in. I have several different types of self‐assignments going on at once. One on-going assignment I have been doing for a long time is creating a multi‐image montage or digital panting that represents my feelings of each of the places I visit as I travel. These images are not for clients. Even though they are just for me, working on them makes me better prepared for the illustrative assignments that I do get from clients.

Over the last few years, I have had the honor of hosting the “Art Of Photography” panel at Photoshop World. Several of the PSW photography instructors each get 15 minutes to show off their latest imaging with most of the entire conference in attendance. I am always amazed of what each artist has been doing it the 6 months between each show and I get even more inspired to create new portfolio images. For me, the trick is to now pick subjects for these self‐assignments that I have little or no experience photographing.

I decided I wanted to photograph whales…. That’s a lot different that photographing golf Read the rest of this entry »

Adding Mood to a Photograph

This may sound a little silly coming from a certified Photoshop junkie, but my tendency when optimizing a photo is actually to try to make it look as close to reality as possible. Sure, I’ll add a slight touch of “what I remember” to take it beyond “what it really was,” but by and large my aim with Photoshop is to produce an image that accurately reflects the beautiful scene I chose to photograph in the first place.

But sometimes that just doesn’t cut it.

I find the desire to push a photo beyond reality usually occurs when I’m a little disappointed with a photograph that I really thought would turn out better. Most often that disappointment is a result of having had an emotional response to the scene that can’t adequately be captured in a simple photograph.

A recent trip to Japan provides a couple great examples of this. I started off in Tokyo, and was fascinated by many of the sights. I found myself particularly drawn to the small temples and shrines that hid behind and between large buildings on major streets in some of the busier parts of Tokyo. These temples and shrines provided a remarkable sanctuary, and some great photographic opportunities.

In one case there were three shrines that shared a courtyard, and a small cemetery adjacent to the courtyard. I’m always intrigued by cemeteries, particularly to learn about how different cultures honor those who have passed on. In the corner of this cemetery a collection of wooden planks with Japanese writing on them caught my eye. I was later told these were “prayer sticks” that would be placed at the gravesite by family or friends. I captured an image, confident it would convey the solemn tranquility of this place.

Somehow the image simply didn’t elicit the feeling I was expecting. Sure, it is always a very different experience to view a photograph compared to the actual scene. So I started working with the image in Photoshop to see what I could come up with. I tried various adjustments, and then ventured into slightly more creative areas. I tried a black-and-white conversion. That helped. Then I applied a sepia-tone effect. Better. A boost in contrast and a vignette effect, and I was much happier with the image.

My next stop was Kyoto, and I knew I was in for a treat. This is a city with over 2,000 shrines and temples, 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and a tremendous amount of history. It also contains many wonderful Zen gardens, and it seemed each one I visited was more calming than the one before it.

One garden in particular got me clicking the shutter more than usual (and “usual” is still Read the rest of this entry »

As I sit here in the early morning hours, I can’t tell you what a challenge it’s been choosing the winner, and runners up for contest part of my Worldwide PhotoWalk.

I was so impressed with the winning entries from around the world, and honestly, you could make a case for nearly any one of them being the winner, because what I was looking at was a collection of 237 local winners from around the world. These photographers images were already good enough that their local leader had chosen them as their best shot from their city, and now I was looking at nothing but winning shots. It’s harder than you’d think.

I’ve been a judge for many photo and design contests over the years, including my stint for years as one of the judges for the Photoshop World Guru Awards, and I had to lean on some of what I learned in that role. One thing that always stood out to me was now a particular image would “hit” everyone at the same time. For example, when we judge the Gurus, we sit in a darkened room and bring up the images on a projector screen one by one (with the entrant’s name hidden from view). As an image would appear on screen, usually you heard silence. Every few images you’d hear one of the judges say, “I like that one!” or “That’s a nice shot” but mostly it was silent. Then, an image would come up, and almost simultaneously, the whole room would go, “oooooohhhhh.”

It wasn’t always the sharpest image, or the one that was technically perfect, but it was always a photo that had some sort of emotional impact. Whether it was color, or texture, or composition, or whatever it was, it had it enough that the whole room was moved at the exact same moment to say, “ooooohhhh!”

So, when I was going through these images, I waited to hear my own “ooooohhh.” They’re all great photos, but I wanted the ones that made me personally go, “ooohhhh.” Each time I saw one of those, I marked it as a potential runner up. I could only choose 10 runners up (each of which wins a copy of Lighroom 2), and of course, I marked more than 10, so I then had to back through those and find out which ones moved me the most.

Then it came down to choosing just one image from that group to be the Grand Prize Best of Show. I thought from the very beginning that one single image would literally stand out from the crowd, but unfortunately it just wasn’t that easy. As I said, you could make a case for any of them, and I knew that no matter what I chose that, because this is such a subjective thing, that other photographers would say, “He chose that one?” because I’ve done that same thing about the winning choice in other competitions I’ve seen. But at the end of the day, I had to make a pick.

So, how did I make that pick? I asked myself this, “If I could only choose one of these 10 runner’s up to have framed and hang on my wall, which one would it be?”

For my Grand Prize winner, (drum roll, please) I chose Suhaimi Abdullah’s shot from the Singapore walk, of a bird flying overhead an industrial-looking street. To me, everything from its composition to its colors told a story. It looked almost surreal, and at the same time, totally believable because we’ve all been in a concrete jungle and have been suddenly reminded of nature and it’s inclusion (or exclusion), and I thought this image just portrayed that beautifully. In the end; I just couldn’t stop looking at it, and it is the one I’d want hanging in my home or office. For whatever reason, it just spoke to me.

So, congratulations to Suhaimi, who takes home the Adobe Creative Suite Premium, Lightroom 2, a $500 B&H Photo Gift certificate, a Wacom tablet, the Peachpit Book Bundle, and MPIX prize package, and more!

Here are my comments about the 10 finalists (who each won a full copy of Lightroom 2; courtesy of Adobe Systems):

(1) Hakon Senderland’s photo of the guards in Oslo, Norway (above)
I really like the reflection in the car’s window; the motion of the guards, and particuarly the way one is looking at the camera. I loved the dark moody sky, and the way all the colors in the photo worked so well together. I also like the fact that you could see past the reflection into the car itself. Just a very clever shot.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for a fresh bowl of crunchy news nuggets (now with more lightly sweetened multi-grain oat clusters, and added Beta-carotene):

• Now, I haven’t had a chance to research this one myself, but one of my readers posted a comment about a “Photographer’s Rights Protest” (scheduled to take place on June 1st, in LA). Here’s what he wrote: “Photographers throughout Los Angeles, with cameras in hand, will gather at Hollywood and Highland and Union Station to peacefully rally against the unnecessary treatment they have received from security guards, LAPD, and LASD while photographing in public places, and on the Metro.” They’ve set up a flickr group with more info, and you can find it by clicking here.
• Another one of my readers, and frequent posters, Paulo is hosting a “Photo Walk” in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida next month, and everyone’s invited. Here’s the link to more info.
• Came across another review of my recent Hartford, CT seminar. Here’s that link.
• Peachpit Press did kind of a cool video promo for Joe McNally’s smash-bestselling book, The Moment It Clicks, where they asked some of the Photoshop World instructors (myself included) what was the “moment that clicked for you.” If you’ve got a quick minute, check ‘em out right here.
• Photoshop Rapper “Matt Matty Matte” did something unusual this weekend; he blogged. That’s right, he did a one-minute video tutorial on a cool brushing feature in the Lightroom 2 Public Beta (on Friday, he also talked about the “Invite a friend to the Beta program” thing), so make sure you check it out at LightroomKillerTips.

That’s it for today. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the end of “No-Blog Wednesdays!”