Engagements
Weddings
Portraits
Stills
Musicians
So here it is. A “year in review” post. It had to happen.
2011 was an interesting year, photographically speaking. Not counting client work, I probably took fewer photos than I have in years. And yet, I experimented more. That means not everything worked. Believe me! Not everything worked.
But I had a lot of fun. And learned some things.
Enough rambling. Well, a little more rambling. There’s that whole ground rules thing.
Last year I chose 10 photos and put up 10 posts. That’s too much work. This year I just picked. No set number. There are photos that jumped out at me. Photos I think are good. Photos I just wanted to say something about.
The only “rule” I followed: No Client Work!
I could fill post after post with photos from every client I photographed in 2011, and I’d still leave out great shots. Besides, most of the posts here are about and for my clients. This one is about me.
Ok. Now I’m done rambling. On with the photos. Here they are, more or less chronologically, photo first and then a few words…
Sam’s Henna.
My girlfriend, Sam, does henna. That’s nothing new. But I feel like this year she really blossomed. She figured out what kind of a henna business she wanted to run. She did henna parties, bridal henna, pregnant belly henna, event henna.
This was from one of her first henna parties of the year and still one of my favorite henna photos.
Snow.
Unlike this winter (so far), last winter was all about the snow.
The top image was all about bravery. The bottom, all about luck.
The night I took the top image, it was 10 degrees out. Zero wind. Giant snowflakes had been falling all day and there was a good 8 inches of it on the deck table. Because I am insane, I hauled my giant flash out and set it up under the (glass) table, shooting up. Then I proceeded to freeze to death while taking macro shots of snowflakes.
The second image was a frosted over window. I had about 5 minutes to set up and get a shot before it all melted off.
Double Sam.
Weird accidents are the best. There we are sitting in the cigar lounge. Me and my friend Ben are smoking, while Sam and Ben’s wife Liz are doing henna. I reach over for something and see the image above. I wonder if it’s possible to actually capture it. Out comes the macro and a little bit of playing later…
Love on the Run.
For two years in a row (and again this year), Studio Orange has donated photography services to Porridge Paper’s Love on the Run Valentine’s Day event. This was one of my favorite images.
Winston.
The neighbor dog. Sweet, but very lonely. As I feel this image shows.
Train.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of HDR. But I like to push the images a little more. This is one of the last shots I managed to get of this area before it was all torn up for the new arena.
The Party.
Sam and I both had birthdays in 2011. I know, right? Both of us having birthdays in the SAME year? Almost too coincidental to believe. This year we decided to have one party for both of us.
A steampunk/gypsy party.
So, here’s the problem: How do you get 70+ people to show up for a party at the end of April and all dress in costume?
Simple. You just have to be us.
The left image is a self portrait showcasing my costume for the party. The right image is Ben and Liz.
Strawberries.
One of the things Sam has to put up with is being in front of the camera. We spent an afternoon playing with flashes and strawberries.
On the road.
Pop quiz: What do you do when you’re riding in a car between Pueblo, Colorado and Albuquerque, New Mexico? If you’re me, you hang out the window of the car going 75mph with your $3000 camera and snap photos. Are these technically great photos? Not for me to decide. But they were fun to take.
Morgan.
A friend of mine said she was putting on a burlesque show. She asked if I wanted to take photos. Because I am not an idiot, I did not refuse the opportunity to photograph some beautiful ladies…
The Song that Made Sam Cry…
Sam and I went up to Omaha to see Blind Pilot. This was one of the last songs they performed, off the stage, in the middle of the crowd. Sam cried.
The Garage.
I called this “The Garage.” It’s really my living room. I’m tricky like that.
Obligatory New Gear Shot.
All new gear gets tested on my pets. I don’t know why. That’s just how it is. Pixel was the victim in this case. The new gear in question is the Canon 35mm f/1.4L.
First (and only) real snow this winter.
My dogs love snow. No. They are ridiculous for snow. So when we got a decent snow fall (and so far the only one) at the beginning of December, I took them out to the park.
First stop was the lake. It wasn’t quite frozen and the slushy mess had this weird green tint.
Next up was letting the dogs be dogs. And documenting it as much as possible.
And finally, a white-out shot.
And that’s that. Thanks for joining me on a trip back through 2011.
Photo 2: “Capitol in the Mist”
Taken on January 20, 2010
The winter of 2009 / 2010 in Lincoln, Nebraska was a particularly nasty one. Snow dumped onto the city in the beginning of December and didn’t go away until spring. Total accumulation was somewhere just shy of ridiculous. Stupidly cold weather prevented anything from melting. Insult added to injury.
For one strange week late in January the weather became even more insane. A mix of warm and cold temperatures created some intensely foggy nights and mornings. It was too great of an opportunity to miss.
My first stop was the Nebraska State Capitol Building. This wasn’t by plan, but by convenience. My destination was downtown, but the Capitol Building was on the way. What the hell.
I wanted detail. More than I could get with a single wide angle shot. I’d had success with using my 50mm lens for panoramas before. Why not now? Six shots. Three across, two down. Six exposures for each shot. The final image is huge. Over 10,000 pixels wide.
The timing turned out to be perfect. Had I been just a few minutes earlier, the fog wouldn’t have settled in yet. Within about 20 minutes, it was so thick that you wouldn’t have been able to see the top of the building.
Once in a lifetime.
As an aside, this image is one of many of mine featured on the walls of the Capital City Grill and I’ve sold many prints of it. You can buy a print, too. Let me know.
Turned out to be a rather busy year for me. Ironically, it was also the least productive as far as personal photography projects went. You win some, you lose some.
This site really started to come into its own in 2010. I know what you’re thinking. I started it in 2009, but that was late in the year, so it doesn’t count. Shush. It doesn’t. I know the other thing you’re thinking. Site isn’t finished. Again, shush. Working on it.
Sam and I moved into a new house. Well, new to us, not new to the world. Did that in the middle of winter with 2 feet of snow on the ground.
The dog was the only one who had a good time.
Speaking of dogs, I gained a new one. Also, two cats, which some days are two too many. Just ask the couches. Or the plants.
Sam started massage school. A girlfriend who cooks gourmet quality food and knows professional massage? I’ll probably have to keep her around.
It was a slow year for gear. No new major acquisitions other than an 85mm lens. Good for my bank account. Bad for my gear fetish.
And, of course, I shot some jobs.
Like I said. Busy.
And yet still, that ridiculous passion for photography persists. And still, one of my favorite things about it is the diversity of experiences and images that are always out there waiting.
That said, and because this is the sort of thing you’re supposed to do when you’re a photographer (it’s in our contracts), I’m going to post 10 (or so) of some of my favorite images from the past year. This is easier said than done. I have a lot of favorite images.
Not all of these are so-called “work related” images. A lot are personal. Some may not even be technically my best work. Like I said, a lot are personal.
I have a few things to say about each image, so I will present them over the next 10 days.
I hope you enjoy.
Photo 1: “Dinner Tonight…”
Taken on January 8, 2010
I’m crazy about Sam for a lot of reasons.
She’s amazing. She’s talented. She’s funny. I could go on, but she’ll probably read this and then blush or post a comment trying to deny it.
One of Sam’s great talents is cooking. It’s a good fit because one of my great talents is eating. Also, we don’t believe in being selfish with our food. A great meal is best when shared.
In early January, Sam had just moved into my suddenly too small apartment. Boxes were everywhere. A month later we’d be moving into the house, but at that moment we were struggling with too little space for too much stuff.
Still, the cramped quarters didn’t stop us from entertaining.
This meal was pork chops, mustard greens and red potatoes sliced and baked to awesomeness. And of course, wine. Our friend, Caleb, was the dinner guest.
Great times.
Ben enjoying a cigar
I love it when my camera surprises me.
Recently, I started “free lensing.” Sounds questionable, I know, but stick with me for a second.
Take your lens. Remove it from the camera. Hold it in front of where it mounts. Tilt it a bit this way or that. Press the shutter. See what happens.
That’s free lensing.
I didn’t invent the technique. Basically, it replicates the effect of a specialty lens called a Tilt-Shift. Except with free lensing, you don’t really have much precision or control. You’re shooting with luck and hope. You get very small areas of focus and a ton of dreamy blur. Nailing razor sharp focus isn’t the point. If that’s what you want, you shouldn’t free lens.
Free lensing is completely organic. No matter how hard you try, nothing you do can be replicated. The smallest movement of the hand holding the lens completely changes the character of the image.
There’s danger, too. Holding a camera with one hand and a loose lens with the other is tricky at best. Grow a third hand if you can. If you can’t, do your best. A tripod might help.
Images taken by free lensing are full of beautiful errors. Focus is more miss than hit. It’s not uncommon to accidentally move the lens too far and catch the edges of the lens as a dark shadow along your image. Light leaks into the gap between the lens and the body and over exposes everything or, if you’re lucky, creates ghosts and apparitions.
Free lensing requires a lot of luck. It gives you a lot of really bad shots.
But most importantly, free lensing is a blast.
Normally, I know what I’m going to get when I press the shutter. I control the exposure, the aperture, the shutter speed, and I can create exactly the image I’m after. Most of the time, this is a good thing. This is what I get paid for.
But all work and no play…
With free lensing, every image is a surprise. Fantastic images are an accident and that makes them amazing. It’s good to sometimes get away from the obsession over the technical qualities of an image. Photographers, myself included, often obsess over details like the sharpness of an image. We “pixel peep” and zoom in to examine images on a microscopic level. We’re seeking flaws. If we’re not careful, we reject otherwise good images because on one technical level they aren’t perfect.
Free lensing is liberating. It frees you from the obsession over technical perfection. It lets you have fun. It lets you create art. It lets you be imperfect.
It reminds me of the thing I love most about photography: Having fun.
Sam working her henna magic.
Ben and Liz | Lea hula hooping
Liz is finally back to dancing after a long absence.
Have a scary, but safe Halloween!