Printing A Portfolio

I'm outputting my portfolio on my 2200. I feel like this:

These problems exist:

  • my image dimensions don't usually match the standard paper sizes
  • my printer is a generation old, slow, a bit unreliable and sometimes a little fuzzy
  • I have a mix of vertical and horizontal images so I can have a bunch of white space at the top/bottom or on the sides, neither of which I really want
  • I hate printing
  • I'm not sure how much margin I need to leave on the binding side, because I haven't determined the binding yet, but I'm not sure I can finalize the binding until I have the paper/image size settled
  • I am a whiny little bitch

I think it's time to do something else. Like write a blog entry.

My Friend the Septopus

There are dozens of idea in my book right now, but they all seem out-of-reach. I'm at the Whole Foods seafood counter and I see this big octopus. The clerk packs it up enthusiastically, and I ask him to pack it loosely so it doesn't crease the flesh.

Secretly, I love these slightly off requests. I once bought fifty spoons at a thrift store. I smiled the whole time, my secret purpose making me feel like I had some special mission, like I was getting to be weird, but with a reason.

I get the octopus home and rummage through my collection of glass to find a suitable container. I'm still fascinated by creepy objects in glass, apparently. I put the octopus in the jar, the jar in the fridge. I set up a black surface and background, some lights, camera.

I have a good idea of what I want by now. When I put the jar on the set, though, condensation forms. I decide I can roll with that, and I spray it down to increase the effect. I get the photo I want. Good.

But I'm having a good time, so I continue, playing. I spray water behind the jar, adjust the light to show it better. Suddenly, I have a much better photo than I had planned.

I have a friend who tells me, when I get stuck: "Go play."

Gear Weenies

I moved house recently, and apparently that messed me up more than I thought. My camera's weighed a ton. BUT I did get something going last week. My new 'studio' is about 25% larger than my old 'studio' (each of these being a room in my apartment), which is great. There's less of the playing-Twister-on-the-monkey-bars feeling in the new space. It makes things easier.

My new setup also features a new camera/computer combination, which let's me shoot tethered, AND sometimes results, when I'm looking at the captures, in a sharp intake in breath. The new camera and lens are so much sharper, more detailed, and richer in colors than that old outmoded lame excuse for a camera I was using.

That reminds me. I was talking with Hunter Freeman, one of the photographers I work for, about ten months ago. I mentioned that I was unhappy with my camera but that I couldn't afford the new one. He said that it usually wasn't about the equipment as about the operator. That let the air out of my acqusition baloon. I spent the next six months trying to extract every bit of performance out of that old machine, trying to work within its limitations, and trying to get it to do what I wanted it to do.

There's a strong current of gearweenieness in photography, and I'm not immune to it. I love me some new shiny. But Hunter was right, and I made some good photos with that old camera. People make compelling, interesting pictures with low-grade crappy equipment, and people make flat, sterile pictures with top-of-the-line equipment.

I would love to have a 10,000 square foot space with 50 foot ceilings, stocked with all the latest goodies, and I hope to someday. But struggling with a camera that's truly suboptimal has taught me to rely more on me and the creative process, and less on the gear I'm using. Plus I've banished, for now, the I-can't-shoot-because-my-equipment-sucks mentality.

With that in mind, and my new camera in hand, here's to less excuses and more photos.

Trains Are Heavy

I've begun to shoot the technology project. I did the train shot, which is one of the "maybe you should pay attention to your surroundings" types. It was great to work with a stylist, Sarah Jong. She brought all kinds of outfits and accessories, stuff I never would have thought of. The model, Davis, was killer, and he brought a lot of poses, again, stuff I would not have thought of. My assistant, Ching, was available the same day and was a real life saver.

Here's a rough version of it. There's a bunch of retouching to do and I'm not sure I'm capable of it - I took out a huge tree in the center of the frame, the tree around the signal gate looks weird, and I'm not sure about the train. In fact, I'm not even sure the train is necessary...

Originally, I wanted a composition that would have shown more of the front of the train, with the track receding into the distance on the left side of the frame. That put my camera about a foot and a half from the tracks. The trains at this intersection don't stop, they don't even slow down. So the first time a train came by, all 493287498237 tons of it at 23947329874 miles an hour, like six inches from my elbow, the racing of my heart convinced me to recompose.

Anyways

So the big long period of lots of assisting work is done for the moment. I have a couple small gigs this week, and a million other things to do. I am setting up the first shoot in the technology isolation project - the guy about to get run over by the train as he's fiddling with his iPod. And I'm subtly aware of the irony of this as I write this blog entry on my iPhone. Hm.