Self-Portraits

In my second class at SVA (see my previous post on the first class) we discussed issues of identity in photography in preparation for a self-portraiture assignment.

ASSIGNMENT 2: Write a paragraph or two about yourself. How would you describe yourself to a stranger? What would you try to convey about yourself? Then, read what you wrote down and try to figure out how to convert it into something visual.

Years ago a colleague pointed out that ALAN is an anagram for ANAL. Rather than being insulted, I laughed and embraced it, because she was right. I am meticulous in everything I do and say, but I compensate in other areas of my life, thus avoiding obsessive-compulsive disorder. While I can be very patient with other people, I’m often impulsive in my actions and expectations. Immediate gratification is never fast enough for me. I have a sharp sense of humor and a cynical outlook on life that I have to keep in check, otherwise I risk hurting people I am close to. Oddly, this attitude serves me well in business, as my clients appreciate that I’m direct and I don’t soften issues with euphemisms. I’m knowledgeable and authoritative when I know what I’m talking about; when I don’t, I try to shut up. I love cold leftovers but I hate cold toilet seats.

I appear to others as confident and outgoing, but to myself I feel shy and often uncomfortable in my own body. I think I could be better at what I do and who I am if I applied myself more, but overachieving takes more energy now than when I was younger, and I just don’t have the will — except when it comes to photography. I’ve found a creative outlet that doesn’t have to answer to anyone else (as it does in my day job), and it’s opening up all sorts of new worlds to me. I can almost be someone else when I’m with my camera. I can explore the world around me and at the same time explore the world inside me.

Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour Redux

I had an opportunity to return for another tour of the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (click here to read my original post). This time I came prepared with my 50mm f/1.4 lens and a monopod. I thought I’d see if I could do better than last time. Without a wide angle lens, I concentrated less on repeating the landscape shots of the tunnel and more on photographing the people. It was difficult with the only light coming from dim, far away incandescent bulbs and people’s constantly moving flashlights. I didn’t ask for anyone’s cooperation to help light the scene, as we were all enjoying the tour. I present the few good shots below.

Favorite Portraits

I’ve begun a photography course at School of Visual Arts on the Digital Portrait, taught by Dina Kantor. I hope to hone my skills at portraiture, especially the technical aspects of color correction and retouching in Photoshop. There will be periodic assignments which students are to post on their blogs for review by the class. I thought my existing photography blog would be a great way to complete the assignments and share more information about my photography with my regular readers, too. I look forward to your feedback.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Post a sampling (3-5) of your favorite portraits to your blog. Write a sentence or two about why you find them successful. If the portraits were made by other artists, please be sure to credit them.

These are not superficial portraits. The fact that the subjects do not smile reveals complex emotions and thought processes going on below the surface. The separation from the background highlights the intensity in each subject. The three models who look into the lens engage with the viewer and create a dialogue; the two that don’t look into the lens create a story to be played out by the viewer. Either way I feel some personal connection with each subject. I want to know what they are thinking or what they are trying to tell me.

I found it easier to choose portraits from my work than to edit out five portraits from all my favorite photographers. At the moment, I really admire the portraits of Robert Bergman, who just had two shows in New York (Yossi Milo Gallery and PS1) and one at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Upon seeing my portraits on my website, someone I know pointed out that I would like Bergman’s work, and she was right. I hope that someday I’ll be as good at portraiture as he is.

Color Negatives

Last Saturday afternoon I met a friend for our occasional Chelsea gallery tour, where we set a loose agenda for galleries we want to visit as well as walk into random galleries that look interesting from the street. The highlight for both of us was not on our agenda: The Richard Misrach show at the PaceWildenstein Gallery.

Misrach is known for his large-format, color film photography. Working digitally on these photos instead, he theorizes that the digital process will eventually render the color negative obsolete. Here he celebrates the negative by presenting about 20 large-scale landscapes and seascapes as negatives. Starting with positive digital images, he reversed the colors and created very large and exquisite pigment prints ranging in size from 4 x 6 feet to 8 x 10 feet. This visual reversal transforms the natural world into what appears to be alien landscapes. Rocky outcroppings on the Oregon coast appear to be icebergs instead; sand dunes in Nevada become beautiful natural patterns with no sense of place.

It was the patterns that affected me most. A full-frame photo of brambles became a gorgeous abstract that was as impressive in its intricacy as in its sheer size. Dark expanses of chaos were punctuated by bright explosions of color. All the images were so engaging that my friend and I found ourselves discussing each one, trying to determine what the original scene must have been. In the end, it didn’t matter, the art was beautiful on its own. I expect most of the photos were improved by their presentation in the negative, and it demonstrates Misrach’s genius that he had the vision to recognize this when determining when to press the shutter.

I thought I’d try this technique on some of my photos. I went back in my archives to when I visited St. Michael’s, Maryland, in October, 2009. I remember photographing some patterns and seascapes that were similar to Misrach’s. I had mixed success. Some turned into beautiful abstracts, others were unexpectedly bad. The interesting thing was that I couldn’t predict which ones would work and which ones wouldn’t. I find it impossible to look at a photo and visualize it in opposite colors. I understand that when photographing in black-and-white it’s necessary to think in those terms, but that seems much easier to do. This makes me wonder if Misrach saw the images in his mind in negative before composing the photos, or if he shot first, converted the photos to negative, and then decided which ones he liked.

The gallery below shows some of my attempts. Which ones do you like?

Richard Misrach
January 15 – February 20, 2010
PaceWildenstein
534 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10001
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Jimmies

A college professor of mine is probably my longest-standing client. I did some work for her before even graduating, and we’ve maintained contact ever since. She is a talented playwright, and from time to time she asks me to design postcards to promote her plays. For her latest play, “Jimmies,” the plot suggested a photo in or around the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Eighth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets. So of course I suggested that I take the photo, and she agreed.

I planned to go at dusk, when the light would be more interesting during that time when the sky dims to a rich blue and the artificial lights come on. I was worried about looking suspicious to the police, but either I didn’t, or they didn’t notice me. That was lucky, because the area was swarming with police and security guards. I shot without flash with both my 16-35mm f/2.8 and my 50mm f/1.4 lenses at ISO between 800 and 1,600. There was enough illumination from the electric lights not to need to go higher on the ISO.

Within two hours I had 248 photos, and I felt that some of them would be appropriate for the postcard. I had already designed it, so I composed knowing I’d need space above for the title and below for the playwright and director’s names. It turned out that there were many potential shots, but I narrowed it down to three to make the choice easier for my client. She shared the choices with her team, and they chose the one shown above.

I had misgivings about using this shot because there is a man in the foreground for whom I don’t have a model release. The shots with no people lacked a human element that I felt was necessary for the feeling of the play. However, I was able to retouch his face as to be unrecognizable compared to the original.

The images in the gallery below are some others from the shoot that I thought were interesting, though not necessarily candidates for the postcard. I especially like the two with the bus terminal in the foreground and the lit office buildings in the background filling up the entire frame.

Details on the play: Jimmies
February 13, 2010 @ 5:00 p.m.
Strawberry One-Act Festival
American Theatre of Actors, Chernuchin Theatre, 314 West 54th Street, NYC
Written by Deborah S. Greenhut, Directed by Erin Woodward
Stage Manager: Jacqueline Deniz Young
Cast: Rashad Edwards (Joseph), Stephen Medvidick (Jimmy), Royale Mosley (Geneva)
Ticket Info: howardsfrogproductions@gmail.com

Camera Buying Advice

In an email, my brother asked the following camera buying advice:

I want to get a nicer camera than the point and shoot I currently have. I have an opportunity using credit card points to get either a Nikon D3000 or a Cannon EOS Digital Rebel . Do you have a preference, considering this is for amateur use? I’m leaning towards the Nikon at the moment.

My advice to him was:

I recommend the Rebel. I’ve taken two friends to B&H Photo, each expecting to buy a Nikon, and each walked away with a Rebel instead. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either. But I don’t recommend you buy on the specs alone. Go to a camera store and try them both out to see which feels better, and tell the salesperson what kind of shooting you plan to do and what you hope to get out of the camera, and let him/her help you decide. Then buy it elsewhere with your points. I can take you to B&H if you like. I’ve done this so much with friends that they should offer me a commission.

The biggest issue with SLRs is not your investment in the body, but your investment in the lenses. Bodies come and go, and you may find yourself upgrading in the future, as I did. However, the lenses are a constant, so if you start with one brand, you’re stuck with that brand. All Canon lenses work on all Canon bodies, now and in the future. Not so with the Nikon body you’re considering, so if photography really sticks with you and you wish to upgrade to a higher-level Nikon, you’ll have to invest in your lenses all over again. This might not be a big deal if you stick  with only the kit lens that comes with the camera, but if you get accessory lenses, it’s something to consider.

My brother’s response:

Sounds like good advice. I’m not planning on being back in the city for a while so maybe I’ll stop into my local Best Buy to look at each of them.

————

Here’s an important thing I left out: I truly believe that if you take the time and expertise of a retail store to help you shop for merchandise, you should buy it from them. In my brother’s case, he was buying through a points catalog, but the only way to get a hands-on feel for the cameras is to go to a retail store. In that case, I would advise to patronize the store in some other way. It’s just good karma.

(Photos above come from the B&H website)

Postcards from the Edge

I’m excited to have my photo “Blowfish” included in the 12th Annual Postcards from the Edge, January 8-10, 2010, at the ZieherSmith Gallery in Chelsea.

Postcards from the Edge is a Visual AIDS benefit show and sale of original, postcard-sized works on paper by established and emerging artists. All works are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The works are signed on the back and exhibited so the artists’ signatures cannot be seen. While buyers receive a list of all participating artists, they don’t know who created which piece until purchased. All proceeds support the work of Visual AIDS.

Founded in 1988 as a response to AIDS and as a way of organizing the art world towards direct action, Visual AIDS has evolved a two-part mission. 1) Through the Frank Moore Archive Project, the largest slide library of work by artists living with HIV and the estates of artists who have died of AIDS, Visual AIDS historicizes artists’ contributions while supporting their ability to continue making art and furthering their professional careers. 2) In collaboration with artists and organizations, Visual AIDS produces contemporary art exhibitions, publications, and events to spread the message “AIDS IS NOT OVER.”

The gallery below contains my photos from the opening party on January 8. There are some additional photos in my post “Holiday Gifts, Part 2.”

Holiday Gifts, Part 2

You can read my review of the first holiday gift I received in my previous post. I’ve now sufficiently played with my second holiday gift to write about it. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens is everything I hoped it would be. It excels at both purposes I got it for: Extremely shallow depth of field and photographing in very low, natural lighting conditions without a flash. I was surprised by a third aspect that I didn’t anticipate. The lens is so small that people are not as put off by my shooting them as with my large zoom lenses.

The photos in the gallery below are a mix of shots I took to experiment with shallow depth of field (shot at f/1.4 and f/1.8) and low light (shot outdoors at night with no tripod and in an art gallery). The photo of the Flatiron building demonstrates the quality and sharpness at f/8 in daylight conditions.

The lens is a great all-purpose walk-around lens. It is small, light, and affordable. Its fixed focal length of 50mm is roughly equivalent to the focal length of the human eye, so what you photograph is the same size as what you see. With no zoom it’s necessary to move closer to or farther from the subject to frame the photo. This forces you to engage with the people you want to shoot rather than stalking them from far away and shooting the photo without their knowledge.

This lens will go with me often when I don’t care to carry other larger, heavier zoom lenses for a specific purpose. Every photographer should have one of these.

Holiday Gifts, Part 1

Of the holiday gifts I received this season, I can write about two of them in this photography blog. The first is the Lomography Diana F+ 38mm Super Wide Angle Lens with the Canon EOS mount. I’ve long admired what good fine art photographers were doing with toy cameras such as Holga, Blackbird, and Diana. When used to the right advantage, the “low-quality” effects imposed by the construction and plastic optics of these cameras can help to make brilliant photos. The Blackbird was on my gift list last year, and soon after I received it I returned it, wondering why I thought I’d want to deal with film, as all the toy cameras are film cameras. I though the answer came with the Canon EOS mount for the Diana lens, essentially turning my multi-thousand dollar digital SLR into a toy. I tried it out today (see the photo gallery at the end of this article), and I was both delighted and annoyed.

The Critique: The lens mount fits snugly on the camera. However, the lens barrel does not attach securely to the mount. The lens must be dialed to one of three focusing distances: 1 to 2 meters, 2 to 4 meters, or 4 meters to infinity. Dialing from near focus to far goes counterclockwise, the same direction for attaching the lens. Dialing in the other direction is the problem, because the lens takes the barrel with it, thus detaching it from the mount. Within minutes of my first shot the lens fell to the ground and rolled away. The lens was not scratched, but a small piece of the barrel chipped away. The lens was still functional and I continued to shoot, careful to hold the barrel in place when changing the focus. I will cover the chip with gaffer’s tape and at the same time use the tape to secure the barrel to the mount.

The Experience: Since my new toy is literally a toy, I got to play with it. Normally I wouldn’t be caught dead in Rockefeller Center and Times Square the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I might not have gone there at all since I’ve photographed the places so much. But looking through a different kind of lens made it a new experience.

The lens has a fixed aperture, though I don’t know what f-stop it is equivalent to. It is necessary to set only the shutter speed. I started in program mode, but the camera was very bad at choosing the right speed. Every shot was drastically overexposed. Manual mode was necessary, and throughout the day I shot at speeds from one-half second indoors to 1/500 second in bright sunlight (all at ISO 400). It took me all day so get a sense of what setting to use depending on the light I was in. Focusing is easy when you have to choose between just three settings. It was great being able to frame the shot without half-pressing on the auto-focus point and recomposing. Using a shutter speed of plus/minus 1/100 second outdoors meant I could compose and shoot instantly, and any blur was not from camera shake but from the cheap plastic optics, the effect I was expecting from a toy camera lens.

I knew not to entirely trust what I saw on the camera’s LCD monitor as I was shooting, so I downloaded the photos to my computer with great anticipation. My expectations were set by photos I’d seen taken with the Diana camera and Lomography’s promotional photos. The effect I got was much more subtle. I suspect it is the combination of the toy lens with the high-end digital camera. The entire toy camera body and lens kit probably determines the effect I expected. Still, my photos have a soft yet vibrant quality that I wouldn’t have achieved with good glass optics. Being able to capture the images in RAW format gives me the leeway to make any adjustments I want, which I could not do with film. Some of my photos from today are more successful than others, where the toy-camera quality adds a dreamy effect that supports the story-telling aspect of the composition, particularly the lonely girl and her doll in the photo above.

Stay Tuned: Next I’ll write about the other end of the spectrum, my new Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, which I have yet to put through its paces. Check back frequently to see if I’ve posted the article, or subscribe to my blog by clicking “Entries (RSS)” in the Feeds section at the top of the right sidebar.

Mazel Tov

In October I volunteered to photograph The Forest Ride, a fundraiser for the Black Rock Forest Consortium. Among the other volunteers was a family who cooked and served all the meals throughout the three-day event. The mom loved the photos of her son, and asked me if I’d enlarge and print a few to display at his upcoming bar mitzvah. Somewhere in the process I was invited to attend, so as my gift I offered to do some photography. Here are some of the portraits I liked.

I began using my flash, but I didn’t like the results I was getting. The ceiling was too high for bounce flash, and the yellow tablecloths were reflecting yellow light. So eventually I removed my flash and switched from my 24-105 mm f/4 lens to my 16-35 mm f/2.8. Shooting wide open at f/2.8 at ISO 3200 got me to about 1/60 of a second, which was adequate. But at 35 mm I had to get really close for the portraits. No one seemed to mind, and I think it helped that I wasn’t using the flash.