The Olympus EPL1 comes out of hiding. And continues to please me.

This is the Norwood Tower in downtown Austin on a sunny weekend day.  Shot with the Olympus EPL, sporting the absolutely serious 70mm f2 Pen lens.  Cropped square by the camera because that's the way I like it.  The camera hasn't left my side today.  Maybe I'll make a movie......

In defense of doing things exactly the way you want to.

People are amazingly well inventoried with advice.  Not actual experience, per se, just advice.  If I listened to everyone's advice I'd be stuck in a practical job hoping to eck out enough good performance reviews to be able to sit tight and make it to retirement.  With any luck upper management would have not pillaged the pension funds and I would be smart enough not to invest in my own employer's stock.  If I took everyone's advice I would have made photography a nice hobby.  But I would prudently research all the options first and then buy a system and stay the course.

If I had a real job I would be tired when I came home.  If I had a real job we probably would have felt that we could afford silly things like cable television.  And instead of printing photos from Russia I could be catching up on Madmen, and re-runs of Seinfeld,  and watching a recent Cohen brother's movie from the safety and comfort of my couch.

If I listened to everyone's advice I would have sold stock in 2009 instead of buying it.  And I would, no doubt, have flipped houses several times by now and gone from a comfortable place in a nice neighborhood to a McMansion that I could never afford now that the bottom has dropped out of the economy.

If I listened to my corporate friends I would never waste my time writing a blog and if I listened to my accountant I sure wouldn't write it for free.  If I listened to the high school counselor I would have ended up as a mechanic, even though I've never been able to figure out hand tools.  

But most of the advice I get these days is about trading in my chosen career for something safer.  Something with employer supplied health insurance and a regular paycheck.  I'd love to get my first novel published and start on a second one but all my friends and advice givers want me to keep writing books on photography because it seems to work out okay.

And when it comes to photography everyone seems to know just what's in style and how to create great art.  I know that the two photos above don't rise to the level of great art.  Jana and I did them for the fun value.  We shot what we wanted.  I shot the way I wanted.   Because I've learned a very, very important lesson in life.  It's short.  We never know when it will end.  We don't know our own expiration date.  And I've watched so many people put off having true, belly laughing fun until it's just too damn late.  Photography is a young person's pursuit so if you want to do it you need to get right to it.  And never grow old.  

There's a safe way to do just about everything and there's the fun way to do stuff.  The ven diagrams rarely intersect.  I may be delusional but I think it's better to do what you dream you might want to do in retirement first and then get around to the serious stuff.  

I have a professional friend that just closed his photography studio.  He's not cutting and running.  He's not going to live his life out in a quiet state government job.  He's all in.  He sold the house.  He sold all the gear that wouldn't fit in one camera bag.  He's 50 years old and his avowed goal is to become a professional vagabond and see the rest of the world.  Crazy?  You bet.  My advice to him?  Go for it.

The fine art of negotiation in business. How to be the client everyone hates....

Brian Smokler said...

Just so everyone knows, this was produced by Scofield Editorial in Indianapolis, Indiana.

http://vendorclientvideo.com/
http://www.scofieldedit.com/

My absolute favorite video on the web. Fortunately most of the clients I've met who fall into these categories are out of business now..........



But I'm still working with some of these guys........

Tripods: Love em or hate em, sometimes you've gotta use em.

The Berlebach Reporter Tripod.

If you are on the constant search for the highest levels of resolution in  your photography you are probably already an aficionado of tripods.  Right off the bat I'll tell you that I don't use them when I'm walking around on the streets grabbing slices of life and moments of spontaneous interest.  Nobody really does----except for  the two or three fine art photographers who still prowl the pavement with 4x5 and 8x10 inch cameras---but, if I'm planning stuff out, taking portraits, shooting still lifes or shooting video,

I love having my tripod along for the ride.

So.  What's my favorite tripod?

Well, if you think I'm inconstant with cameras and lenses you'll be appalled  to know that I'm even worse with my three legged addiction.  And here's the even more pathetic angle; I can rarely ever bear to part with one.  I almost never sell off tripod inventory.....

Right now my "inventory cerebral cortex" or "gear list medulla oblongata" is locked in a death match between two diametrically opposed tripod solution philosophies.  Every day, when I pack to go out shooting, I find myself with a foot in two centuries.  It's the ongoing battle between wood and carbon fiber.  And I'll be damned if I can find a way to objectively score them.  The hell with aluminum and steel.

But first, a patented, "Kirk Tuck Fiery Declaration".....If you own a Canon 1ds mk3 or a Nikon D3x with all the juiciest lenses and you're not making a good tripod and head part of the system you're wasting your time and your money.  Forget built in Image Stabilization.  You can use your camera infinity stops slower on a good tripod than you ever could, hand held.  An $8,000 camera and no tripod?  You'd have to be dead to hold the camera still enough to see the resolution potential!!!

Just as important, a tripod locks in your composition so you can mess with the detail stuff, the exposure, lighting and  (please God, don't strike me down!!!) even the wretched trend that is HDR, without compromising composition.  Without unintended frame shifting.

An added (but very ancillary) advantage is that clients still equate tripod use with professionalism and the extra time it takes to set up the "sticks" and to zero in the settings on the tripod head will add value in the eyes of your check writer while giving you a few extra moments to figure out what the hell you are doing....

The most cavalier rationalization is the that the tripod can always double as a light stand in an emergency..

Sermon over.  Now on to the selection process.

I have a number (I won't confess how many) of tripods but when I pack up the super high performance Honda Element the final choice usually comes down to one of three.

The logical first choice is my heavy duty, modern Gitzo, model G 1439.  It's a four section, carbon fiber model, complete with a center column.  With the legs extended the business point, without  center post extension, is taller than me by a good four to six inches.  All the hardware is heavy duty alloy, and the tripod will support all of my 158 pounds if I do a handstand on it.  (Very exciting to watch....)

I've topped it with a Manfrotto ballhead, model #468 MG, which I absolutely love.  I had the local shop order the version without the quick release because I never want to reach for my tripod system and find that the quick release plate stayed home, on vacation, with a different camera body.  In fact, one professional camera repair person once told me that the majority of camera "disasters" brought in to his shop by photographers were from unexpected un-couplings due to quick release mishaps.   What a tragic way for a camera to die.

They are called "quick release" because, invariably, the release is quicker than the photographer's "catching reflexes".

The whole Gitzo/Manfrotto system ought to please any digital photographer:  It's strong.  It's lightweight.   There are no nasty surprises.  In fact, it's such a perfect system it's downright boring----and that's the crux of the problem for me.  It's like the black "jelly bean" cameras we shoot with.  Just another boring extention of modernist "wind tunnel" design.

I suppose if something were a "once in a lifetime" shoot it would be the camera support system I'd take with me--- just like a dark gray suit and some black, Cole Hahn dress shoes.  but....during the course of every shoot my thoughts would wander to the Gitzo's antithesis----it's romantic opposite, the wooden, Berlebach tripod, in a light ash finish.

It is exactly what the Gitzo isn't.

Hand made from expertly selected wood that's been carefully aged for over two years, each of the Berlebach's is built by hand.  They even come with a certificate that names the individual craftsman.  A note tells you that the wood grain on each tripod is unique--and, that this is NOT a defect!  (And it is sad that it must be stated, in writing....)

The tripods are aesthetic opposites but from an "end result" point of view they are largely the same.  Each one is sturdy, vibrationless, and holds your chosen camera is a motionless grip.  It's just that the Berleback does it with a grace and elegance that could be right out of the unhurried, late 1800's.  Don't get me wrong---the Berlebach's are currently made, but with technology that would have been right at home in the 1890's when Eastman was introducing flexible film.  And that is part the charm.

So?  Okay-- on to "rationalization-land" and out of the "art nostalgia sandbox".   The light colored ash wood of the BB refuses to soak up heat.  That makes it the perfect desert, west Texas, Sahara, Mojave (and this week, NYC)  photo stability tool (P.S.T.).  That, and the fact that it  looks really cool, make it a nice, and $700 less expensive photo tool compared to the current Gitzo.

In this age of mass produced everything it's a surprisingly affordable luxury to be able to buy a handcrafted German  tripod for under $300.

When I use the Gitzo tripod fellow photographers and hobbyists  on locations who know the reputation of the former French company (now part of Manfrotto) are vaguely impressed but when I bring the wooden tripood even people with absolutely no interest in photography comment about it.  There is something about hand made items in the age of iPods and Michael Graves designs at Target that appeals that appeals to something in consumers of nearly every stripe.  Could it be the lure of differentiation?  Or can humans feel a connection to other humans through handcrafts, on some small, subliminal level?

Both tripods allow you to spread the legs at multiple angles.  Both allow for any ball or pan head dto be used.  And both are superior to the usual run of the mill, steel tripods from various other makers.

I actually have two different, wooden tripods from Berlebach.  The blond ash is the more compact of the two.  I have one in a black finish with only two long leg sections and no center column.  In place of the center column there is a ball assembly that's very heavy duty and can be used to level a view camera or an attached head.  This tripod is also goes up higher that my head with very good stability.

The third tripod I mentioned as being "in the running" with the other two is a smaller, thinner Gitzo, model # 2220 that I use with the Manfrotto ballhead.  It's niche (for me) is in shooting small objects from straight overhead because the center post is actually side mounted and can be used in a horizontal position.  It's priceless for doing copy work out in the field.

In the big scheme of things, the binary equation of either having or not having a tripod is much more important than how nice your tripod is.  As long as I've been doing photography there's been a truism that the only good tripod is one that you are comfortable carrying into the field with you.  It may have been true in the old days but right now the whole commercial photography industry is so incredibly competitive that I want to make sure I bring every advantage to bear in every job.  Keeping the camera still is one of the least sexy but most important skills.

Even my friends who don't shoot for money seem to have gotten tripod religion lately.  It's disappointing to buy a Nikon D3x and then NOT see an appreciable difference between its files and those of your old D2x but that's exactly the position one shooter found himself in a few months ago.  He was so disappointed he was ready to return the camera for a refund.  I suggested we test it one more time.  We put it on the bigger Gitzo and used and electronic cable release.  This time the difference between the cameras was stark.  The level of very fine detail the D3x and the 105 micro were able to reveal was something I had only seen previously when shooting the Phase One 45+ medium format camera.

My friend was chastened and re-doubled his focus on practicing and paying attention to all the little details we usually let slip.  After all, why spend money on perfection only to sabotage it with less that perfect technique?  I've owned a variety of tripods over the years and I've come to understand that what you prefer will really be a matter of taste and ergonomics more than anything else. (Given a certain level of performance).  Nevertheless, here are my tips for getting the best tripod:

So far, my absolute favorite tripod head for 35mm style digital cameras with any lens up to 70-200 f2.8.

1.  Spend 1/2 an hour or more unlocking, extending, locking, unlocking and retracting the legs.  If you don't like the way the locking controls feel in your hand now, you will hate them in a year.

2.  Don't "under buy" the system.  When you shop for a tripod system bring along your heaviest camera body and your longest lens.  Do they feel stable when mounted up?  Can you touch the camera when your 300mm is mounted and not see a lot of vibration?  If every little touch jiggles the camera, look for a heavier, stronger system.

3.  Will it pass Kirk's "slap test"?  Look through your finder with a long lens attached to your camera while the camera is firmly attached to the tripod you are considering.  While looking through give the side of the camera a little slap with your hand.  All the vibrations should be dampened out in a second.  Two at the most.  If it's still jiggling after two seconds---you don't want it.

4.  The two weak points of every tripod I've used are the connection between the head and its quick release plate,  and the second is too much play in the center column.  Two quick cures:  Don't use heads with quick release plates (and especially not cheap quick releases that lack safety interlocks.....).  Try not to use the center column extended.  Fully extend the tripod legs first, and remember to buy a systems that's at least as tall as you----without having to raise the center column.

5.  Spend 1/2 han hour in the carrying the tripod around over your shoulder as you shop for more and more "essential" stuff.  Does the tripod became a pain in the shoulder.  Is it hard to hold onto?  Uncomfortable?  Too heavy?   You may need to consider something lighter because over the years all those feelings will be multiplied by 1000. and you'll understand the cumulative effects of lugging something around that you don't like.

Tripods are like the three bears.  One is always "just right".  It's up to you to find the "middle bear".

Right now?  Make mine wooden.

(This is not a blanket endorsement for all time.  The author reserves the right to capriciously change his mind at any time and reach for alternative tripods which he may own now or acquire in the future......)

   














   

I shot a baby deer today. And I didn't feel bad about it.

Dr. Cunningham and the baby deer.

Dr. Cunningham and the baby deer.  Post processed.

(edit: 7 july 2010:  Thought I'd step out of character and post the final edited shot right below the quick, jpeg proof shot I pulled off the raw file last night when I got home.  I've changed color balance, cleaned up the color in the sky, opened up the shadows.  Done a lens correction.  Thought you might want to see what I would probably deliver..... KRT).

I'm keeping pretty busy these days.  One of the things I'm doing is shooting photos for some medical practice advertising.  One of the marketing reps I work with is running a series of ads showcasing their physicians.  We thought it would be a good idea to ditch the white coats and the office location backgrounds and shoot these guys in their off hours.  Try to catch another side.  See what makes em tick.

When the marketing person mentioned that this doctor was raising a baby deer who's mother and twin sibling had been struck by lightning they had me at "Bambi".

We made arrangements and I loaded the car with the following:  One Profoto Acute 600b battery powered flash system,  a 20 by 30 inch softbox, a 48 inch white, pop-up diffuser, two light stands, a Canon 5d2 and a 24-105mm lens.  I took a light meter and a hoodman loupe.   And two sandbags.

 The first thing I did was to sit down with the Dr. in the living room of his house and really talk to him.  Interview style.  What makes him the person he is?  What do I want to come thru in the photograph?  He's committed to giving back to patients and people who can't afford medical care.  He does missions and tons of volunteer work.  He's a man of great faith.  I wanted to show that, somehow, in the photos.

We selected a spot with some Texas landscape in the background and I got to work while he went back to  the house to get the baby deer.  The sun was coming in on the right of the frame but I blocked out the direct light on him with the reflector on a stand.  A tree also provided some shade for the general area.

I set up the light and the softbox about five feet from the subject's right (my left)  at a 45 degree angle when measured on the direct line between the camera and subject.  The bottom of the softbox is just above the doctor's chin.  I set the exposure so that the metered value for the subjects is about 1/2 brighter than the background.  We shot about 60 shots at nearly full power.

When the deer pooped on the doctor's hand and jeans I knew the shoot was wrapping up.  The deer was amazingly cute.  The doctor amazingly patient.  The shoot, amazingly calm and happy.  As I drove away I thought to myself, "This is what makes it all worthwhile.  Meeting amazing people---who do amazing things.  Not because they imagine that someone will think they are cool.  Just because it's the right thing to do".

This is right out of camera.  I haven't gotten in and pushed the pixels around yet.  When I do, this image or one of the other selects goes right into the portfolio.  It's days like this that are the reward for a life in photography.....

A reprise from early 2009. Just because I'm in the mood for Lisbon.

FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2009

Street shooting in Lisbon

Do you shoot out in the streets? It's hard if you live in one of most American cities, for a number of reasons. There are really very few places to shoot. People live in their cars and at the malls. And people in American tend to dress down. Cargo shorts and white t-shirts with logos on them. Comfortable and tacky. And we do tend to be the one of the fattest countries around, per capita.

If you live in New York City or San Francisco, save your energy. I know your towns are walking towns with a plethora of rich visual targets, just right for fine photography. If you are large, given to wearing bright t-shirts, cargo shorts with stretchable waist bands and running shoes, please try to look out for photographers and maybe don't loiter too long in front of obviously cool landmarks or architecture.

But if you are really into shooting in the streets you'll want to find towns where people strut their stuff on foot and where the ambulatory culture keeps the people looking good. You'll want to head to a European city. Grenoble's great because a huge swath of the downtown is pedestrian only. But one of my favorites has always been Lisbon because it seems anchored to a time warp that keeps everything five years slower.

Back in 1998 I went to Lisbon to photograph a project for a subsidiary of IBM. The project went well and I engineered some down time in the the city. Two days before the event and two days after. Every morning I left my hotel with a Leica M6, a 50mm Summicron and a 75mm Summilux. I kept a pocket full of slide film, an open mind, an open agenda and a nice pair of hiking sandals and a desire to dive into the city life and come up with some fun images.

Here's the problem for me with street shooting: I get so involved/immersed in everything that I forget sometimes to take the photographs. I found a fabulous little neighborhood bakery and I was in line so quick I forgot to lurk around and try to sneak good shots. Then I was enjoying my creme filled confection and hot, earthy coffee so much I forgot to even meter.

But after a while my basic sense of discipline kicked in and I came back with hundreds and hundreds of images that I really like. The above is a smattering. A taster plate. A flight of photos. When you go out to shoot I think it's best to throw away intentions and schedules and let yourself slide into the process like a you slide slowly into a hot bath. If you go looking for the right moment you'll generally never find it.

It's some perverse law of the universe. It's in the same set of laws that mandate if you see a great scene and vow to come back the next day to capture it the scene will never present itself again. Once Belinda and I were staying in Mexico City, in the very hotel that Trotsky used to live in, oh so many years ago. We were only in Mexico City for a few days and I kept meaning to make some cool photographs of the Hotel's interior but I didn't. Something else always came up. I decided I'd get the photos next time I was there. Of course an earthquake weeks later leveled the hotel.

It's also the same perverse law of the universe that demands you do things here and now. If you delay anything it will be changed, diluted, and made more crass. Put off going to Rome and the Rome you could have experienced will no longer exist having been replaced by a different and more homogenous version.

It's the same unfortunate law of photography that says, "Print now or you'll never see this image again." We have the right intention but we need the right follow through. When an image jumps up in your face and fascinates you the time to act on it is in that moment. But most of us put the images into a folder, go out and shoot more and then put those new images into folder and so on, waiting until life slows down and we have time to luxuriate with our little treasure and to photoshop them just so and make them perfect before we sent them off to the printer. But we wake up to find the moment gone, the image left untouched. And we think they will continue to exist but a certain physical/metaphysical relationship has changed and we'll never come back to the same image in just the same way.

These images remind me that the only time is now. Carpe diem.

Being there.

The Vatican.  Mamiya Six.  75mm.  T-max 400 CN.

There's no substitute for going out and being in the middle of life.  It's where all the pictures happen.

SOME HOUSEKEEPING STUFF.

I write this blog for my pleasure and to share my limited knowledge with anyone who cares to read it.  In the back of my brain I assume that if people like what I write it might also motivate them to try one of the books I've written.  Also,  if you click on one of the Amazon links to buy something, I get a small percentage of that sale but it costs you nothing more.  Not a cent. (not too pleased that my wife recently bought the Adobe Creative Suite for her business without linking through......).  If I write a review about something I either bought it myself or I acknowledge upfront that I'm reviewing a product that is on loan from a manufacturer.  I'm squeaky clean on all this stuff.

From the outset I've made it clear that I reserve the right to a.)  Change my mind.  I may really like a product but in the following months some other company may come out with a product I like better.  Owning camera gear is not like marriage there is no promise of, "till death do we part."  And frankly, I like finding out about new gear, coming to grips with it and then moving on to the next thing.  Chances are you are the same or you wouldn't find this blog very entertaining.  b.) Go into as much depth, over time, about any subject that I want to, including Olympus cameras, 50mm lenses, the "evil" of technology (please note satiric intent, cued by use of parentheses: for the nuance impaired), the redundancy of assistants and anything else that I want to write about.  c.) Diverge from common opinion.  d.) Disagree. With anything.

I do have some credentials.  I've taught.  I'm published widely as a photographer (and as a writer).  I've actually touched and used everything I talk about.  If I write something about the photo business it's probably because the situation being discussed just came up.  Or is ongoing in my own business.  I've also worked in the ad business.

One of the things I really like about writing a blog is that I can get good feedback from smart, opinionated people.  And when it runs counter to my beliefs or ideas it makes me really sit back and think.  It challenges me to not be lazy in the thought process and to be open to other points of view.  If the comments didn't exist I probably wouldn't pursue this whole thing.

But  (and it would be nice if everyone paid attention here for my short but important rant)  if you're just an unpleasant person (edited)  and you want to call me names and infer that I'm lying or have something to hide or some hidden agenda,  if you have something nasty to say about someone I've written about or linked to,  in short, if you're just here make trouble,  I'll use my trusty moderating skills and reject your comments.  If you are not happy with that you could make it easy on both of us and just stop reading the column.  This blog doesn't exist as a vehicle for you to use to rip my day.

One or two readers (and one rude person) have commented on the fact that the images posted recently have no exif info.  Not sure why.  Must be a setting in LR3 that I've mistakenly ticked.  This has led to a conspiracy theory (on the part of one reader)  that my recent addition of Canon gear has filled me with overwhelming remorse for having once bought and happily used Olympus cameras and lenses and speaking glowingly about them.  Last I looked there are a number of Olympus bodies and lenses scattered about the studio though I will admit that I've come to like the EP, m4:3rds cameras best......  I think I make the provence of the gear most evident when it's the focus of the post.  If I'm talking about the collapse of western civilization I don't really think anyone should care about whether the display photo was taken with a 1995 vintage Mamiya 6.  ( having a hard time getting the exif info out of that camera as well.).  I'll fix the exif info if I can figure it out.  I am not a software geek and have never pretended to be one.

So to recap:  1.) Smart and polite people are always welcome to post comments and have a 99% chance of seeing them appear.   2.) Rude, vindictive people will no longer stand any chance of having their comments survive the ruthless moderator process.  3.)  I will continue to write about just what I want to write about until such a time as the subscriber base falls to near zero, the hits to the blog sag to under a thousand per day, or so, or until I get carpal tunnel syndrome.

The exif stuff will return as soon as I figure out where it went.  If you left a bitchy, anonymous post this morning, thanks for helping me get started on this housekeeping post.  You'll probably be much happier over in the forums at DPReivew.  You're welcome to stay and read and post interesting comments.

That's about it.