Pen and Shutter

In photography

2008-12-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

there are no rules. There is no right or wrong. Photography is absolute anarchy, yet there are those who feel that it is their duty to define the laws of photography for others. I hope that I haven't become a part of this. Everything that I have written are just my personal observations on photography. They are what photography is to me, and maybe you have found some common ground with the things that I have said. I hope so, I really like it when people agree with me. But hey, if not, that's cool too. That's the great thing about photography; you can do whatever you want. So do whatever you want.

To take a picture

2008-12-13T16:58:00.008-05:00

Why do we "take" pictures? Why is the action of photography described by a word that really describes the act of claiming possession of something? We don't create a picture nor do we simply "photograph" something. We take them, the way a hunter takes the hunted. In this sense, to take a photograph couldn't be more right. As photographers, we don't make up or create photographs from the thin air, but rather we discover them. Photography is the search for something that is already there. As Robert Capa put it, "the pictures are there, and you just take them."

And you take them, but does the event and the subject then become yours? I would say so in the sense that your photography is a part of you, the photographer, and thus the subjects of your photographs become a part of you as well. I remember one instance when I ran into a familiar face. His faced seemed familiar enough to be a friend of mine, but I couldn't put a name to it or even remember where I had met him. I spent a lot of time running my memory in rewind, trying to figure out where I had met him. He turned out to just be a face in the crowd of one of my photographs. I don't know who he is really and he definitely doesn't either, but his face became a part of my conscious. This is what makes photography such a personal activity. It is an interaction between two strangers. Pointing a camera at the subject and taking their picture seems almost an intimate interaction. This is the beauty in taking a photograph. It is the mutual existence of two, the subject and photographer, where the subject gives and the photographer takes.

The words of photographers

2008-12-13T15:35:00.003-05:00

are full of insight, not only of photography but also of our world. As observers of our reality, it seems fitting that they would have a lot to say about humanity. I picked the following quotes because they discuss the median between our world and the photograph and the relationship between the two.

"To take photographs means to recognize - simultaneously and within a fraction of a second - both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis."
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

"The idea that any photography can't be personal is madness! ... I see something; it goes through my eye, brain, heart, guts; I choose the subject. What could be more personal than that?"
-Cornell Capa

"A photographer is an acrobat treading the high wire of chance, trying to capture shooting stars."
-Guy Le Querrec

"This is the essence of a work of art: that you never touch bottom. If a picture has for everybody exactly the same meaning, it is a platitude, and it is meaningless as a work of art."
-Philippe Halsman

"Often, the most worthwhile and convincing images tend to lurk within the hidden, oblique stories that fly just below the radar."
-Jonas Bendiksen

"...in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought."
-W. Eugene Smith

"Like the people you shoot and let them know it."
-Robert Capa

"...land makes people into who they are and what happens to them when they lose it and thus lose their identities."
-Larry Towell

"For me, the strength of photography lies in its ability to evoke humanity. If war is an attempt to negate humanity, then photography can be perceived as the opposite of war."
-James Nachtwey

"With all the arguments and discussions about the Vietnam War, what did the visual image do? It ended the war."
-Cornell Capa

2008-12-06T18:30:00.006-05:00

Wheatfield with Crows by Vincent Van Gogh

I'm gonna step back from photography again for a bit, but for the sake of photography of course. Visual arts beyond the genre of photography share a ton of similarities with it. I picked the painting above by Van Gogh particularly because of its qualites that can be found in good photography. The movement is evident with the flowing directions of Van Gogh's brush strokes. In fact the entire painting is filled with swaying brush strokes. Van Gogh's choice of colors contrast well with each other, going from warm tones of yellows to the dark cold tones of the sky. Even beyond the basics of aesthetic composition, artists of all mediums share similar goals of portrayal and expression.

Massacre in Korea, Pablo Picasso

Palestine, David Parsons

The painting Massacre in Korea is one of my favorite works by Picasso, particularly because of how clear his message is expressed. The contrast between good and evil is out there without any need for interpretation. The aggressors on the right with their weapons pointed at the innocent women and children on the left. This composed contrasting balance between good and evil was also used by Francisco Goya in his painting the Third of May 1808, and even in David Parsons' photograph from "The Wall" in Palestine which I mentioned in an earlier post. Its almost strange to see the similarities of these two different mediums so evident when placed side to side.

Put down that camera, and pick up a book.

2008-12-06T16:35:00.001-05:00

Put down that camera for a bit. You may fall into a period of separation anxiety, but I promise that it'll be short.. although I can't promise that it won't be painful. Anyway, now that your cameras are elsewhere and your hands are empty, go ahead and pick up a book. Not a photo book, but rather a good example of literature (Hemingway, or Faulkner perhaps?) Wait, but why? Well because, as irrelevant as it may sound, appreciating good literature may actually improve your photography. The connection between literature and photography may not be apparent, but it is definitely there.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Its a phrase that has worn out its use a while ago, but it does make the inevitable comparison between the written word and a picture. I couldn't say that a picture could equate to a book in its entirety, they both have their own place as forms of expression, but the very fact that they are both forms of expression should be a considered similarity. Both the author and the photographer ask the same creative-inducing questions, and both attempt to answer and express these questions in their own ways. These questions are often evaluations of the human condition, of our own psyche and the psyche of the subject. Understanding humanity seems almost necessary to create photographs worthy of thought, and literature has been attempting to understand humanity longer than the existence of photography. I'm sure these works of literature have a lot to say, and we certainly will always have a lot to learn. We can even see similarities in terms of how we attempt to answer these questions. Literary devices can to an extent be worked into a photograph, and understanding these devices could broaden your arsenal of expressive techniques.

Taking a good picture goes beyond basic photographic comprehension, as it also involves the expression of our thoughts and concepts. So expanding our thoughts and concepts could ultimately lead to a greater picture.

Finding that parking spot

2008-12-04T13:06:00.006-05:00

may sometimes be the greatest point of your day... well when it happens anyway. When it happens, you may cheer out loud to yourself in the car but once your out of the car you will probably forget what just happened in the middle of what you drove there to do. This overlooked excitement was the subject of Martin Parr's book Parking Spaces. Yes, parking spaces. The book is a collection of photographs of that empty parking space that you may have spent hours looking for. They were taken during a span of 5 years, between 2002 and 2007, and in over 41 countries, from Argentina and Australia to the United States and Uruguay. Its probably an overlooked point in the day for a reason, and that reason is probably because it is a pretty pointless part of the day. But you can't deny that there has been that one time when finding that empty spot has resulted in utter joy. Martin Parr hasn't denied either for this book. He accepts its triviality but also acknowledges the preciousness rather comically.

The portrayal of that last parking space's preciousness is evident in the book. For one, its a book filled with hundreds of photos of parking spaces. Dedicating a book to anything sort of implies its importance in someway. The book itself is presented as almost a wedding album, "white and terribly precious, as befits the value of the last parking space" according to the Magnum website. The preciousness that the book portrays is very much out there by the way Martin Parr presents it, and its a preciousness that almost everyone can identify with.

The book may put a smile on someones face with its clever photography, but there is a bit more to it. Martin Parr has been working on projects that address the issues of globalization, and this project is no exception. With photographs of that last parking spot spanning over 40 countries, it becomes clear that the automotive obsession isn't confined to just the United States or just the western world. The search for a parking spot has become a common experience for people around the world.

Links
Martin Parr's Parking Spaces

The new face of multimedia

2008-11-29T21:32:00.006-05:00

Multimedia has changed how we look at story-telling photography. It allowed us to transcend the boundaries of still photography with the union of audio and video. Now cameras like Canon's 5D Mark II and Nikon's D90 are going to take this even further. I'm sure most of you have already heard of the HD video features that these cameras now offer. If you haven't seen what these cameras can do in terms of HD film making, you should check out a couple of Vincent Laforet's videos shot with the 5D Mark II.

Nope, that's not a photo, its a clip from Vincent Laforet's HD video taken with a Canon 5D MKII.

The videos that Vincent Laforet has been producing are stunning, and really demonstrates the capabilites of DSLR HD cinemotography. At some points during the videos, I had to ask myself "is that a photograph or video?" The HD features on these new cameras are definitely not gimmicks, and with these cameras just being released this is only the start. Expect to see photographers implementing these new capabilities in multimedia projects in the future. Of course, we've seen video implemented in multimedia projects before but they often lacked in quality. Another problem with trying to implement video was the hassle of carrying a video camera, but now that a camera can both shoot amazing photographs and amazing HD, we should expect to see video playing a big role in future multimedia.

Vision over Quality

2008-11-22T15:51:00.004-05:00

I checked out photography-on-the.net's forum the other day. If you haven't been to it before, its a forum dedicated to Canon photography. Its been a while since I last visited that site, the last time being around the time I purchased my first DSLR about 2 years ago. I flipped through the categories, occasionally reading a thread here or there, and I soon decided that I was sick of it. I was sick of how it was packed full of pixel peeping, 100% crops, and the constant criticism of OOF and noise. Granted this all has its place in terms of testing equipment, and POTN's forum is a pretty good resource for all things equipment, but when these sorts of critera start to seep into the critiques of work, now thats when I get a little upset. Stop worrying about quality, and start thinking about the vision being portrayed.

Of course quality is a rather subjective word. I personally consider a "quality" image as a good representation of what the photographer is trying to say, but for the sake of this argument I'm referring to quality as such aspects as sharpness, noise, etc. I've read a lot of critism of work based specifically on these criteria, and its pretty disappointing. It's disappointing because once you start getting into these aspects, you really begin to criticize the capabilities of the camera rather than the vision of the photographer. If such criteria were the basis for what is considered a "good" photograph, the works of photographers such as Paolo Pellegrin and even Henri Cartier-Bresson himself would not qualify as a "good" photograph.

Blurred and dark, must not be a good photograph.

The photographs above are a part of Paolo Pellegrin's award winning book As I Was Dying. It is a grim look into the suffering that had taken place in front of Pellegrin during his time around the world. The photographs throughout the book are dismal and dark.. and also largly blurred, but this really portrays what Pellegrin was trying to get at. It is almost like the cold-sweat recollection of a nightmare. His vision is clear through his vague photographs.

Intense vingette, Subject is rather soft. Not a good photograph?
(photograph by David Burnett)

Holgas are a true testament to how a good photograph doesn't need "quality." Holgas are terrible cameras. They tend to have a problem with light leaks and intense vingette. The plastic lens doesn't really help with clarity either, but these imperfections are really what makes the images that Holgas produce beautiful.

2008-11-21T21:26:00.006-05:00

pretty awesome

The photographs that have been published on LIFE magazine are pretty awesome. Since its birth in 1883 names like Robert Capa (you may remember the LIFE darkroom incident, where Capa's photographs from Normandy were ruined) to Dorothea Lange have filled the pages of LIFE. There's another thing that I find pretty awesome, and that is Google. Google is probably the most widely used search engine on the web, so much so that it has almost gained its place in our language as a verb.

"Whats the capitol of Uruguay?".."I don't know, google it." (It's Montevideo, thanks Google.).

And now these two awesome things have joined together to create something pretty awesome; a digital archive of LIFE photographs on Google's image search engine. According to the LIFE archive page, you can search from millions of LIFE photographs from the 1750s up until today. Flipping through millions of photographs may sound like a daunting task, but of course Google's search engine makes it pretty easy to find a photograph. The LIFE archive page organizes the photographs based on the era (1860s to the 1970s) and categories (people, places, events, sports, culture), and of course a search bar. If you found the photograph you were looking for, say the famous Dorothea Lange photograph of a migrant mother and her child below, you can expect them to be in a large resolution. They generally run in the 1000s by the 900s.

Photograph by Dorothea Lange, found on Google's LIFE archive.

I have to point out a negative about this archive though, and it is that Cooliris doesn't support it. I mean it really isn't a big deal, but the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this archive was how cool it would be to browse through LIFE photos on Cooliris. Oh well, can't have everything I guess, right? NO WAY! CoolIris, get on that!

What's on my desktop this week

2008-11-20T21:46:00.003-05:00

My desktop wallpaper changes periodically, usually when I run into a photograph on the web that really makes me stop and stare. Its pretty nice to turn on my computer everyday to a beautiful photograph. The photograph I have as my wallpaper this week was taken by photographer David Parson during his time in Palestine. I ran into it while I was looking through the portfolios of Eddie Adams Workshop alumni, and it definitely made me stop and stare. Within the panoramic frame of this photograph is shear intensity. The club of the Israeli soldier is at the peak of its build up. The faces of Israeli and Palestinian protesters confronting the soldier on the future spot of an Israeli "security barrier" made my entire body drop with emotion. Although their hands are up in defense, their faces look dead ahead and are filled with mixed emotions of fear and defiance. The face of the club-wielding soldier looks of indifference, a stark contrast to the other side. Talk about "the decisive moment." Everything in this photo is at its peak climax, and Parson utilized the wide ratio well (the majority of Parson's Palestine series is shot in this panoramic format) by filling it completely from left to right. It almost reads like a book, and the more I read it, the more intense it becomes.

Links:
David Parson's Website
Parson's Eddie Adams Workshop Profile

The Places We Live

2008-11-15T10:37:00.008-05:00

For some, photography is a tool of empathy. A picture can, to an extent, put you into the life of another. Jonas Bendiksen's new photo series The Places We Live envokes empathy well, and does so by actually putting you into the homes of those who live in the slum areas of Caracas, Venezuela; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; and Jakarta, Indonesia. He does this with an interesting use of panoramas to give the viewers a sort of tour inside the homes of families like the Aroris in Kibera, Kenya (below).

Bendiksen also sets the context of the situation in slums well. The series photographs the lives of these growing slums, and the culture and history that has formed there. The photographs are in a sort of color that is very familiar with Bendiksen's work. The colors are very surreal, with a musk of nostalgia to it.

The series will be exhibited at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway on June 6, 2008, and January 31, 2009. If Norway is out of your reach like it is for me, you can check out the photos on The Places We Live website. The book The Places We Live is also available now on Amazon, or you could pick up a signed copy at Magnum's online store .

How far we've come. How far we still need to go.

2008-11-12T15:01:00.003-05:00

Stephen David speaking during an anti-discrimination rally on Purdue University's Campus. (Photo by Steven Yang)

The words “I have a dream” have long since resonated since they were spoken by Martin Luther King on the steps of our nation's capitol. It's been about 45 years since then and we will be sending our first black president to the same capitol to lead our nation. This is without a doubt a testament to our nation's progress and it will forever be known as a moment of great importance in American history, but we cannot be blinded of the road still ahead by the successes behind us. We still have a long way to go.

The photograph above was taken during an anti-discrimination rally at Purdue University, which recently found itself victim to discriminative acts. One of those acts involved the tree where the rally took place, which was defaced with racial slurs against Obama. The university condoned such acts, but groups such as the local NAACP and the Purdue Queer Student Union feel that more needs to be done. These events may be local, but that doesn't mean that such acts of discrimination are isolated. Discrimination continues to take place in this country and the rest of the world, and the events that recently took place at this university are reminders of this fact.

I've been seeing a lot of “Yes We Did”'s lately. This is of course referring to Obama's campaign slogan “Yes We Can.” Now that Obama is president-elect, it seems fitting to say that we did something, but we have to remember that we still have a lot more to do.

Static Movement

2008-11-07T22:26:00.004-05:00

France 1932, Henri Cartier-Bresson

Still photography isn't always still. Movement can grace the surface of a photograph, and the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph above is a pure demonstration of this. The lines off the staircase spiral like an awkward nautilus shell towards the curved shape of the road. Everything flows towards the left, and to end this dynamic flow of line and shape; the blurred movement of a man on his bicycle riding down the streets of the Var, France.

Barack Obama Wins!

2008-11-05T00:10:00.006-05:00

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.
(click to enlarge)

DIY Canon EOS Shutter Remote

2008-11-01T19:44:00.008-04:00

Remote shutter releases can come in handy for a lot of things. Don't own one? Oh its cool, you can make one with just a couple of household items.

Stuff you need:
-Headphones with a 3.5mm connector
-Push Buttons (alright I guess those aren't really household, but you can get them at RadioShack for about $2 each.)
-Some sort of case to put it all together with.

First off you have to kill your headphones and snip the end of the cord. Now split the cord and you should see 3 different wires; Ground, Shutter Release, and Auto Focus. The diagram below explains each position on the 3.5mm connector.

Very life-like.

There is probably a way to figure out which colored wire is which, but I don't know it so figuring that out took a little trial and error. For me the wires were blue, red and gold. Blue was shutter release, red was the ground (common), and gold was auto focus.

Now grab your 2 push buttons and a container to assemble it with. I used some sort of a battery holder that I found laying around. You can really use anything to assemble it with, other tutorials I found on the web recommended using a 35mm film canister.

After putting the assembly together its time to solder. You're going to need a soldering iron and solder for this step. Soldering is pretty easy, you can find a tutorial on instructables. The wires have to be put together according to the diagram below.

Most cameras don't actually use 3.5mm connectors. Canon Eos cameras use either a 2.5mm audio connector (Most Rebel series cameras) or a N-3 connector (every other Eos camera). You can use a converter to get the remote to work with your camera. 3.5mm to 2.5mm converters are pretty common and are available at places like RadioShack. The only place I know of that sells N-3 converters is Calumet.

Plug the converter and remote into the camera and you're set.

The Democratic Race 2008

2008-10-31T16:13:00.007-04:00

(Click to View)

There are just 4 more days until November 4th so I put together The Democratic Race 2008 photo essay for the web. It is a retrospective look at the democratic race in Nevada leading up to the caucus. The photo essay actually runs in reverse chronological order, starting from the Nevada caucus on January 19, 2008 and ending on one of Barack Obama's early visits to Nevada in late 2007. The context of Nevada lead to an interesting race for the democrats. Third in line, following New Hampshire and Iowa, Nevada became a sort of trivial tie breaker for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Nevada's stage was also set with strong unions on the Las Vegas strip and an increasingly problematic home foreclosure crisis in Clark County, which created an interest situation for the democrats for this 2008 election. Hillary Clinton would later win in Nevada with 51% of the vote, followed by Barack Obama's 45%.

Photo Essay can also be viewed on www.sportsshooter.com/stevenyphoto

Turn around

2008-10-28T19:17:00.005-04:00

look away from the center stage, and take a look at life taking place behind you. I think some of the best photographs I have seen from events were not so much of the events themselves but rather of the audiences. Their responses to what is going on can sometimes say something that a photo of what is actually going on cannot say. This is part of Alfred Eisenstaedt's brilliance in the photograph below. Instead of choosing to photograph a puppet show at the Tuileries park in Paris he turned his camera around and captured the response of the children-filled audience. Wide eyes of awe and faces of excitement that could only be fueled by shear passion fill the frame. I don't know what this puppet show was about, but it must have been amazing.

The audience of a puppet show at the Tuileries park in Paris in 1963. Alfred Eisenstaedt.

The faces of a reacting crowd can also make you feel that feeling you can only get from the shock of tragedy. That's what I felt when I first saw Patrick Witty's photograph (below) of a crowd's response to the first tower's fall on that tragic day of 9/11. As I stare into the faces in this photograph I could almost hear the disastrous sounds of the tower's collapse behind, the collapse that they are witnessing. The photograph almost becomes a mirror to America, their responses were also ours, and with that there is a sense of empathy to photo.

A crowd in the streets of New York City witnessing the collapse of the first tower on 9/11. Patrick Witty.

Don't sell yourself short

2008-10-25T19:31:00.002-04:00

"Noooo, come back and place a higher bid!"

My exhibition the other night was a success, but not profit wise. I'm actually in a financial crunch now because of exhibition expenses. But like I said before, the experience is really what made this exhibition worth it, and I took a lot of lessons with me from this experience. One of those lessons; don't sell yourself short!

In my case, the starting bid was set too low. I figured that a starting bid should be low as it is the starting bid. But one thing I learned about low starting bids is that it leads to low ending bids. The thing about photographs is that it isn't a common item that a person would go about purchasing regularly. So when it comes to selling photographs, the seller needs to almost guide the buyer by setting the price. Most people don't know how much a framed photograph should cost, so the starting bid should somewhat reflect its worth. The starting bids for my photographs began at an average of $10, under the assumption that a starting bid should start low. Instead the starting bid should have begun at around cost to ensure that I could at least break even.

So to anyone out there planning on selling their work, don't self yourself short. If you are confident that your work will impress, then set the price to reflect that confidence. It doesn't matter if the buyer is impressed, they won't buy high if you start them at nothing.

The Democratic Race 2008 Exhibition

2008-10-24T18:56:00.008-04:00

So I had my exhibition the other night and it turned out pretty well. The exhibition was held for the college democrats at my school and it took place during the yearly Jefferson Jackson Dinner held by the local democrats. I know, I know, what happened to objectivity? Well I do admit I am voting for Barack Obama, but that is for personal reasons that I would love to discuss.. but maybe another time. Regardless of who I am voting for, this election, as the late Tim Russert put it, has been "the most exciting election we've had in such a long time." That was mainly why I wanted to hold this exhibition, to share this story that I had compiled to somebody, anybody, before the end of the election. It also provided a bit of exposure which is great since I am a new to Indiana.

Turn out was great since the exhibition was a part of the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner that the local democrats hold. A crowd of politicians and campaign contributors attended that night, a great crowd to be exposed to.

The feedback I received for my work was definitely full of interest and encouraging words. Above all else this would probably be the defining factor in deciding if the exhibition was successful, the reviews.

All in all, the exhibition was a success. Profits were disappointing, but the experience in itself was worth everything. Now on to a new project.

60th Anniversary - Declaration of Human Rights and VII Agency

2008-10-18T18:43:00.004-04:00

"ARTICLE 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. CAPTION - Prisoners crowd a jail cell in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gary Knight/VII"

"The 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights will take place on December 10, 2008. To mark this important milestone, the VII Photo agency has created an exhibition that will be shown in more than 50 cities around the world over the coming months. They include Baghdad, Kabul, Ramallah, Khartoum, Tbilisi, Caracas, Kathmandu, Lima, Port Moresby, Hong Kong, Prague, and Oslo, to name but a few. A slideshow of the work will be shown in another 180 cities/venues."
-VII Photo Agency

Like the quote above says, the VII Photo Agency will be having exhibitions to commemorate the day that the UN General Assembly adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For each of the 30 articles of the UDHR, the VII Agency has selected 30 photographs. The exhibition also includes photographs by VII Network photographers such as Eric Bouvet and Balazs Gardi.

"ARTICLE 30: Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein. CAPTION - A boy swings from a gun turret of an abandoned tank in Managua, Nicaragua. James Nachtwey/VII"

I haven't been able to find event schedules on their site or others, but I will be sure to stay posted on any event schedule updates. Until then, the 30 selected photos can be seen on the VII website.

Related Links:
www.viiphoto.com
UDHR

Clicking through images is old news.

2008-10-18T18:06:00.007-04:00

"I am apparently the last blogger in the world to discover Cooliris."
-PDNPulse (August 2008)

Nope, I guess I am. I just downloaded Cooliris the other day, and I am thoroughly amazed. Cooliris is a very lightweight Firefox browser extension that allows you to browse through images in a streamline, full-screen, 3D interface. With Cooliris you can transform websites like Google Images, Flickr, Deviant Art, and more into a three dimensional wall of images. The program is very visually appealing, and the controls are very intuitive (reminds me of an iphone).

You can download it on Cooliris's website, www.cooliris.com.

Exhibition stuff

2008-10-16T16:45:00.013-04:00

The set up begins.

For the past month or so I've been working on my exhibition, The Race 2008. The photos will be from the events of the 2008 presidential race that I had a chance to cover while living in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 16 photos being exhibited will be up for auction to benefit the College Democrats of Purdue University. This will be my first exhibition ever, and it has definitely been a learning experience for me.

Matting and mounting.

After plans for the exhibition were set, the first thing on the agenda were the prints. I always order my prints from Mpix, and this time was no exception. Mpix has always delivered results right to my door, and I don't have to worry about print hassles like supplies and color matching (but I should still probably invest in my own printer eventually, but till then Mpix will be more than fine). As expected, the prints arrived and looked great. They ranged in size from 18x12, 15x10, to 12x9.

Now that the prints are here, uh, what do I do with them? What do I do with them? Should I frame them? Frames are rather pricey. Should I just mount and hang them with swiss clips? That might not entice big bids. These thoughts ran through my mind for weeks till I finally decided on framing. After advice from friends and the web I decided frames were worth the somewhat heavy price, and after framing them I realized they really did show their worth. Prints in frames and behind glass look amazing. The frames really finish it off, shouting "I'm ready to be shown to the world." I decided on the standard matte black frames from American Frame along with slim, 1" white mats. This slim frame/mat combo not only had the modern look I had hoped for but also left the photo it encompassed as the dominant. Now that I see how great my prints look framed I don't regret framing them, even if they don't rake in high bids.

Assembly reminded me of legos. Legos were great.

Final product, smile on face, definitely worth it.

Well, 16 prints and frames later and I was done with that part of it. Now on to captions and actual set up of the exhibition. I'll post updates on that as it happens.

Color v. Black and White

2008-10-10T19:12:00.010-04:00

Color or black and white? Its a pretty basic question, but at some point during the creation of every photograph, the photographer will have to decide between the two. There are those who strictly shoot one of the two, and for them the decision is clearly easy. But for those of us who shoot between the two, deciding between black and white or color can sometimes leave us in a dilemma. This is a problem for someone as indecisive as me but I manage by keeping two aspects into consideration; the situation and/or technical limitations.

Often times I decide between black and white or color the moment I see the photograph play out in front of me simply based on the situation. What do I want to tell about the situation through my photo, and which of the two would better tell it? I do generally prefer black and white over color. The elegant simplicity and dramatic contrast of opposites appeals to me, especially when I am attempting to illustrate emotion in a photograph. Color's complexity can sometimes become distracting from the emotion of the photograph. Black and white's dramatic contrast of opposites also accentuates emotion and highlights the expressions of the subject.

NPPL San Diego 2006, Photo by Steven Yang

Color has its purpose too, but as Henri Cartier-Bresson says , it should be looked at by "an approach different than that which is appropriate for black and white." Black and white accentuates emotion, color accentuates sensation. There is something about the color of photographs that recreates the feeling of being there. "You can only get that sense in color, you can smell it, you can smell everything in those kodachromes" says Trent Parke, "you can feel it."

David Alan Harvey, GERMANY. Hanover. 1989. Berlin Wall.

I also use color when color is the subject. The inferno colors of a sunset sky, the warm tone of fall leaves, or in the case of the photo below, the colors of the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fremont Street, Las Vegas. Steven Yang

In the end, these are just rules that I follow, made by me from observations behind a camera. The capabilities of photography are available to be used at the photographer's content, so don't let me define them for you.

James Nachtwey Revealed His TED Project

2008-10-04T19:42:00.006-04:00

There has been word lately that James Nachtwey would be announcing his recent TED Prize funded photo project. According to the speech above, Nachtwey has been covering "a story that the world needs to know about." Nachtwey's announced plans were to use the $100,00 TED Prize grant to "break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age." This could be a big moment for the new face of digital photojournalism, and yesterday James Nachtwey announced his TED Prize Project; Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Nachtwey has traveled to 7 countries (Cambodia, South Africa, Swaziland, Thailand, Siberia, Lesotho, India) which have been effected by this new form of TB. By documenting XDR-TB's effects, Nachtwey's TED wish is to raise awareness with his work and to ultimately reach a conclusion to the problem.

Photos from this project can be seen on xdrtb.org, but that is only the start of James Nachtwey's efforts to spread awareness. Expect to see Nachtwey's essay "The Forgotten Plague" in Time magazine, screenings in cities around the world, and the use of new and innovative digital mediums.

A patient in Battambang Provincial Hospital, Battambang, Cambodia, coinfected with TB and Aids is comforted by a medical worker during a visit by the NGO, Cambodian Health Committee. (James Nachtwey, VII)

Related Links:
TED Prize 2007
xdrtb.org
VII Photo Agency

2008-10-04T18:39:00.003-04:00

The photo above was taken in 2006 by Peter van Agtmael during his time covering the war in Iraq. It is a part of his series War Graffiti which covers an interesting place in the Iraq conflict, the bathroom stall. A place of no accountability. A place where anything can be said, and everything is said. The doors and partitions of these stalls are filled with words written by soldiers. These words almost provide a glimpse into the minds of the those who wrote them. Looking through the series, I wondered what motivated the writing. In the instance of the photo above, it seems that the bathroom stall became a place for an anonymous release of emotion. For the faceless soldier who wrote a plea for God's forgiveness and assurance, the bathroom stall became a confessional. For the writer of the obsene response, the walls may have become a place to release the resentment caused by the bitter realities of war. Or could it simply be a trivial remark? The motives are obscure, but that obscurity compells curiosity, a curiosity that can only be filled with the products of imagination.

"My photographs are primarily about contradictions" says Agtmael, and the contridiction is in plain view. Along with obscurity, the photo bares obviousness. The vulgar response to the written prayer is loud and clear. The obcene outweighs the sincere in size and intensity, yet the weight of the photograph is balanced. The two statements evenly balance their position within the frame, one with content, the other with visual intensity.

Orphan Works Bill, Closer to Reality

2008-10-02T12:58:00.002-04:00

This is sort of late (6 days late actually) but if you are a visual artist of any sort then this is probably important to you. The Orphan Works Copyright Act (Senate Bill 2913) has passed in the Senate on September 27, 2008. The act was created to free up the use of copyrighted work in the event that the owner cannot be identified after a "diligent effort" has been made to find the author. It has strongly been opposed by many in the photography and visual arts community because of fear that their work may not be protected to the extent of current copyright laws. The act still needs to go through the House and the president before it becomes law.

Whether or not this bill passes, copyright laws will not be immune to change. This act is a preview of the future of copyright in an ever-growing information age. So what can you do to protect your work? Well, make yourself easy to get a hold of. Provide contact information where your work is available. What about providing the information right on the work? Watermarks have always been used by photographers to protect their work, although some would argue that watermarks detract from the work. Who would want Picasso stamped across the Guernica? Well then again, who would want to see their work published without adequate compensation?

Related Links

Senate Bill 2913
PDN Pulse Report

My Daily Commute through the Web.

2008-09-27T19:48:00.014-04:00

Alright, I gotta get started on that blog.

Hmmmmm, alright www.blogger.cooomm. Username.. password.. ok.

Uhhhhmmm, crap, what should I write about? ...Uhh... ahhhhhh.... hmmmmm.. I wonder if I got any comments on myspace.

Alright, username.. password.. ok.

Crap, really? Nothing? Huh.. I wonder if there is anything new on Magnum

Ahh the Magnum Photo Agency. A great website for an amazing photo agency, and wow such great photography. This prestigious photo agency was founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert, and George Rodger in 1947. Today the agency leads in multimedia, the new face of photo reportage. The Magnum in Motion portion of the website offers over 15 pages of multimedia photo essays, taken by some of the greatest photographers of our time and history.

Okay, www.blogger... I wonder if theres anything new on VII.

The VII Photo Agency also has its share of great photographers. James Nachtwey, Marcus Bleasdale, Christopher Morris, and Ron Haviv just to name a few. This website's got a good multimedia section too, with photo essays and interviews of their photographers. Check out their photographers' portfolios, essays, and more. Portfolio, I should update mine.

www.lightstalkers.org, log in, alright.

Lightstalkers is a great networking site for photojournalists. Anyone can create a profile and can upload their photos to make a flash slideshow. The slideshows look very professional, the format reminds me of the flash slideshow used by the New York Times website. I use it to display my portfolio. I should probably update my Sports Shooter portfolio too.

double you, double you, double yoou, DOT, sportsshooter.com.

Don't let the name deceive you. Although there is a lot of sports photography on this website, it covers photojournalism in general. Sports Shooter offers a bunch of stuff for its members. Contests, message boards, networking tools, classifieds, and a profile page. But not everyone can be a member. To become a member you must have a senior member sponsor you, which will then qualify you to be evaluated by the review board. It's not too difficult of a process, and if you think you have what it takes as a photographer then you should definitely give it a shot. The website also offers interesting reads and videos that non-members can access. Great resource for anyone interested in photography.

Woah, look at the time, I gotta get started on that blog. Alright, enough procrastinating, I gotta get on this... I wonder if I got anything on facebook..

Check out photo websites mentioned above:
Magnum Photo Agency
VII Photo Agency
Light Stalkers
Sports Shooter

while you're here, share the photo websites you go to on your daily commute to the web.

I Love Lightroom

2008-09-27T16:25:00.014-04:00

Don't tell Photoshop, but I am in love with Adobe Lightroom2. It's beautiful, it's easy, it's.. it's just awesome. Lightroom is the brainchild Mark Hamburg's "Shadowland" project. Unlike past Adobe image processing programs such as Photoshop, Lightroom focuses on RAW processing and a very user-interactive interface.

Adobe Lightroom 2 Interface. Thumbnails on the bottom,
editing controls on the right, navigator on the left.

Lightroom's beautiful interface is what got me to consider using it, but using it is what I fell in love with. What makes Lightroom so interactive is how adjustments can be made directly on the image rather than just through drag bars on seperate panels. This makes adjustments like white balance, tonal curves, and dodge/burn more than just trial and error. The user can directly adjust the image and see results as adjustments are being made. Its like putting paint on canvas, except better; the paint can be taken clean off if need be. Adobe Lightroom 2 is a non-destructive image processing program, meaning that adjustments don't directly alter the original image file. Anything can be undone because the original integrity of the image is left unaltered. So go crazy! Experiment with adjustments without worrying about damaging the original image.

Anyway, lets get back to some of Lightroom's direct adjustment features.

White Balance:

White Balance is EASY! I didn't think that I could ever say that, but Lightroom's "eye drop" white balance feature makes it possible. To adjust white balance you simply grab the white balance eye drop tool and drag it over the image. The eye drop tool then turns into gridded loupe which allows you to pick a neutral point from the image to base the white balance on. Okay, but how do you know which point is neutral? Well you actually don't really even need to know; with Lightroom's real time preview panel you can see exactly what the image will look like if you were to select a particular point.

Curves:

The Tonal Curve tool has always been a powerful tool in the Adobe Photoshop series. It allows for very selective tonal adjustments, and Lightroom's take on the curves function makes it even more selective. Lightroom's curve function features a selective tonal cursor. With it, you simply click a specific point on an image and adjust. Sky blown out? Simply click a point on the sky, and adjust that specific tonal range. For me personally, this new feature has made accurate skin tones a lot easier to achieve.

Brushes:
Lightroom's brush tool is extremely versatile. It can be used to adjust everything from exposure, brightness, clarity, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. Along with the brush tool's versatility, it is also easily adjustable, even after the brush has been set. Simply click the brush point and drag left or right to adjust the amount of effect. The brushed regions can easily be seen with a red highlight.

After using Lightroom, I no longer use Photoshop CS3's RAW processing feature. Lightroom's easy and interactive interface has made it easier for me to produce the final product that I had in mind. I would recommend it to anyone who primarily shoots RAW format. It is available through Adobe's website for $299, and a free trial is available for download.

Link to Adobe Lightroom Website

Bruce Gilden and Friends

2008-09-25T18:39:00.015-04:00

"All these people that I photograph are like my friends, even if I don't know them, because I am drawn to them somehow." Bruce Gilden's "friends" are quite an assortment of peculiar characters, from Yakuza mobsters to the strange faces of bustling NYC streets. Although, Gilden may not prefer to call the faces of his photos strange, but rather beautiful. The generic definition of photogenic doesn't interest him, "people that have something different and special" do. "There is beauty in everything," says Gilden, and he finds beauty where others may turn away.

Where others turn away, Bruce Gilden gets close. His up close style puts the viewer right into the subject's face, flipping the viewer's role from simple observer to participant. Gilden takes Robert Capa's famous words "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough" and pushes it as far as he can take it. The way he fills the frame with the subject and utilizes an off-camera flash reminds me of staged portrait photography. But unlike staged portraits, Gilden's photos capture the subject's natural self. He catches his subjects off guard. No face is put up for the camera, making vulnerable the subject's true self. Some say Gilden's photos are almost spiritual, so close to the subject that you can almost peer into their souls.

Bruce Gilden recently covered the Democrat and Republican National Conventions, but Obama and McCain weren't of importance to him. While cameras pointed at center stage, Gilden turned his camera towards the strange, if not eery, faces of nationalism/partisan surrounding it.

Check out more of Bruce Gilden:

Democrats VS Republicans, Magnum Photo Agency
The Rat Story, Magnum in Motion

Behind my eye

2008-09-20T22:04:00.005-04:00

The stage was set. Lights and cameras were ready and waiting for Barack Obama,the presumptive democratic presidential candidate, to appear. The Silverado High School gymnasium was packed. A sense of almost gitty anticipation could be felt through out the crowd, the crowd I was stuck in. Obama's visit to this Las Vegas, Nevada high school was my first opportunity to cover a political event and I didn't have a press pass. I walked by the press booth in envy as I was escorted to behind the stage, where the general audience sat. It was the usual set up, general audience set up between the stage and a massive american flag. This is great for the cameras in the press booth, which could capture the candidate and his supporters together in front of the symbol that is America. Great for them, but it made things difficult for me. Along with having to constantly see Obama's back, the main source of light was pointed towards the front of the stage, making it difficult for me to get a decent shot of Obama during his speech. In spite of all this, I kept my eye on the viewfinder, telephoto lens pointed towards the stage. I wasn't expecting anything, but I figured since I'm here I should atleast keep an eye on the main attraction.

Then I noticed something. Obama would turn towards the audience behind him periodically, and in doing so, his profile glanced the spot light in front of him. I snapped a shot everytime he turned, and they turned out to be very high contrast, almost noir photographs. Out of all the frames I took, this particular one stood out. His identity is clear, with the light clashing up against the details of his profile from his face to every finger of his hand. His posture is that of someone who is attempting to mesmerize, and mesmerize he did.

Huh? F-stop?

2008-09-20T21:40:00.004-04:00

Photography is popular and with good reason; its easy. Anybody can take a picture, especially with new camera features ranging from face detecting auto-focus to smarter automatic exposure options. Cameras are becoming more of a consumer electronic device and less of a tool for photographers. This can't be helped, the manufacturers are simply keeping up with the tides of the market. Those who are stubborn to this change are bound to fail. Just look at the iconic German camera company Leica, which fell into financial trouble in early 2005 primarily because of their slow pace in adapting to the new digital era. These innovations in camera technology may be great for company profits and the average consumer, but new photographers are becoming photographically illiterate by relying on these short-cuts rather than learning the basics.

Henri Cartier-Bresson said it best, "the actual handling of the camera, its stops, its exposure-speeds and all the rest of it are things which should be as automatic as the changing of gears in an automobile." Knowing how to shift and steer is as important to a Formula 1 driver as understanding the operation of a camera is to a photographer. Without understanding the basic operations of a camera, the important decisions of exposure, focus, and depth of field are then left to be made by programmed algorithms rather than the photographer's intent. This may be fine for someone who is simply trying to record a family outing, but by relying on computer programs to make these decisions the photographer loses control of the photograph. When the photographer takes the control of these important decisions the camera's actions become the reactions of the eye and mind rather than simple computations.

Subject Anonymous

2008-09-15T12:29:00.019-04:00

Photography has always been used to record the faces of people from early daguerreotype portraits to the mundane passport pictures. We obsess about photographing the human face, and with good reason. The human face holds great photographic value. Its aesthetic symmetry and beauty makes it something worth gazing over, and it identifies the subject and expresses their emotions. However, as powerful as the human face can be in a photograph, it can sometimes be the least important aspect of the subject.

Sometimes a portrait doesn't need to include the face of a subject in order to tell the story. Omitting the face can realign the focus towards something less considered about the subject. In this case who the subject is becomes a minor aspect of the photograph. What then becomes important is the overlooked characteristics of the subject. It is almost a minimalistic approach to photographing people, cutting out anything that does not contribute to what you intend to show about the subject.

My America, Photographs by Christopher Morris, VII

Leaving the subject anonymous also creates a sense of obscurity. Who the person is will always be important to the viewer, but by not defining exactly who the subject actually is, the photograph then leaves it up to the viewer's imagination to construct the subject's identity with what is given. In this case uncertainty is a good thing. The anonymous subject is almost the photographic equivalent to a poetic device used in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken."

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Frost's decision may have "made all the difference," but whether or not the difference was a good one is left up to the reader's imagination.

Chechnya. 1996. Ruins in the center of Grozny. Photograph by James Nachtwey, VII.

The photograph above was taken during the aftermath of the first Chechnya war. The identity of the subject is for the most part omitted, leaving only the fact that the subject is a child in the midst of destruction behind him. The message is clear, many children were victim to this war. Who the child actually is doesn't concern the photograph, that is left to be made up by the viewer. He could be anyone within the viewer's imagination, even someone close.

More of Christopher Morris and James Nachtwey at VII Photo

Where to begin..

2008-09-12T13:41:00.001-04:00

Hey! This is Pen and Shutter, a blog dedicated to journalism, photography and the collaboration of the two. Photojournalism is a powerful medium, allowing information and visualization to work cooperatively to bring about awareness to issues around the globe, and this blog will discuss how it does so. Along with discussing photojournalism and its application in today's constantly evolving information age I will also regularly post tutorials, product reviews, discuss technique and ethics, and feature photos each week. While you're here leave a comment, suggest photos to be featured for the week, or submit your own! Blogs should be more than just the author, and I'd much rather have it be "we" rather than just me.

Speaking of me, uh, who am I? Well, to begin, I am a working photojournalist and a student currently majoring in Communications. I have covered events ranging from national professional paintball events to the 2008 presidential election. In terms of photography, I consider what I do hardly an art, but more of a disciplined observation of the world. The confines of a viewfinder help me, not so much to make clear of the obscure, but to understand and appreciate its place in reality. In terms of journalism, I consider its role in our democracy paramount. In a society where the people can potentially have just as much influence over policy as the policy makers, it is essential that the people have a source of objective information.

On that note, lets get this going.