phoblography.net

I recently got an opportunity to do some work for the company Flowmaster - they manufacture and install vehicle exhaust systems and mufflers. I was out in Hayden, ID doing some work for Flowmaster on my “real job” - but it just so happened that the days that I was out, they were doing some testing on three vehicles to measure performance increases. They had a small handful of professional freelance automotive magazine photographers on site to catch the action for upcoming articles.

After my work was completed, I got an opportunity to chat with Mike Chase (mikechasephoto.com) about various photoraphy topics. I noticed he was using a simple Omnibounce diffuser on his Nikon DSLR’s flash. I happened to have my gear with me - so I showed him my Gary Fong photojournalist diffuser. It was rather amusing when I brought it out - several of the other photographers noted it and said, “Hey, it’s Gary Fong!” I guess Gary’s got a name for himself - and rightfully so…his diffuser products are excellent. Mike made some test shots, comparing his Omnibounce against the Photojournalist. Though the test shots were just simple shots of a thermostat on a wall - comparatively, the Fong shots were much more diffused. Mike made it clear that he intended to purchase two for his flashes - and was quite appreciative of checking it out.

We discussed other things as well - spent time talking about Photoshop and techniques that can be used. I learned an interesting post-processing concept that struck me as absolute genius. I’ve often struggled with the the idea of “when am I done?” with post-processing. It seems, with powerful tools such as Photoshop, there are limitless possibilities when it comes to a photo. I could easily spend hours on a single photo trying all the various combinations. These guys use a technique which makes perfect sense - they conceive what they want the photo to look like based on their criteria (such as vivid colors, fidelity to film, or possibly even “how it will look” when it goes to press) and then work from there. I can see that it’s much easier to work towards a goal - but I don’t think I’ll be too quick to totally adopt this methodology. I think there has been much good to come out of tinkering with a photo - though having a rough concept could be entirely beneficial.

Overall it was great to meet some of these guys. Mike really has an eye for quality work and is a wealth of information about automotive photography. He’s developed techniques to get the “flecks” in sparkling paint and has a good understanding of how to expose his shots for the best possible overall exposure. He’s also a really nice guy - very helpful and friendly to a complete stranger. I was very pleased to meet his acquaintance and will hopefully run into him again someday!

I have never really gained an interest in wedding photography - there is just far too much relying on skill, luck, timing and equipment. Not to mention - the thought of having to attend weddings for people I don’t know on even a semi-irregular basis frightens me. I was recently proposed an opportunity to photograph a friend’s wedding in Portland in a totally informal way. The expectations were not set high…but I figured it would be a good way to “dip” into the “field” of wedding photography with no pressure and total freedom to do whatever I want. I decided I’d give it a shot and brought my Sigma f2.8 70-200mm and my Sigma f2.8 24-70mm with my flash and Gary Fong diffuser.

The conditions were just horrible - I arrived later than desired and went to the wrong building…consequently, I arrived just barely in time to unpack my gear. Something’s gone awry with the air conditioner and it’s about 104 degrees outside - oh yeah…we’re on the 3rd floor of a 3 story building - probably a healthy 90 degrees inside. There’s about 80 people, children are running everywhere. Immediately I notice the super dim lighting provided by small lamps and Christmas lights…and I remember to be thankful for the wisdom of the people who preach saving to get better glass. I can hardly sqeeze my large f2.8 24-70mm Sigma lens through the tight maze of people. The whole thing was just a touch insane for photography. I was bound and determined to have fun and at least give it a shot.

Due to lack of preparation, I forgot to take off my circular polarizer - I probably lost 2 stops for the entire ceremony and 15 minutes of the reception. That’s what I get for being a part time, multi-subject photographer with a busy lifestyle. Once I removed the polarizer and got my diffuser from the truck, I was in much better shape.

Fortunately I had brought my Sigma 70-200mm - positioning in the area of the ceremony was less than ideal due to the number of people in the room - the lens allowed me to get right up on the action without getting in everyone’s way. It also allowed to me to get up close when the rings were exchanged and quickly back out to get the reaction and “overall” view. I would have appreciated a better flash for the recharge times. Though my flash did a good job - a higher power unit would have made a difference.

For the reception, in the same location as the ceremony, I switched to my 24-70. As I wandered about the crowd, I snapped photos of the many people conversing, congratulating, hugging and various things that people do at a wedding. This made up the bulk of my overall 400 photos taken during the wedding.

I do have to say…under the circumstances, I got some incredible images. I can think of at least 3 images that are a hairline shy of perfect, in my self-critical opinion. The kids were a lot of fun to photograph with all their energy. There were challenges, mistakes and a whole lot of learning that took place. Overall, I’d say it was a good experience. I’m still reluctant to furthering an interest in wedding photography - but I think I’d do it again.

Well, my photography has been in demand lately. Friends, family, and people that I take pictures of are requesting I make my photos available to them. With challenges such as physical separation, shipping, and image selection, I have found a need to use some different ideas to make my images available. There are several websites available out there where you can post your photos and make them available for purchase. Companies such as “Smugmug” and “Photoreflect.com” are providing very useful services that remove this burden from the photographer. They also provide the valuable service of accepting credit cards for purchase - eliminating the need for people to “pay me back” or send me a check for the cost of the items.

My investigation of my provider has been completed and I have settled on Photoreflect.com. Smugmug has a very attractive offer as well, combining both order processing and order fulfillment in one package. While the order fulfillment aspect would be nice, I didn’t think their prices were competitive enough to allow me to provide an acceptable “friends and family” discount with the cost of prints, the service, and the order processing fees. Broken out, I would have to charge “F&F” upwards of $1.00 for a 4×6 print to cover the costs. Photoreflect, on the other hand, leaves order fulfillment to me, doesn’t charge annual fees and charges an 18% order processing & e-commerce charge for each purchase. This model of business is more suits me as an advanced amateur and also allows me to control the final product to the utmost degree. As I’m responsible for my final product - I have the choice of printer, available sizes, and crops that are used when resizing images. I really liked the idea of remaining in control of this aspect of my offerings.

So, in the near future you will see a new website from me that will describe my services and bring you to the location where you can search for and order my photos. Stay tuned!!!

The popular buzzword around digital photography today is DAM…Digital Asset Management. The concept of using DAM is to be able to integrate image catalogging and organization into one’s digital workflow to make it easier to find a photo amongst thousands. For a photorapher that has over 10,000 images and hasn’t implemented DAM, this is a daunting task. I’ve been thinking about it and researching it for months…and only recently found THE resource on the subject. Peter Krough, a photographer, has written a book on DAM that brings many ideas to the table. While it’s certainly written with the idea of the professional photographer in it’s focus, it certainly can be adapted to any higher end amateur that needs a way to manage their data.

Conceptually, the organization starts at the fundamental level of “physical” data structure. I would liken this to a filing cabinet where one has different sub folders in larger folders. Peter makes the argument that this structure should be designed more to work with current backup methodologies and logical structures, rather than the subject or other contextual information. I have thought about this and wanted to argue with his points in the beginning, but after reading his arguments and thinking about the scalability of any other stucture…it’s a no brainer. I’m currently working on rearchiving my images in a more accessable and scalable architecture.

The next key to DAM comes into play with what is called “metalogging” or “keywording”. Every digital image has the ability to append various data about the image into the structure of the image - and in fact, every digital capture has this data immediately captured into the file when the picture is taken. The camera will record data such as shutter speed, ISO, aperature, the lens that was used and other highly useful information. Software can then read this data, called IPTC data, and can display or use this information to give us more information about what the image contains. This is where DAM software, such as IView Media Pro, comes into play. DAM software is specially designed to provide two function - the first is to rapidly input specific information that “describes” the image and the other is to catalog what images you have and make those images more accessible by allowing you to search for any IPTC field.

So, for example, if I wanted to find all images of a particular person - I can simply search for that person’s name and find every picture of that person. As you can see, when you have a catalog of thousands of images, this is invaluable. I can also rate images on a 1 to 5 scale that will allow me to separate the cream from the crop, as it were. This is extra handy as I can now modify my search to find all “good” images of a particular person. Then if I wanted to get more specific and search for such and such person with a certain rating at a certain location, I can really narrow down my search.

While the task is daunting with over 15,000 images in my collection from the last three years…it’s going to be absolutely essential moving forward. There will come a day when that will likely reach over 100,000…in which case, I’ll be lost if I don’t implement DAM when it’s still manageable and can maintain it going forward.

I would encourge all to read Peter Krough’s book and check out his website. He is a good photographer that has spent much time thinking about the concepts and challenges associated with DAM. He also has a rather impressive amount of involvement in the photography industry and, as such, is still heavily involved in a forum about the subject of DAM that can be found on his website.

Well…this last weekend a bunch of guys (and a gal) from NPORA headed out to the Spokane ORV park for a little diggin’ & 4-wheelin’. A blast was had by all. We found mud, small lakes, giant hills, and overall great fun. There were five rigs (4 Nissan Pathfinders & one Dodge Dakota) but the Dodge couldn’t quite keep up. About a minute into the park, the Dodge buried itself down an embankment and was one stuck puppy. It took two Pathfinders to pull him out - quite an amazing feat. Sure enough, not ten minutes later, the Dodge owner slammed his rig into a dirt embankment and took out his front bumper. He’d had enough…and the Pathfinders ruled the day!

You can check out the images here
And a video slide show of the events (Right click / Choose “Save Target As”)

Here in the state of Washington, smokers have taken one of the worst legal blows seen in history. Initiative 901, which was recently enacted into law, provides 30 days for smokers to get a tape measure. A tape measure, you ask? Yes…Initiative 901 prevents smokers from “doing their business” within 25 feet of any public building’s door, window, or vent. In fact, if you read the revisions to Section 3 of the new law, it outright prevents smoking in any public area, regardless of distances, buildings, or people. So one must only “light up” inside the privacy of their own home or risk a $100 fine.

This legislation is the most restrictive seen enacted by a state in the entire history of the United States. Smokers in the state are outraged as the realization of this law going into effect sweeps over them. I am outraged, not just as a smoker, but also as an activist for freedom. To add insult to injury…the law specifically addresses “cigar lounges” which will effectively kick these types of businesses to the street. Sorry…no choice…you are going out of business. Period. Should have chosen another type of business. Not that a non-smoker would have ever thought to grace a cigar lounge.

Prevously, I felt that there was a good balance between smoking and non-smoking restaurants, bars, and other types of businesses. I even saw that the majority of these were non-smoking establishments. There’s no doubt that non-smokers had many choices where ciagrette smoke would never infiltrate their precious little noses. No more…the anti-smoking nazi’s have taken their millions of dollars and pressed their will upon the tens of thousands of smokers in this state. Not only that…but they have kicked them past the curb, into the rain and unsheltered area…far away from them.

Even worse, this will give the anti-smoking crusade just the power they need to be total pricks. I see it now…the smoking police people “telling” on us to the cops…creating an us-against-them type atmosphere. I see people calling police to report “rogue” groups of smokers that might be within 24 feet of a building. I see employers and cops having “talks” with people about how they’re not far enough from the building…that they must venture even further out in nasty -20 degree, 30 MPH wind weather. It’s just not enough…sorry…you must leave downtown to have a cigarette as there is NO PLACE within the inner-city that is compliant with this law.

As a final note, I would like to see a law on the next ballot that prevents non-smokers from coming within 25 feet of a smoker. Punishable by a $200 fine. I would also like to see provisions that if a non-smoker talks to a smoker about smoking that they must spend 30 days in jail and are punished by a $500 fine. Tit for tat the way I see it. The fines provided in Initiative 901 are far excessive considering the “crime” that’s been committed..I want to see the same thing against the now “righteous” anti-smoking pricks that have just the ammunition they need. Bring it on you anti-smoking nazi, concentration camp creating, grassmoles.

My 1995 Nissan Pathfinder is getting some upgrades this season. The folks out at NPORA (Nissan Pathfinder Offroad Association) have been tremendously helpful in providing gads of information regarding available upgrade options to the Pathfinders.

It recently seen brand new tires - Toyo Open Country A/T 31×10.5. These are hands-down the best tires I’ve ever run - road noise is extremely low, handling is great, rain performance is awesome. Only thing I’m waiting to see is how they handle in snow. I just recently put on Monroe Sensa-Trac shocks and a Monroe steering stabilizer - a welcome replacement to the aging (120K mile) stock shocks that were installed. The stabilizer is great as well and provides a lot better control when traversing Spokane’s particularly nasty roads. I’m looking forward to getting her off on some light trails to see how the ride has truly improved.

I’ve got new Thorley headers on order at the moment and should have them installed in the first part of November. This is in an effort to repair the common exhaust manifold problem - and should ultimately cost me about $200 less than it would cost me to replace the manifolds. (With engine performance & MPG increase to boot!) Along with this project, I’m planning a complete exhaust buildout by taking the tubing up to 2-1/4″ with a Dynomax Super Turbo muffler and a Dynomax Hi-Flow Catalytic Converter on the backend and an obvious O2 sensor replacement. With this upgrade, I am expecting to see about a 10-15% increase in gas mileage and a HP gain of around 10-20 ponies.

While the Pathfinder isn’t known for great performance in any particular category - it’s been a fine ride for the last year and I feel is worth these upgrades. At 120K miles, I should see at least twice that out of the engine with a possible transmission rebuild to keep her going. Other than that, it’s been relatively maintenance free besides the typical recommended maintenance schedules.

I am sooo sick & tired of SPAM routing through to my website. Since I’ve ugpraded to Wordpress 1.5 - my SPAM-load has gone up over 1000%. In three days, I’ve received 100 SPAM’s and have deleted around a thousand since my upgrade. For this reason and the fact that nearly noone actually posts comments on this blog - I’ve required registration to leave comments. Sorry - but I’m sick of it. I would love it if you registered though! You can register here or click the “Register” almost to the bottom of the right hand column.

One of my favorite seasons for outdoor photography is fall. Though the rain & weather is spotty at times…there’s no better time to get such vivid images with dramatic skies and sunsets. I’m planning a trip this next weekend to visit mid-northern Idaho and plan to get some images in the area of Orofino and eastward. I expect to get some good shots near the river & am looking forward to travelling to such beautiful country this time of year.

I plan on shooting a mix of macro, water shots, and landscapes - though will certainly roll with whatever comes my way. I’ve been told the home I’ll be visiting has regular visits from five point+ elk, bear, and many other animals. Birding might be nice with the recent drops in temperatures and the southward migration. Might get to break out my telephoto and get some good wildlife…at least I hope.

Anyway…not much else going on here. Changed the site…I think I like it so far. Planning some upgrades for my truck. Not much in the way of interesting stuff..I’ll keep you posted!

I often overlook this blog as a means to communicate my every day thoughts about what’s going on in the world. This is a blog - a means of communicating - and damnit…it’s mine and I can say whatever I want. I am just up to my ears in frustration with this Iraq war and the rediculously soaring rise of gas prices. Am I alone here??????? I certainly think not. Are you people waking up and realizing what’s going on?

I don’t identify with either Republican or Democrat parties, liberal or conservative bias, and my thoughts engender extremes from Fabian socialism to outright Anarchy. Truth is…I don’t care who got us into this mess…the blood is on all our hands - equally upon me and everyone who lives in the nation. Unlike the terrorists - whom can be denounced as radicals, insane, or evil - we have intentionally and consciously brought so much death and destruction in retaliation based on decidedly false facts. This should be cause for riots, protests, and absolute unheaval of our current leadership. We’re going to be lied to and deceived from the truth no matter who is in office or what spin the media takes…and we don’t care because we’re so insulated from having to care with our TV, sports, jobs, and many other distractions.

Why can’t we know everything that happened on Sept. 11th? Where are the surveillance tapes? What about the eye witnesses that claim some alarming details about that day? What about the people who aren’t satisfied with the Sept. 11th commission’s answers - and why was our government so uptight about an investigation in the first place? Why did we really go to war if not for WMD’s…is anyone at all suspicious that ten years ago we were at this same war when our president’s father was in office? All they needed was a reason…Is everybody just freakin’ numb and too busy with their distractions to ask tough questions? So many people are just towing the line without a critical thought in their head…you freakin’ “Support Our Troops” ribbon perpetrating idiots. I support the troops coming home safe yesterday…and support nothing about this war.

By stirring this pot…are we really making the world safe or are we putting ourselves in more danger? Could it be that opposition to the US has risen over years…and could possibly have something to do with our foreign policy, past and present? Can a war on “anyone against us” be healthy, sustainable, or fundamentally right? The questions keep coming…the answers rarely come.

I learned in school that one of the steadfast rules of economic behavior is the law of supply and demand. Less supply and high demand equals high prices - while much supply with low demand induces low prices. Concept understood. So just WTF is going on when a hurricane hits one day and gas prices soar as much as 30 percent in one day? The effects have not been measured at that point - the prices rise due to “perceived” supply issues and perceived demand. Our price at the pump is wholly determined by what stock brokers “think” may happen - and we’re ripped off as much as $50 or more a month times tens of millions because of it. Who’s ultimately profiting from this rise, why exactly have costs risen, and whom ultimately holds their hand over these decisions? Few know the answers to those questions and I encourage you to find out. To give you a hint…they’re not elected, they don’t have our best interests in mind, and they have enough money to buy our “democratic” country’s decisions.

Not only that…but we have been told that previous rises in gasoline prices (upwards of 300 percent since the early 90’s - standard inflation is 3-4 percent per annum) are due to instabilities in the middle east. Who created this instability? Who bombed the F*** out of two major oil producing nations, invaded their country and ripped apart their lives, and has been responsible for tens (maybe hundreds) of thousands of deaths? Why was this done if not for one of the most important issues facing the US? Weapons of mass desturction??? Nope. Terrorism? Nope. Saddam Hussein? No. For the benefit of Afghani and Iraq people? Ummm…no. (We would rather pay our farmers to not produce food than to share the burden of world hunger) The reason is ultimately to install a favorable government that will be oil & US friendly - something the US has been doing (and we’ve been tolerating) for dozens of years now. We know this happens - history has been exposed and we know…but we’re not paying attention.

Anyway…thanks for this long rant. Comments are appreciated.