Photos and Miscellany, Discombobulated

Mahuri and Yaw's wedding

2009-05-12T01:06:00.004-05:00

I recently had the privilege to photograph Madhuri and Yaw getting married twice on the same day -- first in an Indian ceremony at the Omni Hotel, followed in the afternoon by a Christian ceremony and reception at the McNay Art Museum. Both were fantastic!

ABBA Lives?

2009-04-22T02:07:00.001-05:00

Last night I was shooting an event at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, and we got surprised by ABBA... Or did they break up two decades ago? Meet Waterloo -- Sweden's leading ABBA cover band!

WPPI 2009 - Viva Las Vegas!

2009-02-20T12:37:00.007-06:00

I just got back from the big Wedding and Portrait Photographer International pow-wow in Las Vegas. It's where the people who sell stuff to photographers, the photographers themselves, and the wannabe photographers all get together and try to convince each other to buy stuff, compete for the title of most popular social butterfly, or--for newbies-- to create the illusion of actually being in the industry at all. It's quite entertaining! And of course, we all had a few drinks.

Here we are arriving at the airport. That's Jake.

He just turned, with the beginnings of a tear in his eye, and said "Viva, Las Vegas." What can you say to that?

And Mary, who just saw Wayne Newton stepping out of an Escalade limo with Kanye West. I know, it doesn't make sense when rappers fly commercial.

Jake got inspired by Canon.

Cory joined us after a later flight. I found these great frozens in the basement of the MGM grand. We carried them into Puck's.

Below, we have two guys in arty hats enjoying Blues Traveler a little too much at the Nikon BIG Event. If I had a plastic flash diffuser for every arty hat I saw at this convention, I'd be Gary Fong. Can somebody pass me an arty hat, PLEASE?

The view from our 1500 square foot suite at the MGM Grand.

Whole Foods fans, this is Vegas.

I own some dorky camera stuff, but this dude has some brass, standing in front of the Apple booth wearing Steve Jobs' official uniform with a view camera attached to his Canon 1Ds... I'm speechless.

Sometimes I wonder where my Pictage dues are going, then I see the wonderful boots on this go-go dancer at the Pictage party.

I loaned Cory my SB900 so she could set the world alight with the promise of liberty for huddled masses.

Thriller World Record!

2008-10-27T23:33:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, the Alamo Drafthouse organized a Thrill the World dance at Austin's Long Center and set a new world record for the amount of people doing the infamous Michael Jackson Thriller dance in one place. Lucky for me, I was their official photographer and got to take lots of photos, including this really fun collage of six different images.

This is a GIANT picture. If you were there and somewhere in the front half, be sure to zoom in and find yourself!

Photographing the Photographer

2008-10-26T05:22:00.005-05:00

It's not everyday that you get to shoot the wedding of one of Austin's best wedding photographers (no pressure!), who also happens to be one of your best friends and colleagues. Yesterday I had that honor, along with Jake Holt, at the wedding of our fabulous photo friend Mary Sledd to our pal Scott Owens, who you may know from his Do512 website and parties. The wedding took place at Mercury Hall. This is just a very small preview of the ceremony.

Street Photography Contest Winner

2008-10-01T12:14:00.005-05:00

I'm a regular participant in the Canon and Nikon forums at dpreview.com. Last week, somebody got the bright idea that we actually "use our gear" instead of just talking about it. Of course I use my gear all the time AND talk about it, so I don't have the implied problem, but I figured I would go along with the premise anyway. The contest was very informal and international. My winning pic, below, was taken in the NYC subway in June. The second place photo appears to be from Prague.

There is a humorous "controversy" surrounding my totally sweet DPR victory, because the contest originated in the Nikon forum, and I admitted that one of my three entries was taken with a Canon 5D, while my other two were taken with a Nikon D3 (incidentally, the voting happened on this thread). I brazenly shoot both systems. I know, I'm crazy! I'm not saying which camera took the winning photo, but I will give the exposure info: 35mm, 1/30s, f/7.1, ISO 400 -- which goes to show one of the perils of street photography. My ISO was still set for topside, and this opportunity was so fleeting that I didn't have time to change it. But since I shoot RAW, I was able to push the image in Photoshop. An in-camera JPEG would not have cleaned up this good.

Anyways, when I saw this, I just imagined how funny it would be to see this guy actually riding his skateboard as part of his multi-modal transportation scheme. While such a site is probably common in Dubai, it makes an Austinite stop to think. The imagination is probably funnier than the reality.

Funny Prank, Ha Ha

2008-09-29T19:55:00.008-05:00

I spent the three-day weekend shooting the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It was great. This morning, Pitchfork Media published my photos. Then, a couple hours later, I get an interesting email. Here it is in its entirety:

message: I'll have my lawyers contacting you soon.
I suggest you seek some legal advice in regards to your brand name.

D
--------------------------------------------------------------
First: David Hill
Last: na
email: info@foxcreative.net
phone: na

Of course, I'm well aware that there are various other guys in the world named David Hill who take pictures, such as this one in San Francisco, this one from the 19th Century, this one in Canada, this one from Atlanta, and this one in England.

However, the one relevant to this email is currently the most famous of us all, Dave Hill. Dave does really awesome work with bands, WWE superstars, the guy from Napoleon Dynamite, products, and all kinds of other stuff. His look is famous in photo circles for being the first to mix stylistic elements the way he does, and a google search will reveal countless forum posts written by people trying to get his look. I've always hoped that one day all the David Hills would get together, and I'd get to meet him.

So naturally, I found this email slightly disturbing. From a legal perspective, it's practically impossible to trademark a combination of a common name and a common word. "David Hill Photography" is about as likely to get trademark status as "John Smith Food." Wanting to know if this was for real, I immediately called David's agency, Fox Creative. They said they would look into it and call me back. Meanwhile, I found Dave's cell phone and left him a voice mail assuring him that I would be willing to disambiguate our brands on the friendliest of term. I waited a few hours and called Fox again. I spoke with Paige, who said she represents Dave, and she assured me that she had contacted Dave, and that Dave said the email I had received was a phony. That was a relief. UPDATE: Today, Sept. 30, Dave himself emailed me to reply,

"No one can copyright their own name! Especially one as common as ours! haha ... Keep rockin' in Austin!"

So, to the prankster: You're very funny. I hope this made your day!

Requiem for an Amusement Park

2008-09-19T03:42:00.000-05:00

America loses two run-down New York City treasures this week--Yankee Stadium and Coney Island's Astroland. My most recent pics of Yankee Stadium are on film, so you're not going to see those today. But I did recently travel to Coney Island. Above is the 1918 Wonder Wheel. Yes, we rode it.

GTA IV players will recognize 100 percent of these locations...

Since this is a nostalgia blog entry, I'm using cheesy vignetting effect here, and generally screwing around with the colors. I would not do this to you unless you asked.

Fortunately, the Cyclone sits outside the main Astroland area, and it's supposed to survive. The Wonder Wheel park is also separate and is continuing for the time being. Coney Island is in the center of a really ugly battle to gentrify the area and force out all the low-rent entertainment for which it's been known since World War II. Coney Island's heydey was around 1917. I highly recommend the Wikipedia entry.

Jared Leto fans will get this reference.

Here we're simulating a faded 1970s print. Some people like that.

And this was just some random moment I got later in the subway.

Rustang GT street racer tanks it at my house

2008-05-28T16:05:00.000-05:00

The driver was (somehow) fine. The car, no so much.

Giant Hole in My Driveway

2008-05-10T05:53:00.001-05:00

The other day I got home from lunch to find this giant hole in my driveway.

Though the timing came as a complete surprise, it happened because I told the city my water pressure was low a few months back.

Based on the amount of city personnel and gear required to fix this, I'm guessing I made back a full year's worth of property tax on this one.

This stuff beats Tonka toys for sure.

Petals in 3D?

2008-04-06T03:43:00.000-05:00

OK, maybe not in 3D, but this is one of the most in your face sequences of rose petals I've ever seen. Just got back from Kelly and Mike's Luckenbach wedding a few minutes ago. Flower Power.

Katie and Nick

2008-04-06T01:33:00.001-05:00

Katie and Nick had a church wedding in Round Rock followed by a reception at the Reunion Ranch. The candle light dance at the end of the evening was cool. Katie's mom thought of that. Great idea!

Some SXSW

2008-04-06T01:21:00.000-05:00

This year I only shot SXSW one night, for a Seattle-based marketing firm. This was my first major live music shoot with the Nikon D3.

Switching to Nikon

2008-04-06T01:05:00.000-05:00

In the world of professional cameras, Canon vs Nikon is like Ford vs Chevy, or whatever your favorite commercial rivalry is. But unlike driving cars, there is no viable VW waiting on the sidelines to save you from the shouting match. Nope, in digital SLR cameras only two brands really matter for any type of documentary work. Some will claim that Olympus or Sony is an option, but they don't have nearly the established systems to back them up... To my point: I had been a Canon shooter since elementary school. Then about a year ago, Canon starting slipping up. Their normally amazing customer service started doing some weird things, and then they turned out several products with annoying inherent design flaws--flaws, including a pseudo-recall, that have been so debated on the Internet that I dare not speak them here by name!

Then Nikon released what is currently the world's most advanced professional DSLR, at the same time as their best ever wide angle lens. Fed up with Canon's attitude, I bought into this new Nikon wave. This is really a great thing, because the industry needed competition. Prior to the new D3, Nikon had been struggling on sensor quality; and as a result Canon set the pace of the market as they pleased. No more! Among its strengths, the Nikon D3 is the best low-light camera ever, which is great for events and indoor action. That's why I bought 2 of them, with a D300, a semi-pro model, for backup. Contrasted with Canon's semi-pro model, the 40D, Nikon's D300 wins huge, by way of its full pro auto focus system and much tougher build quality... I still love Canon, but they must get back to the quality they represented when they released the 5D and 1D Mark II generations... Anyways, this is part of my commitment to serve my clients with only the very best in glass-addled handheld microcomputers.

Jake turns 30

2008-04-06T01:01:00.000-05:00

This is my good friend Jake. He just turned 30. He got a fancy egg timer with which to measure the remaining years of his life. Then he got a bunch of drinks out of us (not pictured), then he got chocolate cake. Bill Cosby would be proud.

What a caucus looks like

2008-04-06T00:53:00.000-05:00

I was an Obama delegate at the county Democratic caucus. The one that made national news for being one of the largest Dem gatherings ever. If you want to see more, just look on my flickr - username davidhillphoto, where you can also find more snarky captions.

Man vs. Goat

2008-04-06T00:48:00.000-05:00

I saw this amazing mano y mano standoff while walking to the Caucus. The goat defeated the Meter Reader.

Another cool award!

2008-03-07T17:54:00.000-06:00

Every quarter, the Wedding Photojournalist Association holds a contest for the best wedding photos in the entire world. It's a prestigious group due to the fact that you can't buy your way in just for asking -- you must be admitted, and also because the competition within the group is extreme. The judges of this competition, which are published on the WPJA website, read like a Pulitzer and National Press Photographers Association "who's who" list. It's very intimidating knowing that Bill Frakes might be the one judging your photo. It's only slightly less intimidating than getting randomly seated next to Bill Frakes on an airplane while on the way home from a photo shoot in Jacksonville--which HAS HAPPENED TO ME... Anyways, that said, I'm thrilled to have placed 5th in the "Departures" category this time, with this shot from Amy and Blake's wedding at Laguna Gloria:

Only 13 of the 28 WPJA members in this region have ever placed a top 10. I have placed top 10 in 4 of the last 8 quarters. You can see my latest win with the judge's comments here. Visit Austin Wedding Photographer David Hill.

Rebecca's Austin Bridal

2008-03-07T17:11:00.000-06:00

This is Rebecca, in front of Austin's favorite waterfall. Not to be confused with Austin's favorite spring, which is about a block away.

One issue with blogging bridals is that you really shouldn't do it until after the wedding. As such, this is from the fall, but now I can safely publish it! We started at the Zilker Bontanical, which is a perennial fave of most local photographers. It costs $50 now, but it's worth it, because there's fewer people there to get in the way than there were back when it cost nothing. While on this shoot, I actually saw another photographer I know (won't name him), who's apparently a bit of a cheapskate, getting kicked out for trying to evade the fee. He had a 30 pound backpack full of gear on his back, and was trying to tell the security guard he wasn't a professional. Hilarious!!!

Above is what I will admit is a total Zilker cliche, but I throw it in the mix because it's kinda fun. And I will NOT digitally squish the keyhole to match the height of your head... There's a photog here in town who likes to brag that he does that. I believe the keyhole was created by some artist who doesn't want it squished to your height.

This shot was us just wanting something silly with the velociraptor...

This little series was my favorite...

... and Rebecca chose this one to display on the easel at the wedding.

In Austin, a bridal shoot often includes some measure of how well the photographer can do some impromptu thing or another near the warehouse nexus of 4th and Colorado, and this one is no exception.

Rebecca was looking so good in this photo that it...

... caused this totally unattended but running vehicle (which is illegal in Texas) to catch on fire! I called 911 myself. This shoot was full of laughs.

Here they come!

Dinner with Will Ferrell

2008-03-07T16:33:00.000-06:00

Will Ferrell did a special sneak preview appearance at the Alamo recently to promote his new film, Semi Pro. To get in, EVERY member of the audience had to dress in a Flint Tropics uniform. As the only official photogapher, I got to use super secret panoramic techniques to take a gigantic "team photo," the last one below -- click to view it gigantic, and scroll sideways!

Breakfast with Obama

2008-03-07T16:10:00.000-06:00

I was one of the lucky people to get a ticket to Obama's town hall meeting in Austin last week.

I was really amused when I realized that this frame contains either six Secret Service agents, or five of them and one campaign staffer--wasn't totally sure about him.

Lunch with the Mayor

2008-03-07T16:05:00.000-06:00

I recently got to shoot the Austin Chamber of Commerce's annual awards banquet. They gave the Austinite of the Year award to Mayor Will Wynn.

In this shot, our mayor reacts to the fact that someone produced a video of him performing in an Elvis jumpsuit!

And just random meeting attendees in the hallway... Ars gratia artis, or quelque chose comme ca...

Rocky plays ball!

2008-03-07T15:40:00.000-06:00

OK, so more photos of my irresistible dog... Oh, and I guess I should mention that I'm now availble for dog action photos!

Behind Rocky is Kobe, the other irresistible dog in my life.

Large Group Photos - Specialty Wide Shots

2008-02-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

Those above age 30 may remember back when the photographers would come to your school, church, or business and make everyone stand on those rickety crescent shaped risers so they could take your picture with a rotating camera. Then later you'd get the print rolled up in a tube, because it was so wide... Ah, those were the days, and some really cool pictures, too! Photographing a group of 50, 100, or more people requires special methods to get a quality picture, and for decades that was the way to go.

Unfortunately, digital cameras that can take a continuous rotating picture so rare as to be virtually non-existent, and the people who do that on film are mostly retired now. Even the very fancy professional camera models like the ones I use simply can't replicate those photos in a single shot. Most of today's digital photographers don't know how to deal with this issue at all, as it's a bit esoteric. Those not "in the know" will take a one-frame group photo that simply does not have enough detail to show the faces of 100 or more people in the frame. Due to lack of detail relative to the number of people in the picture, the prints will look muddy and lacking in detail next to those great roll-up prints of the past.

Lucky for you, I have been studying the arcane art of panoramic photography for last three years! While it's still quite true that you can't take a good large group photo in a single frame, you can use a variety of special techniques to get fantastic large group photos by making a composite of multiple images.

Below is a small detail from a large group photo. Click on it to see the entire photo, and be sure to scroll sideways!

The source composite image from which that example was scaled down is a gigantic 148 Megapixels, which is the type of detail you need to capture 200 people in a frame. This shot happened when I got an opportunity to do a "team photo" with Will Ferrell. By taking several shots in a particular way, I was able to composite them into one of those kickass, old-style, super-wide group photos. And note that while this photo is in wide aspect, they don't have to be super wide. The same methods can be used to take high resolution images in more typical aspect ratios.

Do you have large group photo needs? Let me know! I'm happy to shoot a hi-res composite for your group or company.

On-site Party Pics!

2008-02-15T18:58:00.000-06:00

I'm now offering on-site party pictures--you throw a party, and we set up a studio environment to print out pictures for your guests on the spot. At this private Valentine's Day party, we served 176 5x7 prints to guests on acid-free art grade photo paper using inks with a 100+ year rating--in other words, equivalent to photo lab quality. Your guest can have a picture printed out in as little as a minute after it's taken!

Brides and Grooms: Please note this this is a dedicated party service and not a part of my normal wedding coverage. At weddings, I spend my time focusing on coverage which is photojournalistic in nature. To add this service to a wedding would require bringing two additional staff and is by special request/arrangement only.

A 20 Year Reunion

2008-02-10T17:36:00.000-06:00

You might remember when I was hanging out with these guys up in the Finger Lakes a few months ago. Joe and Carole, my friend Brennen's parents, did a bit of wintering in San Antonio this year and dropped by my house for a visit last week. Though I have been to NY to see them many times, they hadn't had a chance to see my brother since 1988 (gasp!). So here's the 20-year reunion.

It was really rainy that day, we did the (indoor) Capitol tour and then made the obligatory trek to the Salt Lick!

Cool Award!

2008-02-10T17:20:00.000-06:00

Back in December when I was too busy to toot my own horn, I placed 7th in the Ceremony category of the Wedding Photojournalist Association's quarterly photo contest. Because the WPJA is a large and truly global group of photographers, placing top 10 is a pretty big deal. I always say that I'd prefer 1st but like being on the scoreboard no matter what!

I knew when I was taking this photo that it was a unique moment. Though you can see through the glass in my picture, the crowd in the sanctuary could not, because the bride was hidden in the dark. I had to act really quickly to come up with a camera approach that would allow me to capture what the crowd could not see. I like the judge's whimsical comment.

Allow me to "pimp out" my dog

2008-02-10T15:26:00.000-06:00

In case you wondered why I have not blogged since October, here he is!

Rocky's arrival at my house almost coincides with the point in time that my blog lapse began. Rocky was born Sept. 2 at Veritas Aussies in Wimberley, Texas. Rocky is a blue merle, and I think he looks like my favorite cheese, Roquefort, which when combined with my affinity for the Beatles, resulted in his official registered title of Veritas Tail of Roque Raccoon. Here's Rocky giving the "eye" to one of his cousins.

And before one of you good Austinites shouts at me for this, yes my other two animals are rescues, and I believe that both rescues and purebreds have a right to life. Fair enough? OK, not for some of you, but at least I drive a 40 MPG car and ate a vegetarian soup for lunch (but am not a vegetarian, to be clear). Back to the point... Thanks largely to my maternal grandparents Morris and Ilene Bowen, my family has a history with Australian Shepherds and Cocker Spaniels. My earliest dog memories stem from Daisy, pictured here in her work environment.

And though I've been planning the back-from-the-puppy-induced-lapse post for a while, I have the Hillary Clinton campaign to thank for making this post far more topical (Thanks, Hillary!). Now why would I say this? Because, obviously, I am "pimping out" my dog to you. My dog has nothing to do with the quality of photography you will receive from me, but the emotional appeal of seeing my dog is supposed to influence you. Let's pause for just a sec while I pimp out Rocky and my first cousin.

Many photographers do this with their husbands, wives, and children, and I get a bit sick of seeing it, so I have to make a bit of fun at the practice. Let's pimp out another chunk of my family here!

Back to the Hillary campaign (and the Obama campaign's official concurrence in the matter),I have always been amused when Political Correctness run amok forces our leaders to feign outrage at words that may sound slightly offensive but really aren't at all. Those who feign outrage do so based on the idea that Hillary thinks someone is actually calling Chelsea a prostitute, which is not the case at all. To pimp out someone or something describes a situation in which a controlling party, for the purpose of its own self gain, influences or forces an irrelevant but more appealing third party to promote the services or agenda of the controlling party. An important concept of "pimping out" is that the appeal of the pimped party be totally irrelevant to the service being offered. For example, the amazing cuteness of my dog will not make your wedding dress look any better. Just as the appeal of Chelsea Clinton has absolutely nothing to do with the services which her entirely independent mother have to offer as a politician. Yet Hillary is still willing to peddle her daughter's irrelevant appeal for her own personal gain, and then act oh so offended when a pundit describes the phenomenon. Did I mention that Rocky has really cute Cocker Spaniel cousins?

On a slightly more serious note, the one time I think all this pimping gets out of control is when the pimped out party is a minor child. I have seen wedding photographers literally hand out photos of their own pre-K children as promotional material, not to mention the more common postings on commercial websites. I guess a fertile photographer is a better photographer. Hmmm.... Photographers, you know who you are. Someday your children will go to the sixth grade, and the eighth graders will have a google photo archive of all the funny outfits that you posed your child in for financial gain. And they will repost those photos on PhotoBucket and sites that don't exist yet. Let's just hope you put those gains in a college fund :-)

And I'll end this tirade back on Rocky, of course!

Eleanor and Adam's Wedding

2007-10-18T00:51:00.001-05:00

Eleanor and Adam got married Saturday at the Sheep Barn on the Mansefeldt Estate, north of Fredericksburg. It was my first time there, and I found it to be an awesome property full of interestingly restored historical buildings. The bride's house you see here was formerly the parsonage for the church across the street.

As a photographer, I'm sort of flower illiterate, but even I could tell that Eleanor's centerpieces were totally rad. Did I just say rad? OK, I did grow up during the 80s... The bases were sort of a live sod. Very cool.

Throughout the day, we never had to worry where Adam was, because his faithful cattle dog Lacy was keeping a watchful eye. Watching everything else was Barbara Hearne, who kept everything running smoothly while at the same time remaining artfully unobtrusive.

The Sheep Barn has a sweeping view for big skies and sunsets. Many of the guests were bewitched with this, taking a break from their cocktails to shoot this themselves. I tried my best to give them a run for it.

Musical guest was none other than Texas legend Gary P. Nunn. This is the second time this year I've been lucky enough to get hired for the same event as Gary P.

This might be my favorite dancing picture ever.

Gary P. invited any guy who knew the words to come on stage and sing "You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'." I know all the words, but somebody had to take this picture.

Brittany and Evan in San Antonio

2007-10-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of photographing Brittany and Evan's beautiful wedding in San Antonio. We started at the Sunset Ridge Church of Christ, which has an amazing gothic revival chapel built in 1929.

No matter how many weddings I do, I always remind myself that we can't take the old churches like this for granted--they don't build 'em like this anymore. OK, I shouldn't ramble too much about history... Back on piont, let's meet the two dads.

Evan, getting some help with his suspenders.

Stained glass from Tiffany's New York.

And into the bride's room...

Is there any doubt left in your mind why they called this place Sunset Ridge? None left in mine!

This is not a typical group shot for me, but the groomsmen seemed to know a lot about building pyramids. How could I possibly say no to this?

For the reception, we ventured over to the Canyon Springs Golf Club.

Now I want to jump back and end on a random bit of the church's history... Aside from working with great people, getting to stumble across things like this exotic remnant of the Machine Age is what makes being a photographer fun.

To quote the church website: "The Carillon Tower... contains Deagan chimes, considered to be the finest make of tower chimes ever built... Unfortunately, due to the antiquity of the equipment and the expense of maintaining it in its historic condition, we are not currently able to use the chimes." We're looking at the the lost art of logic rendered in metal.

Total Nonsense

2007-10-03T17:30:00.000-05:00

... is exactly what I felt like posting today.

I know this picture would be cooler if the speedo was not firmly planted at Zero MPH, but you should just never (ahem) actually drive a VW while taking photos. Once upon a time, I transcribed the life and times of historic preservation architect Wayne Bell while working in the Department of Oral History at Baylor University, and Wayne said this was how the movement started--the so-called "Windshield Survey." Now you know!

Who can name the bar?

Brianne and Brent's Wedding

2007-10-01T06:13:00.000-05:00

Brianne and Brent, who you've seen here before, got married at Waco's fantastic Earle-Harrison House Saturday night. Incidentally, the Earle-Harrison is where I photographed my first wedding ten years ago. I've been back there twice this year, and I must say that place rocks.

This little boy was cracking us up the whole day. Here, he's managed to play so hard that he untied his shoes and bloodied his nose almost simultaneously. But that didn't slow him down one bit. Watch as he gets a head start on the cake a few pics down...

Which for a newspaper?

2007-09-28T04:37:00.000-05:00

Today one of my clients asked me to send them a pic for the newspaper ahead of the rest, which I'm still editing. Think they'll go for the action shot? My money says that the typical paper would run the vertical palm tree shot, or crop a vertical out of the wide landscape. Time will tell... Incidentally, this wedding took place at the beautiful Hotel Galvez in Galveston.

More Black and White

2007-09-28T01:43:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been throwing more black and white into my wedding mixes. I definitely still include way more color, but b+w is on the upswing with me right now. I can't explain what inspired this, but I'm sure it's here to stay. Amanda and Jody got married at their gorgeous home church in Rosenberg, followed by a reception in a classic country dance hall. I love the old dance halls. They have a lot of character. And really bad lighting. But bad lighting never stops us.

UT Video Game Archive

2007-09-05T02:52:00.001-05:00

If there's two things I believe in, it's historic preservation (kinda jives with photography, right?) and video games. Put those two together, and it sounds like the new UT Video Game Archive at the Center for American History. As a guy who proudly sports a full size Ms Pac-Man in his living room, I could not resist the chance to throw money at this cause celebre, especially if it would get me the chance to attend a party on the sprawling property of Richard Garriott.

I first encountered "Lord British" on the Commodore 64. That's a screen shot of Ultima III, the game that seriously interfered with my third-grade year. So much in fact that it possessed my friend Brennen to create this masterpiece of fan artwork...

In addition to great game play, Ultima III possesses one of the greatest game soundtracks ever. If you haven't already, you should play it now for that reason alone. Software developers keep porting this game to new operating systems after 24 years for good reason. But back to the party...

There was a small tent full of full size arcade and classic console games. These two guys are playing a 1972 prototype Odyssey console, which is the brown box you see on top of the monitor.

Music and auction took place in Garriott's medieval style Curtain Theatre, which is modeled somewhat after the Globe Theatre, or so they say.

This shot was a fun test of pushing the new Canon 1D Mark III to its limits. Taken at ISO 6400, you can still clearly make out raindrops streaking in front of the stage. Nice.

The band featured this guy, known as Fat Man, who wasn't really fat. His trench coat was covered in artwork from tons of different video games, which left me wondering how many of them he worked on.

And just before the live auction, Lord British himself gave a little speech.

A two-man bidding war hit an incredible $5,000 for a plastic tub filled with about a dozen early-run editions of Origin games from Garriott's personal collection. If any one item drove that price, I'm guessing it was the "version 1" copy of Akalabeth, of which Garriott announced that only 20 copies ever existed--so few because this was the famous homemade Ziploc bag version that preceded the fancy commercial distribution. All said, it was an interesting evening, and the Mojitos were damn near flammable.

Learn How to Spot Cheap Tricks

2007-09-01T17:16:00.003-05:00

Many photographers, often inexperienced ones, will apply one-click automated "actions" or "presets" in Photoshop in an attempt to make their pictures look more "professional" than they really are. From my point of view, these mass market tricks perpetuate the disease of sameness in the world of photography. Most of my clients intuitively sense our common disdain for the sameness and state it as a reason for hiring me. But I've seen so much of it in recent weeks that I thought it would be fun to blog it. So today I'm going to teach you how to spot the most obvious and hackneyed cheap trick that's in use today. Once you know, it's very easy to spot!

And before we get carried away, remember this: visual effects, even cheap ones, can be a good thing when applied judiciously. So this is not a blanket tirade against cheap tricks and their purveyors. To me, it's a major red flag when I see a photographer's entire portfolio, or large chunks of it, obviously churned through the same exact action. I would personally never hire someone whose entire portfolio was done in the same action or preset. Yech.

So to the point, here's the demo image we're about to discuss:

So what's going on here?

Right now we're suffering an ongoing revival of a 19th-century effect known as vignetting, which is the practice of progressively darkening an image from the center to the corners, as in the right-hand example above. The left-hand image is the original, unaltered image. A strong vignette helps sloppy photographers by hiding what's in the corners, thus requiring less attention to composition. Personally, I like to see interesting things in the corners, not a blob of artificial shadows.

One reason the vignette has exploded this year is that a certain well-known California meta-photographer (a term I've coined to denote a photographer who dedicates a significant portion of his/her professional efforts to selling things to other photographers) has been seen, in one of his own sales videos, adding a strong vignette to the presets which he sells for $49. Because this meta-photographer is a marketing genius, he has legions of followers who will do whatever he does. And he's not alone. Other meta-photographers sell similar presets and actions.

Vignetting often appears in conjunction with an effect known as "diffused glow," which you can see on the dress in the right-hand example above. Followers of another meta-photographer may refer to "Tasty Glows" (really, I'm not kidding). To make the demo above, I spent about one minute creating an action which will subsequently repeat that effect in a single click, any time I'd like. In my opinion, nobody should ever get tricked into hiring a photographer based on this particular look, as you could learn to do it yourself in five minutes flat. And if you buy digital negatives, you got the rest of your life to apply special effects yourself.

In short: It takes talent to create a good photo, but it only takes one click to apply hackneyed wedding effects. Some photographers use visual effects as a tool, while others use them as a crutch for lack of experience or laziness, or maybe just bad taste. You gotta be careful out there!

Riding the Tiger

2007-08-30T17:06:00.001-05:00

Nowadays this phrase usually refers to investing in Chinese markets, but to me it's about a bicycle. I've had a lifelong love affair with America's greatest defunct bicycle maker, Schwinn of Chicago, and more recently the world's greatest defunct bicycle maker, Raleigh of England. I also have a Pashley. Here's my Tiger:

By the frame's serial number, I know my Tiger was born on St. Patrick's Day, 1966. I like to think the workers were not drunk. In any case, she's still rolling 41 years later. I bought her off a guy in upstate New York who was neighbors with the original owner. Tiger was originally a single speed, but she got a 3-speed Sturmey Archer wheel set in 1980. It was an appropriate choice, since all but a few of Schwinn's 3-speeds rolled on Sturmey gear (which was made by Raleigh). I replaced the handlebar myself. Here's the building in Chicago that formerly housed the Schwinn factory:

If you like mid-century trivia, the distinctive mid-60s elements of this bike are its clover-leaf chain wheel, unpainted chrome fenders, starburst graphics, and Space-Age swooshed chain guard. The famous "cat-eye" frame appeared from the 50s through the 80s and is still widely copied today. And by far the most distinctively 1966 part on this bike is the rare "tear drop" reflector:

Just five days after my bike was made, Schwinn stopped recording daily serial numbers, after which you can only date to the month. There's a minor exception for some 1980-1982 bikes that had a secondary serial number on the head badge, but that's another blog post for another day. My project this afternoon was to put a Brooks saddle on the Tiger. Brooks is the last made-in-England remnant of Raleigh, and their saddles remain wildly popular among hard core cyclists.

Doesn't that look nice? I love Brooks.

You might have noticed that the words "defunct" and "remnant" come up a lot when discussing the great bicycles of history. As with many things in our society, so-called "American" bicycle companies have devolved into strictly marketing organizations who just put their brand on the lowest bidding overseas frame welder (Update: I realized that statement sounds a little harsh, because this post is pertaining to cruiser and low-end mountain bikes; there are various exceptions in the high end of the market). Modern "Schwinns" have nothing to do with actual Schwinns, and likewise with Raleigh. The last Chicago Schwinn cruiser rolled off the line in 1982. With exception of a few high end models, Schwinn imported all its other bikes up until its demise in 2001. Luckily, if you know where to look, there are a few remnants of the great age of American bicycles surviving. For the only true continuously operating Schwinn remnant, check out Waterford cycles and their sub-line Gunnar. They were formerly the Schwinn custom shop which built the famous Schwinn Paramount line of cycles. Here's my Waterford-built Schwinn:

If you want an old school cruiser, the last American standing, so far as I can tell, is Worksman, a NYC company with a cool history. If you like English, hunt down the aforementioned Pashley. They only have one or two importers to the US, but they are nice bikes. There are also lots of high-end custom frame welders (and luggers) thriving in the US. Last time I checked, Trek and LeMond were still making some high end bikes in the US, but Trek has been trending toward imports, so I am lukewarm toward them. (Update: To be fair, both my road bike and one of my mountain bikes are imports. I just don't blog about them, because they're boring!)

Of course the other option is to buy an actual vintage bicycle. They're always on the market, and they all need good garage or indoor homes. They're made of steel, so outdoor parking will over time destroy them. It's very likely that your acquisition will still have the original grease in all of its bearings, which is bad. You'll need new grease in the bottom bracket, headset, and both wheel hubs. Don't attempt this yourself, unless you happen to be a skilled mechanic or engineer type. Sturmey rear hubs have an oil port on the hub shell, and you should drip a medium weight machine oil into it once a month or so when riding. If you want any more help getting sucked into the cult of vintage bikes, just ask.

Eleanor and Adam's Engagement

2007-08-29T14:09:00.000-05:00

Eleanor and Adam chose to have their engagement photos done out at Luckenbach Tuesday evening. It rained on us a bit, but that didn't slow us down much, and the clouds made for some great sunset action! (Don't you just love how we photo bloggers make excessive use of the exclamation mark? In my erstwhile writing career, I would have stoned myself for this excess already!)

Kellena and Doug in Buffalo

2007-08-27T11:59:00.001-05:00

Kellena and Doug got married in private ceremony on Nantucket Island. Lucky for me, I got to shoot their reception in Buffalo the following week. The restaurant on the harbor made for an awesome sunset.

But first things first... Earlier in the day, we cruised around on a limo-RV (a first for me) to pick up some beers and do some impromptu portraiture.

And then back to the reception...

Dear Che

2007-08-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

I did a lot of my blogging in Geneva from the public library. They had this great painting there. Unfortunately the artist was not clearly indicated. This painting spans a lot of history. I can't figure out what agenda here is, but I like it. I know I had some interesting politics when I was 12 years old, but I'm not sure I was ever this clever. Only from the mind of a child, right?

The Wagner Attack Swan

2007-08-27T11:50:00.000-05:00

We had lunch at the Wagner winery. Brennen said last time he was here, a free-roaming swan attacked him. I didn't believe him until we saw the new fence. I couldn't resist getting a closer look. My shoes have a few new beak marks on them now.

Buffalo Architecture

2007-08-25T14:18:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately my schedule in Buffalo this weekend is too tight to really photograph all the buildings, but every time I come here, the Buffalo architecture really blows me away. I think especially so since I've been to Chicago twice since my last trip here, and Buffalo impresses just as much... in some cases maybe more. If you are a fan of The Devil in the White City, you probably need to check out Buffalo, too!

OK, so I did have time for one picture, but it will only satisfy radio and cold war nerds. I have a strange fascination with something known as the AT&T Long Lines. If you are my age or older, you will remember these things as dominating the landscape as you traveled across America by car. Their trademark antennae look like something from the Death Star, and they were the backbone of long distance communications until fiber optic took over. With fallout shelters in their bases, they were designed to withstand a nuclear blast as close as two miles away! Good info is hard to come by, but as far as I can tell, they were mostly obsolete by the early 80s. A few of them still operate, and even some of the decommissioned ones still host antennae that are used to communicate with Air Force 1 and other executive aircraft. In most places, the cool old antennae are being stripped and replaced by mundane cell phone relays. Well, at least the towers live on. Buffalo has one that appears fully intact. I have no idea of it's still operating or not. When I see one in good shape, I often stop my car to snap it. In this case, I just shot through the window of my hotel room.

P.S. -- I'm posting today from the Pearl Street Grill and Brewery, which has great wings and free Internet. I definitely recommend it to other travelers! (I received no free wings for this message.)

Insatiable...

2007-08-24T13:04:00.001-05:00

... is the only way I can describe these scarecrow demands. Will this be the Christmas Card?

Seneca Falls: It's a Wonderful Life (?)

2007-08-22T16:35:00.001-05:00

Today we accidentally stumbled upon a great bit of living film trivia, or so claims the village of Seneca Falls. Sam Wainwright? HEE-HAW!

Scarecrow Redux

2007-08-22T16:32:00.000-05:00

Here comes the scarecrow again, this time modified for my number one blog fan and heckler in chief. Except, I'm not sure she's really heckling. This may be serious artwork...

Oliver

2007-08-22T16:30:00.000-05:00

Oliver made the trip from Savannah to Geneva with Brennen and Sarah. As you can see, Oliver and I spend lots of quality time discussing the merits of rubber dinosaurs.

Anthony Road Winery

2007-08-21T16:29:00.000-05:00

Today's Portland-like weather is not cooperating with our vacation lifestyle, so we did lunch indoors at the Fox Run winery, followed by the obligatory wine tasting there. My pick was the Reserve Cabernet Franc (which seems to be what I select every time I come to Geneva, no matter which winery, though I also have a soft spot for Riesling at Prejean). At Fox Run, I was too busy actually tasting to take any pictures. Next we stopped at the Anthony Road winery. As soon as we entered the place, a cloud of Eau de Clorox Bleach assaulted my otherwise wine loving palette. I asked what was up, and apparently it was some big periodic cleaning project we'd stumbled into. Since I couldn't actually taste anything properly, I absconded to their awesome little classic-style garden, which was full of fruits and herbs. They have an open pick-whatever-you-want policy. Their scarecrow was badass. I also liked the succulents growing in old boots.

Rochester Has Actual BBQ

2007-08-19T20:07:00.003-05:00

But fortunately, it's not made from these cute mallards who feed in the Genesee River a few yards outside the restaurant.

Here's the place, Dinosaur BBQ, from the air. Note the windmill.

Same windmill from the No Parking zone.

I think the food speaks for itself.

Macedon, NY: Children of the Corn

2007-08-18T22:14:00.003-05:00

I love tourist traps and wacky small town stuff, so I couldn't resist the "Maze of Maize." I snapped this random shot on the way to the gloriously carved corn field.

After buying our tickets, we got a five minute orientation on how not to molest the corn as well as rules of the maze game. To win, you must not only find your way out, but also locate 12 mailboxes hidden throughout 12 different zones in the maze. Naturally, we named our team The Children of the Corn.

Each mailbox will give you a new section to tape onto your map, until you have the map finished.

If you get lost, you can use your flagpole to communicate with the maze masters, or talk into one of two plastic tubes that run up to the top of this tower.

After finding 10 of the zones, including the exit route, I declared myself Master of Corn.

This bridge is not the exit (which is another bridge), but finding this one seals the victory. If you go to the maze, you'll understand why!

Waterloo, NY: A quickie at the diner?

2007-08-18T22:12:00.001-05:00

Today we had lunch at a classic Googie-era diner. How can anyone resist such messaging as this?

I ordered a club sandwich. I'm not sure what happens if you ask the server for a quickie, but these people obviously have a sense of humor. Various sandwiches here come totally covered in gravy. The only place I ever saw do this in Texas was the Elite Cafe, founded in 1921, who dropped the gravy drenched sandwich off the menu about ten years ago. This is Old School.

Lake Seneca

2007-08-18T09:59:00.000-05:00

Today I drove a boat for the first time in my life. I'm not sure how that got put off for so long. We cruised around the perpetually chilly waters of Lake Seneca for about an hour and a half. Here I snapped a pic of a guy I've known since the second grade. He's obviously very happy to be leading a decaffeinated lifestyle.

Next, we cruised into a marina that's at the mouth of one of upstate New York's many canals. I'm sure you know that song about the mule named Sal. If you get lost here, you could end up on Lake Ontario.

Fresh Take on the Planet Hoth

2007-08-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

I thought my first post from Geneva would be of the lake or a rustic old boat, but then I found this on the fridge: Nine-year-old Alex's take on the Battle of Hoth. This ball-point masterpiece really distills it, doesn't it? My favorite details are the harpoon cable and the mini-walker clearly scoring an explosive head shot against the no-name generic rebel character. Be sure to view this one big.

On the Road: AUS to BUF via ATL

2007-08-16T17:26:00.000-05:00

Next week I have a wedding in Buffalo, which I'm sure is going to be awesome for many reasons, such as the fact that, aside from a predominantly nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, upstate New York's climate has almost nothing in common with the poorly irrigated desert that I call home (Keep it Weird, Austin, and enjoy that triple digit heat index). Until the weddding, I'll be hanging around the Finger Lakes area, mostly in Geneva.

But before I can get there, I must traverse ATL. The seat spacing in Delta jets lately seems more ethical than American's, but they're all always messing with it. And yes, I have abandoned measuring coach seats by comfort. It's become merely a question of how close they can ethically seat us together before they have to put a USDA Inspected stamp on our foreheads. Do you remember the late 80s when weekday flights to ATL were half empty? I digress.

I am actually blogging from the ATL today due to my 4 hour layover, which is being extended as I write this. And that brings me to this post's photos... I know you have wondered what it would be like to get sucked by your shoe laces into an escalator. Well, thanks to Hartfield-Jackson, you can see it now.

Just like I always imagined, it's a dark and scary pit!

Unfortunatley, the pit is not deep enough to terrify me. More like getting stuffed into a steamer chest. That's all for now, but I still have at least 3 hours to go.

Brianne and Brent's Engagement Shoot

2007-08-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the first post of my new blog. Now I have finally completed my 2005 to-do list. On a technical note, I haven't yet mastered the image parameters for blogger, so I expect my next post will not have the compression and sharpening artefacts found in this first post (sorry!). To the point... It's a generally a cornerstone of my working style that I won't ask or coach you to do really cheezy and hackneyed poses of yesteryear (or of this year for that matter). However, if my clients actually ask me to do some whacky things, and we happen to be in Waco, Texas, I just might oblige!

If I told you, for example, that the picture above was taken atop an 800 pound gorilla dressed as Pooh, you might not believe me, which is why we have this next shot. I must also point out that Brianne was a fantastic sport, playing along with every odd location that Brent and I had selected while she was preparing for her bridal shoot.

Though I'm based out of Austin, I have strong ties to Waco, so this engagement shoot allowed me to visit some of my favorite beautifully derelict street corners in the whole world. I can't really explain the next one, except that I like "office in the rear" and thought it might look good all blown out like an Oliver Stone conspiracy movie.

We followed the arrow here...

Most Waco couples will be tempted to take a dramatic pose among the suspension bridge girders. Not to knock the bridge, which was a test run for the builders who later did the Brooklyn Bridge, but all three of us had done that shot before. We thought it would be way better to find the best fake suspension bridge that we could.

In case you were wondering, the official heat index in Waco at this point was 114 Fahrenheit! Next, we visited these really nice stainless steel doors. They belong to a bunch of secretive old guys. You can guess who.

Amazingly, we found another fake bridge, replete with a fake ALICO building and fake courthouse. We were thrilled.

Brent and I simultaneously burst into laughter upon finding this location. It defies explanation, except maybe to the members of the mysterious Tampon Crew.

Just as things are starting to look serious...

... Brent had to take a call.

Brent was also a big fan of Ken's Big Muscle. I remembered that Big Ken opened that gym back when I lived in Waco, but from the window display we couldn't tell if he was still in business or not.

Finally, we visited this old wall of blocks, which Baylor photojournalism students would frequent back during the second Clinton administration. Lucky for us, it hasn't been knocked down yet.