06 September 2009
Tora, Tora, Tora, as my grandfather use to say
12/09/09 18:56 Filed in: Photography
My grandfather was obsessed with air shows. Every year we would go to the air show in Elmira and watch the nostalgic fighter jets and bombers. He would scare the death out of me as a child and go running and yell “get outta the way!” when the fighters would pass over; and because I was naive I would dive under his old Mercury until he did the all clear sign. I can’t remember if I was scared out of my mind or just playing along. I suppose the trauma of it all has blocked the small details.
In may I was hiking and ended up near Silver Creek and I was reminded of the jets and my grandfather while photographing some Sea Fowl diving into the water for small fish. I used the opportunity to observe them and practice staying tight with fast moving objects with my gear. I think photographing/filming nature is one of the best ways to keep you on your toes technically. While on the surface this may sound absurd, I think if you give yourself adequate time your technique will improve. Birds, especially, are interesting and difficult to simply ‘go take photo’s of’. After spending time photographing fast paced nature you will realize that you are better equipped mentally for the common ‘shotgun’ type of work that my generation seems to be getting accustomed too. By shooting nature, you’re consistently making split decisions in fractions of seconds; what shutter speed? What aperture? Where’s the sun in conjunction to my position? Is anyone next to me because my elbows are flailing? Do I need more lens? All the while you’re keeping your subject in frame and because they aren’t making it easy they are flying or running in any direction at any moment.
I also think photographing nature is gratifying from a historical standpoint. While hiking that day I heard a tree fall and had one of those “if a tree fell” revelations. By photographing a bird diving into the water, or a snake bathing in the sun, you’re documenting a part of history that no one else is likely witnessing. In fact if you were to ask someone if they’ve ever seen Sea Fowl dive into the water for fish there’s a good chance they’d say no.
I need to shoot more nature scenes, if for anything to merely practice. The more we practice the better we will be at our day jobs. So to move on from sounding like a father, here’s some shots from Lake Erie
gallery can be found here
In may I was hiking and ended up near Silver Creek and I was reminded of the jets and my grandfather while photographing some Sea Fowl diving into the water for small fish. I used the opportunity to observe them and practice staying tight with fast moving objects with my gear. I think photographing/filming nature is one of the best ways to keep you on your toes technically. While on the surface this may sound absurd, I think if you give yourself adequate time your technique will improve. Birds, especially, are interesting and difficult to simply ‘go take photo’s of’. After spending time photographing fast paced nature you will realize that you are better equipped mentally for the common ‘shotgun’ type of work that my generation seems to be getting accustomed too. By shooting nature, you’re consistently making split decisions in fractions of seconds; what shutter speed? What aperture? Where’s the sun in conjunction to my position? Is anyone next to me because my elbows are flailing? Do I need more lens? All the while you’re keeping your subject in frame and because they aren’t making it easy they are flying or running in any direction at any moment.
I also think photographing nature is gratifying from a historical standpoint. While hiking that day I heard a tree fall and had one of those “if a tree fell” revelations. By photographing a bird diving into the water, or a snake bathing in the sun, you’re documenting a part of history that no one else is likely witnessing. In fact if you were to ask someone if they’ve ever seen Sea Fowl dive into the water for fish there’s a good chance they’d say no.
I need to shoot more nature scenes, if for anything to merely practice. The more we practice the better we will be at our day jobs. So to move on from sounding like a father, here’s some shots from Lake Erie
gallery can be found here
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Polar Bear Club_Forfeit
12/09/09 00:00 Filed in: Photography
So besides working a 12hr workday and then going to a show, I thought I’d quickly import/color-correct a bunch of shots from the Polar Bear Club Record release show from earlier tonight. Per usual, Polar Bear Club did not disappoint and Forfeit is still one of the best hardcore bands around, and I’m not being bias.
At any rate the show was intense and glorious. It reminded me how much I love going to shows and that I need to make a more valiant effort to go to more of them and bring my gear with me. I had wanted to post a dialogue about shooting shows, but I need to collect my thoughts so I don’t come off the wrong way.
That being said here’s a few snapshots and a gallery of Forfeit and Polar Bear Club from tonight’s show:
gallery can be found here
At any rate the show was intense and glorious. It reminded me how much I love going to shows and that I need to make a more valiant effort to go to more of them and bring my gear with me. I had wanted to post a dialogue about shooting shows, but I need to collect my thoughts so I don’t come off the wrong way.
That being said here’s a few snapshots and a gallery of Forfeit and Polar Bear Club from tonight’s show:
gallery can be found here
Niagara St. Fire, Summer 2008
11/09/09 08:19 Filed in: Photography
I always seem to start my updated sites with these photos, but I like them and am still somewhat amazed that I was able to capture them. Last June there was a significant 4-alarm fire on Niagara St. in Buffalo. A pool supply warehouse went up in blaze and caused all sorts of havoc along the riverfront. The I-190 was shut down for a chunk of the day, several blocks surrounding the fire were blocked off, and residents in the area had to shut their windows or leave their homes due to the burning chemicals spewing into the fresh June air.
I was coming home from North Tonawanda and had my camera gear with me. I had spent a majority of the morning with my ipod on while taking photo’s up north by the falls and hadn’t heard about the fire. As we now know, the fire department had the blaze under control but sometime in the afternoon lost control when the brick building heated up again and caused the blaze to start up again. As fate would have it I was driving along the 190 when a huge plume of smoke rose into the air, not knowing what was going on I got off the nearest exit and followed the smoke on the surface roads. I had to pull over about four blocks from the fire, per the request of the very......very polite county sheriff. I parked on a one way side street directly off Niagara and tried walking towards the scene. Naturally the very.....very polite county sheriffs wouldn’t permit me to get within two blocks of the fire, which was useless to me due to my lack of expensive telephoto lenses. The advantage for me was that a month earlier I had a gallery showing for one of my undergrad classes in one of the warehouses that were in that area, and I remembered that a train track ran along all the warehouses. This track separated the tracks from the 190. Knowing that CSX would have shut down the rail for safety reasons I walked back a few blocks and cut between some buildings and headed down to the tracks.
From the moment I walked on the tracks I knew I would be getting some decent shots because there were nothing but firemen down there, no police. I’ve learned that if you respect what their doing, firemen will allow you to hang around and do your job, they’re not as ‘polite’ as county sheriffs tend to be. I approached the firemen with caution and inching closer with each shot. Eventually one of them said to me:
Fireman: “ How’d you get down here?”
Nb: “ Well I know the area and I knew that CSX would have shut the rail down and that the police probably weren’t down here.”
Fireman: *laughed* “Well since you out smarted the police and the news crews feel free to shoot away.”
I took his advice and took about 1500 photo’s of the fire for about 2hrs. Most of them were the same shot, with minor changes in crews and number of hoses and what not. I eventually got too cocky and headed back to the front of the fire by Niagara St and nearly was arrested by a Buffalo Policeman, granted he was just doing his job so I haven’t held a grudge. However yet again I did out think him and the only reason I didn’t get arrested was because I told him I was with the Rochester Times and I would surely be fired if I didn’t report back to my editor with at least one shot of the fire. He let me shoot for five minutes then sent me on my way, so I thank him for that, but there’s just one, minor detail...
There is no Rochester Times.
The full album can be found here. I’d really love the opportunity to spend a week or so with the Buffalo Fire Department. I need to look into that a little bit more I think.
-Nb
I was coming home from North Tonawanda and had my camera gear with me. I had spent a majority of the morning with my ipod on while taking photo’s up north by the falls and hadn’t heard about the fire. As we now know, the fire department had the blaze under control but sometime in the afternoon lost control when the brick building heated up again and caused the blaze to start up again. As fate would have it I was driving along the 190 when a huge plume of smoke rose into the air, not knowing what was going on I got off the nearest exit and followed the smoke on the surface roads. I had to pull over about four blocks from the fire, per the request of the very......very polite county sheriff. I parked on a one way side street directly off Niagara and tried walking towards the scene. Naturally the very.....very polite county sheriffs wouldn’t permit me to get within two blocks of the fire, which was useless to me due to my lack of expensive telephoto lenses. The advantage for me was that a month earlier I had a gallery showing for one of my undergrad classes in one of the warehouses that were in that area, and I remembered that a train track ran along all the warehouses. This track separated the tracks from the 190. Knowing that CSX would have shut down the rail for safety reasons I walked back a few blocks and cut between some buildings and headed down to the tracks.
From the moment I walked on the tracks I knew I would be getting some decent shots because there were nothing but firemen down there, no police. I’ve learned that if you respect what their doing, firemen will allow you to hang around and do your job, they’re not as ‘polite’ as county sheriffs tend to be. I approached the firemen with caution and inching closer with each shot. Eventually one of them said to me:
Fireman: “ How’d you get down here?”
Nb: “ Well I know the area and I knew that CSX would have shut the rail down and that the police probably weren’t down here.”
Fireman: *laughed* “Well since you out smarted the police and the news crews feel free to shoot away.”
I took his advice and took about 1500 photo’s of the fire for about 2hrs. Most of them were the same shot, with minor changes in crews and number of hoses and what not. I eventually got too cocky and headed back to the front of the fire by Niagara St and nearly was arrested by a Buffalo Policeman, granted he was just doing his job so I haven’t held a grudge. However yet again I did out think him and the only reason I didn’t get arrested was because I told him I was with the Rochester Times and I would surely be fired if I didn’t report back to my editor with at least one shot of the fire. He let me shoot for five minutes then sent me on my way, so I thank him for that, but there’s just one, minor detail...
There is no Rochester Times.
The full album can be found here. I’d really love the opportunity to spend a week or so with the Buffalo Fire Department. I need to look into that a little bit more I think.
-Nb
The Work
10/09/09 14:16 Filed in: Video
Back in Undergrad, when life was simple, I was charged with a project to do a multi-channel video. Like most ‘art school’ projects the adjunct masters student who could care less about teaching assigned us a, and I’m quoting, ‘multi-channel project’ make the screen have many screens and I don’t care what you do.” Yet another reason why I love college courses taught my masters students who don’t care about anything, Moreover I love it when I know more about software or technical jargin than they do, but their excuse is that they’re a “theorist.” But I digress,
I put together a very simple three channel video. The ultimate goal was to make it look like the female and male were bonded together, but due to some technical limitations in the studio we weren’t able to completely achieve the look.
Ultimately the piece makes no sense as it was more of a technique test. It’s interesting to look at older work and compare it to newer work, and how far we progress at our craft.
Enjoy. If not, that’s fine to, let me know regardless.
Play ‘The Work’ »
I put together a very simple three channel video. The ultimate goal was to make it look like the female and male were bonded together, but due to some technical limitations in the studio we weren’t able to completely achieve the look.
Ultimately the piece makes no sense as it was more of a technique test. It’s interesting to look at older work and compare it to newer work, and how far we progress at our craft.
Enjoy. If not, that’s fine to, let me know regardless.
Play ‘The Work’ »
There's nothing to discuss.
08/09/09 21:52
With the very best of intentions, I refocused my career goals. Within those goals was a networking/self-promotion blitz in the form of revamping my website and establishing a daily blog to set in motion a daily schedule. At 6am I post something, 6:20 I workout, 6:25 I go back to bed.
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