365/29 Nel mezzo del cammin di nostravita

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi retrovai per una selva oscura,
che la diritta via era smarrita."

(In the middle of the journey of our life
I found myself in a dark wood,
for the straight way was lost.)

Dante's Inferno

I've always liked the idea of writing on skin. I believe it stems from my interest in tattoos and the variety of designs that can be etched into permanency just beneath the surface. A black sharpie and a steady hand are all that's needed to have some fun with the camera.

I think that's one of the most important parts of this 365 process. Having fun with it, that is. There's a certain quality to thinking outside of the box when coming up with one new photographic idea after another. It's complete and utter terror mixed with uncertainty, doubt, annoyance ... and a dash of relief when the idea works out. One more day, one less photo to have to worry about.

Sometimes you come up with an idea like this one. It starts out as something completely different. I wanted to take photos of some business cards splayed out in my hand. Something you'd see with a deck of cards and a magician, but representing something about me. I played with that idea for half an hour last night trying to make it work before ever clicking the shutter. Never did take that photo. I wasn't very fond of the way the cards flared out under my fingertips. It just didn't work.

But, this got me thinking. What if the subject just needed to by my hand? What could I do with that? When I was shooting in the studio on a regular basis, I had a habit of photographing my left hand to quickly gauge how close I was to a reasonable exposure with our studio equipment. I must have a few dozen of these photos now. All well lit, showing off my life and love lines.

I'd recently looked at a photo of someone's open palm, almost shoved into the lens of the camera. This well-worn hand was covered in ink and letter, all describing the owner with a mottled cloud of words, tagging in black. I wanted to do something like this, but with some coherent thought.

In this case, it was a quote from Dante's Inferno in the original Italian. It's something that's always struck a chord with me.

I like it how it turned out. The black certainly worked well.

365/28 Home is where the bunk bed is ...

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."

Robert A. Heinlein

My daughter's room is one of the coziest rooms of the entire house. It's very peaceful and relaxing in there. I know not why. I mean, it's a complete and utter mess. Toys strewn everywhere, bits of art paper, failed experiments with crayons. There's writing on the wall from some point in the past where she got angry at us or her brothers (she's young, she'll grow out of it; that's what fresh paint is for).

There's a lamp turned on all the time to provide a flourish of white glowing light. A bunk bed fills the room. Something we bought a two or three years back. She was ecstatic when she moved to a big girl bed.

One of my favorite things to do is go in there and listen to her play. She's both meticulous and mellow. The "downside" to this is how easy it is for sleep to creep up behind you and hit you over the head. It's very ninja like that in her room. And the only thing that stopped her from covering me up with her cow blanket was that I was laying down on it.

She poked on the nose when I began snoring. I'd dozed off for a few minutes apparently. Took a quick snap of what relaxation really means, then left the room so she could go back to playing.

365/27 The Castle

Take a look at a castle. Any castle. Now break down the key elements that make it a castle. They haven't changed in a thousand years. 1: Location. A site on high ground that commands the territory as far as the eye can see. 2: Protection. Big walls, walls strong enough to withstand a frontal attack. 3: A garrison. Men who are trained and willing to kill. 4: A flag. You tell your men you are soldiers and that's your flag. You tell them nobody takes our flag. And you raise that flag so it flies high where everyone can see it. Now you've got yourself a castle.

Irwin, The Last Castle

It has been one of those days where the afternoon of angry cloud fronts and the wet smell of rain have left me garrisoned inside my castle. Well, my home. It ended up being a quiet and sullen evening, so I slapped The Last Castle onto the TV, turned the volume down, and let it percolate through the air like bad lounge music. Only, with explosions, guns, and insurrection.

The lead-in narration to the movie has always inspired me, remind me that there are basics for everything that just don't change. Building blocks upon which your metaphorical walls and turrets, parapets and flags, soldiers and saints sit upon, ready to be assaulted by ... whatever. This time, it was self-deprecation.

I've been kicking myself today because I had the opportunity to shoot with a really good rigger earlier this week and I didn't. I couldn't re-arrange my evening schedule for even a single hour to pop over to where he was set up. I keep telling myself it would have been epic, but that doesn't seem to help my mood. It's not often that I get to shoot something that has been set up by someone else and all I have to worry about is my photographic vision.

This weekend, though. This is different. A local body painter and I have been playing tag for the last few months, talking about doing a shoot or two. He does excellent work. This will be my first time shooting something like this, so I'm really excited about it. He's going to do something inspired by Mardi Gras and Carnival. Should be fun. If it works out the way I expect and we're both happy with the results, we're going to do some more collaborative shoots in the future.

For now, though, I'm going to relax in my castle and think about what my photographic flag should be. Maybe that'll help steel my artistic confidence and keep me working against the lumbering hordes just outside the walls. Oh, and while I'm at it, I think I'll steal a few pieces of Pez from the dispenser so carelessly left on the kitchen table the kids. Pez makes everything right as rain.

365/26 Under the Tower

Three hundred years ago a prisoner condemned to the Tower of London carved on the wall of his cell this sentiment to keep up his spirits during his long imprisonment: 'It is not adversity that kills, but the impatience with which we bear adversity.'

James Keller

I'd like to say that I have something pithy and inspiring for tonight, but I don't. I can't. I won't. Tonight was a trial of patience, good will, and technical geekery. Admittedly, I probably should not have tried doing this right as classes ended at UT (man, hordes of students EVERYWHERE). As well, I probably should have read the manual a bit more on how the interval timer worked so I could do my self portraits.

But when has that stopped me from trying to play with the camera?

Never. Well, mostly never.

I did two setups tonight, trying to get something together like Dustin Diaz's work on the streets of San Francisco. I took some of his advice on how he does it. Especially the focusing bits. What I discovered was that the camera was resetting the focus when I turned on the interval timer to handle the shots. I'm not yet sure why this was occurring. The way I normally have the camera set up, this shouldn't have happened.

So, I ended up with one shot in five being in focus. Frustrating. I really only like one of them.

The other annoying part of this setup was the weak-assed tripod I have. I can't effectively do portrait style photos with it. I always think the camera is going to fall off the head. The tripod was never really meant to handle a 5lb camera setup in that position. The lens kept creeping slowly towards the floor. I need to get me that new tripod setup. Soon.

The second setup involved using the UT tower, all aglow in it's burnt orangeness, as the background. First hurdle tripped over? From where I wanted to shoot, I couldn't get the tower fully in view with my normal lens (the 24-70mm f2.8). And I certainly wasn't going to set the camera up on the other side of the road without some adult supervision while it triggered remotely with the interval timer. There were just too many people floating around the area for me to feel safe enough.

Aaaand, because I made the intelligent choice of doing this right as evening classes broke, I had people walking right into the field of view as I had gotten everything setup and the camera rolling. Frustrating. Some folks were gracious about it (which I appreciate, you anonymous UT students!). But others were just blind to the fact that there was a camera and flash going off once every five seconds and ... oh, yes, you're in my frame. Thanks. Really.

Another 50-ish photos where one in five was usable. I only got one frame I liked out of the entire setup.

I like playing with the camera. I'm finding that I don't really like being in front of it if I can't have someone experienced behind the lens. I much prefer being in direct control of the camera, honestly. Easier to make photos that are worth posting. There were a few folks that came up to me while I was playing to ask why the tower was orange. I should have roped them into having their photos taken. Maybe next time.

I might try this all again. There's a few other areas around campus that I want to set up at. Next time I'll have the knowledge I gathered tonight. Doubleplusgood for me.

Now, for some technical bits and a bonus photo!

The Tower photo was setup with an 18-55mm lens at F4, cranked to 18mm so I could get the entire tower in the frame. There is an SB-900 to camera left about 6 feet up from ground level and snooted with some blackwrap. The flash is zoomed to 200mm so I can get that nice, crisp shadow line against the wall behind my body. The blackwrap gave me the light falloff that I wanted for the stairs, so the rest of the scene (such as the trees) wouldn't be overpowered. Finally, it was triggered with pocket wizards.



This photo was set up with an SB-900 with a full CTO gel mounted to camera left about 6 feet up. It was pumping at full power through a white 42" umbrella, just inside the archway between the columns. I wanted to get some nice, blue light coming in from the rest of the area, but dusk fell too quickly for me to get the look I wanted before the area was flooded by the ugly sodium lights in the walkways just out of view. This, too, was triggered via pocket wizards, important for this photo because I couldn't get line of sight needed to trigger via CLS.

365/25 A Maker's Manifest

"In my writing I am acting as a map maker, an explorer of psychic areas, a cosmonaut of inner space, and I see no point in exploring areas that have already been thoroughly surveyed."
William S. Burroughs

I love old books. I've got hundreds of them, inherited from my family. Some of them I read, some of them I wrinkle my nose at. But the most powerful thing about these books is their aged bouquet. It's very distinct.

Take this one, for example. This was my Grandfather's Machinery's Handbook. It's dated 1943 and is the 13th edition, as far as I can tell from the publishing history, which dates back to 1913. The book was well cared for. It still has a waxed paper covering that he must have put on at some point to protect it. None of the pages are dog-eared. I've been through it several times and I can find no scribbled notes marring any of the pages. In essence, it's in pristine condition.

I've had this book for some fifteen years now and it's one of my most cherished books. It appeals to the geek, nerd, and engineer in me. I like paging through it and learning about different and useful tidbits of information. I don't know that I'll ever find a use for all of the information in this book, but I'm sure glad I have it handy. When the zombie apocalypse comes, I'll make sure to have this handy to help rebuild the nation.

You can't say that about just any 67 year old book, now can you? No, you can't.

365/24 A History of Viol ... err, Photography

"I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse."
Diane Arbus

So, I'm sitting here and, as I write this, Shutter is on the television. What a creepy movie about photography. It ranks right up there with Hard Candy. Ugh. Thinking about both movies just gives me the willies. The lesson? Don't be an idiot photographer.

But that's not what this is about.

As I mentioned the other day, I've been listening to this podcast about the History of Photography by Jeff Curto. I ended up pulling down the remaining episodes from last year's class so I could finish off the season and move onto this semester. I'm so very glad that my new iPod has a double speed play option. The last one didn't. There's just so much information to take in and I want to get through it so I can keep learning.

The annoying part of listening to the podcast is that I haven't yet found a way to bookmark interesting sections to come back to. There's been a few quotes that I've wanted to come back to and write about. Oh well. I'll figure it out or figure out some way around it I suppose.

365/23 Ol' Jack Burton says ...

When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?"

"Yessir, the check is in the mail."

Jack Burton Big Trouble in Little China

Ok. Yes, I have a fascination with Jack Burton. Arrogant, cocksure. A damn-the-torpedoes kinda guy. Sometimes you need to be live that in life in order to get through it. Not that I ever do such things in real life. Ahem.

But, it was time for a new mugshot and I wanted something that would give the appearance of self-assurity, the notion that when, as Jack Burton says, you're up against a wall and being stared down at by some 8-foot tall maniac, that you stare right back. Not so much a "no fear" attitude. It's the perception of knowing what you can live through and knowing that even though you're likely going to get hurt, that you're going to take a few people with you.

I knew what I wanted out of this photo. Dark and brooding me. I didn't want that spark of life showing up in my eyes. The light? Highly directional and layered just enough to give some depth in the darkness. Not sure I wanted to fully project Jack Burton here. When you see him, you see brash and vigor, lit up in all it's glory. Flashy and arrogant.

Now, while fun to poke at Jack Burton and my goofy reasoning behind wanting a new mugshot, the "real" reasoning behind it has to do with a podcast I've been listening to lately, History of Photography by Jeff Curto. He's a professor at College of DuPage. One of the things that stayed with me from the first few podcasts was the discussions about portraits when photography first came about.

We've come a long way from that era where a portrait may have taken tens of seconds to expose. More importantly, we've come from an era where photographs were rare; imagine living in a time where you didn't grow up with photography. Imagine not having photos of your family or not knowing what a city on the other side of the world looked like, save for someone's impressionistic painting. Photos captured reality. It was world-changing. You don't think about this today when you're bombarded with imagery from all points and angles.

The discussion just got me thinking about keeping a documented history of myself as I age. And this mugshot was the next in a long line of photos. But, unlike Jack, I'll still be paying my dues for some time to come. The check, still unwritten, will be in the mail. That's a promise.

Some technical details: SB-800 through 15" Lastolite Ezybox aimed straight down and overhead about 1 foot from my head to camera left at 1/32. The bare-bulb adapter was also on the 800 to help soften the light just a bit more. SB-800 to camera right and behind about 6 feet back and above. Snooted with some blackwrap. Triggered via CLS with the timer on the camera.