George W. Gardner

I know that a lot of us in analog are about to begin our documentary projects. I have always loved the genre of documentary because you're photographing to preserve something, but you can twist the stylistic elements of your images any way you'd like so that they do the subject matter justice. I have always admired George Gardner's photographs of America for this reason--they're so distinct. Much like Robert Frank's series on Americans, Gardner stays true to setting and subject matter, while still incorporating his own characteristics. I encourage everyone to check out his work, because I feel that with his documentary photographs, he's achieved what I believe to be the most important element for this genre: a feeling of intimacy between subject and viewer.

America, 1960-1985

Basic Lighting

This week in my section we covered some of the basic principles of lighting, both with continuous source (hot lights), and flash (specifically dedicated flash units for digital cameras).

Lighting is a subject that is pretty near and dear to me to me so I thought I'd share a few more resources that I have found helpful to photographers new to using artificial light.

One of the best free resources is David Hobby's website, STROBIST. David was a photojournalist for the Baltimore Sun and was often confronted with situations that required sophisticated lighting, but he worked alone and couldn't carry big studio equipment. He devised a method of using small inexpensive strobes and started publishing his tutorials on his blog.  Strobist has 250,000 followers at this point.

I'm also going to upload a few chapters from my books to my website that students will be able to download (these will also be available on the blackboard site for my section).  Because my publishers will get mad if I leave them up for too long they will only be available for a week or two.  Go to the "Written Word" section of my site, the "Light is Color" and "Lighting" have useful tips for using small flash or hot light effectively

If you are shooting with a Nikon camera I'll also recommend Joe McNally's book entitled "Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes"  It's very Nikon specific and you will have to wade through Joe's deathless prose (he does tend to ramble), but there is a lot of useful information there

Vancouver Riot

I was in Vancouver this summer, but left the day before the riots broke out after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup. This shot is pretty amazing, especially in light of the recent protesting/rioting down on Wall Street. It's insane how when so much chaos is going on, a photographer only has moments to capture that perfect image.

Here is the article on the incident and the photograph itself:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/17/vancouver-kiss-couple-riot-police#

For those of you who don't have time to read the whole thing, this is what the photographer said about it:

The photographer was being buffeted by rioters and riot police when he spotted the couple. "I was about 20 or 30 yards away," he said. "There were these two people on the ground in this empty street. Initially I thought one of them was hurt." He took a few shots and then the moment was lost.

"It was complete chaos. Rioters set two cars on fire and then I saw looters break the window at a neighbouring department store," he said.

"At that point the riot police charged right towards us. After I stopped running I noticed in the space behind the line of police that two people were lying in the street with the riot police and a raging fire just beyond them.

"I knew I had captured a moment when I snapped the still forms against the backdrop of such chaos but it wasn't until later when I returned to the rink to file my photos that my editor pointed out that the two people were not hurt, but kissing," Lam said before the real story behind the photo came out.

Mark Citret

I recently visited Santa Fe, NM this summer and walked into the Verve Gallery of Photography. Mark Citret (b. 1949) was showing his black and white photography and I was completely enthralled. [I'm seriously partial to lines, shapes and forms in photography,] and so there's my opinion. However, I really encourage you to check some of this work out on his website. In the mid to late 1980s he produced a large body of work with the working title of “Unnatural Wonders”, which is his personal survey of architecture in the national parks. He spent four years, 1990 to 1993, photographing “Coastside Plant”, a massive construction site in the southwest corner of San Francisco. But, my personal favorite is his gallery of "Artifacts." Very abstract stuff.

Link: www.mcitret.com

Tim Hethrington's Diary

A really wonderful short minute film that feels like a war photographer's dream

Diary 2010

A Frightening Possibility

I returned to my dorm this evening to find a disturbing story waiting for me on the New York Times website. There is a possibility it seems, that Eastman Kodak may file for bankruptcy some time in the not too distant future. I don't think anyone believed Kodak's future to be a bright one but I didn't expect to hear things like this for some time to come.

New York Times: Lens

The New York Times runs an excellent photography blog entitled Lens, which covers amazing photographers and different slideshows showcasing the best photographs around the world every week. I just saw ran across this one taken by James Mollison on the many different places children sleep around the globe. It's pretty fantastic. Check it out.