I have been selected as a feature photographer by Savage Universal. They are known as the supplier of background paper for photographers. They also sell a wide range of studio accessories. I will be writing guest posts on studio product and food photography with an emphasis on the products that they sell. My first article was posted recently and I talk about the little gadgets that are helpful when starting food photography.
Peter Fetterman Gallery
Currently the Peter Fetterman gallery in Santa Monica is the place to go if you want to see some of the finest nature photographs ever taken. They are showing the work of Sebastiao Salgado.
Sebastiao Salgado
It is unreal how many stunning photographs this incredible artist has taken. His many books are just incredible. I have always favored the work in MIGRATIONS, AFRICA, WORKERS, and GENESIS. I would love to have taken just one of his images. There is also a DVD of his life that is a much watch. He is truly an inspiring person who has lived an amazing life. The prints range mostly from $15,000 to $50,000. If you are anywhere near the gallery I urge you to stop in and view some truly iconic images.
Robert Mapplethorpe - The Perfect Medium
Visited the Mapplethorpe exhibit at The Getty Center this past weekend.
Robert Mapplethorpe self portrait
I remember the controversy over his photos back in the 80's but this was the first time that I have see his work up close and I must say that I was really impressed. His mastery of black and white was incredible. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is also hosting a Mapplethorpe exhibit that is running for the same dates. Both are running from March 15 - July 31. I plan on attending the LACMA show sometime next month. Also on display are photos from the Sam Wagstaff archive. Wagstaff was Mapplethorpe's benefactor and had an extensive collection of historical photographs. I especially enjoyed seeing prints by Alfred Steiglitz and Edward Weston. His images of the human form have such depth and range the just take your breath away. Flowers was another of his favorite subjects and the are the standard that still life's that photographers to this day compare their work against.
Ralph Gibson TED talk
Ralph Gibson on finding a photographic identity. Even on stage he has his Leica.
Ralph Gibson
Leica Dealer Advertising 1977
These are Leica (Leitz) AD slicks for dealers so that they could do their own newspaper advertising.
Leitz Ad
Leica M6 Cutaway Art
This is from a Leitz brochure in the 80's.
Leica M6
I still have a soft spot for this camera. I own one in chrome and in black. This was my third Leica after a M3 double stroke and a M4-2.
WPPI 2016
My visit to Wedding and Portrait Photographers convention in Las Vegas.
Lensrentals.com The chess player in me likes this.
I had no reason to go to a wedding photographers convention but I wanted to go to the trade show. Stopped by the Nikon area for NPS members to get an introduction to the new Nikon D5. Nice camera, looks like it is time for me to update. Meeting the pro's in the room reminded me that there are a lot of not nice people in the world. Makes me wonder how some people make a living in a field where you need to be professional and easy to work with. I was very impressed with the Phase One cameras and made a contact that I may have to get more information from, I might step up to medium format. I shot Hasselblad for a lot of years in the film world. At the Canon booth Peter Hurley was speaking, he is entertaining. The show was broken into two parts, one area the big names like Nikon and Canon and Profoto, and the other area with albums and props and smaller vendors. The big name area was full of younger males lusting over the equipment. The smaller area had what I would call the working pro's. Mostly younger couples or older men and women who sounded like they had been in the business a long time. Interesting. Not as many people as I was expecting. Making a living as a photographer is hard and getting harder. Don't give your work away.
Light Painting
Back in the day I used to use light painting to obtain shadowless product photos with photo floods. In the last few years the technique has returned for creative purposes.
Nikon and Light Painting
Light Painting is relatively easy thanks to digital capture. The base exposure settings are f8 at 30 seconds with long exposure noise reduction turned on. After the exposure the camera will take another black exposure to reduce the grain in the photo. Hence the Long Exposure Noise Reduction setting. I use a Streamlight 65018 Stylus pen light for exposing small objects. During the exposure keep the light source moving and turn it on and off as needed and don't expose with your hand in front of the lens. I usually hum a song so that I have a pattern that I repeat, i.e. this area for this verse and this area for the next verse and so on.
Streamlight 65018
This is a lighting technique that I enjoy using from time to time. You can get different results by putting gels over the light or some Vaseline on a spare filter.
Getty Museum - Leica M (240)
A visit to one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. The J Paul Getty is a great place to take photos and has some of the best photography exhibitions in the US. The one that just ended on Japanese photography was very nice. Really looking forward to the upcoming Robert Maplethorp show starting in March.
Getty Museum
Leica M and 35mm
Leica M and 35mm 2.0
Leica M and 35mm 2.0
Leica M and 35mm 2.0
Leica M and 35mm 2.0
Kiwi - Broncolor, Matthews, TetherTools, Savage
Behind the scenes of recent food photograph.
Kiwi
Beginning photographers are under the impression that lots of equipment is needed to do product work but that is not always the case. I try to make my work simple and graphic so it stands out. The in style for food photography is to use just natural light so I wanted to do something that would be different. The image that I visualized was to back light slices of kiwi but how to come up with a quick light table for the effect. First I grabbed a Matthews stand and arm and attached an AFFLAC clamp. I located an old piece of glass from a picture frame and covered it with a spare piece of Savage Translum. If you have never used this product I suggest you get some, it has a lot of uses.
Overview of setup.
Next I position a light under my makeshift light table and wheeled my TetherTools table into position. Almost everything I shoot is tethered with Capture One Pro.
Positioning the kiwi.
We ended up slicing about 8 kiwi to get the pieces that looked right. Then it was just the time spent assembling the puzzle pieces until I was happy with the composition.
Equipment used was a Broncolor Move and head, Nikon D3s with a 105mm micro, Really Right Stuff tripod and head, Matthews C-Stand and arm with an AFFLAC clamp, Savage Translum medium material, and a Manfrotto arm.