Hold The Eye Images

The Best Camera!!!

I really like this! Check it out...http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2009/09/best-camera-iphone-app-book-community.html

Kiteboarding Finale at Waddell Beach

Lydia Snider tipped me that a year end kiteboarding event would take place today, so I could not pass up the opportunity for some fun photographs. It was well attended, with lots of kiters, a few wind surfers, some passerby's, and a few photographers. The beach had significant swells, bright and sunny, not a lot of wind, and some interesting characters who came out to entertain. First there was Mike Muldoon who dressed in a cute little outfit: With nice "waterproof makeup", he certainly showed his stuff, and those legs, any woman would kill for those legs: Now not everyone was so daring  to show their inner self, some attended the gathering in more formal wear as Quinn McLaughlin did in his dashing tux: Both of these guys are great kiters and attracted many tourists whose tales I'll bet are very interesting of the day they went to the beach in Northern California. Lots of fun to watch, what a beautiful day, and the kiters were out in full bloom: And, they made the waves look easy with their kiting skills. Wind surfers were also present and they had a rougher time of it with the swells and waves. I thought a black and white photograph would be nice of this wind surfer who was particularly daring all day: I have not looked at all the images of today, but I did notice two riders(Mike and Lydia) working hard to ride a couple of blow up toys. I will not explain that, but I do have some interesting images. More later and I will add images to the kiteboarding gallery in the next couple of weeks. As always double click if you want a larger image.

Off to Sausalito Art Festival

Every year Sausalito puts on one of the best Art festivals in the US. Thousands of artists compete to attend the show from all over the world. Live music on three stages is featured each of day(3), with food and wine from local vineyards{Northern Ca). Buses shuttle people around so parking is not so difficult, lots of boaters bring their rigs and yachts to town and a ferry crosses the bay from San Francisco hourly for tourist to wander the town and attend the festival. Big time, lots of photo opportunities, so stay tuned.

I Expect Some Good Karma

Yesterday, I wrote about my Kindle crashing for the second time, requiring a third replacement. I was a bit bummed about the third go around but completely quit thinking about the mishap this morning. I woke up to find my new SUV stolen! It was not in my driveway when I went outside. At first, I thought, am I losing my mind and parked somewhere I don't remember? That would have been a better outcome, unfortunately, it was stolen along with "things inside". The good news, I had just taken several pieces of camera equipment out of the car to have it washed and waxed. Bad news, I had just put a new steel rack on the top, added a voice activated phone system, filled it up with gas, and had it serviced.

Chapter two should be better now that I have the bad karma out of the way, I might go out and buy a lottery ticked. Careless in California

Lassen National Park or Karma Continued!

Recall the string of less than optimum photography before I left for Lassen, well I'm on a roll! Seems, the prior week, a thunder cell came over Burney California and the Lassen area and from 3pm in the afternoon until around 1am in the morning, 11,000 lightning strikes were recorded(told by Park Ranger) setting at least 77 forest fires. Firefighters(all 3,386) worked diligently around the clock, containing the damage and the 77 resulted in 9 larger fires, one of which was my destination. To put the effort in perspective, 96 fire crews, with 236 fire engines were required and the estimated cost was $26Million. All of this information was reported in the local newspaper,"The InterMountain News". But good news abounds, no lives and minimal property damage were reported, and the local spirits were great. Oddly it did not affect the fishing at all, and some of the fly fisherman were reported to have fished through the whole thing. While not all that revealing, I did capture some of the fire damage:This was pretty much the scene where firefighters cut down trees to keep embers from spreading the flames. When we arrived at our camp on Hat Creek, embers were smoking across the creek on the hill and after we set up and relaxing at night, a stump burst into flame. My cohort John asked "is that another camper". No, it was God french frying another tree. After the initial panic, we settled down enjoying the evening burn of the "heavenly campfire". Least you suspect the trip was nothing but burned toast, we did see some great sights, interesting towns, and a side of California not in the minds of most people. You could transport yourself to any rural area in the US, discounting accents, it would be similar to Burney. Here are some examples of the rural atmosphere in small town Northern California:This a local theater, and you can see, it gets new movies without mall crowds. Now don't get the wrong idea, making a judgment from this photo is like judging Yellowstone by the small towns that service the park. This area is drop dead beautiful and here are a couple of views in spite of the fires:A slightly different angle of the volcano in the background:Hopefully this illustrates the beauty of Lassen National Park which is unique with its volcano residue(last eruption 1914 and caught on film from a view camera), its abundant wilderness with bear, mountain lion, ring-tale cat, deer, and assortment of migratory birds. And oh yes, the zen of the outdoors, great fly fishing! I watched this guy fish for a couple of hours from his boat, casting away for one of those giant trout that live so abundantly in this part of the world. With the fire, odd how images of heaven and hell can be so close to one another, here is heaven:

Heads Fly Fishing, Tails Photography?

Boy are those tough choices at Hat Creek four hours north of San Francisco. I need better luck; today, I went out with a friend Tom, to shoot some kite boarders, a few birds, and some elephant seals. Well we hit zero on all three, and ended up spending most of our clicks on two fisherman on a rock(but it might be great in black and white). All was not lost, since on our last leg, we did run into a grown bobcat, which is not an everyday occurrence but no photo proof. With fly rod in one hand and a camera in the other, if lightening strikes, I will have to go to heaven because nobody will turn down that ticket. Cheers til Friday!

Three of my most recent favorites

I choose three favorites from recent shoots to show you how subjects can be everywhere, the wagon wheel and reflection are from Bodie California, and the Kiteboarder is Wadell Beach north of Santa Cruz. Double Click on the an image if you want to enlarge.

I want to be more creative in my photography

This the holy grail of photography as it is with most things in life. I enjoy the hunt as much as looking at the final photograph. The journey is expanding and actually overlaps with many activities in my life. Once you decide to be more creative, it is difficult to contain the energy to one space in your life, you use the same tactics in all aspects. The issue is getting out of the routine that you have established especially if you have been successful with that routine and don't have a real need to change. In business the metaphor is a burning bridge demand, without it, change is unlikely. The key, is making a change that is enjoyable, re-energizing, understanding that if it doesn't work, unlike business, no harm done. It is very easy to get good at portraits, and become a photo factory, or good at landscapes with HDR, and again become a photo factory. So, how do I change?

The first step is to do something different, use your instincts, think of the options, try all of those options. There is a concept called synergy which explains how ideas coming from a small group create a new idea that no single  individual could have developed. It is the highest thinking order of groups and while not ordinary it is possible where brainstorming is open, goals are clear, and change is expected. I mention this to encourage you to shoot with friends as a group, talk about different ideas, set a goal of doing it different, share success, and above all exhaust all of the options, you can think about. This is just one way of beginning the journey. There are other resources, check out Harold Davis at Photoblog2.com or his articles on creative photography at http://photo.net/column/harolddavis/becoming-a-creative-photographer/. Good luck, if you get into it, it will change your photography for the better.

What should always be on your person when photographing?

Yea, compact flash cards but that's not the answer, neither is extra batteries which you should also carry. Maybe a flash light, yea but not the answer so what is it? A portable voice recorder should always be carried and they come in all sizes and quality starting with a few bucks up to several hundred. The purpose is to talk to yourself since photography is normally a lonely endeavor? No, but that could work, it is to take notes about things that need to recorded. For example, you think of something you should always bring, make a note of it. Or, you are remembering names, spellings, make a note of it. You are taking a photo and want to be reminded of something about the scene/creature, record it. Now, if you have a D3, Nikon realizes you should always carry a voice recorder so they built one into the camera, yea you can talk to the camera and it is embedded with the frame you are shooting. I make notes of places I want to come back to, record things about where to stay, even what to eat or bring for food. And recently, I have begun interviewing people I meet who are part of my photography. Kiteboarders for example, or surfers, they may have something I want to remember or better yet embed their interview in a slide show. When driving, I always keep a voice recorder handy to make notes of things I see and want to remember. It's easy, much better than trying to write it down, It is easy to download these files into itunes, label them and manage them in Garage Band. I figure when I get old with dementia, I can play back my life and enjoy photography all over again. See, I have an end game. Lately, I have upgraded my recording and added a boom mike to record animal sounds, surf sounds, traffic sounds, etc. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with all this, but my intuition tells me I will figure it out. Warning, you do look a bit odd walking around recording ordinary sounds with a boom mike and a camera around your neck. I did have someone ask me if I wasn't suppose to be taking pictures(I assume they thought I was confused). Anyway, those of you with whom I have talked about being organized,know a voice recorder is an essential tool. And for those interested in upgrading, look at the Olympus LS-10, it is a jewel with studio quality in your palm. If you want an entry model, go to Office Depot and get one with a built in hard drive for under $20. If you want a project, think about creating a short slide show and recording the sound track from real life sounds that add to the images. Even wind blowing can create mood. Food for thought and enjoyment.

Interesting question with the growing trend toward web publishing

Still photography has its origins in paper, with individual prints and publications the main source. We are now in a transition stage with newspapers and magazines losing marketing revenue support and the web attracting more of the marketing wallet dollar. So the question, does this have any potential implications for photography? The current prognosis by many, ink on paper is going away, replaced by web print. For the sake of discussion, let's assume this happens, Couple this trend with the ability of more cameras to capture video, and we may have a perfect storm for photography. How so? Video has taken over the world, it defines music, current events, nightly news, documentaries, personal events, and the list goes on. Technology prevented video from paper(newspaper/magazines) but with the current trend; how likely is the market for still photography going to decline and the demand for short video accelerate?  A news story may use a short video instead of a still photograph, an online magazine may embed video for illustration, digital cameras will enable video and the single image may take a backseat to video shorts. Recall the sea change with music video's and how they have come to define the sound, a central element to marketing and sales. Short video's from cell phones have defined the trouble in Iran, and I suspect this is the wave of the future. Where does the still photograph fit in?  It will remain powerful as a forum for expression but will it have a place at the table for marketing dollars? Will the young generation being born today tolerate a single image or will they demand more information from video. I have written about the flip video which is amazing, easy to use, very slick and cool. But, for me it doesn't compare to a photograph, but my fangs have gaps(just watched true blood), and younger generations will likely think differently. If so, the death of film may be just the tip of the iceberg for the change in photography.