A cold morning at Big Talbot

I wanted to bring my visiting friend, Cliff Mair to my favorite place at the end of Blackrock Trail on Big Talbot Island. Problem was that record cold temperatures were predicted, and I am not fond of freezing my butt off at sunrise. However, a low tide at sunrise was too much to pass up so we headed out. Please remember that I lured Cliff here to Florida because of our warm winters and great clouds. The day he arrived a cold front blew in and took all the clouds away. 4 days of record cold, freezing nights, and cloudless skies. For an outdoor landscape photographer this is not fun.

After about an hour after sunrise Cliff was ready to go. I was too. It's tough to find compositions when the light isn't cooperating. Not that I didn't try. I was looking for shadows, patterns, and details, but the light was just too strong. We decided to head up to New Berlin Road to shoot the cooling towers at the JEA power plant. I've been out there before but usually on weekends. Today the security guard decided to show up. He was not happy with us pointing our long lenses on tripods at the towers. We were going for some long exposures to capture the smoke trails using a Vari-ND filter from Singh-Ray. Great technique if you can get a 10-15 second exposure. The guard asked for ID, and now I'm in the database as a suspect. If anything happens to those towers I guess I can expect a call.

First shoot of 2010 - downtown Jacksonville

2010 has come quickly along with some frigid weather. As I am typically looking for excuses not to get out the door, the cold weather was not helping. On Sunday my good friend from Scotland, Clifton Mair arrived and he was excited to head downtown for some urban landscapes. I met Cliff last year at John Paul Caponigro's Next Step Workshop. I would give you a link to Cliff's exceptional work but he does not have a site...yet (did you read this Cliff?). We headed downtown to the Southbank Riverwalk and the river was calm. As the sun set we headed back across the Main Street Bridge. I was struggling with my tripod on the bridge and didn't realize that at 5:30 there is a continuous stream of traffic crossing the span vibrating everything. I saw Cliff handholding and wondered what he was doing. I should have taken his lead and tried some long exposures with the lights. Next time. That's why it is always a benefit to get out with a friend so that you can share techniques and ideas. We tend to work alone on personal stuff and that keeps you doing the same things over and over. Resolutions: hang out with your friends, learn from others, try something new.

Art for healing at the Shands Cancer Center

In September several of my images were selected by Fogle Fine Art for placement in the new Shands Cancer Center in Gainesville. Today Dorian and I visited the facility to see the installed work. We were met and escorted by Tina Mullen of the Shands Arts in Medicine program, a very progressive and innovative resource that works directly with patients using art as an integral component to healing. The building opened on Nov 1 and is a gorgeous state of the art facility with some incredible art placed throughout the public spaces and in the individual patient rooms. Over 400 pieces were selected, which included photography from employees and local artists. It was obvious that a lot of care and consideration went into the choice and placement of each piece.

    

This project increased my awareness of extensive research linking the physical environment in hospitals and places of healing to the well being of patients. It has been shown conclusively that healing is positively influenced by what you see, and that images of nature are effective in creating nurturing environments. I am proud to contribute to such an outstanding institution and knowing that my images could bring comfort and peace to those who need to be healed.

City Views at Fogle Fine Art

Work from my Jacksonville 400 project is now part of my "City Views" body of work displaying at Fogle Fine Art. It is great to see these images printed large and framed in a gallery setting. Fogle made excellent choices for the frames and I am thrilled at the results. I am curious to see the success of these images in the marketplace. So far the reaction has been very positive.

 

If you are in the area, please stop by to take a look. The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday, 10a-6p and located at 3312 Beach Boulevard (in the St. Nicholas area). Here is a selection of images on display:

  

  

  

Face Mount Acrylic

I just examined the most amazing mount of one of my prints at Raven Image on Beach Blvd. This is a 24"x72" image mounted to an aluminum backing and then face mounted to 1/2" acrylic, then polished. The result is amazing. Cher Sailer and Tracy Jacobs at Raven are the best at what they do. They transformed this image into something really special. I'll soon let everyone know where they can view this piece.

Big Talbot Island repeat

This is my 14th session for shooting on my Jacksonville project, and I headed back out to Big Talbot Island, one of my favorite spots on an overcast day, hoping to catch some interesting views and details off of Black Rock Trail. The trailhead creeps up on you quickly after you pass Simpson's Creek on Hecksher Drive. It's a 1/2 mile easy hike in. It's October 28 and the temperature was 87 degrees with a massive dose of humidity and gnats flying everywhere. I arrived about 2 hours after low tide at around 11:oo am.

 

It's hard to get situated and in the flow when amongst a bunch of giant trees lying dead on the shore. I was overwhelmed. Sometimes it's best to just sit down and take the site in. As I stood and stared, an armadillo walked out of the woods and down the trail. Funny how things start to happen if you just stay still for a while. There is a ladder leading down to the shore (thank you whoever build this!) and I started walking south. I believe the "black rock" is actually exposed limestone and coquina, which makes for an interesting shoreline. The sun was poking in and out of the clouds, and there were darker stormy clouds to the north.

As it approached 4:00 a fisherman was making his way back and asked if I was familiar with the area. "Oh sure, I've been here many times...why do you ask?" "Well, you know as the tide comes in, the point over there floods early and you cannot walk around to get back to the trail," he casually replied. Note: there is a 12-20 ft bluff running along the shore in this area. "And you know the tide is coming in fast so I'm heading out." "Great idea, and thanks for letting me know!" Now that little piece of information saved me a whole lot of aggravation. Walking on the jagged limestone was tricky enough when you can see where you are going. Not a good idea especially when you are carrying a whole bunch of camera gear, tripod, etc. So what would have happened if that fisherman didn't stop or wasn't there? Gulp.

More Big Talbot images from this day can be found here.

Treaty Oak study

Most residents in Jacksonville are familiar with the Treaty Oak, a massive tree situated in a small park on the South bank.  It's a wonderful tree and there are always people there enjoying the shade from the overhanging branches. Today I was trying to catch the Harvest Moon from the Acosta Bridge and the clouds rolled in and blanketed the sky. So I spent some time with this beautiful tree. I realized that many of the forms were human-like, and upon careful study you could find arms, legs, hands , and entwined appendages. I lost the light quickly and will return on an overcast day to discover more about this magnificent creation.

This was officially Day 10 of my Jacksonville 400 project.

Jacksonville 400 - Day 8

Today I decided to take a break and head north to take in some scenics at Little Talbot and Big Talbot Islands. The clouds have been incredible during the morning and early afternoon due to the heat and humidity and I wanted to capture some of them on the shore. As I drove north west I could see the sky clearing before me...wouldn't you know! I did manage to find one cloud hanging around. I did not stick around for the sunset in discouragement. I am going to return to the power plant for some shots, maybe this weekend.

My Jacksonville 400 project gallery can be found here.

Jacksonville 400 - Day 7

Headed downtown again for some evening shots. My plan was to re-shoot the under structures of the Acosta on the south bank and then head over to the north bank to the part of the River Walk that crosses the railroad tracks. The sun always manages to set too quickly and the time left for any ambient light is short. Before I knew it the darkness took over and I had to head home. There was a strange purple glow form the people mover fluorescents. It may have been from the blue mixing with the yellow tungsten lights. Some neat stuff under the bridges, and unfortunately a lot of homeless people wandering around.

 

My Jacksonville 400 project gallery can be found here.

Jacksonville 400 - Day 6

I've made the trip downtown 6 times now (actually 7 if you count the total bust when it rained) for my Jax project. This Saturday was my most fruitful outing. It seems that I am getting into the swing of things. It takes time to find a path, and some diligence to keep on it. Right now I am taking a lot of the obvious shots, the landmark buildings, what I call the "stock" views of the city. There is a lot of work in doing so, as one needs to capture the sense of place, spirit, and lighting. This takes repeated attempts as the weather does not always cooperate and the light in the morning or afternoon usually favors certain views of the buildings. Take for example the skyline from the Acosta bridge. This is the classic Jacksonville sunset shot, it's been done thousands of times. So what will be different in my version? The light, the clouds, the time of day? I resign myself to taking what is present at the given time and moment. There are no other choices. Here is what I found on Saturday September 19 at 7:45 pm. I had to wait until they turned on the lights for the Jacksonville Landing sign. Is this the shot?  No but it will do for now. It is a pan of 3 - 21 mp images, so I'm going to make a big print.

After walking around on Saturday, which was so incredibly hot and humid, there were many times when I was ready to just pack it in. I'm glad that I stuck with it. I arrived around 2:30 and first hit the South bank River Walk, then headed to the new courthouse construction site, then around Hemming Plaza, and finally back to the south bank and the Acosta Bridge to catch the sunset. Six hours. I found that I needed walk-around time just to be comfortable and to start seeing things that could be easily missed, or having the light and clouds change. Just being awake and present at the right time and place allows the serendipitous to happen. I love the weekends downtown because Jacksonville is almost abandoned. I have the whole city to myself so it seems. A few people passing by with smiles. Almost like being out in the woods.

 

My Jacksonville 400 project gallery can be found here.

Jacksonville 400 - the start

Freeman Patterson told his class that the best place to find images is right where you are. I've lived in Jacksonville all my life and you would think that I would pay a little more attention to the photo ops here in my backyard. When a friend visited me two weeks ago he asked me if I have Jacksonville "covered." You know, all the classic images of downtown, the riverfront, the bridges, the parks, and the beaches. "Um, well, the last shots I did of the riverfront were back in 2004 when I first got my camera." Not a good answer. So why do I find myself traveling all over the country when there is plenty of really good stuff to shoot right here? Go figure.

My new project is called Jacksonville 400 (quite an arbitrary number). My goal is to assemble a collection of 400 images by the end of the year that are interesting views of Jacksonville. This means I will have to get myself out of my little office and out shooting ( good thing), and get up early more often than I really want to (a bad thing). We'll see how it works out. So far I've been out two days out in the morning. I missed the sunrise by about 45 minutes...there's nothing like driving in your car watching the sky explode with color, knowing that your destination is 30 minutes away. I know, you gotta get to bed early to get up early.

 

I'll keep updating my progress here, and collecting images in my pbase gallery. Let's see what I can come up with.

Poster printing at Costco

I've always used Costco for my 4x6 family shots and for our Photographers for Freedom project. They were always fast, good, and CHEAP. Last week I decided to try some 12x36 panoramas and to also develop a poster print that I could use as promotions. Our Costco here in Jacksonville uses a Noritsu 3411 digital printer which is a $200,000 beast that cranks out 2000 4x6's per hour. To get some decent prints you need to use the printer profiles on the Costco Photo Center web site. Go to the bottom of the page and click on Printer Profiles, and this should take you to some pages by Dry Creek Photo (the profile providers). On these pages you can locate the Costco store in your area and what profiles you will need. Follow the instructions to download the profiles and then do the softproofing in Photoshop. Before you upload you need to convert the image to the profile while saving your JPG. All of this is described in detail on the site, but if you have any questions let me know. When ordering online there is no option for the larger sizes, so I just upload as a 4x6 and then give the boys a call to tell them what's coming. Make sure you specify NO auto corrections. Steve and Allen at the Jacksonville store keep their Noritsu tuned up everyday, and I've never gotten a bad print. Oh yes, the cost of a 12x36 is $4.90.

Warning: one time I exported a set of 4x6's from Lightroom with a ProPhoto color space assigned. The colors on the prints were awful. I took my laptop down to the Costco store to determine that this was a problem. If you are not going to use the supplied profiles, be sure to use either Adobe RGB or sRGB color space when exporting images.

Our Costco is expecting a new printer in September that can produce 20x30's for $8. I can't wait!

For more information on preparing your files for printing at Costco please visit this excellent blog post by photographer Philippe Cailloux http://photsy.com/blog/?p=457.

Learning by printing

It's been said many times before, your best education on fine tuning your images is by printing. I don't mean 4x6s at Costco, I mean printing at least 10x15 or larger. Everything is evident at these sizes - color, tonality, detail, shadow, highlights, sharpness...I mean everything. Prints don't lie. They are the moment of truth for your work. Plan on spending a lot of time, paper, and ink on getting the output the way you want it. Every variable imaginable comes into play...color management, paper, your mood...so get ready to be schooled!

I've just finished printing 9 - 11x16.5 prints for my Art Walk opening on Wednesday. Worked on it all weekend. I guess an artist's work is never done. I can keep iterating on these prints forever. Knowing that each trip trough the machine is costing me about $3, that's as bad as Starbucks. I need to find a way to sell these "artist proofs," more like "artist goofs" if you ask me. You hate to throw them away, maybe a gift for Uncle Stanley, he won't notice that there is a slight red cast on the bridge image...

Here is the little promo piece I made for the showing. Since I'm tucked back in the closet I need some signs so my friends can find me. Next item to tackle is the pricing. Need to factor in the cost of the goofs for sure, and the mats, frames, time for printing...oh and the trip expenses to get the image, all the workshops to learn how to do this stuff, my camera equipment...looks like $3,000 an image should cover that nicely. How's that for recession pricing?

How is your printmaking coming along? Don't settle for "good for the web". If you're making images as art, your art is your image...your PRINTED image. That printer in the corner of your studio is probably pretty lonely. Fire it up and make some prints, improve your images, and have something to show all your friends (and most importantly YOURSELF) that yes, you can produce a print.

My new website - dougengphoto.com

Finally I can say that my new website is ready. Websites are never complete, they just move into different states of "readiness." I've been working on this thing for a month, and each day I think to myself about the Livebooks ad that says, "I became a photographer so I can manage my website." HA! How true and how right it can be for some people. But they weren't going to get my $1700. I can honestly say that this has been a rewarding milestone for me. It's not for everyone, but I derive a sense of accomplishment and freedom knowing that I can control a piece of my business. Sorta like growing your own food or fixing your car. All of us have grown so dependent on services, that we have lost the art of doing things ourselves. Maybe that's why the DIY movement is so popular these days. It certainly helps counter the otherwise oppressive news we seem to be bombarded with by the media. I admit the site is not perfect and I am not really happy with the navigation in the Portfolio, but that fact that I have everything in Wordpress is great for me. One big happy place. Fully maintainable anytime, anyplace. I didn't pay a cent for any of the programs, all of them are Open Source and freely available. All tutorials and forums, freely available. Lots of helpful people to work out problems...people helping each other and passing it along. That is what is so remarkable about the web. I can't say enough about it. It's wonderful.

Over the next few days I will be documenting what I did to get this site up and running. I am not a web programmer, in fact my former employees would probably say I'm not really a programmer either...but if you have time and some masochistic tendencies, you can do this. Or you can have a good read about how some of us spend our free time.

Now to let the world know...

Cult of Done

Right now I'm struggling to get a new incarnation of my website completed so I can officially start conducting business. This is the digital age and you cannot expect to be in business without a decent site. So the perfectionist that I am, it has become a challenge to get something done. Better late than not perfect?...I don't think so. So I ran across this "manifesto" on a blog by Bre Pettis. Here is the deal: The Cult of Done Manifesto

1.  There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. 2.  Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. 3.  There is no editing stage. 4.  Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it. 5.  Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it. 6.  The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done. 7.  Once you're done you can throw it away. 8.  Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done. 9.  People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right. 10.  Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. 11.  Destruction is a variant of done. 12.  If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. 13.  Done is the engine of more.

I'm not sure where an artist would intersect with this thought pattern. Where does 20 hours in Photoshop with the clone stamp fit in, or adjusting the padding on the heading text for the 5th time? Is this the bane of creativity, or are these things blocking the creative juices from flowing? Right now I'm into this and ready to shed some of the brain constipation I am feeling. How about you?

Better business through photography

I've started a project that hopefully will generate some income. I am photographing small business CEOs so that they can have a decent headshot (at least) for their web profiles and promotions. I remember as an owner of a business several years ago I never had any decent pictures of myself. Come to think of it I still don't! I used the same headshot in every submission. With the web being so visual, having some good images of yourself, your facility, and your business is very important. I have started to photograph the owners of businesses trying to get an environmental portrait that would indicate what they do. It's a tough assignment. I am hoping to build a great portfolio of images that will show the business leaders of Jacksonville. I'm working hard to improve my location shooting skills, and the ability to come up with a creative shot. It's not easy (at least for me) but I am having a lot of fun meeting people who typically are not in front of a camera very often. It's different shooting professional models and an entrepreneur/CEO. You can guess which one is more challenging.