NANPA Member Slideshow

I was once again fortunate enough to be able to present at the Member's Slideshow. This is a fun event and you get to meet some great people, like Artie Morris who was also a presenter. Here was my written presentation (what got me in) but I managed to change it as the stage fright took over. The theme of the show was "Luck." 9 Habits of Highly Lucky Photographers

How many of you feel that all your good images are the result of luck? So that many of you have good images?

I’m convinced that ALL of my good images are the result of luck. But luck doesn’t have to mean accident or chance.

Here’s a quote by Ray Kroc:  “Luck is a dividend of sweat…the more you sweat, the luckier you get” Sweat, work, whatever you want to call it...basically you need to get out there and do something in order to get the shot. I want to share with you my own “Habits of Luck” based on 9 memorable images.

1.      Go out when it’s cold. Montréal Botanical Gardens, 30 degrees, windy, and wet. What’s a boy from FL doing in a place like this? It had been cold and the ponds were freezing, what were the chances of seeing this if I had listened to reason?

2.      Go out when there’s rain. Pre-dawn forecast, rain, cold – a sure prescription for sleeping in. Not according to Brenda Tharp, “We came here to shoot not sleep in!” If not for that kind of loving encouragement I would have missed the cloud show in Camden Harbor after the rain cleared.

3.      Stop the car. I was in Mill Valley on the road to Muir Woods. How many times do you just drive and say to yourself, “Ooo, nice shot, can’t stop, nice shot, can’t stop, nice shot. Well you got to STOP.  I pulled over and set up the tripod. Then I stayed and just enjoyed the view.

4.      Look down and listen. Ok, I spend a lot of time looking at the ground but not “hearing” what is there. One fern kept whispering to me, “look at me, look at me” and I’m glad I did.

5.      Look up and find something. Typically I don’t walk in the woods looking up at the trees. I tend to bump into a lot of things. But something made me look up and I found the beginnings of autumn.

6.      Never put your camera away. Don’t you hate those people in a group that can’t seem to put their camera away when it’s time to go? But there’s something about leaving that relaxes your mind, so be ready if something appears.

7.      Make the best of where you are. It was February 2005 and lucky me, a sales meeting in …Las Vegas. It so happened that was the time the wild flowers went crazy in Death Valley, what an orgy of color!

8.      Be nice to your neighbor. When you are nice to your neighbors, they tend to bring you things to photograph. Wow!

9.      Play. Nancy Rotenberg was trying to get us all in touch with our feelings and I wasn’t getting it. Nancy I’m still working on it! Shooting with my eyes closed and waving my camera around just did not make sense. See what happens when you just play?

 I’ll close with a quote by Wayne Gretzky (wasn’t he a Canadian sports photographer?) “You miss 100% of the shots you never take”

Friends…Work, sweat, and get lucky. Make it a habit. Thank you.

=====

It occurred to me that my image posts were repetitive..."hey I've seen those images before..." Well that goes to show:

a) I don't have a lot of good stuff b) I'm lazy and don't like processing new stuff c) It's all part of the plan to get the most from what you've got

Exhibition acceptance 2

This just in..."The Center for Fine Art Photography is pleased to announce the juror's selections for the 2008 Street Photography Exhibition. This was a very popular call for entry with near 575 photographers entering their work.  You can imagine what a difficult time Michelle Dunn Marsh had selecting the accepted images.  After viewing over 2,300 images she has made her final selections of 65 artists from five countries, and the results have been posted on the Center's website. Michelle is the Deputy Director of Aperture Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to communicating with photographers and creative people everywhere."

I entered several candidates 2 weeks ago and bingo, this one was accepted. See http://www.c4fap.org/exhibition.asp under 2008 Street Photography Exhibition.

Here is my artist's statement for the shot: You! was part of a collection of street photographs in Charleston, SC in the Spring of 2007. This image was taken on a harbor tour when the passengers were boarding. As I was peering over the rail watching the people, I noticed that the crew was grouped together on one side. As the situation unfolded, I was fortunate enough to be positioned for the shot.

Street photography is difficult for me, as I become very self-conscious of my presence with my camera. There is a well know theory in physics which states that the observed is changed by the presence of the observer. Nothing could be truer than in the photography of living subjects. Sometimes you want the interaction, but I prefer to remain invisible to capture the essence of a moment.

You! frames a dynamic action within a static framework of the men at attention. It evokes an emotional response we all can relate to, that of being singled out for good or bad, posing a question without an answer to the observer.

I took this shot with the Maine Workshop shooters group when we were in Charleston. Now I have to print this up and get it out.

Freezing my @ss in St Eustache

My good buddy Ed took me out shooting today on the west end of Laval. Please note that it is January and I am outside like a crazy person with my camera. We first stopped in a small town called Deux-Montagnes where they were ice fishing. Now that looks like a whole lot of fun, sitting on a frozen lake, waiting for a fish to take your line through a hole in the ice. Apparently it is a great Quebec pastime (maybe they are drinking lots of vodka in those little huts). It was actually the first time I observed this most interesting sport. I don't think you'll find a lot of Southerners out there trying it out. At least your catch comes pre-frozen.  

Then we headed to St. Eustache where apparently the British put down a French rebellion. We were in the back of a historic church where we watched the sunset, grabbed some photos, and froze our you-know-what off. Even Ed said he was cold. Ok, it's time to head back to FL.

No camera, no picture

On my recent trip to Grand Rapids I left my trusty point and shoot at home. I am carrying a new laptop bag given to me by my daughter and it is tight on space (not a good excuse but that was my rationale). Anyway, I was presented several opportunities for some interesting shots, both from the plane (cloud formations), and 2 incredible sunrises. I was also upgraded to a Chrysler Crossfire convertible rental car, which I wanted to get a shot of me with the top down in 8 degree weather. Needless to say this car did not fare very well in the cold, with icy snowy roads and those wide, high performance tires. Bad choice. So let this be a lesson to all of you, don’t leave your camera at home! And don’t let the rental agency convince you that driving a Crossfire in the winter ice is cool.

Link your way to information

It’s interesting to track how your research into a topic can lead to more information and opportunities. In a copy of the ASMP magazine that I got at the PDN Summit, there was an article on managing your business by Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua with a link to her site, http://www.burnsautoparts.com/BAPsite/Index.html . Strange name for a site on photography business consulting, but while I was there I found a wealth of information and free articles on the business of photography. Interestingly enough I opted in to be on Leslie’s email list by sending an email. She contacted me and asked for more info about me. This was a VERY clever way of getting to know everyone, kinda like qualifying a lead. I sent her my pbase and Photographers for Freedom links, then she responded with some interest in the PFF concept. Good for me. I ended up with some good advice from Leslie on promoting the PFF program, and am motivated to go out and do it. I then went to Leslie’s blog and started reading it. She had a link to a presentation given at the TED conference on success. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/70 Good stuff. Now that I found the TED site, there is a ton of stuff here that can be useful to creative types. So it goes on and on.

Sales meeting = photo ops in Mexico

I was fortunate enough to go to our annual sales meeting in Cancun. We stayed at an all inclusive resort and the place was fabulous! I mean talk about opulance and excess. This afforded the opportunity to photograph two Mayan sites of major significance:

Tullum - Tullum is a Mayan city by the shore, and about 1.5 hours from Cancun. We took an afternoon bus ride out to the site. As you can see by my experience here and Chichen-Itza (below), I was thoroughly bummed out by the lack of time for photography. We ended up with about an hours time. I did a lot of running around and snapping. I’ll be back

Chichen-Itza - One of the 7 wonders of the modern world, this was an incredible site. I signed up for the bus tour which left the resort at 7:30 am. We rode in a van to a designated point on the side of the road and we pulled off onto the shoulder to wait for the big bus. Once loaded on the ride was over 2 hours, stopping for a potty break. Unfortunately once we got there we did the guided tour and were left with less than an hour to take pictures. For me this was a disaster, so I focused on one area and had to make some choices fast. I covered the big pyramid but essentially missed the rest of the city. This is a must return site as I really do love this stuff. There are 2-3 hotels within the park boundaries, so I’ll be back. Note that in November it was still quite warm, so in the summer the heat and sun must be stifling.

Exhibition acceptance

Hot dog, I just happened to remember that I got an email from the Center for Fine Art Photography about the jury results for a submission I made a few weeks ago. I didn't think anything of it, as it did not say "congratulations" or anything. It did say to click on a link for the results, so I did so and lo and behold, my name was listed as an exhibitor! I am so excited! Here is the shot that got in:

Here is the announcement: The Center for Fine Art Photography is pleased to announce the juror's selections for the 2008 Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Exhibition. Congratulations to the 50 artists from four countries whose photographs were selected from 1200 entries. The images were selected by Andrew Darlow, photographer, writer and digital imaging consultant based in the New York City area.

And the Artist Statment that went along with it: Former Workhorse is part of a larger collection depicting scenes from the Wing Lee Yuen Truck Farm in Jacksonville, FL. Here is my story:

As long as I can remember we visited the family farm once a month. It was a long drive across town, down a dirt road, to four brick houses situated in the middle of nowhere, a bit of civilization in what seemed to be fields that went on forever. Now those days are long past, the houses recently abandoned, and the last of the land up for sale to make way for warehouses.

As a drove up to the farm on a hot August morning the fog was covering the roads and fields. My Uncle Chan was leaving for an early errand and I was left on the property, completely alone, with my camera and a lifetime of memories. I had not returned here since my father died 14 years ago but nothing had changed.

As I walked around the big barn I began to see and notice what I had never realized in all my times here. The smells, the sounds, and the nostalgic feelings were all there, but the details of hundreds of still lifes unfolded around me. Each square foot of the barn was filled with actions frozen in time. A hammer left on a tiller, gloves on a spool of wire, a chain hanging from the rafters used to pull an engine, ropes and wires hanging on nails, the scale which weighed out countless boxes of Chinese produce which at one time were shipped out as far as Michigan and New York. All of these scenes were frozen in time, the dust settled over them, but the life in their arrangements only temporarily arrested.

I knew that it was my time to record these moments with my camera, for in a matter of weeks all of this would be gone, destroyed, and never to appear again. As an animal or plant goes into extinction, so too do these articles of a past time and life. My record would be the only one for the future should anyone want to know what it was like in the barn of the Wing Lee Yuen Truck Farm.

PDN Expo – NY

My first time at the Expo and what an event! I signed up for 7 seminars and arrived ready to take it all in. In a nutshell, this show is packed with information, in fact it is too much to absorb. By the time it was all done I was braindead. I met up with my friend and photography buddy Andre Walker. Next year the plan will be to take less seminars ($$s) and to spend time in the Canon and Nikon booths attending the free shows. There are a lot of good demonstrations of techniques and lighting. Every photographer should go to this show at least one time.

NANPA Member's Showcase - I'm in!

From:

NANPA

To:

Douglas Eng

Sent:

Tuesday, October 09, 2007 11:27 AM

Subject:

NANPA 2008 Members Showcase - Tier 2 Selection

Dear Douglas:

Congratulations! Your image(s) entitled:

Reverse Freeze (FrozenReverse.JPG)

.... have been juried into Tier 2 for the 2008 NANPA Showcase.  Images in Tier 2 were among the top 100 of the competition - these images will appear on our website during 2008 and in the Showcase presentation at the NANPA Summit in February.  In addition, your images will also appear in the 2008 NANPA print journal - "Expressions".  You can pick up your journal at the Summit in Destin, Florida or your copy will be mailed to you after the Summit.

There were 4,251 images submitted this year and any one particular image only had a 5% chance of being selected!

From:

NANPA

To:

Douglas Eng

Sent:

Tuesday, October 09, 2007 11:29 AM

Subject:

NANPA 2008 Members Showcase - Tier 3 Selection

Dear Douglas:

Congratulations! Your image(s) entitled:

Fern in Repose (FernInRepose.jpg)

.... have been juried into Tier 3 for the 2008 NANPA Showcase.  Images in Tier 3 were among the top 250 of the competition.  Although these images will not appear on our website or at the NANPA Summit in February, they have been selected to appear in the 2008 NANPA print journal - "Expressions".  You can pick up your journal at the Summit in Destin, Florida or your copy will be mailed to you after the Summit.

MFA - do I need this?

I am contemplating going back to school to earn a MFA degree in Photography. Now whether one needs this type of degree to succeed in the fine art photography world is out for debate. I'm sure there are arguments both for and against this credential. There are many people who are self-taught and self-motivated to succeed, and I don't know if I am one of them. When I finished my engineering degree I stayed on for an extra year to get a Masters degree. This was a very worthwhile endeavor for me, and it gave me the knowledge and confidence to go forth in my chosen field. I can see how it would have been very possible to achieve success without this degree, but I felt that I needed it. In the years following, I took advantage of my employer's education program and eventually completed my MBA degree. My dream was to have my own business and I felt I needed the disciplined study to be successful. I started and ran 2 businesses for over 20 years and this education was invaluable. Now I am on the threshold to another career in a field that is largely uncharted waters for me, and I look again to formal education to get me up to speed. I have spoken to lots of people who have given me good advice to say that a degree in fine arts is optional in the field, in fact getting out there and just shooting and working will yield a much better return on the time and money invested. An MFA will cost me around $24,000 with about 70 credit hours of work over 2 years. A big expense and time commitment. There are options to do this remotely with limited on campus time, but nonetheless it is not a casual decision. My tendency is to jump and and give it a go because: a) formal education has always been a very valuable method for me to learn, I do well in a structured environment b) I enjoy academics and being in school c) it is expensive but not cost prohibitive

On the other hand I really don't want to be wasting my money or time. There doesn't seem to be a lot of discussions on the value of an MFA or art degree in the circles I am familiar with. Maybe I am just not connected right. When I tell people that I am thinking of this they usually tell me I am wasting my time and money. Not so with my other degrees, where it seemed the value was more clear, especially when one could relate the degree to salary levels.

This makes this even more intriguing for me, as I feel through a lot of inner searching that I would like to tryto live the life of an artist, and my urge to create is very strong. I feel that the support and development achieved in an academic environment is what I need right now. Coming from the business world, we tend to look at acquiring these skills as something that you just order and pay for. Take the course and you are there. This new direction for me is much more than that. It is a complete change in my thinking and paradigm for self-worth. It involves a completely different approach and discipline. I feel I need to start from scratch, with a fresh beginners mind. That's how I want to approach things right now.

I'll be thinking about this for a few months. This decision will be tied into my retirement, so there will be big changes coming up for me.

In the shadow of giants

Today I was going through the book Regarding the Land by Robert Glenn Ketchum (http://www.robertglennketchum.com/). I was fortunate enough to meet Robert at the NANPA Summit in Palm Springs and he was autographing his books. Looking at his career and work I sit completely dumbfounded and numb. There are some people who found their calling early, and exercised their talents to the max. I look at myself as a photographer and am completely intimidated by some of these people. I am inspired but I also begin to question my own directions and accomplishments in life and career. Not that I have anything to complain about, but it leads to an interesting self-evaluation. Sometimes my goals as a photographer wanna-be change, depending on where I think I am in life. Many times the spirit of my younger years takes over, and I envision great things in the future. Other times my aspirations are more modest, as I savor the enjoyments of just being able to express myself through my camera, to whatever limited audience I manage to muster. Ultimately we have to satisfy ourselves in the balance of what we have to do and what we feel we must do. We can't change our past, we can only decide what we can do now, at this very moment. It's good to receive motivation to push farther, higher, and harder towards our goals. It's also good to just give thanks for who and what we are right now.

So Robert, today I thank you for your book and sharing your creative view of the world.

Do pictures get better the more you visit a site?

I was reviewing the shots I made on Sunday of the farm and was a bit disappointed. This is the 5th time I have been there in the past 4 weeks and it seems as if I am "cooling down" from the initial excitement of discovering it for the first time. You would think that once I got through the compulsory shots that I would be able to focus on more meaningful or deeper images. I don't know if this theory is true. I remember my first two visits were so productive. I couldn't stop shooting, and each time I turned around I found another image. Now as I walk through the place I see many of my previous shots, and I strain to find the "one that I missed."

Daylight

Roof Patch

I also knew that this may have been the last time that I would be able to shoot there, as I am leaving for Canada next week and this weekend is the MS150 bike tour. So in some respects I did not want to make a point of taking in the last moments, in fact I spent most of the time walking near the houses and the back acreage, and very little time in the barn itself. It seemed almost that my time there was over.

I had also planned to take some additional shots of my Uncle Chan near his tractor, or at work sorting through the piles of parts that he is taking to the recyclers. But it just didn't feel right to have him pose for me...I don't know why I didn't ask. I am very sad that the barn will be gone, and that the farm will no longer be in the family. I am grateful that I was able to produce the images that I made, and to have spent some time there. A very proper closure for me, and another way I am able to connect with my own father, who I know had deep connections with the farm. Perhaps I will be lucky when I return in November that the property will still be there, and that I can take my camera there one more time.

For now I will be happy with what I got, and not worry about the productivity of the session. It's just interesting how some days you seem to have it, and other days...well you just feel honored that you were able to be with your camera for a few hours.

Oh, I did make it to the chiropractors today for the first time in my life. You know my back actually feels better although I was totally shocked when I heard that crack come from my back after the doctor put me into a pretzel hold. 

Back to the farm

This morning I went back to the family farm for photography of the main houses that my grandfather and his brothers lived in. There are 3 brick houses standing proudly. After a few shots I made my way to the back acreage where there were some sheds. I found a few interesting things including a very old tricycle. It reminded me of my old one...I don't know if kids use these things anymore. It's strange going through these old buildings with things just frozen in place. It was so humid and hot and my back was killing me, so things were not very conducive to creativity, but it was interesting to contemplate that I would be one of the last people looking at this stuff, that the next person there would be bulldozing it all down.

Yesterday’s Ride

My Uncle Chan gave me a box of old stencils that were used to mark the crates of vegetables. Addresses going to all parts of the country, NY, PA, OR, MI, and even Ontario. I was so happy to receive these as it gave me an idea of how diverse the reach of the farm was. I also retrieved some parts from some of the packing crates. I hope to incorporate these somehow into the exhibition of these prints.

Week under the weather

This week was a tough one for me, as I caught some nasty flu or cold from my trip to Michigan last week and my lower back continues to bother me. All in all it made for a very miserable week, coughing and on 8 hour Tylenol for the back pain. I'm not used to having anything wrong with me, so pain is not something I can deal with very well. I did manage to pick out a few more images for my web site...which is still in process. I really wish I could get this things done already!

FCCJ South Gallery - Made of Steel

At noon I went to see the Brooks Jenson exhibit on Made of Steel. It was a very moving and inspiring exhibition. Of course Brooks is one of my favorite authors and I am a devoted subscriber to LensWork and his podcasts. His project was very similar to the one I am working on for the farm, and maybe that is why I was able to relate to it so much. Brooks is one of those really creative individuals who is so multi-talented. I'm sorry that I missed his reception...he actually came to Jacksonville for the gallery opening and I missed it! I needed to be in Grand Rapids MI for business. So what is this telling me?  

For a full PDF view of this collection go to: http://www.brooksjensenarts.com/made_of_steel/MOSlong.pdf

Submission for NANPA Expressions

I selected and uploaded 12 images for the NANPA Expressions publication (https://www.nanpa.org/index.html). It is always difficult to select ones own work, as there are so many factors that manage to rumble through your head. I always feel that the images I like the most represent concepts that I am interested in, but do not always translate to a superior image. But when I ask for confirmation from Dorian or others, I receive the "I don't get it" type of reaction. It is only with the passage of time that I look at these "favorites" and go, "what was I thinking?"

Images that are deeply personal in nature are usually not the ones that interest other people. At this point in my capability, I need to express something very direct, graphic, and simple. Then I am sure I will be able to progress to something more complex. In the same way I have a hard time understanding many of the contemporary "fine art" pieces...I'm just not there yet. Now landscape and nature photography I can relate to, but pictures of someones backside sitting in an empty room...I don't get it. So that's where I am right now.

The other interesting exercise is naming your images. Coming up with a title is not a trivial exercise. Tree Number 1 is a good start. But it's like naming a book or article, you want to be descriptive, creative, and somehow capture the spirit of the image. The title is as important as anything else, so going with Untitled 128 is not fair. Most of the stuff I come up with sounds corny, but it's the best I can do at this time.  As an exercise here are the titles and images and you can match them up. See if you can figure out what this crazy person was thinking.

Urban Spring, Autumn in Motion, Among the Grasses, Approaching Storm, 102 Eyes, Mono Lake Moonrise, Fern in Repose, Foley Beach Sunrise, Frozen Reverse, Kings Canyon Sunset, Raquette Lake Serenity, Three Lotus Leaves

Learning from LensWork

This is my first entry into this blog. At least for now. I carry a small notebook around that I scribble to-dos and daily notes, and decided this would be a much better way to document my journey and share it with others. There is a very cool publication I receive, it is called LensWork http://www.lenswork.com/ and is available in printed form or in an extended edition on CD. What's quite remarkable about this and other publications is that you can start linking from any article and find vast amounts of information. This is what makes the Web so wonderful but also manages to chew up a lot of time and sleep. I'll be documenting a few very pertinant links to sites that I have found from this publication that are inspiring and useful to me.

In LensWork extended #70, Brooks Jenson (the publisher) interviewed Mary Virginia Swanson, who is quite famous as a resource for fine art photographers who are marketing their work. I immediately went to her site and her blog http://www.mvswanson.com/ and ordered her book The Business of Photography. I think anyone who is interested in selling their fine art photography should read this book and visit this site. I'll have more to say on the book as I make my way through it.