Tag Archives: art

Business, camera phone, career, Travel

So What’s your hurry pt2?

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One of my regular gigs (hate that word) is shooting commercial real estate.  It doesn’t excite me but I’m good at it, my clients appreciate my ability to make their multi-million dollar listing look good.  I do hope it helps them sell quicker.  But this not about them.  It’s about opportunity, photo ops.

Earlier in my career when working out of town I’d do the project and then head back home.  Why the hurry?  All these locations offered opportunity, the chance to improve my skills, to learn about the area I was in, to go home with a story.  So, as one of my mentors preached to me I slowed down.  Now after a shoot I like to explore.  Maybe I find something, maybe I don’t.  Then I look one last time at my project.  The change in the light and shadows has often made better images.

I like to shoot, whether for my client or myself.

Techy stuff:  all image with the Apple iPhone 6+.  Processed in Snapseed.

Above Location:  Battery Spencer.  From 1897 until 1943, Battery Spencer was a cold, isolated, and vital military outpost protecting the Golden Gate Bridge and SF. Several buildings and placements for the large cannons that used to stand guard on the hill remain.  It offers one of the best views of the bridge and SF but when we went it was fogged in….. we’ll just have to go back.

ART, Business, camera phone, HDR, hipstomatic, Iphone, Iphone 5, location, personal, photography, Snapseed, Travel

Is it Art, Pt.2?

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I wrote this post a little over a year ago on a different site.  I have spent a lot of time since then thinking about the topic and then expanding it to what is photography?  I’ll let you savor on the post for a couple days and then I’ll share some thoughts.

 I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton.  When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport.  The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school.  So many memories……  I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory.  I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode.  Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline.  So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed.  With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with.  I know, it looks grainy and it does.  But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer.  A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great.  Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.

The techy stuff:  camera:  iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)

Apps:  Hipstamatic and Snapseed by Nik

My real work is at:  http://www.zwink.com

ART, camera phone, career, Iphone 5, location, location shoot, music, photography, San Diego, Snapseed, Travel, work

On The Road…Again

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I’m no expert but it appears the economy is improving.  The first two months of 2014 were the busiest I’ve ever had.  I know it’s a small sample to base the year on but other photographers have told me they’re off to a good start also.  If photographers are working, businesses are marketing and looking to growth.  That’s what we do, we help our client market, sell and grow their business.

I spent a lot of the month on the road.  Several trips to Orange County surrounded a couple San Diego projects and then I went to the Bay Area for a couple shoots up there.  After a quick respite back home and starting a new local project, I went to Alaska for a quick shoot.  I know, why send a San Diego photographer there, it’s because my client trusts me to get what they need.  Maybe an idea for a future blog.

Well I need to wrap this up.  I have another couple projects in Orange County and LA this week.  I hope everyone else is busy.

About my image gallery:  All images shot with my iPhone while traveling.  Post was in Snapseed.

ART, career, family, Kansas, Lightroom 5, location shoot, photography, Travel

Been there, Done that?????

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_JDZ8515A

Have you?  Have you been to that place more that once where you start to shoot the same photos the same way?  STOP……. don’t go into autopilot.  You know what works, now look for something different.  Whether a different angle, different lens, different time of day or a new technique, explore it.  Dare to be different, that how you become better.  Don’t go home with the same or similar images.  STIMULATE YOUR VISION!!!

Techy stuff:  camera-Nikon D800 and Nikon D600.  Lenses Nikkor 14-24 and 70-200.  Processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.  Locaton, Macksville, Kansas, population aprox. 500.

More of my work:  http://zwink.com

hipstomatic, Iphone, location, personal, photography, Travel, work

Is it Art?

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I was in SF last week on an extensive corporate photo shoot for Swinerton.  When I was leaving I decided to take the Treasure Island exit on the way back to the airport.  The last time I was on TI was in 1975 when it was a Navy Base and I was a naive young seaman in Electronic Warfare school.  So many memories……  I first decided to do a quick photo shoot of the skyline which was etched in my memory.  I first shot it with my Nikon D3 and then decided to try my iPhone on Hipstamatic mode.  Ugh…… it looked as flat and hazy as the skyline.  So then I opened my new favorite app. Snapseed.  With a few adjustments and then a frame adjustment the above photo is what I ended up with.  I know, it looks grainy and it does.  But, the end result is that I’m going to print it on watercolor on my Epson inkjet printer.  A few years ago I did a similar series that I printed on the watercolor paper and it looked great.  Now, we’ll find out how IPhone photos hold up.

The techy stuff:  camera:  iPhone 4 (the 5 is on order)

Apps:  Hipstamatic and Snapseed by Nik

My real work is at:  http://www.zwink.com

View of San Francisco from Treasure Island
friends, hipstomatic, Iphone, location, personal, photography, Travel

Is it Hip anyMore?

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I love my iPhone (did I say that before?). I just saw a post on another forum questioning whether the Hipstamatic look is relevant any more. Has its extreme popularity diluted it’s value as art? It was a pretty good argument. One side led by my good friend Pat Downs argued that it’s style, similar to the Diana (a cheap plastic camera), has become so prevasive and overused that there is so much trash being posted/published by the Histamatic app. that its now becoming boring (my words). Then Pat added a great analogy that the popularity is similar to certain forms of music (techno to name one) that had their day and then people gravitated back to “normal” sounds.

Will people with cell phones start shooting “normal” photos again? It is a good argument but I think it comes down to the argument about digital photography in general. There is a lot out there, but it’s not all boring. It a great way for a lazy person to make a photo or a creative person to just play and stimulate their senses when they hit on a good one. As someone famous once said, “I’m not an artist but I know art when I see it”. I think the “hip” look is here to stay till the next great app shows up. The crowd in general is trendy……… follow the leader.

btw, I use Hipstamatic…… Thanks to Kevin Lock and Patrick Downs for the inspiration for this post.

my other blog: http://poppaz.wordpress.com, website: www.zwink.com (no there’s no iPhones photos there)

art exhitibion, black and white, career, photography

5 Things to do with old photos in your Garage

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So…… you have some extra time and you decide to go through old images.  You go into the garage and there is a stack of boxes that you swore you’d edit, file or throw away.  This can also apply to you art directors, pr people or ad agencies with a lot of  prints from old projects.  Now before anyone yells at me you non photogs make sure you have permission or the right to use them.  So make some time and take another look at what was once some great work.  Here’s my list of 5 things to do with the photos.  I hope you’ll add to the list as I need some other great ideas to repurpose these images.

  1. Send a copy of the print to the subject, even if a lot of time has passed.  At the least you’ll make someone’s day, at best you may make a new client.
  2. Scan and archive your better images.  It’s good to see where you’ve been, how you’ve progressed.  You may even end up with a new portfolio or gallery you can share.
  3. Make Art….. be creative.  Create collages, decoupage an old table top , put old slides inside a clear lamp to remind your self of the “old days”.  Wallpaper your garage with old prints.
  4. Maybe you have enough prints for an exhibit in a coffee bar, hair salon or bar.  Might be great tradeout potential if they don’t have a budget for art.
  5. Scan your best archives, categorize them and see if you may have a body of work for a historical archive.  Wouldn’t that be cool if future generations could see your work?
  6. Take old proofs or small prints, jazz them up in small frames or matteboard and give them to friends or clients.  Let them know you appreciate them.  DARN….. I went past five.  Ok, your turn.  Share your ideas.  I have a lot of files to go through…..

 

The photos above are two of a series of 16×20 prints from my old studio, now in my garage.

More of my work can be seen at: www.zwink.com or go check out some of my cool editorial work at: www.bigstudioz.com