The Flickr Photo Bucket

Flickr Photo Bucket

I try to think of my photography as a daily practice. Even if I don’t make a photograph every day, I still do some action involved with the art.

One of those practices is to upload a photo (or two) to Flickr every weekday. Just one will do, although Flickr shows at least five of your recent uploads in the People section. One photo says, this is a thing I do every day.

To keep track of my daily Flickr photo, I have a bucket of photos to upload in Aperture (and eventually, a Lightroom catalog). Each morning, I select one of those pictures, and send it off to Flickr. After the upload, I pick an album, and then add it to a few relevant groups. If I missed any keywords, I’ll add those in Flickr, too.

After doing this for a few years, a few trends pop up.

For one, the best photos seem to get uploaded the soonest. Maybe I’m excited to share them, or maybe the photo follows a theme. Then, the not-so-good photos drop to bottom of the Flickr bucket. Maybe I’m less excited about sharing those. The system is self filtering: eventually, all those photos at the bottom of the bucket get purged.

Two, to keep it interesting for myself, sometimes I’ll assign theme days to my upload. Monday can be for film photos, Friday is for iPhone photos, etc.

And three, while it’s not an end goal, making Flickr’s “Explore” listing is a fun accomplishment. You can learn how to game the system, but for me, earning an “Explore” requires a great photo shared with the right groups. That’s it. Before I upload a photo, sometimes I’ll think, “This is an ‘Explore’ photo,” but it doesn’t make the listing. Other days, a photo I paid little attention to earns “Explore.” Some of it’s luck, but a lot of it is the quality of the photo.

I still love Flickr, and I’ve made it a daily ritual to support the site and share my work. My system keeps it easy for me to keep the daily practice.

, , ,

Smaller Files, Smaller Hassle

Harbor Springs, Michigan

The world is gobbling up megapixels.

Fifty here. Thirty six there. Even my modest Canon 6D has 20 megapixels. Any of these photo sizes feel too big for my creaky old 2009 21.5″ iMac. Editing a 6D RAW image, especially in Photoshop, always grinds my system to a halt.

You know what doesn’t? Photos from my classic Canon 5D. At 12 megapixels, my aging editing system has no problem processing those RAW files. It’s one of those hidden benefits of using an older camera: processing and editing is a snap. Even DP Review mentioned what a breath of fresh air the “small” file sizes of the original 5D were.

Yes, eventually I’ll upgrade my Mac. But bigger megapixels will continue to be a thing. When others upgrade, downgrade.

 

, ,

Organic Growth

Promoting Your Project

Ask anyone who’s had to promote a project – a book, a gallery showing, a performance – and they’ll probably tell you how exhausting it can feel. Especially if the project is close to their heart, and especially if the person tends toward introversion.

It feels like you put your heart and effort into something, and then you have to put your heart and effort into making sure enough people (a) care and (b) hear about it to be interested. Yelling is tiring, even when it’s about yourself.

Some people are pretty good at this. But when I think about it, usually those folks are speaking to a big enough audience that cares. They hit (a) and (b) from above every time they promote something.

My projects started small: a portrait project here, a documentary there, each with a modest built-in audience. They cared. Over time, the number of people who knew about me grew.

Organic growth means taking the long view. Person by person, project by project, you’re increasing the number of people who know what you do. It takes patience, and planning, and a bit of humility. But I love the process.

Dampen your expectations on the first few projects, because it’s going to take time to reach people that care. Start making stuff that people might have an interest in (that’s the first part) so that, for the next project, they’ll hear about it (the second part). Each time might just get easier.

, , , , , ,

Tell Their Stories

Quiet Mornings in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, Michigan

People say an image can change people’s minds. Video can, too, or heartfelt stories of people on the front lines.

Last weekend, we saw a lot of photos of people taking up the fight. This weekend, too (side note: is this the new normal?).

I have a feeling that what moves us more than those big crowd shots of people marching down avenues are the photos of individuals who are affected by government mood swings. When I’m faced with a group of women from Flint, Michigan, representing the tragedy of their situation on a national stage, it brings the whole big affair home.

If you make stuff – write, photograph, film, dance – now’s your chance to feature those individuals. Tell their stories. Express their fears. Make their voice heard. Do more than take crowd shots. Take on City Hall.

It’s easy to ignore a “Photoshopped” crowd shot of protestors. But it’s harder to dismiss our neighbors (or refugees) face-to-face.

, , , ,

Resizing Photos Easily Using Mac’s Automator and Services

Services can resize photos

If you’re like me, you probably have to resize photo files a lot. I’m constantly adjusting picture sizes to share with others, add to the blog, or post on Twitter.

There are apps that resize photos – tons of them – but I’ve found the easiest way is to do it with a right click right in the macOS Finder. I have this little Automator script set up where I can right-click on a photo file, go to Services, and resize a photo to either 1000 or 2000 pixels wide (above).

Often, I’ll duplicate the photo file and then resize the copy to preserve the original file’s dimensions.

Preview does this. Little apps here and there does this. But I like simply clicking and picking my size, and letting the operating system do the rest. You can do this easily within Automator (a great, time-saving little bundle of joy, by the way), but I’m making my two little Services available as a download.

Download the 1000 pixel version and the 2000 pixel version as a ZIP file. For installation, Brett Terpstra has a how-to on adding system Services in macOS (under “Move the File”).

Questions? Let me know in the comments.

, , , , , , ,

Photographer Interview: Nick Bedford

One of the benefits of listening to On Taking Pictures is interacting with the talented community that’s built up in support of the podcast. That’s how I found out about Nick Bedford’s work. Nick is an example of my kind of photographer: he does a bit of everything, and does it well.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name’s Nick Bedford and I’m a semi-professional portrait photographer from Brisbane, Australia.

How did you get started in photography?

In the middle of 2010, I borrowed my friend’s Canon 450D and played around with it and had to get my own, much to the lament of my friends and family who were subjected to my (at the time) very bad photos.

What do you like about your photography?

This is an interesting question. I’ve come to prefer making photographs that tell a story of a time or about a person, so it’s somewhat that story-telling aspect as well as the lighting, which is one of the first things I think about.

I guess the other thing I like is that it doesn’t stick to one type of photography and showcases a (hopefully) consistent vision across many wildly differing genres.

Your work focuses on everything from musicians to one-on-one portraits, plus landscapes and street photography. Where do you get inspiration for your style/ideas?

These days I get a lot of inspiration from Instagram. It’s so easy to find masses of great and inspiring work there. I’ve never tried to shoe-horn myself into any specific genre. I like to think of myself as simply a photographer with a certain way of seeing the world and that manifests in the way I shoot street or portraits or landscapes. I’ve even shot some music videos and I found that I have a love for directing, so I think at the root of my photography is a desire to portray “story” in whatever way that is.

I love lighting and almost every genre I’ve tried requires lighting to add drama and interest to the other aspects of the photo. Street photography is a relatively new thing for me, only from the last few years, but I love doing it. It keeps you on your toes and makes you better at “seeing” quickly, especially when you’re using a manual focus rangefinder where there’s no depth of field preview.

My favourite tool is the Leica M with a 35mm lens and I’ve made a lot of photographs in that perspective, from street to landscapes.

Your Faces project is a lot of fun. What’s the idea behind it?

In 2014, my housemate moved out and took a couch he had in the lounge room which opened up some free space, so I decided to set up a little studio there. I then thought of getting friends around to shoot and after the first session, I decided it would be a “a catch up and a single selected portrait” kind of affair.

We spend an hour or so catching up and having fun shooting some portraits then we import them and run through the images to find one that we both love the most. It’s a slow burn kind of project in that I don’t put any pressure on myself to shoot X portraits a month for it, just whenever someone is up for a portrait and chats, we shoot! As of 19th Jan ’17 I’m up to 19 faces.

Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?

In the end of 2016, I made the decision to go semi-professional (finally) in my portrait work, focusing on those specific genres of traditional and editorial portraits and head shots, so I’ve been working on building more of my new portfolio work as well as shooting a few clients in the first month of the new year. It’s been great and I’m really excited to see where it leads. I struggled to accept the idea of being a professional, with all the business stuff that comes with it, and it took me 6 and a half years to finally say, “I’ve gotta do it.”

Follow Nick’s work at his portfolio website, or follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

, , , ,

Downtown Jackson, At Summer’s End

Toward the end of last summer, I took to the streets of my hometown for a solo photo walk.

I make lots of pictures of Jackson, but I hadn’t headed downtown with the intent to make a series in a while. With summer ending, and the light changing, I figured the hour near sunset would be fun to capture.

While downtown Jackson is on the upswing – lots of new restaurants, the brewery is booming, the road project is mostly done – you still feel like (as my grandmother would say) you could shoot a canon ball down Michigan Ave. after 5 p.m. and not hit a soul. The hope is that’ll change in time.

Here’s the first in a series of city photos focusing on Jackson, Michigan’s few downtown blocks.

 

, , , ,

Mark Marchesi, ‘Evangeline’

Evangeline, by Mark Marchesi

Over the holiday break, I used a (much appreciated) gift card to pick up Mark Marchesi’s photo book, Evangeline, based on his Acadia photo project.

This is my kind of photo project: about space, and history, featuring a tragic backstory. The photos of abandoned Victorian homes, and the tidewater landscapes – all with the background of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem.

It’s a beautiful book, with a soft fabric cover and lovely essay. And, because Marchesi’s project ran as a Kickstarter project, it has me thinking more and more about running my own crowdfunding campaign.

Pick up a copy at Daylight Books.

, , , , ,

Book Publishing Forum

Artists In Jackson

My portrait project, Artists In Jackson, helped me to achieve one of my life goals: to make a book.

It was self published. And it was a small-time deal. But I got to see my name on a hard-cover book where I wrote the text, designed the layout, and made the photographs.

Arts & Cultural Alliance of Jackson County is sponsoring a book publishing forum featuring local Jackson, Michigan, authors – including me! – on Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Ella Sharp Museum. We’ll talk about our publishing experience, answer questions, and give tips to get others to publish their material. You should come!

My little book is a self-publishing story, but I’m sharing the stage with authors who have completed much bigger and more well-known book projects. It should be fun.

With all the tools at our disposal, it’s never been easier to publish your passion project. I hope to encourage more artists and writers to make a physical thing and get their ideas out into the world.

 

, , , , , ,

Photographer Interview: Ines Perkovic

I don’t remember where I first came across Ines Perkovic’s (aka, December Sun) photos, but I knew from her Rome shots that I was going to be a fan. I love her mix of gorgeous European landscapes and little slices of life.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Ines Perkovic and I’m a photographer and history professor from Croatia.

How did you get started in photography?

Actually, I’ve always been interested in art. I’ve always loved to paint (and still do it) but, not until I stumbled upon Flickr more than 10 years ago did I got interested in photography. I was mesmerized by all the beautiful artwork. It all took off from there; getting my first DSLR, meeting others photographers, etc. Slowly, photography became more than just a hobby to me.

What do you like about your photography?

I think my photos have a simplistic approach to them and, right now, I’m quite satisfied with it. But, there is always room for learning new techniques, upgrading your gear and overall growing as an artist. Also, the ability to freely express myself and learn about the world (and document it) is the best thing photography has brought me.

You do a great mix of lifestyle details and beautiful landscapes. What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?

Anything I find worth documenting. Mostly, the photos are the result of my everyday life whether it’s a day spent at home, socializing, or traveling. However, I do find myself shooting lifestyle and landscape more often than the other.

When I first started, I’ve never thought I’d enjoy landscape photography. But, that’s the fun of it. You just never know where it might take you. One thing always stays the same – I want the photos to reflect my faith in God. So, whatever I do, I try to honor Him with my work. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?

Right now, I’m concentrating on opening up my own business and booking sessions and weddings. I don’t plan on getting a job in education anymore. However, a job that could include history as well as photography would be a dream come true. That is the ultimate goal. Apart from the that, it’s the same old recipe – whatever comes my way.

You can see more of Ines’s work at her portfolio site, on Instagram, and at her Flickr gallery.

, , , ,

House Hunting

House Hunting

Since early autumn, my family has been house shopping.

Part of house shopping is seeing many, many kinds of houses, in all shapes, and in all kinds of conditions. Strolling through some of these houses, you see some very interesting things – in fact, there may be no deeper view into American culture and eccentricities than someone’s home.

I’m also paying attention to light. In our current home, the light is great – very airy and open. In our next house, I want to make sure it’ll photograph well. As I see neat lighting situations in these houses, I’m capturing those.

So I’m making it a project: #lawrencehousehunt on Instagram. Follow along, and see all the…interesting things we see.

, , , ,

Photographer Interview: Darrell Vannostran

Darrell Vannostran is a photographer and videographer based in Oklahoma City, OK. I follow Darrell on Instagram (@thecontinue) and enjoy his mix of abandoned and derelict locations with beautiful landscapes.

Where are you and what do you do?

I’m a photojournalist, videographer, and photographer based in Oklahoma City. I sword fight in my free time.

How did you get started in photography?

I’ve enjoyed taking photos since I was a little kid. My first camera was a Polaroid OneStep Close-Up, and I mostly used it to take pictures of my television and my dog. When I got into middle school my mother bought an SLR and signed me up for a photography class at the local vo-tech, where I learned to develop black and white film. I eventually took an introductory photography class in college, but I became much more interested in video production. In the last few years I’ve picked up photography again and realized how much I’ve missed still photography.

What do you like about your photography?

I have a lot of trouble remembering things, especially the photos I take, so when I get around to editing I’m constantly surprised at the images I’ve captured. Occasionally it’ll bring back memories and emotions, and sometimes I have no recollection of having ever seen what I’m looking at. Now I focus on making photos that are impossible for me to forget. I love it when I’m able to make a photograph that feels as if it has texture to it.

You do a great mix of decay and beautiful landscapes. What kinds of themes do you explore with your work?

I’m in love with the fact that nothing lasts forever yet something can have a lifespan much greater than my own. I like to think of my photos as mugshots of spaces or objects, without people, that have lost their purpose or have been left alone giving them a sense of isolation or emptiness to them, wether it’s an abandoned warehouse or an open field. This is that object at a single moment in its life and what you see are the details that I think define it.

I also love windows. They have so much character that it’s impossible to ignore them.

Any upcoming projects or shoots you’re working on?

I’m constantly looking for new places and adventures to be had. I love road trips, and I’m hoping to go on several this year. You never know what you’ll find out on the road.

Learn more about Darrell’s work on his website, and follow him on Instagram.

, , , ,

Floppy Disk Cameras

I’m totally a sucker for this kind of stuff.

In college, our newspaper had a few staff photographers. If we writers had to take the photo, though, we brought along an old Kodak DC digital camera that used floppy disks. You could only take five or six photos, and the quality was crap, but they were dummy proof.

Man – 640 by 480 pixels!

(via PetaPixel)

, , , , ,

Book Review: ‘The Revenge of Analog,’ by David Sax

Central Camera - Chicago, IL

The physical world is what it is: messy, random, and tactile. The digital world, even at its best VR-helmeted incarnation, is a mere simulation.

A lot of the world is waking up to that fact. Even Silicon Valley, in all its ones and zeroes, realizes the value of IRL play, meditation, and good food.

This was one of the parting messages in David Sax’s book, The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter. The book was a reading assignment from CJ Chilvers (read his review), and is a piece of non fiction that, along with Sound City, has helped me think more about physical things and why I value them.

The crux of Sax’s research: the culture and media that digital left behind, or revolutionized, (film photography, record albums, paper) are coming back as more than fads. People are writing notes in Moleskines, reading actual books, and opening up new vinyl pressing plants. Business owners are successfully expanding their book store empire. And yes, even Silicon Valley is finding physical things worth exploring.

A lot of people, for a lot of years, have said, “Print is dead.” Or, “no one reads magazines anymore.” Film photography is obsolete, and a hassle. A paper-free office is the goal. At my art museum job, in a very literate college town, I’ve even questioned the value of print media and products.

What Sax found, though, is that the very people we thought were abandoning the real world — young people — are actually the ones buying vinyl records and asking for paper textbooks at school. That’s comforting, for those of us that value analog media. It means the world isn’t as upside down as we had feared (although Sax neglected to talk to newspaper publishers – he mostly sticks to sunny stories of success).

Speaking of young people: Sax’s chapter on education was especially eye-opening. Digital tools in the classroom (think electronic whiteboards, tablets, video lessons, etc.) are an overhyped lie, Sax found, with no real metrics to show their much-bragged-about value. Digital is no savior. Those of us who work in higher education heard about the MOOC for a few years as this great college disruptor. But as Sax shows, only about 10 percent of online class takers ever finish the lesson, and many more people find a relationship with a real live teacher more worthwhile.

Amen! Think about the online photography video versus a one-on-one workshop with a photographer whose work you appreciate. If you want to pick up clone stamping, a Photoshop video can certainly teach you how in a few minutes. But to get real valuable advice on how to shape your artistic vision, nothing beats spending actual time with an actual person. Analog education matters more.

The findings in The Revenge of Analog pop up in the news with regularity. We get more and more news about classic film stocks coming back. Some of my favorite bands now release vinyl albums along with digital downloads. Just the other day I received a new magazine coming out of Detroit, asking for my advertising dollars. Look all around, and we feel analog’s return in our bones.

The truth is, for many of us, analog never left. No revenge was needed. I still read my books pulped page by pulped page, I still have two magazines arriving in my mailbox every month, and I write in actual notebooks with an actual pen. And don’t get me started on music.

Structured in case studies around companies that are giving analog a go, Sax’s book makes the point that analog can be a thriving business for a lot of people, even if it’s outside the majority. Good enough is good enough, and there’s still money to be made on the weirdos and normals alike.

 

, , , ,

Photographer Interviews, Year Two

Jackson, Michigan

Last year I did a series of photographer interviews as a fun winter project. It was a great way to chat with photographers whose work I enjoy, and to learn about some photographers who I’ve followed on social media, or connected with through On Taking Pictures.

Let’s do it again!

I have a list of people I’m going to reach out to, but if you follow the work I do, and you’re a photographer with good work to share, I’d love to feature your stuff.

Easiest way? Send me a note!

, , , ,

On 365 Photography Projects

Come Follow Me

I spent a good time of the holiday break absorbing Rebecca Lily’s 365 project, from start to finish. I’ve mentioned Lily’s project here before, but I keep coming back to it because I love her journal-style posts, her photos, and her voice. And I admire the project.

It has me thinking about 365 projects in general. Many photographers attempt them, and many never finish. Some say don’t bother.

Reading Lily’s project blog got me thinking: could I do my own 365 project?

In a way, keeping a daily blog is a sort of 365 day project. Except for weekends, I post a photo (or two) per day on my Flickr.

The difference is, a 365 project is daily – make a photo every day, post a photo every day, even on weekends. It’s the combination of discipline and routine, along with any lessons learned along the way, that make a 365 project worthwhile.

Or not. Toward the end of Lily’s project, you feel her struggling to see the thing through. Is a mundane photograph worth the daily post? How do you handle the ebb and flow of the project, from the highs to the lows? What’s to stop you from giving up partway through?

Thinking about this kind of project, I voice these questions as I look at my own fears. I don’t think the daily photo making would be the tough part, although it would still be a challenge. It’s more like, what would be my goal in establishing a 365 project? Would I post every day? How?

This is the kind of planning and goal setting I feel would make for a successful project.

A tip from Lily, halfway through her project:

A 365 project is by far the best recommendation I could ever give a photographer who is struggling with finding their own style or voice. It’s like taking an intensive college course that’s normally a semester long, in 6 weeks. It’s perhaps five years’ worth (or more) of photography condensed into 1 year.

Maybe I should’ve started a project two years ago.

, , , ,

«< 18 19 20 21 22 >»