Month Two

I am in the second month of an extended cycle of e-promo or email based self promotion and I am finding the process really interesting and the data generated by Agency Access really interesting and amazing.  Through their site I can see who opens my email, how many times they look at it, and who clicks through to my website.  The data generated is an amazing tool to help focus future marketing and to help generate an idea of who is interested in my style of work.

Right now the campaign is focused on the West Coast, but I hope to expand my marketing campaign in the fall to a national push once I have better and more targeted data.

I tried email marketing a few years ago and found the whole process to be a burden, and the set up to be a bit overwhelming, but Agency Access has really figured it out, and the stellar communication with their staff has made the process really smooth.

I don't have much more to say about it right now but I will post more updates over the next few months once I see how it goes and create a list of projects that came in directly from this push.

This is the image set that was included in the March 2011 email promo:

Fiesta Hermosa, and the E-P1

Every year on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends the Fiesta Hermosa street festival descends on the beach community of Hermosa Beach.  Games, music, art and street food make these annual three day events a can't miss, and help fuel my craving for grilled corn and street Pad Thai (or as my wife calls it stir fried ketchup and noodles).  I had my trusty Olympus E-P1 with the 17mm lens with me and took some pictures of the games and other festivities in between chowing down on grilled corn and sausage.

They moved some of the political stuff out of the main festival this year and some how had the John Birch Society next to the local Democratic Party, and the pro marijuana guy found himself surrounded by religious protestors.

Fall brings a heat wave to California

September, the traditional start of Fall, back to school and all things cold, brought something new to Los Angeles this year.  One week ago today was the hottest day ever in Los Angeles, well maybe not ever, but at least since they started keeping records in 1877.  One week ago today it was at least 113 at USC, it may have been hotter but we will never know because the high tech thermometer owned by the National Weather Service broke shortly after hitting the record.  This device, essentially a metal wire attached to a computer, serves as the official temperature keeper for the LA basin and the only repair person is based 60 miles a way in Ventura, CA.  So LA may have been even hotter but we will never know because of a long drive and a faulty recording device.

So what does this have to do with photography?  Nothing, but it reminds us that reliability and location are important.

One week ago...

So it's been a long summer here in SoCal, with many of us wondering what happened to the legendary sun and summer.  The bright spot is that I shot for a new client last week and I couldn't be happier with how well the shoot went or how easy the magazine was to work with.

Already looking forward to the next project and to posting the outtakes on the blog.

This Gary Coleman pic has been making the rounds

This photo of Gary Coleman and Shannon have been making the rounds lately due to his unfortunate and early passing. I took the photo in 2008 on the set of Divorce Court for my client Fox PR and 20th Century Television. They were a great client and I got to shoot some really interesting on set PR stuff for them on a variety of shows including Divorce Court, Decision House, and a few other programs.

Here is a better shot of Gary that I took more for myself then for the client, and I think better captures his personality.

Digging through some old files

I was looking through some old files and found these images sitting around. They were part of a lighting/beauty style I was working on developing a few years ago. I really like these shots, sort of feel like oldies but goodies and I am posting them here while I figure out how to work them into the website and portfolio. Enjoy!

The past month

Work's been a little quiet for the past month or so, but I have found plenty of good ways to keep myself busy.

Since the end of February 2010 I have:

- cross country skied in Yosemite National Park
- hiked to a waterfall in Yosemite
- attended the Chinese New Year's parade in San Francisco
- attended Land Rover driving school in Carmel
- hiked to a waterfall in Big Sur
- been given a private tour of a winery in the Central Coast of California
- hosted most of my family for a few days in Los Angeles
- attended the wedding of a good friends
- mountain biked in Las Vegas
- rock climbed in the Red Rock National Conservation Area
- ridden on the velodrome for the first time
- hosted a Passover Seder for the first time

The Olympus E-P1 at the Huntington Gardens

This past weekend I joined some friends for a picnic at the Huntington Library Gardens in Los Angeles, and my Olympus E-P1 was by my side. Here is one of the first shots from what is my new go to documentary and street camera.

Not your fathers Pen

I have to admit it, when my brother, the nature photographer, called to say that a new camera was being released and that it looked like something that would be perfect for me I was skeptical.

"An Olympus what?", I said. You see, I had never heard of the original Pen camera and only knew of a few shooters back in the film days that shot with Olympus OM-1 but they always swore by the Zuiko lenses. I had never considered anything from Olympus for serious photography and couldn't imagine that in the day's of Nikon or Canon that any other brand would matter. Yeah, I know there are still some old film brands floating around and some medium format digital stuff that's pretty good, but really the professional world has become fairly limited. Once you get past the digital SLR's though there is still room to think outside the box. Leica has the top end squared away with the completely unattainable M8, and Epson makes a Leica clone that sells outside the US but there isn't much else.

At heart I am a street and reportage photographer, sort of a man with still camera finding images in the world around me and exploring stories as they progress. A documentarian covering life and at times chronicling poverty, or sports fans, or the streets of my former city NY. I brought the same sort of attitude to my work, striving to make the portrait about the subject and not about the lighting or my artistic bias. My personal motto being simple is best, if it looks good with one strobe light don't use two, look for a natural source in the environment. Even on the larger jobs I often looked for ways to capture a moment outside of the normal process, one time while buying the crew and model ice cream I captured the image for the ad simply by snapping away as the model enjoyed her treat.

Well, I have discovered a new tool in my photography arsenal and it's called the Olympus E-P1. It is simple, elegant and everything that photography should be about. The all metal body and excellent build make it feel like a true shooters camera. This is the camera that you want to carry with you, it says professional but understated, classic but mature and even though it has sophisticated electronics it doesn't look digital.

Despite what I have read online in reviews of this camera, which was only released about a month ago, no I do not want a built in flash and I can't imagine most pros who do. Yes, I can live with the lack of a viewfinder and not having the perfect screen to review images. This camera is perfect as is. The package I bought comes with a 17mm f2.8 lens (35mm in 35mm) and a little viewfinder and all you have to do is turn off the lcd monitor on the back and pretend that you are shooting film.

All of those critics out there who are trying the camera for a few days and commenting on it have forgotten what it was like a few years ago. When we were shooting film we couldn't review what we were shooting and the polaroids we used for set up were awful. We have become slaves to technology and maybe it's time for a change. The art is in the image, not the computer.

A camera is a tool and it is the photographers job to adapt that tool to his or her needs. No tool is perfect, but to say that it needs this or that is the wrong way to look at it. If you want a hammer don't buy a phillips head screwdriver. If you want a Nikon D700 or a Canon G10 don't buy an Olympus E-P1, but if you want a great camera that invokes the spirit of the old rangefinders with the guts made up of the latest technology, you won't be sorry with the new Pen.

Refinding the passion

It's been a little while since I have picked up my "big boy" cameras, talked actively about photography, or really invested any time in exploring more then the simplest of image making.  While there are many reasons for this break perhaps the most relevant and the easiest explanation is that I was tired.

Tired of photography and image making, tired of the doldrums of winter and the shorter days, tired of having to constantly explain in conversation what type of photographer I was, and most importantly just plain tired of work, self promotion, and the everyday process of life.

I'm back.

The path to re-energization has been slow and the process has met with a series of potholes, but as I continue the search for a renewed vision I am reminded that photography is important.  Photography and image making are a window into a period of time that would be lost without someone there to record it.  Whether it is the fashion of the day, the moment of the first kiss after a wedding, a CEO representing his empire or something tragic likes the events of Katrina, images put the world around us in perspective and carry us into the story.

Yes, photography, either motion or still, is art but it is also the truest method of story telling and the best way for a company to showcase it's identity.  Images surround us daily and help us make decisions from which soap to buy, to something far more important such as reminding us that war has a cost of both lives and treasure.  As a photographer I have strived to capture truth and, as a person I have enjoyed when others do the same.  We must look at digital technology for what it is new evolution in recording images and not a license to manipulate the image.

We must remember that art is OK, and the manipulating the frame is OK but the images must be identified as such.  I will strive to continue to capture the images of people and places, and to let the audience of the image interpret the moment and to make their own choices.