A summary of my HS experience in one photo

A girl I don't remember (or know, really) uploaded this photo to facebook recently. It's of her and her friends posing for a photo on pajama day. For some reason I'm in the background on the right side of the photo.

This photo sums up my feelings about high school at La Guardia so well. I don't even feel like I have to explain anything for you to get it. The crossed arms, the indifferent expression on my face. It's also pajama day going by how everyone is dressed in the photo, and I obviously choose not to participate.

I'm so glad this photo exists. It's just such a great photo, sentimentally. Why am I even in the corner standing in that position at that time? It makes no sense. It's such an insignificant passing of a moment in time but it just sums everything up so well.

Like a sniper, shooting at Northside

The Hold Steady at Music Hall of Williamsburg

A few weeks ago, The L Magazine put on Northside Art and Music Festival. I shot a few shows. It was my first real time shooting live music. I think live music and wedding photography are tied as the 2 hardest types of events to cover. One has erratic lighting conditions and the need to shoot at high ISO and the latter is often has really high contrast situations. Both are hard to deal with if you don't know what you're doing.

I looked at the photos I shot over the course of Northside and can see huge improvements in my shots from the first show to the last I shot. I learned a lot about shooting shows. I am getting shots that are usable and that I can stand behind (and so can Brooklyn Vegan).

I don't enjoy doing it though. It doesn't become about listening to the music anymore. You have to pay attention to everything else but the music. I feel like a hunter stalking a deer. Camera pointed at all times, waiting for the light to change so that I can get a good shot, the musician in just the right spot and pose. Don't hesitate or you will lose the shot and end up with a awkward or blurry mess of a photo. It's all in the details. You're not just shooting the people, you're shooting everything else around them when all the conditions line up to make a good shot.



Take this shot of Bishop Allen for example. It's a bit purple for my taste. Taking a shot between the lights changing colors would have resulted in a better photo. But the band members are ok. If you look at their faces, none of them are at an awkward moment.



This photo of Darbie is decently lit. It's not red (I hate the red/purple lights).



The photos that are really red or purple are good for one thing though- turning it into a black and white photograph. This photo would not work otherwise.


The Dodos at Studio B

Overall, Northside was a great time - pretty much 4 days of binge drinking free Heineken. Can't wait til next year.

The L Magazine's 6th Anniversary Party

Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at Happy Ending.


Mark, Lauren and I


Liz, Sandy and Raymond


Susannah and Justine


Yudah, Paul and his GF


Kendall and I

Visit Diana Levin's Photobooth for more fun shots.

eightyfive - Mercedes!

Finally got to use my new camera to photograph a person. It's all my wildest dreams come true (srsly). Full frame plus 85mm F1.4= dreamy portraits. I'll have to stop being lazy and smooth out the skin tone when I put this up on my website.



This second shot would have really benefited by a hair light. Ugh, I should just sucker up and buy a second strobe.

This was not part of a portrait session. Just took these "for fun" after helping Mercedes photograph jewelery she makes for her soon-to-launch website. Speaking of websites, have you been on The L Magazine's recently redesigned website yet?

Fifty: OH SHI-

I actually do feel nauseous. Even a day later.

thirtyfour

Last night I set up my strobes in my living room and took some photos.

Quality Control

I'm going to start marking some of the photos in my photo-a-day project to "friends only" on flickr. The majority of them have been pretty sub par and lazy on my part and I don't want them clogging up my feed. So only the good ones will be public from now on. This will put a bit more pressure on me to preform. This is retroactive.

The color and the shapes

To prevent the rotting of my brain, I went to the Whitney today to see the William Eggleston exhibit, which closes in a few days. I'm really glad I went to see it. I could never see myself taking any photographs like he does. He captures something really unique in things that are mundane and seemingly uninteresting. A lot of times, I would glance over such things and never think to photograph them. I have done photographic essays and documentaries before but I would never capture like he does. Just a different approach and way of seeing.

That is something I am starting to explore on my long weeks between freelancing, or as Cecilia calls it, "premalancing." I'm looking at interesting ways to photograph around my house, which I find very boring as a photographic subject. I have always been thinking of my house in broad perspectives- the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, etc. In that sense, the house is unphotogenic. With that in mind, I have decided to start simple and reduce everything to the basics: colors and shapes.

We'll see how this goes.

Here are 3

Polaroids I took late last summer/early fall that I haven't uploaded till now.

Me

"I put on my overcoat and walked into winter, my teeth chattered rhythms" -Death Cab

I haven't done a self-portrait in years - since my senior show. I find my house to be really terrible to photograph in because I'm here all the time. But also because in the past few years, it's become "my parent's house" to me. I had always had the idea to try and take a photo in my living room with the light coming in from the windows but was too lazy to do it till now. The photo above is the result.

I have so much art work I've acquired over the years that I want to put up but can't because we have limited space and my mother has all of her acquired art up. Plus, it would be really disjointed to have art my friends made next to traditional Chinese art.

We also don't have a lot of space and there are too many background distractions that would take me forever to move to compose a photo in my style. But now that I have time, I'll probably try to set up my strobes and find some interesting compositions to do some self-portraits again.

Year in Review: Photography

It's all about the light quality.

My favorite photos that I've taken this year (in no particular order) -


Andrea hates this photo but I love it. "Looks like this could be in Elle" - Becca


I wish film was not so expensive and inconvenient to shoot, otherwise I would have done a lot more of it. I want to make prints of the above two photographs but going to a color darkroom is a huge hassle, not to mention I don't even know how to print color. At least, I wasn't taught but I pretty much know how it works and can probably just wing it if I ever find myself in a color dark room.


Funny and weird and confusing all at the same time. I wish the light doesn't die so fast every time I go to this beach.


Kendall knows how to pose, like for serious.




I shot both of these on the same day. It was just one of those day where everything came together really well. The thing is, the lighting that day was not anything spectacular, I just used it to my advantage. Dana's photo was through seer observation for days looking for a place that had light being filtered through so it wasn't too harsh. It was high noon summer light! So I went into that one knowing where I wanted to place her.

The Edith didn't start so well, I couldn't find a good location with good light. We walked around for a bit and I found a good spot to back light her- again, it doesn't look like it in the photo at all, and that is what sets these two photos apart for me.

Overall, my output in 2008 was higher than any year since when I was in Italy and I'm really happy about that. I've had many, many lovely people to shoot and for the most part the people at the L went along with my shenanigans.

For 2009, I want to do some more elaborate studio shoots and shoot new people because lord knows I've exhausted my immediate circle of people to shoot. Not to say I'm not grateful for them, but fresh faces would be welcomed. Afternoon photo shoots with new people are one of the greatest joys for me- shooting and getting to know someone at the same time - the entire process is just great.

In love with the sun

After shooting the portraits of Dana and Edith yesterday, I think I'm in love with the sun again. It's weird how it comes full circle again. I didn't hate the sun before, it was just dumb to shoot during the middle of the day because it was too high contrast.

But I remembered I used to pay more attention to my surroundings and use the sun to my advantage. Now I can do that again. These mid-to-late portraits in the series is really starting to drive me more creatively than the first few, after I got the more cliche-y shots out of my system. If I were crazy, I would reshoot a whole lot of people...

Edith

Assistant Editor, The L Magazine

Dana

Account Executive, The L Magazine

I re-shot Dana.

365

In my drunken state closing the next issue of the L (right now), I have deciding to start s 365 day photo project. Starting January 1, 2009 I will attempt to take at least 1 photo a day for the entire year.

Summerscreen: Mean Streets

Alex drove up from Philly with Rachel, Bryan and Bryan's younger brother to come to summerscreen. It was a blast.





The rest of the set here.

Bryan

Look at him with his long hair. Taken in Philly.

Catherine (is fire)

Sales Assistant, The L Magazine

Andrea

Project Manager, yourlocal.com

But...the light!

I keep looking out the window...at the glorious "after it rains" light outside right now and no one I've asked in the office wants me to take their picture today. It's killing me.