JSP Visual Week In Review | 05.18.13
Whirlwind of a week.
As I said in yesteday’s post, this was a week of celebration and annniversaries:
* Mother’s Day last Sunday
* My 9th Wedding Anniversary on Wednesday
* My parent’s 49th Wedding Annivesary on Thursday.
* Let me repeat…it was their 49th!!!!!
* Chase’s 3rd birthday on Friday.
* Today is my nephew’s 4th birthday
Whew. Busy week on the Hallmark front. (Though, truth be told, I’m not much of a card guy and never did get a chance to send one to my parents. I did call though! And I know my Mom reads this space so help me out and wish them a Happy 49th in the comments section.)
Between all this and the goings-ons at work, I was still able to get some shooting and reading in. There ARE enough hours in the day; you just have to find one.
A highlight this week was an email from my friend in the Pacific Northwest, Ray Ketcham. He and Sabrina Henry have some really neat things going on based on the last Rear Curtain issue. Can’t wait till he can pop the cork on that and tell everyone.
All good stuff, and exciting to hear about.
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This Week’s Links:
* [Video]: 16X9 Feature on Toronto photographer Chris Wahl. I’ve worked with Chris a couple of times, traveled to Shanghai with him. He wasn’t quite this manic….but it was close.
* My lord this image gained a lot of attention this week.
* Speaking of….other photojournalistic photos, before and after.
* Interesting noir-based Kickstarter here from Lisa Diane Shapiro.
* Images from Cannes 1962. Classic LIFE.
* Joe McNally remembers his teacher, Fred Demarest. “He let me become a photographer.”
* Tips photographers wished they’d learned earlier.
* Daytona Beach, but David Walter Banks.
* Jeff Philips: Lost And Found. Fun exploration.
* “It used to take courage–indeed, it was the act of courage par excellence–to leave the comforts of home and family and go out into the world seeking adventure. Today there are fewer places to discover, and the real adventure is to stay at home.” ~ Alvaro De Solva
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2013
Friday Noir: Blood In Your Eye
My daddy used to say Nothing good happens after midnight.
My momma uses to say Why do you have to stay out so late?
Traipsin’ through the alleys,
Hidin’ on the backstreets.
Night usually starts at a place like this.
Grab a pint of Old Crow or JTS Brown.
That’s the way.
No tellin’ where the night goes after that.
Throwin’ dice, cards in the air, who knows what else.
It’s all about Saturday night.
Whisper your secrets to me, little darlin’.
Have some good fun, don’t end up in the clink.
I tell you, when I’m done with this life, heaven ain’t gonna want no part of me.
Nope.
Remember better days.
Dream those get-away dreams.
Chasin’ The Image
This past week has been a big one in our house. Lots of celebrations and achievements.
Started last week, Mother’s Day. Rolled into my and Leslie’s anniversary on Wednesday – 9 Years now she’s put aside her better thinking and hung in there with me.
Thursday was my parents wedding anniversary – going strong since 1964.
And today, today is another big one……
My second-born child, my first born son – the one carrying on the family name…today is his day.
The little guy we call Chase, Chase Vincent, Chaser, Chasey, C, C-Dawg, Son #1, Big Brother….he turns three today.
The image above is Chase’s “Official” Birthday Portrait. (Yes, we do things like Official Birthday Portraits in our house). A few weeks ago, Chase’s grandmother, my mom, sent me an email with a directive: I need a portrait of Chase for the local newspaper’s birthday announcements.
While I have a ton of kid photos – kids playing, kids crying, kids swinging, kids in woods – the Grandmother Gaunlet was thrown down: Shoot a new headshot of Chase for the newspaper!
So, one April afternoon last month – around mid-day, not the best time for portraiture – C was outside playing while his mom did some weeding. We have some big rocks under good-sized trees, trees that helped me in diffusing the light. I sat Chase up on one of the rocks to shoot his portrait.
Of course, when dealing with an almost three-year old, it never goes as smoothly as you planned it.
Movement, different facial expressions, light. It was all part of the mix. It’s enough to give Joe McNally fits.
Undaunted, unbowed, 36 clicks – I got the shot I wanted.
And, most importantly, I got the shot Grandma wanted.
So, today’s we’ll celebrate Chase. Put together his new Big Wheel last night. Got him some non-spillable (key aspect!) bubbles and some other fun gifts. He can watch his favorite movies today, and we’ll go have some pizza at the local joint tonight.
Today is his day.
Happy Birthday My Man!
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2013
The World Is The Canvas
There are people who “see” in Photoshop. There are people who “see” in flashes and softboxes. There are people who “see” in window light.
So begins a very thoughtful answer Atlanta-based photographer Zach Arias gives on his Q&A Tumbler to someone that said, basically, that said “Most often, I feel that taking good photos is about being a good retoucher…”
I think both the question posed, and the answer, are true – to some extent. I don’t care how great your canvas is, if you can’t figure out what to put on it, it ain’t going be any good. The same that that a writer could be on the finest paper in all the world. If that thought, that story, that nibble of interestingness isn’t in their head in the first place, there’s no way they will tease it out onto that that piece of papyrus.
To wit, the image above. I pass this scene often. It’s about two miles from my house, maybe, heading into the downtown Allentown (this is small-town downtown – A post office, a library, an ice cream shop, a local hardware store that’s, unfortunately, closed).
Anyway, I see this alot. And the composition of the scene always strikes me as “shootable”. But it doesn’t always work. The grass isn’t high enough. The sky is flat. The colors dull.
Then on Sunday, Mother’s Day, while I was with the kids, it seemed to come together. What made it for me?
The clouds.
The clouds have character. The clouds give it tone and texture to me. It give it interestingness.
So, the canvas was set. I pulled out my paintbrush, my writing instrument – my Canon S100 – to add to that canvas. Of course, I then took it into post-processing, dodged and burned a little bit, and brought it to what I saw in my head.
But I had to “see” it first.
And then I had to be ready for what I saw – had to have my camera with me to start the process.
After doing what I did with the original image, and just because I often go down this road, I had to see what it looked like in B&W:
In the past, I might have done a “Which Photo Do You Prefer….Photo A or Photo B” post. But I know which version you all would pick…. 
The world is the canvas, folks.
Go out and slap some paint on it.
© Mark V. Krajnak | JerseyStyle Photography | All Rights Reserved 2013
