PixelatedImage Blog

Here’s the August wallpapers in both 2560×1600 and 1280×853, shot in Ladakh on last year’s Lumen Dei tour. I’m posting it now because in just over a month 8 very lucky folks plus Matt Brandon and I, will be traveling to Ladakh with Ami Vitale. I can’t wait. There’s something magical about the land in Ladakh and while I normally lean heavily to photographing people, it’s hard not to get sucked in by the way the heavens and the earth connect so physically in this place.

Click the image above to get the small wallpaper, and HERE to get the large one.

Tomorrow I’m off to Thailand via Hong Kong for two weeks. I’ll be primarily in the north in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, with a couple days in Kho Samet at the end, all to gather a handlful of images for the third book, and to shake the dust out a little. As usual on these self-driven assignments I’m joined by Henri, my faithful travelling sidekick and partner-in-crime. The man is the stuff of legends, I tell ya. I’m excited about going to a beach at the end, he’s excited about eating bugs. Back on the 14th of August. If I can post a postcard or two along the way, I will, so check back, otherwise I’ll check in with y’all and give a report with some images once I’m back and the dust settles. Be good. As always, feel free to enjoy the blog while I’m gone, just don’t burn the place to the ground.

Check back tomorrow morning for the August wallpaper. Ciao!

Click the map to em-biggen it if ya need to.

It’s no secret that I wrestle with packing light. I think I’ve done it, then arrive at the airport only to be mocked by whomever I am traveling with. Clearly what it means to travel light is a subjective thing. I usually travel with two carry-on’s – very heavy – and two checked pieces – also max weight. Well this time I decided to really try. It meant not bringing all kinds of “but what if I want it?” items – no flash, no pocket wizard, no reflectors, no Lensbaby, no Pogo printer, no Hyperdrive. I’m bringing one of everything critical instead of the usual two, except my camera bodies. And I think I’ve done it.

The photo at the top is my whole 2 week trip to Thailand. One North Face Base Camp duffle, one Think Tank Shapeshifter, and one Think Tank Speed Racer.

It helps that I’m going during monsoon, so it’ll be hot and wet. Less clothing, no sweaters or bulky items. I threw in a diving mask and snorkel as my one luxury item. Not for the monsoon but for the 3 days in Ko Samet at the end. And I threw in a small trekking umbrella. My bag could drop 5lbs if I weren’t a Type 1 diabetic, but I always bring a mountain of snacks and a small Pelican case with extra insulin, needles, etc. It could all drop another 5lbs easy if I could bring myself to leave the laptop, cables, harddrives at home, but I’m just not that hardcore. ( C’mon Henri, you gotta admit this is pretty good, right? )

I’m actually pretty proud of myself, but it’s nothing more than an experiment. As I’ve said before, clients don’t pay you to travel light but to come home with the shots. Case in point, Joe McNally just drove a fully-loaded Suburban from Phoenix to San Francisco. He’s shooting projects there, among them a story for the Geographic. A fully-loaded Suburban. And I’d be willing to bet half of that is accounted for by a half-ton of SB-900’s and 3olbs of CTO gel.

Speaking of Thailand, one of the highlights will be spending some time with Gavin Gough, and Matt Brandon has just posted another of his excellent Depth of Field interviews, part one of his interview with Gavin went up this morning HERE. Look for part two tomorrow. One day I hope to convince Matt to do one of these with me but I think he has a thing about Canadians. Don’t believe me, listen to the way they keep dropping my name and teasing me.

Jonesin’ for more? I’ve got a short article up on Niches, Grooves, and Ruts at DPS, Digital Photography School, thanks to Darren Rowse for his kind invitation to contribute. Find the link HERE.

A late start this morning. I usually write my blog posts the day before and yesterday was Sharon’s’s first evening home for over a week so we sat on the couch, had a bottle of wine and watched HOUSE MD re-runs on dvd. Nice way to spend an evening, sorry you weren’t invited.

Yesterday’s post on Faith and Art stirred some insightful discussion, some of it far more profound than the actual post on which it was based I encourage you to read it if you haven’t. One of the things that came up was a further clarification. I thought I’d been very clear that this was not only a discussion of faith in the religious sense, that what I was getting at was broader and applied to all of us, theistic, athieistic, or whatever lies in the middle; that our core values and beliefs about life, ourselves, the world in which we live all form the deepest parts of us, the most unique parts of us, and when we draw from that well to create our art we have the potential to create art that is more uniquely personal than when we stay on the surface of things.

Ok, so a few detaily-linky items today.

First, I got my HyperMac yesterday. The one I ordered is a 100 watt-hour external battery for my MacBook and it’s sweet. Small, not much heavier than a normal MacBook battery, and it’s reputed to give another 13 hours of working time, as well as being able to recharge USB devices like the iPhone. And it came with a car charger so I can charge the thing while driving. I wish I’d had this in Ethiopia. Had plenty of car time, it was AC power when we got into town that I didn’t have. Check it out HERE.

Ever work in Lightroom on your laptop and find you just aren’t sure which angle to put your screen at to get the right tonal values in your image? My buddy Gavin Gough has a simple, elegant solution and if you go to his blog you can download a gradient that you can set as your identity plate and you’ll never have to fiddle with the screen again. Check it out HERE.

I’ve been using Blackrapid R-straps for just over a year now and love them just as much as I ever did. The weak point has always been the snap connector and they’ve finally got new ones – small lockable carabiner clips that seem beefy and well-made. I’ve just replaced my old ones and while I never had a problem I know others did and this oughta make many of you feel a little more comfortable about these brilliant straps. When I visited Blackrapid in their Seattle digs last year we had a long talk about a 2-camera system, and that rig is now out. I’ve got one and will be taking it to Ladakh in September and will review it then. For now visit Matt Brandon’s blog to see his write-up on both the new clips and the new harness. Check that out HERE.

I’ve had a couple questions come my way lately asking me about my faith and my photography. Usually it’s a short question: “does your faith, or God, affect your photography?” I trust many of you have read my book, Within The Frame, or are long-term readers who know I’m not about to turn this into a pulpit. I preach often, but usually about gear and vision and the trappings of our craft. When I do speak on matters of faith it is not often about my own, so I trust you’ll read the rest of this without worrying that I’m about to step off into the deep end of propaganda.

Fact is, faith is a profound part of the human experience, and while we’ve an unusual taboo about discussing such things in the west, I’m never quite sure why. I mean, other than the fact that it draws such strong feelings from us that we’re ready to kill and plunder over the matter, even when what we feel so strongly about seems to include fairly unambiguous commands to love and not kill (no, not even when the infidel/heretic/insert-favourite-bad-guy-here really pushes your hallowed buttons.) Given how profoundly important our beliefs are – theistic or otherwise – I’m surprised we don’t discuss the connection between faith and art more openly. I mean, if it does stir such strong feelings, isn’t this a source we ought to explore, or at very least inform our art? Poets for centuries, and most particularily the bad ones, have allowed their love and lust to inform their poetry, so why not allow faith, or more broadly, allow your beliefs in general,to consciously inform your photography?

I was chatting with my friend Jeffrey Chapman in NYC, debating the issue of art vs. craft. He said something that caught me as profound. Art must have something of the artist within. It’s an act of expression, of self-revelation, and as such what is on the inside comes out on the outside. Honest art – and all art is honest or it’s propaganda or kitsch – reveals something of the artist, whether others see it or not. To return to what Jeffrey was saying, not everyone likes or understands Jackson Pollock’s work, but that doesn’t make it any less an act of revelation or expression.

And so of course faith comes into play. It must. It’s so inextricably part of our deepest being it should inform what we shoot, how we shoot it and why. We might not be aware of it. it might not seem overly spiritual, but what we create comes from the things we believe about life, ourselves, others, and God’s presence – or absence. What is the history of western art without the crucifixion, a symbol of both God’s presence and His absence?

So what? Well for people who identify themselves as people of faith, and those who do not, it’s an appeal to tend to your deepest places. We create from the inside out, and how you perceive the world, what you want to show to the rest of us, and how you want to do that, is connected to the inside. Neglecting the inner life in favour of memorizing the B&H catalog, is bound to lead to work that is less inspired than the work you create when you are engaged in life, and filling the creative, spiritual, and emotional well constantly.

For me, my deeply held faith shapes who I am, and is the prime mover in my life. It’s why I work with the people I do and tell the stories I tell. It’s why I advocate for respect and kindness, why I feel stories about the poor and excluded not only can be told, but must be told. It’s why much of my work centers around the two primal hungers of man – hunger of the body and hunger of spirit. I like to think that the light of this comes through in my images, that because I believe, like St. Paul wrote: now abideth these three things, faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love, my work looks toward hope and is created, I trust, be the effect of all three.

If art is to have something of the artist within, then the things we think and believe are not trifling details, they are the starting place for any act of expression.

Thoughts? Stories? Given the subject matter, let’s keep this passionate but inclusive. Anyone using this chance to evangelize my readers will find their comments removed. It’s my blog and any evangelism, crusades or inquisitions get done by me alone. Get your own blog and find your own readers to abuse. No, seriously. Also, this is my 700th post. Where does the time go? They grow up so fast…

In November I was in Kenya for World Vision Canada, in February I was in Bangladesh. Both trips were a visual adventure for me, another challenge to shoot similar subject matter in new ways and to discover new moments. I’ve only now got around to posting something. Part of that is simple deference to the client’s wishes as they complete their own projects around these images, and part is in just getting around to it. I finally got around to it. Enjoy. Click the big image to get there, or click HERE.

I nearly neglected y’all for two days in a row. Sorry ’bout that. Sharon’s on vacation with friends in Florida and I’m using the time to catch up on creative things I’ve been meaning to get a jump on. So, plenty of distractions. Where does the time go? But I’ve got some tidbits I’ve been meaning to get to you and this is as good a time as any to do it. The image above is from Saturday’s Worldwide Photowalk – we had a great time and our models were such great sports. Posing for 50 people is hard! We did our walk like the rest of the world, we just ended up at the beach with models and truck-full of lighting. I’d feel guilty about this but it seems everyone learned something and had a good time, so I’m unrepentant The above shot is Anna, lit with a large Lastolite diffusion panel – she’s looking right at it in this one.

Within The Frame Podcast Series Renewed
I’m please to announce that I’ve recorded my 10th episode of the Within The Frame Podcast and while that was slated to be the last episode it’s been popular enough that Peachpit TV has renewed it for another 10 episodes. The podcasts are a critique-based series based on principles found in the book. If you haven’t seen them, you can find them on iTunes by searching for Within The Frame in podcasts, or going to the WTF podcast page on the Peachpit TV site HERE.

APC, and Lumen Dei
I’ve been raving about APC – Artistic Photo Canvas, link HERE – for a short while now and in that short while I’ve become a total convert. There is something about seeing your work big and I’ve been getting some really large canvases of some of my favourite work. In part in anticipation of a gallery show I’m dreaming of, in part as preparation to begin selling larger copies of my work. The service and quality I’ve experienced at APC has been second to none. I’m also pleased to say they’ve agreed to sponsor our Lumen Dei trip and are giving participants a chance to print a piece of their work with after the trip. If you want to see your images with the impact that size and quality can bring, I suggest you treat yourself to a really big canvas from APC – I can’t stop staring at mine – mesmerizing.

Elinchrom Quadra
I saw this on Scott Kelby’s blog a week or two ago. If I write too much about it I’ll want one. Small 400 watt-second strobes with small battery pack. Ideal for location work needing something more than speedlights. With adaptors it’ll fit all my current Elinchrom softboxes. Did I mention it was small? How small? Check out the post on Scott’s blog and watch the short video. Oh man, these are cool.

Lite Panels
One of my big issues on assignment is dealing with natural lighting conditions in which a catchlight in the eyes is hard to get. Yes, I can rig up flashes and umbrellas but that takes time, is fussy, can force me to a tighter aperture than I want, and can spook the animals making a fussy job even more difficult. Today I found a potential solution and I can’t wait to try it. It’s from Lite Panels, and it’s a small panel of AA-powered, variable brightness, daylight balanced LEDs. They need to be in close – not a problem in my work – and they won’t replace strobes for jobs needing more power, but for assignment work and street portraiture, I can’t WAIT to try this out. It’s small enough to fit in a Think Tank Skins pouch on my belt and can be held easily in one hand while shooting. The light is soft and even, and comes with a couple warming gels – 1/2 CTO and full CTO, I think. No softbox needed. And it’ll mount on a hotshoe or a monopod if needed. How cool is that? The one I got is the MicroPro and you can find more info HERE.

HyperMac
After the gong-show of my last assignment I began to think through some power issues for more remote work. Camera batteries are easy to purchase and pack fully-charged, but laptop batteries, especially the new 13″ MacBook Pro without a user-replaceable battery for which I could otherwise carry spares – that requires a different solution. Shy of going to a full-blown solar solution, I found this: The HyperMac (link HERE). It comes in 4 sizes and can provide up to an additional 33 hours of power for the 13″ laptop. It’s not tiny, especially the big 222 watt-hour version, but it’s pretty small for what it is, and a great solution to the need for more power away from reliable AC sources. I ordered the 100 Watt-hour version.

My Travel Schedule
I leave for Thailand on July 31, gone until August 14. I’d love to be able to post something occassionally, but I’m taking this one as a relaxing trip – shooting images for the third book and spending a day or two just doing nothing. So blogging won’t be high on the list. But I’ll be thinking of you, promise I’m then back for a while – a couple weeks – before leaving for India for the Lumen Dei workshop with Matt Brandon and Ami Vitale between Sept 09 and 28th. Then I’m home for 2 days before dragging my jet-lagged butt to Photoshop World in Vegas. Would love to see you there!

Happy Thursday, folks.

One of my favourite how-to books is Vincent Versace’s excellent Welcome To Oz, A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop. (For the book go HERE, for the DVD series, look HERE. ) It’s unlike anything else out there and was a real eye-opener for me. If you’re not familiar with it, or with Vincent Versace, I suggest you look into it.

As a follow-up to Welcome to Oz, Vincent’s just released 2 tutorial dvd sets under the title Return to Oz. One is called The Lazarus Effect, the other From Oz to Kansas 2.0. The first deals with recovering lost details, the second with black and white conversions, and while I am still waiting for the postman to bring mine, I’m introducing them to you because I know Vincent’s other work and love it. Vincent is a rare breed, and if you like my teaching I suspect you’ll like his – he talks alot about vision and expression, so these are bound to be infused with much more than just technique. Read the Afterword to Within The Frame to get a sense for the passion Vincent has for this art.

Like I said, I haven’t seen them yet, but they’re coming and I wanted to tell you about them now because by the time I get them the Introductory pricing is likely to be over. If you order before the 27th the pricing is $59.95, and each comes with a bunch of extras, including photoshop actions and Nik plug ins.

For more information on Return to Oz: The Lazarus Effect click HERE. For more information on Return to Oz: From Oz to Kansas 2.0 click HERE.

We had a fantastic time this Saturday evening as 50 photogs descended on Vancouver’s beautiful English Bay. We met at the historic Sylvia hotel in perfect weather and walked the seawall to Third Beach. At Third Beach we had three great models, Anna, Elycia, and Joel ready for the photowalkers, along with a bunch of lighting gear, speedlights, lastolite panels, and more Pocket Wizards than you could shake a stick at. As the sun went down we spent a couple hours on the beach and everyone had chances to shoot and play. My partner in crime was DAVE DELNEA and he deserves a big pat on the back for taking my “Hey, I have an idea…” and making it happen. I got the glory as the walk leader, but Dave Delnea was every bit as much a leader and was really generous with his time and knowledge. Dave’s an excellent photographer, if you don’t know his work you should see it HERE. He’s blogging now too, HERE.

Thanks to those that came and walked with us and indulged the lunacy of a guerilla lighting workshop on the beach. I shot video and stills so I could put together a video for our walk – which you can get by clicking HERE or clicking the embedded YouTube video below -  so I didn’t shoot much until we got to the beach, but HERE’s a link to a very small Flash gallery of images from my time behind the lens. That low POV you see is a result of me spending a lot of time in the water in my clothes, but it was worth it.

Walkers, don’t forget to get images submitted before the 25th of July through the Photowalk website.

Gallery link HERE

As a staff-shooter for a humanitarian aid organization I hear from a lot of photographers who want to know more about pursuing a career in humanitarian photography.  Most are a bit puzzled about how to get their start, and I can understand this.  It is definitely an elusive “market”, if we can even call it that, and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but here are a few thoughts of encouragement for those who may be interested…

In the beginning, we all became photographers because we desperately wanted to shoot “something”.  And that “something” was our passion.   Maybe this “something” has evolved over time. Or maybe it’s the same as day one.  But whatever “it” is currently, I think it’s safe to assume that most of us dream of shooting “it” professionally.  At least we should.  After all, that’s what brings the greatest career and life satisfaction, and that’s when we do our greatest work.  Our passion might be to Save Darfur,  it could be to stop global warming, or perhaps we just love to document everyday life as we find it.   My point is that we all dream of exploring SOMETHING with our camera for the purpose of telling the world how we feel about it.   This is what we were created for as artists.  But how do we achieve this goal professionally?  How does one get paid to shoot their passion?

Usually my advice is to show THAT work in your portfolio.  Show the work you really WANT to get, not the work that you just happen to have.  (And yes, this goes for style as well as substance.)  But naturally, this advice presents a dilemma for those whose true passion lies in traveling to and shooting in distant locations- much less when that place is dangerous or inaccessible.   If we include the need to support a family while doing this, well then the odds are surely stacked against us.

And a classic Catch 22 follows:
“How do I get assignments to these locations without a portfolio to show in the first place?  And how do I get images for that portfolio without an assignment to take me there originally”?

My next response is to start where you are…

If giving a voice to those in poverty is at the heart of what you really want to do, then go to your local food-bank or homeless shelter and volunteer to do just that.  If documenting the plight of refugees in foreign countries is what fires you up, then focus on asylum seekers in your nearest city and look at their plight through your lens. If you dream of telling stories about our environment in peril, then find a local conservation organization & volunteer to do stories for their campaigns.   In fact, I recently did just that.  And it worked out better than I could have imagined.  Here’s my experience…

Through my local newspaper I learned of an initiative to designate a 25,000-acre National Scenic Area near my home.  This was an effort to halt a large logging project in a very sensitive area.  As a concerned citizen, I looked up the campaign website and noticed a serious lack of visuals.  I decided that a nicely produced video could really help get their message out,  so I volunteered to produce one for them.   I did this for two reasons:  1) Because I had been wanting to gain professional experience in video production.  And 2) because I am PASSIONATE about conservation & outdoor recreation-  it has always been a dream of mine to shoot that professionally.

It being my first attempt at producing a documentary meant that the final product was no award winner, but the organization was more than thrilled to have it.  Plus, I gained the production skills I wanted.  But perhaps most importantly, and the moral to my story, is that because of the exposure from that project I’ve landed a contract producing a series of videos on outdoor recreation for my local Tourism Development Authority.  Kind of my dream job- and this one isn’t just volunteer work.   Who knows where this one might lead?

So why did you become a photographer in the beginning?  What do you dream of accomplishing through your work now?  It’s good to dream global, but you’ve got to start local. Name your dream assignment, then figure out what you can shoot locally to put that same passion to work immediately.

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For the past 7 years Matt Powell has been a documentary photographer for the Christian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse.  Based in North Carolina with his growing family, he is currently learning the ropes of video production and pursuing his reason for living.  View his portfolio at www.mattpowellphoto.com where he also keeps a blog aimed at inspiring other photographers to put their talents to work for good.