Any on-going projects?

[Jonas B]

.... It reminds me about the old saying about amateurs worrying about equipment, pros about> money and masters about light.

I think this little comfort zone statement is simplistic at best & it
surprises me that you are the one making it Jonas.

You are going from deep stuff in the morning to cheap nasty comments in the evening. A bad day perhaps?

The truth is that I'm too happy to throw in nifty expressions whenever possible. I know I am worrying about equipment, money and light. The great demonstration of a changing subject by Paul made me think of the expression.

I do think however that it would make an excellent essay subject in
the Photography School of Hard Knocks. What number of words do you
think should be the limit?

5: I'll stop right here.

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

Nah, I think it is me saying Thank you, Keitha!

You gave some food for thoughts. After having read the story behind #106 and watched your hand behind the Peruan necklace I bookmarked your link for future visits.

regards,

--
Jonas

Thanks, Jonas!

I didn't really plan any photos before I started, but I've made
mini-projects as I've gone along. On Day 99, I started an homage to
my favorite books so that the final one - a tribute to "My Name Is
Asher Lev" - ended on Rosh Hashanah. That was one of the most
photographically challenging eight days of my life.

You can see the mini-series here:
http://flickr.com/photos/aravis121/tags/favoritebooks/show/

Then on December 1st, I did The Twelve Days of Christmas, with each
photo tied to a song from a Christmas song mix I'd made. That wasn't
nearly as bad, but the photos aren't as good either

Otherwise, I either look for good light or work on a technique I need
to improve on (IR instantly comes to mind there).

Thanks for starting this thread and sharing your photos of your
beautiful Elisabeth. I found your photos to be very moving.

 

[Jonas B]

Long slooow project working towards building a modified Pentax DSLR
which will take Contax Carl Zeiss T* manual focus lenses, We have
about 10 of these so far, in use on Contax film bodies, which cost
much more than a Pentax body does. It would be good to give these
gems a second life.

Hmm. Is the Pentax body you are intended to use really that much better than a 5D or a 40D? With 10 presumably good Contax lenses I would hold a USD 2.100 5D for a bargain.

I recall you speaking of this earlier, showing how a Contax lens could be just nearly attached to a Pentax. Or am I far out now? The Contax lenses have the same mount as the C/Y ones, don't they?

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

Here is some serious photographing taking place! Both your projects appeal to me.

I have enjoyed a couple of the People in White/People in Black pictures here earlier. They are good works in my opinion.

The other project documenting your neighborhood is really... real photography. I'm such an old fashioned guy that I like documentary, nearly more than anything else.

I'll think a little about this. I am looselty trying to capture different things all over town. There is no real goal set, I just shoot parts I like or dislike. Maybe I should decide to limit myself geographically and setup a reasonably goal.

This again has to do with other discussions, like "Why take pictures?" and such.

Thank you for the input wadam!

--
Jonas

I have a couple of long-term projects right now. One is something
that I'm tentatively calling 'People in Black, People in White.'
Basically, what I've been doing is getting people to let me
photograph them in their interpretations of Victorian garb against
black and white backgrounds. The idea, in part, is the question of
what might it look like if somebody were doing photos in the style of
daguerrotypes, but with modern lighting and photo equipment. Another
that I've been working on is a general sense of place project that
consists of mostly detail shots of my neighborhood, which is a
historic area in Bloomington, Indiana. I tend to work on both of
them only intermittently, and take a lot of pictures that are not
related to either. But slowly I am collecting enough good exposures
that I will eventually have galleries for each on my web site.

--
http://www.twice-cooked.com/

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wadam/
http://www.flickr.com/people/wadam/

 

[Eric C in OK]

• Ongoing efforts to find a DAM workflow that works. Have ordered PS CS3+Lightroom and should be here next week. As part of this, I've gone thru the past 3 years of photos, one by one, all 50,000 of them, and thrown away 2/3 of them. The rest, I've attached keywords to using MS Expression Media.

• I'm doing books for the kids for their birthdays this year. Using the MPIX.com photobook software.

• Learn Lightroom+CS3 better. I need to take some lessons from *isteve on how to apply layer masks.

• Figure out what my long-term "kit" will contain. I think I need to sell off some lenses and buy some others. Still haven't figured out this formula.

• Working on postcards for the local Chamber of Commerce. I did this last year as part of the Oklahoma Centennial and it netted the CoC a couple thousand. We sit on US Route 66 and that gets us quite a bit of passing traffic during the summer time. As the resident (unpaid) photographer, it's up to me to document the comings and goings.

• Learn all that strobisty stuff. Is "strobisty" a word?

• Take lots of pictures of my family so they won't turn 25, like I did, and wonder where all the photos of them growing up are hidden.

 

[betsypdx]

An inspiring thread - gives me ideas.

All my projects tend to have a fairly short life.

Last summer, I decided to take a series of shots five miles from home - riding out on my bike after work and heading in different directions to see what was out there. It helps when the weather is beautiful and the sun stays up past 9 pm.

Here are a few that I have up:







Another short lived project from last January - "Been there, done that". I used only my two oldest lenses (two non-Pentax manual zooms), and revisited spots or subjects I'd captured in my photo-a-day project. Since it was January, the color and light that was in many of the original shots was missing. Here are a couple that are still up, with the original shots as well.













--
Betsy
http://www.pbase.com/betsypdx

 

[GFamily]

I've got a long term project to photograph numbers in the environment

examples



(collaged in Picasa)

 

[AndyDs]

Good idea for a thread Jonas, my photography has slipped a fair bit off late. So i decided i wanted to have a project.

Minaturised Kids; my two sons are getting a bit bored of Dad with camera, so i thought i would try a different angle. Minaturise the kids into unreal pictures; walking with bugs, sitting with the ornaments on the bookcase. It should improve my PP at the very least

Why; i want to get a series of pictures which will make some viewers think "Why would you want to do that?" i.e. Boxer in action, Amatuer Football referee, Sky diver. Hopefully the people who do the action will "get" the picture.

Sounds a bit daft but i'm trying to attach a rudder to my phototgraphy, hopefully it will help.
--
All the Best
Andy

 

[ddan daniel]

I'll limit it to those projects using my Pentax that are ongoing. I find myself drawn to themes or subjects a few times and then focus in until I get bored and move on...

Local 'push here to walk' signs:



'looking down' (an obvious subject in San Francisco)



Shoppers:

 

[Jonas B]

• Ongoing efforts to find a DAM workflow that works. Have ordered PS

CS3+Lightroom and should be here next week. As part of this, I've
gone thru the past 3 years of photos, one by one, all 50,000 of them,
and thrown away 2/3 of them. The rest, I've attached keywords to
using MS Expression Media.

And then you are intended to import 17.000 pictures into Lightroom... Eric, your keeper ratio is impressive!

• I'm doing books for the kids for their birthdays this year. Using

the MPIX.com photobook software.

• Learn Lightroom+CS3 better. I need to take some lessons from

*isteve on how to apply layer masks.

• Figure out what my long-term "kit" will contain. I think I need to

sell off some lenses and buy some others. Still haven't figured out
this formula.

• Working on postcards for the local Chamber of Commerce. I did this

last year as part of the Oklahoma Centennial and it netted the CoC a
couple thousand. We sit on US Route 66 and that gets us quite a bit
of passing traffic during the summer time. As the resident (unpaid)
photographer, it's up to me to document the comings and goings.

• Learn all that strobisty stuff. Is "strobisty" a word?

• Take lots of pictures of my family so they won't turn 25, like I

did, and wonder where all the photos of them growing up are hidden.

I don't think you need another project... You are busy enough, I hope you find some time for love, beer and the occasional cigar somewhere in between!

regards,

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

An inspiring thread - gives me ideas.

You get ideas? That's not bad - you have inspired me, and surely many other as well, sometimes.

All my projects tend to have a fairly short life.

Ah, finished projects!
It isn't long ago I revisited your PAD folder. Some great stuff.

Last summer, I decided to take a series of shots five miles from home

• riding out on my bike after work and heading in different

directions to see what was out there. It helps when the weather is
beautiful and the sun stays up past 9 pm.

Sun?

Hey Betsy, last week I found a couple of not replied to mails in my in-box, from you, Sean and a few more. Nothing important but now I at least know they are there, waiting.

regards,

--
Jonas

 

[Eric C in OK]

gone thru the past 3 years of photos, one by one, all 50,000 of them,
and thrown away 2/3 of them. The rest, I've attached keywords to
using MS Expression Media.

And then you are intended to import 17.000 pictures into Lightroom...
Eric, your keeper ratio is impressive!

They're not necessarily "keepers", I just didn't throw them away. Quite a few baseball games where I took 200-300 shots and kept all the images so the different kids will have shots of themselves batting and fielding. When they graduate, we present them with a plaque showing them in action.

I did tag my children and family members and the frequency distributions there are interesting. I'll make it a point (or project) to tally them up and post them here.

I don't think you need another project... You are busy enough, I hope
you find some time for love, beer and the occasional cigar somewhere
in between!

I do have a new project in my profession that will be taking more of my time and will get me some notoriety. I do hope to photograph more in the upcoming year than I did in 2007, but the jury is still out on that one.

 

[betsypdx]

You get ideas? That's not bad - you have inspired me, and surely
many other as well, sometimes.

Thanks.

Ah, finished projects!

It isn't long ago I revisited your PAD folder. Some great stuff.

Finished is a relative term. The PAD is really the only project I actually have finished . The rest have sort of just faded away.

Hey Betsy, last week I found a couple of not replied to mails in my
in-box, from you, Sean and a few more. Nothing important but now I at
least know they are there, waiting.

Now those were just silliness - you can send my contributions straight to the trash.
--
Betsy
http://www.pbase.com/betsypdx

 

[Jonas B]

I've got a long term project to photograph numbers in the environment

Pictures by the numbers... Lol - why not. In my experience there are often nice side effects with any project. You can suddenly use a picture from a collage as an illustration or main picture somewhere else, or you discover new interesting places, or you meet people while out looking for the missing numbers.

thank you,

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

Why; i want to get a series of pictures which will make some viewers
think "Why would you want to do that?" i.e. Boxer in action, Amatuer
Football referee, Sky diver. Hopefully the people who do the action
will "get" the picture.

In my opinion, and in short, this is a good idea. Anything making people think is good in my book.

Turning junior into a miniature sounds like pure fun (apart from the PP training involved but I know many have fun while processing, so...)

thank you for posting ideas!

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

Another contemporary documentation, I like that.

Are you out in the streets shooting with a 200mm?

--
Jonas

 

[Jonas B]

Now those were just silliness - you can send my contributions
straight to the trash.

Done. Pretty cute silliness though.

--
Jonas

 

[ddan daniel]

Another contemporary documentation, I like that.

Yep, I like the 'documentary' style. So fascinating what people build and make these days.... And in a weird way, I like making images that show 'daily life' so the future will ahve images that aren't from TV or advertisements while still having detail and information.

Are you out in the streets shooting with a 200mm?

Yes. That series has so far used a Pentax SMC-A 80-200mm zoom which I tape at 200mm (it moves off focal length very easily). I just won a SMC-A 200mm prime on ebay so it'll be interesting to see how it works.

People have been very tolerant. Occasional comments, some people play to the camera, some make mean faces. But that's less than 1%. Most people are just doing their thing and aren't bothered by a lens pointing at them. Maybe it helps that I am in San Francisco where tourists are everywhere.

 

[Jonas B]

Hi Michael,

Tokyo sounds... well, big?!

The family album is something we all can relate to. I have two such pictures only online:



"Yippii, throwing stones in the water!" Here we have the twins, we were out for a totally ordinary walk and passed a part of the harbour district. Nothing special, but it makes me, as the proud father, smile when I see it. Tri-X in broad daylight, 1989.

and



Learning to skate. Probably Tri-X once again, winter 1990-91.

Again no special event, no major tour anywhere, no relatives visiting - just plain ordinary life a Sunday afternoon.

I had a period for a couple of years when I didn't care to take pictures, at least not a lot of pictures. I got a bit fed up as 34 pictures out of 36 pictures on every roll of film were family shots...

When looking at all sorts of pictures in the family album(s) I appreciate pictures showing daily life the most.

Good luck with everything, and thank you for posting. The one of you and your son together is my favorite; peace.

regards,

--
Jonas

I've got two ongoing projects. One is of Tokyo -- I will never run
out of material.

The other -- a joint project with my wife, who's dabbling in SLR
photography for the first time with my DS and DA 21mm is of our
newborn son. On the day after he was born I decided to put together
a website tracking the first five years of his life. While it
contains photos using the normal photo engine of my main website,
I've decided to add some smaller square shots as the feature of the
front page of my son's mini-site.
(...)
Michael, Tokyo

 

[hayslip]

Oh, I've got several photo projects going on at the moment....

Church project: I'm taking portraits of all the kids at my church for the staff to use in various ways. I think I'm about halfway through. Might be done in a month or so. I don't think I realized how many kids were around when I volunteered for this project... lol ...... It's been lots of fun and I'm there for most all of the kid's activities anyway.

Home slideshow project: This project consists of an extra pc, the tv in my living room (which has a pc input) and a couple thousand digital pics. The pc is tucked out of sight behind the tv. I even picked up a wireless keyboard and mouse so I can keep my backside comfortably on the couch. I've had it going for a few weeks now, but just turning it on a few times to have something going in the background. ---- My wife has now asked me to start adding pictures from our film albums (our pictures). Soooo I've scanned 152 pics so far today. Still have to clean them up and put them on the tv machine...

Eye project: Thanks to Jonas and Keitha, I've just remember that I promised my wife some nice pics of the kids eyes (a long time ago). Very nice eye pics, by the way, both Jonas and Keitha. My wife likes Keithas best, I'm more partial to Jonas' eye pic.

Composition work: A while back I got a book on composition work from my local library (something to do in my spare time). It consists of thirty different exercises that mostly seem to be outside my comfort zone of shooting kids and pets. I've completed an excercise on rocks. Started one on eyes. And have been looking for likely subjects for the exercise on signs.

Post Processing Skills: Like another poster, I really need help with post processing. I mostly shoot jpg and tweak with Picasa. I'm pretty comfortable with that workflow and it does have it's upsides. Lately I've been trying out RAW and processing with RAW Therapee. I've tried a demo copy of Lightroom as well. But I'm not getting it just yet. And layers? I don't have a good handle on that concept yet. Maybe someone needs to draw me a picture.... lol

Just finished scanning picture 153. Here it is....



--
Cheers,
Roger Hayslip