The two days we spent here in January, were some of the most relaxing days of my life. No phones. No TVs. No people. Just me, my man and some mineral pools.
All of these images are strait out of the camera (I cropped the last one slightly). Shot on my Hasselblad 501cm, 80 mm lens with Ilford 3200 Pro film. LOVE this film.
Thinking of starting a darkroom group once a month. When that happens these might be some of the first images I print.
Excuse my Lazy blogging this week. A post with lots of photos tomorrow. I just tweeted about this but for those of you not on Twitter...
Read This:
And please for the love of us trying to keep face, FOLLOW IT.
(AND as long as you love what you do how you shoot and how you choose to edit, and are happy....well then just keep being happy. Art is subjective. I know that...I am just agreeing for my sake with her, that doesn't mean everyone has to agree with us....even though you should. HA!)
I keep wanting to make every "professional" photographer share unedited, raw, strait out of the camera images. That would be the most fair assessment of skill and experience for clients.
Maybe I will do a more in depth post on this later..could be interesting.
Leather Craftsmen is one of my favorite bookbinding companies.
This is the 10x10 high end album I offer wedding clients but I think it would also be a nice book to fill with family or vacation memories.
I just love the simplicity and timelessness it has.
I prefer to lay the images out on the pages in a way that doesn't detract from the subject....no crazy overlapping collages in this house.
Let me know if you want one. I can hook you up.
(This custom book was designed for these folks. Loved this wedding)
(I hope it was an example of the good and not the bad)
I am finally finding time to get to start answering some FAQ fellow photographers have been asking. Let me start by apologizing for not get back to all of you, or in a timely manner, or with tons of detail. please know I LOVE to help and want to have a one on one with each and every one of you and help answer all of your questions. For now I figured I would try to answer what I could on the blog, much easier than sending the same info to numerous people and then you can post comments/questions on the post and we can all learn together.
Probably the number one type of question I am asked is about camera equipment. What I use, what beginners should buy, what lenses are best for what, etc.....
Lets start by talking about what I use.
First, I have bought the following equipment at mainly two locations, B&H and Pictureline (and occasionally at Samy's now that I live in LA).
B&H is the superstore of photography equipment. They know their stuff, their prices can't be beat and their customer service is awesome. I trust them and know when I order through them I will get the best products.
Pictureline is also amazing on a smaller scale. When I lived in Utah they were the only store I bought and rented from. It is super important for any photographer to build good relationships with vendors and face to face help is priceless. The whole staff at Pictureline was extremely helpful and they helped me in many crunches. I will always be a huge fan.
My digital camera gear:
canon 5D (mine is an older version but was comparable in price)
rebel XTI (mine is an older version but this is similar
70-200mm f/2.8
85mm f/1.8
24-70mm f/2.8
17-40mm f/4
50mm f/1.4
speedlight 580ex
canon battery pack
photoflex- reflectors in soft gold/white
lowepro rolling bag
lowepro mini trekker backpack
tamrac shoulder bag
domke shoulder/waist bag
bogen tripod
a bunch of CF cards
I do shoot all Canon, but I started with Nikon. Both lines are great, I choose Canon because they had the full frame sensor body I wanted when it was time to upgrade. So I made the switch, invested in lenses and ta-dae! Here I am. Plus I kind of like Canon's look better (and it seems like Canon is usually a bit ahead with product development...lens upgrades etc.....could be wrong).
The 5D is the camera body I use 99% of the time. I haven't upgraded to the Mark II yet..decided to invest in a couple new lenses instead. Plus, I don't think I really need it yet. Only buy what you will use. I think it is pointless to make a purchase with all the bells and whistles if you are only going to use 1/16 of what it offers. Be realistic. Make your investment in equipment that can grow with you like lenses.
The rebel is a great camera. Don't be fooled because it's sold in costco. This is the only digital body I took to Columbia last year and it worked like a star. One of the negatives is DOESN'T have a full frame sensor like the 5D and once you shoot full frame it's hard to go back. Great back up or for a first time SLR buyer.
The 70-200mm f/2.8. Great for documentary story telling, candids and spytech shooting. Beautiful lens. Works great in low light.
85mm f/1.8 is a portrait and still life lens
The 24-70mm f/2.8 macro has been my baby for the last few years. Very versatile, and nice if you just want to lug around one lens. The macro make this a great lens for details.
The 17-40mm f/4 is best for landscape and wide shots OR if you want to create distortion on your subject by getting wide and close. To be used with caution. Not a "make a person look pretty" lens.
Hello there 50mm f/1.4!! You are my new best friend. Lightweight, small, great depth of field. You are my new favorite travel, out and about, gotta bring my camera lens. You don't always get wide enough for me and it sometimes bugs that you're not macro, because you know I love the details BUT I still love you for being so small and cheap.
Speedlight 580ex for when you HAVE to use a flash. I love myself the natural light, but sometimes the sun goes down (like every night) and I have to find other light sources. Mainly used bounced off ceilings or walls. Rarely strait on.
Nice little battery pack for when you have to fire off your flash over and over again. I think it has a 3sec refresh rate. Pretty sweet.
Love my light reflectors. Put your flashes away and create nice catch lights with some soft gold or white. A natural light photographers best friend.
A lot of my bags have been in use for so long I can't the exact ones online anymore. This Domke shoulder bag has been a God send (can I say that?). It's small and the perfect size to fit over my shoulder and hold memory cards and a couple lenses. I bought I waist strap for it as well that turns it into....well....a fanny pack. Dorky? Yes. Functional? Yes! Another plus of this bag, it doesn't look like a photo bag. Great for traveling. Domke has become a common household word round these parts.
There you have it folks. A brief rundown of what I shoot with and why. I do have film cameras as well....a Hassleblad, a Canon AE1 etc, but I am mainly a digital shooter. I'm not mad at film, I've just found a work flow that works for me. I still do love shooting film though. I starting shooting on film and use to shoot all of my weddings on my hasselblad which is a medium format camera. Those were the days.........
So, what should beginner buy that is looking for a SLR camera?
Think investment. Camera bodies get outdated and if you continue to grow as a photographer upgrading your camera body will naturally happen. I would recommend starting with a Canon Rebel body and investing in a all around good lens. Your lenses can grow with you, so make the investment there.
I recently was helping a good friend by her first SLR and in her price range we found this great multi purpose lens, 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6. For what she wanted to spend, this was a great match. Of course I wanted her to but the 24-70 f/2.8 macro, but there was a steep price difference and she is smart to test her commitment first before investing in equipment she may never use.
Beware of "KIT" packages where the camera body and lens come together. Most of the time they include a junky lens that you are going to want to replace anyway.
Remember, If you have the ability to compose and see light, you could take a really good photo with any camera. ANY. And that includes point and shoots. Gear is important, I'm not saying that, but don't get hung up with having the best of everything. I think it's more important to spend your time concentrating on how to make a good image and why, than showing off your big lens (these types of people suffer from "little photographer syndrome"). Find your reason for shooting first, and then buy all the delicious gear.
If you made it through FAQ part one, congratulations.
I need to figure out a way to customize my blog so that I can show slightly bigger images. I DON'T want to have to use another site to make this happen....can't I just configure the image size through blogger?!
any suggestions? what has worked for everyone else?
I've tried this, found on friend heather's blog
While in your post, click on "edit Html". Then look for this set of code...it's the code for the picture you just uploaded.
Now delete this section of code--everything circled above. After deleting the indicated code, your html for your picture should look like this:
Now it's time to change the size of your photo. You can choose from s400, s576 or s640 depending on the look you want and the parameters of your blog. Try a few on for size and see what works best for you. See below picture for the section of code you'll want to change during this final step.
All in all this should take you about 30 seconds.
BUT it doesn't work for me! my code looks a little different. so I just tried changing the pixel size withing the HTML code, but it ends up making the image look icky.
help!
the question of using my images on my blog has come up a few times in the past couple of weeks. This is my take: if you want to "drag and drop" any of my copyrighted images from my blog to yours, I am fine with that AS LONG as you link the image to my blog. if you want to give me a little plug....a little free blog/website advertising, fine by me! just make sure you are giving me photo credit.
here is a recent example from a friend of mine that used my images and linked to my blog.
any questions? feel free to respond to this post or email me at rachel@rachelthurston.com.
thank you to all of those who support me and my photography. I would love to know who more of you are...so say hi and let me know what you like about this blog and what you may want to see/read more about.
I was taught once, that there are three levels for categorizing photographic images.
Level 1- Descriptive
Every photo describes something. A red wall. A foot. Black teeth. Easy enough to grasp. Every photo every taken is a level one photo, it has to describe something...even if only to describe light and dark.
Level 2- Story Telling
Level 2 photographs tell a story. There are verbs in these images. A man painting a red wall. A foot being stepped on. Black teeth chewing on meat (gross..sorry). Not every photo is a story telling image, but if you succeed in creating one, you have taken it above only the descriptive and are entering the realm of photojournalism.
Level 3- Emotional
Evoke emotion. What good is any piece of art if it doesn't make you feel? I don't care if you hate, cry, feel uncomfortable...or maybe even experience some surreal state of euphoria. What good is living if you don't feel something? What good is art if it doesn't change you? If I was really trying to create an image I loved, I would always look to make it a level 3. Level 3's matter. While the 1's and 2's are nice and pretty and important in their own right, the 3's change you. I want to be changed.
The reason I went off on that photojournalism 101 lesson was because I've been thinking about those pesky level 3's. The tricky part to a level 3 is that most times it's subjective. Others feel what others don't.....also if you are there, or have experienced what the picture shows, this may give you an unfair advantage when it comes to connection with any given image.
When I look at my Colombia images I feel things. When editing through some of them yesterday I even got teary eyed. I don't expect that everyone (or anyone) will have the same response as I did because I was there. I held the baby, whispered the song in her ear. I kissed the hurt finger put in front of my face to make it all better. I saw the beds and smelled the roads. I touched hands and kissed cheeks.
My greatest hope is that I am not the only one that feels something... I honestly believe that my photography is pointless if it doesn't push emotion...but don't get me wrong I take tons of descriptive images. I love signs and details and colors and walls....but I would be lying if I said taking those images made me feel purposeful.
The whole purpose of me going to Colombia was to tell the story of certain people, certain children in need and hopefully in the story telling effort strike a cord in the viewer to act.
Global family. Everyone is responsible. If there is just one baby in a town starving it is everyones responsibility, not just the orphaned mothers. This is the part about knowledge that I think makes most people comfortable in a state of ignorance. Knowledge means you know and knowing means you then see and seeing means you have become responsible as a resident of human earth to do something.
Colombia was a level 3 for me, I know... because I came back different.
To donate/help/learn more, visit www.sxhu.org
I entered a print competition in Utah this last weekend and did pretty alright. I entered the same competition last year with an organization I have been a part of called IPPA-Intermoutain Professional Photography Association. This group is part of PPA-Professional Photography Association that is nation wide and includes Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Utah.
Last year I won an award called "Rookie of the Year" that is awarded to the photographer with the highest accumulative score entering for the first time. Last Year I also won a 2nd place in the photojournalism division. I was honored and thought I would give the competition a second whirl this year....and I won 1st place in the photojournalism division and 3rd place in portrait of a bride division! I was excited about both but especially my 1st place, as I have a special place in my heart for all things documented.
As much as I've leaned from entering these past couple of years, I'm not sure if I will enter again. I really want to find a group I relate a little bit more with. Maybe a group focused more on documentary or photojournalism work....maybe work on a gallery show...any suggestions?
Here are the images I entered:
Engrossed- 1st Place
The Huntress- 3rd Place
Dan
Brooklyn Bound
