Unleashed
Pro Bono Publico
Pro Bono is the fancy word(s) for volunteer photography, but I suppose it refers specifically to a professional providing professional quality services for free or discount to those who cannot afford them. It's short for Pro Bono Publico, which means For The Public Good in latin. I'd known the term, in the back of my head. But recently I signed up to shoot for Hands On The Bay, an org that sets up schools/ businesses with volunteering ops, and the coordinator asked me: "Do you do a lot of Pro Bono photography?" And I said: "Eh?" I've decided that I will now use Pro Bono as often as possible. "Oh yes, I do plenty of Pro Bono Work. do you require my Pro Bono photo services?"
April is hurtling by, and there is constantly something to do. I've come to a point where photo stuff has piled dauntingly high. Client emails/ phone calls are priority - I like it when my queries / concerns are addressed swiftly and thoroughly by customer service, so I do the same for my clients. I wind up investing an unplanned 1-2 hours a day doing this. Ack! Time to edit.
Cool Cucumber
The post-dinner comedian was having a hard time getting audience response. I stood off the the side of the stage with my camera, feeling sorry for him, when he suddenly turned his attention to me, and consequently 50 pairs of executive eyes - I mean, THE people in charge of bringing fruit and veggies in convenient packages to your local supermarket - all swiveled towards me. Great.
He said: Oh this reminds me of home. I've got some Chinese folks around all the time. My wife's family is from China.
(Oh no. Don't display your ignorance! I could sense it coming and sent silent Don't Say It! vibes)
He continued: Is that where you're from?
(Sigh) I said: I was born in Los Angeles.
Apparently this was funny to the audience, everyone laughed - to my relief, but I was also mortified, both to be put on the spot, AND to be dealing with issues of cultural identity. But I did my best Cool Cucumber act. Are there not enough dealings with this on everyday TV? If there's Any Asian American character, they are at some point assumed to be from Asia, and then with much exasperation they explain they are American and was born in Phoenix/ Cleveland/ Boise. And yes, while I did spend my formative years in Hong Kong, I would never say that I Am From China. My Ancestors are from China, I am ethnically Chinese - maybe these are little differences that aren't a big deal to others. Anyways, Rarely do I have to deal with cultural identity during a photo gig. But there you go. Anything can happen!
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Go There.
The world is split into those who have visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and those who have not. I can finally join the Light Side! (The world is also split into those who have ready LOTR and those who have not... for some reason, the thought of Chi Squared Statistical Tests are suddenly poking out from the dank basement file cabinets of my brain). Anyways... fantastic aquarium and exhibit displays covering a huge area. Poor little Birch Aquarium at Scripps (La Jolla), anyone who has been to both will automatically compare them. I must say though, the BAS Kelp Tank is as awe inspiring as the MBA Kelp Tank. I magnetized toward the kelp displays first, as over my years at BAS I'd become very fond of kelp habitats (and drawn many kelp inhabitants!), and it was almost like visiting an old friend, being able to name the familiar faces of kelp forest denizens, while noting new kelp friends unique to NorCal coast. I longed to do some Monterey tidepooling, alas, tides and time were not on my side.
Whereas the Kelp section was comforting and nostalgia inducing, the Open Water section was awe inspiring, and I had that rare (as a grown up!) little kid feeling of not knowing what to look at first! The jellies were introduced right away. They were absolutely striking against the blue background; each tank was a live work of art (hmm, I'm sure that simile has been used before). I could've spent all day photographing jellies, and wished I'd not used much time trying to photograph the Cleaner Shrimp cleaning the Moray Eel earlier - a fascinating symbiotic behavior, but photographing had been a time consuming task and fruitless task as the curved glass wall of the tank made made focusing almost impossible.
The Open Water exhibit I'd longed to see ever since I'd heard about the Great White that hung out in it. That was years ago though; I think it was released eventually. Wow. To have a humbling experience, go to the Open Water exhibit and realize we would be but hapless plankton/ floundering fish food chunks, if tossed in the ocean - and so much of the world is ocean. Yet!!! From the comfort of our terrestrial habitats, we are effortlessly (and irrevocably?) changing this Massive Massive Massiver-Than-Comprehensible watery ecosystem - it is rather mind blowing.
Propping Babies Up
Floppy-necked-baby photography involves tricks. Tricks to make babies look like their necks aren't floppy, because it looks uncomfortable. Knowing different ways to prop babies up, and being versatile with whatever propping items might be at hand, whether it's a pile of cushions, towels, stuffed animals, parent wearing a backdrop poncho style.
I just wanted to give another plug to Radiolab podcasts. Editing flies by when I listen to Radiolab. The Sleep episode is fascinating. Did you know that most animals except for terrestrial mammals are capable of sleeping half a brain at a time? That if there are 4 ducks sleeping in a row on a log, the two in the middle will have both eyes closed, but the duck on either end will have the eye on the outer (non-duck facing) side open? That sleep is the equivalent of a brain bath? Really interesting stuff.
Just Add Water
I parked, and waited for the rain to let up, post morning baby shoot. The streaky pattern is a result from the angled wind shield window; the rain didn't slide like this on vertical windows. I really like the effect, but not enough to drive around and look for other street views to photograph... Parking Spots around here are That Valuable!
Green Festival San Francisco!
Big Camera or Little Camera? I now often opt for the latter, when I am off to events where I want to be an interactive participant. Unfortunately the big camera, though it takes better photos, can make people in public places feel ill-at-ease, and it take about 10 times as long to take out the big camera. The little camera (Sony Cyber-shot) is wide angle, and I don't have to think about focusing. It's decent in dim light too. I can strike a much better balance of photo-documenting while enjoying the people and displays (ie food samples) with the little camera.This is Green Festival, the San Francisco Spring edition. Insect Discovery Lab has a table at in the Kids' section, and proved to be extremely popular. It's absolutely delightful watching facial expressions as people hold a bug for the first time. Green Fest is like a green expo, with many local companies giving demos and samples, offering specials and such. I collected many green themed magazines: VegNews, Common Ground, Kiwi, Living Crafts, ate much free trade organic chocolate, drank Hemp Protein beverage. It was pleasantly busy, nothing insane like Comic Con. Both exhibitors and attendees were very friendly - I think it was nice to know there was an underlying common value between everyone present.
One more day of Green Fest tomorrow! I recommend a visit (and ask me for a free pass!). Parked a few blocks away in free street parking. The ticket golf-carts (at least 6 seen within 5 minutes!) were out in swarms around metered parking. http://www.greenfestivals.org/san-francisco-spring/
Sprung
Nothing says Spring Has Sprung! Like a mostly nude baby and tulips. We were lucky to do this shoot when the tulips were at their prime - as anyone who has lived with tulips knows, their neatly packaged petals will soon open and splutter outwards, the heads will droop and sigh extravagantly. Then gardeners lop their heads off. I've since been back to the tulip garden twice, and the tulips have not looked quite as glorious.This baby was not cold at all in her birthday suit. The fog was burning off on what was to be a lovely spring day, but despite the diffuse light I added a pop of fill flash (with diffuser) - flash at about -1/3 power.
It's all about background. Indoors or out, I try to find backgrounds that sing out: Fresh! New! I avoid dark backgrounds (unless intentionally contrasting, like with newborn silhouettes) - I mean, there must be a reason why it is hard to find black baby clothes.
Spring
Springtime! I encourage families to meet me at gardens so that the lush greens and splashes of flower colors will be included in the photos. Here we are in Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto.
Gardens are a good place to take advantage of bokeh - that is, the blurring of background and foreground to really set off the sharp focus of the subject, by using a lens with a low f/value. The blurred back and foreground creates a vignette (a roundish frame within the rectangular photo) that adds an aesthetic touch. If the back and foreground were in focus, the leafy detail would be too distracting to create a good vignette.
Yelp has finally caved under pressure to change its ways. Recall my fuming about review removal? (Reviews are "hidden", ie removed, if written by an unestablished reviewer.) Apparently many businesses were similarly fuming, bigger businesses with more clout and lawsuit potential. While Yelp maintains they have done nothing wrong, hidden reviews can now be viewed, in an effort to make Yelp process "transparent". At this point, I'd already given up on Yelp as a means to promote my business, so I feel rather numb to the news. This must be a PR nightmare for Yelp - it's even made it onto local evening TV news.
Three Degrees Removed and Happy Egg Day
If you recognize this bunny, you've been reading my blog for at least a year - thank you for journeying with me! Though the bunny outfit might be the same, the bunny is different on the inside. This bunny happens to be a professional ballroom dancer, and is a friend to Cheryl Burke. Yes! You are 3 degrees removed from Cheryl Burke, Dancing With The Stars pro dancer! Did you know that Cheryl's dance school is in SF? I've actually driven past it on occasion. (While we're on the subject, Edyta teaches at a school down the block from where I live. At least I assume so, there's a big poster of her on the door.)Anyways, I am psyched as I now has a ballroom dancing contact - wouldn't it be fun to photograph ballroom!!
He also made an excellent bunny. Very interactive. Many kids grew very fond of him, and trailed him around the garden, Pied Piper-like. The bunny handed out Easter themed gifts. I was lucky enough to receive Peeps Vanilla Marshmallow Cream scented lip balm. Yes, I am as skeptical as you. I will wait until I am very desperately chapped before I open that up.
Blackberries
Blackberries, raspberries, a bunch of grapes - the instinct is to draw a bunch of circles, pressed up against other circles. What makes these fruits hard to draw is that they consist of spherical shapes crammed into a small space. They're overlapping, some in front, some behind, some squished next to one another. And all together, they form a big sphere-ish shape.This was the result of my second take. The first version looked like a petridish with an overpopulation of cells.
Pink Shoes Were Made For Walkin'
When I was a kid, I used to get annoyed when someone exclaimed: You've gotten so much bigger!! Well Of Course I'm Bigger, I'd think, while smiling politely. Now as a grown up photographing the same child every few months, I can't help but marvel: Wow! She's grown up so much! So now, I completely understand why grown ups say this so often. I first photographed this little lady before she was crawling. Look at her now!
It is great to have regular clients. After the first session, photo sessions are far easier - we know each other's personalities, I understand their preferences, they trust that I will deliver good photos. It makes for a more relaxed, funner photo session.
Eiffel Tower is to Grand Jete
I think it's because I wanted a better understanding of what was going on. And partly because I want to learn something new. Another part because I want variety in my exercise repertoire. It's certainly not because I ever want to perform dance. I've never been one to want to perform anything. That's why I'm behind the camera.
I took a ballet class today, a private class because being a complete novice, I would need some quick tutorials to even place in the Beginner's class. My teacher Carol Wei, a colleague to Kathy Mata (some of whose dancers are featured above and in the photos posted previously), knew exactly how much to teach so that I could handle all the new things (positions, terms) - yet challenged me to a physical straining point that was just beyond what I'd do if say, I were doing squats by myself. Consequently, I feel like I had a good workout and learned a lot in an hour.
What does this have to do with Photography? Photography is the reason why I've wound up at the ballet studio, making my quads plead for mercy. I'd never be here, had I not been asked by a dancer who found me on craigslist, to photograph his group's rehearsals. This lead to an ongoing relationship of ballet performance photography.
As I've iterated before, photographing dance is completely different from watching dance as an audience member. Yet, as a photographer, I felt separate from dancers because I am not versed in the language of dance. OK, dance is a universal language etc, but without experiencing ballet, it's like being a tourist knowing a handful of superficial phrases in a foreign language, seeing all the obvious tourist sites. Learning ballet is like doing a study abroad, an immersion, a start of an inside understanding, noting the intricacies and subtleties and not just the obvious Eiffel Tower/ Grand Jetes.
Towards the end of my session, the students of the next class started showing up. It was the Toddler class, a half dozen tiny girls, delighted to be sporting tutus and tiaras. I think I know my next photographic goal ;)
If You're Shopping For A Picnic Blanket
It's been a six shoot weekend, and I ... YAWN... am ready for Monday. Rain is coming to town on Tuesday, which means I may not have any more shoots until next weekend, which gives me a chance to catch up on edits. April... how is it almost April already?I recently purchased a very useful photoshoot accessory. It is the JJ Cole Essentials Blanket, which is beneath the baby to the left. This blanket is waterPROOF, and comes in stylish shades, have genernous proportions, is heavy enough that it doesn't get flipped up by wind or little feet, yet readily foldable into small messenger-bag-like size. All for a mere $30! It is truly essential for San Francisco baby shoots, where the ground is most often going to be damp. I recommend this to all moms who plan to picnic, and all those who like to photograph babies outdoors in areas with wet climates. In all the cases I've whipped the JJCEB out, the parents have mused: We have to get one of those!
Now if I were really saavy, I would enter a link to the amazon page for this bag, and should any of you readers go ahead and purchase one, I'd get a kick back. But, that would require reading some blog guide page as to how to do this and that. I don't feel like it right now.
I bring this blanket, and wear my knee-high rain boots to all outdoor baby shoots, regardless of weather. I spend as much time low on the muddy ground as the babies do.Here is one Happy Baby. With babies that are learning to stand/ walk, there is a lot of cheering involved. YAAAAY! This little guy enjoyed having a cheering audience, and broke into big cheesy grins. We did our best to keep him on the blanket, but finally decided we'd gotten plenty of non-muddy knee photos, and let him loose on the grass. Babies look good on grass.
More Ballet For You.
Circulation 3.1 Million
Article. Detail. Cover (note: tiny pic at top center of cover)
Little things that brighten my day. Like finding that my photo (photo Taken by me, not photo Of me) has been published in and on the COVER of TIME magazine (for kids). I'd totally forgotten about this! This article is about non-oprofit SaveNature.org, my other job wherein I teach kids with big bugs about insect adaptation and conservation. The bigger picture is that we raise $$ to buy up valuable (in a biodiversity way) natural habitat around the world.
That's my bug boss, with the Giant African Millipede. If you squint really hard in the above photo you can see my photo credit in miniscule font along the right edge of the pic. The original photo is to the left. Compare and contrast. They took out the background, and hark, they changed his shirt color! What's wrong with light purple? And then someone got a little carried away plastering vector ants, resulting in an uncomfortably composed article page - it's very bottom-left heavy, you know? Clip art, if one must resort to clip art, should not be an afterthought, but included in the composition. Same thing with a signature on a drawing. But I digress.Next time you note the tiny microscopic print crediting a photographer on the side of a photo, know that one person somewhere is doing mental cartwheels over that less than 0.25 inches squared of print space.
If you want to read the article (or my photo credit), if you click on the top pic it should expand.
Smidgen of Amazingness
Landscapes are not my forte. I feel like my landscape photos capture only a mere smidgen of the amazingness of a place. I have a subtractive effect. Unlike portrait photography, where I think my photographs have an additive effect - not just documenting as is, but looking better than one would expect. The massive scale, the clifftop precariousness, the gem0like depth of the water and magical turquoise... just don't come through.Maybe landscape is a time to shoot RAW instead of jpeg. Jpeg compresses photos and gets rid of some info. RAW keeps everything, resulting in huge files of 22MB each, but in retaining more info, allows for greater potential in editing. Of course it's only results in a better picture if one knows how to take advantage of editing RAW photos, which I don't. Some photogs think hi-res jpegs are just as good, for non commercial/ non-national geographic purposes. Others staunchly insist nothing compares to RAW. I've avoided RAW mostly because of the file size. This month alone I've already taken about 3000 photos. 3000 x 20MB = 60,000 MB = 60GB. Also, I figure, as long as I turn out photos people are happy with, why give myself the added hassle of doing portraits in RAW?
Anyways, this is from the Mendocino headlands, about 3.5 hours north of SF. Breathtaking rocky coastline, with shear deadly overhanging cliffs plunging into unforgiving, churning water.
Dance Photography Is Addictive. More Please!
Dress Rehearsal! Of course I would want to photograph dress rehearsal, complete with lighting arrangement, a day before the actual performance. Since one can't photograph during actual performance, this is this next best thing. Stage lighting, and non-black costumes, made Such a difference. I got to bump my ISO to 800 - far less grainy pics, still on aperture priority at f/1.4, shutter speed around 1/200.I can't tell you how much fun it is to photograph dance. Why? Hmm... maybe I like that I can observe art carefully while making art at the same time? Combined with video game reflexes on the shutter button? Of course, dance is meant to be observed in its moving form, not still. I think that by capturing still images, I better appreciate the details in movement, placement, control over body. When I watch dance, I see a bigger picture - masses of color and shape.
This performance is one amongst many at the Spring Dance Inspiration 2010, a fundraiser for brain tumor research and treatment. The co-director and co-founder is Tomoko Ozawa, who is a dancer, and neurosurgeon at UCSF. I previously photographed for Kathy Mata Ballet, who are a part of this event. All the dancers have non-dance professions, such as architect, graphic designer, high schooler and judge. The dedication they give to ballet is amazing. More photos later....
Past Squishy Stage
Three weeks old, my youngest subject yet! Since newborns don't do very much, the photography is more about the composition - being artsy, but without playing with props so much that the picture feels contrived... I think that's the right word? To be honest, I've not used it in a sentence before. But I think this is the right time to bust it out. Contrived. Like A. Geddes baby photos, that were so popular in the early 90s, with babies (in a variety of skin shades) dressed like flowers sitting in flower pots or hatching out of large eggs. It's a matter of taste of course, and for me - while I think it would be fun to set up a themed shoot, it's hard to avoid resulting baby photos from feeling plastic-y, like playing dress-up with dolls or something. Objectified, perhaps.
Anyways, three weeks is past squishy stage already, so no curling the baby into fetal position and such. Instead, we made use of swaddle blankets and black-sleeved parental arms. I've seen this done with lots of baby pics before, and thought I'd give the black sleeve technique a whirl. What black long sleeves allows for is the lack of distraction from arms leading the eye off the picture, yet, the presence of hands to prop up the baby and to add a feeling of comfort. Same ol' black backdrop as used for the superheroes, draped over a sofa. I used some small studio lights, in addition to window light.
This is the baby's big sister. While the combination of kids and instruments is very fun to photograph, little kids cannot look up and continue to play at the same time. Simply not possible! So, her eyes are downcast for all the guitar photos.
Bug-Eyed
I saw an ad for a comic art teacher on Craiglist gigs, and it piqued my interest. My comic heyday was 4-5 years ago, and it ended abruptly after my MFA when I realized one can't do much in the real world with comics... it's a rare occurrence that one can live off comic art.The more I learned about the comic art teacher position, the more I realized I was not the right candidate. The curriculum was a series of "How To Draw X and Y", X and Y being pirates, imaginary animals, caricatures, action figures, heroes, manga characters (Sailor Moon?!). To me, comics are not about How To Draw, but rather: How To Tell A Story. Elements would include: How to indicate time passage (a clock on the wall in the background? A sprouting, then blooming, then wilting plant? The pattern of shade through a window?), Composition (why show a character close up vs from a distance?), Point of View (who is telling the story? narrator? First person? Third?) Perhaps my perspective is Art-Schooly. I do think most people think of comics as (a) for kids (b) featuring bug eyed cartoon (non-bug) characters or super hero characters (c) 3-panel newspaper strips.
I admit, pre-art school, I had similar comics prejudices, until I took a comics class with Phoebe Gloeckner (she grew up with R. Crumb hanging around her home), who would eventually become one of my MFA advisors. The first thing she told us was: Forget everything you think you know about comics. The only traditional aspect of her class was the materials we used: pen or brush and black ink on bristol - and this is for comic reproducing purposes. Otherwise, we realized, I can draw in any style! My panels can be any size! Panels don't even have to exist! It doesn't have to be funny! It can be drawn for adults! Main characters can be normal people! Suddenly the world of comics opened wide, shoving aside all thoughts of manga, disney, garfield, archie, superheroes, farside, calvin and hobbes, peanuts etc etc....
I was introduced to the world of Indie Comics. Different from Industry Comics (DC/Marvel) and from Syndicated Comics (newpaper strips e.g. Peanuts). Indie comics might be like indie music. It starts off with artists not really caring what mainstream is up to, and will do art their own way. Funding is non-existent, comics is a 2nd job, artists do their own publishing. But, like indie music, indie comic can become popular. Some great indie comic faves of mine you'll now find in bookstores:
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth by Chris Ware
Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman
Sleepwalk by Adrian Tomine
(by the way, all of the above are rather... not upbeat stories)
And my favorite Manga: The Buddah series, by Osamu Tezuka.
My MFA comic was autobiographical, the first book featuring ant-headed people, the second people-headed people. It dealt with issues of cultural identity, and indirectly addresses the portrayal of Asian Americans and Women in comics. At my first job post MFA, I gave a co-worker a copy of my MFA comic. He said "Thanks so much! My son will love it!"
Maybe a more fitting comics teaching job will find me one day... or should I get off my pedestal of comic ideals? But a "How To" class? That means that kids would try to draw characters in one certain way that I teach them; it does not encourage individual style.
Anyways. I've gone on long enough, and must do some photo editing.