Posts tagged “analog”

I was recently able to get a few minutes with friend and fellow artist/photographer Michael Napper who happens to call Los Angeles home. We are working on “something” together, so stay tuned to your trusty Smogranch for emerging details. It involves photography, art and the all powerful book.

We always end up photographing each other, so this was my favorite image from this particular day.

Napper is one of those guys I find wildly inspiring. Given time and resources he is a dangerous character, the type who in the olden days would have been condemned, hunted and ultimately captured by the crown. We NEED these people because when I look at American culture I see a sleeping giant waiting for a chance to reemerge from the slumber of the strip mall and fast-food chain. We all talk about change, especially these days during the Hell that is campaign season. “We really need change” the pundits say, with ZERO meaning or accountability, so our collective soul, and future, rests in the hands of the creative type.

Michael writes painfully well, paints, sketches and has the photography affliction. And he makes a lot of work, which I find the ultimate jab in the neck.

On a serious note. If you haven’t seen his site, or work, take a look. Well worth it.

Categories: 35mm, black and white, los angeles, napper

Tagged: 50mm, analog, artist, daniel milnor, leica, los angeles, M4, napper, portrait, smogranch, tri-x

Lucie Awards: Los Angeles

Smogranch

Posted on October 17, 2012

David Burnett accepting his award.

Recently attended the Lucie Awards in Los Angeles and was able to make a few photographs. This is a yearly event which brings in big names from across the industry. Great to see Blurb user Arthur Tress, as well as Douglass Kirkland, Greg Gorman, David Alan Harvey, David Burnett, Brigitte Lacombe Jessica Lange and Joel Meyerowitz to name a few.

Kirkland, Fetterman and Burnett.

Joel Meyerowitz

David Alan Harvey celebrating with Douglass Kirkland and Greg Gorman.

Categories: 35mm, analog, black and white, david burnett, los angeles, lucie awards

Tagged: 50mm, analog, daniel milnor, david burnett, leica, los angeles, lucie awards, M4, smogranch, tri-x

What Gets me Through

Smogranch

Posted on October 6, 2012

These are not great images but they are what gets me through. Always moving here and there. I need an outlet for the constant pull of the viewfinder. Like a sketch book, things to remember for later, or a list of visual notes. I snap here. I snap there. I don’t proclaim these as anything, other than necessary, and perhaps one day their addition will add up to something meaningful. Like a fortune teller’s cards or bones or stones. Toss them and see what you can see. No pressure with these, at all. In some ways the actual photograph holds the smallest value in the equation, losing out to things like walking, exploring, retreating or escaping. These are my little secret. A hidden life. My inside joke. A seven day trip. Work. This running dialogue is my intermission. A time to stretch. Deep breath. My mind wanders and starts again. Engage, disengage.

What gets me through.
understanding, know that I’ve won
countless times wary
barrel of the gun
clear film from above
waiting
lose it all, even what I love
tropic of cancer
vignette of this of that
solitude is sanctuary
where do you go?
it’s not what you do
true
what gets me through

Calgary and Montreal for Blurb road trip 2012.

Categories: 35mm, analog, black and white, Canadian

Tagged: analog, black and white, canada, canadian, daily, daniel milnor, Documentary, film, leica, M4, smogranch, snapshots, travel, tri-x

Ed Templeton: Skater + Artist

Smogranch

Posted on October 3, 2012

You might think I’m posting this because it’s a Leica feature on a photographer who uses film, which is rapidly becoming a very rare event these days. So if you are assuming this you would be correct, however that is not the main reason I’m posting this. The real reason I’m posting this is because I think this guy represents something very important which is the idea of living what you shoot. Obviously, Ed’s life was, and to some degree still is, all about skateboarding. You know that evil pastime that will surely turn your child from a mild mannered role model to devil worshiping anti-Christ of the asphalt. Yes, that same skateboarding. I’m kidding of course. Not sure I’ve seen another sport demonized to such a degree but that is another story.

Ed was a pro skateboarder, someone I knew about through other friends who were skateboarding photographers, but I’ve never met him. I didn’t know he was shooting until someone sent me this film. When you work on something close to your heart it shows in the images. Plus, when you get up in the morning you feel like continuing to explore. When something is so close, and so much a part of your life, it’s not really a project. It’s your life.

I also love the fact he is humble and also a bit confused by it all. There is an innocence there that I appreciate. This is especially poignant because if you look at how he is treated by his fellow skaters you realize how respected he is. It would be very easy for someone like this to take this and run with it. I’ve seen it happen a hundred times.

This work reminds me of work I’ve seen before, but there are also elements that are just his. I think this is all anyone can ask. Keep snapping Ed.

Ed Templeton: A Professional Skateboarder Turns Artist from Leica Camera on Vimeo.

Categories: 35mm, analog, black and white, leica, photographer, photography

Tagged: analog, daniel milnor, documentation, ed templeton, leica, living, m6, photographer, photography, skateboarding, skater, smogranch

Color of Light

Smogranch

Posted on August 27, 2012

All three of these photos suck but I’m using them not for their content but for other reasons. First, most of the images I make pretty much suck, so these are a good “case in point.” The top one I thought was going to be gangbusters, but the sky just wasn’t working for me. The middle image was about motion but I just didn’t get enough, and the final image was made in an attempt to time someone out on the rock, someone who was using a strobe. I was trying to time it with a long exposure to get their flash going off, which I did in other frames but missed entirely on this one. Oh well, life is evil and we all turn to dust. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s keep moving.

These images are here because of the color of the light.

But before we talk color of light I want you forget a few things. Your education, your photography studies, your camera, your lens, your laptop, your software, your filter sets, your camera bag, your gadgets and gizmos, your pixel depth, your megapixels, your fluoride elements, your aperture, your shutter speed, your tripod, your camera tape, your hard drive, your calibration device, your thunderbolt plug, your monitor, your iPad, your iPhone, your blog, your Facebook page, your agent, your rep, your website, your career and for sh%$ sake please forget about “being a photographer” and “doing what you are supposed to do.” Okay, I’ll give you a few minutes to prepare.

Ready?

You need to forget all those things because they just don’t matter unless you are in the right light. Light. Let me say it again, “light.”

People ask me all kinds of strange photography questions, which is one reason why I love having a blog. Photography, at least to me, is a somewhat strange pursuit. You point a light tight box at something in an effort to preserve it or share it or put some HDR thing on it to make it look like something you puked up after eating too much fried food at the fair. We make photography seem complicated but it really isn’t, not at all. We’ve built an industry around it for some reason, and this further increases the complexity, but the actual photography part stays painfully simple. For me it can all be summed up in three things. Light, timing and composition, and those are in a very specific order. LIGHT, timing and composition.

These images were all made in basically the same spot. Yes, I was moving around and they are from different angles and distances but it is the same slab of rock and the same enormous hole. These images were also made, I’m guessing, within roughly the same hour. Yes light changes that fast and so does the COLOR OF THE LIGHT and here lies the point of this post. I get a lot of questions about gear, which in the long run really doesn’t mean much. Gear is romantic. The top forty photography sites, in terms of traffic, are all gear and technology related. A significant portion of the workshops I see being offered today are all gear related. I think the idea of things like light and timing and composition are REALLY getting overlooked these days. But, again, the reality is if you are not using the right light then you really aren’t being the photographer you could be, and it surely doesn’t matter what device you have in your hand. The vast majority of the time, when I’m in the field working, my entire agenda is dictated by the light. Seriously, I can’t stress it any more than that. The light dictates where I go, when I go and how long I’m there. I don’t work in high noon light unless something has gone wrong or I have no choice or unless something truly dramatic is happening and I HAVE to make pictures right then and there. I’ll sit in my car for eight hours in 110 degree heat….waiting for the light to get right. There is no other way. My shooting is like a cage fight, months of training, months of hype and then three rounds of all out effort. Sometimes I get knocked out and other times I do some damage. I’m a 50/50 fighter at best, even with the light working for me.

Near my house in California is a protected waterway that birds really dig. Where there are birds there are birding photographers, and this place is no exception. They have camouflage trucks. They wear camouflage clothes. They all have Canon 600mm lenses….wrapped in camouflage. They have tripods…wrapped in camouflage. And….they all go out to shoot at HIGH NOON. I’ve never understood this. Standing in the blazing sun and cooking down the buffer on their 1DS Mark III’s. Don’t they look at good birding photography? Don’t they know that early morning and early evening give you not only direction of light but also COLOR OF LIGHT? These guys are like quantum physics, yes I know they exist but I have no understanding of them.

These Grand Canyon images illustrate color of light. Going in reverse order, the bottom image was shot first and just LOOK at how blue that light is. The middle image is moments before sunrise and the light is shifting, a middle ground of warm edges, white center light and a soul that is still blue. And the third image, the top one, is shortly after sunrise and yellow/red is now the statement being made. Within minutes in the desert environment the light will be gone, and when I say gone I mean virtually unusable. When I worked in Arizona it was the 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM rule of might as well go take a nap during these hours.

I see a fair number of portfolios and the photographer will begin showing me work made in horrible light. They will begin telling me about the equipment used, their philosophy and their desire to get a show or book. All I see is imagery made by someone with zero understand of light.

So, next time you venture out on a photo expedition take one last look at that clock. Go earlier, go later, look for clouds, look for rain or anything else that will add color or drama to the light. Good luck.

Categories: 6x6, color, color balance, grand canyon

Tagged: 6x6, analog, cold, color, daniel milnor, grand canyon, light, middle, mood, photographer, photographs, photography, photos, smogranch, tone, warm