Photographing Buildings

Frank Gehry was on American Masters, PBS, on Wednesday. I watched it, of course. For a couple of reasons.

1-I wanted to see what his thought process was behind his work. How he came up with his ideas and what inspired him. I am fascinated with how things are created. I think that's why I like dvds with commentary. It's fun to hear what the directors/cinematographers were thinking when a film was created. I like to know what makes artists tick.

2-The photo of the Disney Concert Hall that I recently took. I have fun photographing buildings. Not quite as much fun as people but still it's fun. The only problem with photographing a building is that it's there all the time. Sometimes, it's been there forever (or at least a couple hundred years). I often think the building must have been photographed thousands of times. How will my photo be different? Or will it mirror countless others?

In general, I usually photograph a building because something about caught my eye. It's usually that something that I try to capture. With the California Missions, I think I try to capture the past. A moment in time where I wasn't. I have a goal to photograph all of the missions. I'm not there yet but I'm on my way.


Other times, I like a building because of it's patterns. Which is why I took that photo of the Disney Concert Hall. This one I took at the Getty. More so I think because the two buildings together made an interesting pattern. (it's a copy of a slide)


This one is also from the getty. I liked that amongs all the lines and right angles, there were these curvy humans. I wondered if the architecht thought of that when he designed the space. This is also a copy of a slide and I'm sorry it has a little flare in it.


I also don't like the composition of it. It's a little off. But I keep it around to remind myself what I was trying. I do that with a lot of my photos/slides.

Back to buildings...I guess the challenge is to find the character of a building. It's easier with people because we have emotions and expressive faces. With buildings, I think you have to do it with mood & lighting. Hard but fun to try.

Annie Leibovitz

I don't usually buy Newsweek. If I read it, it's because I'm in a doctor's office. Last night I stopped at the store for the essentials - orange juice and cat food - and the cover of Newsweek caught my eye. It was a picture of Annie Leibovitz and her children with the title "My Life in Pictures". She has always been one of my favorite photographers. I love her portraits. She always seems to catch the beingness of a person. It was interesting to read that she didn't think she was "a great studio portraitist". I guess no matter how good you are you're never satisfied. Which is a good thing otherwise there's no growth.

I think she's amazing and her work has always inspired me to take different portraits. To maybe not frame something in an expected way. To try and catch an emotion or a feeling. Not only with expressions but with body language. I love to take pictures of smiling and laughing people like this one from the party I shot on Saturday…

But I also like to take pictures of quiet moments. Like this one (also from the party) of Jillian and her dad...

My goal when I'm taking pictures at an event is to first get the expected shots - blowing out the birthday candles, the bride & groom's first kiss, etc. But once I get those out of the way, I like to see if I can capture the interactions between people. Or the moments where someone is relaxed and enjoying themselves. The trick is to have them not be self-conscious with the camera around. One of the ways that works for me is to get to know them and then take a lot of pictures. A lot. So they will get used to having me around. After a while, I find they almost forget about me and then the photos I'm looking for come easier. It doesn't work with everyone. Some people just don't like having their pictures taken (like me which is why I'm BEHIND the camera). Some people are hams (like my nieces and Mondi's kids).

Taking pictures for other people is an interesting thing. I'd always thought that working as a photographer would take some of the fun out of it. It doesn't. I have great fun getting pictures that make people smile or laugh or groan (but in a good, wry kind of groan). It's a much more hectic than most of my photography, except maybe sports. Most of the time, I'm setting up the shot, walking around checking out different angles and different light, and deciding how I'm going to shoot it - b&w or color, fast or slow, depth of field. With an event, there's usually no do-overs (um, can you exchange rings again cuz i missed that?) so you have to stay on your toes. It's a little nerve wracking but a fun challenge.

The pictures from the party came out well and Leigh was really happy with them. Woo! She asked me to take more portraits of the family for Christmas. Can't wait. And I still have to take pictures of Mo's family. And the wedding is next month. My photography is hopping!

Like An Ostrich

I am an ostrich. This I know. I would like to change that aspect of myself but I haven't gotten around to working on it yet. I say I'm an ostrich because I have a tendancy to stick my head in the sand. (Oh, and I know they don't really do that). Anyway, when Wendy told me there were 55 people in the homeless group she works with, I was a little shocked. I hadn't realized there were that many in just one of our little suburb cities. I'm not sure why I'm shocked as I've heard the statistics for LA & San Bernardino Counties before. I don't see them though. There are a few people that I see often while I'm riding my bike around and a couple that was living along the tracks I run on. Did I think they were the only ones? No, honestly, I tried not to think about it.

When I took the train into LA a few weekends ago, it was depressing to see the camps that were set up underneath the overpasses. And when I first started riding on the River Ride path, I was shocked to see so many people living in camps along there too. It made me sad and a little guilty. It seemed wrong that so many expensive bikes were riding past them when they had nothing. But what could I do? I couldn't buy them a house or a car. I could give them money but it wouldn't be much and then they would be right back where we started. So I would feel overwhelmed and do nothing. And bury my head in the sand so I wouldn't have to think about it.

Which is what I've done in the past regarding my weight, and M, and work, and my mom, and my debt. Luckily, I finally started dealing with all those things and I'm in a good place where they are concerned. Except for M but he's a whole other story.

On a more fun note...Kelly loved the scarf. Also, I'm taking pictures of a birthday party tomorrow and Sunday is Terry & Bre's engagement/bridal shower so it's a full weekend.

It's Here

Ok, I drink a lot of Diet Coke. A lot. And I've been doing the Coke Rewards to get some "free stuff". And by free, I mean I could/should own the company by now with the amount of Diet Coke I drink. So far, I've been rewarded the following:

-1 8x10 print from Kodak Gallery
-1 8X10 collage print from Kodak Gallery
-1 Memory Book from Kodak Gallery (10 pages free plus the 10 or so I added).
-1 16x20 print from Kodak Gallery

Are you sensing a theme here? So...the last item I cashed in was the 16x20. Now I haven't really blown up a whole lot of prints that big. Mostly 8x10 or 11x14. The only 16x20 print I'd done prior to this was from this which I took at Joshua Tree with a 4x5 View Camera (you know - the whole black cloth thing).



So THIS 16x20 is of this picture which I took while I was shooting the LA Tri. It was kind of a grab shot but I really like it. And in looking at the print, I was really excited to see how crisp and sharp it was. It's not exactly 16x20 because I didn't crop it so it will be interesting to frame. I love seeing my photographs on the wall - mine or someone else's. It's such a trip. A little part of me that will still be around after I'm gone.