A story told by portraits [s]

Four glorious hours in the darkroom. I toned these because monochrome just doesn't look good on a monitor, it's all bluish and you can't see detail.

Portraits that tell a story (?) [s]

Assignment three, portraits that tell a story. I went both directions, straight up portraits and capturing a well-defined sequence of events.





I imagine the four prints we turn in should be from the same roll, both have a few candidates but the photojournalism ones are more varied. Of course, the following are just blown up copies of the contact sheet frames.


Maybe a smaller aperture. It was overcast though, so the window wasn't providing much light.


Lens filter worked well with the eyes.




Shoulda gotten that engine chromed. I mixed up mid-motion shots with poseds.


Under the car was tough, it was very dark but it turns out overexposure was possible.




Requisite beer, light was pretty low at this point but I shoulda risked a polarizer.

Solar [i]

One of this week's two assignments is to do solarized prints. I'm somewhat divided on the technique, but it's fun and can make a turbo looks pretty cool (above). Below is a comparison, though they were both printed for solarization, color reversal only took place on the bottom. It's a tricky process if you want to apply any sort of science to it.

If nothing else, solarization adds some mild intrigue to the the still life assignment of finding 'circles and curves'. I might take another crack at it since the weekend didn't allow much shooting and we're supposed to use as much daylight as possible.





The other assignment due next week is the dark room equivalent of a stitched together image. We're choosing a single subject and taking 36 frames such that when it's layed out on a contact sheet it becomes a single 6x6 tiled image. Gulp.

Portfolio fin [i]

The portfolio class final presentation was yesterday. There were a lot of visitors, much love to the people that came out. I don't have a copy of my artist statement at the moment, but it basically said "I'm shooting street bikes, cheers."

Check out Connie's photos here. A sample:



And here's what I matted...

Portfolio part III [i]

The amalgamation continues. Faq for anyone redirected here:

Q: Are you Rick Clemson?
Maybe. Wait, no. But he did get a cool photo of me, fill flash and everything. Rick sticks it out every weekend and brings joy to the masses, in the form of photos. I, on the other hand, am taking a portfolio class and chose street bikes as a subject. As such, I'm in it to nab a few good images rather than pleasing everyone.

However I did quite enjoy myself riding and shooting Paly and Angeles Crest.



Q: Why am I all blurry?
A: Short answer, low shutter speed. Long answer, in order to capture the blistering speed at which you're hitting the twisties, I have to expose for a long time to blur the background. It's very hit-or-miss (for someone of my caliber) so oftentimes the subject will be blurred as well. Indulge yourself and scroll down to my various autocross and drift even photos and you'll see the difference between panned and not panned.

Q: Dude, I was on the mountain but there's no photo of me. Whattup?
A: As of midnight Sunday night/Monday morning, I've only put up a few images. Say about 25%. I'm working on it, jeez, gimme a break. You're always on my case.



Q: Take me offa your page!
A: Well that really isn't a question. But if you comment or write me I'll pull you off asap, I don't want to get anyone in trouble. Plates were taken off the photos, rest assured.

Q: Your photos look like puke.
A: Well your face looks like puke. The above q&a might address some things. Also know photo editing is an iterative process, especially when stylistic compromises are made to, say, shoot fast moving objects in 1000 degree heat.



Q: One art please.
A: My flickr has some higher res images. I'm not really sure how detailed they go, but if you're really interested in something noncompressed just shoot me an email.

Portfolio part II [i]

Some more possibilities for the portfolio. Miramesa bike night.

Portfolio part I [i]

These are all pretty boring, granted unlike 85% of motorbike shots they have motion. Alas, I didn't get out to Paly this weekend and needed something to turn in today. Thanks Erik and Connie for good work. This weekend will be a different story...