I have been covering Team Anomaly, a local paintball team, over the summer. When I tell people I photograph paintball tournaments they always look at me a little funny. They sort of cock their head to the side and say "You photograph paintball tournaments?". Most people think of paintball as some sort of game for young kids or middle aged men who run around the back woods shooting each other. While there is that side to it, Team Anomaly was in an Xball tournament series this summer. Xball is very different than the stereo type of paintball that most people think of. It is more like a sport than most people realize. There are rules, referees, positions, strategies, sponsorships, and even bleachers for spectators to watch. It is a real x-games type sport.

Nikon F4, Sigma 70-300, Kodak Portra 400

It is quite a challenge to photograph a paintball tournament for sure. I have to wear all the protective gear the players are wearing and try to look through a viewfinder while dodging paintballs. Very exciting! Nothing like a family portrait session. Team Anomaly ended up taking 2nd place overall for the whole tournament series, these photographs were taken of their first place win for the 5 man game.

Mamiya 645, 80mm F2.8, Kodak TRI-X400 

If you don't keep a camera of some sort with you all the time you should. I can't tell you how many times I stumble across something and say "I wish I had my camera". For those of you who say "just use your phone", my phone camera sucks. I use a little pocket camera now. The thing is, you never know when you will see a great grab shot.

I was in Florida a few months back and had some time to go out and shoot on the beach for a couple of hours in between meetings etc. I had my trusty brick of a medium format camera with me. I had a great time shooting and was headed back to my hotel room happy with what I shot. On the way up to my room I walked past the bar and just happened to glance over as I walked past. Holly smokes! The afternoon light, streaming through the windows, played perfectly with the architecture of the space. I stopped, pulled out my camera, took one exposure and moved on. Below is the quick grab image I have now because I had my camera at the right time. This one didn't get away.

(Mamiya 645 80mm F2.8, Kodak E100VS film)

Keep your eyes open always looking for images, even if you don't have a camera with you. Stop and take a look at the world around you, it makes you think. Then, when you do have a camera, you will be able to capture what you are seeing.

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry for that. I was in Florida a few weeks back for a corporate event. The usual stuff, meetings and dinners etc. One of the things that I was part of was a shell hunting excursion. We had a boat that took us out to a little sandbar of an island called Romeo Island. The boat dropped us off on the east side of the island and we started to walk around it, nose pointed at the ground looking for the "killer" shell. As I walked around the little island I looked up and saw this weird looking ruin of a house! I dropped my bag of shells and made a beeline for it. I found my beach treasure.

As this year gets started with really cold temperatures and snow on the ground I can't help but wish for summer. I am able to get some of my negatives out, head for the dark room, and make some nice prints while the weather is cold. While I was sorting through some of the film I want to print, I came across a roll that I fired off in the back yard last summer. My sons were running around playing Appleball (they hit rotten apples with baseball bats) and playing with the dog. I thought it would be a good time to capture our little schnauzer then. He was having so much fun with his boys.

Nikon F4, Nikkor 35-135, Freestyle Legacy Pro 400

If you want to photograph your pet you will need to be fast. If you have a camera that has a burst mode, use it. Get down on their level, on your belly if you need to. Think/look ahead to get in the right place at the righ time. Bring treats, and shoot a LOT.

Recently I was able to hang out with a paintball team while they were practicing at a local paintball field. Paintball is always fun, I don't know anything that gets your adrenalin going like having paintballs whizzing by your head. I can tell you that photographing them is nothing like shooting them with paintball marker. I mean, photographing a childs portrait is a cake walk compared to these guys. Not only are they moving at full speed but they actually mistake me for a paintballer too. So I have to take cover pretty often. I have a new respect for photographers who shoot paintball full time. Imagine looking through a viewfinder with a full facemask on. It isn't easy.

 

Pentax *ist 35mm, Tamron 70-200 f4, Fuji

Next time I have a family portrait session that seems a little challenging I will definitely remember how tough this shoot was. Talk about a challenge!

So, when I was at the Denver Chalk Art Festival last month I was walking around with my Mamiya 645. It's a manual camera that is pretty big. Anyway, I was snapping away... well "thwaking" away really. This thing has the loudest mirror slap, it's music to my ears. I was shooting the artists and all around me were hundreds, it seemed, of folks with DSLRs. But it seemed that every time I pressed the shutter release, every bodies head turned to see what in the world kind of camera I was shooting. One guy even walked up to me and just stared at the camera in my hand. Funny.

 

Mamiya 645 S1000, 80mm F2.8 @ 1/1000 Fuji 160C

The thing that I kept seeing at the festival, was folks walking around the crowd with their nose in the screen on the back of their camera. I had a blast. I got to talk to the artists, hang out with my wife, AND take some nice photos. But my nose wasn't in the back of the camera. My wife appreciates that. I guess that's what I am trying to say, is that when you shoot, you should keep an awareness of the things around you. It makes the people your with much happier and you won't miss the next shot because you nose is in the back of your camera.

I took some time off last week and headed up to the Sundance Resort just outside of Park City, Utah. What an amazingly quiet and restfull place that is. Getting away and unplugging probably was one of the best things I could have done for my creative mojo. Removing all distractions and focusing on what really is important just for a few days was so refreshing that it allowed my creative mind to flow back into my day to day.

Mamiya 645, 80mm 1/60th @ F2.8, Kodak Portra 160NC

I was getting ready for a hike and had my photo back pack open to pull out my Mamiya 645 to carry around first. I closed up the bag (I thought) and flung it on my back. That's when I heard it... CHUNK! That's right, I clipped the bag shut but didn't zip in shut too. Well, when I flung the pack on my back my Nikon F4 was thrown out of the pack. It landed right on the black top path I was standing on, crushing the prism/viewfinder. Ugh. I thought to myself "Great, I have all my lenses for this camera and now I can't use it". Plan B.

All I had left to shoot with was the Mamiya still in my hand, and the lens it had on it, 80mm. That was it. Not that it's a bad camera at all, but I just didn't know it that well and I didn't have a wide angle for it. Just the standard 80MM f2.8 lens. After I got over the disappointment of crushing my viewfinder and prism I was thrilled with the challenge of shooting with the Mamiya. What a blast. I haven't had this much fun in a long time. the challenge of trying to capture the image I wanted with one lens was so good for me. It changed the way I thought about the image and what was acceptable to me. I started to get better images than what I actually thought I wanted in the first place. That was really fun. If you want to stretch your creativity put one lens on your camera for a roll (because you shoot film, right) and see what you come up with. Be prepared to be set free, its fun.

The viewfinder is due to be fixed by next week...

I was thinking about how the digital revolution in photography has impacted our world on a sustainable point of view. There are two things in particular that I have thought about. The first is, a sustainable business in photography today. With cameras that come out every 6 months that level the field "technically". Less and less technical skill is needed to achieve a decent level of photography resulting in a flood of mediocre photographic images. ""Good enough" has become the standard. Ironically, I think that is the key to standing out today. It is easier to stand out among the flood today, than say 10 years ago when you had to be a fantastic photographer to stand out. If you can bring a higher level of vision and creativity to your photographs today then your work will be a stark contrast to the ordinary stuff out there.

 

Patio Fireplace at the Renaissance Orlando at SearWorld Nikon F4, Tokina 24-70, Kodak E200

The other part of the sustainability thing is what happens to all the gear every time you have to upgrade to the next best camera? Where do all the raw materials come from when new gear is made at such a rapid pace? And how much money really needs to be spent on upgrading a camera that could have otherwise been put to a better use like feeding or clothing someone? I mean $4,000 - $8,000 or more every year or two on camera bodies? Wow, that's a lot. Remember about the standing out above the sea of ordinary photographs? The camera won't make you stand out, it's your vision and creativity, not the camera. Don't fall into the upgrade trap if you can avoid it. Rent gear if you must, but you don't always have to buy that gear because you think it will give you the edge. Your creativity will give you the edge. Shoot with a Holga, if it fits your creativity, and you get the upgrade with what you put in the camera... the film. Film technology is fantastic and is an affordable upgrade, environmentally, and economically. Some would say that film is not a green tech, but I beg to differ. It has been around for over a 100 years and we are doing just fine with it. I mean, the plastic is what we want to keep right? And it doesn’t take a battery to keep the image on some device once it’s taken, it’s just there..

Think about this. A Hasselblad H3 or H4 system costs up to $30,000 or an H1 system for $1,200 (that stays out of a land fill and not producing a new H3/4). That leaves enough money left over to buy 8,500+ rolls of the latest greatest, highest tech film around. That's a heck of a lot of film, and the greatest thing is, you only pay for the film when you use it. Not in one big chunk. Creative imagery + using film = sustainable photography.

If you’re like me you are always carrying a camera around with you so when you see a photo you can take a quick capture and move on with whatever you were doing. Sometimes there are things I pass buy everyday and think "I need to take a shot of that", but at the same time you think "I will get it next time I come by". Well guess what, things change. I have learned that a photograph is only there for an instant, even if you think you see it over and over. The light will never be exactly the same again or the colors may not be as intense the next time you get around to taking that photo.

 

Reflections of snow covered junipers and an oak tree in office building windows
Nikon F4, Nikkor 50mm 1.4, 1/125th @ F1.4, Kodak TMY 400 in XTOL

The image above was something I used to see every day. I would walk past this spot outside of an office building as I was going in all the time. One day a few weeks back I took advantage of some snow falling and went back to shoot this shot that I had in my mind for a while. Good thing I did! As of today it is gone. The tree and junipers have been removed for some updated landscaping. If I had waited much longer to shoot this one I wouldn't have it to add to my black and white images. So I learned a lesson, again, that you should always shoot it when you see it because it may never be there again.