B-Cleaning - Jesh De Rox

Jesh De Rox gives one of the most original introductions to a portfolio I have seen and I truly enjoy it.

When I reach out to clients, I try to bring the passion that I put into making photos to them. He gives his clients a chance to share in this passion as they answer a few simple questions. "today I feel" "today I am most like" "show me something" and then a gallery is created for me. If you don't think this is a custom gallery, try changing your answers and see what pictures show up.

At the same time some music that is very well chosen plays. Normally I'm strongly opposed to music on photographers websites. I move for the mute button the moment I hear it start, and sometimes when I'm looking at a couple sites using tabs it will get annoying trying to figure out which the music is coming from. On Jesh De Rox's site the music took me to a place in my head where I started to explore and really think about the questions in front of me. When I finally made it to the images and they matched the questions I answered it was an enjoyable experience.

Jesh calls this experiential photography for people in love.

The best way to describe the mix of his work and the post-processing is an antique look. The question that I asked in a previous post is how do the images stand up if you take away the processing.

Many of his images do a great job of showing some style outside of the post-processing, although there are quite a few that I don't think would stand on their own without it. He has a shot or two that use depth, portraits with some interesting poses, shots where he takes the entire landscape into perspective and shots that tell moments without faces.

I would really like to see some full weddings to get a real feel for his work instead of just the highlights. The more that I look at it, his style appears to be pretty normal with some more eclectic images thrown in. The only style that seems to be common to all of the photos is the post-processing.

There are some strong images mixed within mediocre ones, but the site design and post-processing really help take his work to another level.

Another thing I would like to see is the ability to skip this intro. I realize that there is a preferences on the website, but I don't want to turn it completly off. On some days I might want to actually answer the questions and others I may want to skip right to the images.

http://www.jeshderox.com

Put in "5 Star Wedding Photographers"

B-Cleaning - Infrared Camera Modification

No infrared

Modified camera

Many people have asked me how they can capture the image in front of them and make it look exactly as they see it. This seems to be people's goal and the goal of the easy to use digital camera. When you reach a point you want to start going in the other direction. You want your camera to produce something that you don't expect.

Life Pixel's infrared conversion does this by allowing you to capture infrared light with your digital camera. An image that is a sunny afternoon with green trees is suddenly turned into what appears to be a snowy landscape.

There is so much experimenting I would want to do with this. It would be like carrying around a holga, but I wouldn't have to worry about scanning the negatives.

The biggest problem is the price. Maybe I can find a half working digital camera on Ebay and then do the conversion with it. This definitely is on my list of toys to add to my bag.

http://www.lifepixel.com/

Going in "Things to Get"

b-Cleaning - Kate Harrison

I love to flip through websites and find the work that inspires me. Since I am shifting my focus to wedding photography I have started to look at a lot of wedding photographers websites, and there are a lot of them! They all start to look the same after a while and I think it's because a lot of them are, but with little quirks different here and there. Some of them try to makeup for what they can't do with a camera by using post-processing. If you take away Photoshop the pictures are just ok.

Kate Harrison's work takes a giant leap outside of the box. She uses selective focus and builds her composition until she has some amazing photos. I can't tell if some images are posed or actual moments, and that tells me that she either works really well with her subjects or she's great at capturing moments. I give photographers high marks if they can accomplish either one of these.

She uses post processing, but you can take it away and her images stand on their own. Actually I might recommend that she does take it away from some of her pictures, because I think it might be hurting them. She has a wonderful vision that goes beyond your straight forward images.

Another thing I've found is that there are great photos in the portfolios, but when you look at the blog it can be a completely different style. Kate's blog is an extension of her amazing website and it shows her attempting new things. I look forward to coming back often and seeing what amazing work she's producing next.


http://www.kateharrisonphotography.com/

Going in "5 Star Wedding Photographer"

b-cleaning - Dave Hill is Rad!

Dave Hill loves photography and his portraits show it! He goes beyond reality and reaches into his own imagination. He takes well lit portraits and turns them into scenes that look like they are out of comic books.

The thing that makes this site even more awesome is that he is not afraid to give you a behind the scenes look at how he makes the portraits. He has tons of videos that show how he works on his website and this is great for any photographer looking to improve their skills.

He used to have a blog (http://www.photographyisrad.com/) but there was nothing on it when I looked.

Hill has a knack to bring out the character's in his subjects. Then he works magic with his retouching skills and installs a background behind them to match that.

http://www.davehillphoto.com/

Going into "5 Star Photographer" folder

B - Cleaning - Will Yurman, Photojournalist

Following up on my post about Aphotoaday is this other bookmark I found. Will Yurman has been posting A Photo a Day to his website every day. He is a photographer at the Rochester Democrat and Chonicle who has been posting daily and has archives back to 2004.

Posting a photo a day has become a trend with some people, but Yurman's work is inspiring and he has gone beyond the trend phase. To post your work every day for over 6 years takes dedication. I have trouble updating a blog every few days, let alone editing and posting a photo.

On a daily basis he creates and shows images that are pictorial compositions that tell a story, but reach beyond the obvious.


http://www.willyurman.com

Goes in two folders "5 Star Photographer" and "Check Daily"

b-Cleaning - Aphotoaday.org

(Photo by Matt Slaby from Aphotoaday Essays)

I've been a member of http://www.aphotoaday.org for a long time. It's a collective of photographers searching for their vision. Everyday they send photos to a list that many of their newspapers wouldn't run. As the list has grown to over 1000 photographers, many of them have branched out past newspapers or never worked for newspapers and post a photo for one reason or another. Some are looking for criticism, some want to test new ideas, and some just want to show off their best work.

Melissa Lyttle, who is currently with the St. Petersburg Times, brainstormed the idea with classmates who she had gone to school with. When they graduated they missed the daily critiques of each others work and just seeing each other's work.

One of these photos is pulled from the list and displayed on the front of the site every day. Even if you don't follow the list, this one photo can be inspirational.

On top of this one photo the Aphotoaday news blog is full of information surrounding photojournalists. Many times they will interview one of the many amazing photographers who are on the list, throw up a portfolio of an inspiring photographer or just pass on relevant news.

By surrounding myself with these inspirational and outside of the box photographers it helps inspire me to keep creating photos that move away from the cliche. Even as I move away from news photojournalism, these photos are awakening.

http://www.aphotoaday.org

Put in "5 star photographers" folder

B-Cleaning - Matt Stuart

Matt Stuart shoots pigeons, among other things on his amazing street photography website. He has an awesome ability to capture the weird and wacky. You can go out in the street and just snap pictures, but to be quick on your feet and compose images that are oddball and have a punchline is a whole different skill set all together. I love to look at these images because I always have to wonder what he was thinking when he made an image. Did he actually plan it out or did everything just fall into place and did he actually see it falling into place or just get lucky and find it later?

http://www.mattstuart.com

Filed under "5 Star Photographers"

b-Cleaning - Constantine Manos's American Color

Constantine Manos with Magnum starts this piece - "In everything beautiful there is something strange"

I usually find myself too busy to watch a lot of multimedia pieces, there are so many amazing ones out there and I just can't find the time to watch them all. I watched this piece from beginning to end and took notes.

I have been trying to redo my website and I was looking for direction. Manos hit all the right emotions. He talked about images being a kaleidoscope, strange and surreal, bizarre and finding offbeat places. A quarter of the images were made within a 20minute drive of me!

This piece is inspiration, and it not only gets the blood flowing to redesign my site but it makes me want to run out the door and make some images right now.

http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/color

Filed under "5 Star Photographers"

B-Cleaning - Street Shots, WNYC looks at amateur street photographers

WNYC has some great pieces sometimes. In this piece they look at 6 amateur street photographers and give others the opportunity to enter a street shots challenge.

I am a HUGE fan of street photography and I am always curious to see how others work, even amateurs. I still need to spend some time looking through these six three minute clips, but one of them looks at a woman who uses her iPhone to make street photos more than she uses her 20D. Another looks at a man who talks about shooting from the heart and not even lifting your camera to your eye.

http://www.wnyc.org/streetshots/

going in "Photojournlism -> Photo Tips/Articles" folder

b-cleaning - Wine and Kisses gift guide

I realize that Christmas just passed, but New Years and Valentines day are still coming up. Sometimes you need to find a gift for your significant other and one of the places to go check out is "Wine and Kisses."

They have some different categories of gifts including grab bags, romance goody bags, soaps and candles and more. The site does seem a little thin, but it's not a bad starting point.

Also be sure to check out the newsletter they have up. They have a nice wine pairing guide.

http://www.wineandkisses.com/

going to my "comparisson shopping" folder

b-cleaning - What the Duck

I finally put an RSS feed on this comic strip a few months ago, but my unsorted bookmarks are so old that this was still in the folder. "What the Duck" follows a duck who happens to be a photographer. He's been every type of photographer that you can imagine from a portrait photographer to a photojournalist.

Many of the strips touch WAY too close to home, but this is what makes them even more funny. I wonder how someone outside of the industry would even know some of this stuff.

http://www.whattheduck.net

going in "Entertainment" folder

b-cleaning - How To Destroy the Earth

Need I say more?

http://www.qntm.org/?destroy

moved to "Entertainment"

b-cleaning - Chimping

Since the age of LCD screens on the back of digital cameras we have had "chimping." In this oldy but goody, Robert Hanashiro explores "chimping" and those that do it in two videos. It will give you a good laugh and a better understand of chimping if you aren't familiar with it.

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/chimping/index2.html

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special_feature/chimping/index.html

moved to "Entertainment"

b-cleaning - Prepping Your Holga

This is a nice little video for first time Holga users. There are also some good pointers for those who have been using a Holga for a while on improving some of the functions.

I love my Holga, but have no way to scan film (Medium or 35mm) at the moment, so I've avoided using it.

http://blog.danesanders.com/2006/07/12/simple-holga-minute/

moved to "Photo Tips"

b-cleaning - This American Life

Anyone who has caught This American Life, or is a regular listener, on NPR knows how great it is. These people are truly the best story tellers in the business. They bring the weird, the cool and the interesting onto their show. Like the guy who travels in a Superman costume or the one who laundered illegally made money buy giving it away in items at a garage sale.

You could get suckered into listening for HOURS!

http://www.thislife.org/

Being put in "Other... - Spare Time"

b-cleaning - Does your insurance cover you?

This is a guide directed at Newlyweds, but it can be really useful to anyone. They look over the major types of insurance that you might need and explain it in simple terms. This would even be good if you just moved out on your own.

I highly recommend that everyone looks at the article on life and disability insurance, if you don't already have it!

http://www.thenest.com/channels/subchannel.aspx?channel=life&keyword=637

Moved to "How To"

b-cleaning - Photo Tampering through the ages

This is an excellent site that looks at the history of Photoshop and altered photos. It goes as far back as the 1860s and is updated regularly!

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/farid/research/digitaltampering/

Moved to "Photojournalism:Ethics"

b-Cleaning - Turning your Digital SLR into a Pinhole camera

A cool article on how to turn your digital SLR into a Pinhole camera. There are also a bunch of other cool "hacks" listed at the bottom of the page.

This used to be a bookmark about how to turn your digital camera into a Holga, but that link seems to have disappeared, and I am not sure how similar this method is to that.

http://www.camerahacker.com/EOS_Pin-Hole_Lens/index.shtml

moved to "Photojournalism - Photo Tips"

B-Cleaning - Hollingsworth Photography

John E. Hollingsworth has an interesting style, but I feel like his site doesn't show enough work to really allow me to get a feel for it. There are only 12 people images and the rest are focused on inanimate objects.

One of the objects he focuses on is putting a couch in places you just don't expect to find a couch.

Some of his portraits have kind of a smugness about them, like it was right before the subject wanted to stick their tongue out at me. Others images seem to have a surprised look, like they weren't ready for the camera to click at that minute.

I like his stuff, but I really want to see some more. (I did a google search and found work where it really shows some goofiness getting into his photos. I love images like this and the weirdness of them just makes them that much better.)

http://www.hollingsworthphotography.com/

Put in my 4 Star Photographers folder

UPDATE (Thanks to an anonymous posting):
Apparently Hollingsworth has a Flickr account. Check him out also at http://flickr.com/photos/johnemofunk/

b-cleaning - The Smithsonian Photography Initiative

The Smithsonian and photography were both created around the same time. They now take an opportunity to open their doors online and explain how photography has affected history.

http://www.spi.si.edu/

Moved to "Research Archive"