The winning image was a clear favorite - and one of mine as well. The second place image was definitely in my top 5 as well as the image of Times Square - and many picked that one as their first choice.
I personally found this to be a very interesting experiment - it’s not something I’ve ever done before - other than with other editors - usually 1-2 photo editors at most. The largest group of people I’ve ever had to do an edit with me was at National Geographic. There were a little over a dozen editors in the projection room - all weighing in on what would make it into the magazine… Presenting one’s photographs to a room of such heavyweights is an experience I won’t soon forget…
Although I haven’t had that much time to truly analyze the results - it did re-affirm a few things for me that I’ll expound on after the slideshow below…
The beauty of photography and with art in general - is that everyone experiences it in their own unique way.
When I was in my teens - I never used to understand big-name artists who refused to define their art work - or refused to have others do so for them. They liked to have other people interpret their work individually. Over the years my opinion has evolved. As I got the chance to work for large papers and magazines - I got the chance to have my images be seen by a wide variety of people, and I learned that people found beauty or interest in images for so many different reasons (beyond what the photographer originally intended.) (more…)
ALRIGHT FOLKS, THE TALLIES ARE IN. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO KEEP LEAVING COMMENTS, BUT I’VE STARTED COUNTING THE VOTES AS OF 5PM PST.
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Last week I flew for an entire day over my favorite skyline in the world: New York City. I shot 5,952 frames from sunrise to sunset on assignment for a client. You can read a very nice piece about it written by Matt Buchanan on Gizmodo.
BUT - here’s where this gets a little different - I’d like to give you a chance to help me edit the best images down from my top 55 - down to the top 3…
I’ve been editing images (and working with editors) for more than 20 years.
What always amazes me is how my preference for images changes with time - and that an edit that I do a few years from now will very likely be completely different than the one I do today. That’s why I never delete a SINGLE image that I shoot.
Therefore, I’m curious to see what other people think - in this case what YOU THINK (and see.)
Editing 5,900+ images down to the top 1% is relatively easy - editing the top 55 down to the top 3 is extremely difficult.
I find is that the final editing process can be EXTREMELY subjective. One’s top 3 will change from hour to hour - one day to the next - all depending on your mood.
So here’s where you come in… go to thru the gallery below and leave comments on your favorite three images in the comments section of this blog (use the filename as reference.)
A little under two years ago I started this blog with a post titled “The Cloud is Falling.” I then went to cover the Olympics for Newsweek which helped to increase readership - and then I posted a little video called “Reverie” on this blog. And everything changed from that point on - for a lot of us.
Since then - nearly 5,000,000 visitors have graced us with their presence. And at times this blog has utterly overwhelmed me. In the months following Reverie or Nocturne - it was not uncommon for me to wake up each morning to more than 500 e-mails in my inbox from fantastic people from around the globe. (This number would not include junk mail.)
The problem was: My staff and I simply could not keep up. We were missing jobs left and right as they were becoming buried amidst the hundreds of e-mails. This blog’s readership is now north of 150,000 people per month.
At one point - I considered ending the blog. And then I realized that I couldn’t. This community is far too special to turn one’s back on. I’ve simply met far too many interesting people in the past few years - and any single one of them alone would justify continuing the blog. This HDDSLR movement is a bona fide thing - not just a flash in the pan.
So now I’ve come to the following conclusion: I need a little help from some friends to keep this blog healthy. I’m not able to focus on my career to the degree that I’d like to AND simultaneously focus on producing regular content for you all on this blog - let alone to be a husband and father to two young wonderful children. In this case, those friends are the “supporters” illustrated above. I’ve formed great relationships and friendships with the people at these companies and use their products on a regular basis.
Therefore, a little over a month ago I went to them and asked if they’d help support this blog in a non-traditional manner (more on that below). In effect these companies are contributing to help me hire someone to manage this blog. Every post you will see on this blog will continue to be written by me - that’s something that is essential to me. That new person (a young buck by the name of Justin Hamilton) will simply be there to help me grab the relevant graphics, links, check my spelling, and to shoot and edit the videos you will see as a new feature of this blog. For those of you who run your own blogs - you know that it’s not uncommon to spend 5+ hours to shoot, edit, grade, EQ and post a video - that runs all of a whopping 2 minutes on the blog…
My goal is to keep this blog as close to what is has been over the past few years - but to add more content to it with Justin’s and the above “supporters’” help.
So that’s the short version - below is the longer version for those who have been regular readers all along. It will cover a lot of the pertinent questions you might have btw.
The funny thing is: I was planning on writing about my video and photography workflow within the next few weeks (ok well months - it’s been BUSY). I can now cross that off my calendar because my buddy Chase Jarvis just did a pretty extensive video that describes his workflow - and he did it WELL.
And you know what? Our workflow is SCARILY SIMILAR - if not close to identical.
The only main difference? I back everything up to LTO Tape at the end of the process and keep two copies of those tapes - one in Los Angeles, and one in New York (kind of like Chase’s theory of making sure floods/meteors etc don’t strike the ONE location where your data is backed up. I call it Armageddon myself and joke that if CA falls into the ocean - I’ll have some data in NY…) I do also send my still masters to PhotoShelter for online storage as well.
One of my favorite sayings of all time is one by Bert Lance: “If it ain’t broke - don’t fix it!”
That comes into play here. Chase - thanks for saving me the time To everyone here - check out Chase’s video and his workflow - and understand that my workflow is nearly identical. I’ll detail some of the minor differences below after the video in case you want to get into the nitty gritty / nuances between our similar workflows.
Saturday October 03rd 2009, 11:06 pm
Filed under: Photography
I invite anyone in the Atlanta area to join me this coming Thursday at a gallery opening of some of my work at the Matre Gallery.
There will be an opening reception on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 from 7-9 p.m. I will of course be present and should you not be able to make it that evening, the show will continue through November 3rd.
The majority of the work that will be shown is from 3 years worth of tilt-shift photography assignments that I have shot across the country.
There will be six 60X40 limited edition prints as well as eight 24X36 limited edition prints displayed at the gallery. While these prints sell regularly and are part of many private collections, this is the first time that the tilt-shift photographs will be exhibited as a series.
The Matre Gallery is located at:
65 Bennett Street • Atlanta, GA 30309 • T 404.351.3620
On a separate note - there is one LAST spot open for this Tuesday’s workshop (see earlier posts) as someone had to pull out to take a job. Pls post in the comments if you are interested.
Below are some thumbnails of a small selection of the images that will be shown at the gallery: (more…)
James Nachtwey’s TED project has been revealed - you can see it at the following link here. Very powerful stuff. I have to run out - more on this later… for now I’ll let his photography and the presentation do the talking.
Just jumping on the bandwagon here - on October 3, James Nachtwey who is arguably the most accomplished and celebrated photojournalist working today - will reveal a project that he has been working on thanks to a TED grant - being released simultaneously online, on media channels, and as images projected in public places. So spread the word. (Click on the “X” to the left..)
On a personal note, James has always been one of my favorite photographers and an amazing person to get to know. I met him just days after 9/11/01 in Quetta, Pakistan… I was stunned when he recognized my name as we were introduced (he read(s) The New York Times and likely recognized the byline from seeing it in the paper) but even more impressed with how humble and focused he was and still is. One of my favorite quotes from him - which is a quote that is pulled from a portfolio review that he was giving years ago to someone else - (after looking through that person’s portfolio quietly page by page, closing the book and making a single comment before concluding the review right then and there and moving onto the next student, is: ”I’m afraid that these pictures don’t tell me anything about who you are.”
We spend a bit of time together in Pakistan as I helped him figure out what was then one of the very first prototype EOS 1D Cameras - and getting his satellite phone working with an antenna we placed on the roof of the hotel (running the wire down to his hotel room window - super high tech
One of the best lessons I learned from him (there were many) is that while we were all drowning our sorrows late into the night (the press corps in Pakistan) mostly due to the overwhelming emotion / frustration / fear & uncertainty that followed 9/11/01 - Nachtwey would quietly decline to join us - going to bed early (or likely working on a book layout now looking back at what I know of his crazy work ethic.) By the time we were waking up to horrible light and hangovers - he was walking back into the lobby of the hotel… no matter how good you are, how developed your eye and vision are - discipline and adherence to the following axiom: “The early bird gets the worm…” helps even Mr. Nachtwey…
So the point of this rambling post is - I am really looking forward to seeing what he, along with the help of the folks at TED, have come up with… I wish them the very very best of luck - can’t wait to see what they’ve managed to pull off!
Due to pretty incredible demand and a fair amount of (healthy) skepticism as to whether or not the footage in the “Reverie” piece is “truly” raw out of the camera, we will be releasing a series of raw clips - the exact same clips that were used in the “Reverie” short film - this coming Friday. (more…)
Keep in mind - this is raw footage (not RAW) from both Canon XH A1 camcorder - and a few clips for the Canon EOS 5D MKII - you’ll see that the two are toe to toe (not really) on bright scenes… but in low light - the Canon EOS 5D MKII is impressive - but common sense leads me to state the following: if the Canon still camera team and the video team have come together to produce the Canon EOS 5D MKII - the next HD camcorder they come out with - may just floor us all… these are very exciting times - to be someone who focuses on “creating” as opposed to the “process” and “technique” of making your vision match the “reality” of the tools you have at your disposal. To view the main movie (not the behind-the-scenes), click here: REVERIE
To everyone here - check out Chase’s video and his workflow - and understand that my workflow is nearly identical. I’ll detail some of the minor differences below after the video in case you want to get into the nitty gritty / nuances between our similar workflows.
James Nachtwey’s TED project has been revealed - you can see it 
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