Here’s a nifty trick. An innocent little $20 remote that Canon has been selling since long before the 5DmII was even a twinkle in your mamma’s eye, built for nothing more than wirelessly triggering the shutter of generation after generation of Canon SLR’s, has a not so well known feature: starting and stopping video recordings on the 5DmII.

Whosawhatsits? Yeah, that’s right. And it works from a pretty good distance, too.

Not just any remote will work, though. It’s got to be that remote, the RC-5. That’s the one with the 2 second delay button. A very handy and cute idea intended to let the photographer be in the shot with his family for a change, but still give him time to pop the remote into his pocket. Cute, right? Well, cute gets all grown up now that it can also start the video recording mode on the 5DmII and rumor has it, the Canon 7D movie mode as well.

It is line of sight IR, so if you want to trigger it from behind the camera, you’ll have to get all fancy pants and mount a little mini bounce card or mirror if you’re outside. If you’re inside there’s a good chance it’ll just bounce off the walls. Kinda like you are doing now that you found out about this handy dandy, Mayor Clancy!

Same goes for triggering multiple 5D’s at the same time. As long as they can all see the IR signal you’re as golden as Bee Arthur!

There is one catch. I know, I know. There’s always a catch. If you’ve never used a remote with your 5DmII before, there’s a good chance you’ll excitedly tear open your package with the RC-5 remote, power on your camera, and start trying to trigger it. What’s that? It’s not working? Did you get a bad unit? Is the battery dead? Did Nice sell you a load of hokum? Nope. The catch is, you have to hit the AF*Drive button on the top of your camera, then roll the select dial on the back of the camera counter clockwise for two clicks. That’ll put the camera in remote ready mode and put a cute little icon of a remote on the top window just to the right of your ISO setting. Yeah. That’s it. That’s the whole catch. Not such a bad catch really.

Now that you can remotely start and stop the video recording mode on your 5dmII and fancy new 7D what sort of opportunities does that open for you? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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And now an allegory for your edification: Let’s say you were out and ran into a celebrity or public official that you had always wanted to meet. Never wanted to meet any one in particular? Then make it the most beautiful gal or guy you’ve ever seen. Sure you’re shocked to see them there at your local watering hole, or pumping gas into their car. You somehow manage to scoop up enough balls to go over and attempt an interaction. All of a sudden you realize you aren’t the only one in the crowd who noticed them standing there. You know you’ve only got a second to say something to them before they are swarmed with other fans / suiters. This celebrity / politician / sweet cheeks looks up and makes eye contact with you. A hint of friendly smile forms on their face. Here’s your chance. What are you going to say?

“Hey, you’re that super-famous person!” Fail.

“You’re hot!” Nope.

Are you going to flash them your tits? I hope not.

“I’ve kidnapped your goldfish and if you don’t let me buy you an ice cream sandwich and mumble in your direction for hours my kitties and I are going to have fish tacos for dinner while you’re riding the weepy train all the way to Sadness Station.” Well, if you said that at least they’d remember you. Still, you can probably do something that influences them if you think about what you want the outcome to be before you open your mouth.

Your photographs and films are the equivalent to this scenario with the celebrity being your audience – any audience – and your photo / movie / painting / casserole being you. I guess there’s nothing wrong with just snickering and giggling like an idiot and letting them pass by. But it sure seems like a waste of an opportunity to me.

You never know who is going to see your work, or what opportunity might pop up when you least expect it. Why don’t you figure out what you want to say and start saying it with your work. Then when your audience comes along (and they will), you won’t have to threaten to eat their pets.

BTW: Will Smith let me buy him that ice cream sandwich and Goldberg was returned unharmed.

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First, let me say Mark Daniel Cade is a great actor who I met several years ago. He has performed in several of my stage plays and likely will be one of the leads in my feature film. This guy has “it” written all over him and he works frequently as a result. I’m very fortunate that we share a mutual respect for each other. So, when I use an image of him for the first What Went Wrong article, I want to make it clear that as you will see, what went wrong has nothing to do with Mark. Mark rocks! Oh, and he knows how to ride a unicycle.

The Idea: I had a meeting with Mark to see if he was interested in playing a particular part in this feature film I’ll directing soon. Most Hollywood meetings start with some small talk, especially if the people involved already have a relationship. Oh, and in Hollywood, everyone already has some sort of relationship with the other people in the room – even if they have to make it up. But Mark and I have been pals for some time so we were chatting about Christmas and I mentioned that my wife had bought me a unicycle. Mark tells me that he used to ride a unicycle. Well, the sparks start flying in my brain hole and I passed out. When I came to I had the idea for what I thought would be a funny and cool looking image: a guy in the middle of a bike race, only he’s on a unicycle. They call it subversion of expectation. It’s one of my favorite techniques for entertaining my audience.

What Worked: You may disagree, but I think the framing, the pose, the lighting (for the most part), and the acting all work well. I shot other angles, but felt this one was closest to my taste for what I like, while at the same time letting the eye discover the unicycle rather than just throwing it too much in your face.

What Went Wrong: Don’t know if you’ll notice it at the 500px resolution, but if you click on the image it will pop out a 1000px version and I think you’ll notice it. This puppy is softer than an overripe tomato on hot asphalt. Did something go wrong with the focus? Nope. I made a total rookie mistake. I was using a flash off camera. My 5DmII only syncs up to 1/200 so as he rode by the camera the movement created a blur. You may be thinking, “I thought flash stops action.” Sure, if you’re ambient is low enough to not expose your moving subject. This was mid afternoon. It was bright. I’m a dope. I almost never take action shots. And when I do, I don’t combine them with off camera flash so I can roll that shutter up to 1/8000 if that bug that lives in my ear tells me to. Also, I didn’t have my Hoodman Loupe with me and I was being lazy by not zooming in to check the focus. What a dope. Anything else? Well, it would have been nice to have a stylist there. I don’t think the shoes work as well as they could and the outfit could have been more extreme, but for a zero budget shoot with only an hour to get everything, not bad. Well, except for the blur. ARGHH! Oh well.

What I’d Try Different Next Time: I don’t think I’ll be making this mistake again (don’t worry, there are plenty more to make). So if I am going to do this same type of shot again, what would I do differently? I’d just have to gang some 580’s (flashes) together to get enough power and use the high speed sync to pull a higher shutter speed. Pain in the butt, for sure, but at least the images would be usable for something other than a What Went Wrong post. Either that or just pose the action so it’s not actually moving. Kinda tricky with a unicycle, but might work.

Do you have any other ideas of what to do different? Think there is more wrong with the image than I’ve pointed out. Let me know in the comments below. My fragile hart can take it. I hope.

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At first glance it might seem wonderful to take the perfect photograph with every click of the shutter, for every new obstacle to just melt into a puddle and evaporate before our very eyes, for every sandwich we make to send us into a cascading weep fit at its flawless combination of mayonnaise and sauerkraut that instantly transports us body and mind back to the birth of the very first sandwich. But what would that do to you creatively?

Creativity is your expression. Expression is you sharing your point of view with someone, anyone other than yourself. If every photograph you shot, every film you made was based on a point of view that came to be without struggle to achieve, I doubt very much anyone would be interested in that point of view for long.

Maybe that’s a pointless point. No one is actually great at everything without working at it. Some people are better at some things than others, but anyone who is really great at anything worked really hard to get there. Really hard.

How about you? What are you really good at? Who cares. This articles is about getting good at stuff, not being good. Therefore a more appropriate question is what do you want to be good at?

There’s a really boring argument about Nature vs. Nurture as to which is more important. I say it doesn’t matter. Quit your moaning about how you weren’t born knowing the inverse square law, or that creativity doesn’t come easy to you. We have an expression in my house that fits in right here. “Tough Titties!”

If you suck at being creative, or even just if you aren’t as creative as you like, get out there and learn how to be more creative, or a better director, or a better blind date. But don’t just learn it. Do it. Otherwise you’re just getting good at learning how to do something. I’d rather get good at doing it. Yeah, I know, doing it can be more difficult than reading about doing it. Difficulty and struggle can either wear you down or hone your skills to give you an edge. That’s really up to you.

I say take at least one day a month and do something you want to be good at instead of something you are good at. Start nurturing yourself instead of resting on your nature. Or better yet, make nurture your nature. Make it a habit to take on new challenges. Oh, and that one day a month… make that day today.

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Why on earth would you want to take a blurry image on purpose? To communicate, that’s why. Don’t you want to communicate with your photography? I do. Getting blurry, if you do it right, is a great way to create a mood.

I talked about blurring with regards to using ND filters way back in this How and Why ND Filter post and listed some cool things blurriness can help communicate.

• create a dream like feeling for the viewer
• insinuate the passage of time
• suggest a feeling of uneasiness, off balance-ness
• imply a character’s euphoria

But I’m going to ask you to take it up a notch here. Use it to tell a story that you couldn’t tell with a single in focus image. Really think about it. Getting blur into your images isn’t hard. There are only three I can think of. So put some work into why you’re going to use it.

Three ways to introduce blur into your images.

1. Slow down your shutter. Keep that shutter open long enough and the whole world will pass you by in a blur.
2. Speed up your action. Even a fast shutter like 1/1000 is no match for something super fast like spinning helicopter blades or my credit card balance at an ice cream sandwich convention.
3. Move. Yeah, I’m talking to you. You don’t always have to move the action in front of the camera, sometimes you can just move the camera.

There are all kinds of ways to make this blurring artful, but I find a nice tip is to somehow keep an element in the image not-blurry while other elements abuse the blur. For instance, if you lock down your camera, but keep the shutter open, a building would be in focus, but the people walking in and out of it would be blurry. It’s not exactly rocket science. However, you can get tricky if you like. That’s what I like to do. Yeah, Captain Tricky of the S.S. Sneaky. That’s me. I like to lock the camera down (as best as I can) to something that is moving. That way stationary objects are blurry and objects in motion that are in sync with the camera’s motion are not blurry – or significantly less blurry at least.

In this image I held the camera, pointed at myself (this was taken right after the ice cream sandwich convention – one too many?). I spun around, firing the shutter half way through the spin. That put the room in motion. Toss in some cheesy acting to sell the idea and slam! Nice shot!

This weekend think about how you could use blur to help communicate an idea, then get out there and shoot it. Feel free to post a link to your shots in the comments below or put the image in the Nice Flickr pool. The pool is feeling pretty lonely, but you go on and live your lives. It’ll be fine. No need to stop by. You didn’t even send it a birthday card! Wha?

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However you started, at some point you stopped just taking pictures and started wanting to be a photographer. Something about this world made up of nothing more than varying intensities of light bit you and infected you with its disease. What was that moment?

That’s right. Keep your seat belts fastened. I’m now asking you to remember two things practically at the same time. Why did you first pick up a camera, and what happened that made you unable to walk away from it?

In my pursuit of an unattainable perfection I almost never look back. But how can I know what direction I’m going in if I don’t look at the footprints of where I’ve been? Maybe I’m going in the wrong direction but my head is shoved so far up in the clouds searching for what I want that I’ll never see what I need. So today, I’m taking stock. I’m checking my roots.

I first picked up a camera in high school. I didn’t want to. I was a painter. I had brushes for fingers. Canvas beat in my chest. Gesso flooded my veins. My breath smelled like linseed oil and I pissed pigment. You get the idea. I liked to paint. A lot. Except for cheerleaders in pig tails, painting was my only passion. (And I actually got to touch my paintings.) But then my painting instructor told me I had to take a photography class because it would make me a better painter. I resisted, but with the threat of having to take a gym class instead, I relented.

Flash forward three years and I entered college as a photography major with my painting instructor chasing me down the street with a pallet knife. I had fallen in love with photography. There was nothing he could do about it. I was no longer a painter. I was a photographer.

That was a long time ago. I was young. But I remember exactly the moment I fell in love with photography. I was starting my senior year in high school. I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back this was the moment I fell in love with photography.

I’m sure you’ll all be shocked to hear I was the weirdo artist type in high school. My friends were the other weirdo artist types for the most part. But one day about a week after some of my photographs were in an art show, a very popular, kind, and beautiful girl from my school asked if I would mind taking her picture. No. No. That’s not the moment I fell in love with photography.

It was that weekend, we were supposed to meet at this park near the edge of the woods. I was nervous. I got there early to let my shakes die down a bit even though I thought there was a 70% chance she either wouldn’t show or it was some sort of bamboozle and that an army of jocks would jump out and inflict some unbearable amount of humiliation upon myself involving peanut butter and granny panties. Only she was already there. She was even earlier and more nervous than I was.

What? How could this beautiful, smart, popular, perfect girl be nervous? But there it was, a struggling half smile, a shiver in her voice, sentences with words out of order. There was always a kind confidence about her. But not now. She wasn’t superhuman. She was human. Vulnerable. And whether by choice or chance that vulnerability vibrated through the lens and stuck to every frame of film. In those photographs she seemed lost, scared, alone.

Five years later that popular girl and this art weirdo became husband and wife and opened a fish hatchery on Bainbridge Island. Okay, that part’s not true. But we did become friends.

By the time I finished college we had lost touch, but recently she found me on facebook. Her mom had passed away from cancer. Her childhood home was up for sale so she had to clear out a few boxes of things she’d kept from high school. She came across a contact sheet filled with the black and white images I’d taken of her that day in the park on the edge of the woods. She said that was one of her favorite memories from high school and she loved how she looked so carefree in the photos.

Yeah. I love photography. Sometimes I just forget why.

I want you to stop being a photographer, just for a few minutes. Think about why you started, what made you fall in love with it, then, and only then, get back to taking photographs. Maybe your vision will be sharper than ever.

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What made you fall in love with photography? Let us know in the comments below!

So, for the sake of not arguing, let’s all agree that unlike a gerbil ranch, a McDonalds, or a crack dealer, with a fine art photograph if location isn’t always the most important element you may want to make sure it’s in the top 5.

What? Now you have to actually put work into where you’re going to shoot, too? Yeah. But wipe that sour apple look off your face. Scouting a location nowadays can be easier than ever thanks to a little company you’ve probably never heard of called “Google.” They have a map service that includes satellite views for pretty much the whole world. So at the very least you can get a rough idea of the landscape. But what if you want more detail?

In the old days (like 3 years ago) you would have had to get your butt out of bed and drive all over town. Now, if they have coverage of your desired area, you can use Google street view to do all your work for you.

For my photo The Letter I had a pretty specific image in my head. I wanted a mail box on the sidewalk in front of a chain link fence. I didn’t want to have any houses or large buildings blocking out the sky, either. Man, I’m a picky SOB. So what did I do? First I checked with Google to see if there were any sites that listed mailboxes by zip code. There is one! http://www.payphone-project.com/mailboxes/

I entered the zip code where I live because I’m lazy and didn’t want to drive all over town unless I had to. It listed the address of all the mailboxes nearby along with the cross street. Then I went over to maps.google.com and started entering in the mailbox locations. Looking at the street view it was clear none of these were going to work. Until I found this one:

Of course the mailbox is gone now. So you’ll have to imagine the same image, but with a mailbox showing and me sitting at my computer wearing nothing but a ski mask, eating pink cotton candy, and squealing with delight. I hopped in my car and drove right over to check it out. You see, if you find the perfect spot in Google street view, you probably want to go there in person and make sure it still looks the same as when they last updated their image rather than having your model and crew showing up to that perfect Victorian mansion you wanted for your shot and it turning out there’s actually a grand opening for the some new gerbil ranch.

So the next time you think you don’t have time to make time to find the right location, it’s time to think twice and your friends over at Google for a little help. Okay, you can stop imagining me eating cotton candy now.

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My two favorite things about self portraits are exact opposites from each other. 1. Self portraits give me instant access. I can get an idea for a portrait and immediately try it out before my brain can think about it too much and mess it up. 2. Self portraits allow me to revisit and try out an idea over and over, time and time again, months or even years apart. These are both powerful tools on the road to improving your photo skills and creativity.

Other reasons to take self portraits:

• Model is available to work late.
• You can take your time and try many different setups and poses.
• It’s a great opportunity to tap into your own psyche and express yourself as different characters.
• As photographers we’re usually behind the camera. When we do hand the camera over to a friend or family member so we can be in the shot, the image usually blows! (Not you, sweety, you take great photos.) It’s about time we had some nice photos of us for a change!
• Inappropriate touching of model usually won’t end in an expensive out of court settlement (this time).

Alright. I’ve convinced you. Now you probably want to know how to master the art of the self portrait: Step one? Take lots and lots of photos! This may seem obvious, but the first step to mastering anything is a thousand steps. So grab some props, set your camera to self timer, and get snappin’ bub.

Once you’ve loosened up a bit and you’re getting sick of looking at yourself, it’s time to start taking chances. Get crazy. Really push yourself. Go deep. Become someone else! Think up crazy ideas. You never have to show anyone these photographs, so what are you scared of? This is your chance to get to the next level creatively, artistically.

Sure, you can use self portrait sessions to practice lighting or camera technique. You can use them to test out ideas or concepts. But they can be much, much more. Just like photographs you take of others, you can use a self portrait to search the human soul. The fundamental difference is you actually have direct access to your own gooey insides. Do the work. Take the time to look deep inside and bring it out. If you aren’t exposing your own vulnerabilities, putting yourself at risk emotionally, what right do you have doing it to others? If you aren’t exposing yourself or others emotions in your work, then your photography must really suck. Ouch! Snap! How you like them apples?

Seriously, though, what better way to push your art than to take photos of your self and push. Right? Look, birds and frogs and caterpillars don’t take self portraits and they are terrible photographers. So if you don’t believe me, believe nature. Self portraits are both the fast track to becoming a better photographer and at the same time they are a life long practice in meditation and growth.

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Why night landscapes? you may ask. Oh, you didn’t ask? Well, you should have. Shame on you! Go ahead and ask.

What is something people see everyday? No, not that. Guess again. Right! Landscapes. Everywhere you go, at least if you’re on land, you’ll see landscapes. So if you want to shoot something people have seen a million times there you go. Now the challenge is to reveal something new about it.

Sure you could just slap a lensbaby on your image box (that’s cool guy talk for “camera”). You could also cough up a loogie and just spit on the lens. How about slapping a $2000 8mm wide angle in front of your sensor cage (even cooler guy talk for “camera”). Sure, why not?

I’ll tell you why not! Because soaking your camera with mucus or making something look like you’re staring at it through a peep hole doesn’t reveal anything new about it.

You could add some props or models and imply something more than meets the eye is going on. I’m down with that. In fact, that’s my mode of choice. But this is a post about night landscape photography so stop trying to make me change the subject!

This image is available light, two and a half seconds worth of the stuff (f/6.3 at 200 iso). It was shot on the UCLA campus. Once darkness wrapped its oily fingers around my head (cool guy talk for it getting dark) I probably fired off close to 20 images before the sky got so dark I couldn’t pull any light worth keeping to separate the tree from the sky. Of the 20 this was my favorite. There is a lot of planned luck involved in getting a keeper with night shooting. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

First: find a location that has some man made lighting at night. Oh, you’ve already guessed that one? Well, if you can also find a place where the light at night transforms the landscape into an unearthly place, then the job is practically done for you.

What to look for?

Light bending. Foggy nights help splatter the light and create a menacing glow.

Light from below. The landscape we see all day long tends to be lit from the sun above. Finding a spot at night lit from the ground up can change an object from ordinary to sham-wow in no time flat.

Up or down, it doesn’t really matter. You just need light. And you don’t need a lot of light, either. It’s going to be a long exposure anyway. So don’t worry about the brightness of the light as much as the quality of light.

Daylight tends to cast crisp edges on landscapes. Night gives you the chance to expose the softer side of nature if the light is right. But don’t run from the shadows.

Night shadows can reach deep into your psyche and transform an innocent golf course into a playground of unrelenting horror (if that’s what you’re going for). Just lock down that tripod nice and tight and wear your plastic undies.

Don’t forget about composition and the other daytime niceties that help make a photo look good. They still work at night. Just remember you’re really trying to capture a mood here.

Exposure. Be prepared to try several different exposures to balance the light. Also, if you’re going for the deep blue of an early evening instead of the total blackness of night your light is going to be changing constantly, so get to your location early and find the compostion you want. Once it starts getting dark enough that the man-made lights pop on, lock down the exposure for those lights. Hopefully at this point the sky will be too bright. Now as the sky gets darker you just keep taking the picture. The man-made lights will stay the same while the evening sky shifts into cerulean. You can pick the best balanced shot later.

You’ll only get one of those kind of shots a night. But there’s no need to run home (unless you have to let the dog out). There are plenty of interesting shots to be had with just a gray or even black sky. Oh, you want examples? Check out the great night landscape work by Amanda Friedman (click on “night landscapes” about half way down).

If that doesn’t at least get you thinking about giving it a shot, I don’t know what will. Now get out there with your tripod and your sensor cage and find something new at night in the ordinary things you see every day.

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I used to keep them in little spiral bound notebooks that I never left home without. Keeping the ever changing lists organized didn’t really work out so well. I frequently couldn’t find something I could have sworn was in there somewhere. More than a decade ago I got my first digital notebook of sorts, a Palm Pilot 500. Remember those? I’ve upgraded to the latest incarnation many, many, okay, maybe too many times over the years, but I’ll never go back to linier paper. Now my lists are each a separate document and those are all in a specific folder on what is now also my phone. Nice!

As a list keeper, I’ve discovered there are certain lists that really help me in the art and craft of photography. This. Is. That. List. (Sounds so important when I put a “.” after each word, right?) What are you waiting for? Drive on over to the lists and put it in park.

Race Car Driver cir. 1912

1. Ideas: Maybe you can, but I can’t see inside anybody’s head without cracking it open first. That’s just way too messy in the current economy. However, if you ask me what one of the most important, maybe the most important, elements to being a successful photographer or creative artist of any ilk, I’d have to say it’s the idea. Let’s face it; ideas are a slippery little lizard. Not one of those lizards with the million little suction cups on its feet that can be found in the wild climbing up the giant sheets of glass that are scattered about the rainforest for no good reason, either. But I digress. Whether it sneaks up on me and wiggles into my pocket in search of melted chocolate or catapults from the canopy above, squealing out a high pitched shriek and smacks me in the face with its naughty bits, when an idea beguiles me I don’t want to lose it. So my most important list is a list of ideas. This could be anything from a lose concept all the way up to a fully formed sketch with specific lighting details. It doesn’t matter. Once it’s on the list I have trapped the little bugger and I can feed it until it is big enough to kick my ass and move away to college.

2. Inspiration: Closely related to list number one, list number two is a list of artists that inspire me. These could be photographers, writers, musicians, performers, sculptors, painters, etc. Doesn’t matter how they express their ideas, if the way they do it sparks my juices, or peeks my curiosity, they are on the list. In some ways this list is more important than list number one, at least in the way that if your idea list hasn’t changed in a while, it’s time to start spending some time with the work from the folks on list number two.

3. Face to Face: No matter how many times you see someone’s photographs, read their books, hear tails of their escapades, or watch interviews with the person, it is just not the same as meeting them face to face. That is why I keep a list of people I want to meet in person. This list usually has a name or two from list number two but more than anything my people in person list is made up of people I admire, people that inspire me not artistically but personally. I may never meet some of the names on the list, but I’m putting it out there into the universe just the same. Since I started this list many years ago I’ve managed to meet six of the folks and it looks like a meeting with Mr. Number Seven is set to happen at some point this summer. Nice! So far each experience has been even better than I’d hoped and I feel all the richer for it. Who are the current top 6 of the top 10 on this 1 of my top 5 top 10 lists? Humanitarian (or animalitarian) Cesar Millan, author Robert Kiyosaki, director Paul T. Anderson, photographer Chase Jarvis, writer / Wired editor / blogger Chris Anderson, and politician – you may have heard of him – Barak Obama (What? Doesn’t hurt to ask.) Yes, it’s all dudes. There are women on the list, too. It just so happens at the moment they didn’t make the top ten.

4. Movies, Books, and Music: Do you have any idea how many brilliant, fascinating, and inspiring movies, books, and albums are released every year around the world? At least three. I like to keep the ones that look good to me in a list, so on the rare occasion that I have some free time I am not left alone in silence for even a moment. That way the voices in my head are kept to a dull roar and I don’t accidentally make any sort of meaningful connection with the living.

5. Gear: Yes, I’ve mentioned it a time or two. As much as I feel like it’s the idea that counts whether it’s photography, business, or sex, I love gear. When I see a new piece of gear or think of a project that makes a good excuse to by more gear, I make sure to add it to the list of gear to get. Some of that gear has been on the list for years and will remain there instead of in my basement as it should. Other items hit the list with such steam that I don’t have time to wipe the fog from my eyeballs before the package arrives at my doorstep. Okay, this isn’t really the most important list, maybe it shouldn’t even be in the top five. What the heck, I’m leaving it in!

There are more lists, of course, but these are the ones that see the most traffic over here at camp Nice. That’s why I’m sharing them. Isn’t sharing nice?

I think it’s important to keep these lists liquid. Let them grow and change. Reorder the individual items from time to time. Start new lists. Etc. I try not to obsess over the lists, but also never let them slip too far from the front of my brain. But that’s just me. What sort of lists do you keep that help you creatively? Let us know in the comments below.

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You see, today is Nice Photo Mag’s 1^st birthday!

When I started Nice a year ago, I had an idea about what I wanted to say, but that idea crystallized over the past 12 months to the point where it is now. Just where is that? Thanks for asking. It’s the Why To photography magazine. There are lots of great places out in the world and on the web where you can find How To photography. Though I’m pretty pleased with my technical chops I think pretty much all of the top photo bloggers have a better handle on that angle. My strength is in the creativity department, the why I do the technical things and the creative decisions. My entire adult life the only way I’ve earned a living has been through my creative endeavors: Writing and directing TV and Features, taking portrait, documentary, and fine art photography. I’m very fortunate to get to do what I love and get paid for it, too. That was my goal growing up.

Now I have a goal with Nice, and that is to encourage other photographers and film makers to think about the medium from the creative point of view. The idea. The story. The message. I’m not trying to downplay the technical. I’m a gear head. I love tech knowledge. But technology doesn’t communicate, it’s the ideas, the stories, the art created with the technology that can topple governments, convince the world to take up a cause, or make me mum cry.

Do your favorite photographs make you feel or think? Or do you like them because they are neat looking? If you said, “Neat looking,” that’s fine. I love neat looking photographs, too. But if you want your images, the images you take, to illicit a reaction other than, “neat,” go to the library and spend a day or a week or a month looking though the photography section. Find images that aren’t just technical wonder-works, but instead cause you to feel something deep in your gut, to move you. Then start thinking about how you can make an image that would have that effect on a stranger who might look at it someday, somewhere.

It’s hard. I think it’s worth it.

Some may disagree, and after all, it is just my 2 cents, but I’d rather look at a scratched up Polaroid that tells a story than the most technically perfect photograph ever taken.

Anyhow, today Nice turns one year old. I’ve changed the drapes. I’ve gone with a hint of the past. A touch of old circus. Why? Well, it seems to me a lot about the good old days was good, or nice. Heck, they must have called it good for some reason. I mean, they had the worst depression ever and even that was the Great Depression. Now that’s the kind of attitude I’d like to share. I hope, in some way, I can make a few people’s day just a little bit more Nice.

Stay tuned. I’ve got some very interesting things planned for year 2.

Nice!

Is that because the name of my blog is “Nice” and it sounds snappy and clever in an opening paragraph? Not entirely. The truth of the matter is the people we met in Okinawa, be they Okinawans, solders on the base, or the USO folks themselves, the one word that would describe them all best is “Nice.” Maybe it’s because I live in Los Angeles, or because I’m jaded from all the years in the entertainment business, but I don’t tend to run into people everywhere I go who want to go out of their way to make sure you I’m happy.  A big thanks goes out to them all, but especially to Betty, Brian, and Julia from the USO!

Whenever I’d watch some dopy reality show where people would cry when someone they’ve only known for a week got voted off it always seemed so phony to me, but after spending less than a week with these three we all got choked up saying goodbye at the airport. Now I get it.

You guys don’t care about that, though, do you? You want to read the list. Well, let me explain it first, Mr. Hotpants!

I am not a travel photographer, nor an adventure photographer. Most of my photography is of the Fine Art style. That’s what the people who hire me to shoot high end portraits are looking for, too. From time to time, however, clients will enlist me for more of a photojournalist style because they like my unusual (okay, odd) point of view. Regardless, these assignments almost never involve me being away from home for more than a day or two. What that means is I wasn’t totally prepared for the trip to Japan as far as what to bring. I had everything I needed to take the photos. What was missing were a few things I needed for comfort. So, in addition to what I had thought to be essentials for a photography trip here is a list of 5 items that will now get packed for any future photo adventures. If you are a seasoned traveler and already know all these things, how about you stop making fun of me and offer up some other items I missed in the comments below?

The Nice Top 5 Unexpected Essentials For a Successful Photography Trip:

1. Bring different size camera bags. The plan was to fly to Okinawa, then we would change planes in Tokyo’s Narita airport, but that was it. No time in Tokyo proper. I knew in Okinawa I’d want to have all my gear with me at all times in case something came up. However, we decided to extend the trip an extra three days on the way back and get some really good Tokyo fun times in. Three days. No obligations. Just me and James looking for trouble. After a week of 12 hour shooting days there was no way I was going to hang 25+ lbs of gear from my dislocated shoulder for three more days. Fortunately it turns out there are camera stores in Tokyo. Who would have guessed? So I bought a cool little camera bag that I couldn’t squeeze more than my camera with wide zoom and my bright 50mm lens into. That way I had no choice but to leave the accessories back in the hotel. Not that I don’t love getting a new camera bag at every available opportunity, it’s just next time I’ll be packing the little camera bag in the suitcase.

2. Bring a scarf. A scarf I say? Yes, a scarf. As I said above, we were just planning on going to Okinawa where the weather was even nicer than Southern California where we were coming from. Of course when we decided to stay in Tokyo it was a different forcast. In Tokyo it was below freezing. That meant that my neck was freezing. If your neck is freezing you are freezing. That’s the way it works. It took me two days to find a place that sold a scarf in Tokyo. Apparently the city is broken up into districts. Business district. Electronics district. Scarf district. Now I know. You say you don’t need to bring a scarf because you’re going to shoot a Hawaiian volcano? Well maybe you’re eating a bowl of mocoloco when kind hearted stranger sees you’re a photographer and he offers to take you up to the Keck Observatory where it never gets above freezing. Are you going to pass on this once in a lifetime treat because you have some deep seeded hatred for scarfs?  Scarfs don’t take up much space and don’t weigh a lot. If you don’t mind looking like a fool you can use a scarf to cover your head from the sun. Oh, you have a sun hat? What if say a koala stole your hat while you were out photographing Ayers Rock? Now who’s got a burnt scalp, eh? You can possibly use a scarf to replace a broken camera strap. I don’t know. I haven’t tried it. Might work. Look, I’m not going to spend all day trying to convince you to bring a scarf. Wait. I already did.

3. Bring a Netbook or Laptop with a webcam and decent video chat software. I actually had webcam equipped netbook with me for backing off the memory cards that I kept filling up. I had planned on using Google Video Chat to get my family fix while I was away. I used to love my wife with all my heart, but now she has to share it with our three month old baby. Getting to chat with them twice a day really made missing them tolerable. The only problem is I wanted to record the video chat to watch later when they had gone to sleep. No can do with Google Video Chat. And the video quality wasn’t the best anyhow. I’m now searching for a decent one that can record the video with a simple click of a button and looks nicer, too. Kinda like that fancy one you Mac boys have.

4. Bring snacks. Hunger has teeth and sometimes, at the most inconvenient of times, it would bite me right on the tuckus. A healthy food bar (not sugary junk that’s going to just make you fry out) easily fits in even the smallest of camera bags and can help keep your mind focused. Trust me; you don’t want hunger teeth marks on your tuckus when you come home to the wife.

5. Bring a map that is in both English and the native language of your destination. Let’s say you have a map that you bought, it’s written in English because you have to be able to read it to find the places you want to go, right? Well, now let’s pretend you get lost – I’m not saying I got lost, it’s just pretend – so you find a helpful citizen of the foreign land you’re in and you show them on the map where you want to go. Guess what? They can’t read the map because it’s written in English. Next thing you know, you’re crying like a baby who lost his mommy, snot dripping all over your brand new scarf, ruining your fancy new camera bag. People are staring at you with a mixture of concern and embarrassment, and for the first time in your life you see with absolute clarity a crippling disdain in the heart of mankind. I mean, we’re just pretending, but it could happen. I mean puddles of snot.

6. Bonus essential. Tissues. See above.

Nice!

When it comes to photography that’s the good kind of nightmare. What the heck am I talking about?

Personally, I’d rather have a whole lot to say and have to struggle to try and communicate it, than to sit around yelling nothing at the top of my lungs. I am of the opinion that if you don’t have anything to say it doesn’t matter how loud you yell because it doesn’t mean a thing. If you’ve got nothing to say it doesn’t matter if everyone comes running from miles around to listen. They might as well stuffs their ears full of cotton and ignore you altogether. The outcome is the same. You haven’t communicated anything. In fact, it’s worse if they don’t ignore you because you’ve squandered an opportunity to communicate.

Just what, in my opinion, is yelling in the world of photography? Let me first clarify, I’m not saying yelling is bad. I’m saying yelling without something to yell is bad. Yes, I used the “b” word. I’m that serious about it. Right. So, here is what I would consider yelling photographically:

Great lighting. Yes! Great lighting is bad or rather a waist if you don’t use those skills to communicate an idea.

Beautiful models can be a type of yelling. Hooray! Eye candy!!! Now I’ve got eye cavities! Thanks for nothing!

Cool props. I love cool props. Then again I love the feeling of weightlessness I get when I jump out of an airplane. Just like a parachute opens and keeps me from becoming cat food when I hit the ground, having meaning in your photographs keeps a cat from eating them. Well, you know what I mean.

How about killer composition? Sure, you bet! That’s screaming. Why lead your viewer’s eye around your image if there’s nothing for them to see that means anything?

In fact anything in a photograph that draws a viewer’s attention could be photographic screaming. So if you’re screaming anyway, why not scream something you want to say?

I’m not saying every shot of your neighbor Danny watering his lawn in his underpants has to elicit tears from your audience or inspire a call to action. And I absolutely love that hunger for technical mastery that so often comes with the love of photography. Heck, the better your technical prowess, the more effectively you can communicate your idea. I just think any photograph you take that isn’t intended to communicate is just an exercise, a practice run. If you have set out on the road to master this craft you may want to ask yourself what is your planned destination. Me? I just want to have something of value to say, a way to say it effectively, and someone to listen.

Nice!

Just what is a travel photography mascot? Ever seen the French film Amelie? It’s one of my favorites. In it the main character steals her shut-in father’s garden gnome, gives it to a friend who is traveling the world, and has her send the father photographs of the garden gnome’s adventures in an attempt to lure him out of the house. Travelocity has apparently “borrowed” the same idea for its commercials. There is also the book This is Blythe by photographer Gina Garan and many, many more. If you travel with a photography mascot add your favorite example to the NicePhotoMag flickr group or put a link to it in the comments below.

Most recently (yesterday) I read the post Mount Quackatoa over on Strobist.com and it inspired me to share a photo of my travel mascot. Here he is on a visit last summer to Seattle.

This was taken just outside the aquarium with my G9 and a flash connected by the Canon off camera cord. Super fast set up. Super light. Super compact. Very handy for us jet setters (wink).

Let’s pretend you want to hire your own travel photography mascot, just what would you put in the want ad? How about…

Small: I don’t know about you, but when I travel I like to travel as light as possible. When I’m interviewing a travel mascot, I want one that can sit in the darkest corner of my smallest camera bag without causing a fuss, doesn’t eat much, and won’t poop on my Leica (if I had a Leica). Don’t make me choose between bringing the mascot and an extra piece of gear. If they are of equal size and weight the gear will win every time.

Good Balance: You’re probably going to be plopping your mascot in the most precarious of places: you know, hand rails, the edge of cliffs, beside geysers shooting out blistering hot steam. The easier it is to balance the little fella, the less likely you are to loose him to the Seven Wonders of the World. Of course you could always tape him down.

Anthropomorphic: It’s just fine and dandy if want to travel the world taking photos of a piece of string or a padlock or maybe your favorite pen, but if your travel mascot has eyes or – bonus – eyes and a mouth, there’s a better chance of making that image connect with your viewer/granny/pet goldfish/crying kids you left at home. So I’d say pick something with a face. Some figures are even poseable thanks to hidden wires or an armature. Though it’s not a requirement, it can help the mascot look more emotive for your shots.

Meaning: Frequent visitors of Nice will likely not be shocked to read that I think if you’re going to go to the trouble (and excitement!) of traveling the world with your mascot tagging along, that you could only benefit yourself and you’re the folks that look at your work by choosing a mascot that means something to you. It could be as simple as a teddy bear given to you by your grand dad when you were just a kid. It could be a political statement. It could even be an inside joke. There’s a good chance at some point someone is going to ask you, “Why how come?” It sure would be nice to have an answer to give them.

The most important thing is that your mascot works for you and you have fun with it. If that means you have to throw out the above suggestions, go on and throw them out!

Travel photography mascot images increase in value the more diverse your collection gets and the larger it grows. So the next time you’re heading out the door grab that mascot. While you’re showing him the world you just might get to see yourself a little bit clearer. Huh?

Nice!

Not so fast!

Soft Light threw a few punches in below the belt, so the judges gave them a third round. It was in the finesse of the third round that the true victor was revealed.

Round Three – The Combination Punch!

Whether you want to recreate light like you see in real life, or you want to go hyper real and design an image that screams, “Look Ma! I spent my college tuition on 20 sets of strobes! What’s the matter, Ma? Why you cryin’?” Chances are your image could benefit from the well thought out placement of both soft and hard lights. Yes, that’s right, a combination of the two.

Now, for a limited time – until the Sun goes supernova and obliterates all we have ever known, turning this big blue marble into a shiny silver pinball – you can become a true master of light, controlling how each and every photon lands on your viewer’s eye by combining hard and soft light in your photographs.

Want that soft, velvety light to roll over your model’s curves, dripping over her like maple syrup, smoothing out her shiny fur. (Get it? It’s a joke. I’m making it sound like a sexy model, and then I imply it’s a dog or cat or something. Oh, never mind!) But you still want that model to pop off of the back ground? Hit that creature with a nice, hard, rim light from the back and a nice big soft box up front. Presto. Dynamic lighting. And that’s just the beginning!

The bell rings and the final round is over. Hard Light and Soft Light shake hands and then collapse in each others sweaty arms. They are, after all, brothers and friends. The ref comes out and declares them both winners. But the real winner is your audience if you take the time to think about what you want to say and then figure out what light techniques will help best communicate that idea.

Nice!