If it’s all so exciting, why no posts in almost two weeks? What’s the delay?

Well, if you are a regular reader, you might have already guessed. My wife and I had our first child in the wee hours of the morning on November 6^th.

London Kamm. Yes, we named him London. I wanted to name him Sasquatch Yeti Kamm, but that seemed like more of a girl’s name.

Anyhow, you don’t want to read about babies, you want to read about photography and creativity. And I’m here to tell you there’s plenty of that coming. In fact, it’s about to get way, way better. Just not right this second.

What? Look at that face and tell me you wouldn’t rather make up children songs about zombies to sooth your new baby boy to sleep than write a post. Right?

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This image is from the cover of today’s Chicago Sun Times (if anyone can tell me who the photographer is, I’d like to put their name in this post). The photographer seems to capture the optimism of a better future without forgetting the hard road ahead. The short depth of field locks me into his eyes and makes it feel like I, as the viewer, am sharing a personal moment with the man. But that’s just my take. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

People who don’t want to read opinions that may be different from their own may wish not to read any further. Others, please read on.

Last night my wife and I wept with joy as we watched a Nation choose hope, peace, sacrifice, kindness, and understanding. At risk of alienating a sizable chunk of readership, I’d like to say, “Welcome, Mr. President.”

Despite several close calls, my wife has still not given birth yet (today is looking pretty likely, but we’ve been fooled before). Last night when I called my father to share in the happiness of the election results he said, “Your son will be born into a better world tomorrow than if he’d been born yesterday.” I believe that to be true.

I don’t often get political on Nice (I think maybe three times total before now), but when I do, I get a fair amount of hate mail. That makes me sad. But that’s the way it is. I am proud of my beliefs, of my family’s values, just as I’d imagine they are of theirs. The blog is meant to inspire people to communicate their ideas through the art of photography. I don’t expect or try to influence people’s political affiliations or beliefs with this blog. However, from time to time I will share mine.

I think there is a strong likelihood that the Obama win is a win for Science, the Environment, and Artistic Freedom. And what with me being artistic environmental scientist (not really), I have to say that’s…

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Today we’ve got some dream worthy DSLR’s. If you’d like to make the dream a reality head on over to Adorama where my pals are not only doing the instant rebate thing, but throwing down some of that sweet free shipping juice to boot! I don’t know how long the deals will last, so if you got to the party late and the lights are out, don’t go knocking on my door. I’m asleep. What?

A very small portion of your purchase (if bought through one of these links) will go towards the Nice Photo Mag Fund. Current balance: $2 and a lollipop I found stuck to the handrail of an escalator. Hooray!

Here’s the tastys:

Nikon D700 Digital SLR Camera, 12.1 Megapixel, 0.72x Zoom, FX Format, CMOS Image Sensor

Save 19%
Regular Price $2999.95
Sale Price $2519.95
Includes a $300 instant rebate
Free Shipping
http://www.adorama.com/INKD700.html

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Nikon D700 Digital SLR with Nikon AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Lens

Save 13%
Regular Price $3599.95
Sale Price $3199.95
Includes a $400 instant rebate
Free Shipping
http://www.adorama.com/INKD700K1.html

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Nikon D300 DX Digital D-SLR Camera Outfit with 16mm - 85mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX ED (VR) Vibration Reduction Lens, U.S.A.

Save 14%
Regular Price $2449.95
Sale Price $2149.95
Includes a $300 instant rebate
Free Shipping
http://www.adorama.com/INKD300K3.html

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Nikon D300 DX Digital D-SLR Camera Outfit with 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AFS DX VR Zoom-Nikkor Lens, U.S.A.

Save 18%
Regular Price $2539.95
Sale Price $2149.95
Includes a $300 instant rebate
Free Shipping
http://www.adorama.com/INKD300K1.html

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Here’s a photo of my wife and I taken today. I didn’t really have time to sweeten it so much in lightroom. We think her water broke when we were taking the photograph, so… this time tomorrow, we may have a brand new pumpkin - I mean baby.

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Sounds pretty nifty. Yeah, I used the word nifty. But useful? I mean, have you ever met someone with an Iphone? Me either. I mean, you’re more likely to see a unicorn jumping rope with Elvis than to see a real live Iphone. Huh? What’s that? They’ve sold over 10 million Iphones? Everyone I know has one and can’t stop showing it to me? Oh… that Iphone. Right.

Okay, so even if it is ubiquitous or will be, and Leaf has managed to capture a magic fairy that sends the photographs we take to the executives phones, is that a good thing? Sure it is, I mean, who wouldn’t want more fingers in their creative pie? The more cooks in the kitchen the better! Alright, alright, I know, depending on how you work, this could be a nice feature, handy even. Now use your Iphone to call your credit card company and let them know about the impending charge for $15,000 come November 2008 when it is sure to hits the shelves at the local Best Buy Thanks Mamiya!

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What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

There’s more technical info over on the Chase Jarvis Blog.

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“Fire Hand Reaches for Phone” was taken with 3 gel caps and one flashlight.

If you’d like to see an article about light painting, let me know in the comments below.

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What is the meaning behind your photography?

It’s okay if you don’t have the answer right on the tip of your tongue. Maybe you’re still learning the language of photography. Just like English, I’m always trying to learn me it better.

Maybe you never thought about the idea or meaning part of the photographic language. Or maybe you are feeling a bit rusty in that area. Well, just like learning a new language or polishing up on your high school French, all you need to do is practice.

Here’s a fun exercise to try whenever you’d like to get your brain warmed up to the idea of communicating an idea with your photography.

Photograph a line from one of your favorite songs. Take a line from a song you like and interpret it any way you like into a single photograph. It can be a literal interpretation - where the song is about running and you take a photo of someone running for example, emotional - creating an image that shares the same feeling the line from the song gives you, or metaphorical - by really stretching your brainical you can use metaphors to convey the meaning or your interpretation of the line from your song of choice.

This is just an exercise, so there’s no need to spend a lot of time picking a song. It’s probably more important to put the time into thinking out the image. Plan it out in advance. Leave enough room for inspiration while you’re actually shooting the image, but don’t leave enough room that you only get crap if inspiration is stuck in traffic when you’re busy taking the photograph.

After you make your image put it up in the new Nice Photo Mag group on flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/nicephotomag/

Put the tag “Nice Song” and I’ll do my best to comment on all the photos.

I’ve just started the flickr group, so don’t let the echoing sound of emptiness scare you off.

Remember, this is an exercise. They don’t have to be magnificent works of art. As proof to that fact, I’m putting my example for the exercise. Can you figure out what the song line is?

Give a guess in the comments below.

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Of course if you want to see the site looking all fancy with full video and colors and such baubles, you can always come visit the HTML version we’ve grown to love like a three armed furry frog.

We’ve got ourselves a really good size readership here with between 15,000 and 30,000 page views a month and it’s growing steady. Feel free to spread the word and lets see if we can get even more photographers thinking about this wonderful skill as a medium to express ideas and communicate in an artistic way.

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Well, over on the Make Magazine Blog they’ve got an informative video on how to make your own custom hot glue web shooter. They were kind enough to let me post it here. Enjoy. And although they don’t mention it in the video, I learned the hard way, don’t intensionally shoot the molten threads of hot glue into your face - especially more than once.

And now, for your pleasure, the video:

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Last Saturday at the LA Strobist workshop I went undercover as David Hobby’s “assistant” (the guy who signed everyone in at the door). A few weeks ago when David asked me if I would help out he had no idea what kind of tornado he was about to stir up. How could he? I’m a diabolical genius and a master of disguise!

Let me back up.

If you don’t know what Strobist is, call AAA and get a tow truck to remove the rock you’re living under. Then head over to www.strobist.com. The way you look at light will never be the same. I attribute a huge amount of my photographic success to the skills and inspiration handed out for free at Strobist. Is that likely to sway my stinging expose of David’s in person workshop? No, because I’m a cynical bastard. What about the fact that he is one of the nicest, most generous, least self absorbed people I’ve ever met - and I live in Hollywood, so that’s saying something! No, even that won’t save him from my truth seeking missile, uh, typing finger things.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s begin.

Put 50 photographers in a room, each armed with a camera, a battery powered strobe, and the hunger to get better. Then drop David Hobby in front of them for eight-plus hours and what happens? Time warp, that’s what. A full workday worth of time zips by like it’s 15 minutes of concentrated wow. Does that even make sense what I just wrote? It does if you were there.

David started the day by having everyone introduce themselves. It was a very varied crowd. A person who just started taking photographs two weeks ago was sitting next to a successful 10 year veteran in the architecture photo trade. Yet somehow David kept everyone engaged. I think it may be because he was offering the concepts behind the techniques rather than just the techniques themselves.

At the first bathroom break Mr. Strobist welcomed everyone to rifle through his bags of yummy photo gear; stands, strobes, light modifiers (some of which have yet to be released), and his one true love, the Canon 1ds MIII. Kidding. Kidding. He’s a Nikon shooter and for some reason not ashamed to tell you.

The morning was all about the Strobist doctrine. But he always keeps the mood light, sharing stories from his travels and never missing the opportunity to crack a joke. Except for the fur-lined cape, top hat, and monocle which he refused to take off, he kept the drama nice and low with his attitude elevated - his only sign of stress being the constant fiddling with his handlebar mustache.

David had a structured power point presentation, but never let it get in the way of the flow, answering the many questions as they came. His dominate theme? I’d have to say it was: “This lighting stuff isn’t hard.” He didn’t just say it. He proved it.

We broke for lunch and then the afternoon brought the meat in: shooting examples to show off the ideas he talked about in the morning. In between set ups he projected the results and talked about his thought process: why the images he liked worked, and what he didn’t like about the ones that didn’t.

It ended with a Q&A and friendly, “after the show” chat along with secret info about secret cool products coming out for the Strobist crowd over the next few secret months. Then it was out to the hotel bar where the smiling faces of photographers soaked in alcohol and ideas talked about photo and non photo topics well into the night. David, who should have been suffering from serious jet lag, but is clearly a sophisticated robot, hung out the whole time with a smile on his face. He even stopped twisting that handlebar mustache.

David talked plenty about photography, but also about his attitude on life; making an effort to err on the side of good, to be generous, to try and make friends out of would be enemies, how the most important thing in the world to him was to get to spend time with his family. He wasn’t preaching, just sharing stories. I don’t think a single person out of 50 left that class disappointed, myself included.

Okay, so maybe I drank a big ol’ glass of Strobist Kool-Aid. Or maybe, just maybe when someone with skill and passion shares his ideas openly with the goal of enriching the entire community, the entire community gets enriched. I think maybe I grew up a little bit on Saturday and I learned a lot more than just lighting. Thanks David.

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Photoflow Gallery and M Street Coffee bring you Zeke K’s limited edition canvas prints from his 9 image series titled “Stills From the Unrealized Films of a Stranger.” Each image from the series captures a moment in time when the featured character is about to do something that will change their life forever, a moment from which they can never return to whom they once were.

“Stills” opens with a reception on October 2, 2008 from 6-8pm and will be exhibited through November 1st. Photoflow Gallery is located at 13251 Moorpark ST in Sherman Oaks, CA 91423. MAP

Questions? Email Studio@ZekeK.com.
Visit ZekeK.com/stills/ to see more images from the show.

Some may notice the inspiration from my film making career. Some may see it coming from the master Gregory Crewdson. Both would be right.

Admission is free and I’d love to see you there. If you come, let me know you’re a Nice Photo Mag reader and I’ll give you the special handshake.

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You can see the video here:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086

And you can pre order the camera here:

http://www.adorama.com/ICA5DM2.html?kbid=63667

I know, no story, but nice visuals and an interesting, if not comprehensive, test of what this creature can do. There are some artifacts and a few weird things, but I won’t judge until I get to shoot some footage myself. All in all, I’m still salivating.

You can watch the behind the scenes video (to see how he works his magic) here:

http://vincentlaforet.smugmug.com/gallery/6021407_xEg87/1/#378479692_MRytZ-A-LB

My favorite part is at 2:47 of the behind the scenes where he shows you how he simulates the TV flicker light for the film. Very clever!

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

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Or will I?

Yes, I will.

The Mark II is slated for release at the end of November, yet everyone of my buddies has already placed their preorder. Every one. Though most of them have pre-ordered 2 bodies, a few have ordered 4. 4? What? Don’t do it! Me? Am I going to get caught up in the buying frenzy or wait for further reports and user experiences after the camera has actually come out? I already told you. Yes, I’m going to get caught up in it. I just placed my pre order for the Canon 5D Mark II over at Adorama (they don’t charge your credit card until it ships). A pair of 8 gig UDMA CF cards may or may not have found their way onto the order as well.

If it’s on perma-backorder due to overwhelming sales I’ll at least get a jump start and have it ASAP. If my pals and I are the only suckers who order the beast then I’ll have the camera sooner than if I waited anyway. I mean, how am I supposed to roll with my camera gang, the “Outlaws of Light” if we don’t all have matching cameras.

(Full disclosure: I am not actually a member of a camera gang. Camera gangs do not actually exist. Kids, stay in school!)

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http://cweb.canon.jp/camera/5dmark2/index.html

Now, the new 5D mark II doesn’t have all the new things I was hoping it would, no AF assist light built in, no bubble level in the view finder, etc. (and there are several etc.s). However, I’ll likely be buying one the within a few days after it comes out.

Pardon the geek out. This blog is supposed to be about the art, not the gear, but just in case you haven’t read it else ware, the new 5D It has weather seals, live view, sensor cleaner, full 1080 HD video, UDMA support, and ISO up to 25,600. Fun stuff. Oh, did I mention it has a mic imput so it would seem you could hook up an external lav mic or some such. Handy.

Okay, I’ll buy it.

Thanks to Don for the tip on the Japanese link!

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Check out the new series of fine art portraits by Zeke K