It’s been awesome getting to meet a ton of people who save lives everyday.  I feel lucky and inspired to get to work with these fine people.

Here’s a picture of a finished board to give you an idea of what the project looks like when completed.

Our view just isn’t the same when the mountains are hidden by rain clouds…

As a photographer, a major focus of mine is consistency.  I want my clients to know what they can expect from me each time they select me for an assignment.  Color management is one of those areas that can often be overlooked when it comes to being consistent, but it is key.

Enter the ColorChecker Passport from X-Rite.  This is now a vital piece of equipment in my bag.  I did not realize how easy capturing and managing correct color could be.  The ColorChecker Passport is very easy to use, much easier than trying to guess the right color or trying to go “by the numbers.”

Right off the bat, the size of the ColorChecker Passport is perfect.  As primarily a product and still life shooter, I always fumbled with other grey cards trying to squeeze them into the scene at the right angle to catch the light.  Not only can the Passport fit in the tightest still life, it also was engineered with a built-in stand so I don’t even have to try to hold it in place or disturb the scene by propping it up against something.  Landscape shooters will find this valuable as well.

Secondly, creating custom camera profiles is about as close to fully automated as it gets.  There is no reason to be intimidated by creating a custom camera profile any longer.  The included software does all the work for you.  Take an image with the classic color target visible, and the software will attempt to find the color patches automatically then create the profile. Using Adobe Lightroom a plug-in handles the entire process.  When using Adobe Camera Raw the only extra step needed is to convert the raw file format image of the ColorChecker Passport to a DNG file before dragging it into the software.  Event and wedding photographers should especially make this a priority.  With multiple cameras at any event, the ability to get the same color from every camera will quickly and easily make up the cost of the Passport on the first event.

Lastly, let’s look at the warming and cooling patches for portraiture and landscapes.  Sometimes “correct” color isn’t always the best for creativity’s sake.  X-Rite has included portrait warming patches as well as cooling and warming patches for landscapes.  These patches are a great place to start when adjusting the color temperature of the scene is required.  The creative patches can be sampled with the gray balance dropper and can be quickly reverted back to the neutral patch if you do not like the new look.

For everything that the ColorChecker Passport offers, the price is a steal (but don’t tell that to the nice folks over at X-Rite).  I would also recommend checking out ColorMunki Photo to get accurate colors from your monitor, projector and printer.  The combination of the ColorChecker and ColorMunki will save so much time, and you will probably have to make fewer trips to the store for aspirin because the headache of color management will be gone.

Every “analog” print I view, whether it be in a gallery, museum, or even school, I seem to get a feeling of closeness to the artist.  Knowing their hand was involved in the printmaking process (well, more than loading a piece of paper into a printer) adds a certain romance to the experience.

I was at the Denver Art Museum a couple weeks ago looking at an albumen print that had to be around 20×24″ in size.  When this image was made, there were no digital negatives- this was straight camera, folks.  Imagine lugging a camera that weighs in upwards of 200+ pounds into the rugged Rocky Mountains and making a negative onto a glass plate.  That’s what it took to make the print I was looking at.  I wonder what the photographer would think of us today?  I’d guess they’d probably laugh hysterically at how soft we are.  We are complaining about “wrong paper size,” banding and noise while we should be embracing the magic of producing a print!  There’s no mystery anymore.  The level of anxiety that once faced young photographers as they put their paper into the developer and waited for an image to (hopefully) appear is no longer.

Here’s to all those that were crazy enough to mix different chemicals together (not knowing they could be hazardous to their health) to figure out which ones would react with light,  so that we could enjoy ourselves just a little bit more.

Here’s a preview of my more personal work that is part of a second graduating portfolio for March.  A complete 180 from the commercial work I enjoy (and for that, I loooove the latest digital technology and printers)  And this is the 5th attempt at printing this particular image…  I believe I finally got the print I was looking for after 3 weeks of searching for it.  The anxiety level was very high.

Here, Here!

Without visiting the studio, I was able to setup a mini-studio in our living room and do some tabletop work.  There were a few shots I was after to serve as transitions and to supplement my existing work.  Side note: I found some sweet plexiglass material to make my portfolio out of which should be here Friday.  I’ll be working with an industrial designer to have some custom work done to it.  Looking forward to that.

Enough words, here are some pictures…

New images coming soon- stay tuned for some recent work.

Feedback welcome!

A friend of mine, Katherine Winter, also got two pieces in the show, including Juror’s choice. Check out the link for more info: http://www.vermontphotospace.com/ex6

One of my gum bichromate prints was chosen by juror Tom Paiva.  I believe that it’s the only alternative print included in the show.  So it’s a bit of an outcast- but I’ll take it!