ELIZABETH AVEDON: REVIEW 2010: ASMP-NY Portfolio Review

ELIZABETH AVEDON: REVIEW 2010: ASMP-NY Portfolio Review

PIX DIGITAL IMAGING FIRST PLACE!!!

For the second month in a row I'm in the pages of PDN. this time i won first place for my series on the Hassidic Sun Blessing celebration in the travel/lifestyle catagory. This series has been getting a ton of international attention. Its a "wow" moment for me and i'm pretty grateful for the momentum and attention my work has been receiving. More than that though, being listed along side some of the best photographers is pretty awesome. So all in all, its been a really good year.

The 15th annual pix Digital imaging honors the best in digital photography as well as cgi and retouching and compositing. this years winners and honorable mentions run the gamut in style and discipline, showing that photography is an ever evolving and expanding art form. pick up the latest issue of Photo District News (PDN) on news stands everywhere and take a look. an on line gallery will be up soon.

25th Annual PDN Self-Promotion Award

Its been a crazy couple months. Besides an influx of work, there has been an influx of awards which have fallen into my lap. The most recent one is this year's PDN Self-Promotion award (third place)!! Out on news stands now. Needless to say i'm thrilled and very surprised. In years past, looking at the winning promotions, i thought to myself: "pfft! Way out of my league!!" Most every photographer or organization that won had been in business for a while and able to throw a whopping load of cash on their beautiful promotions. Behold, i snuck one in there with less than two years in business and a budget under $200!!

The idea behind the video was to show my ability to direct models, photograph a cohesive story, show my process and incorporate multi media/video into my work. More and more, clients are expecting photographers to shoot both print and broadcast versions of their ads or editorials. With my background in film production and editing, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to incorporate motion into my work.

So what is a self-promotion and why give awards for it? well, in the very competitive and crowded field of photography, taking a good photograph isn't enough to garner work. To get the attention of art directors, art buyers, creative directors and photo editors, it has become increasingly important to deliver a cohesive presentation that is memorable, effective and showcases the photographer's brand. Or so i believe!! Some photographers team up with a creative group to strategize and deliver unique promotions and their results are nothing short of stunning.

Not having the budget to do the traditional promotions, i turned to viral marketing. But there was also something more personal that i needed to face: i'd never ever shown out takes and unedited work. Ever! This was a chance for me to break that bad habit and build my own confidence in the work i do and how i go about it. Thats where the idea came from and it looks like it has paid off.

Some very deserved credits are due here: Playing the parts and modeling are Giselle Raposo and Femi Olagoke. Laura Dominguez assisted with lighting and everything else on the set. The music is by the Afro-Celts Sound System.

So go pick up a copy of this month's PDN and check out the amazing work of other photographers. An online gallery will also be posted soon, and i will update you on it soon.

The Birdman of Williamsburg

You'd think sitting on a roof in the middle of the summer, surrounded by +150 pigeons AND their droppings would be unpleasant, at the least. Thats exactly what i thought before visiting my first pigeon coup. Oddly, its pretty relaxing and like a good massage, hard to get up and return to whatever. But John kept offering beer and the breeze generated from 150 pairs of wings made it hard to leave. And easy to go back to often.

John Mikio, a native of Williamsburg Brooklyn and a Vietnam War vet, owns the birds and runs a pigeon collecting hobby. In his own brooklyn-tough-guy-aloofness, he loves the birds, despite how he addresses them: "the fucking birds keep me busy.", "Some fucking cat ate a fucking bird." "Looks like the fucking birds are getting sick again", and so forth.

Its an expensive and time consuming hobby. John spends $400 a month on pigeon feed. Birds fly off or get snatched by hawks and cats, spooking the coup and threatening their numbers. A small influx of pigeons from other coups helps the numbers game. Part of the attraction, like a herder, is balancing how many pigeons one retains! Rouge pigeons fall under the "Finders, keepers" rules of etiquette. their identifying legbands are removed and kept as a trophy, replaced with John's legband.

As the neighborhood "develops" to change the original fabric of Brooklyn, landlords are no longer renting rooftops to Pigeon owners. John's rooftop belongs to a member's only social club. John is not only the accountant for he club, but a ranking member as well. so his coup, at least for now, will be safe.

more photos "Editorial 4" www.RobertHooman.com

David Griffin on how photography connects us

Like many other photographers, National Geographic has been my source of intrigue and inspiration all throughout my life. They are the Mecca of photography and photojournalism and few photographers can reach their scope, depth and excellence. In some circles, David Griffin is a superstar. He's the director of Photography for the National Geographic Society, and for many years, i've daydreamed of having my photographs edited by him for NG.

The daydreaming will continue for now, but this TED presentation by David covers the society's penchant to capture and edit photo stories like nothing you'll ever see in other magazines.

Iran's awakening

Pictures from todays demonstrations in front of the UN in NYC. Earlier that day, the video of a young Iranian girl was released on the internet, blood was gushing out of her nose as the life was fading from her eyes. It seemed pretty apparent to everyone there that change is coming to Iran.... one way or another.

Lurking: a photo shoot in 4 minutes

So I shot a little project for a national magazine couple weeks ago in NYC. This was another photo story that i've started doing recently. I made a video of the shoot, by stringing together all the shots, uncut, in about the same shooting order, a la Chase Jarvis style. Its a good way to show my process, how we try different things, where we start and where we end. We shot a total of 1105 frames. I've pulled 13 frames as final selects. You can see the final edited shots at:www.RobertHooman.com

This is a big departure for me in that in the past, i would NEVER show raw, unedited work. I'm letting it all hang out here!! the good, the bad, the misses and the few selects.

Giselle Raposo and Femi Olagoke were the models and added their own special touch to the performance. Laura Dominguez did a great job assisting. Music by Afro Celt Sound System.

LURKING from Robert Hooman on Vimeo.

Blessing the Sun in Brooklyn

It was 5am and i was awake. one of those single-day shifted schedules that wreak havoc on sleep patterns. On TV they're talking about some rare event that happens once every 28 years. I like. So I turn up the TV. The topic: the Blessing of the Sun festival in the very-orthodox Hasidic part of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. According to Jewish tradition, its the returning of the sun to its original spot in the sky as the very day the earth was created!! pretty impressive thing to keep track of all these years. and so, being a stone throw away, i figured there'll be good visual/story possibilities. i head out with my camera, dredging the hoards of reporters and photographers that'll be there ahead of me. I figure an event that happens once every 28 years, should attract a few news vans, OJ-style. but as it turned out, i'm the only person there with an electronic device. All mine!!

Unfortunately the sun peaked out once for a few minutes before the overcast filled the sky and no one could determine where the sun is much less where it should be. If i had a t-shirt for it'd read: i got up at 5am and this is all i got to show for it:

The Grand Rabbi's posse was also pretty impressive and all 200 of them wanted to stand next to him while he spoke, atop a small creaky and swaying scaffolding.

Film Noir project-suspect

I've started a new personal project. Its inspired by American film noir and French new wave of the 60's. I dont have a name for it yet, but I'm calling this first part "suspect". The first series was shot as a test this past sunday in Brooklyn. The weather cooperated: wet grounds, a bit of fog, cold enough to see breath and a little drizzle. My dog, which was supposed to be a part of this first story didn't cooperate. It was too cold and wet for her. So much for the vicious pitbull! The beautiful Angelina Annunizato played the femme fetal. Bayla Bryski, who is very professional despite not being a professional, assisted. Most of this was shot with two remote strobes.

iPhone Photography

iPhone has become an integral part of my workflow and project preparation. Used with iPhoto, it can really help organize visual ideas, keep journals, communicate with clients and stay in touch. 

The main idea is loading your images to iPhoto and let it manage the masters (i only do this with personal photos, iPhone pics and pix of me or friends i get from people). After loading the images into iPhoto, organize them with smart albums and keep separate albums for different thing:  inspiration, scouting, journal, scrap-booking, twittering, etc.

I keep a scrapbook of images i pull off the internet and portfolios that i really like and as reference and inspiration. Looking at photographs is as much a part of my job as taking them. It keeps me updated on what the trends and techniques are, it helps push ideas and it allows me to feed my addiction to photographs!

I keep my portfolio on my iPhone as well, incase i need to show someone. Even though my website is iPhone and blackberry friendly, but i'd rather have quick access regardless of connection speed.

When I'm out and about or location scouting i keep a visual diary of light, locations, angles , times of day, etc. My brain just wont hold fleeting data, so journaling is actually supplementing for memory lapses. NYC is pretty photogenic and no matter how long you live here and how many times you pass the same streets, there's always something new and interesting that went unnoticed before. I keep a journal of these things and when the time comes and I'm struggling for a location idea or something, the scouting album comes to the rescue.

You can also post you images from your iPhone to Twitter's TwitPic from where ever you are. A little bit of googling around and you can get the pic to post to Twitter and update you facebook status automatically in one fell swoop. For all you boys and girls who can't wait to show off your drunk pictures, twitpic is your man.

I post my iPhone pics on TwitPic: twitpic.com/photos/RobertHooman

The best way to organize your photos is by first creating Smart Albums and editing them to collect images that match a desired condition: "all images whose description is.... ". Whenever you upload your images to iPhoto, choose 'batch change' under the 'Photo' menu or control click on the selections, and add that condition (scouting, scrapbook, portfolio, journal, etc) to the description of the photos. Voila! sync your iPhone and you'll always have your albums in your phone (you need to make sure you've selected that album to to sync).

A plethora of iPhone apps are available to enhance iPhone's original photo app or help with some aspect of photography (pro and amateur).  There are apps for panoramas, night photography, HDR, multi-shot, Depth of Field calculators, Tilt-shift effect, grey cards... (26 pages of this stuff). I use Camera Bag which works great and adds a nice punch to the bland iPhone camera. The photo above was shot with Camera Bag Helga effect. I also have a sunrise/sunset and angle calculator called Focalware which i love. The shot below was shot with TiltShift.

For iPhone photography tips, checkout Chase Jarvis' blog: http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2008/12/5-tips-for-making-great-iphone-photos.html

Banning public Photography in England

This is ridiculous. Unemployment in UK has reached scary levels. there are daily protests and the police and armed forces are preparing for riots this summer. But the scariest part of all this is banning street photography, crumbling newspaper and magazine basically adds to no visuals of whats happening. We are entering the twilight zone.

Photographers Rights UK from Nick Turpin on Vimeo.

Adobe.... I hate you

This isn't about Adobe products as much as its about Adobe's horrible business tactics. I use photoshop like all photographers and i love it, but i can't wait till Apple turns out their own substitute for it. Of course in the past year my PS usage has dramatically dropped, due to Aperture. But inevitably, there are times when PS is needed.

So heres my gripe: I recently shot some stuff in RAW with a Canon G10. I normally use Aperture for RAW conversion, but i wanted to a quick test on one image to check out the G10's dymanic range and such. My CS3 which i bought less than 1.5 year ago wouldn't open it. I needed the new version of Camera RAW. Fair enough. Nothing new. So i download it off the Adobe website (for free) and installed it. All set, right? Wrong. i get a error message telling me this version of ACR will not work with CS3... please upgrade to CS4. A $350 upgrade!!!!! and therein lies the problem.

Adobe, like a few other professional software which for some time controlled the market (cough AVID cough) suspend their support for older versions of their software, forcing you to upgrade!! at a rate of once every 18 months, and in the declining and never-gonna-go-back-to-the-wasteful-ways economy, this is outrageous. ACR is not a big deal. it a free plug-in.

Apple, on the other hand, has constantly, and regularly updated and improved their products. An Apple upgrade, is a true upgrade. not just a few new features and a changed interface.

In my days as an editor, i experienced the same lack of customer care with AVID. A product that hardly improved its product since its inception (besides a nicer interface and compact hardware). These companies take advantage of their domination of the market. But i, like many editors, threw AVID to the crocks once Apple's FCP was in it's 3rd version. Apple has since had three more MAJOR, and i mean MAJOR versions. they consistently fix and patch their versions and provide outstanding support.

The same can be said for Apple's Aperture. In only its second version, Aperture has proven they are serious, professional and take customer feedback serious. I love it. 

I'll probably never buy another version of PS and i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Apple substitute.

Adobe... I hate you.

Inauguration of Barack Obama

I'll try and avoid hindsight wishes (like how i wish i could've stayed longer and not needed sleep or food and the cold was comforting, etc). Despite all that the weekend was ____________ (place a magnanimous word that makes amazing, unbelievable, incredible, etc look boring). But the day of, was something entirely unique. Imagine, 2.5 million people in a small area, horribly crowd controlled and no contingency plans.... 0 arrests!! Here's another mind-blower: I didn't get to the area i had a ticket for and ended up farther back in non-ticket area, and i didn't care, complain or even feel bad about it! SHOCKING!! 

The spirit that descended on DC for the Inauguration of Barack Obama, was unreal. I really wish (oh snap, i did it!!) i could've photographed more. But being a part of it meant being crammed somewhere in the cold for a long time. In all honesty, by the time the swear-in ceremony begun, i didn't care to photograph. I was there, i was happy. I was witnessing something special. Call it the first African-American president, call it the end of the dark Bush days, call it the rebirth of America, call it the second American revolution, call it change, call it history. It was all that and.... 

So these first photographs are of the We Are One free concert (which i didn't see and hardly despite being there and not too far away!!) It really amazing to see all these people gather in the freezing cold to not see or hear an event and be really okay about the whole thing.

If this were in NYC, they'd arrested about %50 of the crowd and all the black people, just because its NYPD!! i seriously waited for he cops to come storming into the crowd (somehow) and  pull people off trees and start handcuffing. Nope. we were allowed to enjoy this weekend.

Inauguration day, 2.5 million American ascend out of the darkness of eight years and the metro station to gather on the washington mall and witness history.

In the early morning, crowd control gave way to a peaceful and easy chaos. This crowd was tested by the elements and and logistics of the event all day. 

 A boy scout troop from Arizona spent the sub-freezing night outside the mall area. 

I couldn't get to my ticketed area, but all i cared about was being there. I fore went wasting another second and just entered the mall area much farther back that where i should have been. mostly on tip toes to cranes a look over the taller crowd in front. This was my moment. This was our moment.

And afterward the celebrating continued. some braved the ice of the reflecting pool to slide, dance and enjoy a new America. Thank god almighty. At Last.

Daily pic

As i took this picture in the freezing cold today, my iPhone froze up. this image remained on my dead iPhone.

plane crash goo omen

It seems like the plane that emergency landed into the hudson river oday, had no casualtie. I think its an omen, on the night that bush is to give his farwell speech, our problem started with a plane going into a NYC building and a plane safely landing on NYC hudson river spells the end of this shit

Keeta iphone blogging

Keeta loves sun bathing!! This is her daily ritual, squeezing up
agaist the wall as the sun fades, soaking up every last ray. This is
also my first blog from my iPhone.

Waiting at Union Station

I went to DC for the holidays to visit some family and photograph some DC sights. I only got around to the visiting. NO photography, except for the 20 minutes i was waiting to be picked up.

Of course, it wasn't that easy either. I checked in my bags for a couple hours, but kept my camera. Except i forgot the neck-strap and Memory card. DOH!!! I spent the two hours holding my camera and walking around. 

None the less, its a beautifully lit train station. The early morning light hits an archway wing, creating great shadows and depth. The stone facade also has some nice textures and aging streaks.  Indoor, the ceiling is a long dome, with a mixture of daylight pouring in through the high glass arches and artificial high-key lighting.

The other thing worth noticing is the presence of Obama merchandise, in stores and on people. The jubilation for his inauguration is unreal. I doubt we'll ever see anything like this again. I really hope to go back for the inauguration. It'll be historic and visual.

I got to use Carolina's  D300, which has a MUCH larger dynamic range than the Nikon D200. It performs better under low light conditions, less grain, less noise, higher resolving. But i also notice a considerable amount of chromatic aberration. Considering i use the same lens on a 200 without as much CA, i think its the body (and with that i learned Aperture 2.1.2 DOES NOT have Chromatic Aberration correction! WTF!!! I've been suspicious about my camera's chip and processing. It's been letting me down a whole lot. Shooting with the D300 confirmed my fears: My camera suck!!

Here are a couple samples. Shot RAW, ISO 250, Nikkor 17-55mm F2.8,  converted with Aperture 2.1.2, processed through Nik Color Efex Pro 3 and Nik Silver Efex Pro. 

the same in color for comparison (just in case you wonder what that looks like).

How to stop worrying and love the blog

So for the past 2.5 months, I've been busy writing my business, marketing  and promotional plans for 2009 (and beyond). Curiously, in all three plans, this blog is featured as one of the main tools to my business and work. Now truthfully, this was not the initial idea when i decided i should blog. I just thought it would be cool to blog, share some tips with people and feel i have an audience! (gotta feed the ego!) But  more and more i realize that blogging will be more than just a cool thing to do... it'll be essential!!

Just yesterday, i had a breakthrough with my promo plan. I was working how how i should send promos, to who, for what reasons, when, etc. It's based on a pyramid system, the higher you go, the more critical and targeted my promotions become. Now, guess what occupies the base of this promotional pyramid?? yup; the blog. The blog will not only be the foundation of my promotional plan and marketing, but i even think, it'll drive more business than any of the other parts of the plan!! Never underestimate the power of referrals!!

Lets face it, the economy is in shambles and there's no end in sight. Due to the internet's scope, speed and availability, print & TV are dying formats. Once fiber optics have been stretched across the country, business will be anything but usual; Working from home, fewer store-fronts,  reduction in transportation & shipping, smaller companies, larger reach, etc. We live in an era which our work and life must be environmentally friendly, economically viable and aid in curing our energy problems. Add to all this, we now have a president who is technologically savvy and is destined to expand our extranet infrastructure. If there are people who haven't adapted and who survive on the fringes of this technology, they can kiss their future good-bye. Not being a part of this wave is equivalent to handmade manufacturing over industrialization.

The internet is all about the search.  We know the data and info we need are out there on the web. We know there is a solution online for every problem that arises in life. The issue will be finding it faster and easier. Marketing online will be about just that; how to be found quicker and easier. How to be listed in the top 10 search results. How to remain inter connected. 

As it turns out, web crawlers, the bots that google and other search engines release out into the wild world of the internet, love blogs. blogs are keyword and link havens and web crawlers have an addiction for both. so they hang out around blogs and constantly index the info and keeping branching like a crazy six-degrees-of-separation junkie.  If i write about using a strobe and mention David Hobby or link to his site Strobist, the web crawlers will add all this info to strobist's already mighty indexed site and by pure web crawler magic, i am linked to any search done for strobist (albeit, i'll probably show up at the end of the list). but the more keywords we have in common, the more we link to each other and the more people click thru our links, the higher the search results will be. (something like that!!)

Therefore my reasons to blog become a necessity of business survival in these difficult times:

A. Sharing info and tips

B. feedback on my work

C. strengthen brand

D. Network and stay in touch

E. free method of promoting my work

F. and finally.... drive up traffic to my website

I already tap into several blogs that have very high traffic: Chase Jarvis, PShizzy, John Harrington, Rob Galbraith, David Hobby, Joe McNally, Trey Radcliff to name a few. These guys are already blogging gurus in their own rights. They're also super-photogs and extremely good at what they do. Chase Jarvis has established world wide recognition thru all his internet activities (blogs, Vlogs and such). David Hobby is invited to every corner of the world for his lighting seminars. Rob Galbraith is the Drudge Report of the photo biz world. The interesting thing about all these blogs is that they more or less focus on different aspects on the industry. They all share an enormous amount of information, valuable tips and techniques and insight. All for free.

And so, it'll be my challenge to 1. have the discipline to blog and 2. find an relevant topic to blog about.

Again, these first few blogs will not be interesting on any level. They're purpose is to prepare me for mid March when the final phase of my blogalizing is complete. (evil echoey laugh)

Gollllll......gol gol gol!!!

So as i approach my January 15 business launch, i'm starting to hone my needs, brand, marketing and goals. This blog has been sitting on the side, silently calling out from time to time and i've always wanted to answer, but never knew how and what i would say in my blog.  So after several weeks of thought, research and soul searching, here are my blog goals:

A. Explain HOO i am and WHAT i do

B. Share tips and ideas (technique and art)

C. Discuss business practices, trends and industry

D. Feedback

C. Network

E. Exposure

These first blogs will be to get the routine down, he jitters out and the blood flowing.

The first thing i will share is that i've realized i've become very comfortable with my photography routine. I've stopped the internal questioning and analysis of the process. I tell stories with my photos, but to tell someone a story, you gotta tell it to yourself first, right? Right. But, i've stopped doing that. This must be the first question that goes through my head when i shoot: what am i shooting? what's going on? what looks different, special, strange, funny...? Who is this? Where are we? 

Instead, I'm consumed with the technology of lighting. for the past year i've decided to use a strobe and with the help of David Hobby's generous sharing of invaluable information on Strobist, this has completely changed much of my photography, for the better. buts its also entered a new technical element into the equation, which is in no way simple and requires extra stuff and/or people at its best.  So a  big part of my internal dialogue is back to basics; how the hell does this work???

The good news is that i've learned strobe lighting; its opened up huge ideas and possibilities. The bad news, I'm falling back on past visuals that have worked while i struggle with the technology.

Okay, that was very journal-like. in future posts, i'll cut the self analysis part.

Lastly, Nikon just announced the D3x!! WHOOOOHOOOOOOOO

and trailing the pack...

now that everyone and their grandmother has a blog,  decided its my time to spew my conscious stream of thought and activity to the greater interwebthegoogle.

What i'll write about is anyone's guess, but like the title i chose at this time (which who knows how it'll feel in time and application), is about things that make me sore, angry, reactionary, rebellious, inspired, interested and such. You know, iSore.

Its also a place for me to show some of my work. Stories i photograph. Eventually, I'd like to share any insights, tricks, tips and ideas i come across in my photographic journey. And i suspect as the current political whirlwind winds down, this blog will be primarily photographic in nature.

BUT RIGHT NOW, politics and the state of the world is front and center. Its on my mind and i need to witness its change through the lens of a camera. 

So there. good luck