Beautiful faces make the photo world go around.

_8044327, originally uploaded by kirkinaustin.

This is a hodgepodge of fun trials. I shot with my 35-100 Olympus lens in earnest. I tried my hand at intentionally flat lighting for a change. I used a new flash for the background in a small softbox from a company in Malaysia. But mostly Emily and I had fun getting comfy with the camera.

Sometimes it's fun to shoot just for fun.

Man with Sausage in Elgin.

36, originally uploaded by kirkinaustin.

Tough to find sausage in Elgin? I don't think so. And everyone is opinionated about who serves up the best. Nice thing is that there's no bad sausage in Elgin either.

I did a profile story on Elgin for Texas Highways Magazine and BBQ loomed large. It was an odd magazine story for me because it was the last story I did using predominately 4x5 inch sheet film. And boy did I have a good time. I was using a Toyo field camera and the usual trio of lenses: 90mm, 150mm and 240mm. I hauled around three or four Profoto monolights but can't recall using more than one.

Nice to see a story run more than two or three pages. Still like sausage. Even after I saw it being made.....

Sometimes available light is just fine with me.

I was doing a brochure for a non-profit here in Austin. The assignment was to photograph kids in an enrichment program. At a certain age most kids are cute. We were trying to make them look hyper cute so that even crusty old curmudgeons would think twice before cutting funding for the program. Oddly enough I was shooting with a Pentax 6x7 film camera and color negative film. I might have wanted some fill flash but the mechanics of the large focal plane shutter on the "Pentax on Steroids" meant that the fastest sync speed was 1/30th of a second.

I opted to "zone system" my exposure by over exposing the color neg film by a full stop and having my lab pull the development time by 20%.

As you can imagine, four, five and six year olds on a playground move at a speed that would take a NASCAR driver's breath away. While it may seem impossible to those raised on high speed autofocus and built in Image Stabillization we routinely manually focused fast moving subjects while hand holding fat cameras back in the old days.

Was there a reward for that? I can't say for sure but I know I really like the way the depth of field falls off just past the front little boy's head. I know I had to edit through many fewer frames to find keepers and, I know that my arm muscles were toned.

I shot this project with two of the Pentax 67 bodies. A 150mm 2.8 on one body and a 55mm on a second body. One old incident light meter around my neck. No lighting. No assistants. No entourage. Just pure photography.

Had to get it right in the camera though because we went straight to the print.

One of my favorite kid photos.

Minimalist Lighting: A rare rimlit Tuck shot.

85852389-M, originally uploaded by kirkinaustin.

I don't like the gratuitous use of rim lighting or halo-like back lighting in photographs even though I am guilty of it from time to time. I was photographing an executive at a company called RackSpace in San Antonio for Accelerate Magazine (published for AMD) and I was in the throes of writing my first book on lighting ( Minimalist Lighting: Professional Techniques for Location Photography ). I wanted to show readers how much you could do with just a few battery powered strobes and this seemed like a fun place to start.

I'm using a small softbox to the right of the frame to provide main light for my subject. I've got a small flexible fill reflector over to the left of the frame for fill. It's being illuminated by a light set a 1/4 the power of the main light. I have two lights, zoomed to their widest reflector settings on the warm wall in the background and a fifth light aimed at the back of the subject's head as a separation or halo light. I thought it would be useful in separating the tone of the wall from the similar tone of his face.

There is much that can be done with small lights, and even though I've changed systems from Nikon to Olympus I try to keep my lighting bag full of small, battery powered flash units that can be used maually with power set in ratios. Currently I'm using a mix of Metz and Vivitar flashes. The Vivitars have built in optical slaves and a slave setting that overrides the energy saving programming of the the flash. This makes them great as secondary flashes for things like back wall washes and accent lights.

The photo session included a number of shots taken around the Rack Space facility and was well used by the magazine.

After writing the first book I had a reaction to all the battery powered, small light stuff. I took a hiatus and embraced my big, clunky, powerful Profoto lights for a while. My recent system change has re-energized my interest in the small flashes. I'm currently having fun figuring out how to conquer Texas sun with just a handful of Metz units. More details to come.

Best, Kirk

P.S. The Commercial Photographer's Handbook should start shipping from Amazon this coming week. I'm thrilled with the printing of the book. The colors are wonderful.

Keeping Austin Wonderful.

danny young smiling, originally uploaded by kirkinaustin.

I don't know how it is in other cities because I've lived in Austin for so long but it's the people who live outside the mainstream paradigm that give our city its sparkle, its life.

Several years ago Zachary Scott Theater put on a play by David Steakley called, Keeping Austin Weird. It was a celebration of the many people who make Austin such a livable city. Musicians, politicians like the late, Ann Richards, the family that paints their front yard like a giant Twister game mat, the cross dressers and tower builders and Elvis impersonators.

To give a face to the project I went around town and shot images of notable Austin human landmarks. One of them was Danny Young who was known as the "Mayor of South Austin".

He held court at his Tex Mex restaurant in the heart of South Austin (epicenter for Austin's counter cultural spirit and home of the Austin music scene).

I intended to light Danny the way I'd been lighting everyone else for this project: one big soft box, a few lights for the background, etc. But when I walked in he was sitting in a booth next to a window. It was overcast outside by the light was gorgeous as it came through the window.

I sat down opposite him and we talked for a bit. We did the "who do you know that I know game", we talked about how cool Austin was in the late 60's and early 70's. We talked about Tex-Mex food and restaurants. I could have listened for hours.

Finally, I pulled out my camera. I was carrying around a Kodak SLR/n and an 85mm 1.8 Nikon lens. We joked and shot and shot and joked and then shot some more. It was a "minimalist" shoot for me. I usually shoot a couple hundred frames during the course of a session but Danny had me alternately in stitches and tears and I only managed to get 25 or 30 frames that weren't ruined by my laughter.

When I edited I didn't have moment of hesitation....this was the frame. I captured his warmth and his joy.

I heard that Danny passed away last year and I was sad. It was like some foundation of Austin crumbled a bit. The old energy of the city lost some voltage. But I was glad that my career as a photographer gifted me with an introduction to Danny Young.

And it's a constant reminder to me of the transient nature of the universe. And maybe a wake up call to be less conformist and get on with the job of living life on my own terms.

I remember a quote from the Tao that Danny mentioned, "If you look to others for approval they will control you." Something all artists should acknowledge.

Don't shoot for the club, or the client or the approval of a forum. Shoot because your own spirit moves you to do so. Do your job and move on. The accolades will come on their own.

Seven Days in the Life of an Eccentric Photographer.

Photographer's Kid

Somehow this got deleted and I had a few requests to repost it. Here goes.

If you've read my blog over time you'll realize that I can be somewhat imprecise. So, in fact, my seven days covers eight days. I decided to write this because everywhere I go there seem to be misperceptions about the way we work. Professional photographers out there will probably shake their heads and tell you that their experience is totally different but that's the whole nature of the business!

Last Thurs. morning I got up at 6:30 and tossed my camera bag into my Honda Element which was already filled with lighting gear and other fun stuff I wanted to use in demonstrations at the Creative Photographic Retreat where I would be teaching for three days. Being a former Boy Scout I hew to the motto, "Be Prepared" and brought my own LCD projector, just in case.

My first stop was the Rollingwood Pool where, at 7am, I joined my rowdy band of masters swimmers and pushed my way through a swimming workout of around 3200 yards. Next stop: Starbucks. Venti half caff drip coffee and a scone. Then onto the freeway pointed at Dallas.

Checking into the Marriott in the early afternoon and learned that the person who would teach the basics course (engineered to get newbies up to speed on basics) was delayed. Could I teach and impromtu one hour course on camera basics? You bet. The conference started with a welcoming reception and then all the instructors had a dinner together at the hotel.

I was, at 53, the oldest instructor by far. While the rest of the crew went out on the town at night I headed to my room to spend a few hours writing book #5.

Up in the morning Friday for breakfast and a brisk run thru the maze of tall Dallas office buildings. My first class started at 11:00 am and ended at 12:30 pm. The second class was from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm. If you've ever taught a typical photo workshop (my subject was "using your flash off camera:) you probably know this drill: You finish up your curriculum and then you ask for questions about ten minutes before the end of the class. One or two people raise their hands and we muddle through a few general questions. Then the class is over and nearly half the class line up to ask you their questions individually. And it's usually a variation of the same question. Too shy to ask questions in front of the crowd I guess.

Saturday is basically a repeat of Friday with two more class sections. On the last day, after the formal classes everyone heads outside to try out what they learned and ask questions of the instructors. We spend a couple hours helping implement newly found skills. And then there is a closing ceremony with great door prizes from Canon, Tamron and others. The Canon guys were so nice that I felt like I should keep my little olympus cameras out of sight.

Once the official program was over the instructors had one last dinner together and then, around 10 pm headed to the lobby bar to compare professional notes and share our backgrounds and talk about marketing. That wrapped up at two in the morning. Even our choice of beverages was so diverse it was funny. From Shirley Temples to Champagne. The photographers were mostly baby, wedding, expecting and family portrait professionals. I was the sole advertising/corporate shooter.

Up the next morning and back on the road to Austin. Lunch with the family and then pre-planning for the next week. I shot through most of the week for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority annual report. I needed to pack a range of stuff. I'd be shooting outside for the most part. I packed a bag with two Olympus e520's, 11-22mm lens, 14-54mm lens, and a wild 70-300mm lens which, in 35mm speak, is the equivalent of a 140-600mm lens. Brought along polarizing filters for all of them.

I also charged batteries and composed e-mails for all the clients who needed information during the week. I also dropped by the bank night drop to deposit some checks that had piled up over the week.

Monday. Driving up and down the tollways looking for soaring flyovers and curving overpasses with cool skies behind. The heat topped out at 104 and the car thermometer read 125 on the pavement. I was usually standing on the pavement to set up and take the photos. (Newsflash, e520's tend to underexpose by about 2/3rds of a stop).

Home at the end of the day to answer e-mails and phone calls while downloading files into Lightroom, making general corrections, and outputting the images as small jpegs. After dinner with the family the files get uploaded to a Smugmug gallery and I send a link to the client and the agency. Finally, before I put the memory cards back in the camera bag I copy the folders with the originals and the little Smuggie files to two other hard drives.

I swim in the morning and then check in with the client. We go out and shoot again. This time I take Ben along as an assistant. He's 13 but he's good to hang with. He's kind and indulgent with his father. We get lime green safety vests with orange stripes so we're visible if we pull off the road to shoot from overpasses. We park at an overpass that the client has on the shot list and start shooting the intersection just below. In minutes a black, stealth police cruiser with lights flashing pulls in behind the old Element and two police officers dressed in tactical black hop out of the car looking ominous.

We spend a few minutes chatting and I finally pull the name of the highway authority out. Seems the roads are privately managed and the police are paid from the authority to patrol. They give me the nod of approval and warn me not to break any traffic laws. Warm and fuzzy moment. Ben and I discuss the role of law enforcement. I let him know that a 50 year old with a clip board, a safety vest, a hard hat and a walkie talkie could probably get away with just about anything. He makes a mental note.

The rest of the day is a scavenger hunt for interesting angles and interesting clouds.

Weds. is a repeat performance but this time we bring along a bag of lights and a new lens. The lens is the Olympus 35-100mm f2 zoom. Weighs four pounds and I'm loving the image quality. It seems very humorous to me to put a $2500 lens on a $350 body but there you go.....

The lights are for the interior "high tech" shots where we go into the server rooms to make exciting abstractions of wires and switches and lots and lots of Dell computers and servers. Ben and I get to use the Flash Waves radio triggers. I also use two of the Vivitar Series One Olympus dedicated flashes. Here's why: They have built in slaves and when you set the slaves the camera defaults to manual. You set the power level you want. The slave switch also disables the power saver settings. The Flash Wave triggered a Metz flash which then triggered the two Vivitars. Everything was set up into small umbrellas. Ben got the whole thing really quickly.

I brought along the 35-100 f2 for a very specific reason. We needed to shoot down from a bridge or gantry and include the cameras that clock the cars and read their toll tags. The cameras are about ten feet below us and we are behind a strong wire mesh that can't be removed. I'm banking on 100mm at f2 to give us a shallow enough depth of field to basically make the mesh disappear. For the most part it works. We scout some more stuff and when the thunderheads move in we call it a day and head back home to the studio. Unload, download, reload, recharge, back-up, make galleries, return phone calls and e-mails. Every day starts at 6:30 and every day seems to end around 8 pm.

This day had extra, added stuff. A dinner party at a friend's house. I wrapped a bit early, bought a nice Bordeaux on the way home and we spent the evening catching up with six other families we know well.

I talked about my current project and I wore my safety vest to the house for a bit of fun.

Remember, we're not shooting cute models or striking portraits. We're shooting roadways and technology. But I love it for three reasons: 1. I'm good at it and the client likes the work, 2. I get well paid for the work, 3. It's the hard or what are thought to be "unglamorous" subjects that let pro's show off what they can do with the most common clay. Anyone can shoot an interesting image of a beautiful young girl in an exotic locale. Let's see what you can do with asphalt. Lots of asphalt.

I change directions on Thurs. take a break from the roadways and we photograph five different executives from Dell in our studio. It's really the first formal outing for the 35-100 and I'm overjoyed with the look and the ease with which it works when mounted on a stout tripod. The lighting is Profoto power packs and heads. Main light is a 60 inch Softlighter umbrella diffused with an extra layer of white silk.

Then in the early afternoon we do a few group shots of more Dell execs followed by a magazine cover shoot for yet another Dell exec. Then Ellis Vener showed up from Atlanta and we talked tech. (Ellis is the technical writer for Professional Photographer Magazine and a damn good photographer. He knows more about the technical end of imaging than just about anyone around). After a good catching up session it was back to........you guessed it......downloading, uploading and gallery making. Never stops. This time it was for the Dell people. The Oly cameras are great with flesh tone. Probably should have shot the whole thing with an e-1 but I was tired and wanted to go with the sure bet. (You never know when you are going to need the bigger file size).

Today was clean up day. Or it should have been. There was an early client meeting (after the swim) to go over the week's shooting and to plan some of next week's shots. Then a coffee with a photographer who just moved into town and wanted a little guidance (asking my advice? Optimist!) followed by a lunch with one of my favorite photographers, Will Van Overbeek. His advertising work is incredible.

By the time I got to the studio I was wiped out but, you know, you need to get your billing out as quick as you can while everything is fresh in your mind. Nap on the couch? Not until I book a model for some personal, portfolio work on Sunday. And another assistant for monday's highway shoot. Mailed out checks. Checked e-mails.

Doesn't sound very glamorous, does it? Sounds more like work. Like everybody else's job. Yeah? Well, I conjecture that for every photographer out there shooting fashion or glamor and getting paid for it there are like, ten thousand of us working stiffs who are shooting interchanges, asphalt, products and executives day after day. It's a long way from those dreams of shooting art that we all had back at the university decades ago. Unless you allow yourself to make each project your art.

But believe me, after the year we've just collectively lived through I am thrilled to be working on good, paying projects. And working with new toys. And making art out of monolithic concrete and gently curving overpasses. Modern Stonehenge. Just wanted to share my typical week. Hope yours rocked.

Kirk

Upcoming stuff: My third book is coming out at the end of August. It's entitled, The Commercial Photographer's Handbook. It's not anything like my first two books. It's all about the business and marketing part of being a photographer. It's highly opinionated. It doesn't agree that "information wants to be free". If you are contemplating a career in photography it de-mystifies the business and tells you how to get rolling. You'll like it. Maybe. Some people don't like anything but you're not like that........

More as we get closer. KT

My book on the business of photography is available for pre-order at Amazon. I like it.

Order here (click)

Life is an iterative process. Every time you do something you build on your previous efforts, and writing books is no exception. When I wrote my first book, Minimalist Lighting etc. I was nervous and over thought the process. The book was well received but the emotional cost was outsized compared to the enjoyment of the process.

The second book seemed to sing along for me as I discovered my pace and really got into the subject.

But the third book, the one above, captivated my interest in a uniquely different way. In a sense it's a retrospective of my career in the field. Not through the photographs, in the sense of a retrospective show but rather, as a retrospective collections of thoughts and theories that have made me, if not successful, then at least ten steps ahead of my creditors while doing the one job that I've loved more than any other.

Like most I have the subconscious conviction that I am an artist first and a business man as a far second. Business practice out of necessity rather than a warm embrace of capitalism. Doubtless, with good therapy early on, I could have changed my views about the relative importance of the business end and perhaps made much more money. Or at least as much money but in a much easier way.

But the book distills all of the things that worked and continue to work into a wonderful melange that speaks to the old saying, "Hindsight is 20/20". I hope this book is one that will have readers saying, "I wish I'd had this resource when I was first starting out."

Rather than stroke my own ego I have peppered the book with gorgeous photos from incredible professionals like architecture expert, Paul Bardagjy, Advertising and editorial superstar, Will Van Overbeek, and the most amazing photographer I've met in my career, Wyatt McSpadden. (Wyatt's new book, Texas Barbeque, is nothing short of fine art---in every sense. From the images to the graphic design).

If you know someone who is struggling to make a career in commercial photography work I hope you'll think about recommending my book to them. It goes on sale the first of September but it is available for pre-order right now at Amazon.com.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled blogging........