Confidence

First - read this:

http://poemfish.typepad.com/poemfish/2008/10/channeling-the-inner-rock-star.html


My wife is, absolutely, a rockstar. She's a natural artist in a way I could only dream of being. The post above was her first. HER FIRST try at off-camera lighting with two externally-fired lights.

Take a look around the internet for a minute, and search some photos for "off-camera lighting." Most don't look as good as my wife's, on her first attempt.

She often talks like I'm the guru - like I'm the guy who knows his stuff and can make a difference when we go off on a photoshoot. Yet what she always doesn't realize is that SHE is better than me. She's more talented than me. She can do everything I can, and better. She doesn't believe it, she probably would never admit it. But I admit it, and I'm proud to have her by my side at any photoshoot. She IS a rock-star, and I love her more than anything.

Casey - you are my inspiration in life, and I owe everything to you. Thank you for always being there and inspiring me to do better - and to always be "more" than I am right now (a reference to Batman Begins, of course).

Stress Relief

I have been busier than I can remember in a long time. School is grinding this year - and it's very hard to keep my head above water. I'm learning all-new stuff for our school's news website, and we're still working on photography quite a bit.

What's sad is that my "fun" photoshoots - where I just grab a camera and go out for photos rarely happens anymore. It seems like I don't have time for the fun stuff when I still have thousands of photos to edit and shape up.

But I took some time yesterday to get out into the country and take some photos. It felt fantastic to pull to the side of the road and just listen to the wind run through the fields, and to see the deep blue sky scattered with clouds. I sat on the ground at one point and just took it all in. Here are some shots.

Fun!

This took me forever, and any programmer would laugh at my first flash effort... but I had fun and it looks good! Yay!

Unexpected

Friday Night Dreams

The first game of the season. New coach. New players. The raw energy on the field before the kickoff was something you could almost touch and feel - as the players believed in the dream of winning this first game against the number 10 team in state.



Coach Heuertz in his first game as head coach - ever. He's trying to turn around a program that has one of the worst records over the past six years as anyone in the state. I'm sure he dreamed of winning this one, although realistically they didn't have much of a chance against a much more experienced team with far more returning players.



The players fought all night - and they were close to scoring several times, moving the ball downfield in what just might be some foreshadowing of success to come.





Yet at the end of the night, a loss is a loss, and many in the crowd just might be thinking "new coach, but same old results."



They weren't looking closely, or looking at what was important. Coach Heuertz is making a difference, and he's showing his players and the entire school the right way to play the game - on the field and in life.





He never once lost his cool, or his temper. He coached like crazy all the way to the end, and he never lost his positive attitude. While some of the coaches in the past would revert to maniacal tirades against referees, Heuertz showed more respect for the game.



Beyond all this, you could feel a different attitude on the sidelines than I've seen in the past. The players, while hurt by the impending loss, kept their spirits up and motivated each other to keep trying, and to fight till the end of the night.

While the dream of winning this game was quickly shattered, this school will rally around the new coach and the new attitude of the players. I believe this because the team believes, and the pursuit of the dream is sometimes more important than living it.

Resting

Rest time for me is over. I'm back at school, and it feels like there never was a summer. It's so weird when I get back in the classroom, with a new set of students, and I'm in front of them talking to them about photography, journalism, and all kinds of other things... and it feels like I never left for two and a half months.

Teaching is so insane. These students come at you from completely different worlds - but if you're honest, and you're fair, and you're yourself - they will buy in and do the right thing... and you just might be able to make a difference in their lives.

This year I hope to take some time out for myself here and there, and to get out there and produce some art. I realize I have to take care of myself before I'm any good to these students. That means I have to force myself to grab a camera, get out in the world, and just enjoy the beauty that's everywhere. It means I have to take some time for myself and for my wife - because I'm a much better teacher when I'm rested and ready for the chaos of the day.

A flower for Casey

In a sense - almost every photo I take of landscapes - of flowers - of the things I find beautiful in the world, I take for you, Casey. When I'm out without you with my camera, there are always things I see that I think: "I wish Casey were here to see this." So I snap a photo and can't wait to see your face when I show you later.

You have supported me through all of this photography stuff, and we've done amazing things with it together - but none of it would be possible without you.

You make me believe in possibilities I never imagined before. You make me think of a future that is full of change, excitement, and wonder. You bring happiness to my life every day.

Today is your birthday, and this picture (and every other) is for you.

HDR

OK. So this is my first-ever HDR shot. I know it's not great - I took it while scoping a location for a wedding portrait session - but it's a classic example of an extreme-contrast situation.

What was cool is that I was able to do this hand-held because the Mark III has a shooting speed capable of bracketing out exposures from -3 to +3 in a little more than a half second or so. Couple that with the image-stabilized lens, and the Mark III becomes a capable hand-held HDR camera.

Although I'm still not sold on the HDR look, it's at least something worth investigating and another tool to throw into the creative toolbox.

Walls in Chicago

False hope

This sign is not true. Sadly.

Model Shoot

With all the bad weather we have been having, we had to re-schedule these shots several times. This time the weather held up, the morning of the 4th of July, and my wife and I were able to get together with this aspiring model for portfolio shots.

Awesome stuff!

1D Mark III ISO 100 f/3.2 @ 1/1600

Do work, son!

I'm finally getting around to not being a sissy and submitting my work to magazines and galleries. This package is going to The Sun Magazine, which has already rejected me once before, years ago. Maybe this time they'll accept a photo or two... or maybe not.

Doesn't matter.

What matters is that I try. I always tell my students that nothing ever happens unless you try - unless you push yourself and take some risks... so now it's my turn.

Fun with Textures

Mark III ISO 400 f/4 @ 1/320 w/ 70-200 2.8 IS L

My wife and I had a wedding last night, and it was a lot of fun. The Mark III rocked the house.

Just for fun, we went out this morning and shot hundreds of textures downtown - and this was one that really seems to work. I've got to do more to experiment, but it looks like they will add a dimension to our overall presentation we give to our clients. Good stuff.

Last Chance

1D Mark III - 24-104mm f/4 - 1/40 @ f/4 ISO 1600


My wife and I stopped by a Carnival at the Crossroads Mall parking lot last night. We had seen it there all week, but kept putting off photographing it. We were close to staying home and doing it another night, but it's a good thing we didn't. Talking with one of the people there, it was the last night in town. We took a few cool photos, but more than anything it was just fun being spontaneous and being there with my wife on a beautiful night.

Mystery

1D Mark III - 35mm 1.4L - 1/4000 @ f/1.4

Places like this fascinate me. Out in the countryside, homes like this exist all over - abandoned, run-down, and frozen in time.

When I'm there, on a day like this, I can't help but imagine what things were like when people lived here. Were there children running and playing on the hill, dashing in between the trees? Or was the land always subdued, sad, and quiet?

It's part of the mystery, and why love to photograph these places.

Support

Outside of my wife, Catie just might be my biggest supporter. She often comments on my blogs, tells her friends about my site, and has always been around with kind words about things I've been working on - like the Omaha Project and our portraits and weddings. The funny thing is that she was around at school, as a student, the first time I ever picked up a camera from the former teacher and asked him how to even load the thing. It was before I even knew what an f/stop was, and now, seven years later, she's still there with me as I try to expand my photographic skills.

She's also always ready for photographs, and is a natural in front of the camera. Today we went out to a park so I could practice using a two flash setup with pocket wizards and my Mark III, and it was totally fun. She's a natural in front of the camera, and it's no pressure on me since we go "way back," allowing me the ability to act clueless and to take time to figure things out.

Thanks for all the support, Catie! Here are a few more, and the rest are on a custom gallery on www.jzportraits.com

Focusing...

Three shots taken with the new Mark III that came in the mail the day before my brother-in-law's wedding reception, showing the power of what the new camera can do.

The group shot was taken on fully automatic focusing mode, with the camera set to "machine gun." Every single shot taken (more than 30 over the course of a few seconds) is in focus. The camera was able to intelligently decide the subject, figure out how fast it was moving toward the camera, and keep up with the focus every step they took. Unbelievable.

The second shot was taken with the 85mm 1.8 lens - a lens that usually sits in my closet. With every other DSLR I've had, the thing was way too erratic, simply because at 1.8 the focus is so shallow that I would almost never focus on what I wanted it to... but with the Mark III, almost all of the 100 or so shots I took with the thing are focused... and that includes some really low-light, tough situations.

Finally, the last shot is of Ira, my father-in-law. It's taken at ISO 3200, and hasn't had any post-processing done to reduce noise. The noise level in the shot is simply stunning and now allows me to shoot at ISO 3200 at a wedding when I'd only go to 1600 before.

Nearly every shot was in focus the entire night. Every one. Even when it was extremely dark and muddy (indoors with artificial light) I was getting shots I wouldn't have thought I'd get before without taking dozens of photos and hoping for the best.

The night was a blast, and the Mark III helped me capture the moments. I think that makes it worth the money...

One more IR

Another IR before moving on to different shots...

Flexing

Sometimes, in order to get better, you have to flex your muscles, or work them out. Using a infrared filter on a lens seems to have that effect on me in photography.

The Hoya R72 filter, when placed on the lens, seems to cancel out pretty much all light visible to our eyes. When you look through the viewfinder, it's a bit of a shock, as you might think your camera is broken - all you see is black.

You pretty much can't trust your light meter, and although the autofocus does seem to work, you might not be sure what you're focusing on, not to mention the exposures being so slow it's almost impossible to use a high f/stop without a tripod (and I hate tripods).

It's kind of light the film days - when you'd have to do the best you can, make a very educated guess, and see what happens when you get the film developed...

It's exciting because it slows me down, makes me think, and humbles me just a little bit. All good stuff for the photographic brain.

The shot above was taken at f/13 and one full second on the shutter. I had placed the camera on the ground and took just two photos at different exposures. This one worked out the best.