Biltmore swimsuit shoot

Loving the scanner these days. I'm going to be posting images from my recent scans in the coming weeks.

Photography is a creative field that when I make a beautiful image it will always be beautiful to me. This is one of those images. The model is great! She is giving me long exaggerated lines that accentuate the curves of her body. She looks great without over doing it. Helping the overall image is the light that is relativley soft but bright enough giving me good contrast. If I could do all over, I might have moved the furniture in the background.

I made this photograph at the Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, using a Hasselblad C/M camera. I used a 150mm lens, shooting across the pool. It was a long throw, so I had to shoot-for-crop. A shoot-for-crop means, I didn't have a long enough lens to get in tight from across the pool so I had to shoot loose and crop to achieve the perspective I wanted. Sometimes you have to think on your feet and make it work with what you got.

Cody

Cody, our bird dog. Actually he hunted chew toys better than wildlife.


OK. This month seems to be dog month.

Since, I created a post about Kona, I think it’s appropriate to give a little respect to her predecessor. We wouldn’t have Kona, if it weren't for Cody.

Cody, was our Yellow Lab of 12 and a half years. I made this picture of Cody in the Fall of 1996. Cody was a wonderful family dog and loving companion. Before, his first birthday he had corrective surgery for Hip Dysplasia. His hips were always a little weak compared to other dogs but he was a big, strong dog that had a good life as a result of the operation.

Cody, left us Jan. 7, 2009. Personally, it was a double barreled blast since three days earlier, I lost my job of 20 years due to lay-offs. The changes continue as life evolves around us but the companionship of a dog is unwavering and always complete.

Kona, our rescue dog.

This is Kona, our new dog. About a month ago, Lorie and I adopted her from a group called Boxer Luv Rescue. She’s our first rescue dog. Boxer Luv Rescue gets their dog’s from all over the Valley. They rescued Kona from the Humane Society. According to her papers she is 2 years 9 months old. As a result of being bounced from place to place she is extremely insecure and scared to death when people come to the house. The weird thing is, she is a great at the dog park and on the leash, but when someone comes over it’s a different story. Run for hills!

What would Cesar Millan do?

Lorie and I, give her all the love we can and the space to settle in. I hope after a while she’ll realize this is a safe place for her and she isn’t going to be kicked out.

As far as a companionship goes she is one of the best dogs I have ever had. She’s loving, gentle, sticks by your side, listens, and isn’t annoying. Actually she's the perfect dog except for the skittishness. Only time will tell.

Rancher Rolf Flake

This is Rolf Flake of Gilbert, Arizona. Rolf is a rancher, cowboy, author, poet, and singer.

I made this picture around 2pm in the afternoon when the was sun was pouring light onto his face and arms. I had a translucent scrim in my car that I attached to the eve of the porch. By doing that, I created shade making the light even and manageable. The light on his face is created from bounce light coming off the dirt parking area in front of the house.

RC Gorman Portrait

This is the late internationally shown artist RC Gorman who died in 2005 at the age of 74. Gorman, a Native American born in Chinle, Arizona is a Navajo Indain. If you would like to read more about RC Gorman please visit this link: http://www.answers.com/topic/r-c-gorman

Sometimes it is easy to fall into making a cliche photograph when taking pictures of artists. You should try to see beyond the obvious and make an interesting photograph that reveals the individual's character and personality. The expected shot would be him sitting or standing among his paintings and lithographs on the wall. I made a few of those images and was bored stiff. I decided, to move in tight and get a detail shot of his face and eyes. I wanted an intimate look into this famous person's face. A photograph that reveals who he is. This is RC Gorman.

Wedding Jitters

I posted this shoot on A Photo A Day list serve a few days ago and had a few interesting comments. Personally, I love this image. It's one of those rare opportunities where I captured this young woman's anxiety before her wedding. It's not often a photographer is present for such a private moment.

I’m trying out a Nikon 8000 scanner with VueScan software. This image is my first attempt scanning color film . I need to familiarize myself with the scanner software but considering the age of this image (1992) I’m pretty happy with the tonality. Very little toning was done to the image. Miner adjustments in curves, vibrancy and little sharpening. The original image was made on Kodak color negative film. I used a Hasselblad CM body, normal glass and a Norman 200B flash.

Caption:
While the wedding party was gathering in the sanctuary people became concerned the bride wasn’t emerging from the dressing room. When it became evident there was a problem, I went to check in with the bride. I found her on the couch crying and in the fetal position. After an intervention with friends and family she eventually got dressed and the wedding went on as planned.

Could this be you?

A recent discussion with a friend motivated me to write an insightful narrative for you to ponder.

My friends, when it comes to your work life who is in control of your destiny?

When you first enter the job market as a young adult you'll find yourself working side-by-side with people of all ages. At first, you might consider them to be dinosaurs or maybe mentors or someone to learn from.

It has become clear to me that technology is moving so fast that many of these senior employees have fallen behind. What do you do with senior employees who have fallen behind? You can promote them to positions of incompetence or in today's environment lay them off. How many times have you seen this in your work place.

Being a curious person, I have to ask who’s at fault? The aforementioned senior employee is now at a point of incompetence and no longer has the knowledge base and / or the respect of other employees who have been raised in the digital age.

I bring this up because I think it is important to realize how the perceived dinosaur falls behind and how quickly this will become you if you’re not proactive.

Case in point. In my experience as a full-time staff photojournalist of 20 years, I never attended a workshop or seminar that could be duded “employee development.”

If I wanted to learn new technology or be involved in industry workshops, it was left to me to bear the full financial burden of the education that would benefit me and my employer. A typical seminar or workshop could cost as low as 800 and up to 2000 dollars depending on its location and time commitment.

Sadly, where I worked employee development fell to the wayside and was never a priority with corporate leadership. No motivation or reimbursement what so ever.

There was no way I could afford to go to workshops or do any other proactive industry development courses. So you can’t help but to fall farther and farther behind as the years pass and all while the parent company is expanding its brand by making multimillion dollar acquisitions.

While you make just enough to keep your family fed and fuel in your car, you’re losing money and making yourself less marketable with every year that passes. To compound the problem the company might buy a new computer system and not update the software. It’s great at first but after 5 plus years the system is so outdated modern software will no longer work on the machine.
It is at this point the overly confident intern comes in with his or hers state of the art laptop computer loaded with the newest software, new cameras and a basic understanding of just about everything relevant to your job. The only thing they lack is the experience. When the intern is working for practically free or in some cases totally free experience comes pretty fast.

As the technology you’re forced to use at work becomes old so does your worth. At least today you can turn to the internet and learn from users in the public domain who teach for free.

Next time you look at a senior employee and wonder why he is so disconnected, I wouldn’t judge but ask yourself could this be me in not so far off future.