P&P Blogger Profile: Dave Beckerman

Dave Beckerman of Dave Beckerman Photography: New York

I photograph what interests me in New York City.

Why do you blog?
I started to keep a “journal” online in 1999. I had two motivations: 1) I wanted to try and document what I was doing with photography in real-ish time. 2) I thought it was a good idea to keep people interested in my site since I wouldn’t be able to produce pictures fast enough or often enough to keep them coming back, so there was a commercial aspect to it. I don’t know if there was even blog software in those days – I just wrote sequentially in my html editor.

If you only had time to read three blogs a day, which ones would they be?
I really don’t read any blogs regularly.

How long have you been using Photoshop/been a photographer?
I’ve been a photographer for about 45 years. I’ve been using Photoshop for a very long time. Maybe since 1998 or so.

What type of camera(s) do you shoot with?
I have shot with just about everything (read that as money poorly spent). I now shoot with the Leica M3 or the M6. I shoot with Tri-X film. (Spent one year doing digital with Canon 20D but I like film better – at least for b&w).

Mac or PC?
PC.

What is your favorite piece of photo or computer equipment (other than your camera)?
That is easy: Epson 4800 printer. It is the most important piece of equipment in the house.

What piece of equipment would you most like to get but don’t have?
I’d love to get a larger (wider) printer, but I can’t find a place to put it.

What advice do you have for a novice creative professional/photographer?
For fine art photographers – don’t think of yourself as a novice or a professional. Don’t do anything different as an amateur or a professional. Just follow the obsession. If you’re not obsessed – then no advice will help anyway.

What inspires you to create?
At this point – it’s just a way of life. I don’t need inspiration. The camera is with me and if I see something interesting I raise it to my eye – and shoot.

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
I am not qualified to give advice to anyone about life.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you live now)?
I can think of lots of places that would be better – but I’m stuck in New York for some mysterious reason.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Watch television.

What talent would you most like to have?
That’s easy: something athletic. Maybe the ability to play baseball; any position. But I’m too old for that now anyway. So an athletic talent for a 55 year old guy: maybe ping pong.

From Inside the Actors Studio:
What is your favorite word? Damn
What is your least favorite word? Bosh.
What turns you on? Sexy women.
What turns you off? Too many commercials during baseball games. Too damned many.
What sound or noise do you love? My cat, purring
What sound or noise do you hate? My neighbor doing singing exercises; she can make my teeth rattle.
What is your favorite curse word? Freakin’ and all the most popular ones. I curse a lot.
What occupation other than your own would you like to attempt? Definitely lead guitar in a rock band.
What occupation would you not want to participate in? Toll collector; even on a really big highway.
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? I know you didn’t believe in me while you were alive – and I know that things just didn’t make any sense – but now – let’s sit down and I’ll explain it all to you.

*Note: If you would like to participate in the P&P Blogger Profile series, please email Jason with your blog's URL and he will send you a profile to fill out. Also, be sure to check out the P&P Weekly every Monday for news about this site and a roundup of what other Photoshop & Photography Blogroll members are posting.

Big Surprise: M.C. Escher

Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait. And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

What Artist Should Paint Your Portrait?

P&P Weekly: #14

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road has a post about grayscale conversions and model releases as well as a new photo gallery.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorite this week is "Alternative Energy"
• Andy of Visual Realia has a number of interesting holiday shots this week.
• I posted on the launch of a new division at work that will provide photo restoration services.

Just a note: With New Year's Day coming on Monday, the P&P Weekly may be released a little later than usual again next week.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Happy Holidays!

Ancestral Photo Restorations

Today marks the launch of a new division of Moore Multimedia, Inc. We are always working to develop new areas of our business to serve our customers and clients in new and valuable ways.

Given my skill and experience in Photoshop, it seemed like a natural step to move in the direction of providing photo retouching and restoration services. And so Ancestral Photo Restorations was born.

We are very excited about this new phase of our company and look forward to seeing how it will grow.

PSUser Awards Update

I've decided not to enter any of my photos in this year's Photoshop User Awards. There's only about a week and a half before the submission deadline and I just haven't had the time or the energy to focus on getting something ready. And with the holidays and the busyness of these next weeks, as well as preparing the launch of a new division at work (which I'll talk more about later this week), I don't feel like this is my year. I want to be at my best when I enter.

Thanks for your input and support!

Photoshop User Awards

Now is the time for entries into the Photoshop User Awards presented by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

I can enter up to 3 images for a chance to win a $2,500 prize package or the grand prize of an all expenses paid trip to Rome to design a cover for Photoshop User Magazine.

I have yet to decide which of my photos to enter and would appreciate your input as to which one(s) to enter. If you click here, you will be directed to a web gallery showing some of my work over the past year.

Simply send me an email or post a comment with the file name letting me know which one(s) you think are best and I'll post my final choices once I decide.

NOTE: This post will remain at the top until I make my selections. In the meantime, posts can be found by scrolling down.

P&P Weekly: #13

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road, like many others, is posting about the new Photoshop CS3 Beta.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorite this week is "Young and Resting"
• Andy of Visual Realia has a number of interesting shots this week, my favorites are the colors in "Obstacles," and "Opus 4" and "Viola 1"
• I posted on my very initial impression of our new printer, and links for where to get the new Photoshop CS3 Beta and the NAPP Learning Center to learn how to use it.

Just a note: With holidays coming up on the next two Mondays, the P&P Weekly may be released on different days than normal the next couple of weeks.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

It's True!

Here's the Adobe Press Release regarding today's launch of Photoshop CS3 beta.

And here's a link to NAPP's new CS3 Learning Center.

Photoshop CS3 Beta?

According to AppleInsider.com, Adobe is expected to be releasing a beta version of Photoshop CS3 sometime tomorrow through their Adobe Labs site.

Early Christmas

It has arrived!

So far so good. The first few prints look fantastic. I can see why Scott Kelby said, in reference to this printer, in The Digital Photography Book,

This is as in love with a printer as I've ever become.

Some Good Music

Over the past month or two I've bought a couple of movie soundtracks that have had a number of really good songs on them. On the Elizabethtown soundtrack (vol. 1) are two songs that have been especially moving for me. One is io (This Time Around) by Helen Stellar - which you can hear on the website - and the other is Hard Times by Eastmountainsouth.

No other comment, they're just good!

Hard Times
let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears
while we all sup sorrow with the poor
there's a song that will linger forever in our ears
oh, hard times come again no more

'tis a song… a sigh of the weary
hard times… hard times come again no more
many days you have lingered around my cabin door
oh… hard times come again no more

while we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay
there are frail ones fainting at the door
though their voices are silent their pleading looks will say
oh, hard times come again no more

'tis a song… a sigh of the weary
hard times... hard times come again no more
many days you have lingered around my cabin door
oh, hard times come again no more

'tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave
'tis a wail that is heard upon the shore
'tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave
oh, hard times come again no more

'tis a song…a sigh of the weary
hard times… hard times come again no more
many days you have lingered around my cabin door
oh, hard times come again no more
oh, hard times come again no more

On Its Way

Epson Stylus Photo R2400 (& supplies)

P&P Weekly: #12

I am going to be out of the office for the week as we do rehearsals and performances for our first of 4 middle/high school musicals this season, so I won't have much chance to post.

In the meantime, here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day continues to post images of life in Mexico.
• Andy of Visual Realia has a number of interesting shots this week, my favorites are "By Laws of Time," "In the Light of the Moon," and "Blue Morning"
• I posted on the milestone of a great comic strip, my discovery of an excellent online photography magazine, and on the story of one of my recent shots.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Triggering Memories

I had been working on this shot for a few weeks. In my head was exactly the image I wanted to capture. I knew it would be black and white. I knew what would be in focus and what would not. I didn’t know exactly where I would stand, but I knew how the framing would work going in.

I waited for an overcast day to get the even lighting I desired and to have a little definition in the sky without it being a dominant element in the shot. I hopped in my car and drove the ten minutes or so northward to the location I had been to numerous times throughout my youth.

I walked from my parking spot at the entrance across the spongy ground to a location opposite of that which I usually find myself when visiting, only a stones-throw from the snack bar and projection booth. I pulled out my cheap, spindly tripod – I desperately want a “real” one – and set it up to capture my shot.

With a little post-processing – converting to black and white, getting the exposure and contrast about right, split-toning, and adding a bit of sharpening and lens blur where necessary – I came up with a shot that is fairly close to what I had envisioned weeks before.

Photography is more than just capturing moments. It’s about expressing emotion, telling a story. Beyond that, a photograph is meant to conjure up memories in the mind of the viewer so that one can move from looking to engaging.

I know some artists are out to say something with their art. They have a specific idea of what their work is meant to be and evoke. Some even get upset when their work is misinterpreted or taken out of the context the artist had initially intended. We all put a little bit of ourselves into our pieces and, for me anyway, photography is a means to share a part of ourselves. The act of creating, in fact, is itself a great reward and worthy goal.

I’ve always said that art, in any form, is never complete until it is experienced. For the creator, the act of creating and manipulating the work in order to express a certain emotion or story brings the art to completion for the artist. But we can’t expect another, who comes to the piece with their own personal history and perspective, to relate to it in the exact way it was originally planned. So true completion comes when it touches the viewer in a meaningful way.

So, for me, even though I had a particular idea in mind for this shot I began to think back across my life and remembering the fun I had growing up heading off to the drive-in (this very one, at times), staying up late, watching lots of movies, bringing all sorts of food that we could never have at a theater, and running around with the other kids.

I remember sitting in the back of a mini-van and ducking down, almost uncomfortably, to see the screen. I remember, more recently, sitting in folding chairs with my brother and his family while my nephew hung his feet over the edge of the car with the hatch back open as we swatted bugs of all kinds. I remember the night the fog rolled in and I could only hear the movie and all I could see was some flashing beams of light. I remember late nights in high school with my girlfriend asleep in the passenger seat as we drove home from a late show with the warm summer breeze flowing in and a good song softly playing on the radio. And I always remember the silly intermission films (“Let’s all go to the lobby. Let’s all go to the lobby. Let’s all go to the lobby, to get ourselves a treat!” It’s stuck in your head now, isn’t it? You’re welcome!).

So the next time you encounter a photograph, don’t just look, engage. Once you acknowledge the aesthetics and how it makes you feel move deeper, not only into the image, but into what stories and memories it sparks in you.

Bending Light Magazine

Today I came across Bending Light Magazine via Kathleen Connaly's photoblog. According to their site:

People tend to think about photographs as mere images on paper. Worth a thousand words, nothing more, nothing less. But photographs are much more than the visual representation of a moment. They are also energy frozen on film. The products of light bouncing off objects, then bending through the camera lens to produce a tangible reflection of the world.

Every quarter BLM, an online photography magazine, releases a new edition featuring amazing photographs and thoughtful, inspiring articles on the stories behind the images as well as interviews of photobloggers and essays about the many ways photography impacts our lives.

Take a look for yourself!

"What the Duck" Turns 100!

My favorite online photography-themed comic strip is celebrating it's 100th daily edition today. Stop by What the Duck and check it out!

Also a congratulations to cartoonist Aaron Johnson for such a great run so far and all the best for the strip's continued success. I'm proud to be a "Friend of the Duck!"

P&P Weekly: #11

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road posted a few shots from a Catholic church on Easter Island.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorites this week are "Full Gallop" and "Resting"
• Andy of Visual Realia has a number of interesting shots this week, my favorites are "Breath of Morn, "On Silent Haunches," and especially his two black and white shots "Closed for the Season," and "Not Just a Tropical Treat"
• I posted a short article on the difference between taking pictures and photography, and a note about one of my recent shots being selected as an Editor's Choice for this week over in the NAPP member portfolios.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Editor's Choice #4

For the second time since October, and the 4th time overall, one of my recent photos has been selected as an "Editor's Choice" by the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). It's one of the photos of Lake Neatahwanta near my apartment in Fulton, NY that I took during sunset the night before Thanksgiving.

Once again, I am humbled by the kind words posted along with the selection notification in the comments of my portfolio. Thanks to everyone over at NAPP!

From Taking Pictures to Photography

"Owning a lawn mower doesn't make you a landscape architect."

My dad uses this quote (borrowed from a friend of ours) over and over again when talking to people who want to do-it-yourself instead of getting someone who knows what they're doing to do the job. What you end up with will be passable, but will it be effective? Will it be good?

Anyone who owns a camera can go out and take pictures. However, unless you know what it takes to make a shot look good, you will end up with the same, everyday snapshots that anyone could get, which may be ok if you're just out to get snapshots. Sure, you might get lucky every now and again but would you call that photography or simply taking pictures?

First off, I'll be the first to admit that luck certainly plays a role. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes the moment that an image captures trumps all of the other rules because, after all, the subject is key. But luck isn't everything.

A lot goes into a single photograph even before the shutter is released. There's framing, paying attention to positive and negative space, the rule of thirds, lighting, color, contrast, textures, line, balance, angles, thinking about output format, what mood you hope to set, what emotions you hope to evoke, color or black and white, etc. And not everything can be easily fixed in Photoshop (unless you really know what you're doing) so you have to pay attention to the placement of everything in the shot at the front end to save extensive post-processing.

With cameras on cell phones and the quality of point-and-shoot digitals growing and becoming more and more affordable, the landscape is flooded with images and galleries made up of snapshots being passed off as "photographs." Personally, I think there's a big difference between the two. It's one thing to shoot in a documentary style where you get shots of who was at a birthday party or family gathering or on a vacation. At the same time, though, how much skill and creativity is really used to take those shots?

The distinction between photography and taking pictures is art. It's not about knowing the ins and outs of your camera and knowing a lot of the technical stuff - though that certainly helps in consistently capturing great shots - it has more to do with the "artistic eye." It's being able to see the world around you and find beauty in the unexpected places or to show what is common in a new way. It's seeing detail and "big picture" and putting the together in a powerful way within the frame.

It's hard to define what separates a photo from a snapshot. It certainly has to do with those things I listed above (framing, balance, color, lighting, texture, etc.), to some extent, but it also has to do with capturing the moment, moving the viewer to feel something deeply authentic within themselves. It's the difference between conveying information (who was there, what was happening, etc.) and telling a story.

During stretches of time when I feel uninspired and unmotivated (like now) I know that one of the best ways to get back into the groove is to just start shooting anything, to force yourself into looking at the normal, everyday things as subjects so that you will find yourself again. But I don't want to just "take pictures." I want to create photos.

P&P Weekly: #10

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road has been continuing to post some shots from his trip to Easter Island. He has also posted some shots of the ornaments on his new Christmas tree.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorites this week are "Trail Riding" and "Foggy Mornings"
• Andy of Visual Realia has a number of interesting shots this week, my favorites are "Burning Sky," "Road to the Chapel" and "Always Together Forever Apart." Also, click here to check out one of Andy's shots that was recently featured on The Radiant Vista's Daily Critique.
• I've been posting more than usual lately, including an old project of mine, photos from a recent shoot at a nearby lake, a local drive-in, and a few sites I've been enjoying (1, 2, 3).

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Midway

Midway Drive-in - Minetto, NY

Last Night's Sunset

(above) Three Rivers Point - Outside of Phoenix, NY
(below) Lake Neatahwanta - Fulton, NY

Happy Thanksgiving!

Scholarship for Whites Only

I was reading a number of articles on CNN.com this afternoon and this one caught my attention. An extended article on this topic can be found here.

College Republicans at Boston University, my alma mater, have recently established a scholarship for whites only in the same vain as other scholarships that are designated for other racial/ethnic and heritage groups. According to the articles the scholarship is intended to "trigger a discussion on what we believe to be a morally wrong practice of basing decisions in our schools and our jobs on racial preferences rather than merit."

I'm a bit on the fence about this one. I understand and agree with the basic premise of affirmative action and the effort to move towards equality on all levels. At the same time, though, I think we need to ultimately make admissions and employment decisions based on qualifications alone.

It then begs the question, all things being equal, if you have two candidates for a position who are equally qualified in every way and the only apparent difference is race, who do you hire? It doesn't always sit well with me that the individual who is a minority is then automatically given the advantage. I'm not saying I think the white candidate deserves to get the position instead but I don't necessarily think the minority candidate should get it simply based on his/her race. At that point, they need to develop another stage in the interview process to help figure out which is best for the position, regardless of which one is ultimately hired.

The whole point is that no two people are exactly the same. Leaving race out of the equation, no two candidates for a position would ever have the exact same skill set, interpersonal dynamics, work ethic, or creative drive. So if you get down to two and can't decide, you may need to revisit your selection criteria.

I applaud universities, companies, and other organizations that work towards inclusivity of all aspects of life, not only race. I know my life has been enriched by being surrounded by those who are different from myself in virtually every way.

But we're not there yet. We have a long way to go before we have a truly equal society. So while I wait for that day, I have to default to the side that is working towards that goal.

Panorama

I was looking at Matt Kloskowski's Lightroom Killer Tips site to see what his "Inspirational Day" link would be and today it's a gallery spotlight of photographer Guy Edwardes who specializes in nature and landscape photography. I was particularly interested in his panoramic gallery, which is just phenomenal (though it's all pretty amazing).

As I was looking through the site, I was reminded of the panoramas of National Geographic photographer Bruce Dale. When I was preparing for my return home from Alaska last May, I picked up a special edition of National Geographic that was filled with digital photography tips by a number of their photographers out in the field. Inside was a tutorial on shooting great panos by Bruce Dale. Also included was a pull-out poster with a full size pano on one side and smaller versions of a dozen or so others on the reverse.

They're so crisp (or as Scott Kelby would say, "Technically Accurate Cibachrome Kelvin Shutter Hyperfocal At Refracted Polarization" or tantus saeta equina) and the colors are so vibrant and alive that you are just drawn into the scene.

Definitely take a look.

Escheresque

I've always been a big fan of M.C. Escher ever since I first encountered his work back in Union Elementary School's REACH program when I was in 4th or 5th grade.

I created this image last year as an idea for a Photoshop competition - that I ended up not entering - and surprised myself that I was able to do it at all.

With the upcoming Photoshop User Awards I was reminded of this piece and thought I'd pull it out to share with you as a little bit of Escheresque whimsy.

Slow Work Day

Create your own here.

Polaroid Manipulations

Polaroid SX-70 film takes some minutes to dry or become solid. By manipulating the polaroid photo with a sharp stick it is possible to achieve a strange painterly look. There is no photoshop or computer manipulations in these photographs.

Rob Gardiner of NYCLondon, one of the black and white photoblogs I recently found, has a gallery based entirely on this technique, yielding some really cool effects. Being a fan of Impressionist painting (particularly Monet) I really like what Rob has done here. My favorites are:

Home sweet home
London Underground
and London Bus

But they're all really fascinating.

Siem Reap

On a different note, I just finished reading this article from CNN.com on the rise of tourism in Siem Reap, Cambodia. During my trip around the world when I studied abroad with Semester at Sea, I took a side trip during our time in Vietnam to visit the temples of Angkor Wat.

Aside from the shear beauty of the place and the utter amazement I felt visiting such a truly foreign and ancient icon of a once-great empire, it was one of the hardest experiences of my life.

We landed at the Siem Reap airport to go through customs and had to pass through armed guards - something I certainly wasn't used to - before heading to our fancy hotel (honestly, I've stayed in worse hotels here in the US). The difficult part came from the knowledge I had of the country and its history, not from any sort of culture shock.

Part of our program on SAS was a class called CORE, which everyone took, that focused on the many different aspects of the next country on our itinerary. We studied geography, politics, economics, religion, history, culture and current events. So I was somewhat aware of what had happened under the rule of the Khmer Rouge, adding a certain weight to the excursion.

The ports leading up to this point were fairly modern (Kobe, Japan; Shanghai, PRC; Hong Kong; Saigon, Vietnam). Where Saigon was a somewhat dirty, run-down, and chaotic city than our previous stops, it was still fairly modern. But Siem Reap proved itself to be rural and more typical of SE Asian towns.

While the temples were even more amazing than I had imagined (I first learned about them in an old issue of National Geographic) I wasn't prepared for the poverty that I faced. There were people with missing limbs because of the stray landmines left over from the war, children trying with great effort to sell trinkets and postcards and books - knowing that they couldn't go home if they didn't make even $10 dollars that day - and, even more heartbreaking, the 7-8 year olds carrying infant brothers and sisters in their arms, trying to negotiate with you (even through the windows of the bus) to take the little ones with you knowing that you could provide a better life than they would find there.

I had seen the homeless and people begging for money before when I lived in Boston or traveled to NYC with school trips but I wasn't ready for that. I'm ashamed of it but I got to the point where I just had to turn away and do my best to ignore what was going on around me. Even now, 4 years later it's hard to put into words. The best way I can put it is to say that it was one of the hardest experiences I've ever had, but it was an experience I needed to have in order to have a fuller picture of the reality of the world.

Back to the article...

While tourism to the temples of Angkor should prove to be a huge benefit to the Cambodian economy, there is the fear that too much traffic will cause more pollution, over-crowding, and even weaken or destroy the temples themselves. At the same time, the people who are bearing the brunt of the boom are also gaining employment.

I must admit that I was one of those that climbed the temple steps for a couple of good pictures, including this one at sunset as described towards the end of the article.

To be honest, I'm not sure where I was headed with this. I guess I just struggle with the balance of the benefits of tourism for a country like Cambodia and its side-effects. Maybe this is just a stage on the road to Cambodia's overall development. Maybe this is a commercialization of a culture that will produce more poverty, inequality, and pollution than the perceived good. I really don't know. I just thought I'd throw it out there as something to think about.

"A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania"

I was, once again, browsing around through some photoblogs this morning and came across "A Walk Through Durham Township, Pennsylvania" by Kathleen Connally.

These shots are just amazing. The colors are so rich, great depth of field and composition. Kathleen's site started out in January of 2003 as a project to capture daily life in and around her hometown in Bucks County where she's captured some beautiful moments that are distinctly Pennsylvania.

It's sites like these that make me want to be a better photographer.

Definitely worth a look!

If I Were a South Park Character...

Create your own here.

Boardwalk

Once again: Liberty State Park, NJ

P&P Weekly: #9

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road is posting shots of the moai on Easter Island and posted a reference to an article about iPod docks on planes.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorite this week is "Stuck in the mud"
• Andy of Visual Realia is into a series of musical instruments and I particularly enjoy his shots of sheet music, especially "Molto Espressivo"
• I've been posting about an animation project I was working on, a video of a bird mimicing the sounds of a camera, and a couple of B&W photography sites I've found.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Vacation 2007?

Every year around Thanksgiving I make my decision about the following year's vacation destination. After Semester at Sea and graduating from college I promised myself that I would take at least a week each year to travel to a place I've never been, as my finances allow. I've been successful the past two years with a trip to London and Northern Ireland in 2005 and a trip across Alaska this past May.

This time around I had a lot of very different ideas in mind from Antarctica to Tibet to Australia and New Zealand to touring the castles of southern Germany. While I haven't made any definite plans yet - I usually book my tickets early in the new year - I'm looking at spending 4 days traveling across Switzerland set in between a couple of days in Paris (though I haven't settled on Paris for those days) during the first week of July.

I'm always open to suggestions and ideas particularly from those who have traveled there. I'm also open to other destinations instead of Paris for a couple of days at the front and end of the Switzerland portion of the trip. (My email address is at the top of my sidebar.)

Black and Whites

I was looking around for some photographic inspiration and found these two photoblogs that I'm definitely adding to my list of sites to watch.

NYCLondon.com
A Black and White Photoblog

If you like black and white, you'll love these.

Bird Imitates Camera

Check out this short video of a lyre bird that imitates the "sounds of the forest" in its mating calls.

(via State of the Art)

A Little Project for the Weekend

This coming weekend we are once again providing sound and video support for a large gathering of youth in Rochesster, NY. Usually we have a fairly generic background to put up or we're left using the client-supplied PowerPoint that leaves something to be desired, for my taste. So this year I put together an animation to which we will add some other "Welcome" copy to later.

Unfortunately, the animation is too large to post but I thought I'd share the initial design idea that I put together in Photoshop using some of the awesome brushes created by Jason Gaylor over at Designfruit. In particular I used his "Worn Photoshop Brushes for High Resolution [Part I]." I rarely get to work in this style, unless I'm doing something for youth, so I always have a lot of fun playing around with the different looks I can get with these amazing worn brushes. Check out the other cool brushes he has too.

P&P Weekly: #8

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road is posting shots of his recent trip to Chile and he's starting to post his Easter Island shots.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorites this week are "The two women in my life" and I really like the color in "Pastura"
• Andy of Visual Realia is into a series of musical instruments and I really like "Waves of Sound" and his quote in "Fine Tuning" - Andy always has really interesting quotes to accompany the photos he posts, they offer an additional lens with which to view his images.
• I've been posting about a new Lightroom podcast, some other shots from Liberty State Park, and an idea for a new project that I would like to try if someone's interested.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Summer Romances

They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.

In Honor of Verteran's Day

The Oxford Project

I am always interested when people take a different look at life. Whether it's literally looking at things from a different angle or piecing together divergent elements in order to say something about who we are as human beings.

I hate to keep borrowing links I found over at The Online Photographer but as I was over there today I thought that this was an interesting concept, he always seems to find fascinating stuff. The Oxford Project started back in 1984 when photographer Peter Feldstein setup his camera on Augusta Street in Oxford, Iowa (pop. 673). 21 years later Peter returned to Oxford with writer Stephen G. Bloom to capture its residents once again. They documented how many of the original 670 subjects had changed during the intervening years, both physically and by allowing them to tell their stories.

When I was reading about this endeavor I was reminded, somehow, of a post I wrote in June about The One Hundred Images Project. If you are unfamiliar - or don't want to go back to read my other post - two photographers from different parts of the country (they both used to be in Chicago until one moved to NYC) take shots of the world around them each week over the course of a year, totally independent of each other, and then post them side by side to offer a unique perspective.

Ever since I first came across this site I felt like it would be a cool project to try. Not only would it be a good excuse to shoot more often than I have been, it would offer a new way of looking at the world - which is what it's all about anyway.

Now that I have more of a readership than I did back in June, I'd like to extend the invitation once again to anyone who might be interested in taking part in something like this with me. I'm not sure what we'd call it (I'm open to suggestions) but it would only require committing to shoot something once a week, processing the image and sending the file to me. And I'll take care of managing it. We wouldn't consult with each other on theme or subject matter but, as the other project does, I think it'd be interesting if we both tried to shoot on the same day during the same time period to add another dimension to the project.

If you're interested, please email me (jason at jasondmoore dot com) and we'll work from there. If there's more than one person interested, I think it could only add to it, so please let me know.

More NYC Shots

Here are a few more shots from when I was down at Liberty State Park, NJ at the end of September. As usual, click on the image to see it full size.

New: Lightroom Killer Tips

Matt Kloskowski, NAPP educator and "Photoshop Guy," has recently released a new podcast and companion website that focuses on Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (currently in public beta which you can download for free here) is Adobe's newest tool for the digital darkroom which offers photographers powerful, yet elegant control over their photos from start to finish. I've only just started really playing around with it even though the Window's beta came out months ago and I just love it.

Matt explains:

On Monday’s you’ll find a new video teaching you some aspect of Lightroom. Wednesday’s are my “Inspirational” day – meaning I’m not quite sure what I’ll post but it’ll be some type of link to a killer portfolio, useful article, or photographer’s website. Then on Friday’s I’ll finish off the week with a written tip or some inside scoop on using Lightroom.

So take a look at the site, subscribe to the podcast, and learn more about how you can use this great program to make your photos even better.

P&P Weekly: #7

I am off on Monday so I thought I would do next week's P&P Weekly today.

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road is now back from Chile and will be posting some more of his shots in the coming days.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. My favorites this week are "Resting through the mirror" and I love the colors in "Rancho La Luz Sunset"
• Andy of Visual Realia is starting a series of musical instruments, though I particularly enjoy his recent shot "The Real Miracle"
• I've been posting a lot this week so I won't take the time to list topics. Feel free to scroll down or to click on the links to recent posts in my sidebar.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Moments in Time

(via The Online Photographer)

(This is more of a series of thoughts that have been bouncing around this afternoon than a single, coherent post.)

As I was making the rounds among the various blogs I read I came across a link to a narrated slideshow about the photography of Constantine Manos. In it, we are treated to a series of photographs taken over Manos' career as he turns his lens toward some of the diversity in American culture.

Personally, after viewing the slideshow I felt as though, on the whole, the majority of his work wasn't my style. And if I just went on the visuals alone I might take that as my only impression. However, as the show continues he elaborates on how his philosophy of photography has evolved and that shooting in a more documentary style helps him to understand the world around him and his unique perspective added to my own understanding of his work.

One of the interesting points that he raises is that the 80 shots of real-world subjects at an ISO of 1/250 span years, decades even, but when combined represent less than one second of time. And each of those moments, because they were not produced artificially in a studio, will never occur again.

Another point he discusses is the beauty of a great shot. Like poetry, every element plays a role in the composition and if even one element was removed it could alter the overall feeling of a piece. Manos says that because every word, every piece of punctuation is important in expressing the true meaning and emotion of a poem and that removing a comma could alter everything (a point I once discussed at length in a Bible study, actually). So too is the effect on a photo if you crop it a certain way or clone out an undesirable speck.

A friend of mine used to hate the fact that I would do some color correction with photos because it wasn't being true to the moment. Now, cameras haven't always been able to capture exactly what your eye sees and some manipulation after the fact is necessary to bring the image closer to the reality or to improve upon it. Granted, in some situations - documentary photography, photojournalism, etc. - there is a very fine line between what is and is not acceptable/ethical but photography as an art form isn't and shouldn't be restricted by the same rules.

Have You Registered Yet?

I know it's really early and the special advanced pricing doesn't expire until the beginning of March but I found that they recently opened registration for Photoshop World - Boston April 4-6, 2007. For a 3-day conference it is quite reasonably priced and it's even less if you are a NAPP member - if you're not, your registration includes a 1-year membership too! And it's well worth it.

I haven't been to the entire event before - partly because of the cost for flights, hotels, the event itself, etc. - but I went the last time it was in Boston for the day the expo floor was open to the public. Now that it's back in Boston - only a relaxing 5.5 hour drive away - I'm there!

I went to college in Boston so it will be really nice to be back in the city and I'll get a chance to catch up with a friend of mine from Semester at Sea, since she's letting me crash on her couch.

Another Waterfall

When I was out of town a couple of weeks ago we needed some pictures of water to supplement a worship service during the event. As I was looking through the shots on my laptop, I came across this one from a photography workshop I led during a youth retreat that I hadn't processed yet. I like how it turned out.

In a Rut?

Renowned wildlife photographer Moose Peterson offers some tips and insights on what to do if you find yourself lacking inspiration/motivation.

Keeping the creative juices a live is very important, especially now that winter is fast approaching. The normal subjects aren’t as obvious or plentiful. It’s the time to explore new techniques, revisit old ones and master and combine them so when spring rolls around, you’re ready to go.

Also, on a totally unrelated note, as I was watching The Unit last night there was a scene in a body shop where several soldiers were working to restore a vintage Jeep when one of them said, “You can have it good, you can have it cheap, you can have it Tuesday, pick two!” Sounds familiar.

New Video Podcast Coming

I was just reading Ben Willmore's blog and he's hinting at the creation of a monthly video podcast that could be launched within the next few months.

Ben is a great photographer and Photoshop instructor. I had the pleasure of sitting in on one of his sessions at Photoshop World in Boston last year - and I'll be there again in April, for the whole thing this time.

Trick or Treat

My friend Laura from college offered this nugget of humor that is strikingly appropriate for this day:

My Chinese professor says he gets a lot of college kids, particularly skimpily dressed girls, coming to his door on Halloween. He enjoys answering the doorbell with responses such as this:

Playboy Bunny: “Trick or Treat!”
Professor: “Aren’t you a little old to be giving me that option?”

"The Art of Image Altering"

I just finished reading this article on photo manipulation. It doesn't delve too deeply into the discussion but it raises a few interesting points.

(via Photoshop News)

Pick Two

I just finished reading a post by The Online Photographer about wedding photography that reminded me of something my dad talks about quite often. In his post Mike Johnston says:

So every now and then someone says, can you recommend a good wedding photographer? There have been a few I've recommended over the years, including the late Susan Kennedy, in the Washington, D.C. area, who had a knack for putting brides at ease and adding a nice presence to the ceremony. But most of the time, regardless of who I recommend, and regardless of price they charge, the follow-up is the same: can't you recommend somebody cheaper?

Well, heck. And then a third of the couples in America complain about their wedding photography. (One day I'm going to write a book called "Two Plus Two," about the many ways in which people overlook obvious explanations for things that are right in front of their noses—for instance, in the 1980s there were thousands of spooky, unexplained Elvis sightings. There were also 200 full- or part-time Elvis impersonators in America! Put two and two together, people....) So do you want cheap or do you want good? The two can be different things.

One of the things we notice when quoting projects is that no matter how low we quote the most common response is that it's too much - and our fatal flaw is charging too little already. It is generally clients like these that want a lot of extras or demand a great deal of time and effort to be complete sooner than humanly possible.

We always seem to say that you can get your project done quick, cheap or good, and you can only pick 2. You can get a good project done quickly but it's going to cost you. You can get a good project done inexpensively but it's not necessarily going to get done quickly and we're not going to allow for a lot of on-location time. If you want a cheap project done within a week, it's not going to be great. (You get the idea.)

P&P Weekly: #6

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road is on his way home from Chile and posted a cool shot from Easter Island.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. I have a number of favorites this week: Spurs, Through the Door, and Dinner Time?
• Andy of Visual Realia has been posting shots of fall themes. My favorite this week is the shot titled "Variety and Magnificence."
• I posted a review of the various podcasts put out by the folks at The Radiant Vista.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

5Takes

Regular readers and those who know me know that travel is a very important part of my life and that I feel the experiences gained and self-knowledge learned while traveling is unlike anything else.

Earlier this year I came across a show on the Travel Channel called 5Takes. In it, 5 young adults (TJs or "travel journalists") come together to explore new places all on a budget of $50/person/day. They each have an interest area that they will be focusing on at different points along the way - be it food or night life or culture or religion, etc. When I first saw the show the group was traveling all over the Pacific Rim and actually visited a few places I have been to, like the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island outside of Hong Kong. It was exciting to see again a place that now seems so far away. After all, it's been over 4 years now since I was there.

It's an interactive show in that they tape, edit, and air each episode all within about a week and a half so you can go to their website to post comments, tips, ideas, and vote on where to go for their final destination.

This time around, the 5 TJs are all from Pacific Rim countries (Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, The Philippians, and Australia) and they are touring around the USA. Their first stop along the way was to spend 5 days in Las Vegas - an interesting first look at the US - and they are off to Alaska for next week's show.

Having traveled a lot myself, I always find it interesting to see how Americans are perceived by the everyday people in other countries. Their view is so filtered by television and other stereotypes that many are only tangentially aware of what the reality is. And the same is true for the general opinions most Americans hold for people of other countries around the world, even moreso in fact.

In my travels with work these past few weeks, my dad and I were listening to the audiobook of Nicholas Sparks' memoir Three Weeks with My Brother. In the book Nicholas and his brother Micah recall their lives growing up while they travel around the world over the course of three weeks in late January and early February 2003. There is a scene from their trip where they are talking with a guide about traveling to the US. The guide had been to major cities and felt that Las Vegas was the epitome of what America is: the lights, the energy, the money, extravagance, the food. For me, and I would presume for most Americans, Vegas is certainly not definitive "America."

But that's what I like about this show, it gives us a number of different perspectives on what the world has to offer. And, this season anyway, we are given a glimpse of how we are viewed by those from other countries. Definitely worth a watch. Here, it's on Saturday nights at 10pm (EST) on the Travel Channel. Take a look!

On a Personal Note

Thus far I have only mentioned in passing that I have been seeing someone. Almost a month and a half ago I met Kim. She is a first-year art education graduate student at Syracuse University. We have similar temperaments, interests, senses of humor, and we spend as much time together as our schedules allow - given that they are very different from each other.

She's intelligent, a talented artist, sweet, caring, beautiful, she makes me smile and laugh, she is just an all-around wonderful person and I am humbled that she would want to be with me.

It's been tough these past few weeks as I've been working out of town and she's been in the midst of papers, presentations and midterms along with the demands of work and life but I feel as though we've forged a strong foundation and I look forward to see where this will lead.

The Radiant Vista

About a year or so ago I was looking on iTunes for Photoshop-related video podcasts to help me learn more about my craft and gain some inspiration for future projects. In my searching I came across The Photoshop Workbench, put together by the folks over at The Radiant Vista.

With my busy work schedule and sometimes not agreeing with the creative choices of the host I allowed it to slip out of my regular circulation of podcasts for a long time. A couple of months ago, though, while working on a large CD duplication project I needed some background noise to help keep me from going too nuts from the tedium of assembling CDs. So, I once again searched to see what The Radiant Vista had to offer.

Now, about a year older and more serious about photography and much farther along in my appreciation of varied creative points of view, I began watching The Photoshop Workbench once again. I didn't stop there, however, since I forgot what it was called, I did a search for "Radiant Vista" and discovered the other podcasts they put out. Now, I watch 3 of them on a regular basis:

• The Photoshop Workbench - Every couple of weeks Mark Johnson takes a viewer-submitted photo from start to finish in Photoshop. He walks you through tip after tip as he transforms the image from its original form into something that is, often, more vibrant and visually interesting.
• The Daily Critique - Everyday Craig Tanner looks at a finished viewer-submitted photo and outlines the strengths of the photographer's style including elements of light, line, composition, color, depth of field, subject matter, etc. Craig's goal is to be a supportive teacher and does a great job of affirming what the photographer is doing well before offering suggestions on how to improve.
• Video Tutorials - Covering a wide-range of topics, the video tutorials are used to discuss style, technical concepts, Photoshop techniques, workflow, and other essentials of the digital darkroom.

In all honesty, there are times when I don't agree with what is suggested and I think the original image presents a stronger message. However, with that said, I have taken a lot away from these podcasts and in the end I've grown quite a bit from them and I would recommend them highly to anyone who wants to perform at a higher level.

*Other podcasts to consider: Photoshop TV, Photoshop Killer Tips with Matt Kloskowski, The Adobe Creative Suite Podcast with Terry White.

Out

As I said last week, I've been out of town doing sound and video for live events of various kinds and I'm actually heading out again this afternoon for another one. Depending on the availability of internet access this week, I'll try to write more.

P&P Weekly: #5

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road is posting about his current trip to Chile.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day posts images of life in Mexico. Of particular note is his shot "Mexican Sunflower," my personal favorite from this week.
• Andy of Visual Realia has been posting shots of fall themes. My favorite this week is the shot titled "Husk."

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

P&P Weekly: #4

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Michael over at eyes on the road, is a new member of the blogroll, and posts photos and reflections on his travels. One of my favorites among his recent posts is from his work in progress of an oversized chess game in Zurich.
• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day has been posting images of life in Mexico. Of particular note is his shot "Busy as a Bee," my personal favorite from this week.
• Andy of Visual Realia has been posting shots of fall themes. I have been enjoying his close-ups of multi-colored corn cobs.
• I’ve been posting about my shot that was selected as an "Editor's Choice" on the NAPP Member Website.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

Editor's Choice #3

I've been delinquent these past few days because I've had to focus on work. I'm actually in Valley Forge, PA this weekend doing sound for an event with people from across the northeast and will be out of town for the bulk of this coming week and the next for two other events we have on the calendar. I'll blog more later on once I'm back in town and recover from the craziness. And I'll cover the next edition of the P&P Weekly as usual either tomorrow or Monday morning.

I was checking the NAPP member website yesterday and looked in the Member Portfolio Section to see what was chosen as the "Image of the Week" and "Editor's Choices" for this week. Low and behold, my shot of a bench that I took a few weeks ago was selected as one of the "Editor's Choices." This is my 3rd image to be selected over the past year or so and I'm quite excited! Even though I'm not egotistical - at least, no more than the next person - and I take photos for myself more than anything, it's nice to be recognized every now and again for your work.

So stop over and take a look at my, and the other, shots that have been chosen this week!

**UPDATE:** In the comments for this photo I received some very nice feedback from the judges and the NAPP Executive Director, Larry Becker.

P&P Weekly: #3

Here’s what’s been happening in The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll:

• Jon at San Miguel Photo of the Day has been posting images of life in Mexico. Of particular note is his shot of railroad tracks, my personal favorite from this week.
• Andy, our newest member, of Visual Realia has been posting shots of fall themes. I especially like his shot in the post titled, "Growing Color."
• I’ve been posting about an interview with Scott Kelby, creative expression, a recent autumn shot, and Andy's blogger profile.

Want to be added to The Photoshop & Photography Blogroll? Click here to find out how! Update your blogs often! I will only include links to posts added since the last P&P Weekly.

As always, if you have any suggestions or notice a discrepancy, please email me.

P&P Blogger Profile: Andy Smith

Andy Smith of Visual Realia

Photography is “selfish” time I get to spend on something that interests me. If someone else likes a photo of mine, that’s a bonus. The “unselfish” time is spent in front of middle school kids, where I teach instrumental music and classroom music. At home, I’m surrounded by women, including my wife, two daughters and the dog.

Why do you blog?
Self-motivation! Life is hectic… there are many reasons to not go out and photograph. Obviously, if you’re not taking pictures, you miss the opportunities out there for a good shot. By blogging, you create the necessity to go out and try to find those meaningful moments.

If you only had time to read three blogs a day, which ones would they be?
The Online Photographer: http://theonlinephotographer.blogspot.com/
Chromasia: http://www.chromasia.com/

How long have you been using Photoshop/been a photographer?
To a small extent, I’ve photographed since I was a kid, but the first quality camera came only a few years ago with the advent of digital cameras.

What type of camera(s) do you shoot with?
Olympus Evolt 500, and before that an Olympus C-4000.

Mac or PC?
Mac

What is your favorite piece of photo or computer equipment (other than your camera)?
Apple display.

What piece of equipment would you most like to get but don’t have?
A top-notch telephoto lens.

What advice do you have for a novice creative professional/photographer?
Keep your camera with you at all times, and more importantly, go out and just do it (photograph) every chance you get.

What inspires you to create?
Desire to keep some sanity!

What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Don’t get so hung up in “goals” that you miss the moment you’re in.

Where would you most like to live (other than where you live now)?
On a small hill overlooking a pristine lake.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Getting together with friends, or relaxing with a good cup of coffee and a newspaper or magazine, preferably outside under a tree.

What talent would you most like to have?
The ability to complete surveys a little more easily!

From Inside the Actors Studio:
What is your favorite word? Friend
What is your least favorite word? Stagnant
What turns you on? A pleasant smile.
What turns you off? Acceptance of mediocrity.
What sound or noise do you love? A child’s giggle.
What sound or noise do you hate? A person whining.
What is your favorite curse word? Weenie
What occupation other than your own would you like to attempt? Chef
What occupation would you not want to participate in? Assembly-line operator
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? Nothing; just a welcoming hug.

*Note: If you would like to participate in the P&P Blogger Profile series, please email Jason with your blog's URL and he will send you a profile to fill out. Also, be sure to check out the P&P Weekly every Monday for news about this site and a roundup of what other Photoshop & Photography Blogroll members are posting.

Autumn

Nikon D50
18-50mm lens
Aperture Priority
ISO 200
1.3sec at f/5.6
Natural light

A Little Off

This has felt like an odd week for me. I've been at least a day off everyday. Because I had Monday off, Tuesday felt like Monday, Wednesday felt like Thursday, yesterday felt like Friday, today sort of feels like Friday but I'm working tomorrow too which makes it feel like Thursday again. There's just something wrong with that!

It's been tough to find balance in my life lately, too. I've recently started seeing someone and though things are going great between us, our schedules don't line up as neatly as we would like. As I wrote in my last post, I've been doing a lot of tasks at work that require little, if any creativity. Over the next 3 weeks I'll be out of town three different times so it will be tough to find much rest - though the time off to compensate for it will definitely help - and, again, it won't be on the really creative side of things.

It's funny how it all works out. As things begin to go well in one area, something else comes along to take some of the wind out of your sails. At the same time, when you're really feeling the stress of life, something - or someone - enters in to help turn things around.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up interviews for a stewardship video for a local church. This church has gone through a series of changes in its 40 year lifespan, always faithfully risking to move forward, whether it's something big or only a little at a time. People who were youth and young adults when the church started are now the parents and grandparents of the current youth - the focus of their current stewardship drive. It's cyclical. Life, in all its incarnations, finds balance. And I'm trying to reach that balance in my own life too.

One of my favorite aspects of Eastern religions is the desire to live in harmony with nature and to walk a line of moderation between any extremes. Whether it's the Middle Way between self-indulgence and self-denial or trying to leave a place better than you found it. It's about doing the best you can; it's about trying to contribute to the greater good without getting in the way or bringing it down around you.

It's been a little tedious and tiresome in certain areas of my life - though never dull - and I have longed, for so long, to find rest and the fullness of life, to find balance. Out of nowhere, in amazing ways things are starting to change and grow and move closer to that sense of equilibrium for me. The adjustments may keep me a little off for awhile but I can feel things start falling into place. And for that I'm thankful.

Creative Thinking

Coming off of an unusual weekend where I had Saturday off, worked Sunday, had Monday off, and am back to work again today, I haven't gotten back up to full speed quite yet. With three events over the next three weeks and another day of shooting interviews this Saturday, I feel like I'm already getting a bit drained.

I am what is considered a "creative professional" which encompasses design-oriented fields and basically all things visual. After completing a pretty detail intensive project last month we switched gears into duplicating 3,000 copies of it for our client. It was a nice change of pace, a way to unwind from focusing on all of the ins and outs of such a technical product. However, that too, began to bog me down with the repetition of loading the disk printer and stuffing the mailers and packing the mailers into boxes and on and on. We then had a job for 500 copies of another project - just the duplication - and we're expecting the arrival of the master for yet another 200 disks this week. We've been archiving a local history video series - for which we've been producing new editions - and I've been typing in the content for the wraps and inserting the thumbnails of the subjects.

That coupled with the event work we have coming up for most of this month hasn't been getting me all that excited, to be honest. I need to be creative or at least have the creative areas of my brain stimulated for me to feel motivated and productive. The past couple of weeks haven't really gone towards helping in that area - aside from the afternoon of shooting outside of NYC and redesigning the website for a youth group I work with.

I assume that other creative people find themselves in this situation as well; it's probably true in one form or another in any profession/interest area/what-have-you. Things are great when you are doing what you enjoy, what you were meant to do and when you do the things you have to do that aren't necessarily what you enjoy, you are left feeling drained rather than rejuvenated.

At least, that's where I'm at right now.