Dan in Real Life

One of the great and terrible things about being a newspaper photographer is the idea that you never know what your day is going to bring.

Sometimes it brings access to cool and interesting people. Sometimes a call from an editor can send you straight into f/64 mode, as far as the pucker factor is concerned. Sometimes it is both.

That's exactly what happened to Austin American-Statesman photographer Jay Janner last year while out on an assignment. He got a call that another shoot had been added to his day -- to go photograph a local photographer named Dan Winters.

Yeah, that Dan Winters... Read more »

Bert Goes All Hollywood on Us

Regular readers of this site are long familiar with Belgian photographer Bert Stephani. His easy-going manner and slightly warped sense of humor always make for fun learning in his behind-the-scenes shoot videos.

For the last several months, Bert (along with partner Peter Van Impe) have been working pretty much nonstop to produce a new lighting tutorial, "Motivational Light."

Hit the jump for a trailer, links and impressions after 3.5 hours of non-stop Bert. Read more »

Got a New Compact or Hybrid-Size Camera? Check That Sync Speed.

Adolfo tweeted to me that he found that his Panasonic LX3 syncs at up to 1/2000th of a second, and it reminded me to remind you that you should always check for this sort of thing. Frequently, the capability is undocumented.

This is a similar deal to the way high sync works on the Canon compact cameras, and the same rules apply for sync speed vs. actual flash pulse duration.

I got to play around with this camera's newer big brother, a 4/3 Lumix GF1, in Dubai, and was very impressed with both the handling and the image quality. I wasn't able to check, but would be curious to know if the 4/3 bodies hi-sync, too. Nope. Shame, too.

If you have found that your new compact (or micro 4/3, etc.) camera can sync up high with external flashes, please hit us in the comments. Always good to know which models do that kind of thing.

UPDATE: Edit fixes incorrect label of LX3 as a micro 4/3. Thanks!

UPDATE2: So far, nothing but bad news in the comments on the 4/3 bodies...

-30-

spring break

you know, here's the thing, when you live in L.A. there are a lot of great little luxuries that one can get very jaded around. But one thing I don't take for granted is our close proximity to mountains, beach and desert. This week, as with many, is our spring break. So, eenie meanie miney moe, DESERT.

Lovely arid heat that has baked my skin to an even, leathery tan {not really, mom I wore 30 the whole time. mostly. }. and I won't be posting my 'Palm Springs Wardrobe' via polyvore . I have never been able to work the, "Slim Aarrons does the desert" ensemble and get proper cred where cred is due, from my kids. So I'll just post a few of photos most of us know and love.

vintage Met Home photo via xjavier. Cameo appearance of David Hicks fabric, 'Ambrosia Rose'

Tru, dat.

A Great Face for Radio

Mohamed Somji and the folks at Gulf Photo Plus have made good on their threat and posted their video of the live shootout between Zack Arias, JoeyL and yours truly.

Two things learned.

First: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." (But only slightly less well- known is this: "Never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!")

And second, "Never wear a black shirt into a dark auditorium when you are being interviewed with just one hard light."

The video, and links, inside. Read more »

Whatever it Takes by The Voice by JoshHarris

Here's a song dedicated for the latest book of Joshua Harris "Dug Down Deep".

Read his post and more about the book here: http://www.joshharris.com/2010/03/voice_raps_dug_down_deep.php

Whatever It Takes by Voice by Joshharris

Lyrics "Whatever it Takes" by Voice
V1
I'm on a mission with my shovel out cuz sin is deep so I'm glad that he has dug us out
And its a fight everyday its like I'm in a bout, ding ding life is a ring the world shouts
And everything is speaking for allegiance, competing with the God I am complete in.
I need grace its like my faith is depleting so I'm on my face asking Lord am I deep in
Uhnn most of my life has been a rumspringa, meology my introduction to theology
Was like whoa I was offering God apologies, I want the right opinion of him orthodoxy,
It takes Moxie nowadays to choose life,
we should be asking what are we choosing by choosing Christ
Its more than nice that theology matters,
bcuz what you believe determines who you are in the hereafter.

Hook
I'm trying to figure out what this life is about,
I gotta see what I believe in world full of doubt,
Cuz even though I know what's true to not be confused by the fake,
I'll do whatever it takes

V2
If I'm honest sometimes I feel the pressure,
cuz digging deep is not an option, its doctrine
It is Luke 6 Christ's words I adopt them building foundations on the sand
hope I'm not him
cuz its easy to fall a victim to and base confidence on what's insecure that is sinking you
and be deceiving yourself if you don't think it through, when the storm comes it'll wash your foundation thru
And I'm telling you it don't stop hurting'
unless you build what you building now as a rock person.
what I mean is you putting your faith in practice,
truth requires action you lay it down like a mattress.
so when they ask this " what'd you build your life on"
if Christ is the goal u should be headed for the Pylon
so when the storms and the waves come and pile on,
your foundations rock solid get your smile on.

Hook
I'm trying to figure out what this life is about,
I gotta see what I believe in world full of doubt,
Cuz even though I know what's true to not be confused by the fake,
I'll do whatever it takes

V3
I wanna touch the heart of theology and when I do it Lord help me do it properly
and thinking true thoughts all the wrath that you caught,
is intensified by the purchases that you bought
blood shed is the reason I wanna be with him this is no moralistic, therapeutic deism,
this is good news headline reads be digging,
no small thoughts all thoughts be that he's risen
unn so now lets make this thing practical, since I am convinced
this is God's word and factual
but not merely a list of facts and features they are truths that inform for all what belief is
so I'll study the attributes of God and I'll dig deep even when my arms are getting tired,
I wont stop until I've dug on this spot as I learn you are far but you're near
you're the Rock.

peace out

A spring gathering, originally uploaded by IrenaS.

I think I may head to Palm Springs this weekend. Bask in the dry heat. Drift, Benjamin-like in a cool pool of chlorine. Plans?

And, They're Surprisingly Affordable

Kidding!

You could not even afford the mortgage for one of these Briese parabolic light focusing reflectors!

But they are fun to look at, and you can get most a small amount of the way there for under $100 with a Paul Buff PLM! If they ever get back in stock!

Gratuitous use of one more exclamation mark!

-30!-

My mother left me a voice mail this morning, 'it's your mom and I'm concerned because you haven't updated your blog all week. please call ' { it's nice to know that some of my original readers are still so loyal } I've been at West Week for the past 2 days. Thus the lack of posting. i sort of didn't feel the need to blog because, it felt like I had opened bloglovin' and fallen into it.

Several other bloggers were in town, lots of designers, parties and lectures. I was living La Bloga Loca, no need to write it.

Margaret Russell and Monelle {William Sonoma Home} at the WSH book signing party.

o.k. down to business and a brief, WestWeek re-cap {in no particular order}

From the Elle Decor lecture:
Margaret Russell is everything you figured she'd be, but even tinier, prettier and... funny {did you know that she'd be funny?} She's kind of amazing. And rocks the cocktail dress like nobody.

Our girl Patricia {aka mrs. blandings} was of course lovely, poised and eloquent as she participated on the Elle Decor panel. I think they shot video and it should be up at some point, I'm guessing, on the elledecor.com website.

Here's a golden nugget: If you're a designer, and you want Elle Decor to look at your work. Guess what, you don't need a front man. You just shoot your images over to Margaret herself. It's that easy. {I remember Stephen Drucker telling us that on SRT, and it was great to hear Margaret reiterate.}

Vincent Wolfe is witty - again, had heard this but seeing his wit in action was great- very droll. And he's claims to be completely computer handicapped- and doesn't seem to care. His assistant writes his blog as he dictates to her via 'SCAPE' {that would be 'skype'}

More advice from Margaret: If you have your own website lose the 'skip intro' page. If you're giving someone the option, they're going to skip it. keep your site simple and the photos of high quality.

Elle Decor finally has a great website. It actually looks like it's part of the magazine. Remember how domino's website felt connected to the magazine? Elle Decor has finally figured this all out. Check it out, there are some really cool new features including a place to upload your work- for free.

the PDC needs more signage. That place is insanely hard to navigate. no matter how many times I'm there, I start to feel like I'm in some kind of a corn maze.

and speaking of food product, eating at the PDC takes some kind of laborious effort. Seriously, better signage would help those of us who have enough trouble navigating the joint with out the addition of low blood sugar confusion.

and in case you're wondering, John Robshaw is even hotter in person. Whenever he walked by, it was like a slow motion movie with dappled sun streaming behind him as he slowly lifted his mirrored aviators and raked a hand through his hair. {or at least that's what it felt like to me- standing to the side, holding my books wearing braces and head gear}

and more thoughts:

I'm too old for 2 late nights in a row. must go to sleep at 7 pm tonight.

And finally this came to a friend and me, while waiting for a lecture to begin and examining my own $23.00 shoes: If you don't own red soled shoes, a good DIY project would be to paint them with red nailpolish - and then blog about it.

thanks for checking in today as I realize I haven't be around much this week.

let's start the week off right

Eaaaassssy there, 'Anthropomorphic Monday', yes we see you sneering at us as we dish about the weekend and upcoming, non-work related things. Go shuffle some papers and solve the problems of the world, we have more important things to download as we sail into the seven seas of monday.....

First on the list:

Free music. I still really miss being able to make my digital mixed tapes. Mixed Tape Monday, was one of my favorite posts to do. It was a great way to ease on into the week. {If anyone knows of a replacement to the now defunct, Mixwit, please let me know}

Last week, my friend Michael, turned me on to this free download. Which, for lack of a better word {brain not working so great on Monday morn.}, rocks. It's NPR's FREE, South by Southwest 11 song download. Get yer, Music Monday on now. here

..................................................................

March 24 & 25: West Week at the Pacific Design Center, here in L.A. A great opportunity to hear presentations, see exhibits and meet some of your favorite designers. In particular I'm looking forward to hearing the Elle Decor presentation on which my friend, and fellow blogger, Mrs.Blandings, aka Patricia Shackelford will be joining Margaret Russell, Mayer Rus and Vicente Wolfe in moderating the event: "Giving a voice in the digital age-Navigating the new media landscape"

That begins Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. and is open to the public.

...................................................................

Also wanted to mention that over on The Skirted Round Table, the Tobi Fairley Interview is up. Tobi's work was featured on the cover of the March issue of House Beautiful. This is a great interview regarding the business side of interior design in particular. Tobi's beginnings are in accounting and business. With an MBA in hand, she parlayed her love of design into a successful, Little Rock based I.D. firm.

I think that's it. Now get to work, Monday's giving you the stink eye.

The Most Powerful Light In Your Bag

Last year I photographed Michael Stebbins for Rep Stage, which is how I got to know him for the Glass Menagerie photos.

The Smith Theater, where I shot him, is big and dark. In fact, I had shot someone else there about twenty years earlier for a magazine assignment -- and the Smith Theater had kicked my butt.

I brought every light I had (many, many watt-seconds worth) but I still did not have what I really needed -- the understanding required to work in a big, dark setting.

I even had with me the exact of piece of gear I needed. It was just that I just didn't know how to use it. Read more »

Haiti - "A Call To Fasting & Prayer"

On February 12, 2010, President Préval of Haiti called his nation to 3 days of fasting and prayer in place of the regular Mardi Gras celebration. 

Several of the Nations Christian Leaders had 5 days to set up and arrange this event, Pastor Rene Joseph of Loving Hands Ministry was one of the head leaders and over 1 million Haitians attended this epic event.

http://lovinghandsministryhaiti.com/

The Philippines is NEXT!

I pray that Filipinos be united to pray and fast for our Land...

And the Lord will hear from Heaven and heal our land!

peace out

originally uploaded by coquinete.

Light Fare: The "Jarvie Window"

Here's a new use for your ring flash.

Salt Lake City-based photographer Scott Jarvie made a unique set of portraits using a Ray Flash ring flash adapter and an 8mm fisheye lens.

Gimmicky? Perhaps. Fun and creative? Yup.

Cue the flood of imitators on Flickr in 3, 2, 1…

(Thanks much to Ben for the tip via the comments section.)

-30-

mood matcher

inspiration:

product:

These images from the Harvey Faircloth site completely matched my mood today: 'Happy and Inspired'

'...it's like still photography on speed'

One of the very, few {if only} commercials that has caught my eye, in ohhhhh... probably the past 5 years is the stop motion spot for Amazon's Kindle. What grabbed me was the vintage saturation of the images, the hand made quality and that stop motion method that has awed me and piqued my curiosity since Davie & Goliath kept me company on Sunday mornings.

The ad, shot by the beautiful & immensely talented photographer, Angela Kohler and her adorable boyfriend, photographer Ithyle Griffiths, was amazingly created in 7 hours.

I recently ran across another piece of their stop motion work on Angela's website {starring and music by, 'a fine frenzy'}

When you watch these things, don't you wonder how they shoot them? In doing a little more investigating {actually I was trying to find the above short on Vimeo - a much better way to view videos} I ran across this interview with the Angela and Ithyle: It's a little lengthy {13 minutes - but worth it }

A sit down on the set with Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths from Lou Lesko on Vimeo.

I'll share a few of the highlights- Angela and Ithyle made the ad as an entry for a contest held by Amazon. Having never before shot a stop motion film {is that crazy?}, the two of them created it, with minimal equipment and no live feed. Meaning, they had no way of seeing what they were actually filming until it was done. Annie Little, the blonde woman featured in their Kindle ad, not only starred in the spot, but also wrote and sang that great little tune, 'Fly Me Away'.

Perfectly beautiful and extarordinary talented- someone hit the lottery of life.

......................................................................................................................................

oh, and, I still don't know how they do this.

preppy player just alerted me of Angela Kohler's great blog

party on

I laughed yesterday when I looked at my last posting: "peace out". peace. out. Peaceful was not my weekend. Saturday night thirteen, 8 year olds descended upon our little bungalow for a sleep over. Did you get that? 13 people, plus two of my own all under the age of 9. The high pitch squeals and unbridled energy, had my eyes spinning within the first hour { the patience of school teachers never fails to impress me }. Keep in mind these two variables to this equation: tiny house, no yard. Holy crap. We made it and I'm only, today- Tuesday, coming out of the stupor.

I would love to continue by posting beautiful photos of a long table filled with galvanized buckets of daisies or maybe small clutches of pink carnations held tightly by vintage McCoy vases parading down the center. Perhaps each chair with a polka-dot covered slip, and a pink balloon floating above.

absolutely beautiful things

And a table of food, spread with varying levels of cake stands, each presenting, tea sandwiches, and artisan cupcakes, with little pointed toothpick flags sticking out of the top. Adorably themed goody bags that only the other mothers would ooh and ahh over.

but, alas, my client shot down all of these dreamy ideas and instead, asked for a grainy, sugary cake { 'a white cake' } from our local beach bakery. 'and I want pictures of the dogs on it, please'

{aww, why ya hafta go and make it so easy on me.}

So, here you go:

{All of you party bloggers, feel free to use this shot - no cred. necessary . actually, no cred please.}

The cake was devoured, sleep was had, and even yesterday my house still smelled of cheap frosting and spilled juice boxes.

Mark it down as another successful, beach bungalow bash.

Something Fun While You Do Your Brackets

For those of you not in the US, please excuse us while our collective attention turns toward "March Madness," AKA the always exciting, single-elimination NCAA college basketball championship tournament. Our productivity plummets to zero as we spend our workday filling out our brackets and trying to pick the winner in the office pool.

What does this have to do with lighting, you ask? Nothing, except for this:

I think it is safe to say that, with the airing of the above commercial, Buffalo Wild Wings has just become the Official Chicken Wing of Strobist.com. You gotta love the Frankenflash thing they made as a prop, too.

Good luck to everyone with their tourney picks. My Florida Gators drew BYU for their first game, which does not look promising. But then, we're just happy to be here this year.

And make my Buffalo Wild WIngs extra hot, please.

(Thanks to Steve for the tip.)

-30-

Thank You Lord for the Gift of Mothers

I've been trying to write some "Thank You's" lately starting with the last one where I thanked the Lord for the Gift of Frienship.This time I want to take this opportunity to thank and recognize the number 1 woman in my life. The most beautiful and loving woman my eyes have ever seen. The woman who stood for me, fought for me, cared for me, loved me, disciplined me and guided me through since the first time my heart started to beat inside of her. Yes, that woman is my mother! Who else can it be?

I'm not sure how my life would have turned out without my mother beside me the whole time.

She wakes me up (throws water on my face if i don't), to go to school.

She forces me to eat every leafy kind of vegetable she knows.

She pinches me really hard that tears my shirt up to discipline me and teach me a lesson.

She nags at me every time I don't buy my spray and why I still don't have a house.

And because of all these, I love her so much.

Thank you Lord for giving me my Mother. Even though this would sound a cliche but really if I'm given a chance to choose a Mother, I'd still choose my Mom! She's like THE BEST!

My prayer is for you to bless all the mothers out there especially my mom with strength to go on whatever happens, overflowing love to always care even the most unworthy, patience to always be considerate and hopeful whatever happens and joy to always be happy, content and successful! 

May you protect them from harm and abuse. May they be loved, cared and respected by their husbands and children especially when they're old.May the people around them always see their importance. May they be given freedom and be able to exercise their rights due her.

May all the mothers be role models for godly, righteous and loving lives! And May they continue to impact and influence peopl around the world!

Happy Birthday Mom! 

Thank you Lord!

Worth a Sub: Michael Grecco's New YouTube Channel

Celebrity / Nekkid People photographer Michael Grecco has created a YouTube page to display his many excellent behind-the-scenes videos.

Some of you may not know that he started out as a photojournalist, and began pushing the lighting envelope way back in the very beginning of his career.

The Will Farrell shoot (c. Blades of Glory) embedded above is a great example of why I always enjoy Grecco's time-lapse BTS vids. There's a lot to learn in a minute and change. Not only is he showing you the whole set build, shoot and tear, but there are several cool lighting info nuggets to be had.

Hit the jump for a some of the things you can learn from this video, a second vid and links to more.
__________ Read more »

Thank You Lord for the Gift of Friendship

If you're in Facebook, I'm sure you read, answered and tried out some silly, witty and interesting questions about you and your friends. Just like these:

I'd like to dedicate this post to all my friends (my real, true, authentic, and genuine friends): You know who you are! I thank you friends for being there ready to correct me when I am wrong, ready to teach me when I needed to learn something, and ready to make me laugh when situations seem to be dark and gloomy, and always ready to encourage me saying "Kaya mo yan!".

and to God who is the author of friendship! Thank you Lord! I don't know how life would look like without friends. Thank you Lord for befriending me even though I'm a sinner and even though I'm the most unworthy person in the world to become your friend. You were there always ready to accept me. Yes, always even though you know soon I'd leave you and forsake you again. :-(

Thank You is not enough to show how grateful I am.

I also want to thank you Lord for the gift You have given me. The gift of making people laugh. I guess this comes with my sanguine personality. And I'm blessed because I'm able to do that to other people (especially to my friends) and that they appreciate it. I so like it!

Really, that's how You designed me and I'm going to live like that because I know that when I'm living according to Your design, I'm pleasing YOU.

Thank you again!

If you want to be a friend, add me at Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/mikes.sumondong or @YourDailyWord for Twitter.

peace out

, originally uploaded by .trevor.

A God You Can Depend Upon

I am so blessed with this Scripture that I'm sharing it to all of you just as it is.

May the Lord just teach and impress on you what He wants you to learn through His Word.

Deuteronomy 7:7-10 (The Message)


"God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you.

He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Know this: God, your God, is God indeed,

a God you can depend upon.

He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.

But

he also pays back those who hate him, pays them the wages of death; he isn't slow to pay them off—those who hate him, he pays right on time."


God Bless You!

Q&A: How to Use Your Nikon SB-900 in Optical Slave Mode

As most of you know, the discontinued Nikon SB-800 speedlight has an awesome -- yet, oddly undocumented -- built-in slave. But given the questions I have gotten recently, many people who own the newer SB-900s are not aware that their flash has the same capability.

A walk-thru on how to access and use the built-in slave in your Nikon SB-900 speedlight, and how to get better results from any slave outdoors, inside. Read more »

Rose Tarlow Melrose House, Waterworks, Natural Curiosities, Warehouse sale!- Friday and Saturday -girl scout cookies available for sale too.

If your heart is palpitating at rabbit/rapid speed, to the sound of this - like mine was, when I received the 411 - then you'll not want to miss this first ever, Warehouse sale of Rose Tarlow Melrose House furnishings and fabrics, Waterworks bathroom fixtures and Natural Curiosities prints. Usually it's the trade and insiders that get in on all of the good deals, but this time, it's to the public.

aren't these outdoors chairs fantastic?

check out these mirrors!!

these gal needs a loving home. She's beautiful and proud and just waiting for that special someone.

I was lucky enough to get a preview tour today of the massive stock of goods. And the goods, they are good. Rose Tarlow, gently worn chairs, sofas, tables, lamps, botanicals and fabrics {this is where I predict major clawing and mayhem} and more, are all available at up to 80% off.

And as if all of that wasn't enough, Natural Curiosities will be there with their beautiful prints also discounted AS will, Waterworks. It's basically the trifecta of great design - discounted. And did I mention, it's available, 'to the public'?

Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

and while you're there, say hello to the resident Girl Scout and buy a few boxes of Thin Mints

13051 Saticoy St., North Hollywood.{ around back }

Delivery options will be available.

For more information, call (323) 651-2202