It's Been A While!

Back from Spain, and Maryland.  Spain obviously wasn't enough of a vacation for me, so back on an aircraft to Maryland I went, just days after returning to the windy city from Madrid and Sevilla.

Priceline.com served as my travel agent thanks to a recommendation. And after naming my own price, I received a super-early departure time, a small plane, and I had to check my carry-on at the gate, preventing me from perusing my book on Tufted Titmouse tweeties and other songbird species of North America; which I had forgotten to transfer from duffel bag to cargo shorts. The alternative: window-seat exposures with my Canon SLR of small alien-figures ripping apart the left plane engine via an access panel in the top of the wing (Twilight Zone reference, and totally irrelevant to this blog entry).

I was able to pick up a couple of unexpected event gigs in DC, which was much welcomed! 

Now, armed with creative ammunition from both Maryland and Spain, I'm eager to get back to work so that I can travel again in the near future!

Upcoming shoots include an entire website of jewelry, both modeled and shot individually; a lifestyle editorial shoot for an airline magazine; a coffee shop; a super-stylized portrait of a friend/colleague; a race car driver in Tampa; an ex-football player in Tampa. Busy is good!

I'll end with a quote--paraphrased--which I heard from a guy in the airport:
"A beer at 10-o'clock in the morning is quite odd..but two beers is not."

"I'm In An Elevator"

The elevator fiasco concluded after about 55 minutes of heated tension between a claustrophobic friend who hates elevators, another friend who thought it was funny to jump up and down in the elevator in order to freak-out the first friend even further, and 4 additional friends who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Real names will not be used here in order to protect the guilty from tar and feathering.  

As the heavy metal door to the deathbox was pried-open, a muscular man's hand slid in to push the monolith aside as our lungs filled with fresh air from the 15 1/2 floor.  My first field test of the Canon 5D Mark II camera was a success, and included video, audio, and stills shot on-location in a real elevator; with real people!

Video from elevator

Photographer Chicago

New Photos:

"Nice Treatment"

More and more now I'm hearing people in the industry use the word "treatment" when describing the photographer's final piece:  "I wonder what treatment or filter he used", or "I love that kind of treatment". The workflow a photographer chooses determines how the final, stylized photograph will render. 

Phase One's Capture One Pro for instance, processes RAW images completely differently than the way Adobe products process them.  In addition, the process through which images are retouched or stylized, be it from (what I like to call) scratch, where one uses only native Photoshop adjustment layers and filters to achieve a stylized effect, or with the help of 3rd-party plugins such as Kevin Kubota's toolkit, the modern-day photographer appears to be slacking on scrutiny: doing less and less in production, and relying on the magic of digital imaging software.  So does that mean that retouchers should get paid more, and or at least get credited?  Do Photoshop skills alleviate the need to be a "great" photographer?  Do they eliminate the need for superior lighting?

My New Pet

So I now have a pet crow whom I've named "Edgar".  And although he typically sources his own food, mostly worms and tsetse flies, the occasional slice of bread flies from my second-story window and into his world.  And yes, I'm well aware that the "raven" was associated with Mr. Poe, not the crow.  But upon his startling caw at my clumsy cornerturn into his wooded cranny nook one day last week, my mind flashed first to Hitchcock, secondly to "The Raven", finally to his current name, "Edgar". 

It's dusk.  Edgar perches ten feet above my squeaky brass-handled window on a rusty metal roof beam, searching for movement on the ground of my "secret garden" below, glancing sporadically to see what I'm doing inside my studio.  Although it lacks in botanical variety, the overgrown land is blanketed by twining vines of Creeping Charlie, whose shiny coat reflects the dark-blue sky and millions of unnamed stars. And when it rains, the ivy leaves hold the weight of the fresh water, creating bird baths and water cups. 

Industry Night Columbia College Chicago

An amazing turnout at Columbia College in Chicago tonight for Industry Night: an evening showcasing graduating students' portfolios.  And everyone was invited!
"I had no idea it was going to be as big as it was; I was quite impressed!" said Chicago photographer Adam Daniels.  "Great job @ccjuhlin and team for putting it on!"

I had noticed that several members, photographers and assistants, from the Chicago/Midwest chapter of ASMP-American Society of Media Photographers (@chimwasmp) were on the 5th floor at Columbia: to support the very talented photography students; to explain the benefits of being part of a growing team of photographers whom are ASMP; and to search for bright new photo assistants to mentor, and/or hire!

Here are some business cards--shot with a Profoto 300w/s Compact with barn doors (to prevent spill & fill from my white walls--I collected throughout the evening of some very talented individuals.  If yours isn't in here, my apologies for having not picked it up, or for loosing it when going for cash in my pockets for the red-line ticket home. 

Keep up-to-date with industry nights at @industrynight on Twitter!  And as always, @chimwasmp for your local Chicago/Midwest ASMP Chapter!

Sincerely,
Adam Daniels Studios
adamdaniels.com

Chicago Photographer Interviews Foodie

Less Humans

I'm sad today.  Why?  Because I bought a lottery ticket from a vending machine.  I believe this gives the customer service desk at grocery stores now only two purposes:

1.  To sell cancer sticks to adults, or to under-agers with believable IDs.

2.  To house comment card drop-boxes wherein under-agers--those who failed the whole fake ID thing--have disgustingly sketched a set of super-sized male genitalia in the "other comments" box.

Adam

adamdaniels.com

Adam Daniels Photography Video Blog

Just launched my first in an ongoing series of video blogs.  Here you go:

Double Click on video to enlarge.

Paulina Meat Market Butcher Portrait

Once again, Photoshop has given me the creative tools to "make" the photograph into something extraordinary. I had jotted down a few thoughts of my client's during our initial meeting, and remembered her saying how she loves all the old Saturday Evening Post covers featuring Norman Rockwell. She wanted to show a warm, trustworthy, neighborly butcher.

The place: Paulina's Meat Market, 9am.  The scenario: keep customers in good spirits whilst jumping in front of them, over top of them, and around them to get usable portraits of men with knives.  Kind men.  Men who had donated a few of their early-morning meat-cutting minutes to manage a smile for the man with the camera, despite their hidden agendas of bashing my lens into my face. 

With super-fun mixed-light sources of flash, daylight, and the ever-so-popular florescent tubes hitting my subject, my initial capture would need some color adjusting in Photoshop, I silently told myself.

With mere seconds between customers, I slid my umbrella-rigged Q-Flash portable strobe in closer to the counter so as to shed some light on my subjects over the course of the exposures. Three of the frames didn't make the cut, but this forth one was the money-shot, thanks to a small squeaky toy I hide in my pocket used to loosen smiles. Paulina's Meat Market was certainly the place, and this kind man wins for "best face"!

Joffrey Ballet

The spring Clef Notes Journal featuring my photography is out!

Behind The Scenes: Food & Peep

After a long week of 4 back-to-back photo shoots, I am close to laying back and relaxing, but not quite. The post-shoot Photoshop retouching now commences for a Monday deadline.  On top of that, I get the keys to my new studio/live-work space in Old Town on Sunday.  Needless to say, I will not be moving on Easter, but the following weekend when I have a break from work. 

Here are some great behind-the-scenes shots from this week.  My clients and I shared so many laughs and good times; I can't remember when I had so much fun on-the-job! 

Thanks so much to a great team of stylists, models & assistants (in no particular order): Candace Corey, Janice Bell, Diane Hugh Freeze, Jenna Burkett, Brian J., Ingrid R., Marc Altman, David Engerman, Misa Sicova, Stewart Talent, Factor Women, Chosen Management, Lonnie R. and Leann S.!

Completed shots will be posted here beside the behind-the-scenes once complete.  Stay tuned!

Always Selling

I've realized lately that I'm constantly prospecting for new business.  Business cards are always bulging my pockets, my iPhone contains my portfolio and is always ready to show anyone at a moment's notice, and I try to carry my camera around as a conversation starter.

  Just the other day, I was in Starbucks on my laptop getting some administrative work completed when I overheard the word "photography".  That always makes my ears perk up!  I looked over to my right, and a photographer was showing his portfolio to a man.  Upon his leaving, I approached the man and told him that I overheard the word "photography".  We got to chatting, and I showed him my work.  Now he's using his connections in the industry to shop my images!  Vincent Kamin is his name.  He's my new rep.  Although my book needs some work, I'm very pumped up at yet another random coffee shop connection!   

FourSquare Birthday Party

FourSquare Birthday Party at Lincoln Station last night in Chicago was a blast!

Video:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/4460763377/

Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=408335&id=637635509

Retouching/Photo Illustration

Inspired and awed by Saverio Truglia's amazingly photographed and retouched images of pit bulls in the most recent "Time Out Chicago" Magazine, I opened his image (go to number 7) and placed it side-by-side with my picture of Kona below, trying my best to figure out what was done in post production/Photoshop to Truglia's image.

For one, his lighting is superior, and unmatched in my photo of Kona (below).  For another, the pit bull Nino had been exercising, and was panting. This created the smile that you see so prominently (in #7 on the website link), which I believe was coupled with some warping in Photoshop using the Liquify filter, but subtly enough that the end result looks flawless.  Amazing retouching, guys!

This is by far the furthest I've ever pushed the boundaries of retouching.  I suppose it's more like a photo illustration.  Perhaps somewhere in between.  I'm super eager to learn more about photo illustration: techniques, software used, etc.!

(b4andafter Kona; click to enlarge).

Behind The Scenes: Lights & Mirrors

Mirrors are our friends in tabletop/food photography.  In this photo of a thin slice of apple, one light and eight mirrors were used.  A big difference from when I started off in photography; back in the day I would use eight lights and no mirrors!  Simplify.

McCain Foods' Brew City Shoot

Had a great commercial shoot (food & people) with McCain Foods' "Brew City" brand, beer-battered bar food!  Thanks to Elaine Chernov from www.elaineinspired.com for spreading the word about Adam Daniels Photography to The Alchemedia Project, I was fortunate to work with some amazingly talented people!

click images to enlarge

 

Happy Ending for Injured Hawk

See earlier post for first article.


from The Capital, Annapolis, MD:

STEVENSVILLE - An injured red-tailed hawk that was rescued right before Christmas has been successfully returned to the wild.
Bystanders spotted the hawk, with a badly injured wing, off Route 8 in Stevensville on Dec. 23.
Local filmmaker and licensed falconer Stephen Reverand was able to capture the bird, which was eventually taken to Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research in Delaware.
After surgery and recuperation, the hawk was released on Feb. 13 in the same area where it was found.
Reverand said he and others observed the hawk for about 30 minutes until it flew out of sight. He said the hawk appeared to be doing well.
The hawk now sports a small metal band, so it can be identified if it is spotted or ends up in trouble again.
Red-tailed hawks are one of the most common birds of prey in this area. Article by Pam Wood

Adam's First Addy!

My mother always, and still does call me "Addy", but never did I expect to win one!  A big congratulations and thank you to dear friends Richard Hughes from ClearPH Design Studios, and Troy Plota Photography for selecting me to retouch the Florida Aquarium's SeaGrapes Fine Wine & Food Festival poster--the event will take place in Tampa on May 1st, 2010!  We won an ADDY® award!  Here are before and afters.  click photos to enlarge

Been Hassled Lately?

Upon receiving the below email (in italics below), I provided my experience.

Something very similar just happened to me 2 weeks ago:

I was roaming the streets of Chicago with my new lens.  It was nearing dusk, and I had been walking around for hours, photographing anything that moved me.  I came upon an entrance/exit ramp in the back of a building.  The parking lot lights were crossing each other's beams, creating dueling shapes on the cement and illuminating two bright yellow arrows pointing this way and that in such an aesthetically pleasing way.  I just had to photograph it.  Not even five seconds from my lifting my camera to my face did a cop pull up and get in my face. 

"May I see some ID?" he said sternly, followed by, "may I ask why you're photographing this building?"  So I told him the truth, that I enjoy photographing urban landscapes and interesting angles and lighting.  I then proceeded to flip through all the photos I had taken that day to show him--proof that I had no ulterior motives, i.e. casing the joint for a future robbery.  He looked at me as if I had just come from the cuckoo's nest. 

After checking my name and address in his smart car, he enlightened me as to what I was photographing: the neighborhood police station.  Nice. 

I have the utmost respect for law enforcement officers.  And there's a certain level of security I feel as a result of not only this incident, but all the heightened security measures nowadays.  However, I really wanted to take that picture!

Adam

-----
Concerns over security can sometimes make law enforcement officers, security guards, and even private citizens get carried away. A number of government agencies have been encouraging citizens to report “suspicious behaviors,” and one of the specific activities often listed as suspicious is photography. By way of specific example, the LAPD has issued an Order listing 65 suspicious behaviors that LAPD officers are required to report, and one of them is taking pictures or video footage “with no apparent esthetic value.”

ASMP is working with the ACLU to try to combine security with some basic common sense and fairness. To do that, we need to provide as many concrete examples as possible of photographers being stopped, questioned, harassed or even detained for just taking photographs. If this has happened to you some time over the past three years or so, please send an email to me at perlman@asmp.org or just reply to this message. Please put “SAR” in the subject line (the police acronym for “Suspicious Activity Reporting”) and let me have a description of what you were doing, what happened, where it took place, the approximate date of the incident, and its outcome. I will then pass the information along to the ACLU. If you wish to have your anecdote remain anonymous, please let me know that in the email.

Many thanks for your assistance, and thank you all for your being members of ASMP,
Vic

From Victor S. Perlman General Counsel & Managing Director of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers)

Corporate Head Shots

Through word of mouth, I was given the opportunity to photograph some CEOs and high-level executives of a corporation last week.  Before bidding on the job, there are always questions that don't get answered in the initial phone call or email that I think of as I'm outlining my plan for the shoot. 

To give me an idea of what sort of lighting would be required, and how creative I could get with it while still keeping in mind budgetary and time constraints, I needed to know how many people at one time I was to photograph.  I also needed to know whether there was a hard floor or carpeted floor.  Typically trying to place people on a seamless paper background while resting on carpet would create holes in the paper.  I was lucky enough to be able to scout the location beforehand, and deduce that the carpet was thin enough to prevent considerable sinking-in of high heels or chair legs. 

Lesson learned:  A 9-foot seamless background was not wide enough for an eleven-people group shot.  I had to Photoshop some white along the edges of the people before sending to the client, a soft cost I had to eat due to improper estimating of seamless real estate.  But lesson learned!

Event Photographer & the Canon 50mm f1.4

I am asked quite frequently to photograph events: phone calls and emails to which I would typically cringe, as I much prefer commercial photography work.  However I've been enjoying them lately for a few reasons.

First off, the opportunity to network at these events is priceless.  It's easy to photograph a gig, get paid, and go home.  But why not spend a few minutes getting to know some of the people whom you violate with a bright burst of light in a low light venue?  It's a chance to exchange business cards and possibly pass referrals to one another down the road.  Make some friends; develop a network; grow!

Secondly, in an effort to shoot an event differently and more creatively than I've done or seen in the past, I have been testing my newly acquired Canon 50mm 1.4 lens.  I acquired the lens primarily for the challenge of using a fixed mm focal length: instead of zooming in and out, I actually have to expend a few calories and literally move my ass!  In addition, I wanted to photograph subjects with a lens that mimics close to what the human eye sees.  There's an article on BH's website that explains this in more depth.  I also wanted a lens that wouldn't protrude as much as my Canon 24-70mm 2.8, or draw too much attention, making me look like a professional when sometimes I just want to blend in with everyone else.

And last, the f1.4 is great for shallow depth of field, bringing the viewer's eye straight to your subject.  For extra interest, I sometimes hold something in the foreground of the shot, right in front of the lens, that blurs out completely.

Mixing flash and ambient light is an art in and of itself.  I typically use my 580EXII Canon flash set on manual, depending on whether I'm bouncing it off the ceiling, off a napkin, or off someone's shirt!

So the next time you're asked to shoot an event, pretend it's a wedding, or a commercial shoot even.  Explore different heights, angles, and compositions; shoot through wine glasses or into mirrors.  Explore and have fun!

They made me get out of the car..

..these "photography opportunities", that is.

I was on my way to scout a location for a corporate photo shoot when I made a wrong turn into a loading dock–something that happens all too often thanks to my not-so-accurate GPS, and superb sense of misdirection.  It was dusk, my favorite time of day.

This photo of pine trees was rotated and converted to black and white so as to show you, the viewer, what I saw when I made it.  I want you to see the shapes: the positive and negative space, without thinking too much about the subject matter.

Seeing this shot from inside a warm car, and knowing that the camera was in the double-locked trunk, one might have driven off.  Aha! But not I. No..I didn't hesitate for a second in shutting off the engine, enduring the freezing outdoor temperature, opening my trunk, and firing up my Canon. I used to pass up these types of shots all the time, telling myself that I could revisit this spot at anytime to photograph it when I wasn't running late, or when I had my tripod with me so that I could get a sharper exposure.  In fact, I even sometimes noted the time of day for that "future trip".  But I learned over time that backtracking my steps to do so rarely occurred.  And if I wanted to stretch my mind, creatively, I would have to, every once in a while, stop to make the picture.

I've been trying to use the phrase "make the picture" instead of "take the picture" as of late--and no, this has nothing to do with Photoshop, specifically.  It's a phrase that a professor, one Jaclyn Cori-Newman from SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) once used during my living-off-of-student-loan days; a phrase I obviously never forgot.  It had to do with "dodging and burning", where as one would allow more or less light to shine from the enlarger, through the negative, and onto the photosensitive paper, creating the latent image.  This process, per Jaclyn's tutelage, was "making the photo".  Made sense. It empowered the artist with the creativity for additional personal interpretation, outside of the camera body and lens.  I remember that for me, a still wet-behind-the-ears photo student, this process epitomized the meaning of "to be in awe"--much like developing a print for the first time.

One of my first photos ever taken with an SLR (Single Reflex Camera) was that of a gateway to someone's Victorian-style home in Savannah, GA.  It wasn't a very interesting gate as a straight print.  But after burning the edges around the photo, or vignetting, was suggested--a term all to familiar nowadays what with all the image editing software--the print was an entirely different beast.  

My last photo taken today was this one.  As I exited the building, I stopped, took my camera out, and in the middle of a crowd of people all hungry to leave their 9-6, pointed up and photographed this shape in the window.  I never used to enjoy minimalism when I began studying art, but have grown to love it. And if it doesn't float your boat, well then by all means, go on to my next blog entry!  But if it does evoke anything in you at all, embrace it! 

I'm not sure why it moved me so much, but it did.  And since it did, I captured it: not only for my selfish, simplistically artistic pleasures, but as a learning tool, for both of us!  

Try training your mind to recognize and appreciate these shapes, be them simple or complex, throughout the journeys in your lifetime.  It might open up a whole new train of thought and enlightenment!  Man..that's deep stuff!

Ukrainian Ball, Chicago

Not knowing what I was in store for upon saying yes to meeting up with some friends at a Ukrainian debutante ball at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel last night, I ended up having a great time!  These people can dance!  Here's one photo out of hundreds I snagged during the 20 minutes of high-energy dancing with my Canon 50mm 1.4 lens.  Definitely not too sharp at 1.4, but who cares?  Who said there was anything wrong with blurry pictures if that's what you're going for?

Removing Contrast

It seems like I'm always adding contrast to my work in Photoshop post production.  But today, I decided to take some away.  It takes a little getting used to, and I'm not totally in love with it yet, but there might be something here!

My New Friend

I made a friend today!  Well..a few, actually.  Rebecca Parrish from Interchange Productions was nice enough to extend an invitation to me to do work out of her place today, so as to not be alone in a coffee shop or at home.  It can get pretty lonely when you're freelancing.

I took time away from marketing to capture "Niki" with available light at ISO 3200 with my Canon 5D v1.  I used to be scared of high ISO, but learned not to be.  A little digital noise is okay, especially when you add more grain to it with either the "Grain" filter in Photoshop, or Imagenomic's "RealGrain" plug-in.  Personally, the plug-in iz da bomb!

 

Creative Freelancer Conference, Denver, CO

Every time there's an out-of-town conference or seminar that has anything remotely to do with photography or freelancing, I get excited!  It's easy to justify spending the money to travel when it's continuing education for my photography business.  This "Creative Freelancer Conference" is no exception. 

Tweets about the conference are slowing growing in number as the internet marketing about it increases.  I've been doing some research on the credibility of the speakers, and have found them to be quite knowledgeable.  As much as I'd like to see Denver, I'm going to hold off on registering for a couple months to see if more sponsors sign on, and what other freelancers tweet and blog. 

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Review (or, brief commentary)

Got the EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens today in the mail.  I thought Calumet had shipped me a box of air at first, the lens was so light.  Haven't given it much of a field test yet, but took some shots of the dogs. I think I'll enjoy the speed (f1.8) on this lens - which is the widest of any lens I've had thus far.  click images to enlarge

Both of these photos are at f1.8 1/20, ISO 3200, for your viewing pleasure.  I bought the lens for an out-of-town trip, as it's super small and fits anywhere.  The trip never happened, but I'm prepared for the next one.

The only thing I dislike about this lens so far is the small focusing ring.  I'm so used to the spacious ring on the 24-70mm 2.8 that my fingers grab the center of the shaft where nothing turns.  The focus ring is about the width of these shish kabob skewers, pictured here.  But for the price of $99, and the weight and size, it's a no-brainer.

A Little Liquor And HDR

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

adamdaniels.com

Walking Around Chicago With My Canon

Photos spanning a few hours of roaming the streets of Chicago, one of my favorite things to do.  Shot these with an older 5D with an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM.    click on images to enlarge