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So long, and thanks for all the fish

David — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:52:30 +0000

Calin Ilea diptych - 3 October 2008, just after participating in the Missouri Photo Workshop in St. James, Mo., left, and 1 October 2010, on the second-to-last day of co-coordinating the Missouri Photo Workshop in Macon, Mo., right.

Today, a Romanian Fulbright student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism will defend his project to his committee to earn his M.A. in journalism. When I met Calin Ilea two years, ago, I had no clue our friendship would change the way I approach photography. He’s headed home on Thursday, but I can’t be in Missouri today to celebrate the (likely) completion of his project with him. Are rain checks good in Romania, Calin?

The Best of 2009: The Serious and the Quirky

David — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:13:34 +0000

While I’ve already obsessed on these pages about my photojournalism portfolio, which in many ways was also a “best of 2009″ as the majority of the photos I selected were made recently, I felt that it would be a good idea to revisit my nature images from 2009. Along the journey back in time through my Lightroom library, I also found a lot of quirky images that I really enjoy, but that I don’t always have an opportunity to show. So here, then, are two portfolios from 2009: the best of my nature work, and some of my more off-beat frames. I’m anxious to see what 2010 will bring!

My Best Nature Images of 2009

More after the jump!

The Quirky and the Weird from 2009:

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

David — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 06:41:21 +0000

Memorial Stadium in the pouring rain. The Nebraska Huskers beat the Missouri Tigers in a last-minute comeback in the 4th quarter to win 27-12 on Thursday, October 8, 2009 in Columbia, Mo. / Canon 1D II N and 24-70mm f/2.8L lens @ 42mm; Exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 1600

This evening I spent a solid two hours in the pouring rain to photograph fans outside of Memorial Stadium before tonight’s football game. In particular, my editors wanted a photo for Vox Magazine that would illustrate the tremendous amount of refuse and recycling generated by the tailgaters to football games. Too bad that the assignment seems to have killed my 50mm f/1.4′s autofocus, and possibly my cell phone!

More after the jump

Amidst the tailgators in rain. Canon 1D II N and 50mm f/1.4 lens; exposed 1/125 sec. @ f/1.4, ISO 800.

I believe this was one of the very last in-focus pictures made with my 50mm f/1.4. That is, one of the last sharp pictures made using autofocus. I had completely forgotten that this prime lens–one of my favorites, really–is not weather-sealed in any fashion. That is lasted as long as it did in pouring rain (close to an hour) is somewhat miraculous.

While I had my 5D Mark II with my, there was no way that I was going to take it out of the bag in these conditions. In fact, I regretted not leaving it in the trunk of my car. Enough 5D II’s died in Antarctica with Michael Reichmann’s tour that I am wary to use it in any kind of precipitation. It’s not a weather-sealed body. That simple. Oh, yes, and it’s $2,700. Once upon a time, that would have bought almost TWO 1V bodies. Moving on.

Exodus in the rain. Canon 1D II N and 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens @ 32mm; exposed 1/60 sec. @ f/4, ISO 800.

After the premature death of an old friend, I switched to the 24-70, which I knew was weather-sealed, especially on the 1D II N. I made the image above, which I actually thought the most successful of the evening: an empty tent in the parking lot by the Hearnes Center where the owners’ had abandoned their digs for their seats in the rain down on Faurot Field. The stadium lights cast the shadows of passers-by on the plastic walls of the tent, including the shadows of these two people who were carrying their umbrellas.

Walking past the scene of the incident. Canon 1D II N and 24-70mm f/2.8 L @ 24mm; exposed 1/20 sec. @ f/2.8, ISO 1600.

Finally, I found a situation I thought illustrated the idea of trash / recylcing / messes post-tailgating. I decided to have some fun with it, and switched to shutter priority to make some blurs of the people walking by to get to their seats at Memorial Stadium. A lot of people called to me “great picture!” in jest, but I was happy because I had found the right situation that would let me go home!

A Canon 50mm f/1.4 coated in Riceland Rice inside a Ziploc container.

If L.D. Brantley ever reads this, I want him to know that I tried to revive my lens using his rice, farmed in my Dad’s home town of England, Ark. It took care of the fogging just fine, but unfortunately the autofocus is still dead. Off to Canon Professional Services it shall go in the morning!

UPDATE:

The rice “trick” worked well for my cell phone. I had to take it apart and expose pretty much all of its interior to the hydrophilic rice, but damn if it didn’t bring it back to life.

SECOND UPDATE:

My 50mm lens is now repaired, just one week later, for $60 plus the $15 to ship it FedEx 2Day to the Canon Jamesburg facility. Glad to have it back!

Cutting Room Floor

David — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:06:24 +0000

I have finally had a chance to go over all of my images from the Tour de Missouri, as well as my other shoots from the week, and found three images that I thought were particularly interesting but were unpublished–they did not find their way into the Columbia Missourian, or my Blog, for that matter–until now!

Old Courthouse reflection, St. Louis, Mo. Canon 5D II and 24-70mm f/2.8 L @ 70mm; exposed 1/500 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 100

I saw this composition with the imperfect reflections of office buildings and the Old Court House as I was walking to the downtown Hilton to pick up my press credentials for the first stage of the Tour of Missouri. This is cropped fairly heavily, so I do wish that I had switched lenses to the 70-200mm f/4 I L IS, but I was in a rush to get to the race before it started without me!

More after the jump!

April Greenwood, left, and Luke Musselman, right, continue their conversation behind their coworkers as they promote Liquigas and the other major sponsors of the Tour of Missouri / Canon 1D IIN and 300mm f/4; exposed 1/1000 sec. @ f/4, ISO 200.

Oh, do I ever wish that the “amputated leg” on the left edge of the frame were not there! It interrupts what is otherwise a comedic juxtaposition of stiletto-heeled boots and men’s (extremely) casual-wear.

Dustin Lane, pictured on the 13th tee and a manager of the Perche Creek Golf Club, is promoting "night golf" at the club's three-par course in Columbia, Mo. The club has installed several lights to illuminate the course at night, and it is beginning to grow in popularity / Canon 5D II and 70-200mm f/4 L IS @ 70mm; exposed 1/200 sec. @ f/11, ISO 100.

Dustin Lane was my first environmental portrait assignment for the Columbia Missourian. Knowing that the story is about how the Perche Creek Golf Club is now illuminating its golf course at night, I came to the golf course–at 4:00pm–with the idea to knock the ambient light down a stop and use lights to add drama. While the select for the paper is very dramatic and one I’m happy with, I feel that this other photo (above) is a better image, even if the concept of “night golf” doesn’t show through nearly as well. Of course, I worry now that I’m reviewing the photo, which I made using three lights surrounding Dustin, that I may have made him look a bit too much like Dexter. Not intentional!

Content © 2009 David Kennedy | View Original Post | Comment | Filed under Columbia Missourian, Cutting Room Floor | Tags: Columbia Missourian, lighting, outtakes, photography, photojournalism, portraits

Patterns in the Sand

David — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:37:22 +0000

One of the photographic conditions that I never had too great an appreciation for before I switched to digital capture in 2003 is the classic, cloudy day. Overcast skies can yield striking images because the light is delightfully even, not “flat” as too many casually dismiss it. Working to minimize shadows by photographing on sun angle (with the sun 180 degrees from your lens) or on a cloudy day does not mean that you’ll be working without shadows. However, it certainly lets you study the shadowed areas much more closely, and the gradation between dark and light tones becomes far greater.

It’s the reason people love the “Shadow/Highlight” tool in Photoshop, or the “Fill Light” slider in Camera RAW / Lightroom: we like shadow detail. So, consider how much more shadow detail you get on an overcast day, and reconsider any bias against the giant diffusers in the sky known as clouds.

In this case, along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake in Saltair, Utah, I was actually photographing on a brilliantly sunny day, and the light was about as harsh as can be. I achieved the soft light by using my body as a gobo, and I photographed in my own shadow. It’s a useful technique that I had forgotten about until I saw Artie Morris using it in the Galapagos to photograph a Lava Lizard.

Galapagos Photographs Online!

David — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:56:01 +0000

As promised, I have finally edited my photos from the Galapagos and uploaded them online at my ZenFolio gallery. I have also placed a slideshow of the best photographs below. (More wildlife, landscapes, and other details of the trip are at the Zenfolio site.) These would have been up sooner, but I was camping in the Uinta Mountains in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Utah for a week with my girlfriend, which culminated in a visit to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Brigham City. Images from that trip should also be up shortly.

To the thief who stole my backpack in Quito…

David — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:20:28 +0000

Today, in a moment of stupidity, I allowed a grocery store security guard to put my backpack in “safe keeping” while shopping for bottled water and other supplies in Quito, Ecuador. I was in the store for three minutes. My bag didn’t last that long. Inside was one lens, my Panasonic 14-45mm (28-90mm equivalent), my windbreaker, my dad’s windbreaker, some ibuprofen, some generic Dramamine, a pair of earphones, and a couple of AA batteries.

My name, e-mail address, and Web site are featured prominently on many of the items in the bag, as well as the bag itself. If the person who stole my bag (mochile) from the supermercado, please e-mail me as I will pay you to return my bag. Yeah, this is a shot in the dark, but I bet you’re more reasonable than the security guard who told me “No me culpa.”

Um, yeah, it was his fault for not noticing…as well as the fault of the two motorcycle police directly outside the supermarket for not noticing you running away with my favorite camera backpack, the Kata 467. But it was also my fault for ever taking it off of my back to start with. So, hopefully we can make a deal.

I’m leaving for the Galapagos islands tomorrow, but will be back next Saturday.

In spite of your thievery, I did make a few pictures that I’m happy with. I cannot edit them as I’m simply traveling with my MSI netbook for this trip, but here are some rough cuts, including the last good photo I made with the lens you absconded with:

Preventing H1N1 at the Quito airport. Everyone deplaning from my flight had to wear them. They were unbearably hot.

Betty Page on a VW Bug.

Looking for Americamino.

Selling fish on the street.

A perspective on Washington, D.C.

David — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:47:02 +0000

About three weeks ago I traveled to Washington, D.C. and decided to take only my Lumix G1 and what was at the time my only lens for it, the 14-45mm “kit” lens (28-90mm 35mm equivalent). These were some of the more experimental images I made on the walk around the National Mall, the National Museum of the American Indian, and a few rides on the metro.

Washington Monument. Panasonic Lumix G1 and 14-45mm lens; exposed 1/2500 sec. @ f/5, ISO 200

The idea I had in mind for this image came through almost as well as I had hoped, aside from a compositional error that left the monument not quite centered. Also, I have no idea why I allowed the camera to go up to ISO 200 or chose f/5 instead of f/8. I will say that some dials can move inadvertently with that camera when walking around with it hanging at my side.

Museum of the American Indian, interior. Panasonic Lumix G1 and 14-45mm lens; exposed 1/50 sec. @ f/5.1, ISO 400

The style and mood of this image is an homage to that of one of my close friends from college, who recently earned her M.F.A. and was also married, Meghan Kirkwood. I actually enjoy the wide expanse of negative space on the left, but I appreciate that it’s not for everyone.

Metro train. Panasonic Lumix G1 and 14-45mm lens; exposed1/30 sec. @ f/4, ISO 1600

The D.C. metro provided a lot of opportunities for photography. I wish that the G1 was less noisy in these situations, but I think the grain adds something to this scene. Still, it’s certainly not like the 5D II or the Nikon D3 or D700 in its low-light abilities!

Metro train blur, duotone. Panasonic Lumix G1 and 14-45mm lens; exposed 1.6 seconds @ f/4.8, ISO 1250

Probably the most conceptual of the images I’ve made in a while. I intentionally overexposed the train tunnel to give the scene a black and white negative-like look.