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CupcakeCamp Charleston

Friday night I saw a blurb on Twitter about CupcakeCamp Charleston, and it immediately caught my eye. I didn’t know what it was about, what the point of it was, or who was even doing it – I just knew that my family had to be there. That is how powerful a name like CupcakeCamp is. For all I knew, this could have been the second coming of the Jonestown Massacre, but I was hypnotized by sugary goodness and had to check it out.

We arrived to the Aloft Hotel in North Charleston to a lobby full of the happiest people on earth. Just look at that photo above, there ain’t a single unhappy person in the place. I didn’t know what was going on, but people were sitting around high on cupcakes, and there was a huge line snaked throughout the hotel of people waiting to try more. It was decadent to say the least. Just imagine a G-rated version of Studio 54, with sugar instead of cocaine.

Did I mention that the cupcakes were all 100% free? I’m surprised that the place wasn’t rioting! Do you understand what I’m saying? Dozens upon dozens of exotic cupcake flavors – all you can eat – FREE!! I think we might have died and went to heaven, but instead of fluffy clouds, there was fluffy icing.

I think there was some sort of contest going on, but I couldn’t tell you who won. Who cares? I won – I got to eat carrot cake cupcakes followed by banana pudding ones. Contest??? Who the hell could choose? After 3 cupcakes, you’re stoned on sweetness. It was absolutely crazy. These people below looked like they were officiating something though:

I don’t even know what to make of this. I just hope it happens again… Soon. Like tomorrow. Please, God.

F**k Auto

So you went out and bought a fancy DSLR camera, or possibly one of those newfangled micro four-thirds cameras with interchangeable lenses because you’ve decided that you want to upgrade the photos you make by getting a better camera. You slap on the lens, pop in a memory card and then start taking pictures. Then the buyer’s remorse sets in because the photos don’t look all that much better than the ones on your little Kodak point-and-shoot! What happened? Well, like most people who own a camera, you left the camera in auto mode and expected it to interpret the photos you see in your mind into the photos that show up on your computer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually work out that way. Taking better photographs involves much more than an expensive camera. It involves a bit of knowledge, a dash of skill, and an eye for composition – none of which a camera can accomplish on its own. Let’s talk about making the switch away from auto mode.

Take a good look at the photo at the top of this post. That’s 14 time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs and his band. There they are up on stage, acoustic instruments in their hands, singing their hearts out – these guys don’t know the meaning of “Auto”. I bet they all drive using manual transmission. You might not like bluegrass, but you can get the metaphor. I took this shot at the fair this past Tuesday. Here’s the camera info for this shot: I used my Tamron 17-50mm lens at 35mm, at 1/125 of a second with a f/4 aperture and ISO 800. I set this up manually on my camera during his first number and pretty much used the same settings for the rest of the shots I took of them.

Do you see all that negative space in the top and bottom right corners? Auto hate’s that. Auto is prejudiced against darkness. I hate prejudice, hence the harsh title of this post. If I took that shot and let Auto drive, the damn flash would have popped up so fast and punched this band right in the face with awful direct light that they probably would have stopped playing and kicked the camera out of my hands (well, not really, considering the amount of fans that were shooting pictures with their flashes on, illuminating only the back of the head of the person in front of them). Do you see all the color on the back of the stage? Auto wouldn’t. It would have blown that right off the photo. Auto is a dick. It only cares about the closest thing it can focus on. The rest of the scene is meaningless to Auto. Color? Dynamic range? Contrast? These are all enemies of Auto, yet they are some of the most important aspects of a good photo.

OK, so now you have a good reason to hate Auto, what are you going to do about it? You really need to learn about exposure and there are books on the subject, or you can google it and find a lot of really great articles on the subject, so go ahead – I’ll still be here when you’re done. Once you know what exposure is, you need to understand the basic relationship between the amount of light you let into the camera (aperture), the length of time you let that light in for (shutter speed), and the sensitivity of the sensor that captures it (ISO). It doesn’t have to be a geeky math nerd understanding, but at least an understanding of the aesthetic effect that those three factors have on your photography.

I know what you’re thinking – how am I supposed to capture a great moment and be expected to figure out what ISO setting to be on, what aperture to use, and what the proper shutter speed should be? By the time I flick one dial the moment has passed! Well, most cameras come with really good training wheels! There’s “Program Auto” mode (or P Mode), which lets you control the ISO, the flash, and the white balance, but it still chooses the aperture and shutter speed. P Mode still sucks, but it’s a start. I prefer “Aperture Priority” and “Shutter Priority” modes. They allow you to have control of the same things P Mode does, but you can either set the aperture if in A Mode and let the camera pick the best shutter speed based on the aperture you choose, or the shutter speed in S Mode which lets the camera pick the best aperture based on your shutter speed. You can also set the ISO, or program an auto ISO range when using one of these modes, so that you can limit the amount of possible digital noise in your photos. In a lot of situations, you can leave the white balance setting in auto WB as well, as it does a pretty good job of setting itself. In situations where you are using multiple light sources or there are extreme colors you want to enhance or diminish, then manually setting the white balance is a good idea. Some other settings you can manipulate in these modes are the type of metering and the exposure compensation. Both of these settings let you trick the camera’s built-in light meter into doing what you want – further giving you control of your vision. If you find yourself messing with the metering and exposure values a lot, you need to just shoot in manual and compensate with your shutter speed and/or aperture!

I realize that there is a lot to understand here and I’m just giving you a basic overview, but with time these things become second nature. I still spend a lot of time in aperture priority mode, because I like to control the depth of field in my work, and it usually serves me well in a pinch. Lately though, I’ve been making a conscious effort to hang out in manual mode and it has allowed me to do creative things much easier and more consistently than in A mode. When I recently did a series of portraits for a Halloween party, I set the camera manually to create consistent low-key exposures:

If I had used A mode, even if I were to adjust the exposure compensation, each shot would meter differently because of the color of their costumes and how the meter would read them. In manual mode, each photo will be exposed the same way. Another example is taking high-key photos like this one:

In any other mode but manual, the camera would try to “fix” this shot because it’s deliberately over-exposed. Shooting in manual lets me further realize the images I want to create. This allows for artistic control – you are the one making the shot, not the camera. This is why when a photographer is told that they “must have a nice camera” when someone comments on one of their photos, they get pretty steamed! The camera would have screwed it up if it was in control!!

I don’t usually dabble into the how-to realm on this site, but I think it’s important that people understand how much work goes into making a photograph, and while I think it’s even more important to share the “why”, understanding the “how” lets the reader appreciate the “why” all the more. Now you know why I hate Auto and have a better understanding of how to stop using it, so go out and make some shots in M mode and further realize your artistic vision.

Charleston Magazine’s Last Page

I mentioned in a post last month that I had some exciting news from Charleston Magazine, and today it came through. The photo above was selected for “The Last Page” in the November issue. The Last Page is a feature that showcases artwork from a local artist.

I’m especially excited to be involved in this month’s issue because it is Charleston Magazine’s first ever music issue. Music is a big part of my life, and if it weren’t for music, I wouldn’t have met my wife or enjoy the life I have today. It inspires me most out of all of the art forms, and it’s a big part of what drives me every day. To be included in this special issue as a photographer is a real wake-up call to my ambition as an artist.

Just last night, I was watching this video from the keynote of the 2010 PDN Photo Plus Expo by Chase Jarvis. He brought out a group of creative leaders connected to the world of photography and their stories of how they got to where they are in their careers made me realize that I’ve been somewhat blindly meandering down a path that sounds very similar to these very people that I admire. At some point, I’m going to have to make a choice to either grab the bull by the horns, or sit out on the sidelines.

It’s quite a difficult thing to even consider. I like my current career, but it leaves little room for a right-brained soul like me to breathe. I got into photography as a creative outlet. I walked away from my career in music because it was becoming a job and it was losing its ability to be that outlet (and the pay sucked). I don’t want that to happen with photography. I also don’t want to think that I could have done something that I consider meaningful and let it go because I was too chickenshit to pursue it. The most depressing thought in the world is of how many great ideas, paintings, songs, or photographs weren’t released to the world because somebody didn’t have the balls to see it through.

Over the next couple of days, I’m going to explore some of the themes that drive me artistically, so please check back soon to join me on this journey.

2010 Halloween Party Pics

I have posted a set of photos from our 3rd annual Halloween party up on my Flickr site. If you haven’t already checked out the guest portraits, make sure you do – the kids looked great this year! If any guests have any photos to share, please do so in the comments or on my Facebook page.

That’s all I’ve got for today. I’m on day 3 of my No-Shave-November “project”, and let me tell you, I love not having to shave in the morning. I wonder how hairy my face will be for BarCampCHS?

Happy Election Day!

Today was the big day in the USA to vote in mid-term elections. It has never, ever, ever, been covered like this before. I mean, I felt like today was a presidential election! I heard reports of hour-long waits at polling stations, and the news sites, TV channels, and social networks have been buzzing all day with their respective coverage. The photo above was taken with my iPhone as I was waiting on line to vote.

I also wanted to let you know that I added two more photos to the store by request. They are the Charleston Battery Sunset:

And Battery Marshall Twilight:

Make sure to check out the frames and matting options in the store when you purchase prints – the sizes of the prints are not your normal sizes like 8×10 or 11×14, and the frames for them are not available in most local stores. If you want to save a few dollars, this Amazon vendor has some hard-to-find frame sizes for very reasonable prices. When you order the frame and matte from the JWNPhoto store, all of the work is done for you and it arrives ready to hang. Either way, I want you to be happy and get the best deal for your money.

I’m still sorting through my Halloween pictures, and we did visit to the fair this evening as a family, so there will be some more fair pictures, including some shots of Ricky Skaggs on stage!

No Shave November 2010

Sorry to scare you with my giant head there, but today is November 1st, and as my neighbor reminded me, it’s “No Shave November”. There’s a ton of Facebook fan pages for the grizzly event – I like this one.

Long story short, I’m going to be taking a self portrait of my face every day for the month and track my facial growth. I had a head start on it – the photo above is me after a weekend of avoiding the razor. You can only imagine the shag that will be there come December.

I won’t post every shot on this blog, but I did set up a Flickr set to organize all of these shots in. Taking a self-portrait everyday for any length of time is a challenge in itself, but I’m keeping myself limited to a square tight crop to minimize the variation. Won’t you join me on this journey to emulate the great Grizzly Adams?

2010 Halloween Party Guest Portraits

On Saturday night my family hosted our 3rd annual Halloween party. I wanted to share the portraits I took of the guests as they arrived. I set up an outdoor studio in our front yard and the kids (some adults too) had to get their portrait made before entering the party. The portraits are freely available to download for our guests (just click the download button above the photos in the store), and if you would like to purchase prints or gift items, you can do so right from the same page! Here is the link to view and download all of the photos: http://jwnphoto.zenfolio.com/halloween2010

Another fun activity we concocted for this year’s party was a fortune teller tent, and the perfect fortune teller was portrayed by our beloved friend Mira, who did an amazing job. Just look at her in action:

We can’t say enough thanks to all of the parents who pitched in and helped during the big party. We can’t wait to do it again next year!

Coastal Carolina Fair 2010

So, I’ve been talking a lot about this photowalk in the past week and it has finally come and gone. I spent a total of four hours watching, listening, smelling, tasting, and shooting the fair this year. I left the family at home because I didn’t want to hold them back with all of my lallygagging, but we will be going back again as a family in the coming week to let the kids be kids.

The first thing I did when I arrived was head over to the Photography/Fine Arts Building to look at the work that was submitted for the photo contest. I talked briefly about that and my winning submission here, so I won’t rehash it again, I’ll just state that the photos I saw were stunning and everybody should be proud of how talented the photogs in the Charleston area are!

It was still quite bright out when I started the walk, and I wanted to try something a little different. I wanted to try and capture motion and make high-key photos that were dramatic. This meant shooting in manual mode and slowing up the shutter speeds to completely blow out the sky while still rendering the main subject with vivid color by also using a normal aperture. I think this one best demonstrated my vision for this technique.

Here’s another shot of a different ride using the same technique:

The cloud coverage at the time I got there was like 90%, and the sunset was blocked out by clouds, which was a bummer. I kept shooting this Ferris wheel when I started to see a hint of pink in the sides of the clouds. I looked behind me an there it was – the clouds broke in a small area which was only truly visible (or should I say shootable) on the other side of the fairgrounds. I ran over to the side of the fairgrounds – I had already picked out the shot I wanted for the sunset pic earlier. I set up the tripod in the chosen location and composed my shot. Now I had to wait for the perfect storm of both the carousel and the Ferris wheel to be moving at the same time. Bingo – they both started to spin, but wait… two guys are in the middle of the shot!

I didn’t want to be rude, so I waited them out. By the time they departed (which was only about a minute or two), so did most of the sunset’s colors, and the carousel was stopping! That’s OK though, because the sky was still a striking color and I was able to capture this frame.

I wanted to also capture the food and vendors, because they are a huge part of the fair experience. As I was shooting a shot of some corn-dogs, the vendor offered to pose with one – I asked her to hold one out in front of her because I wanted to focus on her hands and the corn-dog. Little did I know she was going to pull out the most phallic thing I’ve ever seen put on a stick and deep fried. When I showed her the photo, we both started cracking up. I explained to her that at least her face was out of focus enough that her mother would never be able to identify her!

At one point I stopped to talk to this nice gentleman, and he started off with the one subject you should never bring up with a stranger – politics. The problem is that I couldn’t tell what side of the fence he hated more – He started complaining about Obama, and then went after Bush in the same breath! You gotta love carnies – they are the true anarchists of society. He told me he served in ‘Nam, which makes him more of a man than I could ever be, so I gotta give him some respect.

I popped over to the Lakefront Stage to catch a few songs from Phil Vassar, who is a pop country artist. I usually like my country in the alt variety, but I can appreciate any live musician – and his band was good. I snapped this shot of him singing to the crowd with the band in the background.

Now that the night had fallen, it was time to pull out the tripod and get some cool motion shots of the rides and lights.

I never realized how cool the Ferris wheels’ light patterns could be when caught with the right amount of shutter speed (or lack thereof).

Sometimes stacking multiple rides on top of each other for a shot will make for an interesting composition:

The lake in the middle of the fairgrounds makes for some great reflective shots of the fair’s skyline.

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for the fireworks display. Unfortunately the amount of smoke they produced was quite impressive and it was filling the sky around me which gave the shots a foggy effect to them. I think this image plays off the situation pretty well.

I ended the evening grabbing a fried treat from the instant death booth. I asked the girl at the window if she would smile for a picture, because it might be the last one I ever take after she served me the fried s’mores that she recommended (which was woth the clogged arteries, BTW).

All-in-all I found it very therapeutic to walk through the fair without any major agenda – just to be wide-eyed and open to possible photographs that may present themselves was a lot of fun, and the time slipped away from me. Before I knew it, it was time to head home, and I hadn’t even explored the exhibitions, the rodeo, or the petting zoo! I hope you enjoy the photos I made, because I truly enjoyed making them. I have a bunch more so feel free to check out all of the shots I took here.

Tooting My Own Horn

I’m honored (and flattered) to report that the photo above won 1st place in the black & white division II photo contest at the 2010 Coastal Carolina Fair! The other three photos I entered all received honorable mentions as well. This is the first photo contest I’ve ever placed in, and let me tell you, the amount of talent that was represented in this year’s contest was unbelievable. You couldn’t tell the difference between the amateur and professional photos that won awards, and in fact, the winner of the “Best In Show” award went to the 1st place color photo winner of the amateur division!

I spent four hours at the fair this evening taking it all in. I will share my experience in a post tomorrow, as I’m pooped and need to spend some quality time with the wife. I do think I got some cool shots and I tried a couple of new techniques that I believe worked out well.

Late October Status Update

I just wanted to give a quick update because this weekend is going to be quite busy for me and I don’t know how much time I’ll have keep things up to date. Tonight is the Photowalk that I’m hosting at the Coastal Carolina Fair, Friday night I’m going to go see Rocky Horror at the Charleston Ballet, and on Saturday my wife and I are hosting our 3rd annual Halloween party for our kids.

As of this writing, the photowalk is still on. The weather report is abysmal for today, but right at sunset the storm should move out of here. If the weather forecast is correct, then there is a chance that we will have some spectacular cloud formations right at sunset! *UPDATE* Well, as usual, the forecast when I wrote this post at midnight last night was wrong. As of 9:00AM this morning it has the storm hitting right at the time of the scheduled walk. I will keep you updated – make sure to follow me on twitter for the latest updates. **UPDATE** I’m heading over to the fair now – the walk is on!

I also wanted to briefly mention that I will be attending BarCamp Charleston on November 13th at the College of Charleston. I have a proposed photography session, so if you are planning to go then please vote it up and make it happen! I will talk more about the “unconference” in the coming weeks.

Finally, photographer/blogger Kent Weakly has a photo contest going on right now and I’ve submitted one of my recent photos. It would be real nice if you visited his website and voted for my photo (#37) on October 30th-November 1st, or even just voted for anyone at all so that he’ll keep doing these! While you’re there check out the rest of his site and blog – he’s got a ton of helpful videos.

That’s all for now – I hope you all can brave the weather tonight and join me for some fried Oreos!

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