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Kulture Klash 7 Recap

How do they do it? The organizers of Kulture Klash, the low country’s festival of art, dance, & music have managed to top themselves again. For the 7th installment of bi-annual event, the stand-out attraction for me was the live wakeboard demonstration provided by Chuck and Chalice to coincide with the festival’s water theme.

OK, lets rewind a bit to yesterday afternoon, when the site of the festival was freely opened up to the public to view the art installations.

In addition to art for sale, the show featured artist interpretations of the quintessential Surf Shack:

This photo is all about BadJon, his framed art, and his giant Alien Bees ring flash:

Moving along outside, as the crew put the finishing touches on the wakeboard pools, the kids and dogs took advantage of the opportunity to get as dirty as possible!

What better way to cool off in the hot Charleston sun than with an all-natural snow cone from Rena Larch and her Happy Camper Snoballs?

Artist and the man behind (and in front of) the scenes at Kulture Klash, Scott Debus presented my kids with the coveted Blue Power Ranger, which also squeaks. I know this because I was woken up this morning to the sound of a squeaking Power Ranger!

The free art viewing was the perfect place to check out local art with your family. The kids were able to run around and be kids, people brought their pets, and the atmosphere was very relaxed. We also had a good vantage point to check out some of the Charleston Air Show, which local photo buddy Montwerx was covering from behind his lens.

Now it’s time for the party! I returned to the Klash a little after 8:00PM to an already packed house.

There was live music, dancing, and hula hoop girls all around! So began an adventure in low and no-light photography.

This works to my advantage, because the best way to tell the story of a party like this is to show the motion of it.

Also on hand was the newly founded Girls Rock Charleston, who performed an interpretive dance to live drumming:

The roar of the guitar and beat of the drums reigned in the alleyway next to Storehouse 10 as the band named Cusses took the stage.

As with past Kulture Klash Arts Festivals, there were live works of art being created during the course of the night, including a giant surfboard and this huge canvas:

Over in the next alley was the Urban Wakeboarding demo as well as another stage. The wakeboaders started out on one end of the alley on the back of a pickup truck. On the other end was a winch that pulled them across two pools joined by a rail jump in the middle.

Needless to say, nighttime action sports photography is not the easiest thing to do! That didn’t stop the throngs of cell phone videographers that lined the barrier broadcasting to their Facebook friends the watersports event of the evening. Sometimes I feel we’re all the stars of The Truman Show. So says the guy with the camera…

On stage was the dub sounds of Charleston’s Dubplates:

It was time for me to depart. The amazing thing was that at 11:00PM, a whole new crowd was coming in through the gate to experience a whole other set of performances. It’s an amazing festival that truly is whatever you make of it, and I couldn’t be more impressed by just how much awesomeness is packed into one evening. I’d love to see everybody’s photos and hear their stories about the evening, so please share!

As usual, you can check out the full extensive set of photos I took on my Flickr Stream.

Reflecting

It seems like only a few months ago that I was reflecting on the past year’s achievements and was all gung ho to get started with the new year (oh yeah, it was almost six months ago). Then life happened and smacked me down. Fast-forward to today when my wife took a picture of me this morning while I was driving. Looking at it depressed me because it made me realize I haven’t kick-started my year to be where I want to be enough. It was like looking in the mirror naked without your clothes on to cover up the hurt. I need to light the fire up under my ass and the best was I know how is by setting goals and taking photos.

The first goal is to further define myself as a photographer. Looking at my past work with a critical eye is not very fun, but it’s necessary. I’m trying to identify the trademark things that I do that help define my style. In order to further this process, I’m going to start a new month long photo project. The theme of my project is going to be abstract photography. My ultimate goal with this is to create at least one abstract photo that has a purposeful meaning – something that I can show somebody and say “This is what I can do”.

My first photo will be this one of a barbed wire fence – at this angle it reminded me of a metallic American Flag. I think it’s a good start, but I’ve got a ways to go. I’ve created a set on my Flickr stream for this project, and like my past projects, I’ll periodically remind you of it here.

Two New Beach Prints Available

As I was choosing prints I wanted to show for this weekend’s Kulture Klash Arts Festival, I was going through my library of photos to find water themed images. I found two that stuck out for me, but they didn’t work for the triptych idea I ended up going with. I’ve decided to put them up in the store and offer them to you!

The first one, which is shown above, was made in Freeport last summer. It’s entitled “Reef Rafters” because there is a silhouette of to people on a raft out by the reef. I originally processed this photo as a color image (shown here), but decided to crop it down a little bit and convert it to black & white. I love the way the clouds and the water work together and the monotone version really makes that feature stand out.

The other photo was made on Sullivans Island in South Carolina in August of 2010. The lone beach-goer sitting on the shore reading made for a serene subject. It’s nice to get a single subject against a vast backdrop like this – I find it quite peaceful. I’m getting ready to spend some quality time at the beaches again as the weather gets warmer, and these images make me want Summer to be here already!

Kudos To Miller’s Professional Imaging

I wanted to write a post just to share with you the work that I’m contributing to Kulture Klash 7, but I need to first share with you my account of the great service I received from Miller’s Professional Imaging (who are the people behind Zenfolio/MPIX which is who I use for all of my prints).

I’m quite the busy guy, with a family to support (I’m writing this post as I tend to my daughter who’s home sick from school today) and another business to run. Although I knew that this weekend’s KK7 Arts Festival was this coming up quickly, I failed to note that the artwork drop off date was today (April 5th)! I had ordered my prints over the weekend and when I got a reminder email from the organizers of the festival about the drop off date yesterday, I had a mini panic attack because I wouldn’t have my work ready in time. I quickly sent an email to Zenfolio’s support people and explained my screw-up and asked if I could bump up the shipping to overnight. Not only did they get back to me quickly, they rushed the processing of the prints and upgraded my shipping at no extra cost! I was prepared to pay whatever it takes and they just took care of me at their expense – In my opinion that is simply amazing customer service that goes above and beyond. I’m so proud to have them as my printing partner for JWNPhoto.

The work I’m showing at Kulture Klash was really not what I had originally planned on showing this time around. I had planned on keeping a musical theme with my photos and to have a relationship between them all. When the organizers announced that the theme of the festival for KK7 was going to be water, I threw out my original idea and started thinking about water themed photos. I have a lot of shoreline photos but I didn’t want to come off as kitschy, especially in this festival’s environment which tends to cater to a more underground art scene. Don’t get me wrong, I love a classic sunset photo and I truly love trying to differentiate myself from the crowd while still creating a photo of the same sand, water, and sky. I thought of some of the common traits in my favorite shoreline photos that I’ve created recently – bold color, portrait orientation, & negative space. I remembered that unlike a photo competition – there are no rules to an art show. I could present a triptych of three different images that share a common theme and make an even stronger presentation.

The images at the top of the post are three 20″x30″ prints arranged intentionally in order and placement by the time of day and horizon. The first image was made from the Pitt Street Bridge of the Charleston Peninsula at sunset. I love the crimson color of the sky and the two cranes that look almost like they’re worshiping the falling sun. I remember a seemingly intoxicated lady who walked by while I was making this shot and she commented that the sunset was not very nice. I guess that’s why they say opinions are like asses… everybody has one. The second photo was made at Shem Creek from the bridge. I zoomed in tightly to capture a very golden sky – I love the contrast of the blue shrimping boat and the reflections of the boardwalk lights in the water. This shot also has a diagonal line formed by the dock and boardwalk that is something I tend to look for in a lot of my landscape photos. Finally, the third photo is of the recent Supermoon. I wanted a simple and bold graphical image of the water and the color and shape of the unusually bright moon. It’s very interesting to note that local photographer Robert Donovan (and a host of other local photogs) were all in the same area taking pictures of the same moon, but with very different results. Robert’s image is very similar in composition, but his focus on the detail of the moon made for a completely different image! He’s exposure is very different, so the colors are radically different as well. It just goes to prove that there is a lot of artistic interpretation going on when you get behind the camera and develop the finished product.

Another piece that I’m showing is this diptych that I made for a Gizmodo.com photo challenge. I wanted to show a picture featuring a person, because I don’t want to be typecast as a landscape photographer. I love the feeling of this photo – The saturation and contrast are very expressive and the Elmo T-Shirt is begging for your eye’s attention, much like the subject’s (my daughter) body language is longing for the attention of the waitress.

I hope to see a lot of friends at the festival this weekend – don’t forget to get your tickets early and save a few bucks!

Cooper River Bridge Kids Run

There was no river and no bridge, but there sure were a lot of running kids! A day before the infamous Charleston Cooper River Bridge Run, the kids get their shot at racing glory over at Hampton Park in Charleston, SC.

The day wasn’t only about the big races – there were games, pony rides, snacks, and weird people dressed up as fruit!

But of course, the real attraction was hundreds of running children…

Every kid got a medal, and as far as I know, every kid finished their respective race. They did a great job, and you can see the looks of determination in their faces (even if they were painted).

Check out the full set of 38 photos on my Flickr stream.

Postcard Portfolio

Front of Postcards

Just in time for Kulture Klash 7, I put together what I’m calling a “Postcard Portfolio”. Inspired by my wife’s need for “Just Sold” postcards that she’s had me designing for her real estate business. I was so impressed with the print quality of the postcards for the price I was paying that I decided to make some for myself.

Back of Postcards

The most difficult thing was to pick a handful of photos that represent what I’m currently doing with my photography. From the mysterious trolly cars in an open field, a simple, yet alternative perspective of a sunflower, to an abstract photo of my guitar, the photos featured on the front sides of the cards are ones that I chose to represent the fine art side of my photography.

On the flip side of the cards I wanted to show people in order to showcase my love for candid, portraiture, and event photography. The award winning shot of kids playing in a fountain in North Charleston, a live performance photo of Less Than Jake, and a recent portrait of these newlyweds.

I decided to keep the printed text on these to a bare minimum – Just my logo and the address of this website. I want the photos to speak for themselves and not to be overly commercialized. Look for these at Kulture Klash as well as any other events I attend – just ask and hopefully I’ll have some on me!

Valero At The Oasis

After the rise of the super moon last night, I stopped over at the Oasis on Folly Road in James Island to catch a set from Clemson’s emo rock band Valero.

While I was somewhat prepared to shoot the moon over the ocean, I wasn’t prepared for a live band and I was really wishing I packed a f/1.8 prime lens with me because the lighting in the Oasis is just plain harsh. One side of the stage was red, the middle was green and blue, while the other side was barely lit at all.

I had my f/2.8 Tamron 17-50mm lens with me, so I set my auto ISO threshold to max out at 3200 (I usually have it limited to 1600) and varied between 100th and 125th of a second for my shutter speed, which was just enough to freeze the action. I did try to use my flash for some shots, but I wasn’t feeling it, and I didn’t want to annoy the band with a lot of flash activity. I tried to make the best of the lighting situation and get some low key shots such as these:

I also tried to play of the club’s Christmas themed stage colors which gave some interesting contrast to these shots:

Go ahead and check out Valero’s Bandcamp.com page to listen to their latest recordings, or check them out on their Facebook page. You can also check out the complete set of shots from Saturday’s show on my Flickr stream.

Super Full Moon 2011

Last night at sunset, the Perigee Moon rose in the east. This is the largest full moon since March of 1993 I gathered up family, friends, and neighbors to head over to the Morris Island side of Folly Beach to watch the sunset and moonrise.

Taking moon photos at the beach is not an easy task, as I quickly learned. I usually weigh down my tripod with my camera bag, but the wind at the beach made it less stable with the weight than without! Paired with the rapidly decreasing light, long exposures, and quickly moving orb in the sky, it was quite a challenge to get a decent photo of the moon. The other major challenge was the haze – it was quite difficult to focus clearly through it when the moon first appeared. By the time it cleared the haze, it looked no bigger or brighter than any other full moon. No big deal though, as I had the image on the top of this post envisioned when I set out. I wanted a simple graphic image of the scene and I got just what I wanted! I also wanted a moonlight reflection on a soft long-exposed ocean, which I got in the second shot – so I’m quite happy with what I accomplished. I would have liked to have made a shot from behind the trees, but most of the other photogs were getting that shot and I’m sure some of them got some really good results from there.

I was able to grab a couple of shots of the sunset when I arrived, and I think these fulfilled my “through the trees” shot aspirations anyway:

Robert Donovan was on hand as well and we got a chance to talk about photography while waiting for the big show. In fact, there were a lot of photogs there – I thought it looked like a photo studio when we crossed over the dunes onto the beach!

Here’s a shot of my daughter Mac at twilight. I think this was the only split second she wasn’t running around with the other dozen or so kids on hand.

There were plenty of kids running around and having fun, and this girl playing in the sand was the subject of my favorite photo of the evening:

Monotone SC Wetlands

1/200th of a sec | f/9.0 | 65mm | ISO 200

I was out at a private plantation in Goose Creek, SC this morning and on the way out I took some shots along the road of the forest. The shot above is one that I always want to shoot when I’m driving and see the woods cut abruptly short at the edge of a road. The sight of the wall of the edge of a forest is daunting to me.

1/100th of a sec | f/9.0 | 55mm | ISO 200

The cypress trees always make for interesting pictures because they grow out of still swamp water and sometimes have a very graphical interaction with their shadows and reflections.

1/15th of a sec | f/16.0 | 35mm | ISO 320

This shot is an oak tree alongside a marsh in James Island, SC taken in 2009 with my D40. I like the relationship between the curves of the water and the curves of the tree limbs.

Here are some more cypress trees at Cypress Gardens in Moncks Corner, SC. This shot was taken in 2007 with my D40 and converted into a single image HDR photograph.

1/1600th of a sec | f/4.2 | 26mm | ISO 200

Finally, we arrive at Botany Bay Plantation in Edisto Island, SC. This photo was also taken in 2009 with my D40 (that camera is a fantastic little DSLR). The beach at Botany Bay is like something out of a dream; shell covered beaches, trees in the surf, and teaming with shorebirds and wildlife.

Bees Up Close!

1/160th of a sec | f/10 | 100mm | ISO 160

While I was washing my car on Sunday, I noticed that the bees are out in full force in the bushes in my front yard. It sounds like a beehive in 2 of my bushes, with mostly honey bees, a couple of bumble bees, and even some wasps getting in the mix. After I was done with the cleaning, I grabbed my camera and started shooting.

1/500th of a sec | f/3.5 | 100mm | ISO 200

At f/3.5 in the photo of the bumblebee directly above, you can see how small the plane of perceived focus is. I hand-held the shots of the bumble bees because they moved so quickly and rarely stayed still long enough to get a sharp picture with a slower shutter speed/smaller aperture setup that I had to use a fast shutter speed and large aperture to get a properly exposed sharp image. I used my Tokina 100mm macro lens. Even though the lens can shoot at f/2.8, typically when shooting something like this, it’s best to use a smaller aperture. Since it’s a 100mm prime lens, some amount of bokeh will be present at even the highest f number (smallest aperture). In order to get more of the honey bees in focus, such as the shot at the top of the post, I needed to rely on my tripod.

I set the tripod up very close to the subjects, composed the image of the flowering parts of the bushes, grabbed my ML-L3 remote, and waited. A little patience and sooner or later a bee would come along and start gathering pollen. Prior to grabbing my remote, I was trying to stand behind the camera and manually fire the shutter. Besides being a bit nerve-wracking, I noticed that the bees all seemed to have moved to the other side of the bush while I was standing there. I guess they were more intimidated by me than I was by them. After I stood back a bit and used the remote, they came right back to the front of the bush again.

Much like shooting the hummingbirds in my front yard, the key ingredient is patience. If you can allow yourself to slow down enough to wait out shots like this, the reward is much more than just a cool picture, it really is a zen-like experience.

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