Gerry Holtz Exhibition

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I was recently in Los Angeles and, while there, took the opportunity to catch up with Gerry Holtz. Gerry is a great guy I met at the Kennedy Space Center when we were both there to witness the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. Gerry lives in LA where he runs his own business in the video editing and production business with much of his work being on your TV screens on a regular basis.

However, Gerry is also a photographer and a pretty good one at that! One of the things that he has been working on in recent years is a form of panorama shooting that creates a 360 degree view in a single square format image. Gerry has an exhibit running presently at a cafe in Hollywood. If you are nearby, the details of the venue are below and, without jumping to the end of the story too quickly, I do recommend a visit.

Gerry makes use of some familiar software tools to create the panoramas but the important elements of his work are the ability to visualize how the components of the scene will appear in the finished image and the willingness to do more than just use the basic software tools. He works on the details of the image – both the elements and their blending and the dynamic range that can be present in a shot covering such a wide area. The result is a far more time consuming process to create the final image but a result that justifies the effort.

He also has put a lot of effort into the display of the images for this event. A number of them have been mounted on rotating frames since the image can be viewed from many angles and the rotating frame makes this easier for the viewer to achieve. A smart idea and one that works very well.

You might have noticed that I normally have a number of images in my posts but this time there are none. Since this is Gerry’s work, I did not want to reproduce it here. However, you can certainly take a look at what he does by visiting his Facebook page. Go to www.facebook.com/gerradaholtzphotography to take a look at examples of Gerry’s work. I think you will be both impressed and fascinated. Some of the images can appear very abstract but then you can explore them further to see more of what is there. Some will be of familiar locations and others you will not have seen before.

I would like to thanks Gerry for taking the time to show me around the exhibit and to wish him well with further displays of the work. I understand he is considering a book of more of the images and think this would be a great idea. The exhibit is at 6547 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90038 . If you are in the area, take a look!

Can Everyone Do Anything?

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First things first, if you are interested in the photography pieces I put up, this one might not be for you. This is one of those things that has been making me think for a bit and I felt like blogging about it since it might provide some interesting feedback from anyone out there.

I have seen a number of things recently that seem part of a trend. The death of Steve Jobs was one of these stories but it is by no means unique. The general theme is that with hard work and commitment, anyone can achieve their goals and ambitions. This is a very nice feelgood kind of thing but I wonder if it is really true.

I certainly do not disagree that, to achieve high levels of success, you are probably going to have to put a ton of effort in and make sacrifices along the way to get what you want. (There will be occasional cases where the great stuff falls in the lap of someone but I don’t think they are the rule!) For those of you that like logic options, I wonder whether one implying the other is being misconstrued as an equivalence.

A friend recently tweeted a link to a motivational speaker that I checked out. They had the same message: anyone can achieve their ambitions with hard work and determination. I just don’t think that is true. The fact you hear these messages from people that have achieved something gives it credence but, are they natural achievers and not a fair sample of the population? Are they telling everyone to never give up and never settle when, perhaps, that might actually be a good thing for them to do? Do you know someone who you suspect could never achieve their goals however hard they tried?

This is part of a general theme I notice today about wanting things enough being what matters. A parallel to this is sickness, particularly cancer. There is a common theme about fighting cancer and not giving up. Cancer can be a vicious illness and there are times when it is going to be fatal however hard you try. Are we now judging its victims as people who didn’t try hard enough to live? I don’t believe that is right but it seems to be the subtext a lot more these days. Phrases like “He finally couldn’t fight it any more” get used and imply that they could have done more. What a rotten message to send and a poor impression to leave the bereaved about how you view what happened.

What is all this to say? My point is that we can strive to do things and to overcome situations. However, we don’t all have some preordained right to achieve everything we want that can be attained only if we try hard enough. Try, yes! If you don’t always make it, you are not a failure. You are a human-being, just like those telling you how wonderful they have been doing something you couldn’t do in the end.

Waterfall Glen

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It’s always nice to get out and check out a place that you haven’t been to before. Nancy spotted one of the forest preserves in DuPage County called Waterfall Glen. Despite the name, it isn’t about a waterfall – although there is a small man-made one there. It is actually named after a guy called Waterfall from many moons ago.

The preserve is a sizable area. The middle of it is off limits though. It is the Argonne National Laboratory so I guess they don’t want people wandering in whenever they feel like it. There is a trail that runs all the way around the area and it was part of this that we sampled.

This was a walk and not a photo outing so I only took one camera and one lens with me. There was a fair bit of wildlife around so, if I was prepared to hump the equipment around, I suspect there could be some good shots to be made. We saw a coyote, a deer, many types of bird and a small snake that was right on the path in front of us – good spot Nancy.

However, they were just a benefit on top of the nice walk. The weather was rather warm for this time of year and I was surprised how much color was still in the trees with some still very green. There was also the little waterfall mentioned earlier. A nice spot and one I suspect we will visit again.

Looking forward to El Centro

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One of the benefits of the blog being relatively new is that I have the opportunity to dig up stuff from the past and turn it into a post. I will shortly be heading to El Centro in California for a shoot at the Navy base there. Last year I made a similar trip and I thought I would remind myself and prime you for some of what might be there.

What will show up on a given day is hard to predict. Last time we had some T-45s that had made the trip across from Meridian TX. Whether there will be any this time, we shall see. Hornets may drop in from other bases to use the facilities and last time some Canadian Hornets were in to use the ranges.

It is the luck of the draw what you get but one thing you can, hopefully, rely on is the weather. El Centro has sun most days of the year. I have had bad luck at some locations with weather but I am hoping this one will behave.

What might I try differently this time? Last time I used a variety of lenses and positions. The heat haze is a big issue so looking to far back up the approach is problematic. Getting ahead of, beside and behind the touchdown location mixes things up a bit. Getting the aircraft and the hold is also worthwhile and I may spend more time there. I am also going to try and mix in more video this time too.

We shall see how it goes and what I can get off base before and after as well. Wait to see what we get!

Oh, to have been digital then…

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When I am working on a project that relates to something older than 10 years ago, I have to dig into my film archives and see what I have shot in the days before digital came along. Almost invariably, when I undertake such a task, I am struck by how things have changed when shooting digitally compared with film.

There are two main differences I notice between now and then. First the number of shots and second the quality I can get from them. I should, at this point, confess that I always shot negatives rather than transparencies (well, almost always) when I was a film shooter and they will be plenty of photographers who will consider never speaking to me again as a result. However, while the reasons for that are in the distant past, I don’t know whether it would really change much at this point.

Numbers are easily explained. When I shot film, every frame had a cost. The film had to be bought and then it had to be processed. It also then needed to be stored which I didn’t always do as well as I should. Consequently, some images that should be available are in less than perfect condition. That is my fault, of course, not that of the technology. This cost meant that shots were taken sparingly.

When I went to airshows in the late 80s, I would probably shoot about six or seven rolls of the 36 exposure. I used to think this was a lot and my none photographic friends used to think it was extravagant. About 200 shots was a lot. Compare that to a show today and I can safely say things have changed. I would miss good shots because I was waiting for what I hoped was the slightly better one to come. Now I shoot all of them and worry later. A reduction in skill and technique? Maybe or perhaps it is just making use of what is available to you. Certainly, I can experiment with a number of different shot types now in a way I couldn’t before. Slow shutter speeds are a particular example.

I still have to store them of course but storage is cheap and digital files don’t degrade – you can lose them completely of course but backups are straightforward which they certainly weren’t for film!

Quality is another issue. RAW converters continue to improve and you can extract some good detail from the shadow and highlight areas if you are not too reckless. The film is set at development and then you have to work with it. Again, a skill that can be controlled but going back is a lot more difficult. I don’t have access to the best of film scanners but getting a crop out of an old neg is a bit hit or miss. Compare that with a crop of a digital file and I think the benefits to me are obvious.

I look at shots of long gone airframes from events in my past. First, I wish I could have them as digital files from a camera rather than a scanner. However, I am more shocked when I see something rare and look at the next few frames to see what I shot and see a totally different subject. How could I have been so blase? I guess this is a lesson to learn now. We might be bored with what we see a lot of now but, one day, these things will be history too so we had better make the best of what we have now and learn from our/my mistakes of the past.

An Evening with Vincent Laforet

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Okay, maybe not a full evening but an hour and a half so close enough. A damp Monday evening in early November is not the sort of time that you are planning a trip out. However, Vincent Laforet was giving a talk at one of the local Apple stores and I was keen to be there.

I saw Vincent once before at my first ISAP symposium in Pensacola FL. He was still predominantly a still photographer in those days. He gave a talk about his aerial photography in New York and an unbelievably moving account of his time in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina which was accompanied by some equally moving imagery.

When Canon released the 5D MkII, Vincent filmed a short called Reverie to demonstrate the capabilities of the camera and it went viral. I don’t know whether this was the start of his move to film or whether he was already on the way there beforehand but he is now a director and a bit of a go to guy on the techie issues with HDSLR video.

His talk was a combination of some of his history – a fair bit of stills work since his audience included a lot of photographers – along with some of the video work he has been doing. I follow his blog so the video material was stuff I had already seen but that was not a problem. He talked a bit about what the newer technology is bringing to the video world and how different the workflow is.

The real interest came at the end of the evening though when he had a Q&A session. This really got to the heart of the issues people were interested in and he was very frank in his answers. He challenged people to think about what they were doing and who was going to be coming after their work environment (and what that environment would even be). He answered technical questions and gave thoughts on how to self-teach some of the things associated with film making.

He was a very approachable guy and willing to talk to everyone who wanted to get a moment with him afterwards. If you get a chance to see him at any event, I would certainly recommend it. In the mean time, his blog is well worth a look. He doesn’t always blog regularly but, when he does, it is good stuff. He also has a great gear page if you want some insight into the stuff he uses himself. Check it out at blog.vincentlaforet.com if you are interested.

Halloween at the Zoo

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Whether it is the weather or whether it is some subconscious thing, it appears that we get lured to the zoo at Halloween. The weekend weather forecast looked very promising so we thought we pop out to Brookfield to see what the animals were doing. It was only when we got there that we realized that, being Halloween weekend, everyone was there in costumes.

This triggered something from our recollection that we had done the same thing last year. Let’s go to the zoo when everyone else is planning on being there and all dressed up! (I will leave my thoughts on Halloween for another post I suspect.)

As it turned out, the center area of the zoo was very busy but the rest of it was no busier than most weekends. The sun was out and the animal were active so it was a good time to go. We got particularly lucky with a couple of things.

I have never seen the kangaroos move before. They have always been lying down taking a nap when I have been there. Sometimes, this is tucked up against the wall for extra shade. However, this time they got up and fed for a while and even hopped across the enclosure. That was a big plus.

Next we arrived at the brown bear enclosure and the staff were seeding the place with vegetables for the bears to find and feed on. Consequently, we got a couple of grizzlies rummaging around the enclosure for a long time. Given their love for dozing this was a result. I guess the polar bears had already been fed since they were out for the count.

The lions are always a stop for us. The male was lying down and looked like he was falling asleep. A lion roaring has a very small mouth shape which doesn’t look like much. A lion yawning, on the other hand, has a wide mouth and lots of teeth. A good photo opportunity! A little patience and we were rewarded with a big view of fangs! As an aside, lions are not empathetic creatures since we tried yawning a bunch of time to try and induce a yawn but to no effect!

Out last stop was the leopard. Normally another one having a nap when we are there, this time he was also on the prowl. We only had a few minutes before it was time to lie down again but even so, this was better than normal. Not a bad day out!

A retro Night Out

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It seems to have been a musical time for me recently. The other week I saw Thomas Dolby do a short performance which was great (although if you read the blog post you will have noted my disappointment at the session afterwards – all of which was my fault). This time it was another throwback to my youth.

Howard Jones has recently reworked his first two albums and was undertaking a mini-tour to promote them. He came to Chicago and performed at the Bottom Lounge so we went along to see him. The show was in two halves with one album for each half. First things first. It was excellent. You often wonder how a performer will be after a few years (quite a few) out of the spotlight.

He really did a great job for us. The venue was a nice size to feel involved and he certainly got the crowd involved with it all. Being someone who based his music on synths, getting a big stage effect is not going to happen. However, he did still make a good job of it – even if I did chuckle a little at his two support musicians. His drummer was too cool for school and the guy running the sequencer amongst other things at the back looked like he was more comfortable in a studio than on stage.

Still, a crowd that was predisposed to be welcoming certainly got what they wanted and I have to say we were very pleased to go. (I suspect a few members of the audience had been brought by their friends but why they couldn’t head to the back of the room if they want to ignore the stage and talk is a mystery to me. Rudeness is alive and well in the US!)

Thanks, Howard, for making an old git feel a bit younger for a while!

You Want What You Haven’t Got

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This post is a little bit of an odd one compared to the usual reports of things I have been out and about shooting. I was recently putting together an article for a magazine on the 20th anniversary of the first flight of an airliner. (A quick Google search might tell you which one but if you are interested in the article, click here to see the full digital magazine.)

I knew I had some images of the prototype aircraft when it first flew at Farnborough in 1992. This is pre-digital days of course so it was time to head to my binders of negatives. I will save the discussion of how shooting in the digital era differs from shooting with film for another post. I will also keep my head down for those of you who will wonder why I wasn’t shooting transparencies. We learn as we get older I guess.

What did catch my eye as I foudn the appropriate shots was that I had seen a bunch of different aircraft at that event and I should really get them scanned. It was while I was going through this process (that took far longer than it really should have courtesy of a film scanner that, I suspect, is getting towards the end of its useful life) that I noticed something about the way I look at new aircraft.

I think there is a bit of always wanting something that is different to what you have. When an aircraft first flies, it is obviously the prototype (or prototypes) that fly first. These appear in lots of press release images and they will be the first ones to show up at trade shows. Given the length of development programs, you can get a bit bored with seeing the same aircraft all the time. You long for more of them to be built so you can see the finished product. You also want to know what they will look like in service since prototypes rarely are finished the way the majority of the aircraft will be.

Eventually production gets underway and you see the real deal. This is briefly exciting. New color schemes and users appear and there is something different to learn about. Over time, many more are produced and then they become a bit boring. At this point, the idea of seeing a development aircraft – possibly incorporating modifications for some test program – is incredibly interesting and a nice change from the many “normal airframes around.

Are these the same airframes you originally were bored with? Yep! Am I being contrary? Yep! Such is the way it goes. I will probably find that someone who is near to the airfield where testing is undertaken probably is bored of the same development airframes and longs for some variety. I guess we can’t ever be happy!

The Spam Has Evolved!

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I previously wrote about how I would get spam comments on this blog. Since I wrote that piece, my spammers have moved on. Some times they leave me alone completely. Nothing for a day or so. I get quite perplexed by what must have gone wrong. However, they always show up again.

I wonder whether they read the previous piece on spam since I get a lot less spam for the bio image they used to use. Maybe they track responses to spam and lay off those that are not any use. I do still get some, though, so it can’t be that entirely.

Now I am getting some far more varied spam efforts. They pick on any post and they come in three categories. The first are the weirdos that have huge messages about everything from movie downloads to fake passports. They are so obvious, I can’t imagine why anyone would accept them.

The next group are the SEO crowd. I get so many messages from people who are offering to improve my website from a search engine optimization point of view. They all come with similar templates so whether I actually need their help or not, I have no idea. I don’t want it anyway!

The others are brand sellers. Right now I am getting a ton of Ugg merchandise sites showing up and have started to get NFL jerseys now the season is underway. Again, since the title of their comment is the website, they are not too hard to spot! I sometimes read the contents and that can be hilarious. They write something that is designed to sound like they have read the post and found it the most inspiring piece of work ever. Fantastic stuff.

What I am hoping for today is to see whether I can get a nice dose of irony and get some of them to comment on this post. We shall see! Meanwhile, congratulations to the one spammer that described my site as awful! Originality is appreciated.