Always Opportunities to Capture Images

Kind of neat time right now for my son, Elijah.  He's a ninth grader/freshman at Coral Reef Senior High School in South Dade.  It's a good school and my son is their Drama Magnet program.  He enjoys performing and the arts in general but has a strong interest in Film Making.  So recently there was a Dade County High School Video Competition to create a one minute commercial to discourage high school students from drinking and driving.  Well, Elijah's entry WON!  His video will be featured as D.Y.F.I.T. (Drug Free Youths in Town) campaign video on the subject for 2012.  It was very exciting for us!

In winning the competition, Elijah will be rewarded $500 Cash Prize and an Award Plaque at their annual banquet coming up on May 11th.  That's a lot of money for a young teenager to get all in one sum!  He's been learning to play the guitar and absolutely loving it.  In the process, he's had to borrow or use whatever guitar is available.  So he hasn't been learning on a "fine instrument".  I did not want to invest in a guitar and have him lose interest, and later find this few hundred dollars instrument collecting dust in a corner of his room.  What I did tell him was that he would value his first guitar far more if he had to pay for it with his own money. Also mentioned that a Summer job would be one way to start that process.

As you can probably guess by now, he wants to use that Cash Prize to purchase his first guitar.  I can't argue with that because he DID WORK HARD to create, edit and submit the video.  This leads me to the writing of this blog.  Elijah asked if we could go to a Guitar store so that he could handle a few guitars to help him narrow his choices down of what he could buy next week.  Being a male that his kicked a few tires in new car showrooms prior to buying a car, I understood where he was coming from.

 So off we went to the Guitar Center on Kendall Drive, a local mecca for aspiring musicians.  This was completely foreign to me.  I never had an interest in learning to play a musical instrument and knew nothing about the various types of guitars and believe me, there are quite a few.  My son, Elijah immediately engaged with a sales person and they set him up with a guitar within his said price range, hooked it up to an amp and walked away and allowed him to just play.  He was in pure bliss as he caressed the body of this beautifully finished guitar and moved his fingers along the spine creating sounds I immediately recognized from an old Rolling Stone's song. 

He looked up at me with this million dollar smile and it made me remember those delicious little smiles of his when he was 2 and 3 years of age.  It was a pretty special moment.  I could see he was truly enjoying the moment and now just enveloping himself in the making of music with this guitar.  The sale man had brought two others for him to try.  This was his time, and I didn't want to rush him in any way.  But I had little I could add to the conversation of picking a guitar other than "this one is pretty!"  So I told to take his time and sample a few, I was just going to look around.

I immediately began to notice how beautiful these instruments were!  There were wonderful lines and shapes all around me.  Armed with my trusty iPhone, I decided that it might be a nice way to pass the time and document this pretty cool first for my son.  It brought memories back of when I used to shoot every waking moment of him, especially in his first two years.  But I didn't want to pester while he was enjoying his time playing.  So I focused on the shapes that caught my eye.

I loved what I was finding and saw the art and attention to detail that went into these instruments.  It made it easier to understand why some of these were over a few thousand dollars.  At every turn, I saw a photo opportunity

That's when it dawned on me that there are photo opportunities ALL THE TIME!!  Most of us, myself included, become desensitized by our surrounding and just take them for granted.  We just walk, drive, text past beauty around all the time.  I looked around to see if anyone else was appreciating how gorgeous some of these instruments were.  Those that were playing an instrument were completely submersed in the music they were making.  While other 'co-pilots' like me were busy checking their Facebook status.  "Wow" I thought, it was disheartening to witness others not taking in what was so prominently in front of them!

 
It made me realize that I was very fortunate to have made this simple, yet overwhelmingly overlooked insight.  I was happy to be there in the moment, and finding a way to share with my son that I know he will appreciate years from now when he looks at these images and recalls the day we went shopping for his first guitar.  He'll remember the sheen from the finishes of the guitars, the wonderful curves and grain of the wood.

Plus I was able to sneak in a shot of him jamming to the one he gravitated to most!

Carry your camera, life happens at every turn and it's beautiful!

The Irony of the iPhone

The Irony of the iPhone

Recently, I picked up the new iPhone 4S.  It was really exciting to finally get 'the phone'.  After carrying an old Palm Treo phone for 8 years...it worked, I saw no reason to replace it.  I was really looking forward to all the amazing things I had heard about with regards to this phone.  Downloaded a few 'apps' and started to explore.

It wasn't long before I discovered that shooting with the built-in camera was surprisingly good, far better than I anticipated.  Here was, for me a business tool, that I used for emails, reading PDF's, keeping track of contacts and clients and of course phone calls.  Recently, I had to travel for business and normally I always make a point of carrying one of my cameras.  But on this recent trip, I chose to leave my smaller second body home and my primary camera I just sold as I plan to purchase a new body.  It was a short trip and I didn't think I'd be able to dedicate time to shoot.  But as is the case all too often, my flight was delayed.  So I tried to keep myself entertained.

I found myself looking around and seeing images that I wanted to capture.  The more I shot, the more I enjoyed the challenge of making images that I found interesting, dynamic and worth sharing.  I had heard and read of iphoneography and thought it was something Apple junkies created just to worship the brand.  But here I was getting more and more invested in creating images that I would have been happy to make with my more serious 'tools'.

The more I shot, the more I felt this was a viable new tool for me to use.  To some extent, I started to feel a sense of guilt.  Here I was shooting with a camera phone, no control over my exposure settings and a tiny sensor and miniscule lens.  While at home, sat a bag of expensive lenses, some valued at over $1000 dollars that I painstakingly researched, and purchased that took a real commitment at work to justify.  Was I cheating myself, my gear, my commitment to the art image-making?  Was I becoming a casual less serious shooter?  These images could never be enlarged to the same size as images made with my brick full frame DSLR. Was this bad?

It's been a few months now, and I have a collection of over 150 images that I truly like very much shot with my iPhone.  It has now become a challenge for me to put together a collection of images shot strictly with my iPhone that could be displayed in a gallery.  The images shared here are the images from that initial business trip that started the whole self-imposed challenge.  So the irony for me is that I find myself reaching for the iPhone to shoot instead of my optically superior lenses and camera.  Someone mentioned to me recently that if I had made those same images with one of my cameras they would be far superior and more usable.  I don't disagree but I lustfully enjoy watching people's reactions when they look at some of the images and gasp and say "you shot that with a phone?!?!"

Spring Break just passed for my wife and son and we took a trip to Puerto Rico for a few days.  On the trip, I chose to carry one of my cameras but I also had my iPhone with me, for work of course...
I hate to say it but I prefer the images that I shot with my iPhone to those shot with my camera.  So this is my new irony!  Do I continue to shoot with my iPhone or shoot with my camera? 

Colors of Little Haiti in Miami

In my effort to continue my learning, I posting my second blog.  It's been a great learning opportunity to learn from Carl Juste at the Little Haitian Culture Center.    Sometimes we need to stop and look around and see the beauty and uniqueness of where we are.  So I decided to share some of my images from the community of Little Haiti.  

All the images were shot within the few blocks that make up Little Haiti.  I love their emphasis on color.  Soo many of the buildings incorporate it.  

It was a fun morning, turning the corner to a street I'd never walked on before and come across these melodies of complementary colors.

My goal in shooting these structures is to show a neighborhood that most know very little of and are frankly fearful of and share the beauty that lies here.

Having Carl Juste as an instructor in this great and gorgeous facility is truly something I'm soo excited about.  He and C.W. Griffin are terrific resources.  Join us this Saturday at 6:30 for a fund raising event!  You'll be amazed at what you find!

First Blog Ever

Hi, writing here feels like I'm De-boarding a plane in a foreign country that I've always wanted to visit but know no one and don't have a set destination or a place to stay.  It's a bit scary and exciting at the same time.  Initiating a Blog when all I've used my laptop for is emails and shopping on Amazon, is a pretty big step for me.  So please bear with me through my growing pains.

So what brings me here?  Fate, I'd have to say.  This all started a few weeks ago when a program at the gorgeous Little Haiti Cultural Center in Miami kicked off by the Florida Film Institute for teenage students.  My 14 year old son is an aspiring film maker and actor.  He attended their Film Maker's Camp over the Summer in the Gables and I thought it would be a terrific opportunity to continue his learning with this 18 week program.  It's a bit of drive for us as we live in South Dade, but again like any good parent, I'm willing to do whatever it take to help him achieve his dreams.

His class runs about two hours and the first session I decided to bring a book, find a nice quiet corner and read.  That was fine, but I couldn't help but notice the gallery images at the Cultural Center.  There are some that are absolutely amazing!  My favorites are by a photographer Carl Juste.  His images from Haiti are beyond description.  That lead me to notice this neighborhood I was standing in and that I hadn't spent any real time in all the years I have lived in Miami. 

The following week I decided to bring a camera and while my son was in class, I'd walk around the area and just shoot.  There's soo much color and details in this small area, it was stimulating to be able to record it and see it for the first time.  It was an exciting morning for me as I felt I was seeing my own city as a tourist and realizing that this wasn't another cookie cutter Middle America neighborhood.

Upon returning to the Cultural Center, sat in the Gallery area reviewing my images and noticed a small group of what turned out to be a photography students and their instructor.  That peaked my interest as I had already made a commitment to be there every Saturday morning for my son.  I, then noticed someone I recognized that I had met at a photo store, a Miami Herald photographer, his name, C. W. Griffin. And I recalled seeing some of his images of Haiti years back that blew me away.  So when their session let out, I decided to approach C.W. and inquire what this was about.  He was warm and inviting and we chatted about the class and gear.

To my good fortune, or fate depending on your belief system, I had learned that a photography course was going on the same day and time my son's class was.  A little background information on me, I studied photography back in college at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and tried my hand in the industry as an assistant for a few years in the commercial and advertising end of the business.  But the pressure to earn "big money" (this was back in the '80's when greed was good) overcame me and I ventured into the business world to pursue Sales and Marketing.  I was miserable but figured it was part of the growing pains.

A few years later, an opportunity presented itself to me to come down to South Florida and represent a photo accessory company.  I jumped on it.  This was a total change for me in soo many ways.  But it turned out to be a good change.  This opportunity lead to others within the photo industry as I went on to represent Leica Cameras, Hasselblad, Quantum Instruments, Lowe Pro and Manfrotto tripods.  I was still in sales but at least selling gear I liked/loved!  It also put me in a position to meet quite a few established photographers and see their work, along with developing my technological base of the gear and how to use and implement them.  But my photography had taken a backseat to the gear.  I did miss it. 

So my shooting opportunities became vacation photos and of course my son.  In my effort to support my son and his activities.  I'd volunteer whenever I could, in whatever capacity was needed.  I was never much to stand on the sidelines and watch a game.  I'd rather be playing.  Anyhow, getting back to my son, he wanted to do Drama.  Fine by me!  He really seem to connect with it.  As a parent, that's exciting to witness!  I'd rather he do this well and really get involved than play soccer or some other sport half-hardheartedly. 

But if you follow the news and our 'robust' economy, you'll have surely seen how our schools have had their budgets slashed and most, if not all are struggling to maintain not only teachers but classes as well.  These schools have become forced to make some very tough choices in allocating and directing funds.  So teachers have asked for assistance in raising funds to keep certain programs alive for the kids. 

That's what brings me here.  I volunteered to create images of the students to help raise money for the Drama program.  All the images and work related to these images were done by me and donated in my effort to support the program.  Now you may be reading this and thinking what a nice gesture on my part but I must tell you that the real hero(s) in this story are the teachers in my son's school and I'm sure and other schools with similar situations.  They give FAR MORE than they receive. 

So this was a way for me to contribute and also do something I absolutely love to do.  Make images.  These images are of the Drama students at my son's school.  My thought process was to keep the background clean and let their personalities come through.  There was a bin with props and hats from plays they had performed in the past that I thought would be useful in letting them get 'into character'.  I even got some of the parents involved.

Personally, I enjoy shooting parents with their kids.  I find that they come alive with expression and their affection for their child really comes through in the images.  Also kids with their friends can also make for great moments to record.  They drop their guard and start relaxing.

These are a sampling of what I shot that day.  It was a fun night!  So now I'm part of Carl Juste's class on Saturday morning and am excited to be shooting and learning to see.  I have no idea where this may lead but I do know that I want to learn, want to be there and have pondered more than a few times if a higher power played a role in putting me there.

Thanks for the opportunity!
Zeus