The character that should not be

This is kind of a combination of two "ongoing" projects. One is just getting Tobias in front of the camera as various characters. The second is to use songs that mention "light" as picture inspirations. 

Tobias received this stuffed octopus from a class trip his sister went on to the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  It was the second attempt at that trip this year, the first was cancelled because of the civil unrest.

Of course, the first thing I saw him do with it was stick it on his head and run around the screaming about how it was sucking out his brain .... so, this basically is his entire idea.

I don't usually say much about how I make these, I don't think ya'll care.  But, I thought a few notes would be interesting this time around.  The main light is on the floor, which is the whole key to the mood.  The dirtied up colors are from local brushes in Lightroom, as well as a full image overlay in Photoshop.  The watery effect is an image I took of my windshield in a car wash screened over the front.

Maybe it wasn't all that interesting.

But, I'm not deleting the text.

Dark Chest of Wonders

It might appear I have forgotten about my little song project idea. I haven't. The ideas I have for most songs just require me to get off my butt, buy props, and build rather small and simple, but time-consuming sets. There are also bigger ideas that will require me to find trucks, people willing to stand on trucks, play with fire, and other random logistically difficult tasks.



I decided to try and do a project picture while in a cast. I knew the picture wouldn't be as "perfected" as I would want due to my circumstances, but I felt I could always re-visit it. I probably will, just because there are so many cool ways to play with a trunk.

The song is "Dark Chest of Wonders" by Nightwish. The song seems to be about trying to regain the sense of awe we all (should) experience as children. This is a pretty important theme for the life of an artist.

The only thing a photographer can show the world is how he sees something. The only way this is interesting is if he can show things in a new way. One way to achieve this is to approach a subject like a child, free yourself from your past experience, and see it for what it really is right now. Then, you take that, and attempt to capture that essence in a frame. There is still a pretty big leap from seeing something, and being able to communicate what you see through a picture.

Its doubtful I will ever reach that with any level of consistency.

Got me a Niiiiiiiigh-con camera

... love to take the photographs!

This is my first song picture. It's for Paul Simon's Kodachrome. This felt like an appropriate first choice. If I put aside all the stuff in the song that I don't quite understand, the song is about photographs! I will work with other ways to express the song, but since I happen to have a Nikon camera sitting about, I went for the literal approach first.

Part of the reason I started this personal project is to learn things. What did I learn with this picture? I learned that table top photographers must be master dusters! I spent tons of time wiping down glass, the camera, and film boxes yet the stubborn dust is still there! I cleaned up some of it in post too. But its still right there, taunting me, messin with my picture. I now hate dust.

But, I also learned that maybe, just maybe, I should stop making fun of people that use pictures of their gear for photo forum signatures or avatars.

Incentive to learn... photographing glass setup 1

I have not, yet, started working on my first song "based" image. However, I have an idea in my head for one. One of the key elements of my idea is glass.

Glass has a reputation of being very hard to light. I don't have enough experience to know if that is true or not. So, I decided to give it a try.


This is the result of first setup I tried. Keep in mind I am not after "art" or even a good photo with this shot. I am interested in seeing what happens. Hopefully it looks cool, but its true value is in what it taught me.

First, I got the light to "rim" the glass like I hoped. I was pleasantly surprised to see that some light went "through" the other parts of the glass and tea also. I think the image can be improved some, technically, by placing some flags to the left and the right of the camera to prevent any unneeded light from reaching the lens.

If you have any secrets for lighting glass pass em this way please!

I also am gathering knowledge and materials for other songs. B&H recently shipped me two rolls of Kodachrome. A cookie to the person who guesses what song I will use those boxes to portray!

Personal Project

If you spend a lot of time around photographers, or any artist for that matter, you will hear how important it is to do personal work. What does that mean really? For professionals, it might mean work directed solely by themselves. Some examples from around the net are: Chase Jarvis' Ninjas in a warehouse shoot, Mark J Rebilas' portrait shoots (here is a link to the third in the set, as it is the tamest -- and the most informative), and Bert Stephani's Running in 2020 shoot. For amateurs, it maybe more subtle. It is work they want to do even if its not what other people expect from them or will even like. Sometimes all of us get caught up in only making images we think others will like, even if they don't really excite us. This is a good way to quickly get fed up with photography, and we should avoid it.

I have done a number of personal projects. But they were all centered around a single image, I have never had a long term personal project. I will change that this year. Part of that change, is this site/blog whatever you wish to call it.


I like listening to music. Many times when I hear a song mention light, pictures, or photographs I think about making a picture that in some way reminds me of the song, or my response to the song.

This will be my long term personal project. The "rules", if a personal project can have rules, are simple. The song must mention light, or pictures, or photographs. After I choose a song, I will make an image in response to it. Simple, eh?

Some songs immediately jump to mind: Kodachrome, Good Riddance (Time of your life), You Should have seen it in Color, Picture to Burn.

The tricky part isn't finding the songs, though, its imagining the pictures and then executing them.

If you know any songs that mention light, pictures, or photographs that I should consider, please post!

Wish me luck!

(Also, if anyone has a box for Kodachrome-- may I borrow it?)