Why Your Gear Isn't Important

Have you even seen a magnificent race car and thought "Wow, I'll bet that builder has a great socket set"?  How about watching a quarterback win the Superbowl?  Did you ever mention to anyone how meticulously the team must have chosen his mouth guard?  Or maybe you've read a Steinbeck novel and thought how masterfully he maintained his typewriter.

Obviously, you've done none of these things, and neither has anyone else.  But photography, along with any art or profession that deals with technologically advanced tools, is quite prone to having both its members and the public at large dependent on the thought that the gear makes the result.

It does not.  It has not ever been that way, and it shall never be.

In every case, the skill of the artisan defines their worth.  Now don't get me wrong, it's necessary to have tools.  You can't take a telephoto shot without a telephoto lens.  You can't replace spark plugs without a socket set, and you can't write a novel without a writing utensil of some kind.  But to think that you must have a speech-to-text app, or a certain kind of pen, or specific software to format your layout before you can write your Great American Novel is not just a misplaced notion, it's detrimental to your being able to move forward with your work.

In the era of being able to use the Internet for instant communication, there are many crutches available for people trying to learn a craft.  Discussion groups pop up daily for every conceivable profession, hobby, and interest.  But when there tend to be instant answers, we tend to depend less on ourselves, and more on the supposed experience of others.  It's somehow easier to ask a question and depend on the random ranting of a stranger than to find out for ourselves and retain that knowledge forever.  For audio engineers, Gearslut.com is one of those crutches.  For photographers, it's Photography-On-The.Net.  Neophytes trying to gain a lifetime of knowledge and skill in one easy step, and plenty of people with a few years of their own experience ready and eager to make themselves look like professionals in front of their peers.

Almost invariably, new questions will result in an anonymous stranger saying that the new camera just purchased is junk, or that only by changing brands can true enlightenment be achieved.  Anyone who uses Brand F of lens is obviously an amateur, when Brand K is the only tool Real Professionals(TM) ever use.

So let's get this out of the way right now:  Brand Is Not Important.  For photographers, whether you use Nikon, Canon, Sony, Hasselblad, Pentax or any other brand is absolutely, completely meaningless.  That's certainly not a popular view, particularly when you see the most revered an in-demand photographers using Hasselblads almost exclusively.  But you need to remember that they select their tools for very specific needs and purposes.  When you're shooting for a billboard, maybe you need a $45,000 Hasselblad because you won't have to extrapolate pixels.  Or maybe you won't need one when you get to that level.  Maybe you'll like the way a different brand behaves in your hands.  The point is that only YOU can decide, based on your specific direction.  No one else can tell you that direction, and no one else knows your needs. 

But your needs aren't based on what you think will make you better.  They're based on what will make your job easier.  No one looks at the nails a carpenter pounded in and says "Oh, he must have had a Stanley hammer!"  So why do they say such ridiculous things when referring to a photograph or an audio recording?  It's because the Democratization of technology has caused people to think they know something, when in fact they do not.

Here's a shot I took while in Uruguay.  It was taken with a point-and-shoot Pentax Optio S6, with a crushing 6 Megapixels, before cropping.  It's just a touch under 6MP after cropping:

The End of Time

A couple of years later, I ended up selling this shot, blown up to 20 by 24 inches, for full price to a customer who still displays it. 

Let's look at another example, shot for Motorcycle Classics Magazine:

Gene Brown's Vincent HRD

This shoot was done with a Nikon D90, a seven-year old camera that shoots 12 Megapixels.  Not only was this particular shot used for a full-page spread, editor Richard Backus said that this was one of the highest-quality shoots he had ever seen.  While I'm proud of his comments, I'm not using them to tell you that I'm wonderful.  I'm using them to tell you that you can get great shots no matter what camera you're using.  Take a look at this contest for iPhone shots, and see how skillful these people are.

The masters of any craft had very little in the way of tools.  They took their time in choosing them, but sometimes were forced to use poor tools by today's standards, even if those tools may have been the best available at the time.  But often, they were some of the worst available, since that was all they could afford.  And yet, they each decided to not be limited by them.  Rather, they worked through and around those limitations.

If you do the same, you'll find yourself to be a much better artist.

Lazy is Better for Taking Good Photographs!

One forgotten key

No matter how much or how little gear you have, you can instantly take better pictures, starting in the next ten seconds.  Here's how to do it:

Only take a quarter of the pictures you're now taking.

That's all there is to it!  With the advent of digital technology, cloud storage, quick editing and endless sharing possibilities, it's so tempting to take more and more that we tend to think not of quality, but of quantity, always hoping that at least one picture might end up better than the rest.  When you decrease the shooting frequency, you force your brain to think more about what it is you're shooting, and how best to take advantage of lighting and composition.  You don't even need to know lighting and composition rules - your brain will help you find the best picture of that waterfall if you know you'll only take one, instead of four.  Or forty.

Will this help you take great pictures?  Well, maybe.  Let's use the reduction method as the first step.  You'll never have  great shots when you get home if all you do is spray and pray.  In addition, you won't have enjoyed the trip if all you're doing is snapping pics, whether it's with an expensive camera or your phone.  Enjoy your surroundings, and live your life.

Once you've decided to take fewer shots, try this as well:  Try to take only ONE shot of any given object or view.  No one wants to see ten shots of anything, and you'll find later on that they're not all that different from each other anyway.  Taking those ten shots prevents you from thinking about the single best shot, and you'll probably end up missing it.

If you're at a car show, you don't need (or want) four angles of every car.  Pick only the finest or most interesting cars, and take just one shot of each, finding a different angle each time.  This will tell a different story for each car.

When taking pictures for posting on Facebook, remember that there are over 250 BILLION pictures on there, with over 350 million being added each and every day.  You cannot compete for the attention of your friends by posting volumes.  You'll have to do it with quality, and with small numbers.

No get out there and slow down your shooting!

Garden of the Gods

As part of a much larger project, I just got back from a visit to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  But I didn't go during the day - in fact, I went at 2:00 in the morning, trying to get the moonlight just right.  I wasn't altogether successful, as even a tiny sliver of Moon was too much.  Fortunately, I miscalculated how long the hike would take me, and I got to the hilltop before the Moon even came up.

But even before that happened, I took a shot on the roadway to the South of the main formations, looking North across the short side of one of them.  As someone else's car drove in the distance, I got this shot:

As you can see, even at 2 in the morning, there's a great deal of light coming from the city.  So much that it tends to block out most of the stars, as well as the ultimate goal of my shoot, the Milky Way.  Every bit of light you see is from the city, as the Moon hadn't yet come up.

Having gotten that shot, my next task was to hike to the secondary location to try to get the Milky Way behind the main formations.  Hiking with a bunch of camera gear and a 13 million candlepower lantern isn't all that easy, but I still made better time than I was hoping.  I got to my scouted location just before the Moon rose, and got this shot, which just happened to have an eagle-shaped cloud looking like it was ready to land on Pike's Peak:

The brightest light, just above the eagle's wing, is Jupiter.  Right after this shot was taken, the Moon started to come up, and ruined what little darkness was present.  I hiked back down, never having used my huge lantern, and returned to the car to continue my journey to other locales that same night.

See you next time!

Shae and Jon

Shae had been attending BYU-Idaho online from her original home in Idaho, but had been convinced by her sister and brother-in-law to come down to Colorado.  Colorado has all the beauty and grandeur of Idaho, but throws in some civilization and sophistication to boot – what’s not to love?  Well, it turns out that being Assistant Manager at a chain restaurant may not have so much to love, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?

It wasn’t long before Shae had seamlessly integrated herself into the local Colorado Mormon community, and met a number of great people at a movie night being hosted by one of the church members.  Among those was Jon, a transplant from West Jordan, Utah.  They immediately hit it off as friends, spending time getting to know each other during more church activities before the unmistakable spark of romance was felt. 

For Thanksgiving, Jon and Shae went to her family home in Idaho, and then to his family home in Utah, where a plan was afoot.  During a walk through Temple Square to an intimate gazebo, Jon proposed to Shae, presenting her with a ring exactly like one she had looked at dreamingly while window shopping.

Fast forward just two months, and the wedding plans are being put together!  And Shea’s long since moved on from the restaurant job, in so many ways.

Based on the timeline we had available, I knew the timing for this shoot would be tight.  One of their favorite places is Daniels Park just South of Denver, with which I’m quite familiar, so no scouting was necessary.  We scheduled to go out right after her work day was over, but there was a slight delay when we needed to pick up crucial portions of one of her outfits.  

We arrived at the Park just before Golden Hour, so we still had time to catch the light, but there was no time to go over what we wanted to do – only time to start shooting.  Knowing that some variables might come into play, I had used the previous several days to plan out the shots we would need, so the session started right away. 

I brought my full-frame camera and a 50mm prime lens as my primary, and left my backup crop-frame and several other lenses, along with two tripods and two 800WS radio strobes and stands, in the car.  It would be a quick matter to go back and get them if needed, but none of it would weigh me down for what needed to be a fast-moving shoot.

And fast it was!  We breezed through six locations before noticing that the light was now quickly disappearing.  The Sun had just barely dipped below the horizon, giving us a perfect chance for some silhouettes before the color in the sky went away.  I ran back to the car to get my backup camera and a 24-120mm lens, as I wanted to get farther away from Shae and John, to allow for more zooming in on the horizon.  The rest of the shoot was spent switching between cameras to get different effects from the same poses.

Even Molli, Jon’s longhair Dachshund got involved, posing dutifully while being teased with bologna, and then resting quietly in John’s truck during the rest of the shoot.  All in all, we accomplished a great deal in a short period of time.  I never used my strobes, as the natural light was changing so quickly there was no time to get them set up, and they weren’t really necessary anyway with all the wonderful colors present during a Colorado sunset.

It’s a privilege to be a part of Shae and Jon’s world, and I’m so grateful that they chose me to help them remember one of the most significant turning points of their life together.  I wish them all the best in their journey.

The 1968 Mustang GT500KR

Being arguably the most popular muscle car in history, most aficionados will know that there were many high-performance badges bestowed upon the Mustang throughout its tenure.  The more noticeable would be the Boss 302, Boss 429, GT350, and GT500.  But there were other enumerations as well, labels which wouldn't make it so much into the popular vernacular.  The GT350H is a good example, as it's more special than the GT350, but many people aren't that familiar with it.

Even more special than the GT350H is the Cobra GT500KR, a designation awarded only in 1968, though it was later resurrected in 2008 and 2009.  The marque was so well-regarded that it took Carroll Shelby returning to the Ford fold to bring it back.  During the decades that Ford destroyed the spirit of the Mustang, not even they dared call anything else a GT500KR than a real Shelby.

It was known as "The Ultimate Mustang," and the official literature claimed that the Cobra Jet 428 would put out 335 to 360 horsepower, but that was a ridiculous marketing ploy in order to be able to put a real racing engine into a production car. 

The real number was certainly over 400 horses, with the engine being a hotrodded version of the previous Police Interceptor, with large ports and better exhaust.  Ford was proud of its recent wins in 1966 and 1967 at Le Mans over Ferrari, and boasted with the term Cobra LeMans diecast into the valve covers.

Production was limited to 1,053 fastback GT500KRs, with only 530 being ordered as 4-speeds.  Special Yellow was a very uncommon color, with only 44 being order with the WT6066 paint code.  Only 10 had air conditioning.  And finally, only one was sent to the SouthWest.  This is that car, which has finally found its way into the hands of Brian Nielsen, and into our camera.

According to Autotraderclassics, the GT500KR is not only one of the most sought-after cars in history, it's so rare that most are trailer queens, living out their days in a hermetically sealed box, never feeling the wind on the open road.  Not so this car.  Brian does indeed drive it.  We were not lucky enough to get permission to drive it ourselves though, so Brian can remain safe in the rarified air of being one of only a handful of people in the world who have had the experience of driving this legend.

Special thanks go out to him for allowing us to shoot it, and for the rare times when he agrees to show it.  It's a wonderful example of the way we used to treat the experience of driving.

Chihuly at the Denver Botanic Gardens

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-nLnxW/

This summer is seeing a quite deserved Renaissance at the Denver Botanic Gardens, with the addition of dozens of glassworks by Dale Chihuly among the voluminous plant, tree, and flower exhibits.  Over the past twenty years, the Gardens haven't expanded their space, but have tremendously expanded the variety and sheer numbers of plantings and exhibits.  The entire area is now filled with flora not only that is native to the arid Mountain Desert region, but also heavily populated with varieties that are native to other parts of the country, even other parts of the world.

One of the larger displays, in front of the Greenhouse.

So it's only fitting that they find a way to increase attendance, and having Dale Chihuly bring a portion of his collection over is certainly the way to do it.  Crowd sizes are staggering, bringing much-needed revenue to this facility.  Open until the end of November 2014, the best time to see the display is early morning.  By Noon or a little after, it's difficult to walk around the park, much less try to get undistrubed time looking at what's on offer.





Chihuly has many styles of glasswork, and a subset of them is represented here.  The most prominent are glass spires of red, blue or yellow, strewn about native grasses like tall reeds.  But the more interesting displays are when those grandiose installations are eschewed in favor of something a bit more subtle, if subtlety is even possible in a show like this.

Globes, fingers and spires of purple and blue trail out of a small boat.

The show is also open at night (under separate ticket prices), where some of the glass is lit externally, and some internally through neon lighting.








This installation in front of a waterfall is reminiscent of Chihuly's work on the ceiling at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, though of course that's only a small fraction of what's on display.

Come down and see it before it's gone - it's a popular traveling show, so it may never come back!

Arvada Vitality Alliance Benefit

I was invited several weeks ago, to be a part of a fundraiser for a relatively new organization, the Arvada Vitality Alliance, or AVA for short.  The AVA is dedicated to the furtherance of public art displays in Arvada Colorado.  My first thought was "why would something like this be necessary?"  I was certain that more than enough public funding would be available for any art installations around the city, much like so many other cities across the Front Range.  But it turns out that's really not the case.

Public art is woefully underfunded in Colorado, as it has been for many decades.  No matter which party is in power, expenditures for what are seen as frivolities either don't make it through the political process at all, or when they do, the funding has been severely restricted.  This is short sighted for a couple of reasons.

First, public art creates an identity for the area.  One has only to look at Paris, Egypt, New York, St. Louis, or a hundred other cities whose identities are forged specifically by their public art installations.  I'm not talking about museums.  The pieces you have in mind when thinking of these cities are giant, imposing, memorable artworks that will remain in your mind for the rest of your life.  And when you do think of those pieces, you'll invariably think of the cities they live in.  Having your home city spring into people's minds as they move through their lives is not only good for tourism, it's good for the cultural legacy of the city in general, helping ensure that successive generations stick around to continue the work their parents started.

Second is the return on investment, or ROI.  The City of San Diego for example, found that in fiscal year 2011, for their $7 million investment in public arts, there was a resulting income increase of $170 million in outside spending, with two million visitors arriving specifically as a result of the Arts.  It also found that 6,000 jobs were created as a result, and that out-of-town visitors who came for Arts events stayed an average of two days longer than the typical tourist, and spent twice as much.

This is pretty serious money, though blogger Smart City Memphis would disagree.  SCM believes that talking about investment return shouldn't be on the table when Conservatives are in power.  I can't imagine why that would be the case, and SCM doesn't offer any alternatives.  Just that ROI shouldn't be brought up.  To the contrary, ROI is precisely what Conservatives are begging to hear about.  In a Governmental context, they don't care about aesthetics.  Conservative dogma doesn't allow for that.  It only responds to specific reasoning, which proponents of public funding (most often Liberals) have historically been weak at presenting.  The public benefit of a public project needs to have a specific reason to be funded.  Fortunately, Public Arts has all the firepower needed for such a discussion.  Please be clear:  I'm not attempting to create a split between Conservatives and Liberals, nor am I trying to promote one agenda over the other.  Rather, I'm attempting to bring the two sides together for a common goal.

Barring the public funding aspect of the Arts, private donations are often brought in to supplement.  The AVA exists for precisely that reason.  Friday's event was a gala get-together and art auction presented in the Lamar Street Center space, often called Steel Affairs.  This event, like most others at Lamar, had an automotive theme, showing off the cars of board members, active community members, and Larry Winkler, owner of of the center.  The event was a great success, resulting in art sales, donations, and a wonderful time had by all who attended.  Some of the rarest cars in the world were there to see, and attendees wove around them during the night.

One facet of Conservative mindset would be that this is the way to fund all public art - by private donation.  This mindset may exist because it's believed that the donors somehow reap the benefits of their donation by getting something back in the form of ROI.  They don't.  They're donating because they believe in the cause, and for that reason alone, since they receive literally nothing back for their money.  They're so sold on the concept of public art that they're willing to give their money away with no chance of profit, rather than see less public art installed.

They're stepping in, at their own expense, to try to supplement inadequate funding for something that benefits us all.  True Conservatives and true Liberals alike know that the benefits of public Arts funding are tangible, and necessary for a thriving society.  Let's all work together to achieve a goal that brings us all so many benefits.

My thanks go out to Ereka O'Hara for having me be a part of it.  I hope to see you all there next year!