Conspirare- New York

Last February I had an amazing opportunity through fellow photographer Karen Sacher, to work with a chroal ensemble called Conspirare, lead by Craig Johnson.  The group had traveled to New York to preform around the city, and Karen and I followed them for a couple days, taking photos of their performances and rehearsals.  I also did some portraits of Craig.

Listening to their group was extraordinary and deeply inspirational!  Craig is a very kind person, and is so passionate about what he does.  I loved watching him work and orchestrate the group with such love and intensity.  It was a gift for me to witness an artist so connected to and passionate about his work and craft.  I look back at this trip last February with such fond memories.  Anytime your in New York creating work, it is wonderful, but to accompany Craig and his group, it was an experience I'll never forget.

Please visit their website, www.conspirare.org, to read about their group and mission, and to see a listing of their upcoming shows in Austin, Texas.

Yellowstone Academy's Photo Club-Halloween Project!

It has been a while since I've posted about my class at Yellowstone, so I thought I'd make a quick post with our Halloween Project this year.  I've got a new class this school year with 7 new students, and they are eager to learn about photography.  We'll be meeting Monday afternoons this year, and Yellowstone has moved to an all year calendar, so the students are currently on Fall break.  Before they left for Fall break, I wanted to introduce some concepts dealing with shutter speed, but I didn't want to get into too much, as long breaks can lead to forgetfulness.  So, I came up with an idea to take some spooky Halloween photos of our class, and use slow shutter speeds and double exposures to achieve ghostly effects!  All of the students will return to school on Halloween day, so they will come back to Photo Club's terrifying 1st show of the year!

Incendiary-Washington Post Article

My brother has co-directed a documentary film, and it is getting a lot of press and attention right now.  Not only because it is a great film, but also because it deals with an arson case that put a man on death row.  He was executed, but it seems perhaps for a crime that he did not committ.  Rick Perry had an important role in the case, and because of his recent presidential run, this has helped boost national interest in the case and in the film.

The film, Incendiary has been showing in Austin, at the Violet Crown, and opens in Washington D.C. this weekend.  The film will open in NYC the weekend of October 7th, then will travel to Dallas, TX the weekend of October 14th.  After Dallas, the film opens in LA November 18th.   If you haven't seen it, check it out.  It is very interesting, and extremely well done.  Incendiary is already an award winning film!

My brother emailed me a couple of days ago with this link to the Washington Post website, where their movie (and my photo!) was featured in an article.  Nothing like riding the coat tails of your famous brother!  You can check out the article and photo here.  And don't forget to check out the film if you can.  Click here for Incendiary's website, where you can find information about the film and showings.

New York

In December, my wife and I got to travel with my family to New York for a little vacation.  It was Regan's first time to visit New York, and was the first time that I got to really experience the city.  I had been to the city on a couple other occasions (once to shoot photography for my brother's thesis on Jazz music...which was a pretty cool experience), but had never really gotten the chance to roam around the city, see shows, eat at resturants, etc.  The trip was amazing, and I loved our time in New York.  I brought along my old Nikon F5, and shot several rolls of film (mostly Ilford Delta 400 black and white).  It felt good to shoot black and white film again.

Regan and I got back and were like, "We've got to get back to New York again soon!"  Well, several weeks ago I got a call from a fellow photographer here in Houston, and it looks like I'll be heading back to New York to do some work with her!

Here are some of my favorites from our trip in December.

This is probably my favorite photo from the trip, I took this one outside of Macy's while Regan shopped.  I just sat at a street corner and tried to find interesting people as they crossed the street.  As soon as I saw this guy and got this shot, I knew I had what I was looking for.

Another one of my favorites.  On our bus ride into the city from Newark airport, we stopped right next to a school bus.  I spotted this kid staring up into the sky out of his window.  That is probably what I looked like most of the bus ride in, looking up at all of the incredible buildings that surrounded us!

My mom and dad.  Mom is going to get mad at me for this one, I'm afraid, because her eyes are closed.  However, this was the only photo that I had of her from the trip (I think she purposely eludes my camera...).  But I actually like it, it is kind of a light, fun moment...it has a good feel to it.

I never got the hang of the Subways.  My brother's wife, Alice, was a pro, and lucky for me, Regan got us from one spot to another when it was just the two of us.

Our awesome view from where we stayed.  Central Park was right outside our window...about 30+ stories down...

A visit to the Empire State Buidling was a lot of fun.

Looking down from the Empire State Building

These were the guards at the Empire State Building.  They did not like being photographed.  There was another guard that I really wanted to photograph, and I almost got the shot I wanted.  He saw me and just said, "NO" and turned away.  I snuck this one in from a bit further way, before he could notice.

I wish we could have stayed at the top longer.  The people were neat to watch, and the light was beautiful.  However, we had to get back to the apartment to get ready for a show, so I left some photos untaken.

This was a pretty funny moment, and I couldn't pass up taking a photograph.  These two guys were loaded down after a shopping spree at Hollister.  Nothing against Hollister, these just weren't the same guys from their ads...

This series is of my brother, Joe.  He grew out a mustache for Movember, and was looking pretty cool.  Joe and his wife, Alice live in Austin.  Joe is now a film maker...check out what he's been working on here.  He has co-directed a documentary film titled Incendiary that will be debuting at SXSW this March in Austin.

Joe's wife, Alice.

My beautiful wife, Regan, laughing with Alice.

Tintypes in Santa Fe (and at home)

While I was in Santa Fe for Katie and Patrick's wedding, I spent some time working with an antique photo process called "tintype" photography.  I'll describe the process below, but first let me talk about who I photographed!

 I began the week with Katie and Patrick, and we did some tintypes in a little town called "Lamy, New Mexico."  To see those, please read the post prior to this about their wedding, or click here.  That week I connected with art collector and Associate Gallery Director of the Andrew Smith Gallery, John Boland.  John is an extremely kind person, and knows so much about photography, its various process, and the masters of this great art.  The Andrew Smith Gallery houses some incredible work, from all the best photographers in history.  If you're ever in Santa Fe, you must go see their collections.  The work is stunning and truly inspiring!

 Anyhow, John had expressed some interest in having a tintype made of him when I visited Santa Fe last year in September.  I had promised him that if I returned with my tintype gear, that we would make sure this happened!  I was excited when I met with John on this trip, and told him I had brought my gear.  We set a time to photograph the following Tuesday, and chose his new house that is under construction as our location.

 John is doing much of the work himself, and so we took a coupe photographs with his tools and the house in the background.  John also loves to bike, and has been in many races.  In his bike photos, he is sporting one of his gold medals he won in a road biking race.

 John and I met just after sunrise for an early morning of tintypes.  We spent several hours creating tintypes, and he even created one of his own!  It was a wonderful way to spend the morning.

 Here are some of the tintypes we took, as well as some photographs John took of me working.  You'll see all of the gear required to make these beautiful pieces!

  

Some of the gear...as you can see, I converted my old orange camp trunk into my tintype trunk.  It works well, but is VERY heavy!  The darkroom is the frame from a collapsable dog kennel, with dark cloth that has been sewn together into a box form.  I tie the dark cloth along the frame to form the darkroom's structure, and throw a large black out cloth around me and the darkroom box to ensure light doesn't get inside while processing (as you'll see in a photo below).  Notice the two orange squares in the back of the darkroom.  These are orange safe light filters, and they act as safelight skylights.  The white light from the outside is filtered through the orange glass so that I can see inside the darkroom without "fogging" (or exposing) the plates.

Here I am pouring collodion onto a plate.  I tilt the collodion so that the liquid flows from corner to corner, and up and down the plate.  The collodion gels fairly quickly (especially in the dry Santa Fe air) and must be put in the Silver Nitrate next.

Looking goofy in my tintype outfit.  All of those stains are created from the Sliver Nitrate.

Here I am working in my traveling darkroom.  As you can see, the large dark cloth is pulled around me to make sure no light gets in while working.

Here I watch the tintype "flip" as it sits in the Potassium Cyanide.  The usual way to house the Potassium Cyanide bath is in a vertical box with a dipper.  In college I made a vertical bath from plexi-glass, but it leaked on me.  I didn't want to have anymore leaking Potassium Cyanide...!!!  Now I use Tupperware from the Container Store!  Clearly marked, "Poison!"

Peeling the plastic from my plates.  At this time I don't "japan" my plates.  It is a long process, and I don't currently have the means to do it.  Therefore, I used blackened trophy aluminum from Main Trophy Supply.

Close up pouring the collodion.

Wiping the back of the plate.  Excess collodion on the back of the plate is not a good thing.

Here I am varnishing the plate.  I use a flame to finish them.

Close up of the varnishing process.

Now, some about the process...

The tintype process was developed around the 1850's, and is a "wet plate" process.  This means that the photographer must "pour a plate" (or prepare a plate for exposure), expose and develop the plate all within minutes, while the plate is still wet with chemicals.  To do this, a tintype photographer must have a darkroom with him while he is creating tintypes.

 Tintypes are taken on sheet metal that is blackened prior preparing a plate (this process of blackening the plate is called "japanning").  The base chemical of the tintype is "collodion" which allows the silver nitrate to stick to the plate.  Once the collodion is poured onto the plate, the photographer must dip the plate into a bath of silver nitrate and wait 3-5 minutes until the plate is sensitive to light.  This part of the process takes place in the darkroom, away from any light.

 Once the plate is light sensitive, it is placed in a plate holder, and taken to the camera, where it is exposed to make the picture.  After an exposure has been made, the photographer returns to the darkroom to pour developer on the plate and process the image.  Water is used to stop the developer from over developing the image.  Then the plate is brought into the light, where it is placed in a bath of Potassium Cyanide!  The Potassium Cyanide fixes the plate (so that light won't ruin it), and also flips the image so it becomes a positive.  The result is a beautiful photo on sheet metal that looks like nothing else you've ever seen.

 After the tintypes have been washed and dried, the photographer applies a varnish to the plate to protect it, and uses a flame to evaporate the alcohol in the varnish.  It is set to finish drying, and after a coupe hours is ready to handle.

This summer I had a wonderful intern working for me, Madeline.  Madeline is a talented photography student at USC, and was home for the summer.  She did a wonderful job helping me around the office, and posting photos to this blog!  Madeline finished with me this week, however, I had promised to teach her a little about tintypes, before she left.  Therefore, this week we spent one morning going over the process, and she made a couple nice tintypes.  My favorite was this one of my dog Georgia and me.  I still have to varnish the plate, but Madeline did a great job!

My pup (and faithful assistant) Georgia, and me!