Old Friends

Many years ago, in another incarnation, I was a diehard camp counselor. Back in those sunny Southern California summers in Silver Gan Israel, I breathed, lived, swam and slept camp (although not so much of the latter). One thing I wish I had done a lot more of is keeping in touch with the campers during the rest of the year. We had a really awesome time in the summer, had some great conversations about yiddishkeit, G-d, life, and other goodies, but after the summer I didn't keep it up enough. I sent card and called every once in a while, but I definitely could have done more.

One kid I did keep in touch with (to a certain extant) was a boy by the name of Daniel Calick (I got to start ditching this sentence structure, I could have just written "I did keep in touch with Daniel Calick" or something simple like that. What's with all the posturing? Sheesh). Smart kid, funny (with an odd habit of mixing his food groups a bit too much), and really interested in all things Jewish.

So when I needed to scout out the parks in the area (for some wedding shots that were going to happen, and have since), I gave Daniel a call. He obligingly obliged.

And the pics:

First few were in the Butterfly park off of Graham.

Next bunch were in Central Park (the other park wasn't that great for the shots I had in mind).

One of my old hiding places

I actually added some grain to this one (not very visible in the small size), I'm really liking this black and white thing.

Anyway, I ended up shooting the wedding formals in central park, twas more green and shady. And more central. Way more central. In fact if you would walk ten miles in each direction, Central park would be exactly in the center. Pretty neat.

Moishe's Upshernish Invitation

A few weeks ago I went to Central Park with my brother Yossi and his son Moishe to take some pics for his Upshernish Initation. 'Twas fun as always but the sun came out earlier than expected (it keeps on doing that, maybe I should change my expectations), and he kept on chucking his yarmulkah (which is cute for pics but not for the invitation). So here's the final invitation:

And here are some of the shots we took there.

[mudslide:flickr,0,49206655@N07,72157624530785225]

How'd you like that spiffy new gallery?

Now my only issue is what category do I put this posting in? If I put it in design then peeps looking for photography won't find it. If I put it in photography... If I put it in both then the thumbnail will be in two places on the homepage. Life is so tough.

wide angle yumminess

Perspective. It's all about perspective. As in the rest of life, there is much to learn from photography. As a Dorothy something-or-another once said "Photography is learning how to see without a camera". A good photographer notices things he previously would have been oblivious to. The wonderful way the afternoon sun lights up Chanaleh's hair. The spectacular swirls of oil in ate. The way the morning sidelight highlights textures. The flowers. The petals. The shapes and forms. The colors.

Another, and in my extremely humble (and proud of it) opinion, more important lesson is learning how to read yourself. Say you come on a what you think will be a great picture. Before you snap, you have figure out why this is interesting. What about this interests you. Once you qualify that, then you could figure out how best to express that in a photograph. Which perspective to use. Which lens. Portrait or landscape? Shallow or deep? What should you leave out and what should you keep in? Underexpose maybe a bit? Makes you slow down a bit, and it gets a little deeper each time, hopefully.

Perspective. That's how I started. There's a common misconception that a wide-angle lens gives a different perspective than say a telephoto lens. The truth is perspective as nothing to do with the lens, it has to do with how far you are from an object. A wide-angle lets you get closer, while still maintaining a wide angle, and the closer you get the more perspective changes.

For example (all pics were taken with a 24-70 @ 24mm and 2.8):

Here we have a wonderful picture of Chanaleh with a huge head and a ridiculously cute face. Her head looks so big because the camera is like 6 inches from her face.

The point is that sometimes theres this huge obstacle/problem/challenge that seems insurmountable by dint of its sheer brogdingnagianess. However, what you have to remember that the reason Chanaleh's head looks so big is because you are too close. Back off, take a breath allow other things into your field of vision. Broaden your perspective and Chanaleh's head won't seem as massive.

On the other hand since kids naturally have big heads, a close-up pic with a wide-angle lens (as long as their head isn't too close to the edge, then weird things start too happen) can magnify that cuteness. Adults on the other hand... No. Be very careful of shooting adults close-up with a wide-angle. They might never talk to you again. Even if you make their double chin disappear.

A few more examples:

A bit dizzyish, but cute nonetheless.

This you may be able to get away with with adults. I'm really getting into this black and white thing. It just seems so timeless (besides for the whole ipad-piano thingie).

Zevi doing his stretches with mommy.

More stretches.

Moral of the story. The perspective comes from where you are. Back up. Take a breath. Turn around. Touch your head. So says Simon.

Henna, take two

As I promised my loyal readers (all two of you) here is the second installment of the Henna pics.

The background of this one was way too busy. After trying to clean it up I gave up and just cut them out (and made the background bigger because I could, the background being black and all). Looking at it now, I think I'll put in some stars and make it look a bit more real. I'll keep you (yes, you two) updated on how that is coming along.

Um, yeah, that would be Ron. He doesn't always dress like that.

David and his papa (in French).

I think everyone is looking at different cameras.

And some color (yes I also carry color film):

For the record I also have dimples. They're just slightly, umm, hidden sometimes.

Mmmmm, Rolling Rock.

Yes Mr. Picasso, that is a head coming out of his head.

My #1 fan

Carol's #1 fan

Yeah, I know I know they're completely out of order and there is absolutely no (I'm trying to think of another word for order, but I'm too lazy to go to thesaurus.com to find one) whatsoever. Tough. Live with it. Artists are not meant to be understood (that is a joke. I do not consider myself to be an artist, nor do I randomize under the cloak of depth (wow, that actually sounded pretty good)).

On another note, I went to the dentist today and my mouth hurts. It's a good thing I'm not typing with my teeth (though that is something I'd like to learn to do).

Until next time: Dasvedania, Paul Revere.

Disclaimer: I am way too tired to edit this thing, so if my spelling/grammar seem a bit off, please circle the mistakes in red and fax them back to me @ 492-882-081-438-9899910628-7719 ext. 41. Thanks.

Henna Night (that's Henna, not Chenna)

This past Sunday night I had the privilege of attending my first "Henna". It's basically the Sefardi version of a L'Chaim or Vort (engagement parties) with way cooler clothes and some fancy skin coloring ceremonies (replete with lilili'ing and all). Sharon and Oscar make a really cute couple, and I wish them all the blessings for a wonderful marriage together. Oscar is from India (hence the Henna) and drives quite the gnarly bike (stat).

I was there as the photographer, and I got the chance to use that 24-70 lens I picked up recently on craigslist (actually I picked it up at the Coffee Bean, if you care). I really am enjoying the wide angle part of it. It feels like you're smack in middle of everything (that's why most journalists spend a majority of their time with wide angles). And the longer end is good for not-so-tight portraits (examples to come soon).

What I really had a hard time with was the lighting. Inside, the ceiling was low (as in not ballroom high) and the light was from many small circular lights, which looked great in real life, but gave anyone with even a hint of a receding hairline bright white spots on their foreheads. Outside was nice, until it got dark (well is was still nice, it was just dark). I didn't want to use my flash because a. I'm not that proficient in it's use yet b. there was nothing to bounce it off of (the sky doesn't bounce light very well) c. It would have ruined the ambiance of both the event and the pictures.

As always I made the mistake of lowering the shutter speed instead of raising the ISO (I didn't want to go past 2000, I should have though), noise is better than blur (I need to make at some sort of mantra and stick it on my wall, or even better, inside my viewfinder).

Also I should have made more tome to chat up the family and get comfortable around them (more them around me), so a. I get more shots of them and b. they don't look so posed in all of the shots.

On the brighter side, I did take some wonderful pics. I discovered that converting to black and white gets rid of a lot of lighting/coloring/white balance issues, and I me'od like the combo of wide angle and black and white.

I know I mentioned this already, but I am very into (attempting to) getting pictures that capture the feeling of the event more than getting pictures of those that were there (including family). Portraits and even group pics are nice (and getting a few won't kill anyone), but in 5 or 10 years you don't want to see formal looking pics of the people there, you want to see pictures that remind you how you felt at the time, you want pictures that instead of saying "wow, I sure looked beautiful", it's "wow, I was so happy and we all had such a fun time". That's also why I'm so in love (more like, in like) with the wide angles (and now i'm ogling the 24 f1.4..., someone help me).

Whatever.

On to the pics (mostly with the 24-70 and the 50, and a few with the 105):

Mrs. Kaplan hard at work (and Eli doing his thing)

Meet and greet

Carol and her beautiful step daughter

The drink table (always an integral part)

Eli's sister and her über cute daughter

For some reason before the actual Henna, it seems that the couple is tomb chased to their seats by a bunch of woman carrying plates of cookies. Not the worst thing in the world.

The cookie dance.

Behold: the Henna.

The happy couple.

No, that's not the High Priest. It's Phil.

For now. Toodooloo. Too. Doo. Loo. That's how they ask children in the UK if they have to go to the bathroom.

I'll post some more pictures from the Henna tomorrow (I'm at the cow farm and it takes forever to upload pictures to flickr from my iPad out here).

SGI Summer Fest

According to the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, animals are divided into

those that belong to the Emperor, embalmed ones, those that are trained, suckling pigs, mermaids, fabulous ones, stray dogs, those included in the present classification, those that tremble as if they were mad, innumerable ones, those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush, others, those that have just broken a flower vase, those that from a long way off look like flies.

I'm in awe.

In love.

Oh how I would love to have met the author of this arcane work. Alas he is long dead and embalmed. If he ever existed in the first place.

I discovered this remarkable work in the opening pages of a so-far brilliant book on photographs and photographers who photographed them (two nouns and a verb, I like the sound of that, maybe I'll make into a movie of sorts). The book is called The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyer (who by his own admission does not even own a camera, and who also wrote a book titled Yoga For People Who Cant Be Bothered To Do It). When I'm through with it I'll update y'all with a slightly more informative book report.

This past Thursday I photographed the summer festival at Silver Gan Israel. So far I've attended the camp as a camper for 9 years, counselor for 3, learning director (actually that was part of the counselor job), and now as a photographer. All were fun, though the counselor years were definitely the most fun (this may be due to the fact that I hardly remember the years as a camper other than jumping off the roof on a Shabbaton when all the staff were sleeping, watching sunrise and sleeping through the rest).

The kids performed (I hated that part as a counselor, I think we tried it the first year and then just let the girls have the stage all to themselves and their dances), we ate, and then there was this dunking show (which was neater than I thought it would be, which usually happens).

On to the visuals (all taken on my newish 24-70, which I'm still working on mastering, will let you know what i think of it soon. So far all I can tell you is that it focuses faster than Michael Johnson can run a foot):

This kid has the coolest blond hair. I was trying all day to snap some shots of him, and he kept running away.

I love kid-eating-pics.

Gimme some of that ketchup love.

No, mom. I will not sing, I will not dance, I will not look at the crowd. In fact I'll just look at that really interesting wall back there.

Another eating shot.

Alon's Kids. Cute as anything.

No, there was not trampoline there. No really. Really.

Wonder where he gets his eyes from.

Now for some Monochromes:

Excuse me young sir, how much did that hat cost?

Nice backlit kids playing laser tag.

I'm not exactly sure what he's screaming at but it must be pretty intense.

Priviet. Roma and Esther.