Christmas in Colombia

Jenesano Christmas

It's a little hard to describe where I am now and where I spent Christmas. I am relaxing in the little town of Jenesano, Colombia with friends. The town is located about 140 kilometers from Bogotá and has little to nothing to do with the rest of the world; not even the civil war that occupies too much of the rest of this country. To give some context, this is only the second time I've been here when the entire route was paved and this year the place has cell phone service and dial-up internet access. Jenesano isn't well travelled by gringos but change is coming. Not from tourism per se but it's coming. The weather is a perfect 80 degrees by day and about 65 at night.

Christmas is celebrated on the evening of the 24th with an homegrown Christmas Pageant that involves most of the town drinking, setting off massively powerful homemade fireworks, putting on really twisted Halloween costumes, decorating diesel spewing trucks as religious-themed floats and parading around the 2 blocks that make up downtown. Kids and adults wander around taking in the spectacle. Needless to say I took pictures.

I set up my Streetstudio™ for a few hours as well. I'll share those pictures with my next entry.

Take pictures of Colombian anti-choice Christmas demons.

A Good Week

Ed King

Periodically I do a little seach to see where my images are being used and who is mentioning me on their website. I do it more to enhance my page rank than to enforce copyright infringement. This morning I stumbled into this use by Ed King, the guitarist from Lynyrd Skynyrd, who wrote the little known songs "Freebird" and "Sweet Home Alabama." I am flattered that he chose my image to announce his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He gave proper credit too so it's all kosher. I was equally happy to see Gary Knight using my photo over on the World Press Photo site too.

Big career developments came back to back this week as well. I found representation on Tuesday with Jen Allison, the same woman who represents Mark Mann and today I signed a three year contract with Retna to resell my music photos. Retna, if you aren't familiar with it, is the largest music stock photo agency in the world and one of the last to split royalties 50-50. All this has me very excited. They are heavyweights and now I'm part of them. Yikes!

I was planning on 2006 being a good year so I'm ahead of schedule.

Take pictures, get paid.

The Coyote Calendar

Coyote Cover Girl

Run on down to your local Coyote Ugly for a drink and to purchase the 2006 Calendar shot by yours truly. Just in time for Christmas too! If you don't live in a town with a bar, you can buy it online too. I'm pretty proud of it as my first foray into Calendar photography. The last page is probably my favorite because it's a collage of shots taken during the post-shoot mischief. You'll even find a shot or two or three of me in there.

More soon. I'm just back from Iowa and preparing to go to Colombia on Friday. I've got a few tidbits to share and intend to do so before I leave.

Take pictures.

Anon. Xmas

Anonymous Reveler

I took some shots at a friend's holiday party last night and most of them were friendly smiling boring shots of folks getting their drink on. The only ones I liked were the faceless ones.

Allow me to ramble a bit. It got me thinking a little about anonymity within my shots. Often I think I am attracted to what looks like cleavage but is, in fact, just a cropped head. I don't think it's a gender specific thing anyway. Sure, there is some allure to the bodies but the more I look at some of my favorites, the more it seems the faceless ones stand out. Perhaps because it is easier to make those shots or perhaps it is because I won't have to get releases down the line. It could simply be that the face is such an expressive thing that it is easier to keep some mystery without showing it.

Either way, it's something I will be on guard for down the line. If I get a chance, I'll show some shots with and without the face and you'll see just what I'm talking about. There is a good opportunity to shoot some holiday images at a party I'm attending tomorrow night. I'll see if some examples come from that.

Take pictures of torsos.

Aperture

I was in B&H Photo yesterday picking up a Christmas gift for my brother when I noticed that they were about to start an Aperture demo in their corporate conference room. I navigated my way up and into the offices where a nice enough Apple guy began the hour and half demo. Apple might have chosen someone more familiar with the program. The guy stumbled around it like a newbie and several times had to refer to a little cheat sheet. On one level it was nice to see as that is more than likely the way we'd all be coming to it. That is, if we buy it.

Which brings me to the point of today's entry. After careful review and a gut feeling, I'm holding off on purchasing what I had hoped would be a solution to my digital workflow hassles. I found a fantastic and critical review that sealed my decision to wait for a later version. There is a drop-dowm menu if you just want to scoot to the conclusion. I have my fingers crossed that the future is bright for Apple in this domain.

Take pictures.

Civic Duty

Mundane Buenos Aires

I spent my morning in the criminal court jury pool until I got excused until next January 24th. I spent the time poking around my measly asortment of Buenos Aires images and made this little diptych. Again, nothing remarkable but if I try to make pairings from the same basic time period, it's a little harder.

I have an idea of what might go better with the image on the right but I'll have to get to my archive for that to happen. Stay tuned.

Take pictures.

Silence

I turned my Xserve RAID off while I was away. I am reluctant to turn it back on becasue my apartment is so nice and quiet with it off. I look forward to the day when I can store my data remotely. My parents don't know it yet but one day I'm going to turn a closet in their house into my backup data center. More recently I've been told about cool companies like the digital railroad but I am not quite ready for that commitment. Soon though, soon. I need to get my images into a more usable archive. Don't we all?

Take pictures and store them wisely.

Landscape, etc.

Mendoza Panorama

Landscape isn't my thing but from time to time I'll make me a lil' panoramic collage. I took about 10 photos and blended them together to make this shot of late afternoon sun over the Andes. Nothing remarkable really, I was standing on a little hill and spun around taking pictures. A few minutes of photoshop later and there you have it. This isn't the full 360 degrees but it's the more interesting part of it.

I got a chance to listen to my debut podcast and the first thing that stuck me was how funny I sound over the phone. After I got over that, I had a smile on my face as I agreed with most of what I said. Go figure. The end is the funniest. After they do their little credit thing and wrap-up you can hear me descending into the party that had been going on while I was being interviewed. Evan Iskovitz gets a huge shout out and then you hear the din of the party take over. Good stuff there. Remind me to get some more press down the line.

As for my camera falling apart...my D2X is losing it's grippy stuff. The way I hold my camera and the amount I hold it have conspired to completely remove the padding on the compact flash card door. Now just yellowish residue of some insufficient glue is all that remains. I guess the thing isn't built for the twelve-hour sweaty photo-marathons that are Latin American weddings. So be it. I didn't lose the piece so now the search is on for some decent glue. Come on Nikon, this is your professional camera. Which reminds me. That D200 is mighty cool. I'm tempted, let me tell you.

Take pictures.

Press Pack

I think I mentioned that I'd been interviewed for a podcast a while back. Well it's up and ready for your audio enjoyment over at studiolighting.net. My little contribution starts about four minutes into it. I haven't listened to the whole thing but I figure it's pretty much just as I said it. It lasts about 25 minutes so. Good stuff.

Over at photoworkshop.com I am honored to say I've been featured in the Photos to Inspire section of their site. I got a kick out of the images they chose for their portfolio of my work. I don't envy them trying to edit my site down to just ten photos.

Buenos Aires Wedding II

Otherwise, I'm still in Argentina. I haven't been taking too many pictures because visiting friends hasn't provided much time for dedicated picture making. Whitewater rafting and Nikon D2Xs don't mix. And since I shot three thousand pictures at my friend's wedding last Saturday, I've got plenty of editing to do. I illustrated this post with one from that night just so it wasn't a text-only post.

I've got more to say about my camera coming apart and something else I can't remember right now but when I get a chance, I'll do that.

Take pictures.

Speed Post

Buenos Aires Wedding

There ain't no party like a Latin American wedding. More soon. I'm rushing to lunch. I've got lots to share, just no time to sit in front of a computer.

Take Pictures.

Buenos Aires: Day One

Mundane Malvinas

I awoke this morning thinking about the photos I'd taken yesterday. There weren't many so it wasn't exactly a taxing endeavor. Regardless, I came up with one in my head that I just tried out. It isn't exactly a coherent match but it is what it is. The night flight provided very little to see out my window until we landed when I took a picture of the wing. It's actually the first picture I took on the trip. Later, I went by the memorial to the Falklands War (the Malvinas to Argentinians) and made a quick little formal shot of the wall and sky. While they have nothing to do with each other, it does serve as a little mundane diary of my day.

It beats sharing nothing ;-)

I missed this spectacle by a day...bummer!

Take Pictures.

Packing

I'm running around trying to get my shit together for Argentina. I leave in 3 hours.

I just stumbled upon this show in Jersey titled Window Seat Photography. It caught my eye becasue I love to do the same thing. I've written about it before. The local Montclair, New Jersey paper wrote a story about the show and the photographer. I'm sure the whole thing is worth a gallery show or an article but it's fun nonetheless.

I'll be sure to share my Argentina images shortly and maybe even a few from out the window. I wish we flew over the Amazon in daylight. Oh well.

Take pictures.