This woman’s work inspires me. It’s different, and although there’s a unifying theme that some would call a gimmick, I think that almost every one of her shots has enough originality and artistic merit to transcend fads like planking, owling, or horsemanning.
December 30, 2011
December 15, 2011
More portraits
A friend of mine wanted to get a picture of him wearing a suit; it was something that his grandmother really wanted and he was going to get it framed as a christmas gift. I said “Sure, let’s do it!” and I got to test out a new technique and a $20 light I hacked together. Here are a few of the shots I liked:
http://jzoe.com/galleries/Lee/index.html
One of them was “just for fun”, and not for grandma. I’ll let you figure out which one that is!
December 12, 2011
Up before dawn
This past weekend we had a full lunar eclipse on Saturday morning. I woke up at 4:30 to see it, and although my first thought upon hearing my alarm was to turn it off and spend a few more hours in my warm bed, I told myself that I’d at least go outside to see if things were too foggy to bother. We had clear skies, and at about 4:40 I could see the first nibble taken out of the edge. I was too excited to go back to bed, so I dressed warmly and made myself a thermos full of coffee.
I shot dozens of pictures as the moon was slowly eaten by the earth’s shadow, but I think that only one or two of the stood out as something different and cool. Here’s the one I picked to share:
I’ve been on the fence for a long time about whether or not to upgrade my camera to a newer model. It’s only 6 megapixels, and the design is nearly six years old. Compared to all of the other pictures I take where this is more than good enough, the lunar eclipse was a situation where I found myself wishing that I had more resolution, and files with less sensor noise. In France I ran into a couple of situations where I pushed the camera as far as it would go, and I wanted more from it. This is another situation where my vision was limited by the equipment (I think) more than by my technique. I’ll probably hold off a while longer still before I buy something else, it’s hard to say. I try not to type just to type when I write this blog, but for the last paragraph that’s all I’ve been doing.
Those of you who know me have already heard of the changes happening in my life, and although I don’t plan to use my blog as a forum to discuss these matters, I will say that I am presently experiencing great sadness. If things continue as they are (and I sincerely hope things will turn around), I will likely spend a lot of time on projects as a means of filling time and feeling better. If you like my blog, you may be rewarded with some additional content in the coming weeks and months. At least there’s that, right?
We’ll have more photos soon.
December 5, 2011
The best camera
As they say, the best camera is the one that’s with you. (it’s the title of a book by photographer Chase Jarvis)
I was at a power soccer tournament this weekend, and I was taking hundreds of pictures with my digital SLR camera and an expensive telephoto lens, but I think my favorite picture from the whole weekend is this one: 
I turned away from the games for a second, and I caught Scot letting one of our new players take a look through his pro camera with the huge lens. I realized I had to get a picture, but my bag was across the gym inside my bag, and it still had the telephoto lens attached. There was no way I was going to catch this moment happening if I walked away, so I used my Blackberry and snapped this one. Her mom really liked this shot too, and it don’t think it bothered her at all that it’s not the best image quality.
September 12, 2011
Flickr!
So I haven’t been posting on my blog lately, but I have been quite busy. I’ve been studying photography a little bit more seriously, and making an effort to go out and take pictures. I’m concentrating on portraits, because I think that some of the most interesting pictures I’ve seen or taken have been of people.
One of the many online dictionaries defines the word “portrait” as:
a painting, drawing, sculpture, photograph, or other likeness of an individual, esp of the face
When I use the word “portrait”, I’m using the word to differentiate it from a snapshot. I’m working to create a an artistic representation of the person. It’s hard to describe without repeating a bunch of art cliches. I used to create music, and when I had to stop it left a void that I’m trying to fill with the images I create today. If that doesn’t make sense, I think that I can describe it as a positive feeling I get when I make something and then observe it and see that it’s the way that I want it to be. I would hear the music I made, and even if nobody else liked it, it felt good to make it and to hear that it sounded the way I wanted it to sound. Likewise, the pictures I work to create are starting to look the way that I want them to look. I’m starting to see things, and to find a way to bring them to the screen for other people to see. When I see them and they look the way I want them to look, that’s a really positive thing.
I don’t think that I have much of an art education, so my ability to speak intelligibly about any of this feels slightly stunted. I blame AP classes mixed with an intense interest in music during high school, and attending an engineering school and studying a dual major that did not allow any electives. I snuck in one elective one semester, and I chose Afro-Cuban percussion. It was great, but nothing has really prepared me to work at photography on the same wavelength that I imagine other people vibrate on.
I signed up for a Flickr account, and I am using it to participate in online discussions about the images I’m creating. I’m meeting anybody that I can, from Facebook, my real life friends and acquaintances, and the internet at large, and I am working on techniques, ideas, and art.
You can see my new Flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jzoe/
August 14, 2011
Fire jam!
Yes, I’m still taking pictures! A friend invited me out to a meetup of fire performers and photographers, and these are some of the shots I got: http://jzoe.com/images/Firejam/
June 22, 2011
June 14, 2011
Zoo trip!
We went to the zoo this weekend, here are the pictures!
April 22, 2011
Done with the coffee bracket
Here’s the final product. It’s ready to get mounted on the wall and it has a tapped hole for the thumb screw that’s going to keep the coffee grinder from moving around when you crank it.
April 5, 2011
A little more welding
Here’s another attempt at this weld. This time I used the right filler rod, paid attention to doing the weld in short sections to minimize heat distortion, and I think I had a better time of it. Obviously I need a lot more practice before I start thinking about calling myself a welder or try to do anything too safety critical, but I’m happy enough with this. I believe that it will serve many years as a bracket for a hand-cranked coffee grinder. I hope to finish machining for one tomorrow night, and will save one in reserve in case I need to make any changes or improvements.