Blog | LomiMonk Photography

Apr

2011

Fotomoto down for the day and some fun news!!

Picture by Margarita Aragon de Szumanska

I received some news from my print provider here on the LomiMonk Photography website, Fotomoto, that they are moving to new servers and simultaneously upgrading their service. As a result the ordering service will be down for most of today (4/6/2011) and will also experience periodic outages over the coming days.

Therefore, if you were hell-bent on ordering a print, canvas, or greeting card from me today, or the next several days, you might run into a blockage or unavailability issue. My apologies for that. It is out of my hands at the moment. Hopefully the ordering process through Fotomoto will be back up to their usual high standard in short order and I very much appreciate your patience while this is all worked through.

On the fun side, LiveBooks contacted me today to tell me I was the lucky daily winner of a free LiveBooks website for a year. I am very excited about this because it means a significant upgrade to my website, something I couldn’t readily afford on my own. So, that will mean some changes are going to come to the look and feel of the site over the coming month, most importantly some beautiful viewing galleries and full iPad viewability. Several of my favorite professional photographers use LiveBooks (Art Wolfe, David duChemin) to host their website and so I am anxious to discover the reason for their choice for myself. I’m not usually listed as “the lucky winner” in raffles, drawings, or giveaways (who is?) so this is kinda fun. I can hardly wait to get creative with a new, fresh look and report back to you what how I like the service.

So stay tuned!!

Apr

2011

Inspiration Monday: Isabel Muñoz

el dia de los muertos 2009 (c) LomiMonk Photography

It has been quite a while since I last posted an Inspiration Monday post; several months at least. It is not that I fail to be inspired by others that has kept me from posting, but rather that I think I am looking for that special something to inspire me. There is a lot of photography in the world and a lot of photographers working on really fantastic stuff but the more I look at others’ work the more confused I get at times. So much of it is good. So much of it is skilled. And so much of it makes me think, “wow, I want to be able to do that!” Such thoughts are a bit dangerous. They can leave me a bit scattered in my approach; they can leave me attempting to replicate others’ work, and while a small victory can be achieved in doing so, ultimately I can feel empty for not having done my own work.

So, what is it I am looking for in others? What am I looking for in their work other than that desire to copy, emulate, or recreate? I think I am looking for that person, that artist, that has moved beyond the achievement of skilled craftsmanship into the realm of communication, of expression: what many these days are calling “Voice.” I am really looking for an artist to remind me, both mentally and emotionally, to focus on my work, on my voice, on what feels right to me. I think today I have found some one who has done that, at least in some small part.

In today’s Inspiration Monday post, the 19th in this series, I would like to present Isabel Muñoz. Hailing originally from Barcelona, Isabel is currently represented as one of contemporary Spain’s bright stars at the Woman and Woman exhibition at the Instituto Cervantes building at the National Hispanic Cultural Center here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has four 66 inch by 66 inch platinotype prints hanging there which just blew my mind. Her work appears to center around how light interacts with, reveals, and conceals form and shape. Many of her images, while cultural in nature, use the human form to convey the artist’s vision at the expense of the subject’s identity. These images encourage the viewer to have a relationship with their own interpretation, visceral in nature in my case, of the image. See the images that deal with dance under her “Obras” menu, especially Danza Cubana (Cuban Dance), Tango, and Lucha Turca (Turkish Wrestling) for what I consider her best examples. She seems to use the human body as the expressive medium that depicts and expresses the nature of the culture she is interested in, be it tattooed Salvadoran gangs of LA, dancers (Cuban, Flamenco, Tango), bull fights, or indigenous peoples.

Working in medium format black and white with platinum processing, Muñoz found her medium of expression. By limiting herself to the arduous constraints this type of photographic production entails she has begun to move beyond its limits into artistic expression and interpretation. This is what I am looking for in inspiring artists: transcending the limits of technique to arrive at unique, inspired creativity.

As a nice extra, there is a “Making Of” section on her website that contains several movies of behind the scenes action from some of her photoshoots. Even if you do not understand Spanish, the feel and look of the shoot and of Isabel Muñoz interactions with her varied subject easily depicts her respect and interest in them.

Mar

2011

Details from Mexico

Part of what I am trying to do while photographing places or events is to try to convey a story, a sort of “this is what it feels like to be here.” To that end, while I am trying to capture the broad scope of what is being experienced, I am also trying to capture the details that enliven the experience. Following are a few of the detail images I took while in Mexico recently. I hope you enjoy them.

(Feel free to click on the images to view them in Lightbox mode. You can even scroll through from image to image this way.)

Mar

2011

Get on the Bus: The Flashbus, that is.

Recently I attended a traveling presentation called The Flashbus consisting of Dave Hobby of Strobist fame and Joe McNally of National Geographic fame, two of the foremost users and educators of small off-camera flash units (often called “strobes.”)

These two guys got the idea to travel the country, stopping in 29 cities in 6 weeks, and teach about small flashes from their two different, yet sometimes merging, philosophies on how to use these small lights with our cameras to create immensely powerful, stunning, and beautiful images. I was lucky enough to get the approval and support of my wife to attend the stopover in Albuquerque and boy am I glad I went.

As a quick, very quick, overview/review I can say that the event was high energy, fun, informative, enjoyable, and absolutely worth the $100 to attend. In fact, I felt I had received my money’s worth in the morning watching Dave Hobby teach how to create a scene through layering light. Such was the power of Dave’s approach, explanation, and examples that Joe McNally’s live demonstration of how he thinks through lighting a scene or portrait was icing one the cake. Dave Hobby (the strobist) taught us how to layer light into a scene and control all the lights manually while Joe McNally showed us how and when to trust the camera and flashes iTTL technology (and when not to!)

The most important piece of information I received from this workshop was from Dave in how to think through lighting a scene, especially a portrait. Thinking in terms of Ambient light, Fill light, Key light (main light), and Accent light, Dave created a paradigm in my brain regarding how to think through a shoot and build the image I would like to create. The image above is one I created several years ago of my niece and my son on a beach in Mexico at sunset. I had read about and seen numerous variations on this type of lighting and thought I had it figured out. Boy was I wrong. This shot was just lucky-a big hail Mary toss. Most of the others that evening look as if the subjects, those poor kids and others, were hit with nuclear radiation. Now, thanks to Dave and Joe, I have a better understanding of what I got right in this shot, and what I did wrong in others, and thereby took away some of the mystique of lighting a scene with multiple lights.

More importantly I now have faith that I can figure out how to light a scene. Before, I thought I might be able to do it but often got stuck. In essence, I didn’t know what I didn’t know and that made me nervous. Now I feel I have a foundation, I know I know some stuff, and I know lots of what I don’t know. I’ll figure a lot out through practice and I can’t wait to get going.

So a big thank you to Dave and Joe and all the folks involved in making The Flashbus happen. It was a great time and I am so glad I took advantage of this rare opportunity. Stay tuned for some more flash induced photographs!!

Mar

2011

Many Thanks and the Artistic Influx

The other day, Friday to be precise, I took part in a gallery opening and moved along on my list of artistic goals for the year. It was all wildly reported here. And, as I had mused in that post, I came away inspired and motivated. There was some great work hung in the twenty or so pieces on show

Particularly touching was the group of friends that came by to lend support and see the work. A big thank you to all of you. You have touched my heart.

I came away from the show with a deep respect for the great diversity in styles both of photography and presentation. My interest in other people’s work has been buoyed, as has my interest in different presentation styles. I went with a straight matted print and frame approach for this show but came away with some creative ideas for future shows, either solo or shared. Of particular interest this time around were a pair of images printed on aluminum. The way the aluminum reflected the light and brought out the colors as well as the way they pop away from the wall really peaked my interest. I am currently musing about printing on this medium and discovered it is available through Bay Photo in San Francisco. Any thoughts about which of my images on my “Purchase” galleries might look good printed in this way?

So, once again, thank you so much for stopping by and for supporting this gallery opening. And thank you as well for all the inspiration. The gallery show will remain hung for 6 more weeks, until mid April, and is located in The Printmaker’s Studio at 425 San Matea NE in Albuquerque (the NE corner of Copper).

Mar

2011

Gallery Hangings and the Benefits of Setting Goals.

In the effort to continue with meeting my photographic goals for the year I am hanging two prints in a gallery show this evening. I am very excited, for two reasons.

First, I am excited for the show. I have hung a few prints in shows before but my effort in them was halfway at best and I didn’t really put too much into them. This time I am attempting to do things right and I am very proud of the prints I am hanging. I am also excited for the show as there looks to be a lot of really good work being hung. I always like to see what my peers are doing; it helps to keep me motivated as well as show me some possibilities photographically that I had not considered. I just love that.

Secondly, I am happy to be moving forward at achieving my goals. It means I am taking action, and action is often the part where artists get hung up. We have great ideas, we creatives, but we cannot simply consider ourselves the “idea person.” We don’t have that luxury, at least not artists at my level; my “assistant” is two years old and not yet to be trusted with carrying through on my artistic wishes. No, we creatives must be both “idea person” as well as “action taker.”

The challenge for me is refining the sheer multitude of ideas down to executable actions in order to see these so-called great ideas materialize. The challenge is in following through on one idea-any idea. And so, earlier this year I set a series of goals in this post and am happy to report they are well on their way to being accomplished.

That was the point and it is working! So far I’ve completed one of the three Blurb books I had planned; I am hanging 2 of the 3 prints I’ve committed to hanging in galleries; I have scheduled a photo project for someone else (I’m shooting my brother’s factory again, this time better I hope); I am helping my neighbor, a writer, build her website and sell ebooks thereby helping another artist; I have read a book on black and white photography and am shooting and “seeing” more in black and white; I’m holding steady on my blog posts and writing and thinking about photography; and I have lost 3 of the 10 pounds I would like to shed. So, for the 2 months since I set the goals I feel I am well on my way and I can thank the goal setting for plotting my course and motivating me to action.

How about you? Have you set goals for the year? How are you doing at them? I would love to hear both what you are planning and what you are working on.

The Gallery Opening is happening tonight, March 4th 2011 at The Printmaker’s Studio at 425 San Mateo Blvd. in Albuquerque from 5-9pm. The show will hang for 6 weeks until mid April. I hope you can make it either this evening or sometime during the show. For those of you out of town I have hung the picture of the hats at the top of this post as well as the image shown below.

Feb

2011

Pluggin’ on

I love photography. Can you tell? I love looking at photographs; I love reading about photography, both theory and technique (well, more theory than technique, but I like technique too); I love making photographs, from visualizing an image to pressing the shutter release button, to seeing the image on my computer, to actively processing it, to seeing the final rendition both on screen and in print. I find it fun. I find it moving. I also find it heart wrenchingly, gut-wrenchingly, pull-my-hair out frustrating at times.

You see, I know that visual arts are an emotional language. They are pre-verbal for me. I respond to images with feelings. Words about the image, descriptions of the image, or words to describe how I feel about he image come later. Sometimes much later. Sometimes not at all. So I feel my way through photographs, both others’ and my own. And this can be a minefield as much as a pleasure garden, especially when it comes to my own photography.

(However, before I risk sounding like a whiny spoiled brat, let me say that all this frustrated navel-gazing has a purpose and positive outcome. Read on.)

Sometimes in my self-indulgent photo viewing and making extravaganza I get stumped! It can be overwhelming to sift through so many images out there as well as sift through many opinions as well. And then, sometimes overnight, I get the “blahs!”

You know, blah about everything out there, blah about my work, blah about the available subject matter, blah about my gear, blah about my skills. Just blah. Blah, blah, blah.

But then, if we hang in there long enough, something happens. I don’t know what it is, or how it works, but something akin to divine inspiration occurs. You know the feeling, like when sunlight finally peeks and eeks its way through an overcast, chilly, moody day; something switches. The muse talks, sings, shows herself. Whatever it is and however it works, it just happens. It just does. And then everything changes and blahs turn to “….whoa, wait, something is happening here.”

The above image represents that moment for me. I don’t know if you like it. I don’t even know if it is any good. But I do know I like it. I do know I am moved by it. And I do know I arrived at it by pluggin’ on. By continuing in the face of the blahs. It was a throw-away, that image. Shot while my son played in the dirt under the bell at my feet, distracting me, begging attention from me as 2 year olds will and I just shot it, quickly, without too much thought, because it was part of pluggin’ on.

How do you work through the “blahs?” I’m aware there are as many ways to deal with this syndrome as there are active, creative people and would love to hear what works for you.

Feel free to click on the image to see it “on black.” I think it looks much better presented that way.

Feb

2011

Notebook Images

The other day I wrote a post about the publication of my first notebook through Blurb.com. I had a lot of fun making that book and I’ve received some nice feedback from my family for whom it was made. Now that all the intended recipients have been able to see it I feel more free to release some of the images I used. Because of the book format, all the images, other than front and back cover, are 5×8 inches and in high contrast black and white. Here are my best ones:

Feb

2011

Of Love and Other Demons

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
~Rumi

I swiped the above quote from friend’s Facebook post on this Valentine’s Day. It seemed appropriate to think of love in a way that is out of the ordinary for how we, and by this I mean me and perhaps you, think about love. I happen to enjoy Rumi quite a bit, especially because his writing has the habit of shaking up my perception and my perspective–good things to have happen to a photographer.

This quote, and Rumi’s ability, got me thinking: if we put up barriers to that which we often are seeking (Love), what kind of barriers have we placed in the way of our creative potential?

Sometimes it is helpful to write down, to make a list, of those negative things we believe about ourselves. Be it, “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m just an average artist,” or, “I’m just an amateur photographer,” and then to write down the opposite in an attempt to eliminate the negative belief. Whatever you might discover about your negative beliefs, about your creative self, the chances are you are mistaken. Creativity spills from each of our lives much the way flowers creatively express their inevitability.

To be creative we must be much like the flower in its expression. That is to say we must do so simply because it is what we must do; we need not, indeed perhaps must not, await another’s praise in our effort or copy what others have done before. Gavin Gough, professional travel photographer, explains and encourages this beautifully in his post today entitled “Setting Sail on Your Own Course.”

So on this Valentine’s Day, day of love and friendship, as you seek to eliminate the barriers you have placed in love’s way, why not also strive to identify and eliminate the barriers you may have placed in the way of your creativity. I imagine–no, I am sure–that both love and creativity will flow more freely from you as a result.

Feb

2011

Chinese New Year Lion Dance: Part 3

Some more images from the Chinese New Year Lion Dance this past Sunday. Today I thought I would post a series of color images instead of the black and white style I had done for the previous posts.