Archive for the ‘Photographers’ Category

Idaho Farm (1/640 at f/7.1) 16mm at ISO 200)

Old Tire Swing

I don’t know about you but I really enjoy shooting old abandoned buildings.   I don’t quite know what it is that I love about these rundown buildings other than I think I’m drawn to their solitude.   David E. Jackson, a photographer based out of Appleton Wisconsin, spent several years photographing “rural abandonment” in Wisconsin.  His book, “Simple + Dirty” should have been labeled “Simply Amazing.”  The book is beautiful and his work is well worth checking out.  If you’re not familiar with his work then do yourself a favor and check out his work HERE.   If you’re into shooting abandoned places, I would love to hear why.  Maybe it will help reconcile that I’m not suffering from some Freudian fear of abandonment myself…;)   So drop me a line and tell me why you like shooting these empty, rundown, old buildings.

John is always saying that this site is a little bit about him, but a lot about you guys. Batdorff Photography is doing a Spotlight feature in an effort to get to know more about his followers and fellow photographers. Enjoy with us the responses that Lori Rosenfelder Nicoli and Aaron Graham had to a couple of simple questions…

Lori Rosenfelder Nicoli

Photo by Lori Rosenfelder Nicoli (Canon 40D, 70mm, ISO 100, f/4.0, 1/125s)

Batdorff Photography: What got you into photography?
Lori: Photography has been a point of interest as far back as I can recall. My grandfather and father were both avid amateur photographers; my dad had actually built a darkroom in our basement in the 50’s where he developed his 35mm B&W film.

Batdorff Photography: What’s your favorite piece of equipment?
Lori: I became more personally involved with photography in the early 80’s, shooting mostly slides with a Canon A-1 and an old Exakta 35mm camera. My first DSLR was a Canon EOS Rebel. I have since purchased a Canon 40D, with which I have been very happy. My favorite piece of equipment, so far, has to be the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM Telephoto lens. It is so versatile and creates such wonderful images.

Through the years, photography has always been a hobby. But now that our children are grown, I have once again taken a more active interest. I still have so much to learn about the craft, equipment, and processing, but find myself always looking at my surroundings as “through the lens”, making mental notes to revisit places and see what I can capture. Photography is so engaging. It never fails to draw me into its web of artistic expression.

You can see more of Lori’s photos at her photography blog HERE.

Aaron Graham

New & Used Tires, photo by Aaron Graham

Batdorff Photography: What got you into photography?
Aaron: It was kind of inevitable I guess.  As a child there were always cameras around.  My father and my aunts took pictures of what seemed like everything everywhere we went.  They had the slide shows to prove it.  Hours and hours of slide shows to prove it.  In the eighth grade we had photography as part of our art class.  I really enjoyed it but because of the costs and resources required I wasn’t able to pursue it to the degree I would have liked.  I took casual “snap shot” pictures from time to time but 35mm film didn’t give me the type of control over the final image that I really wanted.  Finally, the cost of high resolution DSLR’s reached a point that is practical for hobbyists like myself so a little over a year ago my wife and I purchased one.  It has been so much fun!  The upsides to shooting digital are probably too numerous to list but for me it is all about control.  The available camera adjustments and the digital processing options give me, what seems like, infinite possibilities.  It turned a hobby into a passion!

Batdorff Photography: What’s your favorite piece of equipment?
My Carl Zeiss 16-80mm zoom lens.  The zoom range is perfect for most of the shooting I do and it is razor sharp from corner to corner.

You can see more of Aaron’s work on his Facebook site HERE.

Thank you so much Lori and Aaron for answering our questions. I hope everyone else continues to comment on the blog, Facebook and submit photos for future contests. You might get an email asking to be featured in the next Spotlight on the Reader post!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Simple objects in the style of Walker Evans. Photo by Kajsa Stolberg

Kajsa here today and as we finish off January I’m looking at the results of the last poll, “What is your New Year’s (photography-related) resolution?” with the majority of you striving to take more pictures.  We’ll see how each of us owns up to our resolutions come next December, but I wish everyone luck!

The next poll is in consideration of our forefathers in photography. One of my favorite classes in college was The History of Photography where I was introduced to everything from pinhole photography to debates on the exploitation of human images found in modern magazines. Many of our tests covered the lives and work of the prominent photographers in history and I still find it interesting to reflect on their lives and the influence they’ve all had on photography as we know it today. Photography has taken many roles in its relatively short lifetime and these photographers made something great of the medium that has evolved from an experimental process into a way to document history and eventually has become a major form of art. How cool would it be to practice landscape photography with Ansel Adams in the West, or follow Diane Arbus and her social outcasts, do portrait photography of the famous with Richard Avedon, capture the decisive moment with Cartier-Bresson, document the Great Depression with Walker Evans or Dorothea Lange, photograph World War II with W. Eugene Smith, help establish photography as an art form with Stieglitz, Steichen, Weston, or Strand, or be at the scene of grisly crimes with Weegee? There are too many late greats to list them all, but from this list,

Good Morning

I would like to tell you that while I was in Mexico I was taking photographs 100% of the time. But truth is I could be found on occasion enjoying my killer view of the Gulf of Mexico with my Kindle and a strong cup of coffee.  I’m really starting to fall in love with my Kindle.  The device is crazy slick.  I’m not sure why I waited so long to get one, but I really enjoyed reading all my newspapers, books and even my own blog while abroad.   I even created a protective photo skin for it using Uniqueskin.com… so you know it’s true love.  The really nice thing about an e-reader is it’s small and portable.  It was very convenient having some of my favorite e-books available for reference without having to haul around my bulky laptop.  It’s always nice to have access to such titles as   “The essential guide to Portrait Photography,”by DPS “Understanding Post Processing” by Mitchell Kanashkevich, “Digital Photography Book” by Scott Kelby, plus all of David duChemin’s e-books with just the click of a button.   Tomorrow I’m hoping to have a few photos of some crazy little spider monkeys that I photographed on a Mayan Reserve so stayed tuned.

Side note: If you have a Kindle and you’re interested in reading my blog then click HERE (Amazon charges .99 a month for delivery and if I could I would make it free but Amazon drives the bus on this one.  I have no control over the rate or I would make it free.)

Truth or Consequences by Casper Vildrik Justesen

We are completing the first round of featured readers of the blog and today we’re picking Casper Vildrik Justesen’s brain.  He is currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark and has been kind enough to answer questions about his photography and the person behind the camera. So, allow me to introduce you to Casper…

Batdorff Photography: How did you get started in photography?
Casper: I have had an interest in photography for many years, but it wasn’t until I pursued my passion for documentary films that I realized it was something I wanted to spend my time on. I had signed up for a film and journalism school in the winter of 2003, and shortly after I arrived I was handed a small digital pocket camera. I didn’t let go of it for 6 months, and when the school term ended, I decided to move to Copenhagen to start photography classes at the Technical College. I quickly came to the conclusion that classic commercial photography was not me. I still wanted to make documentary-like images, moving or not, so I looked around and found Fatamorgana, The Danish School of Art Photography. During my stay at Fatamorgana, I studied other photographers like never before, I learned the technical aspect of photography, and most importantly, I was surrounded by people who all shared a profound love for imagery. We discussed pictures and photography in general intensively, and it was during this stay I finally realised that I was going to focus on still photography.

Batdorff Photography: Do you shoot digital or film?  And….why?
Casper: I shot digital for a long time. Mostly because it was fast and easy, but I realized that my pictures were showing. The colours were nice and everything was in focus, but it was like there was only one layer within the picture. Once you enjoyed the surface, the rest was not that interesting. Film has helped me to slow down, and to be more aware each time I press the shutter. I spend more time waiting for the right moment, and I tend to concentrate a lot more in general when shooting film. Over time I realized that I have brought this with me when I shoot digital, and again, my pictures are showing…

Batdorff Photography: What’s the number one thing you look for in a good photo?
Casper: I am immediately drawn to the stories in a picture. I want to feel that the person behind the camera is eager to tell me something.
Composition can be interesting, and often is, but the photographs I really adore contain multiple stories and leave me wondering, and often a little disturbed. A combination between Lee Friedlander and Weegee always works for me.

Batdorff Photography: If you hit a creative roadblock what do you do to break through?
Casper: It is rarely my creativity that keeps me from taking pictures. I have a lot of ideas and a hard time picking out which to concentrate on, and that can be a block of its own. I guess the creative roadblocks are a little further down the line, and when they do come, I will try not to panic, but simply just take a break, and maybe play the guitar for a month
I think you dissolve blocks easier by focusing on something else for while, and then return with a new approach.

Batdorff Photography: Any words of wisdom?
Casper: Be curious – don’t stay on the path.

Batdorff Photography: What’s your favorite piece of equipment?
Casper: I don’t think I have found my favorite piece of equipment yet. But I do love my Contax T3, Mamiya 7 and 5D MarkII.
The T3 can easily be compared to Leica M-series. But its automatic, awfully fast and tiny, and it’s the camera I bring with me everywhere.

Batdorff Photography: What’s something or someplace that you’ve never photographed, but one day hope to?
Casper: I keep finding new things and places and people I want to photograph everyday, so the list would go on and on.
I got back from a road trip through the southern states last year, and would love to do the same thing in the north. Driving through a country and meeting strangers, and ending up places I never could have thought of, really inspires me. Of course I would love to go to Antarctica and Baghdad and places with obvious motives standing in line, but for the moment I feel that less is more, and that the everyday drama around us is quite intriguing.

Batdorff Photography: Your favorite moment in your photographic career?
Casper: When I realised that the camera had made me more present, and more aware of my surroundings.

Batdorff Photography: Any current-day photographers that inspire you?
Casper: The work of Krass Clement and Anders Petersen means a great deal to me.
They both have published books for many years, and their documentation of the human spirit is extraordinarily personal, intimate, and intense, and filled with commentary on our society.

Batdorff Photography: If you had to describe your photography in one word or phrase, what would it be?
Casper: In progress.

Thank you Casper for your thoughtful responses.  You can see more of Casper’s images on his website:  http://vildrik.blogspot.com/

Owl by Peter Rose

Today’s blog is a Q&A with Peter Rose, a Vermont based photographer. Peter’s name might sound familiar for those of you who follow my blog since Peter won the best Abstract/Object photo in November’s black and white competition. I first got the idea of featuring fellow photographers after Peter and I exchanged a few emails after the contest.   Peter is a very talented photographer  and a down right nice guy.  I hope you find his story every bit as interesting has his work.

Batdorff Photography:  How did you get started in photography?

Peter:  My father started me in photography when I was about 10 years old.  He was an avid amateur photographer, focusing mainly on nature photography and landscapes.  He brought me along to a local camera club, and encouraged me to enter a few images and ended up scoring a few honorable mentions in local and regional competitions.   I continued to shoot through college, mostly in B&W, taking photography courses and spending countless hours both shooting and in the darkroom. I put photography on the shelf until about six years ago, when I started shooting digital on a small Canon Elph P&S.  In 2005 I bought a Nikon D70 DSLR in preparation for a trip to Yosemite and I fell in love again with photography.  Over the past four years, I have upgraded equipment (currently shooting a D300) and have upgraded my lenses and other gear as well.

I currently try to shoot every day.  It is all about practice, and the act of seeking out the light and finding how it interacts with the subject is what I continue to work on.  I would consider myself an avid amateur photographer, trying to deliver professional quality.

Batdorff Photography: Do you shoot digital or film?  And….why?

Peter: I shoot exclusively digital.  I find that digital allows me to practice composition and visualization of light more than with film.  I t provides immediate feedback so I can make corrections on the fly.  But more importantly, digital provides me the ability to post process my images myself directly to create the look I want in a more complete way.  I use Adobe CS4 and several other add on packages including Topaz Adjust, Noise Ninja, and Photomatix Pro.

Batdorff Photography: What’s the number one thing you look for in a good photo?

Peter: For me, a good photo is all about the light.  The light interacting with the subject, focusing our attention on the story being told, driving our imagination, creating energy and life.  Those are the ones that inspire me to find the good light.

Batdorff Photography: If you hit a creative roadblock what do you do to break through?

Peter: I have found that giving myself assignments provides a great opportunity to break from roadblocks.  These assignments might be technical in nature such as shooting macro of the same object or shooting landscapes in a specific location from various perspectives and at different times of day.  Or it might be a more theme based assignment, such as picking a color and shooting all things that I see or finding a goal such as shooting the alphabet from natural shapes. If I run out of ideas, I also have a group of photographers I communicate with on a regular basis, and if I am ’stuck’ I seek out ideas from them to drive me to shoot.  Since I am mostly an amateur photographer, I shoot to explore to experiment.  This provides me a bit more freedom when the ‘roadblock’ hits and I am not forced to shoot.

Batdorff Photography: Any words of wisdom?

Peter: I have found that finding a community of photographers that you trust is a key step in moving forward and growing.  I have been fortunate to be surrounded by some great people that provide excellent and HONEST feedback and critique.  This has made me more honest with my own work, realizing where I need to work, challenging me to reach deeper for more creativity and better technical excellence.

Batdorff Photography: What’s your favorite piece of equipment?

Peter: My favorite piece of equipment is my Nikkor 105mm AI-S 2.5 Manual Focus lens.  That little lens from the 1970s is crazy sharp and really has such good contrast.  Many of my most favorite images have been taken with this lens.  In addition to the quality, it was one of the lenses my father gave to me the summer before he passed away.  I can almost hear him whisper in my ear when I focus it.

Batdorff Photography: What’s something or someplace that you’ve never photographed, but one day hope to?

Peter: I would love to spend some serious time in Yellowstone and the Canadian Rockies.  My folks took the family out there when I was a kid, but I would love to be able to spend time during the fall, capturing the colors and the first snows.

Batdorff Photography: Your favorite moment in your photographic career.

Peter: As an avid amateur, I would say that getting my first cover on a recent “Vermont Magazine” was one of my highlights so far.  I generally shoot for myself, my family, and my friends, so to have my work chosen for a publication was a thrill.  It has actually inspired me to seek out a more active photographic journey, seeking out work in the field.

Batdorff Photography: Any current-day photographers that inspire you?

Peter: There are many current photographers that currently inspire me.  Some of them I compete against in online photography challenges, others I admire for their dedication and consistent excellence in ‘telling the story’.  These include Peter Miller for his realism and poignant depiction of Vermont , David Muench for his beautiful and expansive view of landscape, Lárus Sigurðarson from Iceland for his inventive style in both portraits and landscapes, and Ursula Abresch from British Columbia for her outstanding impressionist approach.

Batdorff Photography: If you had to describe your photography in one word or phrase, what would it be?

Peter: Seeking the good light

Thanks Peter for such a wonderful interview and please check out his website at    http://rosephoto.smugmug.com/

I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for new ideas or tips to help improve my photography.   I had the chance to catch up on a lot of my reading today, which was really nice.   I’ve been following  author/photographer David duChemin  for the past couple of years and his two e-books,  “Chasing the Look” and “Drawing the Eye,” really caught my eye.  They exemplify what makes David so good.  I’ve mentioned his e-books in the past, and these two new titles do not disappoint.  David has a great quote, “Let me be uncharacteristically direct with you. To get good, truly good at a craft means you have to immerse yourself in it.”    Well, I couldn’t agree with him more. And if you’re like me, you try to read as much as you can about photography.  David’s PDF e-books are quick reads with great information.  So, reach deep into your pocket, find that five spot, and support your craft.

Groovy Chick

I often get asked “what kind of photographer are you?”  I’m not sure I have the answer, as of yet, because my style is an evolving process.  I can tell you I enjoy shooting landscapes and people, but I like photos of animals and buildings too.   I’m not sure labels such as a “landscape photographer” or “studio photographer” due justice to who we are as people.  Often times I think labels pigeon hole us into a myopic understanding of who we really are or want to be as a photographer.  Don’t get me wrong – I totally understand the benefit of labels from a business perspective.  Clients need things distilled down into simple terms.  I mean you wouldn’t want to hire a “photographer” for a wedding to find out his or her specialty is “underwater photography”.   That is unless you’re a couple of crazy scuba folks getting married at your favorite coral reef 150 feet below sea level!   If so, then that’s exactly the person you’ll need.   I think many photographers, labeled or not, have the desire to try new things. I wouldn’t say my strong suit is studio photography but I must admit I enjoy shooting it from time to time.  It’s an area of weakness and when I get a shot I really like, it really feels good.  Now do I plan on becoming a studio photographer?  Probably not, but that won’t stop me from venturing out of my comfort corral on occasion to try something new.

p.s. As promised from yesterday’s blog:
Here are a few photographers that have very well defined styles. Steve McCurry is probably the best known travel photographer in the world. His style is very distinct, but I’m sure he didn’t get there overnight.  Another very talented photographer who I’ve grown to appreciate is Mitchell Kanashkevich.  His work is….well, incredible and simply speaks for itself.   Lastly, you do run across the rare talent such as Joey Lawrence who’s distinct style and vision is well beyond his ripe old age of 19.