My maternal grandfather was an accountant. Not a glamorous life but he was definitely one of the best at what he did. When I was growing up he would tell me about these tax seminars he went to in the beginning of the year to keep up with new laws, exemptions and such. I was in my single digit years and thought it was pretty cool that this little grey haired man was going to school.

I tell you this because it is to his credit that I keep up with my craft of photography and graphic arts. I go to school almost every day via the NAPP website, Kelby Training, Google+ postings and more. Not one day goes by when I haven’t either been reminded of something old that I new but since forgot or brain sponged something entirely new and innovative.

I love shooting people. I am chief photographer with Hometown News on the Treasure Coast of Florida. My job is to photographically recognize the wonderful things that happen here and those who make it happen.

It was a specific site project by one of NAPP’s Photoshop Guys, RC Concepcion that triggered something through a project he did at a Star Wars type convention. (Here is the link from Scott Kelby’s blog) I was looking to do something similar because there are so many characters at the MegaCon conferences. Ironically only the Star War boot of the 501st Legion had a setup that could be used as a back drop.

These images below are my tribute to the creative avenues I receive from my NAPP membership. I have been a paid professional photographer since 1980 but there is always something to learn and grow with. Thank for always sharing and teaching us to be better at our craft.

Finally! What a horrible summer of music it has been. Nothing new…that was worthwhile to me. Tuesday calls for a bevy of new releases. Most I have never heard of but some that I would get on just their name alone like Peter Gabriel, Evanescence (for my dark and twisty mood swings), Erasure (for my 80′s reminiscing), Ryan Adam and DEFINITELY William Shatner (Because I love to laugh at/with him as much as he laughs at/with himself)….wait…. Nick Swisher? NY Yankees? Maybe just for the curiosity. Click the link on William Shatner just to see the amazing playlist and just … (deliberate pause)….picture him…(another one)….talk/singing it!

Here is the list. Tell me who your ‘must gets’ are.

3	The Ghost You Gave To Me
Absu	Abzu
Bella Novela	The Archeress
Ben Lee	Deeper Into Dreams
Bjork	Biophilia
Casiokids	Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen
Crooked Fingers	Breaks In The Armor
Cymbals Eat Guitars	Lenses Alien
Electric Six	Heartbeats And Brainwaves
Erasure	Tomorrow’s World
Evanescence	Evanescence
Five Finger Death Punch	American Capitalist
Future Islands	On The Water
High Places	Original Colors
I Am The Avalanche	Avalanche United
James Morrison	The Awakening
Joe Henry	Reverie
Joe Jonas	Fast Life
John Wesley Harding	The Sound of His Own Voice
Johnny Gill	Still Winning
Lauren Alaina	Wildflower	[Season 10 American Idol runner-up]
Marketa Irglova	Anar	[of Swell Season]
Martina McBride	Eleven
Matthew Herbert	One Pig
Mayer Hawthorne	How Do You Do
Modeselektor	Monkeytown
Nick Swisher	Believe	[NY Yankees baseball player]
Paley and Francis	Paley & Francis
Peter Gabriel	New Blood
Rachel Yamagata	Chesapeake
Remember Remember	The Quickening
Rich Richardson	Through A Crooked Sun
Rocket From The Crypt	Barfly
Ryan Adams	Ashes & Fire
Still Corners	Creatures Of An Hour
The Field	Lopping State Of Mind
The Rifles	Freedom Run
This Is Hell	Black Mass
Tim Hecker	Dropped Pianos
Wednesday 13	Calling All Corpses	[of Muderdolls]
William Shatner	Seeking Major Tom

 

Good Day Photowalkers!! The event is only a few days away and I think it would be great if we all had an idea of who was coming and what we’re all about. Place a comment below telling us a little about your photographic self, the kind of camera you use, whether or not you are a NAPP member and how you heard about the walk….and anything else that is relevant like a link to your images and such.

It’s pretty exciting to get an email from Brad Moore of Kelby Training that says ‘ Hi Mitch, I’ve approved you to be a (photowalk) leader, so you should get a confirmation email soon. Thanks! Brad Moore/Photo Walk Coordinator‘.

This is the fourth year that Scott Kelby has pooled the photographic resources of the planet to document big cities and small communities simultaneously. No small undertaking for his organization with coordination, memberships, website and choosing a winning image from millions that were all taken within a 48-hour window somewhere on this earth.

 

Last year’s winner was chosen from an Australian Photowalk with ten honorable mentions from Germany, Indonesia, Pakistan, Florida, California, Philippines, India, France, Philadelphia and Poland. View the images here at this link for inspiration.

I would love to see the Town of Tradition on that list next year with the prize package going to one of our talented photographers. I chose Tradition at sunset because the lighting is so sweet at that time of the day as it casts a glow around the small town architecture until the shadows crawl up the side of each building. The people that are walking their dogs and holding hands along the water creating a silhouette are all fair game for a signature image. As luck (and scheduling) would have it, there is also a classic car show at the same time that will lend an abundance of subject matter to the images at sunset.

I am expecting people of all skill levels to attend. This is a great event for a novice to learn and an experienced photographer to share their knowledge. You will end your weekend with a sense of community you haven’t experienced before and the keepsakes of everybody’s images posted in a special group online

Come sign up and join me on this unique adventure for two hours of shooting, networking and a cocktail or two afterwards.

Below is an image  from last year’s photo walk that I covered for Hometown News in Stuart.

Additional Links are posted below:

Sign Up Page

FAQ Page

PRIZES!!!

I haven’t  made a new music post in nearly a month. Apparently summer is a music deprivation season where the new music released is ….is…..is…three steps below independent, whatever that may be.   

Don’t get me wrong. We are not out of the doldrums yet. From the list below I will check out ‘Yes’ and Colbie Callet but most of the others I don’t know so I will have to do some investigating. If you have heard of anybody else on the list (except Incubus and Blake Shelton) please share in the comments below and tell me why they need to be on my iSomething.

Alkaline Trio	Damnesia
Ashton Shepherd	Where Country Grows
Blake Shelton	Red River Blue
Cali Swag District	The Kickback
Chris Young	Neon
Colbie Caillat	All Of You
Eleanor Friedberger	Last Summer	[Of Fiery Furnaces]
Fair To Midland	Arrows & Anchors
Incubus	If Not Now, When?
Kalup And Franco	Turn It Up	[EP with Kalup Linzy and James Franco]
Kasey Chambers	Little Bird
Mellowhype	Blackenedwhite
Reverse The Curse	Hither & Yon
Sublime With Rome	Yours Truly
The Cool Kids	When Fish Ride Bicycles
Theory Of A Deadman	The Truth Is…
Washed Out	Within And Without
William Elliot Whitmore	Field Songs
Yes	Fly From Here

 

Earlier this year at NAPP’s Photoshop World in Orlando, I was sucked into the vortex of some very unique studio lighting on the trade show floor. Westcott makes a series of lights called Spiderlites. They were a little out of my price range at that time and it is much easier for me to travel with studio strobes. 

Recently, an opportunity presented itself to do a photo shoot of every firefighter, paramedic, and top brass in the St. Lucie County Fire District. The shoots would be done  in a warehouse in their main building as a precursor to creating  a yearbook that would also include images from newspaper clippings and firefighters in action during brush fires and trainings.

I had just seen Larry Becker, Executive Director of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and host of a podcast segment called Cheap Shots, do a quick segment about a cost effective way to create these lights in a DIY manner. Light bulbs were going off in my head, and all around the home box store I generally shop at.

This would be great for several reasons, the most compelling being that we could inexpensively invest in this system and leave it at their location as it would take six weeks of scheduled shootings to complete the project. Another good reason is that, since they are constant, my work spouse, Wendy Dwyer, who is generally the organizer and wordsmith of our duo, would be able to shoot the firefighters during times I might be called away.

We collected two light stands, two soft boxes, two power strips, 16 socket-to-AC adapters, 8 socket y-adapters, a few extension cords, and 16- 100w, 5,000k compact fluorescent bulbs and a large package of zip ties.

Abracadabra…..we have our TAL (Totally Awesome Lighting) system two-light studio light setup that didn’t break our bank. The whole thing was created for an investment of under $300. By comparison, Westcott sells one unit by itself without the softboxes, stands, etc., for $419 each. The Westcott piece is a much better crafted unit, but at this stage my concern is the image quality. I truly believe we struck gold thanks to Larry Becker’s segment. In a different economy, I’d buy the Westcott product. This made it possible to accept this contract and create amazing images. We don’t like turning down business.

Ceck out Larry Becker’s page with a small video we submitted at Larry Becker’s Cheap Shots here.

Here are just a few stills of the finished product and an image from the first shoot.

 

 

 

The 4th of July usually brings out a bevy of images of fireworks from all ove the USA.

I love the fireworks images from afar that show the landscape of the area illuminated in the multicolored reflective lights from the colorful explosions.

I would like to say I chose to go for the tighter image this year but truth be told, it actually chose me.

 

 

 

 

I arrived in downtown Stuart, Fl. probably as the 6,999th of 7,000 attendees. It was PACKED.  I nuzzeled through the crown and found a spot in a plant bed that I was careful not to destroy with my size 12 sneakers. I wasn’t sure exactly where the barge was launching the fireworks from the Indian River because there were so many. As luck would ave it I ended up where there was a tree right between the launches and my spot.

I started looking for another spot knowing I had all of fifteen minutes until the finale. When I looked at the crowd base I knew I wasn’t going anywhere without stepping on a few kids and old ladies along the way.  I opted to stay in my spot that had I had a ticket it would have been worded the same way it was for my last U2 concert…Obstructed View.

After seeing a few blasts and chimping the exposures in the screen I saw the silhouette of the leaves on the tree back-lit by the glow of the explosions. Now I was rooting for low altitude explosions so I can have the leaves included.

I have shot July 4th festivities many times over the years and each time I look to make it different than the past events.

 

 

 

So, the moral of the story is sometimes we’re just not incontrol and should just go with it.

So, next year I will make it different and scout my location to include the Roosevelt Bridge but for now I am loving my new computer wallpaper…. Oooooh…….Ahhhhhh!

I am not an attorney nor have I played one on TV.

I do consider myself fair when having to make a decision when I have all the facts. Now I am more confused than ever.  I will share with you the following two legal cases so you have a foundation of information to assist in answering the question at the bottom.

Lately there has been a good amount of press within the photographic community regarding copyright. I know. I can hear the yawn from some of you. Give me the benefit of the doubt and read a little more because whether you are a professional photographer or not I will still ask your opinion at the end and I would like you to have all the facts.

A well known photographer, Jay Maisel, sued a little known one, Andy Baio for copyright infringement. The short version is that he used a photo Jay Maisel had taken many years ago of Miles Davis and manipulated it for a supposed charity CD. He secured the rights to the song but not the artwork. The story has been blown out of proportion by branching off into sub arguments since Jay Maisel is ‘well off he should never have sued’. Y’know, the whole David & Goliath scenario. Bunch of crap.

It was Jay’s image and not for someone else to give away. The story and a sample of the images can be seen here—> CLICK here and then come back.

That I get. It was Jay’s image and whether or not it was for ‘charity’ it is up to Jay and any photographer to determine even which charity their work is associated with. There are several charities I will NEVER contribute to as their agendas and practices don’t parallel my beliefs and I would not want that association of approval to their organization through my work.

Now another case has cropped up, and this is where it gets tricky for my comprehension. A photographer from Seattle shot a photo that, in part,  included an artists installation on a public street and then sold it to a stock agency. The artist sued, and the case goes to court next week.  That story, so I don’t need to retype the whole dialog is available here -CLICK here and then come back.

 

 

So, now that you have read about the settlement and the parts still pending my question that I am finally getting to is this.

Let me paint the scenario. I am photographing a young couple (who, by the way, have signed the proper model release forms allowing me to use their images) in front of a beautiful Mercedes Benz beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Should I expect the attorneys for Team Mercedes and the City of New York to come looking for a portion of my images?

It is a double edged sword. What’s mine is mine and I want to protect it but what’s yours (a car or a bridge) is something I feel I have fair use to use and sell. Hard to wrap my head around all this now.

Please share your thoughts

 

I first met Clarence Clemons in 1979, thirty one years before he would meet me.

He was introduced to me, and thousands of others, by Bruce Springsteen on stage in Madison Square Garden during the No Nukes performances.

My hook on Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street band started in the summer of ’78 when I was traveling by van for 6 weeks to Acapulco, Mexico and back with the YMCA teen tour. Fellow camper Rob Levy had the cassette of the recently released ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town‘. This music was much different than anything that had been playing on the radio which was the only source of musical influence.

When I got home, I went to a friends house. He was a bit older than I and is still in my life today. I was not surprised to flip through the collection of this black professional man to find Teddy Pendergrass, Earth Wind & Fire and other R&B  from the era but then I was mildly surprised to find ‘Born to Run‘ by this rock-n-roller that was new to me in the collection. Why would this guy have that edgy rock-n-roll that I just discovered and he obviously knew about it before I did as Born to Run was released three years earlier. Why didn’t he share that with this 12 year old when he got it?

I remember staring at the album cover. Flipping it front and back to make out the dual image of this scruffy guy and big black man with a saxophone. There were no saxophones in any of the other bands I was listening to that weren’t jazz based. The E Street Band just got cooler.

The next year in ’79 Bruce and the E Street Band joined up with MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) to perform the No Nukes concerts for 5 nights at madison Square Garden and then a bigger free concert at Battery Park. It was awesome. Bonnie Raitt, Crosby Stills & Nash, the reunion of James Taylor and Carly Simon and so much more….but wait, there’s more.

Bruce, Clarence and the band stole the show and were the talk of the town. The interaction between the Boss & The BIG Man was awesome. It was more than music. It was performance art. It was friendship. Once again, nothing I had ever seen before…and I would go back for more totally nearly 20 more times times in the next 30 years.

Fast forward to 2010 where I finally got to meet the BIG Man himself and a few other members of the band at Big Man, Little Kids for HomeSafe at the Hard Rock in Ft. Lauderdale. 

WendyDwyer  and I were hired (yes, we got paid to drool a bit) to shoot the entire event. It was hard to rein in the concept of being in the same room with the BIG Man, even 6 hours after it started I was pinching myself inside. Several new friends were made that evening. We still keep in touch on Facebook and have consoled each other following his death.

The local boys choir, The Avenue D Boys Choir performed for him and he was VERY impressed by them.

There was so much in between those years, a super hot concert companion, new friends now old friends and more but this is a blog, not a book.

Thanks for letting me share a small portion of where Clarence fit into my life over the last 30+ years.

What are your thoughts?

It’s Tuesday! I used to love Tuesdays for all the good new music releases. This mid-year has been kind of disappointing.  I heard from a few friends that the Ziggy Marley performances in South Florida were great.  I will give Ziggy a try for sure. C’mon Ziggy, Save the day for me musically!  Here is today’s list. Let me know what you will be adding to your collection. 

Andy Grammer	Andy Grammer
Bad Meets Evil	Hell: The Sequel	[Eminem and Royce Da 5'9]
Barry Manilow	15 Minutes
Black Veil Brides	Set The World On Fire
Emily’s Army	Don’t Be A Dick	[produced by Green Day's Billie Joe]
Is Tropical	Native To
John Shannon	Songs Of The Desert River
Junior Boys	It’s All True
Ledisi	Pieces Of Me
Madeleine Peyroux	Standing On The Rooftop
Marc Broussard	Marc Broussard
Matt Valentine	What I Became
Owl City	All Things Bright And beautiful
Pat Metheny	What’s It All About
Planningtorock	W	[CD release]
The Book Of Knots	Garden Of Fainting Stars
The Dear Hunter	The Color Spectrum	[Nine EP set]
The Revere	Ashia
The Wonder Years	Suburbia, I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing
Vetiver	The Errant Charm
Woods	Sun & Shade
Ziggy Marley	Wild And Free