Color

Shot in seattle on monday.

I know this is a few days late but who reads this anyways

just went in town with my new 40D. Tried to do some street, despite a massive photographer’s block. massive.

luckily i broke it. at first i was shooting with the trusty 50 1.8, but then i decided the angle was too narrow. i had to go wider. i tried my craptastic 18-55 3.5-5.6. dunno why i still have that lens. it’s horrible build quality, horrible aperture, and horrible feel. one of the many lenses i may sell to get the 28 1.8 usm. 

Seattle, 12/29/08. 40D + 28-135mm 3.5-5.6 IS USM

I love this photograph. i don’t know why, but i love it so  much more than it seems others do. It looks so Meyerowitz-y doesn’t it?

That’s why I’m trying to shoot color more. i love meyerowitz. so i’m looking at saturation and shadows more than contrast and character, like in a traditional street shot.

 

40D + 50mm f/1.8

right lenses. i was thinking of the 28mm 1.8 USM. well built and hella fast. good wide view too. the 50 is just not suiting my needs anymore, for both street and band photography. so im gonna try to sell that 18-55 though i doubt that will happen. im also going to try to sell the lensbaby 3G with apertures. I like the lens, but I have no use for it. Don’t get me wrong, i’m the one who asked for it for christmas many years ago. however, i’ve never taken a serious shot with it. i’m just not creative like that. i guess i like straight photography rather than skewed in any way.

I like to make something beautiful out of something horrible. Not make something beautiful because I payed X dollars for a fancy lens.

 

40D + 18-55mm 3.5-5.6

Eleanor Rigby – such a great song. Listen to it hard sometime. It’s so beautiful, not only the lyrics, but the melody too.

talks about all the people we ignore. love it.

this one is OK. not good but ok. i like the light on this shot, but i dont like how far away I am.

and no, even though I was using my 28-135mm, i was not zooming even to 30mm.

other interesting shots in my gallery on deviantart. i know it’s crappy but i need a website 

http://achillies875.deviantart.com/gallery/

 

happy new years! go get drunk.

Shutter Draggin’ with NPSH

Last night was the show for Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, an emerging band from Seattle. 

The concert was at the Vera Project in Seattle Center. The venue sucks because the stage was sooo small and the lighting was not very good, but I had fun nonetheless.

I got about 700 photos of the show. Most of them were scrap. I was shooting with my 50 1.8, and tried not to use flash. I had to after a while though; the lighting was just not good.

So I used the majority of my shots for Shutter Dragging.

NPSH at The Vera Project, Seattle Center, Seattle, WA. December 27th, 2008

 

Not all of them turned out, but a good amount did.

It was hard to get the lights not to cover the face. Practice, I guess.

 The 50 was too close. I wanted to go wider, but I’ve yet to get the 28 1.8 USM. It’s next on my list. Just have to get a job in Eugene.

I don’t know why I like this shot, but it’s one of my favorites. Postmodern, I guess.

A little much, but it’s creative I guess.

Like I said, a lot of them turned out like this. but it looks good i guess. 

 

Hope you liked it. See all 49 uploaded photos on my facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015639&l=d3e9e&id=1586130794

 

Happy belated holidays, and have a happy new year with lots of alcohol

I Woke Up Today

when  I Woke Up Today, I decided to go to Seattle again. It snowed two days ago here in the pacific northwest so I thought it would be cool to get some shots of people & snow.

 

Bad idea.

So cold today. At least I had my wool cap, and gloves, two sweatshirts. I was still cold. 

I was OK, but apparently everyone else wasn’t. There was like no one there. So I stayed there for about an hour, and then took the next ferry back. 

I got a roll of film shot, but still. Bad day.

So now I have 4 rolls of Tri-X to develop, and one or two really old rolls of Velvia 50 that I found. I’ll get those into the lab soon. 

The protest shots didn’t really turn out that well. Oh well.

 

So now I’m sitting here listening to my friend debate with my mom about free trade and politics. Jeeze, the election is over, my poli sci class is over, why am I still listening to this crap?

ugh.

i’ll develop the tri-x tomorrow in my old photo teacher’s class.

Then find out how to scan them.

 

I Woke Up Today – Port O’Brien

-t

Nevermind

Ok, so I went to Seattle, but instead of shooting mostly digital, I shot mostly film. 3 rolls. Looks good. Can’t wait to develop them.

Sadly, that will be in a few weeks.

And then I’ll have to find a neg scanner.

Just telling you guys that I did get lots of shots in Seattle. Good ones.

Good news, you will see shots within the next few days…but not street. There was a protest march in downtown today. Really small, but still good. Got about 200-300 shots. So those will all be on soon.

Shot all on RAW. Hellz yeah.

So hopefully I can get those up tomorrow.

Missed the Boat

Got up today, at a reasonable time. Around 10 (I think on the dot actually. Weird how my internal clock does that. Not the first time), so not bad. Hung out for a while, and took a shower so I could go to Seattle to shoot. I was ready, and left at 11.15 for the 11.30 boat. Sure enough, the time it took me to get downstairs seemed to go fast, because apparently it takes me 5 minutes to walk down 14 stairs.

Seems  a little odd to me.

So I missed the 11.30 boat, and I’m at Andante to grab a coffee and catch the 12.20. Hopefully it won’t be a total drag, and be able to get a few good shots in. 

wow have to say, I love Andante and all, but the service kinda sucks. Only went here because they had good internet. The only local Starbucks is in Safeway. They have wifi but they block deviantART because of the “porn.” Fuckin hate how people think that something like artistic nudity will “scar our children for life.”

Bugs the hell outta me.  

So I’m hoping for some OK shots. Nothing fancy, but I’ve been deprived of a good metro area for a while. But then again, maybe Eugene is good. It’s still a great place for street, just hard to move in. I think I’m getting used to it. Shots should be up here soon.

I’ll post all of the 5 stars from the set here, and only a few on deviantART. So thats why you should RSS to this blog. Yeah. wink wink nudge nudge

 

Condom Fashion Show, EMU Ballroom, Eugene, OR

Simplistic

Old photo from June.

 

"Getting Run Over" ©2008 Tom Walsh. All Rights Reserved

 

 

I just like the car.

What do you think?

street photography is dying

as i look at the dA street gallery, i look at the same photo over and over again.

it’s a portrait of a homeless guy, it’s a skateboarder, it’s graffiti

well those are just miscats

but there are some, that are technically street, but just aren’t good. they were good by my standard a few months ago, but now my standard is changing. i’m trying to raise the bar, trying to make my street collection actually mean something, rather than just a copy of the entire gallery.

but everyone is going for the same thing

street is developing its fate; a fate that may turn out like sunset photography, or landscapes. They all suck because it is physically impossible to create anything different. 

and even those that are different, suppose a group of kids playing, in silhouette, with a bright orange sunset behind them, is still just not good. i need something different.

i never knew that i was actually right when i said to jay that “dA is like a drug, once you start, you just cant start…wait…”

art is so much like a drug it s crazy. i need it to fuel me. to keep my head inline. 

ah whatever. hopefully by the end of finals week i can understand this better.

hopefully i can come up with a better, cutting edge social documentary style.

hopefully.

the day after i get back (a thursday), i’m going straight to Seattle to try to get some shots. i know i said seattle sucked and it was boring, but at least it has opportunities. eugene has barely any opportunities.

just sleep in till 12 and get your 6 pager and final study guide done. that’s life.

i can’t believe myself

i may be getting emo, i may just be hitting a photo-wall.

but i’m just not producing.

very difficult to adjust to the eugene scene. lot less people.

just try to look at other photog’s work. try to learn.

 

i looked through a few of my old photos on my hard drive. not too old, but old enough. 

april 2008. june 2008.

kinda weird to look back and see how much different i was.

i was way too into it from the technical side.

i always tried to go the literal approach to street / social documentary.

always tried to just look at people. shoot people right in the face and hope for something to come out.

a shotgun effect,

 

just looking back, i see so many actually decent shots that i just hated back then. i didnt appreciate the minimalistic value of some photography and photographers.

i think i’m being influenced more and more by HCB, and other “minimalist” streeters.

less of a portrait, more of a scene.

 

both of those photos were taken on the same day. only an hour an a half between.

amazing how photography can shift just like that.

my photography will shift soon. ill probably steer clear of street. at least street portraiture, and move towards a social documentary style. more minimalist, more HCB like. 

it’s crazy to see that i have so many photos, not only mine, that i usually compare side to side. now i notice they are completely different. i won’t be close up anymore. i like the clear air. 

 

i’ve been thinking about movements lately. like what’s going on in the art world.

dA is a great way of analyzing that. seeing what is new on deviantart. it explains how the community is moving. what is pop art, and what is being denied.

postmodernism was the movement of the 20th century. barbara kruger, jackson pollock, dali, even shepard fairey

but what is contemporary anymore? times have changed.

 

whats next?

First Post

Well here’s my first post of my new photoblog on wordpress.com. I kinda like it. It’s not perfect but it gets the job done. Will update soon. Have to eat and go to class.