Open
With the announcement of our new website last week, I discussed changing directions. About taking your current status quo and trying to explore new avenues with your photography. Wonderful, right? There is a catch here though, and that is becoming open to the change. You can decide to go for it, decide you can make [...]
Changing Directions
Falling into complacency. Have you ever done it? Or are you doing it right now? As an artist you work extremely hard to better your career, better your offerings. In that focus do you ever forget the who, what, where, and why you decided to pursue this passion in the first place? Is it a [...]
Field Testing the Canon 1DX
I know everyone out there is waiting in anticipation to see the noise levels on the image files for this camera, but I need to set some ground rules so you understand where this test comes from. I am not a testing lab like DxO Mark. Nor am I going to shoot images of trinkets [...]
Neck Deep into a Pile – Thank You Adobe
112,691 total images. I have looked through one hundred thousand images this past week. There is a small amount of drool hanging down from my mouth right now and I tend to knock my head up against the walls as I slowly use them as a balancing device. The drool streaks in the paint to [...]
Goodbye Drobo and Hello to Thunderbolt
Last year I wrote about storage issues that my office was facing. At the time, making decisions on how to approach the problem wasn’t a simple task. Recently, a new issue arose. A much graver one. The complete demise of our main workhorse computer – a five year old Mac Pro. At the time it [...]
That is the Sound of Inevitability
I stood there looking at myself in the mirror. The scene unfolding was reminiscent of a Hunter S. Thompson novel. Gritty face. Bloodshot eyes. A general foggy demeanor spiraling around my hungover head. The girl that was to become my wife was lying naked in the bed behind me. It was my first commercial photo [...]
Tree Whore
There are millions of fetishes out there. Sexual. Professional. Libational. Nutritional. We humans all have our weaknesses. Hell, I even heard of woman who is obsessed with drinking gasoline. Gasoline? Every day is a learning experience I guess. My first encounter with a tree was when I was about five. We had this slanted maple [...]
You’re Not in the Mood Well You Get in the Mood
If you ask my wife, she will tell you that I am the moodiest person on the planet-ridiculously happy one minute and ready to end it all at a moment’s notice the next. Those mood changes surprisingly change my creative disposition, and not only the way I take photographs, but the way that I process [...]
Free Nik Webinar Tomorrow!
Join Jay as he highlights how he uses the Library Module in Lightroom 4 and multiple Nik plug-ins to simplify his creative vision tomorrow at 10am PST. Jay will cover some of his Lightroom cataloging and digital asset management techniques, as well as how he integrates Nik plug-ins, like Color Efex Pro 4 and Silver [...]
White Noise
Have you ever heard of a Holga? Or Lomography? The Holga might go down in history as the biggest piece of shit plastic camera ever produced. And it was made in and for the country who is notorious for producing cheap crap replicas of reality–China. At the same time though, they produce pure perfection like [...]
In the End What Will You be Known For?
I have witnessed some major changes in photography throughout my career. I remember the days when you had no choice but to get the shot in the camera. If you missed, that was it, the scene was history. You took a chance every day that you set out on an assignment or a project with [...]
And the Winner Is…
Heather told me I was crazy. No one was going to be able to guess the location from this last post. Yet the first comment from Robert Levy was pretty close. Then comment after comment got closer and closer. I was in fact in Canada, and in Vancouver earlier that day, but when the image [...]
Take a Guess and Win!
On Monday friend and fellow photographer Yuri Choufour snapped this image of my daughter Jade and me. If you guess where we were and what we were photographing, you will get a print of the subject. Answer coming next week.
Adventure is Most Definitely a Journey
Or is the journey an adventure? I think the two are so interconnected and interrelated that you cannot have one without the other. I have been living an adventure for a very long time now and it is has definitely been a journey. An experience. Life like in all respects. There are those sayings–Life is [...]
Lightroom 4–My Two Cents
Earlier this week Adobe Labs released the first Beta version of Lightroom 4. I am a huge user of Lightroom so I immediately downloaded this new version to have a look at what I can be expecting. I have to tell you that I was pleasantly surprised. As soon as you open the software up [...]
iShave
Most serious cyclists break out the Bic at one point in their life or another. “It is for the road rash.” or “For the speed.” Or maybe because they just feel cool with silky, smooth, super, supple, soft legs–for a day. Yes, I do shave my legs, but not in some crazy cyclist fashion, even [...]
The Last Powder of 2011
Well, finally, it snowed. It has literally been since November, but on the final day of the year, Mount Baker got hit with a foot of new snow. Owen Dudley, Tyler Hatcher and myself headed out to see what we could make of a perfect stormy day. You can view more of the images on [...]
Time and Processing Techniques – Great Gifts for Any Photographer
I am friends with many professional photographers. Some of them are really famous, while others like myself, are in the process of making names for themselves. The amazing thing that transcends all of them is the fact that none of them believe they know it all and at the same time they are all willing [...]
And The Winners Are…
Notice that I said winners? Because it is Christmas and I have a soft spot at this time of year and only this time of year, EVERYONE that commented on last week’s post regarding how I shot an interior image is getting a print of their choosing. So Younes, Dave, Ilene, Dick, and Michael just [...]
Tell Me What We Did and Win A Free Autographed Print
Ok, this is pretty simple (not in the slightest). Insert Dr. Evil laugh here. Tell the world how you think I created this image. We want as many details as you can think of from lighting, capture, to post processing. Remember too that architecture photography is all about moving furniture. Start there. You can even [...]
Sometimes the Road is…
Very long and very lonely. I have finally returned home after eight weeks of continuous travel. I have been to California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, and Hawaii. My wife has taken my balls clean off. I now talk in a much higher voice. You know what though? All was for a greater good. A [...]
Well–We’re Back in the Plane–Again
Hawaii in November equals RAIN. Then, more rain. And then, some more rain. What most people don’t understand is that the island of Hawaii has two massive volcanos that rise over thirteen thousand feet bisecting the landmass and thus bisecting the weather. These peaks are so high that in “man bar speak” they would be [...]
Vomit Incorporated – The Return of an Old Friend
Reset the clock to fifteen years ago. I was upwardly mobile in the architecture and construction industry. I had money. I had toys, many toys. And I was in the process of purchasing a racing machine. The goal was one of the simplest ideas and yet one of the most difficult to complete. Create the [...]
Just a Little Mountain Bike Porn
I had dinner with friend and fellow photographer Jim Goldstein in San Francisco earlier this week and the conversation covered the full spectrum of subjects. Kids, blogs, work, play, friends, future workshops, everything had a go at one point or another. It was a wonderful evening. During our discussions Jim told me about a blog [...]
Jay is an internationally published and celebrated photographer and writer. His work focuses on architecture, nature, and adventure. His clients have included fortune five hundred companies, trade publications, national and international magazines and books, graphic designers, architects, builders, commercial printers, and many others.