Seeing the world in black and white

Take all the color out of your mind, strip your consciousness of preconceived thoughts as they pertain to sunsets and rainbows and black birds and blue jays and let the shape of things before you shape your appreciation for them. One needn't have color to know that color exists since contrast and contour, shadow and texture have a palette all their own.

Go on, look at the world in black and white at times and watch how it colors your appreciation for it. . .

Is there truth in photography?

Whilst sitting here preparing for tonight's presentation at Apple I am starting to wonder where the truth is in the images I will show. Sure, they are a slice of time at that very moment and for me the truth lies in the convergence of the elements necessary to produce the image right there, right then. I see it, I capture it, I show it.

To the observer of photography, I wonder just what they see? For instance, in this image above is this the shadow of a shopping cart on a wall or is it a shopping cart behind a nearly sheer backdrop? For that matter, does it matter?

As I see it, the truth in photography is what you want it to be. . .

Does photography show what's there or what's not there?

Been pondering this of late. Is photography about capturing the scene before you, the moment in time that for a split second (or 1/125th of a second, give or take a fraction of a second), everything stops long enough to get recorded for all eternity? Or conversely is it perhaps about recording what's not there, literally. Is the negative space really there? Is it that which is necessary to define a positive image? Ponder that if you will. . .

Such a supreme pleasure it was to work with Austin and Lisa here in my garage studio yestrday, shooting for hours with JUST my iPhone and a Calumet Travelite strobe's modeling light as the only light source. That, a reflector appropriately placed, a white backdrop, patience, a reminder to not take ourselves too seriously since we are, after all, only shooting with an iPhone, and the end result is a panoply of stunning images.

One of many final images is shown here, but I invite you to come to my Apple presentation this Thursday night if you are anywhere near San Francisco to see a full spectrum of images from this shoot yesterday. All images shown Thursday night will have been shot with, processed in, and uploaded from my iPhone.

Prepare to see the power of the iPhone, the creative vision behind its user (that would be me!), its various apps, and come meet Austin and Lisa, both of whom will be in attendance Thursday!

Until then. . .

An evening at Apple fast approaches

Project based work, my favorite! Having always waited until the last minute to do school projects you'd think I would have learned by now. That being said, here I am scrambling to put together the very best presentation I can for Apple next Thursday, even though I have had almost two months to prepare accordingly.

How is it going you ask? Let's simply say that I just came back from a terrific meeting with my DJ for the night (Levente) to discuss mixes he'll be pulling together to go with the show. The excitement is building, the ideas flowing, the music will please, and the night to come is almost here. . .

Finally. . .a website!

So, after decades of shooting, tens of thousands of images, and countless hours spent wondering just when I'd FINALLY put up a website, it's done! There, how hard was that? Quite elementary to be exact, and somewhat enjoyable to be honest.

Now, the only issue remains as just how many images I want to go through to find those that make it on to the site. For now, it is up. It is done! I finally have one item I can cross off my long and overwhelming "To-Do" list! One big item at that!

Well, now that I think about it. Maybe I shouldn't cross it off just yet, I still have to go through my images for an even stronger look. Oh well! So close and yet so far. . .