I decided this past week to attempt to travel via air with a decent approximation of a portrait photo studio packed neatly into my standard luggage. Since the airlines limit standard baggage to 50lbs it was a challenge. I was in Milwaukee for an auto show for ten days and had to pack normal clothing and supplies for that time in my checked luggage too.

Utilizing a bit of creativity, I was able to fit the following into my checked luggage: six t-shirts, ten boxer-shorts (answers that question), 11 pairs of socks, two pairs of dress shoes (required by contract), two vests, five dress shirts, two pairs of jeans, one leather belt, a set of scrubs with lab coat (always good to have on hand), track pants, slippers (a bit of home), and a dopp-kit. That wasn’t a surprise. What is a surprise is that I could fit in all my tertiary photo equipment: two light stands, a 24″ softbox with mount adapter, 18″ octagon,  48″ 5-way bounce, reflector clamp arm, 24″ 5-way bounce, 2 light-stand flash adapters, a wired mouse (for comfortable editing), and laptop tray (so I don’t overheat my baby while processing huge files). The whole checked bag, when packed, weighed in at only 46lbs and could be tossed around or stacked during transit without damaging anything. The interesting part is that the Dakine bag weighs at least eleven pounds when empty.

In my carry-on pelican case I packed all the secondary equipment like the tripod, secondary flashes, clamps, modifiers, adapters, batteries, chargers, and laptop. I also carry a Tenba Ultralight in which I pack my primary camera and gear including a secondary body, three lenses, my favorite flash, and a king size black sheet to use as a temporary backdrop or light flag. I packed the black temporary backdrop under the assumption that the hotel I was staying in would use white sheets, and that I could scavenge one to use as a white backdrop. The pelican case weighs in around forty pounds and the backpack is easily thirty. In case I have to gate-check the case, due to the jet’s size, I can remove the laptop and lock it. Everything else tumbles without damage.

This is the set-up I achieved in my hotel room.

I really only brought the equipment as a trial to see if I could. I figured it was better to try it in a no-pressure situation before committing to a future client (like you? ). I know I could always shoot on-site without the extra flashes, stands, and such by utilizing a local setting and daytime lighting, but there are no guarantees in weather forecasting.

At the top is one of the test shots I took of myself on the black background. I was just getting a bit goofy. Thankfully, I told my coworkers, in advance, that I planned on bringing my gear. I had a couple willing volunteers to test the set-up in exchange for free photos. As of writing this I haven’t touched up everybody’s favorites (’cause they haven’t picked them yet), but Heather of HeatherSkipper.com has agreed to let me use one of the shots as an example of the travel studio when used on someone more beautious than myself.

Hopefully, I’ll see you on the road in the future. I’ll be in Minneapolis this coming week and many other locations in the following months. If you’d like to discuss any photo projects you might need a shooter for, let’s talk. Just send me a note by way of the e-mails. info@jondeckerphoto.com

I recently had a conversation with an individual during one of my photowalks in Portland, Maine. The individual, let’s call her “Jane”, had been shooting photos for a while and had participated in a couple photo contests at a local camera club. I didn’t know Jane at very well, but it wasn’t the first of my photowalks she had attended either.  Our conversation started when she pulled me aside to ask why everybody seemed so thrilled with the light from the overcast sky. I pointed out the usefulness of the lack of harsh shadows and the great fill light bouncing off the snow, but Jane was still dubious.
“It all just looks flat and grey. I can’t get my camera to make it look good, like normal.” Jane said. “How do I make the pictures look interesting?”
I went on to explain the use of depth of field, composition, and subject matter and how it helps to try and tell a story or convey an emotion with a photograph, no matter the lighting conditions. I explained that an overcast day allowed greater flexibility in composition practices because the photographer would have a wider contrast ratio to work with and wouldn’t have to worry about losing data in the blacks or whites on the image file.
After I paused to hear her reaction to my explanation she responded with, “Where did you learn about this? Did you go to school for photography?”
“Honestly” I said, “though I did have to take a class in film photography for my degree, I learned most of what I know through books and practical application. That holds true particularly in regards to light theory.”
Jane responded with, “Oh, but I hate reading. I want someone to teach me photography.”
“Have you considered taking a class for photography?” I suggested, trying not to debate that she’d have to read sooner or later.
“I don’t want to pay anyone. Isn’t there any way I can just learn it for free? And don’t say ‘the internet’ because that doesn’t work.” She retorted.
Thankfully, I was saved from arguing my point with her as other photowalk attendees stopped to find out what we were looking at. Upon returning home I started thinking about what Jane had said and her attitude toward learning the traditional way. I came up with a simple formula regarding learning any creative topic of your own volition.
There are three factors involved in choosing a source for learning: 1. inexpensive, 2. widely available, and 3. worthwhile content. Of these three factors you can only obtain two from a singular source. How does this play out? Well, if Jane wants to learn photography for free then “inexpensive” becomes the given factor for her and the source is either widely available but not worthwhile, or the source is worthwhile but not widely available. In her case the most worthwhile source would be someone willing to train her, one on one, for free – not widely available but definitely the best method according to her wants. Alternatively, the most widely available free source of learning for Jane would be the library or internet, but her attitude towards these sources indicates she would perceive them as not worthwhile. What Jane would probably be better off searching for is the tutorship found in classes (I.e. worthwhile and widely available, but not inexpensive).
So, can photography be learned for free? Yes, absolutely, if the future photographer is willing to put in the time to find quality sources through their local library, the internet, friendly tutorship, or by working as an unpaid assistant.

One source I also find invaluable is podcasts like “This Week in Photo” and “Photofocus”.

If you have no-one in your network that can mentor you in your pursuit, consider joining a photo-club and discussing the desire to be an assistant to one of the pros. There’s usually someone who needs willing interns that want to learn.

I started a Meet-up group for Southern Maine photography last week and have the first photo walk coming up this weekend. I thought it would be a good idea as so many times I hear about good creative photographers losing hope when they feel stagnant in their work. These same photographers or artists mention that they wish they could do personal projects again to re-ignite the passion. With that in mind, the Portland Photography Projects group will focus on helping photographers with their projects as well as expanding the knowledge of new shooters through photo walks and workshops.
I’m looking forward to meeting the new members (currently around 15 people other than my wife) of the group as we scramble across one of the outlying Maine islands. It’ll be interesting to see the variety of styles when shooting the same topics. I may bring props for staging (my true photo passion).

I’m flying home from the Los Angeles Autoshow today and should have a couple more event shots up on JonDeckerPhoto.com by Thursday of this week.

Sometimes all it takes is a question from a friend or colleague to open up my mind to new possibilities. I was asked just a couple days ago what type of photography I liked to take and when I didn’t have a quick answer the question was extended to, “If you could photograph anything, and time and money weren’t factors, what would you shoot?” It wasn’t an easy question to answer right away.

I wanted to shoot something memorable. I wanted to tell a story with the shot. I wanted to convey an emotion that resonated with anyone who would view the photo in the future. I finally was able to nail down what would really make me happy to shoot. It wasn’t events and weddings, though those met all the requirements. It wasn’t photojournalism, though those are the shots history often holds in high regards. The ultimate choice in photography for me is creating a set or scene designed to tell a story, convey an emotion, and etch itself in one’s mind forever. I want to make staged photography similar in concept to the art of Gregory Crewdson. Crewdson and others who label themselves as staged photographers create their story in a single frame using elaborate sets and lighting similar in structure to film sets. The idea that I could convey an emotion or story of my choosing in a single image is very appealing.

I have not yet done this type of photography, but I think I’ll try it this fall/winter season. Now to come up with a few low budget workable ideas that I can try out.

My wife just asked why Grasping @ Creativity doesn’t have a lot of photos “like it used to.”

I’m keeping two blogs updated and one is dedicated to photos only, so if you’re ever missing the photography side of things here on Grasping @ Creativity, just head on over to Jon Decker Photo and browse the constantly expanding selection. I’ll post more images here soon too, just to appease Jean.

Preface:

I am writing this while riding in the train from New York to Philly. I’ve been listening to TWiP’s #183 episode segment about CES and 3D photography. I also recently listened to an episode from their archive about the attempts for transition of Polaroid into the digital generation. One more bit of exposition, I used to work in the pre-press department at a printing press and helped work on opening that location’s capability to print linticulars.

What is 3D in 2D?

3D in 2D is my designation of any two dimensional artistic representation touted to be 3D. This designation applies to 3D film, 3D photography, etc. If you can view the image with an eye-tricking perception of depth, it is 3D in 2D.

What is a Linticular?

Simply put a linticular is a printed image viewed through a special linear lens that depicts an image with 3D in 2D. This lens can be fixed directly to the image as seen on baseball cards, advertisements, display monitors, and novelty pictures. Linticular has been around for ages and is not a new technology. Linticulars are very difficult to print well because any micro misalignment can cause a dramatic failure or odd artifacting in the perceived depth perception.

What am I thinking?

While listening to TWiP’s episode I was struck with a great idea for Polaroid that would bring them into this new 3D in 2D photography novelty re-emergence. We all remember the Polaroid instant film camera that spewed forth pictures seconds after taking them giving you the opportunity to capture and share all sorts of fun or unfortunate activities. Polaroid’s instant camera was so popular there were songs written about it, it’s brand became synonymous with the final pictures, and it’s iconic film is the first thing in most people’s minds when they hear the term “snap-shot”. Even the film and video industry used Polaroids as a great way to keep track of visual details in wardrobe and on set. With the arrival of the digital photography age Polaroid instant film has basically disappeared and has been replaced by emailing pictures and updating face-book for your audience to see those same snap-shot pictures. The problem is we’ve lost that instant gratification of having a picture handed to us by the laughing “friend’s” who snapped the oh-so-flattering shot. Those fridge and cork-board shots take a lot more time to make now and therefore aren’t nearly as fun.

How can we make 3D in 2D photos fun and cool?

Polaroid better read this. My idea for Polaroid, if you haven’t guessed already, is for instant film linticulars spewed forth from a 3D in 2D Polaroid camera. The key is to design film cartridges. That look just like the ones they used to have only replace the front frame with a linticular plastic fixed lens. The camera should also have on-camera digital storage giving the photographer the option of not printing the image, thus saving film for those specific times where having the printed party pics is fun. If done right, this could catapult Polaroid back into the limelight in the same way they were highlighted back in the day. They should market it as “a window on your world” and keep the little white framing that is so iconic for the Polaroid brand.

Addendum:

Let me know what you think about this idea and/or share it on your favorite social network. Enough consumer demand could prompt Polaroid to actually develop this fun little film/digital camera combo. I’d get one or better yet, I’ll take one on a US tour photographing all the stereotypical road trip Americana and helping promote the camera’s fun factor.

Polaroid, contact me: info(at)jondeckerphoto(dot)com

In the late hours of Thursday evening two evil engineers toiled over a plan for microcosm domination and thus was a brilliant object of long reaching, epic proportions devised.

Introducing the SMURF IN CARBONITE!!!

Not long after, a smurf version of Luke Skywalker sneaked into our lair and tried to free Han Smurflo. We were forced to tie up the would be assassin.

Thus concludes our story…for now!

Mwah, ha, ha, ha, haaaaa!

Last night as I was falling asleep I had a sudden urge to jump back out of bed and start creating things again. A torrent of images flooded through my mind that were entirely unconnected to each other in both creative style and purpose. I fought the urge as I do have work today, but it got me thinking. You see, I fell asleep watching back episodes of a couple different television shows, and I hadn’t actually done anything productive beyond work yesterday. I think it’s about time for me to stop wasting so much of my free time on mindless entertainment (even though there is a place for that) and start utilizing this, my 30th year, to accomplish some of the projects and ideas I have had stewing in the back of my mind for ages. As such, I listed for scheduling purposes some of the things I want to accomplish this year. These are in no particular order here, but as you’ll read below one of the resolutions was to keep myself accountable via this site, so here goes…

Start drawing again – I would like to start sketching and drawing pieces for art sake, not just random doodles of ideas for inventing things.

Sculpt more regularly – my clay is renewable, but my talent isn’t honed. I need to take some time each week to make something new; not necessarily to keep it.

Get some books and start practicing the piano – I put so much time into this as a kid, I should have something to show for it currently, but I don’t.

Practice the guitar – Again, I never took it seriously, but it’s dumb to have not used my guitar in over a year.

Start singing again – find time and places to sing that won’t bother anyone. I used to have my time traveling in the car to sing aloud, but New York has quashed that. It’s time to find a new singing time (the shower doesn’t count).

Write more stories – The children’s story book should have been finished by now, especially with all the free time I had last year. I had wanted to have it edited and ready to publish by now.

Stop watching so much TV – To this effect I’ve already eliminated most of my Hulu queue leaving only: Caprica, Chuck, Fringe, Human Target, Lost, & SGU.

Start rewriting the “Book of the Tree” film script – it’s dumb to have put that idea to waste. I spent a good deal of the two years after college on it, I should have tried to finish it better.

Make at least two short films for fun and use practical special effects for at least one. This is something that J had wanted to do last summer anyhow, but laziness got in my way. No more excuses; this will get done on some weekend this summer.

Post regularly the things I’m making as “work in progress” to keep myself accountable. If anyone’s reading this, I’m using you as an accountability partner, just like AA, to keep me on the wagon of productivity.

Make that frame for the map – Jean’s had the Pirate map for over a year now and the frame it’s in is terrible. Anyone know any good links for frame making from scratch? The map is 14″x17″.

Put together a viable micro stock library on which to build in the coming years – it’s ridiculous to have all this photography equipment if I never make anything from it. This means that as soon as I figure out an way to make it happen, the photography on the main site will be for sale.

Not get too distracted by the new apartment hunt. I do need to find a nice one or two bedroom apartment somewhere in New York that’s within viable travel distance to Jean’s job. Since we are getting married in October, I need to get this taken care of by the beginning of September so I can move into the space and have it set up before she moves in the following month. That said, it’s easy for me to get distracted by the multitude of possibilities instead of just making a decision and getting started on the interior design…

…speaking of which, I would love to paint and design the interior of the new apartment to look like the inside of a castle; more to come on that idea in the future.