iPhone, Holga or “Who Cares”?

May was an eclectic month of shooting. On top of the regular commercial stuff and Thursday Happy Hour, I’ve been shooting a ton with my Holga and also the iPhone. Seems everyone has jumped on the iPhone pic phenomenon and there are some truly great images bouncing around on Twipic and yFrog through Twitter. While the iPhone is a great tool and I’m usually not far from mine I still enjoy the cathartic effect of my Holga. Something about it not being digital makes it all that more satisfying. An exercise in patience and vision.

The shots below are from either the Holga or the iPhone utilizing a few little filter apps for interesting effects. Can you guess which is from what?

Deciding to Decide

I’ve been doing a lot of personal projects lately and a huge part of that creative process is decision making. The complexities of a decision are varied and far reaching as illustrated in a new book by Jonah Lehrer titled “How We Decide.” I just picked up the book (after walking around Borders for 20 minutes trying to decide if I would buy it – Irony to the highest level) but have yet to dive too deeply into it.

What I hope to gain is a clearer sense for why I make the decisions I make. They are generally not bad decisions and I’m pretty happy overall with where they take me but I’d like to be more effective. When I am building a project, finishing up an edit, choosing a location, building a lighting setup, there is a string of decisions being made. Each one sets something in motion which then leads to another chance to make another decision to steer the end result in some way. It’s a fascinating process when you really think about it and I’m especially interested in how it effects artists. Artistic expression has no measurable outcome so how is it decided? I think the best artists have made many decisions about a new piece of work before they even start it. That is where I would like to be some day.

Pick up the book at Amazon here.

What’s Inspiring Me Now

I have this old habit of sticking things to a board when I like them. For many years it has served me well for moments of inspiration. I fill it with reminders. Of good times, a cool font, a beautiful photo, a weird trinket I found, whatever. Sometimes the board gets so overwhelmed with ideas it becomes an anti-idea. Too many things to look at. I tear everything off and start over. Sometimes it fills up quick, sometimes it takes weeks to cover the metal magnet boards. It’s getting close to that time for me to tear it down but I decided to document it with a photo first. Then I thought, what the heck, I’ll stick it up here and have a little show and tell about what’s inspiring me now.

1. Tear sheets from misc. magazines of work I like. The tear of Clive Owen is by Marc Hom for Esquire. I dig Marc.

2. A few prints from my little Holga toy camera that I love so much.

3. A visual wishlist of Nikkor glass.

4. Name tag from some APA / Ad Club event.

5. Rental price list from Georges Camera. Sometimes you need stuff you don’t have but you don’t need to own it (See #3).

6. 120 film negs (more stuff from the Holga)

7. REI membership card (I think Chase Jarvis probably shot the photo that’s on it).

8. More tear sheets I like.

9. Misc. hotel card keys from Hard Rock Hotel, W Seattle, W NYC. They remind me of good times in great cities. They may also have my credit info embedded…

10. A post card from my 3rd grade teacher from her trip to Philly on July 4th 1976. It has the bicentennial stamp series on it. Not sure what to do with it. I don’t collect stamps but I think they’re worth something…

11. More processed negs & scans from Nelson Photo, the nicest camera folks in San Diego.

12. A couple stray prints of my work.

13. My favorite motto: “You Never Know” It says it all to me.

You’ll probably see some other stuff in there too. 3-D glasses (in case I suddenly lose my depth perception), some hang tags I liked (still a graphic design junkie at heart) a flash drive (I think my portfolio is on that), a weird little magnetic kayaker dude that my sister gave me.

Now it’s time to tear it down and find new inspiration. You Never Know where it will come from.

Inspired, relaxed and another year older.

Last week we got away to Palm Springs for my birthday. It became a tradition a few years back and now every third week of March we head for the desert. The last few times we rented a Mid-Century modern home with a group of close friends but this time we settled at the Orbit In near town. What a great place! I’ve been wanting to stay there for a while but it was either booked, high-season rates or both. We were situated in the Albert Frey room complete with fireplace, outdoor shower and signed original Julius Shulman photos of Frey’s home which sits just up the hill behind the hotel. I’m a sucker for Mid-Century architecture and also a big fan of Shulman’s work so the whole thing was pretty exciting for me.

We relaxed by the pool, rode around on their crusier bikes, did a little hiking on the Heritage Trail that runs up and along the mountains behind the hotel and generally soaked up the serenity that is Palm Springs. Of course I packed along the Holga to grab some interesting stuff. I shot up a few rolls of my favorite 120 film and many many frames with my “real” camera. Some results are here, mixed up and in no real order. For a couple more shots and a story about stealing the neighbors lemons for cocktails check out our Thursday Happy Hour post from last week.

All photos © 2009 Gary Allard

Holga Files part 3

Yesterday I was reading a great guest-post by Jay Maisel over at Scott Kelby’s site. Jay is full of incredible insight into the art of photography and the creative process but something he writes about in particular really grabbed me. He tells a story about his early career and meeting art director Bob Cato. Cato looks through Maisel’s portfolio then tells him he walks too fast.

You see where that’s going. And I think it’s even more significant today than ever. We’ve got a camera with us at all times now whether it’s your little phone, a compact point and shoot or a big SLR. We can choose to see the art that’s there if you slow down and look. Don’t walk so fast, absorb the moment. See.

My last post was about my dumb little plastic toy camera and the quirky stuff it does. Since then I’ve really embraced what it does best: It makes me slow down and see. Secondly, it makes me compose things a little more carefully. There’s no chimping on a Holga. That’s really the key. It’s that mystique that makes film photography so wonderful.

Kodak Portra Still Rocks

Film is pretty cool. It’s easy to get all caught up in the digital tech and toys and post-production but taking the time to connect with what got me interested in photography to begin with does a lot for my creativity. I’ve been carrying my little Holga around a lot lately and getting some fun results. First, I did a little comparison with a variety of color 120 films just to see what worked best. I’ve narrowed it down to Kodak Portra 160 for outdoors stuff. It’s just the most beautiful saturated velevety stuff in this little camera. For monochrome, I like Ilford. I’ve alwys liked Ilford. Not sure why, really. I just started out using it and stuck with it. I’m using Ilford XP2  ISO 400 which works well outside and in medium light. It overexposes nicely and burns in the darks pretty well. The first shot above was the Portra, as well as the first two shots below. The last two shots (woman’s legs and chair) were with Fujicolor Superia 100. I love the dramatic vignette on those. These were just in-between shots while setup with the real gear. The Holga has some quirks like the mysterious light flare that happens in both the upper right and left corners. It comes and goes frame by frame. Odd, but that’s really what that camera is about.

Film use is sliding downhill but the analog factor puts a different perspective on the way I see. When walking around with the Holga, I notice textures, graphic compositions, odd little cracks in the sidewalk, just about everything really. I find myself breaking down everything I see wondering how it could be made into a photo which is exactly the kind of inspiration I need right now.

All photos © 2009 Gary Allard

Freezing Temps & Pre-Dawn Call Times

I’ve been working to help get a new project off the ground and today we took another step in the right direction. This morning, before dawn, in the very dark and unusually cold air we set out to the San Elijo lagoon in Solana Beach to meet up with some runner friends. The temperatures were near freezing as we hiked past frosty grass toward the salt marsh. Our runners soon came from the dark tree-lined trail and met us in a fog of  breath and steam.

This group already had about 9.5 miles under their feet and I was still sipping my first cup of joe. In fact, the first thought when my alarm went off at 5:15 was that these guys were already a couple miles into their 10 mile trip. They do this every Wednesday, pretty much rain or shine (or bitter cold) and I’ve wanted to document their commitment for a while now.

I shot quickly and tried to keep them moving, mostly for us all to keep warm. By the end of the shoot my hands were frozen and woodlike (metal alloy camera body + freezing temps = gloves next time, you moron!). I managed around 300 frames and then sent them on their way to the coffee house a mile down.

Above is just a tiny sample of what will be many more images but I was excited to get this going so I wanted to share.  More to come!

Gondolas and Good Friends

I’m freshly back from a 5 day Lake Tahoe trip/adventure. Every year I, along with some longtime pals, fit in a long weekend snowboard and ski trip to somewhere really fantastic.  This time it was North Lake Tahoe since our Bay Area friend owns a condo in Truckee.

I shot too many frames to count and will be editing and processing them over the next few days. I’m building a little photo story to post up here or on my website but I couldn’t wait to share a couple images right away. The above was shot on the final day out and was taken a Sugar Bowl resort in Donner Pass. The snow was particularly nice that day and despite being beaten up by 4 consecutive days at Northstar and Squaw Valley I was feeling really good. We were a sorry lot of sleep-deprived (7 good friends who haven’t seen one another in a while tend to stay up late shooting the breeze over beers), sore and sickly 30-40 somethings. Some of us fighting through mild colds or aches and pains but the trip was a great success. We’re already talking about where to go next year. Any suggestions?

All photos © 2009 Gary Allard

I resolve to … do.

New Year’s resolutions don’t seem to work for me. I’ll venture to say they don’t work for a lot of people. That’s why gym memberships spike during January then fall off sharply after that. Good intentions only take me so far. It’s the “doing” that keeps me doing it. With resolutions, it’s easy to get a little too specific. And with specifics come excuses because resolutions, many times, are over-ambitious or unrealistic. So, my simple resolution is to keep doing whatever it is that inspires me, makes me feel good moves me forward, and to help others do the same. Doing is what makes things happen and for better or worse, things get done.

Photo © 2009 Gary Allard

Happy New Year. Now let’s get back to work.

Wishing everyone passing by here a very happy new year and loads of wonderful and prosperous times to come.

Cheers!

Photo © 2006 Gary Allard