A Tale of Two Lenses

Here are two sets of images from two different lenses.

One of the most asked questions photographers hear is.."What kind of equipment is he using" As though the equipment itself is why the image is good or great and not the content, never mind all the other factors that weigh in.

I'm sure Picasso himself was asked what kind of paint he had or what weight hammer did Michelangelo use...it never ends... BUT..does the kind of equipment help to translate what you see into how you want others to see?

I've been working on a series,"DreamStates" shot on Miami's South Beach, over the last year. The idea is, visons at sunrise through dream filled eyes..or at least that's how it started. Like everything, it evolved and its now taking another turn(more later). Today was not a great morning for light, subject, or maybe my eyes were just too sleepy who knows, but it lead me to do a comparison just to challenge the old question.

This image on the left, done with a LensBaby and unless you haven't seen one, it does a floppy or as the new one does,a swivel thing to put a portion of the image out of focus...good for art, not so good for most editors, why? , it scares them.

The one on the right is with Canon's 24mm F1.4. The difference..focus of course and roughly $1000.00 but that's not the point. The real point is, which one is best capturing what I am trying to achieve or does what "he is using" really matter?

37th Frame..

In the good old film days, often you were able to squeak out one last frame that always seemd to surprise you and often got selected by the editor..."the 37th frame"

Sometimes you held back on it because it was always an afterthought...you turned and fired or said..hang on one more.. or maybe you had no choice because it had to appear on your contact sheet..(remember those??) you tried to rub over it but it magically got selected none the less..

Well this is digital and here this is not the 37th but the first of 4gigs...anyone with a name for it please post.. I, working on a series, " DreamStates" went to a spot I wanted. I took out the camera and a torrent of rain came down..in a haste I fired one anyway and took cover..back in bed,under the cover that is..dissapointed with the weather the following day I went to refromat the card BUT before I wanted to see what was there...and poof..my 37th frame or whatever it can be called is here...Moral: don't think, just shoot..somewhere inside your experience lies someone you buried with a host of bills,obligations,things I should do...a mountain that stands before you and why you are doing this in the first place...The 37th frame is still around,it just has another name.

The Economy

No one need tell us that times are tough. Everywhere you look are signs of the times. Everyone you talk with reminds you in case you didn't notice the white spaces in your calander. We tend to think that it is tough for us, ONLY.

Today I got an email from an editor , I had just finished working with. We had done several jobs in the past and had a great relationship including with some other photographers I know. She announced her long time position is being eliminated from the magazine. It wasn't her, but her position! Kinda like firing the Chef to cut back expenses in a restaurant. Somewhere this publication fell victim to bean counters whose bad economy thinking is placing them in a downward spiral. Instead of making it better, let's make it cheaper because we are concentrating on the problem , so make it cheaper, not the solution..make it better.

President Obama ran his campaign on one word.."Change" That scared and is obviously is still scaring a lot of people who fear an end to it all and are scrambling to save their sinking ship by throwing overboard half their crew and for some, the captain as well.

A better word than "Change" is "Evolve" and that is what we must do. The economy has given us a pause where many of us are soul-searching and wondering if our end is near. An actor friend once told me when I asked him what he is doing these days with.." I 'm between the acts . " His lack of a role didn't get him down, it was his pause, simply a time to rehearse and be ready for the big role that was sure to come. He did off Broadway and coffee house bits to keep in the loop and stretch his talents.It kept him in touch with why he went into acting to start with...love of the stage.

We are in that time, between our acts, and the wise will take advantage of it to re-create, re-brand, re-structure, learn new programs, create new visions, so that we re-emerge bigger and better than before, not change but evolve. Time to see this as starting all over, fresh to this field making discoveries in your work and getting excited once again by producing something from the heart rather than from the wallet. Work in a new direction...shoot something different than what we are used to. Go out and just shoot like it's the first time you picked up a camera. Share images, via the social medias or take part in our own "Open Screen Nights" for no other reason than look what I did.

If we can focus more on photography rather than the business, we will rekindle a passion that brought us here and in that, make new discoveries that will renew oneself.

We should realize that In these challenging times, we can afford to lose some ground but we can't afford losing faith.

No Life Guard on Duty

By now every aware photographer knows,has heard of or has tried the Lens Baby. Why not, it is great way to become an Impressionist overnight.

Like from a previous post, new tools lead to new visions and in some cases from there another series emerges. My original vision is an ongoing series, "Dreamstates" ...Impressions at sunrise through dream filled eyes..
or as it is sometimes referred to as "..Love it..do you have that one in focus? "

So first, for those who "love it" and are ready to ask if I have do it in focus, know that the reason you are attracted to it, might be the look that goes with the image. Both go hand in hand, like Casals and a Cello, to make the music you are hearing. Oddly I do that question anyway.

Any other photographers experience this? If not, then I truly am alone which is why I am here! Anyway C'est la vie MF. and on to


where I was really going with this..

a new brush, the Lens Baby and my ongoing series.


South Beach,FL. just has it for this lens IMHO, the pastel colors and surroundings at certain times of the day seem to just paint themselves, and really turn me on...well not THAT way, but of course this alone thing might contribute to that. But another thing that happened while shooting this series is not just a new vision from a new brush but a new viewpoint emerging from it.

" No Life Guard on Duty"

Ralph Gibson talked about the point of departure.To sum up; a necessary place from where you start but may not be where you wind up, but without it,you would never come to where you are. Recognizing this, you use it by going with the flow and what happens from there might just be something that is intuitively deep with you,based on your experiences,tastes,outlook,feelings etc. For some, inspiration, for others, the sum total of your soul reaching out to express something inside by recognizing something that is outside. "Out of focus?" ........are we all alone...or is there No Life Guard on Duty?

What does Fall and Thanksgiving have in Common?...

CRANBERRIES!

I always thought that cranberries grew in water,bogs,something to be avoided during a full moon. Guess what...they don't, in fact they grow along the ground on vines,tight little berries that come in all shades,from pale red to purple.


Prior to this century they were harvested by hand, with a scoop which had 26 seven inch teeth sticking out from a wooden handle, sliding into the vine like a rake, plucking up the berries and often the vine with it. It was long backbreaking process and to get a real idea read http:www.unmassed.edu/specialprograms/caboverde/cranberry/semedo3.html a wonderful history or it all.

Ah...the mechanical era came along. and so did production. Enter "Wet Picking."

The vines growing in the marsh or bogs now could be flooded

and a motorized picker ,"Water Reel" or egg beaters could now be used to beat them off the vine and beautiful ruby jewel like marbles could float to the top...a man stands in front to guide and mark the place they left off and also feel for any deep holes( something you don't want to fall into with waders!) and they go round and round until all done. Oh yeah..how do they float to the top? They have small air pocket in the middle where the seeds are,







Then they are corralled together ready to











be sucked up into a waiting truck..that rinses and loads them ready to be delivered to the plant.

Each truck is weighed and product tested..


Before unloading, samples are randomly sampled for any pesticides or other contaminates..
then unloaded by dirving up on a ramp that tilts the truck back to dump out the berries onto belt system sorting for sizes and later determined for usage eg. juice,frozen,packaged etc.


So the next time you slide out that familiar red log of cranberry jelly for holiday turkey or chicken, ( mmm duck as well) or any other kind of cranberry sauce item you might have in mind, think of the process it took to take it from here to your table. To me they will never look the same.


For more images.. http://www.matthewpace.com/cranberryslideshow

Everything Old is New Again...

Deafened by the whirl of digital advancements happening so fast that all my time went to upgrading both my equipment and brain with programs and drives, that I almost forgot what photography was all about.... from a top shelf and from inside I heard its voice..a 1932 Agfa box camera called out..("got $20.00 bucks? buy me)..no programs included. So I did.

I took it along a trip to France, the Loire Valley and yes of course I did back myself up with the big guns as well. The Box, takes 120 roll film, remember that? Some form of exercise in patience and the anticipation of seeing images a while after you forgot them only to rediscover the thrill and agony of why did take that. Even at times seeing something you didn't think it would work only to discover a whole new movement in your work and vision.

It gets 8 shots, 6x9 if you can line up the roll correctly at the start. Exposure is simple, press here. I used Tmax 400 most of time and sometimes Tmax100. The small viewer on top and on the side for horizontals darkened by age, appear larger by wearing magnifying glasses on top of my RayBans, a comical sight helping to label me a tourist even further than the photo vest holding my film and back up camera/lenses which I hardly pulled out due to the relaxed fun I was having with the Box. In fact, it made me take pictures once again, not figure out programs.

The image here, shot in the rain, is Chenonceau."The Ladies Castle" something you might not see on This Old House. The soft tones around the edges are the character of this camera, not sure if it is age or if it was the state of the art in its time, but to me,perfect for this look. The exposure,aperture,lens choice...well,who cares,can't do anything about it anyway, just snap away and hope to correct it later in Photoshop, which brings us to the present.

Back at base, scanning these allowed for corrections and at times they were needed other than the usual dust. Toning, burning , dodging, (sound familiar? ) with some negs. was in need but a small price to pay to fall back in love with things again.

Now don't get me wrong, I am fully equipped and knowledgeable with all of today's things and I do use them in my commercial life, but I would love to find a place for the Box, apart from my art life and apply it. Sometimes the further we go in one direction, the more around we come in another,

In a way the old has married the new and a new series begins.

More to come soon...

Yet Another

 To add to my previous post yet another image of this popular subject...the "Z Tree"  by Dennie Cody. Taken at a different time of the year, the wet season in the Everglades, his view shows it in full splendor within its now green surroundings. 

The beauty of art is the endless ways each artist sees it. Everyday objects are not as everyday as we think. They do change continuously , if not physically. then from our point of perspective.