UPCOMING BLURB WORKSHOPS

Hey Campers,


I wanted to let everyone know about the upcoming Blurb workshops. A great series, with some fun people showing fun things.

SUBJECT: Blurb Photography Book Workshop series

This June we’re hosting the Blurb Photography Book Workshop series, featuring photographer Dan Milnor, graphic designer Bob Aufuldish, and Lightroom guru Jerry Courvoisier. In these 4-hour workshops you’ll learn about the principals of book design, editing your images in Lightroom for optimum results, and how to use Blurb books to promote your work.

You can also participate in a photography book review prior to the workshop. Having your work reviewed is NOT a requirement to attend the workshops. Once you purchase a ticket for the photography book review, we’ll contact you to set up a specific time to review your work.

Photography book reviews begin at 4:00 pm; the workshop kicks off at 6:00 pm (expect it to last until about 10:00 pm).

All the details are below, and we hope to see you there.

San Francisco – RSVP at http://blurbworkshopsf.eventbrite.com

New York – RSVP at http://blurbworkshopnyc.eventbrite.com

London – RSVP at http://blurbworkshoplondon.eventbrite.com

Chicago – RSVP at http://blurbworkshopchicago.eventbrite.com

A New York Family State Of Mind

It has been a while since I posted about my kids work, so after being encouraged by the folks in these snaps I thought I would post up about this little scene before you. These images are from my "family photo-essay" work, which I do more and more these days. I've begun to do these all over the country, and this was my first New York shoot, but if all goes as planned, there will be many more of these New York contributions coming along very shortly.

As many of you know, I've been doing documentary work for years, so shooting in this style is something I'm very comfortable with, and in fact, is my favorite way to shoot. This is just a tiny taste, but hopefully it will give you an idea of how a shoot like this works.

In short, I spend the day, or days with the family, sorta like the long, lost uncle who emerges from nowhere to reengage with the family, only I'm not related, but I AM an uncle!! Actually, one of my "regular" kids I photograph three or four times a year recently asked his mom, "Is Dan my uncle?" Love that.

Anyway, back to the story.

A New York day, Brooklyn, subway, Chinatown. I prefer to do a real day, or gathering or event in someone's life, as opposed to a "fictional" day of photo-ops. You can never substitute for real, and you can really see when snaps are faked.

These shoots are so much fun for me because I feel like I'm back working at a newspaper, assigned to follow a mayor, a politician, an athlete, or police officer.

My Leica(Zeiss/Contax) in one hand, my Blad in the other, a bag of film, and the opportunity to just follow and watch.

New York Family Continued

A little black and white to keep the masses happy!

The State of Affairs

Yankee Stadium Link


Several days ago I was photographing a young boy, about 2.5 years of age, and we ended up in a magazine section at a grocery store in Indianapolis. I know that might sound odd, but I think the images will turn out rather nice. Unexpected, and shot with my old Contax G2, a camera that is on my arm most days, these days.

Anyway, at one point, this little guy was sitting in a cart and the cart stopped in front of the magazine stand, right in front of the bodybuilding section.

I made a few images, two I think, before he was moved and we continued on. But right before I moved on I noticed several of the sports magazines, major ones, and on the cover I saw images I have grown to expect.

Color, studio, controlled portraits of sports/celebs. They were predictable, told me nothing about these people, but were the kind of image that seems to be virtually the only thing assigned anymore.

I wondered to myself, "Did the photographer enjoy doing this? "Did the player enjoy it? It didn't appear like the players enjoyed it, and in fact you could almost see what was going through their mind, "Oh man, who thought this scenario up?" You could feel the reluctance through the images.

I wondered to myself, "Why do we do this?" Still?

Now the same can be said for much of the celebrity work I see as well. CONTROLLED, but not interesting. Would I rather see ANOTHER controlled, staged image of Will Smith, or would I rather see a real image of him, on a Wednesday, at 4pm, when he wasn't working. A REAL photograph. An informational photograph, one that explains more than what someone looks like.

But, in the age of control, it seems that fewer and fewer of these images are being made. Are the days of William Claxton gone? Jim Marshall? I think so.


So a few shorts days ago we saw the end of era in sports, in sports history and American history for that matter. We saw the end of Yankee Stadium, perhaps, it could be argued, the most important American sports venue of all time. And what images did we see? The expected. I'm not saying there are not great images out there, that someone, somewhere made, but I didnt' see any of those. I kept thinking, "Okay, somebody, hit me with something with soul," something besides what I KNEW I was going to see. And, the sports magazines, where are you? I guess the Americana magazines are all gone.



So I have this friend in Florida, a photographer, Andrew Kaufman. He shoots a lot, and a little if you know what I mean. Name a format, a style and he does it. He makes books too, and creates on his own, projects, single pictures, etc. Andrew shot Yankee Stadium. And, I think he did it in a way that is different, and in a way that shows what it felt like as a FAN to be there, not as a photographer on assignment needing to fulfill a certain image requirement. Nor do the images appear as if he was rushed to make them, which brings me to another point.

Magazines, quit rushing for the sake of rushing. I think a lot of people would gladly wait a little longer to see a better story. Give us something more.

Now Kaufman was kind enough to send us a snippet, and I've also included a link to a lightbox on his site, so if you have a moment, take a peak.

You might like this work, or not, but I think you will agree it looks different. Now, according to last reports, this work had not been published yet, which is some ways, to me at least, in my twisted mindset, is a good thing. Some things need to sit, fester, before they are unleashed on the public. But, this stuff SHOULD be published somewhere.........anyone............anyone..........