Recent Work

I admit this is kind of a duplicate post of what I posted on my own blog just moments ago, but I thought you all might like to see what we've been up to lately (been about two months since our last post). Just click on any one of these sets to see more.

Also, sorry to those of you who so diligently (or not) follow our work on here. We have been on a much needed hiatus from client work, choosing to focus instead on the countless other photos we have been taking since the beginning of this year. It may be another two months before we post again... or not. :P

But, yes, thanks to those of you who have and who continue to follow us as we continue to develop our craft. It keeps us going (even despite the hiatus)!

Featured Photographer: Kirsty Mitchell

So, according to our schedule, that sidebar widget to the right of this blog post that is supposed to act as an incentive for us to post on this web page regularly, Fridays are supposed to be "Featured Photographer" days. In the past, I have often selected well-known and extremely influential photographers that many photonauts like myself would be familiar with already, but after I have been browsing much through our Flickr contacts' photostreams recently, I have decided instead to feature some of the lesser known yet equally talented photographers out there who struggle just as much as we do to get some recognition for the work that they do.

Photography is a difficult representational medium for a great many reasons, one of which most definitely hinges upon the market being so densely saturated by any DSLR-toting schmo like either myself or Eric. I'm kidding about that last part. Remember sarcasm? Anyway, because the market is so saturated  by photographers (and photographer wannabes) while being at the same time so controlled by equipment limitations (consider the economics of photography here), many photographers out there will find themselves in the position to be posting image after image after image on sites like Flickr, Snapfish, and Photobucket, all in an effort just to get some of their work out there. And while there's absolutely no problem with anyone doing this sort of thing, it still has its limitations, i.e. their work still gets buried under the great mass that is any one of these web sites.

And while SEO marketing techniques can help to increase the exposure to any one of your photos, it's more generally the case that your photos must still fit within certain conventions in order for your work to be truly recognized as good (Flickr calls it "interestingness"). Well, I don't have a formula  for you as to what is good and what is not. And, I most certainly do not adhere to said conventions - either those referred to above or those of my own creation - in my own work to ensure that each of my photos can be deduced by simple (or not so simple) reasoning as my own. Again, it's an issue of how to delineate good art from bad. There's no one correct way to do so...

Anyway, I've gone on a tangent like I usually do. All in an effort just to say that instead of patting photographers on the back whose backs have already been patted so hard they've nearly bled to death (that's a joke), I would like now to redirect some of that attention to some of the photographers I've been exposed to through Flickr (which is not all bad).

Today's photographer is a photographer I admire very much. I wish I could do the kinds of things she's doing. Just check out some of her latest work:

Amazing, amazing work here! And she does it all herself with the exception of makeup and sometimes a little help from friends. Check out her Flickr photostream here, or check out her personal web site for more from this fantastic photographer!

Awenydd: "One AM Radio: Under Thunder and Gale" by Daedelus

Because I'd rather be inspired by the day's Awenydd, I reluctantly admit that the song for this evening was regrettably pulled from my Pandora profile page from one of the many songs I've bookmarked other the past several months. Although, this song must have been a more recent bookmark because it's close to the top of my list. I've bookmarked so many things now that I haven't followed up on that I'm really beginning to become incredibly disappointed with myself...

My writing must be so cumbersome for people to read...

Tangential thought. Sorry.

Anyway, tonight's Awenydd will actually serve an alternative purpose, i.e. plugging our Flickr photostream. We haven't posted any new galleries on our web page lately because we've been posting all of our photos on Flickr. For awhile there, we took a break from Flickr, neglecting to respond to anyone's comments, to post any new photos, to comment on contacts' photos, etc., but it seems like we just can't get enough of it lately...

Perhaps the reason for it is that I'm just too damn lazy to create the three different file formats I usually do for each photo and then upload one copy to our web page, one copy to our Facebook page, one copy to our proofing and prints page, and one copy to our Flickr page.

Yeah... too labor intensive for me.

So... if you would like to see what we've been up to (we're always up to something), do stop by our Flickr photostream and check out some of the photos we've been snapping lately.

Oh, and listen to this song for the day.

And...

...

...

I've started the "..." again...

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And...

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Yeah...

365 Days Self Portrait Project

Though we haven't uploaded any new galleries recently, we continue to take copious amounts of photos. Just take the 365 Days Portrait project for example. For those of you who aren't already aware of the project, it is a challenge for Flickr members to take a portrait of yourself every day for an entire year. The photos don't have to be anything special. The only stipulation is that the photos have to be taken by yourself and that they have to be done for the entire 365 days duration of the project.

I have attempted to do the project at least two times already, and I am trying my hand at it one more time. When I first started about two years ago, I was inspired by my sister-in-law's often creative and different self portraits. You see, you don't have to just take any ol' photo of yourself. You can get creative and try something different. So, I decided to try to do a different theme each day, e.g. goth, punk, pop, etc. I tried to embody each of these particular stereotypes/roles in my portrait, and the challenge became instead a challenge to perform the roles I had selected for each day. It was, however, a difficult challenge to keep up with, and I soon abandoned my original aspirations. Eventually, I gave up the project altogether...

After a few months though, I became once more bored and uninspired, so I decided to try my hand at it again, this time assigning for myself weekly themes, e.g. wigs, lashes, masks, etc. Again, however, I started to slack off, and then I eventually quit. Part of the problem each time was the fact that I was in school and didn't have much time to devote to my daily portraits. For the kinds of portraits I like to do, it takes more time than I was able to commit, and I just couldn't keep up with it.

But, school is out now, and I am once more confronted with boredom and a lack of inspiration. It's not quite enough for me to get photos of this or that. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to snap pictures of just about anything because I just can't get enough of it. But I wanted to do something more creative or what Eric and I call "artsy-fartsy." Something with some flare in it. Something like something I've done before. Something like the 365 Day Self Portrait project...

And so, I began again, starting off where I had started before and this time challenging myself to do better than those first portraits when I really didn't know either my camera or Photoshop very well. Compare for yourself:

  

 

 

 

I have learned quite a bit since those first days working with my camera...

As yet another feature on this web page, we've put up a sidebar widget that will feature my photo of the day. I hope it will be motivation for me to complete my photo on time every day, but I can't promise that will always be the case (yesterday's photo already serves as an example of that!). Either way, I do plan on seeing this project through to the finish this time, and I hope you enjoy the photos I come up with along the way! And, if you have any ideas for weekly themes, let me know, and I will try to capture them in the best way I can!