My inner masochist presents itself with a morbid fascination for large format (LF) photography. I’m not exactly sure why or how this came to be, but these days I compare my addiction to that conspicuous subculture of audiophiles who savor LP’s and vacuum tube amplifiers. Large format photography is slow and hard and heavy and expensive…but its unforgiving demands only add to its appeal. A well composed and exposed LF negative is as rewarding as it is wondrous.

When the drowning rhetoric of megapixels, Photoshop techniques, and whatever photographic snake-oil du jour starts tickling my gag reflexes, the very thought of large format photography—stern and stolid—parts the waters and grounds my imagination.

I first started playing around with LF photography in 2004 while enrolled as a photography student at Shoreline Community College. SCC afforded access to a wide variety of photographic equipment, but favorite pieces were regularly inoperable due to misuse and abuse by students. Limited darkroom hours, inconsistent chemistry, and extremely restrictive studio policies further frustrated my creative pursuits. I experienced modest success at that time. I eventually decided to put my interest in LF photography on the back burner, hoping to return to its study when I could more thoroughly devote my attention. My practical experience under the dark cloth has been minimal and sporadic since then.

Fortune favors the patient. Over the last eight years, I’ve accumulated a respectable collection of LF equipment—most of which has come from craigslist, Ebay, or second-hand, through my favorite local camera store, CameraTechs. I’ve maintained my interest in the subject, snatching up copies of View Camera Magazine and whatever LF books I could whenever I’ve stumbled across them. I’ve taken advantage of online resources and communities. On rare occasions, I’ve even gone online and shelled out top dollar for a few harder-to-come-by publications on LF and architectural photography. I built my very own darkroom and studio space a few years ago—always keeping sheet film processing in mind. And now, at long last, with the recent addition of a Schneider 75mm f/5.6 Super Angulon*, I feel adequately equipped to commit myself to a more thorough exploration of this less-popular photographic pursuit.

Last Sunday, with a little encouragement (thanks, Nikko!), I brought my little, Black Walnut Shen Hao field camera with me to creativeLIVE for a casual Show-And-Tell. And I even managed to make a few test exposures with some expired instant film (Fujifilm FP-100C45). The photos I got fell woefully short of their potential, but truth be known I’m just plain delighted that anything came out at all!

For the immediate future, I have a few simple goals that I hope to accomplish with my study.

1. Learn more about my current LF equipment and be more comfortable with its use;
2. Become more familiar with 4×5 lens focal lengths, depth of field, and camera movements;
3. Learn to exploit the specific and unique advantages presented by LF photography—namely, applications with high detail, creative manipulation of the focal plane, and perspective correction;
4. Experiment with incorporating all of my other studio lighting equipment, in-studio and on location;
5. Make cool photos.

I have always been interested in alternative printmaking, and I am curious about making glass plates, daguerreotypes, tintypes, etc., but my long-term goals are unclear. I’m not in any particular hurry, so I guess I’ll just have to see where my current path leads.

For now, I get to savor slowing down and really thinking about my images; about getting it right, in camera. And when it’s all said and done, I hope to have made some really amazing photos.

The photo of LaRae Lobdell of Photo Sister (above) was shot on a Shen Hao HZX 4X5-IIA with Fujifilm FP-100C45 (ISO 100) using a Schneider-Kreuznach 210mm f/5.6 Symmar-S, 1 sec @ f/5.6, in a daylight studio. The subject was apx. 5′ from camera; the front standard was tilted forward to focus on her eyes.

*The Schneider 75mm f/5.6 Super Angulon is a wide angle lens. On a 4×5 camera, its field of view is comparable to a ~23mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Today, I will enjoy a tremendous privilege: I will be in downtown Seattle, attending Don Gianatti‘s 3-day Lighting Essentials workshop at creativeLIVE. While I have been volunteering as a moderator in creativeLIVE’s chat room since the beginning of the year, this will be the first time that I’ll be downstairs, on the floor, during a broadcast. Even better, I’ll be attending this workshop as a student!

A photography instructor I once studied with occasionally quoted something he’d learned as a student, saying, “Sunlight is the gold standard, everything else is tin.” I’ve had a few years to reflect on this and I wholeheartedly agree with the underlying sentiment. However, this has only multiplied my obsession with artificial light and my desire to master is it. This Lighting Essential’s workshop is exactly what I’ve been looking for!

For now, the blog you’ve found here is little more than a personal indulgence and an effort to connect with like-minded creatives . I’ve been given a green-light (hell, I’ve been outright encouraged) to write about my experiences behind the scenes of creativeLIVE, so you will see that as a recurring theme. I am also working on an ambitious list of self-assignments, and trying to further my career as a professional creative.

Anyway, thanks for the visit. If you decide to come back around I’ll try to keep things interesting, and I’ll hope that you’ll enjoy my little journey.

Technical notes: I shot the photo in this post yesterday afternoon in my little studio. The key light is a White Lightning X-1600 with a 7″ reflector and 20° grid, on axis and raised to about 9′. The channel lighting is coming from 2 Einstein E640‘s, one on each side, each fitted with gridded PCB Foldable Stripboxes. The back light is an AB 800 with a 8.5-inch Silver High Output Reflector and a 30° grid. The lights were triggered by Pocket Wizards.

p.s.: If the humor of the T-shirt I’m wearing is escaping you, it’s because you’re not a photographer.

I’d like to say more but I’m right in the middle of a major overhaul to my apartment–and I’ve only got a few hours left to meet a substantial personal deadline. For now, just know that I finally feel like I’m ready to break my many years of silence on this site.

I’m really curious how people think about copyright law as it specifically relates to professional photographers playing music during the course of their activities. Everyone is invited to comment.

Premise
A professional photographer plays music while working. Like other photographers, to put clients and talent at ease, the photographer routinely plays music in the studio during photo shoots. He/she also plays music when meeting with clients as they review photos. The photographer only produces still imagery–never producing, selling, or delivering any product that includes audio components. The music in question comes from various sources, including the photographer’s or client’s personal music collections, local radio stations, or streaming from various free music web sites.

Questions
Is the photographer violating the rights of the music’s copyright holders? If the photographer needs to pay fees for music usage, how would he/she go about paying those fees?

I committed a few hours this afternoon to editing photos and posting them to my Flickr account. With so many other channels available for my imagery, I’ve never really seen the point of posting images to Flickr. More recently, I’ve been reexamining my resistance; my thought is changing. I’m curious what others are experiencing and I want a better understanding of where digital photography and image sharing is headed.

Prepping photos for Flickr is interesting. I’ve got JPEGs that date back to 2000 and RAW files that date back to 2004, and I’m constantly adding new media to my library. My catalog is in a constant state of flux, and I’ve been in the process of reorganizing my image library and improving my workflow practices for months now–updating naming conventions, applying metadata, separating RAWs from Photoshop composites and final edits of images, reorganizing directories for automated backup to a host of external hard drives, building Expression Media catalogs, etc.. My catalog is a precious, living organism. It’s all still somewhat complicated at the moment, but it will be extremely efficient, expandable, and sustainable in the future.

If any of this “Digital Asset Management” (DAM) stuff sounds like the sort of thing you’ve wanted or tried to wrap your head around, here are three really great resources that come to mind.

Peter Krogh’s The DAM Book: Digital Asset Management for Photographers is the definitive work on the subject. I apply the concepts of The DAM Book to organizing and retrieving all of my media, not just my photography.

Second, dpBestflow.org is an amazing resources for information on DAM. This one’s from ASMP , Richard Anderson (co-author of Digital Photography Best Practices and Workflow Handbook) and Krough.

Finally, if you’re interested in a fantastic, professional-grade crash-course on DAM and workflow, as it relates to a real-world, professional photography, you really should check out this amazing video from Chase Jarvis.

That was 19 hours ago. Sure, I did sleep, eat and tend to other normal functions, but the truth is that I’ve been pretty much addicted to what I discovered ever since.

Empire Avenue is bit of a cross between a social media hub and an online stock trading game. Starting with a moderate stipend, one quickly accumulates more of the game’s currency, called “Eaves”, by filling out profile and bio information. Connecting various social media sites to EA establishes surprisingly concise reports on activity relating to those sites, and unlocks Achievements, both of which add value and Eaves to your account.

For me, the real fun started kicking in when I realized, to my complete surprise, that people were quickly buying “stock” in my newly formed account. Like a typical response to an IPO, dozens of other AE players started snatching up shares in my stock, sending the value of (e)IANSPIERS soaring. It turn, I began the vicious cycle of exploring people’s profiles, accounts and interest groups on the site, which opened more activities and achievements, which earned me more Eaves….

It really doesn’t take that much involvement to see that there’s real social networking potential behind EA’s approachable interface. While this is the first I’ve heard of Empire Avenue (’cause I live in a cave), I’ve found that EA has a respectable amount of press, a rapidly expanding following, and a broad base of support. If you invest time in social media and enjoy playing online investing/trading games, this definitely something you’ll want on your radar.

On the other hand, you may want to avoid Empire Avenue like the plague….

1/16/12
p.s.: I eventually decided to spin the madness of EA off onto it’s own blog. At the time of this writing it was located at http://ianspiers.wordpress.com.

Paige Marley, 2011

As the adults sank into couches and conversation, I faded to a corner of my living room and quietly prepped a simple strobist shoot–a stand, a Canon 580EX, a pair of PocketWizards and a leftover piece of white foamcore. Jace’s older sister, Paige, became very interested when I opened and set the white umbrella and fired an initial test shot, and was a cheerful stand-in as I dialed in the settings for her little brother.

Jace Morrison, 2011

With everything set, I scooped up the 4-month-old and placed him on set, and even managed some fine-tuning as he tried to eat my hand.

Messy, slobbery, and altogether wonderful stuff! I am not a child photographer, but the truth is that I find this kind of work profoundly satisfying. There are no words that can accurately convey how I feel about watching a young family growing. But I do have a camera.

Knowing that I had my hero shot in the can, I returned Jace to his mother, dismantled the set and stowed my equipment. I knew that we’d just created some of my favorite images, ever.

For those that don’t know, generally speaking, macrophotography is photography of very small subjects. A variety of specialized equipment and techniques are often used to address technical considerations, such as blurriness caused by camera vibration during long exposures. So, adding this macro lens, a sturdy tripod, and some artificial light sources to my present physical limitations suggests some new creative opportunities.

Macro work is new to me. I really don’t have anything particular in mind that I want to explore, but that’s not to say that my approach to macro photography has been whimsical. I’ve done plenty of due diligence—reading books, magazine articles and blog posts, and poring through specialist photography forums and studying countless lens reviews. And all of this research has only fueled my appetite.

Amaryllis stamen.

The photo you see on the left is the first test shot made with this new lens—it’s the stamen of an amaryllis we’ve been enjoying during this holiday season. The image was captured on my 5D Mk 1 at ISO 400 at 1/125 at f/20. (Yes, f/20, from about a foot’s distance.) That dramatic lighting coming from camera left is a stand-mounted Canon 580EX shooting through a white umbrella, triggered by a PocketWizard Plus II transceiver.

Oh, it is so on.

(Sorry if thumbnails are looking funky. WordPress and I aren’t seeing eye to eye just yet.)

During my recovery, with the help of the interwebs, I’ve kept myself occupied/distracted with tons of personal education. I’m choosing to regard September’s injury as a creative catalyst—having so much “free time” available has encouraged me to more thoroughly investigate my online options.

Which brings me back to creativeLIVE. Wow! How amazing is this, really? Streaming live, online events to a global classroom, creativeLIVE (CL) has been the single most entertaining and inspirational resource available to me during this challenging period. I’ve made a number of lengthy posts about CL on Facebook and Google+, so I’ll try to not gush again here, but I will repeat that if you are interested in photography and related media you definitely need to check CL out. I am a total CL junkie at this point.

Pastor Matthew Prasek

The last note that I’ll make is that I was actually able to get into my studio over the weekend to shoot a couple of friends. I found that the physical activity was still more than I’m really ready for at this point, but I am pleased with the results. I’m chomping at the bit; I can’t wait to be able to take my gear on the road and start producing some photos with high production value.

2012 is going to be a very good year!

Ultimately, the all-too familiar question of whether or not I’ll go to a doctor was answered by the roaming band of paramedics who split my favorite pair of 559’s up to my pubes and strapped me in for a 10-block, $764.34 limo ride to the new E.R. at Ballard Swedish. I spent about seven hours there, making new friends and getting a guided tour, before being sent home, high as a kite, with a personalized, all-access wristband, a ridiculously futuristic “just-add-water”-style toe-to-ass cheek leg splint, a shiny new pair of crutches, half a bottle of Oxycodone, and the name of an orthopedic specialist. (Worst Lollapalooza ever.)

It’s been nearly four weeks since I bagan this forced vacation; the whole thing is still a lot more than I can wrap my head around. I am extremely fortunate. I have an amazing support group. I have all of my fingers and toes. Besides the swelling, a bit of discoloration and a series of extremely expensive X-rays, there really isn’t a lot to see. The injury (“break”) to the bone was just short of requiring surgery. And it turns out that both of the drivers were carrying insurance, which is a huge relief.

The hardest moments have been intimate and isolating. Routine activities are suddenly complicated. Too often, I’ve parodied House, lurching from chair to couch and from room to room, barking about “the pain.” My lower back, armpits, and the palms of my hands ache from using the crutches. A leg brace prevents me from driving. And everybody else’s driving is really messing with my head. Getting the day’s mail has been elevated to a personal challenge, and walking my dog is a humorous but highly discomforting exercise. At best, getting from my bedroom to the kitchen in time to answer my phone is a crapshoot.

The only thing worse than being totally dependent on my girlfriend to care for my endless needs is admitting just how erratic and emotional I can be.

Fortunately, I can also see that the tougher moments are passing. In every sense, I am getting stronger by the hour. I’m told I can expect at least/about six more weeks of physical therapy and recovery. There really is no reason to worry about me; I expect a full recovery, sooner rather than later.

We all get knocked down. The trick is getting back up.