Girl Petting Bunny at Lavendar Fest

Last weekend it was the Lavendar Fest just outside Beaumont, CA. It was a joy to see all the purple flowers and a bit surreal seeing a petting zoo and tasting food with lavendar in it.

The fest, in Cherry Valley at the Highland Springs Resort, is a kind of Western fantasy land. The resort, built in 1884, contains giant rusted crop tools sprinkled all over the property, vast lavendar fields and a great cactus garden.

I chose this image because I’m a sucker for petting zoos. Animals truely are lovely.

Blog Review Monday

Today I review “Ask the Photographer,” a site strong on helping out all photographers in a variety of genres. On the Home Page you’ll find a prominent “featured” article. On this given day it’s entitled, “Tutorial, Photoshop for 70 basketball portraits in two days.” Initially looking at it, I have to scratch my head and ask just exactly what does that mean. Have no fear though, as there’s a short description of the featured article right below the leading headline and photograph.

Once you click on the headline to get to the article, you find that the writer, Dustin Snipes, has a stash of some very good equipment. As he says, “To get a hard look, you have to have a hard light,” he does. When filming basketball players for this post he used Alien Bees Ab800 backlights. He also has fill lights and background light. Oh, the joys of having good lighting equipment!

Going back to the Home Page, the avatar, “Ask the Photographer” really is too small, but the rest of the page looks super–balanced elements, contrasting, matching colors and simple sans serif fonts. At the top of the page are tabs for About Us, Ask a Question, Forum, Glossary and Photoblogs.

Most interesting of the bunch is “Ask the Photographer,” a place where you can, well, ask a photographer a question (by email)–any question about photography. They specify, “ask about anything from general photography advice, to photoshop tips, to business tips–the sky’s the limit! No question is too big or too small.”  The questions and answers are given by clicking Questions in the links that are listed at the bottom of the Home Page. The questions are not only answered, but a book is promoted in the process: “101 Things Every Photographer Should Know.” Boy, that sounds familiar. As I recall I’m in the process of writing a “101 Quick and Easy Secrets” photography book series. Oh, what competition!  Other items in those links are: Featured, Link of the Day, News and Rumors.

Great design continues on the Home Page where there is a scrolling list of selected posts, each with a thumbnail pic and a short description of what’s in the post. The images are riviting!

Overall a great site. I’d give it a 10! It’s worth at least a half hour of your time.

12 MP Fujifilm FinePix F200EXR Best or Money Back

The Fuji FinePix F200 EXR is touted as a camera that will take the best pictures in an unedited media release on a New Zealand Web site. In the release, Fujifilm guarantees it.

Hey! That’s a pretty big claim. While reading that claim, I felt an inkling to do a bit of research on the camera. I mean I can always use a good point and shoot for candid photography.

It’s In the Sensor, Baby

So what makes this camera the best? Well, it was named the “Best Compact Digital Camera 2009” at the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) in Europe. And it has a super sensor–the Super CCD EXR–that adjusts itself wherever you are. The camera has three sensor modes, one of which is an EXR AUTOmode mode which optimizes the camera’s sensor for the best shot. (Gee, I never use auto mode on my dSLR; how can a point-and-shoot have a better auto mode than a dSLR?)

Digital Photography School Calls Sensor “Very Promising”

Digital-Photography-School.com called the camera a ground-breaking event for Fujifilm.  It says the sensor is very promising. It highlights an excellent point and one that would draw me to the camera: It has manual controls, including aperture and shutter priority modes.

The camera has a 5X optical zoom, f/stop 3.3-5, focal length 28-140mm (35 mm equiv), video capability and ISO 3200 at full resolution.

Glenn Losack: Photography’s New Conscience

I had the opportunity to interview Glenn Losack,  M.D.  after a Facebook friend referred him to me. One of his themes of his photographs–symmetry–caught my eye because I have a chapter in my newest book, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs, devoted to symmetry. He’s both a psychiatrist and a photojournalist. What a combination! His photos have appeared in National Geographic and American Photo magazines.

His story is incredible:

1. What made you think of symmetry as a theme for a photo show (his Symmetry photo show appeared at Solas Gallery in New York City. It ends June 7)?

I  discovered that “SYMMETRY”  brought forth numerous  fascinating subliminal, metaphorical, psychological and cultural  themes that weren’t evident in the original images [images before they were processed in Photoshop].   Symmetry also  enhanced the asthetic beauty of images. I found that it didn’t work for many images, but those that were “symmetrizable” successfully,  I  felt needed to be made public  to instill intellectual analysis and discourse.

2. What image editing program do you use?

PHOTOSHOP CS4  the absolute KING of all applications. It is one of the greatest inventions of the modern era.

3. How long does it take to make an image?

I can spend hours on an image. Some  I work on for days  until I am satisfied.  The average time is about a few hours. The real truth is an image is never finished. You have to though call it quits when you think you’ve gotten the point across.

4. What’s your favorite image?

(He mentions two: YOKO- PRAGUE CZECH REPUBLIC and BLIND BABY SITTER- DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, pictured above)

An impossible question to answer.  There are so many of them. My catalogue is close to 8000 images.
The two that come to mind is one that is owned by YOKO ONO ( the wife of John Lennon ) and the other made it into National Geographic.

5. What statement are you conveying in your image?

I have several goals with my photography. I am a devout advocate for the downtrodden, disenfranchised,  scapegoated, handicapped, beggars of the world, etc… ( Please go to the web site and peruse  INDIAN BEGGARS).  I have photographed in India for the last 20 years. I have photographed Leper colonies, mental hospitals, beggars of all types, self mutilating religious festivals, cremations, and many other subjects that the West have never seen or know very little about. I try to  make my work on the disenfranchised palatable for my audience so that their first reaction is not one of  shock or denial. I try to give the downtrodden honor dignity and respect.

Trained as a psychiatrist/medical doctor, I  attempt  to understand the inner world of my subjects; their personalities, their  eccentricities and many times  the  oddities of humanity fascinate me. Basically I am trying to help my audience look at what is in general difficult to look at.

Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts, ideologies and photography with you.

Glenn’s Web site is at http://www.glennlosackmd.com.