Ambient Art

Here is the lattest update to my ever on going ambient art project (someday to be re-titled Emptyness and Form)

Photo of the Week

Bill Deasy playing at Mansions on Fifth.

Engagement Film

Chasing The Moon...

I spent the last 3 days chasing the moon.  This is a short 1 minute film with time-lapse and still images.  The film was shoot with Nikon D800, for the gear heads out there.

Last Night Gig...

Brad Yoder playing at the Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh last night.

Photos of the Week

Moment

Current Reading: Who Owns the Future by Jaron Lanier
Current Music: Renaissance by Marcus Miller 
Mood: Happy
Smells: Fresh air
Sounds: Cars driving by
Temperature: 74 degrees
Thoughts: Been with out a computer for two weeks, analog life comes to a close.

Time off

Time off of blogging for the next couple of days. See you next week.

Photo of the Week

Consol Energy Center Stanley Cup Playoffs

Are You A Pro

What is your starting place?

Today there is no barrier to achieve going pro. Honestly, there are no pros but we are all pros each in our way.

I believe that there are four types of photographers who call themselves a pro:

1. You buy a DSLR camera, turn it on Auto and lie to everyone that you are a pro.

2. You buy a DSLR camera, turn it on Auto and your Facebook friends tell you that you are good at taking pictures.  (Pictures, not photos...big difference) Hence, you think that you are a pro.

3. You buy a DSLR and take a couple of classes and workshops.  You learn how to shoot in Manual and then open a website and tell everyone that you are a pro. (just because you can shoot in Manual does not make you a pro; it only means that you know how to use a tool, a.k.a. the camera.  I know how to use a hammer and a saw...that does not make me a carpenter).

4. You buy a DSLR, maybe you study it in college, or take a workshop, or intern with a working professional. You spend a lifetime pursuing the craft, never once getting to the skill level that you think you should be at.  You work, you study, you practice, you shoot, you shoot, you shoot, you love it. You appreciate compliments but never feel that you deserve them.  You spend an entire life at a beginner's mindset never losing that feeling of being a passionate hobbyist. This is what a working photographer is.  When ego and insecurity are at battle with each other at all times, but your passion for the craft never dies.

What type of pro are you?

Moment

Current Reading: Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou

Current Music: Next Day by David Bowie

Mood: Little sleep, some energy 

Smell: Coffee strong coffee

Sounds: Wind and typing keys

Temperature: 68 degrees 

Thoughts: Fact or truth, which one distorts? 

Engagement Film

You got to see a bit from Ceci &; Joe’s E-Session Part Deux and I know you remember their feature on Style Me Pretty for their E-Session Part Une, which included a fun little film.

Well here is the film for the 2nd part of their E-Session.

Make sure you view it to the end…we had a little fun with it. Enjoy.

Remember This ~

You do not need to be STRONG enough for whatever life throws at you…..You need to be COMPASSIONATE enough to be of service to it.

Photo of the Week ~ Street Art

9 Seconds of Relaxation

Photography Class & Lecture

I will be speaking at South Park Library as part of their summer creative series.  For those of you that have attended workshops of mine in the past this is a good chance to get a refresher.  For those of you wanting to take my workshop in the future this is a great sneak peek into what you will learn.

I will be discussing “All Things Photography” and there will be an extensive Q&A session at the end of the lecture.


Date: Tuesday July 22nd
Time: 7pm
Place: South Park Library
Cost: Free

Moment

Current Reading: Inferno by Dab Brown
Current Music: Start Again by Bill Deasy
Mood: Great, going to Kennywood amusement park today!!!
Smell: Coffee
Sounds: Water running
Temperature: 63 degrees
Thoughts: I believe in the power of prayer...what I do not believe in is waiting around for pray to work. Prayer with purpose and effort gets results much faster.

Engagement

Not to often do I post photos from the day job, but, I had so much fun last night I wanted to show a couple of these pics.  Be sure to check out Elizabeth's blog for more on our engagement work.

Clouds ~ Time lapse

Spent yesterday sitting outside on a could May day making this time lapse.  The orginal time lapse was 30 seconds, just to long to watch, I cut it down to 7 seconds.  This feels watchable.

Fast Feet ~

My new side project for the next couple of months is timelaspe. Quick tip for those wanting to try out timelaspe photography, be sure to download Kessler app.....

5 Seconds of Cuteness

Moment

Current Reading: Empty Cloud by Xu Yun
Current Music: Emotion and Commotion by Jeff Beck
Mood: Suchness ~ Tathagata
Smell: Green smoothie
Sound: Funk
Temperature: 63 degrees
Thought: Who is carrying this corpse about?

Wedding Photography

Not to often that I post a wedding photo, if you want to see more of my wedding work check out:
Craig Photography Wedding
Wedding Blog 

Photo of the Week

House of Vinyl Albums ~ Creative Non Fiction

I remember when I was 19yrs old and playing music in a broken down house in Squirrel Hill, PA.  The house was owned or rented by a Jewish kid not much older than myself at that time. He must have been a trust-fund baby to have the ability to live in grandeur and filth all at the same time.

The house was an old victorian home built over 100 years ago.  The rooms were large and ceilings high. Dark wood trim covered every doorway, the walls were lined with built-in bookshelves that held nothing more than dust.  No furniture, no lamps, no food in the kitchen...just records.  Vinyl albums, rows and rows of vinyl albums lined the hardwood floors. There must have been thousands of them.  They filled up all the floor space in three rooms, all lined up with records.  It was as if an actual record store at that time had forgotten about this space.  The only thing missing was the convenient rack so you could browse through the collections with ease.

A Macintosh stereo and two large Klipsch speakers sat in the far right corner of what should have been the living room on the floor playing weird music. This stereo was the only piece of furniture in the whole house. This stereo was worth more than most cars at the time. Serious high-end gear.

Wine bottles with candlesticks shoved where the cork went lit the room.  There were probably about 15 of these candle-wine-bottles placed throughout the house. Fire hazard for sure.  Never quite knew why he lit the room with candlelight. There was electric to play music on the stereo.

A drummer friend of mine named Max took me over one day to listen to music at his place. Max knew him from the record store that he worked in.  I never really new this kid who's house we played music at.  He opened his home to us because he enjoyed supporting local musicians.

We sat on the floor and were introduced to music that you could never hear on the radio. This was magical to me.  That there was music out there that was not played on the radio.

The kid who owned the house never really talked to me or any of us for that matter.  He would say things like “this group is from Seattle” or “this music is from San Fran” but never did he say “hi” or ask my name.  He took no interest in what was going on around him in daily life either.  He was like the boy who lived in the bubble with the largest and strangest record collection ever.  A savant of music who wore a kippah, brown t-shirt and green pants at all times; never did I see him in another change of clothes. He was an extremely skinny kid with red curly-wired hair who smelled of body odor and a musty old house.  The only food I ever saw him eat was Hostess Twinkies and  HO HOs. He would wash them down with diet cherry cola.  The plastic wrappers and empty bottles were the only proof that this kid ever went outside for anything other than to buy vinyl albums.

Never did I discover how he collected all those records. You couldn't buy them at your local record store. This was pre-internet and there was no researching online. I am sure that there must have been catalogs that listed these artists but where a 19-year old kid would find them will remain a mystery to me.

Max would tell me how this kid would come into the record store and comb through the racks of albums but never buy anything.  At first they thought he must be a shoplifter but that was not to be.  Simply a shopper who could not find what he was looking for.

Max would eventually move into the upper attic room of this house.  He would also furnish it with only a single mattress placed in the center of the floor with no sheet, just an old afghan from his parent's place. A large suitcase sat opened in the corner with all of his clean clothes.  A larger pile of dirty clothes sat next to the suitcase. Two wine bottles with candles burning for light and a stereo on the floor playing P-Funk and Bob Marley (finally some music that I actually knew).  And a couple of hundred albums that he stole form the recored store that he worked in lined all four walls.

As for me, I would sit on the floor with my back against the wall and listen.  That's what you did when music was played on vinyl records: you listened. You took in the musicianship and dreamed of what you could do.

This was back in 1989 when independent music was nothing more than a zygote of an idea. Few artists dreamed of independence from a record label. We dreamed of being signed.  Five friends: Max on drums, me on bass, Erik on guitar, Matt on guitar and Ross laying down the voice. We would meet at the “house of vinyl albums” and play music in the basement.

The odd smelly Jewish kid would sit on the steps and listen. Never giving us his opinion, never showing emotion, no idea if he likeed the sound or not.  There he sat and listened.  That's what you do with music: listen.

Never knew why we quit playing music at the house of vinyl...it just slipped away.  Never knew why I quit playing music with that bunch of guys...it just slipped away.

Years later I found out that Max moved to California and became a professional party crasher.  A hollywood star-filled party crasher. Once he ended up on Entertainment Tonight in the background of a Tom Cruise interview.

Matt became a banker somewhere in the midwest.  Erik married his college sweetheart. I gave Ross a job in photography and then had to fire him. He has never spoken to me since. As for me...I just started buying music again on vinyl… I love it.

Lost to me is what happened to that kid with the unbelievable vinyl collection. At times when I find myself in Squirrel Hill I drive around looking for that old house.  I can’t even remember the street that it is on.

Re Imagine ~ The Film

Can you love yourself? Can you see the beauty within yourself? This is a film about Elizabeth Craig, an intimate photographer and her passion to re-introduce women back to themselves.

 

Overcoming Fear in your Photography

This is not the photo that I wanted to take. The photo I wanted to take I did not take due to the fact that I was scared to snap the shutter.

Ten feet to the right of this photo was a homeless man. A homeless man, with long gray hair that was past his shoulders.  He was dressed in black dress pants, black dress shirt, barefoot and siting in the lotus position on a large piece of cardboard.  Behind him was his shopping cart filled with all his life possessions.  He looked at peace with himself.  He looked wise.  He looked as if once he had everything a man could hope for then walked away from his daily life in search of truth. In search of higher meaning. A Buddha wondering in the park.

That is the shot I wanted to take.

Why did I not take it?

Fear. I felt uncomfortable because he was watching me closely.  As I kept an eye on him for an opportunity to sneak in a shot he kept a watch on me.  In hindsight I should have walked over and talked with him and offered him a couple of dollars and permission to take his photo.

Would that have offended him? I do not know. But what I do know is that I lacked the courage to take the photo, missing an opportunity to document this moment.

I go to this park all the time.  The park is across the street from our studio.  I have done hundreds of shoots in this park, never before have I seen this man.

I am guessing that I will never see him again.

Lesson learned: face your fears, be honest with yourself, talk with your subject….and take the shot.

The light is never the same twice.

Photo of the Week

RUN

RUN with a compassionate heart...  Prayers for Boston.