Lights, Wisdom, and Human Rights

This one is a juicy one! So last time I promised to tell you about how I made my decision on what lighting I chose to go for. Here goes. BUT FIRST RULE #1!!!! This is my explanation, my reasoning...not it for everybody. Rule #2 This is not to naysay any specific brand. Keep that in mind...and we'll be fine. Savvy?

So my evaluations came down to 2 brands. Profoto...the ultra elite super high end lighting manufacturer....and in the right corner (wearing the yellow trousers) Alien Bee's; the versatile, uber cost effective lighting guru's. Both puts out great quality. I have alway rented Profoto's...Always. They are super tough, way easy to use and it doesn't suck dropping the name of Profoto on a shoot. That being said a good friend of mine Michael Hawkins invested in Alien Bee's and has thrown out some amazing work as well.

So what the deuce? Why would anybody pay close to 4 times as much for another brand?? If you mention a newer/cheaper brand like Alien Bee's to a old shooter veteran you will more than likely get some "grow the hell up little boy" look and speech. But you have have to remember the number 1 rule of taking criticism, where is this coming from? Old Schoolers that shot in purist days of film...yes film, had other things to consider! No photoshop, lightroom, aperture, color correction. Lights had serious differences...specifically color tint. Low end lights might give off a green or yellow hue. (Not saying AB's at all) This was not too easy to fix back in the day of dark rooms. Now if something is a little too yellow...color correct one and then apply to the whole batch. Yay! takes about 45 seconds.

So am I talking trash about Profoto....no....HECK NO. I love them, would love to own them. But do you absolutely HAVE TO HAVE the best in the world or get your junk off the field kid? No. Some of best work I have seen has actually been done with Alien Bee's. So that's who I went with. 4 heads, a ring flash, and more stands, power packs, softboxes and umbrellas than you can shake a stick at...and haven't regretted it one bit. I'm not gonna have to mortgage a kidney if a head drops. They are not some trash or garage sale quality...they are built smart, but cost effective. So perhaps you have some other logic or reasoning? Let us know. We are a community with a special camaraderie. Don't be shy.

I'm a big strobist fan as well...make it if you can! Guy's like Joe McNally and John Hobby make a good living with smaller strobes. It really all comes down to what you want to accomplish your goals with my friends. Hope this was helpful.

And NOW because I love you...a few cool video's for your eye's delight. Both are def worth the watch. First is Andrew Zuckerman's "Wisdom Project" You can find it on Apple's site HERE.


To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Seth Brau recently completed the rather daunting task of bringing the words to life with motion graphics.


Keep the Faith

BRAUN....and Patton
Dallas Based Photographer

Fashiontastic

I recently made the choice to invest in some serious lighting and have at the high end portrait/fashion world of photography. It was just that time in my career that I wanted/needed to invest in more equipment to go bigger and farther. So I dropped my savings into lights and more gear you can carry on your own back...(and a few others too) and jumped with faith as my only assurance. If your one of us US and A'ers (and self employed to add to the fun) you've probably been loving the good news of how our economy just got dropped in the toilet...seems we are just awaiting the big flush. These days more is at stake, but you can't live in fear right?

This shoot was a lot of fun. Natalie, the model, was a great sport and did a superb job...clearly. I had left my iphone in the camera bag a little inland because I didn't want to get it wet sloshing around in the water. My good friend Chris turned on his master tracker skills and somehow found us at our secluded beach to help with the shoot. How I don't know. Maybe it's time to switch deodorants again. Both of these peeps are rock stars! Thank you so much for making this shoot successful!

With so much information being available and great fashion shooters like Nigel Barker and others, the bar is set high to make something beautiful. Fashion (to me) is the imagination to involve style and art into everyday life. Others I'm sure have different opinions and definitions... Which is one reason why this world is so amazing.

My next blog I will go into my decision on which lights I went with and why.

Let me know what you think?

Have fun

BRAUN
Dallas Based Photographer

Tilt Shift Heaven

I've been craving a tilt/shift lens forever now, and with these video's by Keith Loutit I feel I might start twitching. haha. Probably the most well known T/S (Perspective Control for us Nikonians) photographer lately has been Vincent Laforet. I dig his stuff...big time. Now with the new DSLR's that shoot HD video I think we will begin to see footage that has never been imagined. Us photographers look a little closer at this world don't we? Have fun!


Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

BRAUN....and Patton
Dallas Based Photographer

Robots and Monsters Help People too!

OK so you're probably thinking this guy has lost his mind...again. Just chill and hear me out. I'm a bit off a pop art buff...especially when I see raw talent that brings me back to drawing in class when I was UBER bored...won't name any names (Mr. Lawson!!). Any who so I saw these bad boys in one of my 70+ blogs I keep up and after learning they are here to help change the world for the better made me dig them any more. (BTW...I started to post just 2 and found that I couldn't eliminate any of these 4. These are my favs...you bet your buttons I'm wanting 1...or 10!) More here Who doesn't love Robots and Monsters. KEEP READING!

"Joe Alterio is proud to announce the reopening of Robots and Monsters: A Charitable Menagerie. Launched in 2007 in order to help raise funds for a marathon to benefit the SF AIDS Foundation, Robots and Monsters is an effort that trades original commissioned art for donations to a good cause. Last time, we had outstanding success due in no small part to postings on blogs like Boing Boing, Drawn!, and Uncrate, which helped us raise over $10,000 in the space of 36 hours. Besides the amazing amount of money raised, almost 200 Robots and Monsters were drawn by Joe, with some help from Special Contributors Adam "Ape Lad" Koford, D. Emory Allen, Michael Gabriel, and Lawrence Yang.

However, Robots and Monsters is now re-launching, and we're excited to announce our new beneficiary of heady, creature goodness: the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For almost 20 years, the EFF has been on the good side of 1st Amendment fights on the web, and considering that R and M couldn't happen without this amazingly wonderful and scary tool that we all use now, we figure we owe them one.

Fifty dollars gets you a custom-drawn and painted robot or monster, defined by three words or phrases you provide, sent to your door. What's more, your creature will get added to our ever growing menagerie, for everyone to enjoy.

In a few weeks, we'll also have some great merch, like a cool teeshirts and a limited edition poster of 48 robots and monsters from the the first wave, so be sure to check back regularly.

OK, so lets keep it real...last post (a few days ago) I showed you guys James Nachtwey's project on drug resistant strand of tuberculosis. And now I show these comics? Why?!? Because both are skilled artists that are using their creativity, time (time=money), skills to help better this world. So absolutely I'm going to show these guys to ya...besides the fact that I really want one. I don't claim to understand everything art...but if I know it's going toward helping extend people's lives or improve this world, then I can definitely understand that.

MUCH LOVE

BRAUN

James Nachtwey + TED. 37 Photos for Millions of Lives

Follow-Up to my last. James Nachtwey delivers his project, to TED for his work to help the world and create awareness to a new, drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that's touching off a global medical crisis...XDR-TB. And to follow Nachtwey's wishes, please share it with your friends and learn 3 vital ways to take action to stop XDR-TB.

From TED.com:

For the past three decades, James Nachtwey has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues, working in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Russia, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Romania, Brazil and the United States.

Nachtwey has been a contract photographer with Time since 1984. However, when certain stories he wanted to cover -- such as Romanian orphanages and famine in Somalia -- garnered no interest from magazines, he self-financed trips there. He is known for getting up close to his subjects, or as he says, "in the same intimate space that the subjects inhabit," and he passes that sense of closeness on to the viewer.

In putting himself in the middle of conflict, his intention is to record the truth, to document the struggles of humanity, and with this, to wake people up and stir them to action.

"Reticent about discussing his own life beyond the basic facts, he's clearly one of those rare characters who focus singularly on their work with a missionary-like sense of purpose." Salon.com

BRAUN

Genius is as Genius as does

Do you ever find out about somebody that you seem like they should have told you who this was when you were born? Like everybody knows who this is and you have somehow...by some miracle blundered through life while managing to be completely ignorant of this remarkable person. This is how I felt when I read on Vincent Laforet's blog about James Nachtwey.

This man has captured images of the world that is beyond imagination. I am not saying, "he is a good photographer....go check out his stuff". That would be an insult to him. This man has seen us as a species and cultures live in a way that cannot be described...then managed to shoot photos at the same moment (while I would be huddled in a ball crying and asking God why he doesn't flood the earth once more because of what we as humans do to each other). You listen to the man and realize you could take pretty much anything he says and cast it in bronze and post it in the any museum to be remembered forever. I admit that I have never heard of him, but I had seen many of his images...and will remain forever changed by his work. (mark of a great photojournalist)

Here is a reference on the man's approach. At a portfolio review that he was giving years ago to someone else - (after looking through that person’s portfolio quietly page by page, closing the book and making a single comment before concluding the review right then and there and moving onto the next student, is: "I’m afraid that these pictures don’t tell me anything about who you are.”

For anybody that loves cultures, photography, photojournalism, people, news, philanthropy...or just need to realize that we are not all stuck in the bubble of the suburbs and latte's. Check this out. Not for the faint of heart

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about.
I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof
of the power of news photography in the digital age.”

On October 3, the story breaks. You can help. (CLICK)

Many Blessings to you my friends.

Braun

Livin My Dream

I was doing some post and watching Farm Aid, when I suddenly realized it was quiet enough for me to bust another one out for you....the people I love. How are you?? Exciting stuff has happened. Canon just announced their SUPER BAD 5d mark II that will shoot HD 1080p video. So those that know that I am big supporter of Nikon are probably scratching your heads wondering why I am so bloody excited to announce that currently Canon has the badest boy on the block...or just more decked out...wouldn't say it shoots the best shots. BECAUSE that means the genius's at Nikon just got the competitive flag called out straight in their face. I expect something to come out on a pro level with the quickness. NO you will not shoot a full movie with these, but it would definitely be nice to snag footage with.

Clients and experiences. Some great...some challenging. (often the best ones are both) All wonderful parts of life. Recently I have been greatly blessed by opportunities to shoot for a major client and also capture a great friend's most important day of her life (thus far). Every shoot offers news ways to learn...new people to meet.

Little over a week ago I was asked to go shoot in upstate New York for a major private/corporate aircraft company. I have never spent any time in that side of the country and I must admit....I am addicted!!!! Rolling hills, rivers, beautiful TALL trees...beautiful jets flying in and out of the location...my personal heaven. So when they told me they would be flying me out on their company jet...lets just say I was pretty excited. 35 hours (total gone from Dallas), 1500 shots, 2 subjects (big aircraft), 3.5 hours of sleep.....LOVE IT! (my focus doesn't start blurring til 96+ hours without sleep, haha!) 2 different locations....and a partridge in a pear tree. Though I lost in the friendly poker to the executives on the flight back (my policy to never beat the client) It was a great time and look forward to the next shoot. Many Thanks to Forrest and Gerhard for all your help during the shoot.....as well as Troy for letting me sit left seat on the way back.

Just to give you an idea how big this monster was I posted up beside it.

On the way there....HOW HIGH ARE WE??

I rarely shoot weddings. Some of the most talented and amazing photographers are wedding shooters...I'm just not really one of them. (on a full time basis) But when a good friend asked me to shoot her wedding I couldn't resist. Weddings are fast and furious. Much like an on location editorial approach, shooting as much as you can while maintaining quality.....you dare not miss any of those priceless moments. Its slightly different than my usual "set up the shot" (little) more organized/thought out approach... but really a great time! Changing up styles keep you sharp. Nice to do something that you know will benefit people that you are in direct contact with on a weekly basis. All of the best luck, wishes, success, and Love for you Mackenzie and Colby!

The Groom and His Ninja Merry Men


Don't Stop Believin!

Braun...and Patton