SoFoBoMo quick review: Our Robot Overlords Revealed

Link: Our Robot Overlords Revealed, by Matt Alofs

The thing is, these pictures are mundane and ordinary. There is no redeeming quality about them at all ... but then you factor in the name of the project.

Then, all of a sudden, there is life and meaning. It's not 3 air vents, it's a group of sentries standing guard. It's not a vacuum and a garbage can and a box, it's a nuclear family standing in the yard.

This is precisely the thing I love most about photography, and project oriented photography in particular. The context can change the meaning of what you see, sometimes drastically. Sometimes it's the title of the photograph, other times it's just the juxtaposition of several photos. I now see our overlords all over.

This is my favorite (So far) SoFoBoMo book.

Matt: Make a second edition, finish it!

SoFoBoMo wrapup: Creating the PDF with Aperture

Using Aperture to create my SoFoBoMo PDF was a natural, it's my photo workflow tool of choice. Hidden among it's asset management and photo editing prowess, it also has powerful book layout tool set.

Just as in iPhoto, you can create photo books using Aperture and get print on demand copies with just a few clicks all without ever leaving the application. Just as with many print on demand books you can only order from several pre-determined sizes. The aspect ratio I chose was non standard so I had to dig deeper.

I decided early on that I was not going to print a book, my project would live on screen in PDF form only. None of the books sizes provided by default in Aperture are the aspect ratio of a Apple Cinema display, so I had to make my own book template. Templates can be created in any size with any number of photos on each page.


I created a custom book template with the aspect ratio of my screen. I then created several page layouts, one, two and three up with a mix of portrait and landscape pages. After creating the layout all I needed to do was place the images in the appropriate places.

You can select an asset view in Aperture that will hide images that have been placed in a layout. This asset view came in quite handy for sequencing. I had many shots that were related, that may have been shot on different days. I was able to scan all of the assets in thumbnail view to drag them into the layout in a logical order, all the while winnowing down the visible set of images.

Generating the PDF was as simple, just print to PDF and viola!

The major bump in the road was the text. I just did not take the time to learn text layout and design in Aperture. Instead, I opened the text pages of the book in Illustrator and added the text selections from there.

The last part of the process was compressing the file. I opened the PDF in Acrobat Pro, and saved it out in compressed form.

All tolled, from the start of book layout to finished PDF it took me about 5 hours, split over 2 days. Aperture made PDF creation simple and painless!

Link to the finished book blog posting

Flickr: Project oriented photography group

Project oriented photography group on Flickr

I enjoyed participating in SoFoBoMo so much, that I want to extend it, or at least practice more project based photography. I'm willing to bet there are a few more SoFoBoMo'ers that may want to do so as well.

To that end I have created a Flickr group for it.

Group Description:

======

This is a group dedicated to the photographic series. I have found that a series of photographs that belong together are not only dificult to produce, but far more rewarding than striving to produce a single photo that might say ... make explore, or be included in a greatest hits photo compilation.

If you prefer the long playing form of photography, please join and post your projects to the pool. (See posting rules).

======

Lets see whats in your project!

Project oriented photography group on Flickr

SoFoBoMo wrapup: Processing the files

(Photo: "Cant make up my mind" - from a trip to Austin TX last week)

In my last SoFoBoMo entry I discussed shooting, and a little processing. In this one I'll discuss how I processed the files in a more in-depth manner.

After doing all the shooting, rating, sorting and deleting many shots I ended up with over 100 shots to process. I wanted to process all of the RAW files in Adobe Camera Raw, move into Photoshop and do the black and white conversion there. I quickly figured out that it would simply take too long to finish that way. (Largely because I waited till the last 2 days of the fuzzy month to do the processing, lesson for next year ... set a date certain for end of shooting and schedule at least a week for post)

I ended up using Aperture for most processing and black and white conversion. And, in hindsight, it may have been better to do it that way. I could look at all of the files at once, smaller groups of files, two up etc. It gave me the ability to make judgments as to how well the shots fit together in terms of content, composition and processing.




Consistency was the name of the game. Had I done this processing in ACR and Photoshop, I'm sure I would have had to do a lot more re-edits to get the to look consistent. Using Aperture it changed the process from editing a single image and moving to the next to editing them as a group. Zooming in and out on groups of them and looking at them as thumbnails helped to smooth out the rough edges a lot.

I made the decision to go for a film grain and toned look early in this process. Unfortunatly Aperture does not have a grain (noise) generator, and the toning simply leaves a lot to be desired. With 108 images to process and only a few free hours over the last 2 days of my fuzzy month I had to take the easy way out.

I ended up using Alien Skin Exposure. I selected a TRI-X 400 preset and worked with the grain and tone controls to get a look I enjoyed. I then exported the files from Aperture as TIFF and created a Photoshop action to help apply the plugin to the files and save them as new files.

Then I took these files, and imported them back into Aperture for final sequencing and layout ... yes ... layout.

Next: Creating a PDF book with Aperture.

SoFoBoMo wrapup: Shooting Rodin

(Photo: From a promo shoot for one of the bands I'm in)

Shooting other peoples art is tricky. Some might say that when you photograph another persons art you should endeavor to only document the piece, and not try to expand on it or try and claim your photograph as art. Some would say the exact opposite. I am leaning towards the latter.

That is to say, I did not approach the sculpture garden to just inventory and document the works there. I wanted to capture it's effect on me, it's often visceral and wrenching effect. So I put all of the tools I could to work towards that end, camera position, composition, light, focal length, aperture, bokeh etc.


The Martyr, Rodin

Light became a bit of a problem, in that there was way too much hard light most of the time. I had set aside lunchtime to work on this project so the middle of the day was when I had to shoot. I was lucky in that there were some (rare) overcast days while I was there.

Over the course of shooting I tripped the shutter a total of about 1000 times on 6 trips of between 1 and 2 hours each. It's a 15 min round trip to the garden from work, so a few long lunches were involved.

All of the photos were imported into Aperture for initial editing and ranking. However, my fuzzy month was made even more fuzzy because of that crazy bad flu going around. Being in bed ate up a lot of shooting and editing time. As a result I spent my up-time shooting, and down time in bed. This left most of the sorting and editing to the end which, in hind sight, was a mistake.

Looking at the book now (with a weeks perspective on it), I should have cut it down to about 1/2 the size. But, without the limitations of SoFoBoMo I bet I would still be out shooting.

Next: Creating the book itself

SoFoBoMo Wrapup: Why I love/Hate to talk about gear

(Photo: From a promo shoot for one of the bands I'm in)

In short-
Why I love to talk about gear: I'm a geek/knob twiddling boob.

Why I hate to talk about gear: The knob twiddling boob in me often gets in the way of producing creative output.

There were some great essays (here and here) regarding the question of "Is it the camera or photographer?"

After reading both I decided to tell all my friends to buy the gear listed below, but only if they wanted to be serious photographers. NOT! ... :)

Truly, in photography, music or any other kind of art it is the passion of the individual and the ability to communicate that passion in their medium that matters most. If the person is truly passionate, they will also select the tool that allows them to best communicate that passion. Both of those essays make that point, to me at least.

To that end, these are the tools I used to try and communicate what the Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford is like:
Cameras:
Canon G9 point and shoot
Canon 400D XTi

Lenses:
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8
Canon 85mm F1.8
Canon 50mm F1.4
Sigma 30mm F1.4
Canon 75-300 F4-F5.6

In addition, I decided early in this project, not to put any info about the gear used in the book. I also decided to not us the words "me", "mine" or "I" anywhere in the book. The book is not about me, or my gear. The book is about the Rodin Sculpture Garden at Stanford. I have too much respect for the art Rodin created to put anything else in the book that was not on point.

But ... perhaps I should include a BIO in the next book, and a gear list. I did enjoy reading those in the other SoFoBoMo Projects..... :)

Next: Shooting SoFoBoMo Style ... I think ...

SoFoBoMo wrapup part 1, back to the beginning

(Photo: "Mike" From a promo photo shoot for one of my bands)

I've completed my SoFoBoMo book. I did it even though I had the worst Flu I have ever had in my life! I may have finished the book, but I did not get a chance to blog about it much at the time. So I will roll back and blog about it a little before I move on to my next project.

To begin from the beginning then... My interest in Photography has lead to an interest in The History of Photography, which has lead to an interest in Art history which has lead to ... etc etc etc... Now I cant help it, I'm obsessed with the visual arts.

I decided to make SOFoBoMo a learning experience as well. I picked a subject I knew little about, but found fascinating, and used SoFoBoMo as an excuse to research and learn more about it.

I first heard about the Rodin sculpture garden from my friend Kenny, he used some photos he took there for an album cover. While watching the Gallery Channel I ran across a fascinating biography of Rodin put the two together, I realized I was sitting on (near) the third largest collection of pieces by this master in the world.

The third factor that lead to selecting this subject was happenstance, I had to deliver of a performance contract to a client at Stanford. While there I took a walk around campus with my camera to see what I could see. I walked into the The Burghers of Calais and fell in love with these bronzes as a photographic subject.

Next entry "Why do I need to talk about gear?" or "Why I love to talk about gear" ... or something similar... :)

Rodin - SoFoBoMo 08 - Is done!

Download Rodin, SofoBoMo 08 PDF (22mb)

It's done, just under the wire ... I could fuzz the month, but why stress on it. I just wich I could have done 2 in the fuzzy month to get a a Paul Butzi print.

I was a little rushed at the end to get the book finished, I will blog about the process ... after work.... :)

I just noticed that SoFoBoMo.org is running. It will be nice to have a place to host this and future SoFoBoMo'ers.

Update: Since I did not have the time to blog much while I was doing the book, I'll spend some time blogging it now, revising and extending my remarks:
SoFoBoMo wrapup part 1, Back to the beginning
SoFoBoMo Wrapup: Why I love/Hate to talk about gear
SoFoBoMo wrapup: Shooting Rodin
SoFoBoMo wrapup: Processing the files
SoFoBoMo wrapup: Creating the PDF with Aperture

(Sofobomo) Time is not on my side, but I sold a photo!

I want to finish! But time is slipping, into the future (A truism by the Steve Miller band)

I am close, I have edited the shots down to 108, and may bring them down further depending on how the layout goes.

Some amazing books going up. I hope I get mine done in time

In other news:
I sold my first photograph!

I am now a professional photographer... heh.... it was a framed and matted version of the pic below.


It was the fist time I ever displayed my prints in public.

I played a show with my good friend Kenny Schick, we both displayed our prints. We had a great time playing, I opened the show, Kenny and Heather played, then all three of us did 4 songs together.

It was fun!

And there was a documentary crew there ... but thats a long story.

Kenny was playing, my favorite, "Calling you" in this shot. The song involves some percussive guitar slaps, very cool. Check out his music

Resignation

Today will be my last shoot for SoFoBoMo Book one. If it is not, I will never finish. I have enough shots to do it... so as one horse said to the other "Why the long face?"

I want perfection, it is in my nature. Perhaps it is even the reason I take photos and play music, it's all about the pursuit of the perfect moment. Well, it is for me at least.

However, if I don't finish, I fail. Failure is as far from perfection as one can get.

So... last shoot ... today.

And, for LeeAnne, I have had five shoots at an hour each so far and generally click the shutter around 200 times each time I go out (Filling a 2 gig card). However, I may only get 4 or 5 shots that are up to snuff, or none ... as has happened ... so while I have more than enough shots that *could* be used for the project, I'm not sure if I want to use them.

SoFoBoMo Book 2, Neon, but first the internal editor and book one....

But .... must focus ... finish book 1.

And, it's not going well, so book 2 may not be in the cards for the fuzzy month. Right now I'm stuck in a space where my internal editor is yelling at me. Nothing I'm shooting seems to be good enough for her. The main complaints seem to center around:

• Technical issues (blown highs, blocked lows, depth of field ...)
• Matters of style and being consistently wishy washy about which style is right for the project
  
• And qualifications, "You're not qualified to do this, you are not a photographer! You don't have an MFA!" she says.

I go through this a lot with music, and have had many recording sessions that sit on the shelf for many of the same reasons.

I just have to remember....
"I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me."

Of yesterday and today, SoFoBoMo

"If the artist only reproduces superficial features
as photography does, if he copies the lineaments
of a face exactly, without reference to
character, he deserves no admiration. The resemblance
which he ought to obtain is that of the soul;
that alone matters; it is that which the sculptor
or painter should seek beneath the mask of
features." A. Rodin

From the book "Art by A. Rodin"

I love google books.

Sick of being sick, but it will not stop my SoFoBoMo plans!

I have the flu, the 6 week one ... it's putting all my SoFoBoMo plans in jeopardy ...

I think I am closer to finding a consistent look and feel to the pics for the book.

* Warm tone B&W
* Add grain
* More mid tones than before

I also may put the G9 to use, the small sensor added DOF factor may be a cool thing.

Thinking about Roy Decarava (SoFoBoMo)

Shooting Rodin is turning out to be much harder than I thought. The specular highlights make it hard to capture the detail in the highlights and the dark areas.

Roy Decarava would use the darkness to his advantage ... but I'm thinking about bracketing exposures and HDR ... then again ... there is Roy....

Lies, damn lies and photography ... and SofoBoMo!

"It is the artist who is truthful and it is photography which lies, for in reality time does not stop, and if the artist succeeds in producing the impression of a movement which takes several moments for accomplishment, his work is certainly much less conventional than the scientific image, where time is abruptly suspended." - Rodin

That is why the only text in my book will be Rodin quotes....

(Photo: The Three Shades" B&W, Rotated 90 degrees, mirrored on the horizontal axis, with vignette added ... all lies)

Selecting a subject

(Photo: Rambling Jack Elliot, last night, my band opened for him... P.S. he hates having his picture taken while he's playing, and told me so right after this snap)

The book "On being a photographer" by Bill Jay and David Hurn has some great info on this issue ... (From memory here, I loaned the book out)

List the subjects you are interested in
1. Rank them in terms of how passionate you are about them
2. Rank them in terms of how "interesting" they are to your target audience
3. Rank them in terms of how accessible they are (Can you get to them often and easily)
4. Rank them in terms of how photogenic they are
5. Rank them in terms of how knowledgeable you are about them, how much can you say as an expert

At some point in the process the choice will become clear ...

"On being a photographer" is a great photography book ... it contains no pictures.... :)

This has nothing to do with how I selected my subject... I had a business meeting at Stanford and took a walk afterwards with my camera and ran into the Rodin installation.

It's amazing art that photographs well, but is still challenging to work with as it is black(ish) and the surface is shiny so you are mainly working with specular highlights, also because of the dark material managing exposure and dynamic range are tricky .... I digress ....

I decided that I wanted to learn more about Rodin, so it's my mission for SoFoBoMo to learn more about Rodin , then try and express what I learn thru photography.

That being said ... I think I want to try and do 2 books ... because I want a Butzi print and cant afford his normal prices!

I may implement the Jay/Hurn method to select book two, after I finish Book one.

SoFoBoMo - First shots and research

I took my first set of shots yesterday. The first thing that went wrong was... I forgot to bring any of my zoom lenses. All I had on me was my low light kit 30mm 1.4, 50mm 1.4 and 85mm 1.8 prime lenses. I stayed with the 30mm.

I shot for about 30 min, ate lunch in the car on the way over from work. 15 min to get there for a total of 30 min drive time. It fits into a lunch hour well.

I may have one keeper shot from this session, but I will reserve that decision for later in the process.

Meanwhile I have begun to research the artist and the works I'm photographing:
Wiki Page for the B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts
Musee Rodin
Rodin Wikipedia
Rodin Web

Pictured above is "The Martyr", part of "The gates of hell" but removed from that context and displayed larger and on it's own. It seems that much of the work from Rodin, done is his later period, springs from "The gates of hell".

As Mr. Spock would say ... "Fascinating...."

SoFoBoMo Insomnia

I had SoFoBoMo insomnia last night... visions of shooting Rodin sculpture in various conditions....

* In the rain
* At night with flashes
* At night light painting with colored lights
* In the daylight with fill flash
* Macro abstracts

And the list goes on ... I am excited to the point of distraction about this project.

SoFoBoMo Day 1

I made the decision to do it yesterday, I have my subject picked out:
The Rodin collection at Stanford University

I created a blog to document the process:
dbwalker.blogspot.com

Now I'm looking at how to put together the book. I use Aperture for my workflow needs, Aperture has some crude book layout capability built in. You can position the photos on a page and output to a PDF.

The text layout and editing capabilities leave me a bit cold though, so I may do further editing in Illustrator.

As for a dimensions, I have selected: 16:9 ....

I have no illusions that I wlll actually print this book. So the target viewing platform is my computer, or my TV. Both of these are wide screen so 16:9 will take advantage of the real estate offered by both devices.

For more info go to:
photomusings.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/solo-photo-book-month/

SoFoBoMo MoFo

I cant resist ... I will be doing the SoFoBoMo boogie.

My subject is the Rodin sculpture installation at Stanford University in Stanford California. Stanford has the third largest collection of Rodin in the world, including

* The Burghers of Calais
* The Gates of Hell
* The Kiss
* The Thinker

Amazing art to look at, let alone photograph.

photomusings.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/solo-photo-book-month/