Its sustainable, but is it comfortable?

Recently, I began a new business idea with my girlfriend Barbara and friend Sanders. I won't go into the whole idea because we think its a good one and we want to do it before somebody else does. But it basically looks at the sustainability of buildings. How they are designed, how they are built, what materials they use and don't use, and how that's better for the people who use them. We've had some preliminary meetings and are putting together more solid plan for what we want to achieve. We have our pilot project, a local library that is on track to achieve a LEED gold certification. If you asked me two weeks ago, I would have had said that we had our product and we were ready to start moving forward with it.

Then, last week Barbara and I toured the library with the director and she pointed out all of the LEED elements as well as other innovative components of the library. Afterwards, we had a conference call where Barbara and I briefed Sanders on the tour and what we felt we should highlight. After talking for about 45 minutes, Sanders finally chimed in and said, "I thought that our focus was to highlight the sustainability of the facility and most of the things you guys are talking about are community involvement, fun design for the children's section and art." It then dawned on me that he was totally right, but at the same time he did not understand the whole picture. He hadn't had the opportunity to experience the space, so he had yet to be affected by the space.

When Barbara and I came away from the tour, we weren't excited about the nightly flushing of cool air into the ventilation system to reduce the need to cool the air or even localized task lighting that reduced the need for big overhead room lighting which requires more energy to light a given space. We came out talking about the mini dual flush toilet designed for children(one of the few times I called a toilet cute), the reading room that overlooked the Animas river surrounded by windows which let all the warm morning sun in and the very cool conveyor belt/sorting mechanism for books that come in from the night drop. We realized that our focus wasn't only to show how energy efficient a building could be, but how did the overall design, mechanics and structure improve the experiences of the people who visited the library, worked in the library, rode their bikes past the library.

An architect can design a structure that is built with the most sustainable, recycled goods, has the highest possible energy efficiency, produces no waste into the environment and so on, but if it isn't a comfortable space to exist in then you've lost all of your sustainability. The value of the space has been compromised by the intent to maximize its "sustainability". If nobody uses that space then it becomes a waste of the land it was built upon, a waste of energy to heat and light an empty space as well as all of the resources it took to build it. If the usage and enjoyment of a space is maximized then it increases the sustainable value, simply because it is being used.

The combination of the elements that we don't want to see, smell, hear, ingest along with functional design, creative lines, proportional spaces and comforting colors creates a space that we yearn to comeback to over and over again. Its those spaces that makes us feel mentally, physically and emotionally healthy. That combination creates sustainability. We are going to continue to build structures to live in, work in, recreate in, and govern in. That will never really change. What we can change though, is improving them with more intelligent design. And that smarter design improves our overall experience with them, thus not needing to tear them down and replace them with new structures. That's sustainability.

Our business idea has a new focus.

Animas slate

I'm out in LA right now assisting on a video project. But before I left Durango, I finally got to start a fun, creative project. Here are some preview photos. I'll be putting up a full gallery soon.

Miki creating...

















Brooke












Dylan











Myra

Today, I am giving props to an item that is taken for granted and is greatly unappreciated.

The paper clip.

It is a beautiful thing when an item so small and simple can be used for so many things. Personally, I use it most to affix gels to strobes and softboxes, but its usefulness does not stop there by any means. Here are a couple of other ways that it can be put to work for you.

Clip sheets on a bed to remove wrinkles
Hold a shirt or blouse tight to fit a model
Hold sheets to doors or windows to block light
Use as a bag clip for the potato chips after lunch
Hold slouchy plant stems upright so they look better in photos
Hair clip
Pinch your assistant to wake them up when you are doing a really long boring shoot
Fasten weights to the bottom of a backdrop so it hangs tight
Hang on the bottom of table cloth to remove creases or folds
Hold cords tight on stands or behind furniture to keep them out of sight
Hold pocket wizards on to strobes when the lanyard breaks
Use as a small block to prop up plates for food photos
Clip a hat on a model on a really windy shoot
Fasten the shot list to anything solid on a really windy shoot
Use as a door stop under pesky doors that don't want to stay closed or open
Hold all of your taxes together on a windy, rainy April 15th evening on the way to the post office

There are probably a million more uses for these little guys, but that's all the ones that I've come across in the last few weeks. And the greatest thing in the world is that a package of 50 of these useful little beauties is around $3.50. Its great to cherish such a simple, inexpensive item.

Cheers

Hope

An interesting thing happened this morning. I woke up at 5:30 still weary from a long string of 12-15 hr work days. I looked around my place at a pile of dirty laundry, a bunch of bills, wilting plants. I started some coffee and checked the weather forecast...sunny and 70 degrees. I remembered an invitation from Woods to go riding over at Phil's World. It pretty much was shaping up to be a nice relaxing Sunday where I could catch up on my personal life and get stuff in order.

My coffee started perculatin' and I sat down to read the news to find out what was happening in the world. I then remembered that I wanted to watch the Obama interview on the late show from earlier in the week. Kicking back on my couch, Mac Book on lap, coffee in hand, I watched the video clip. 30 minutes later, juiced on caffeine I found myself very inspired to go my studio and get to work.

I will state right off the bat that I am not a lifelong Democrat or bleeding liberal by any means. I'm pretty moderate and ride the fence on a lot of issues. I did vote for Mr. Obama and was very happy to see him elected. Do I think he is going to change the world or is he the savior for our country? No. Sadly, our country and world are way too screwed up in too many ways. No matter how hard Obama works and tries to change things, he ain't going to be making revolutionary changes.

The reason I'm sitting at my desk at 9 am on a gorgeous Sunday morning is that Obama inspired me. It was so cool to watch a man who is intelligent, articulate, compassionate, pragmatic, humble, and charismatic. Here is a guy who has one of the worst jobs in the world. I know I wouldn't want his job. On top of just have a very difficult job, he had enormous problems dropped in his lap. But he wakes up every morning and goes to work with the attitude that he gets the opportunity to tackle the challenges that were given to him. That's why he applied for the job in the first place. He saw a problem that needed to be fixed and he thought that he could contribute to the solution. He'll make mistakes, he'll be criticized, his popularity will undoubtedly fall over time. But kudos for the guy for actually trying.

I think what really got to me was the fact that he operates on common sense principles. Responsibility, sound values, and hard work seem to be his modus operandi. He doesn't expect to make changes overnight. He recognizes that the problem that landed this country where it is, is the get-rich-quick philosophy that we all accept as status quo anymore. That we have to get back to the fundamentals that made this country great. It was very refreshing to listen to him speak after what we've endured over the last 8 years.

Simply put, listening to him speak put a flame under my ass to get to work and tackle my small little pile of challenges. It inspired me to make my small contribution to the overall productivity that will get our economy back in order. Like everyone, I won't be getting rich anytime soon. But if I keep plugging away, I think that very good things lie on the other side of this little quagmire that we've been graced with.

BTW, don't get me wrong, its gonna be 70 degrees today. I WILL be out cranking some miles this afternoon.

Cheers

Cowboys stories

Recently, I was hired by Western Horseman magazine to shoot portraits of a saddle maker that lives in southeast, Utah. The magazine was sponsoring a roping competition where the winners won one of three custom made saddles created by 3 different saddle craftsmen. It was my job to photograph Jeff Hanson and his creation.
At the time, I was slammed with work doing several architectural shoots in different towns as well as a bunch of portrait shoots for different clients. Basically, I was shooting, downloading photos, backing them up and running to the next shoot. Jeff was my final one and I was pretty psyched to finish it up. After a morning of catching up on office work, I hopped in the car and made the 2 hour drive over to Monticello. Once I got 20 miles out of town, I finally took a deep breath and relaxed! It was time to plug in the iPod and just enjoy the drive.

When I arrived, Jeff was cleaning up his saddle shop. He invited me in and instead of breaking out the camera and shooting photos right away, we just talked. We talked for a good hour about saddle making, cowboys, life, family, the weather and a host of other things. Then, after we literally ran out of things to talk about, I suggested that we break out the camera and shoot some photos. It was a bit tricky because there was a delectable blend of fluorescent, tungsten and very cold daylight coming in the windows. But, Jeff was at ease and we were very comfortable with each other shooting, so it went smooth.

It was so refreshing to sit down and learn about my subject on a personal level. It then dawned on me that I am very fortunate to have the job I do. It is a conduit to experience places and people that I would not have otherwise ever considered or ever learned about. I was paid to learn about a beautiful craft that I'm never exposed to in my daily life. And then on top of that, I got to blend my craft with his to show off his work. Pretty cool!

Once we wrapped up, I got back in my car and made the 2 hour journey back to Durango. Tunes a crankin, feeling rejuvenated, I immediately started planning my next projects and preparing for countless hours on the computer processing all the photos I had created in the last few weeks.

mmmm...pancakes

I recently just completed my first full fledged food photography shoot. I've been shooting a bed & breakfast here in Durango called the Leland House. One of their photos needs was the yummy breakfasts that they serve up everyday. We photographed most of the rooms and the food was their last need. They asked me if I could shoot food and of course I said, "Sure!"
Yep, it was time to figure out how to shoot food. Like I learn most of my photography skills, I opened magazines, looked at ads and started figuring out the attributes of good food photos.

The night before the shoot, I pulled out my lights and a leftover pork chop and started firing test shots. Doesn't that look tasty? You know you want to eat it.

I wasn't trying to nail a Food & Wine cover here just trying to get a basic idea of flash exposure, composition & depth of field. Once I had a rough idea of what needed to happen, I packed my gear and readied for the next morning.

At 8am, I picked up Talia and we went food shopping. The kitchen finished serving breakfast at 9 and then we could set up. We set up in the dining room next to the kitchen. We used one of the dining tables, shut the curtains, and turned out the lights. I used a two light set up, both at approx 45 degrees opposing each other. Medium soft box on one strobe and umbrella on the other. Insta-studio! I had my 1Ds with a 45 TS lens tethered to my laptop which made the process so much easier. To all the photographers that did this stuff before digital, you guys were tough! It was great to be able to shoot, immediately see the shot and make changes in seconds.

Mind you, I was nervous as hell here. I never had conducted a food shoot before. There was Kelly(cook), Talia(Leland manager), and Keith(stylist). I knew this shoot could be tedious and Kelly may have to make and remake dishes. There would be applications of various chemicals to make the food look fresh. Nerves could grow thin. I felt responsible for making everything go smooth and that everyone would stay happy through the day. I was really tense!


We ended up shooting 4 setups and it took several hours. No chemicals were necessary to make the food look fresh. In the end, Talia was ecstatic with the photos, Keith had a lot of fun, Kelly only had to make dishes once and she was happy with how we made her food look. I was pretty darn psyched with the results. Not bad for an amateur food photographer. And it was a of of fun!

Rally of the Dead - Technical

Whew! This was a whirlwind project. It was totally impulse and unexpected, but very fun. It was super fun to go out and shoot unrestricted and use gels to create color rather than color correction. I'll provide a little background about the Rally of the Dead and how this all came about.

In 2006, Jon Bailey approached me to photograph all the riders of his race on top of Hogsback ridge. But in true Bailey style, he took an idea and went one step further. He arranged for a pilot to fly me around the Hogsback to get a aerial shot of all the riders. It was super fun. I got sweet shots of everyone and a few riders descending the ridge. Yes, that ridge is as steep as it looks. And the guys riding it are BOMBING it!

A couple weeks ago Jon approached me to shoot aerials again for the race. It was my first weekend off from weddings and other work projects, so I agreed. As it got closer to the Rally weekend, I thought, why not document the whole Rally of the Dead and make something out of it. On Thursday, I told Jon that I would donate my time and efforts and document the weekend. A really big smile lit up his face.

My initial idea was to shoot portraits of all of the riders and participants of the fest. I knew that everyone dressed up for the race, so that would give a character to the portraits. Once Jon knew he had a photog for the weekend, the floodgates of ideas came spewing out. He excitedly started telling me about the gala, the awards ceremony, the awards themselves, and finally bike polo tourney. I think I just bit off more than I could chew. Oh well, If your gonna commit to something, might as well give it your best shot!

THE GALA

The Rally of the Dead kicked off with the zombie gala at the Powerhouse. The Powerhouse is an old powerplant that is going to be converted to a science museum, if they can ever get the funding. As for now, it is pretty much a big, open, empty building. Great place for a party. I showed up early to assess what I needed for lighting. There were two different rooms that I wanted to be able to shoot in, the big main room where all the dancing would be and a smaller boiler room where all the awards would be displayed and a band was play gothic lounge music for people as they entered the party. Mind you, there are really no lights in this building aside from some construction pigtails and some christmas strings along the trusses. It was going to require some enhancement for sure. Strobes were the only option for this scenario.

I started in the big room. One of the big issues here was that the only power source was an outlet coming of the main circuit box on a pole outside the building. I had to share this single power source with the DJ, Reverend Phil who was screening a movie that night. (More about that later), and all the existing lights in the room. One thing I've learned about shooting events is that we all have to work together. Nobody is more important than another and we are all there to do a job, so it is easist if we all discuss our needs and try to accomodate each other. After talking to the DJ and pulling out a lot of extension cords I was able to piggyback into some of their cords and then share another cord with the projector. I think my strobes might have blown the DJs lights later in the evening but he swore that it had to be something else.

At first, I started looking at the trusses and considering the options of clamping strobes so as they would be off the floor and couldn't be knocked over by drunk partiers. They would also give a better beam of light with the additional height. Problem with that is that I setting up in the daytime. Once it was dark and I could see the actual effects of my lights, I wouldn't be able to change power levels, gels or grids. Fortunately, there was all sorts stuff stacked around the sides of the room so it would provide a natural blockade. I could set my stands behind stuff and they would be out of the way of people dancing and stumbling around. I ended up setting three strobes in a big triangle in the room.

Next was gels and grids. I thought about the feel that Jon wanted to have for the building and gala. Deep red and blue seemed like the most obvious choices. I set up one strobe on a really tall stand with a red gel and a 30 degree spot aim at the middle of the room. Another strobe on a 8' stand with a blue gel and no grid (kind of a flood). The third strobe was set up behind one of the DJs light stands with a green gel and a 40 spot aimed right at the dancing area. Once it was dark, I shot a few test shots and felt that the blue flood didn't give the right mood and kind of washed out the ambiance that Jon was trying to create.

I switched the blue and red gels, so now the red was flooding the room and the blue was a little more directed at the main floor. Something about the red flood just made the photo better, can't put my finger on it.

Oh yeah, all strobes were controlled with Pocket Wizards. It's the only way to fly!

Next, I had to light up the small room. This was a little more complex as I only had one more PW for two 550 flashes. I set these flashes on channel 2 where the strobes in the main room were on channel 1. I did this because if I was shooting in one room I didn't need the strobes of the other room going off. I put a blue gel on one of the flashes and a CTO on the other. Since I only had one PW, I had to rely on the infrared slaves of the 550s. I will never rely on the infrared slaves of the 550s ever again.

1. The slave sensors have to look directly at each other. I had the strobes clamped on to pipes in the room and trying to get the flashes to look directly at each other was a pain in the ass.
2. There was a 1/2 sec second delay between the master and the slave. So if I shot at anything faster than 1/2 sec I would only get the master flash. If I shot over 1/2 sec the blurs from ambient were off the charts.
3. If the 550s are used in that configuration, they only work in ETTL mode. Call me a control freak, but I actually like to be able to control the power of my flashes. I tried to push the power up +3 but there was no change in the output. No bueno.

I ended up bailing on the slave flash and using only the master in the room. Not super desirable, but most of the action happened in the big room anyway. This is one major reason I decided to shoot this event, so I could learn these problems while not on the clients dime. This evening was an awesome learning experience for me.

PORTRAITS

Ok, fast forward 5 hours. It's 8 am and I am a bit foggy. I gotta get down to Bailey's house where he's going to register all the riders for the race. Race starts at 10 am and I have shoot a portrait of each and every one of the 70 riders. My sweet friend Cara volunteered to be an assistant for me this morning. She showed up in style with her Marge Simpson wig on. The rule of today is keep it simple stupid...and I am stupid this morning. There was a blank stucco wall on the side of the Cyclery with a little sidewalk that made a perfect little stage. An outlet right off the side made the power issue moot. I set up a large soft box camera right and an umbrella camera left for a bit of fill, shot some test shots of Cara and it was set. I also shot this way, because it focused everything on the cyclists, their costumes and their bikes.

BTW, if it sounds like I stumbled out of bed and decided to make a plan 20 minutes before I shot that would be a little misleading. 2 days before, I sat in the alley and worked out every little aspect of how I wanted the photos to look and what I would be dealing with that morning. I can't say as it was the most technical or advanced shoot, but shooting 70 people in under an hour with some bit of creativity requires preparation to some degree.

Let's go take a plane ride!

AERIAL
I'm no expert on aerials. I know they are a lot of fun though. Like most other aspects of photography, you think you got everything set and the rules change when you show up. This shoot was from a plane. If anybody wants to hire me for an aerial shoot in a helicopter, I am available! The pilot was Andy Gresh, really cool guy and I trust him as a pilot 100%.

I'll keep this brief. I used a Canon 20D with a 70-200(1.6 factor gave me a 300mm) Since I was shooting at relative infinity I shot wide open at f/4.5 and aperature priority. That resulted in a shutter speed of 1000-2000/sec. 1000/sec is too slow for a plane, big lens and low fly bys. 2000/sec is much better. Another thing, sit high on the seat and keep the lens inside the plane. I don't care how cool your IS lens is, it ain't gonna do squat with a 100mph crosswind hitting it. If I didn't mention it before, I am totally available to do aerial assignments especially in a helicopter.

OK, I'm tired of typing and you're probably tired of reading. I could go on about the next couple of days of Rally of the Dead but it was just plain silliness. Plus you can experience it next year when the Single Speed World Championships come to town in August. We welcome you. Trust me you will have a hell of a good time. These guys throw a awesome party that will keep you guessing the whole time.

Cheers
G