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I will constantly blab about pictures and this and that about subconscious picture taking and the likes but I really do feel there is something about not really seeing something in the visual world but seeing outside of the lens.

Take for example this shot of a golfer at the Sony Open in Honolulu. He knocked the ball off the fairway into a greenside bunker on the 3rd green. I lined up across from the pin to catch the shot he was going to make. I lowered the monopod holding my 400mm 2.8 but found the angle too busy as the course homes were in the background making lots of distractions. I walked a bit up the hill mingling with the gallery a bit and found a cleaner view with the lakes and water spout.

The odd thing of it all is the fact I lined up the view to have the jutting angles of the lake’s grass mimicking the actual position of the golfer. The flag flapping in the foreground is just an added bonus. HOW I did this is beyond me. Is it a complete coincidence or was it something my mind’s eye saw before hand. Do we really plan these shots or do they just happen? I did see the background but didn’t expect things to line up like they did…or did I? Get what I mean, we see things beyond our actual vision.

Being a photographer is tough. You spend 99% of your time looking thru a little rectangle box via a round tube. Everything is either compressed into a small vision of the world or a distorted wide blur of life. Nothing is real reality. it is all what is defined by a glass maker, computer, or that brief 1/2000 sec of time. Meyerowitz said we can learn to see things in those quick snaps of a shutter. Either a slow 1/15 of a sec or a dazzling 1/8000 sec. Life via a camera is just a swish-click-clack-snap-pop of a shutter.

There is a Getty photog who really makes magic with his images. He shot last years Sony Open and made one of the most amazing shots of Tadd Fujikawa that only he could take. I realized he was talented but it was something more than just having a “skill.” See the image here as i don’t have permission to show it. There are three To me it takes a skill beyond the average person to capture moments as such. Funny thing is Fujikawa is known for his diminutive stature so the heights of the palms trees repeat who Tadd is.

Amamzing.

I didn’t mention the golfers name as he isn’t important to my story and the image isn’t life making. I do feel it helps make me a better visionary. Whether is intentional, accidental or just a quick glimpse of life is beyond me. I’d like to view it as a capture of art in real life or possibly nothing more than a gimmicky shot taken in that 1/2000 second realm. That subconscious taking over and making life a bit more exciting.

I’ve never done a camera review nor do I plan to start or compete with those websites that do. I do, however, am gaining experience with the Sony DSLR’s given to me by the good people at Sony.

Lots of the reviews I’ve read on different camera lenses, systems, etc…are never made by professional photojournalist or pros who put their gear through the wringer. I mean there have been times when I’ve dropped any and all parts of my cameras, gotten them soaked in rain storms, covered in red dirt dust, ocean mist, sand, and general dirt. I’ve had so much soot on my sensors that I had to bite my teeth and shoot just to get a shot and hope photoshop will take care of the final product. I’m not shooting nature, my kids, dogs, friends, wife, or the house across the street. I am shooting assignments for AP, Conde Nast, Sony, and a multitude of clients. I know how to treat my gear and what I can expect from it and what I expect from myself when I use it.

I am currently shooting a tournament for Sony and they require that the photographers hired use only Sony made equipment. Imagine the faces when the Japanese president of Sony and the son of the founder when photogs arrive with Canon and Nikon flashes popping in their faces. How bad is that for their egos?!?!

This year when I was hired again to shoot for Sony, I received a grand package from Tokyo full of bodies, lenses, flashes, and the likes. I got a Alpha 900 and 700 bodies, a 24-70mm F 2.8 lens, a 70-200mm F2.8, and a 300mm F 2.8. Two HVL-F58AM flashes, batteries, etc… Enough gear and stuff to make a job go well.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The cameras are made well. The glass is Carl Zeiss so its heavy and sharp. The bodies seem to mirror all the other camera systems out there with their button/knob placement, card and battery compartments. Nothing really too different. The 900 and 700 do have a type of imagine stabilization built-in the actual camera and after using the camera it does seem to do its magic. Nice feature.

The odd thing is the camera has its own special setting made for Sony. The problem that I find immediately is you actually have to read the camera instructions to understand how to make the camera work well. For me this is my problem but I don’t think I am unique. Most people out there don’t want to read instructions and camera companies should understand this. Cameras are so common place that it should be something understood universally. P means program, A (AV) means aperture priority, etc… More on this later.

As far as first impressions, the flash is the best flash I have ever EVER seen before.

The flash has tilts up and down like standard flash head but also left and right. ABSOLUTE BRILLIANT. NO NEED FOR BRACKETS TO SHOOT VERTICAL. What an absolute brilliant idea. You can keep the flash head above the lens no matter where you shoot vertical or horizontal. I real piece of work.

This has to be the best surprise of the day to see this feature.

I have much more to write about as this will be a multi post listing.

More to come

Four years have past since the South Asian tsunami in December 2004.

I wanted to show a pix from my book, Hope for Renewal. A guy I photographed in Banda Aceh found me via facebook. I just so happen to stumble upon his wedding. It was very National Geograhic. Great image. Beautiful bride. The groom lost his mother in the tsunami. Life goes on.

My colleague Hugh G has nicknamed me the Patrick McMullan of Honolulu as I always seem to end up shooting lots of the socialite parties here in town. I don’t shoot many but those I do shoot end up in the local glossy mags. The parties are lots of fun and and I recognize many of the people are they are the same faces at all the different functions. Like I said, I really don’t shoot many…mostly four or five a year and that’s plenty for me.

The party I shot on Friday was for the Parc Hotel and it was a neat shindig. DJs, artists, food, lights and lasers, and drink. The party also had as I can only describe as water dancers. To describe, two girls dressed as flowers and they floated around the pool and did a slow moving water ballet. Pretty neat.

My focus was off but that element gave the image a deliberate slow and dreamy feel. Dreamy…how many times does that come up in a description of an artistic photo? Not dreamy but rather, an unexpected entrance into solemnity. Dare I say Degas?

I opted to shoot with my Canon 1D Mark II over the 1Ds just to give the 1Ds a rest. I shot raw varying the iso between 400-1600 depending on the quality and feel I wanted to pull from the image. Looking at the newer tech on the market right now, the Mark II is slowly obsoleting itself from existence. In many ways, most jobs can still be shot on the tinny Mark I with that small 4 mg file. Hell, the original Nikon D1 with the small 2.7 mg file was pretty incredible. But the computer war took over the camera battles and now we all have to face an increasing pull of more megapixels for more money.

The Mark II is a great camera…fast and quick on the focus. Jacques made a claim not too long ago he longed for a Mark II over the III. Its hard to say which is best. No grain or digital noise in a high iso image must be nice but not always the best. Natural or enhanced depends on your preference.

Parties are usually loud so I can sneak around and take some neat pictures of people when they are not really paying attention. I mean its hard to sneak around people when you have a big Canon, lens, and flash on a hand/face combo. Nevertheless, when the drinks are flowing and conversation is shrilling away, its neat to sneak around and snap the unexpected.

The laser lights were flashing and casting everything blue.

This last shot was part of the dance troupe except she wasn’t in the water. I can only describe her as a living flower and she’d pose around the party flipping her pedals above and over her head. Although my last image doesn’t quiet show the experience, the uniqueness of the image overall makes the image.

Enjoy.