Armor & Martel

YOUR WALLET. It’s can be a symbol of wealth, success, even identity. It’s a place where important papers are kept. What is the most irreplaceable item in your wallet? cash? credit cards, driver’s license? For me. it’s those small photos. The one of my son as a newborn, the kids first picture together as toddlers, of family, transferred from wallet to wallet, over time. Should I lose my wallet, these precious items would be lost forever.

So who is the richer man? The one with lots of cash in his wallet, or the man with many photos of loved ones and family? Should you meet someone in your travels today, ask them what they have in their wallet- and send the poor ones to me…

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I had to do a little work in Photoshop today. I rarely use this application, maybe once a month. When I mention this people seem surprised. “If you’re a photographer you shouldn’t you be using it everyday?”
Um, nope. A few years back, I needed it a bit more, but newer cameras have very good color, and I can do all my post shooting processing in software better suited to creating the look I want – dramatic, but natural, not computerized. Besides, if you shoot a clean, well lit set of pix, and manage your lighting, you don’t need to “fix” it in photoshop. There are thousands of memorable timeless images that have been created over the last century without the aid of today’s overused filters. Yes, I still cook some work in pshop, but I’m leery of my images (or yours) of being remembered as the overly enhanced pix of the 2K era. If it works for ya, fine.  Just remember running the drybrush on it doesn’t necessarily make it a better picture…

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Every year in February, we offload and begin the purge of digital files from sessions the previous year that were never ordered upon. We love creating pictures but ultimately, if they are not chosen for purchase we must face the hard decision that they be banished to the ether, for storing them indefinitely in the hopes they’ll be wanted later is not a financially viable solution. This past month we just completed a major server upgrade, expanding our multi terabyte raid server, essentially doubling the space. We replaced all the hard drives,  (shown in the box above) some of which had been continually spinning 24/7 for the last five years. Personally, I don’t believe that pictures belong on hard drives as their final use. We use them as a brief pitstop, on their way to an album or portrait, book or in your wallet. That is where pictures belong, and incidentally will last their longest, immune to the changes in hardware and technology.  What do you think?

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One night, many years back, another photographer and I were heading home from a wedding at one of the mansions along Bellevue. It was around midnight and a little damp and foggy, much like this Thanksgiving eve, probably around this time of year. I can’t remember what the conversation was, but we eventually came around to that broad subject of life in general. I was a young father then, with kids still in diapers, and he remarked to the effect that we should be grateful that our children were healthy, where we lived and how lucky we were to be able to work as artists and image makers, choosing the “road less traveled.”  I remember this story every late night returning from a job that takes me down this lamp lit drive, and regardless of what kind of week I’m having, remain thankful for how lucky I am to be here, in good health, with the friends and family I have. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Next week, I will be traveling cross country from Rhode Island to New Mexico by motorcycle. I usually make one long distance ride per year at least before the busy season. This year’s trip will be the longest yet, and was originally to be just a regular road trip. After much discussion, we’ve decided to try and shoot much more images in an effort to document the trip by way of the individuals we meet along the way.  I’ll be sending regular blog updates and photos from the road as well as tweets- check the blog or follow along via twitter. I expect this to be interesting set of images, and hopefully make some friends along the way.

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There’s always a new Canon and Nikon camera due for release or just out on the market. The latest offerings from the big two offer an interesting alternative to just the usual upgrades in focus points and minimal improvements in the standard features. Both of the big two manufacturers have introduced video capability on recent models. The new Canon is particularly interesting, in it’s offering of HD video with a very cine-like look, related to it’s frame rate. The examples are very impressive. The camera is really the first generation of a bridge camera that will offer what’s coming next. Devices that offer incredible still images as well as full fledged video, in one compact unit. The Canon model, as it stands now, is really a digital still cam with video grafted on, without the necessary controls required to make it a option for professional videographers. Still the race is on. The end of the traditional still camera draws near. The RED camera (red.com) has revolutionized the motion picture industry, and with the inroads that Apple’s Final Cut has made in the same, there is no looking back. In fact Jim Jannard’s Scarlet is in the works, and is due out in the fall. Jannard should be taken seriously, and watched closely. Most industry watchers scoffed at his initial pronouncements about the RED cam, believing it to be vaporware right up until it was unveiled. A true professional bridge camera will have repercussions throughout the digital imaging industry that will be a game changer for many pros in both still and video. Just as the digital revolution involuntarily  retired many photographers that failed to adapt to switch from analog to digital, there will be a great of angst as well as anticipation at the launch of some amazing devices that may change how we work.

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” Life is what happens while your busy making other plans”

John Lennon

We welcomed a new client to the studio last week.  This is my youngest client this year, just months old.  Are you putting off important pictures, while life goes on?

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