Bones of the Land-Reception Today!

Do you like art? Do you like science? Do you like when the two meet and at first it's kind of like an awkward middle school promenade where the boys and girls stand against opposite walls of the gym, but then the music builds and Art and Science come together in a magically beautiful breath-taking dance? Yeah, me too. I like it when that happens, too.

So, great. We'll see you this afternoon at 4 p.m. in the Dexter Library for the opening reception of Bones of the Land.

** PLEASE NOTE: There will not actually be any dancing. That was a metaphor. I'm sorry if it was misleading. There will probably be some cookies though. And you can stand by one of the walls and not talk to anyone if you want to. Totally your call. See you there.

A Summer Photo Tip.

​Sure, there's still some snow on the ground, but summer is just around the bend. I promise. So, let's brush up on a key summer photo skill:

There are a few things as iconically estival (Yes, estival is actually a word. For God's sake look it up, people.) as the great American past time of finding something sort of tall-ish and then jumping off of it into something sort of cold and wettish. It's tradition. And more than that, it's frickin' awesome. Ideally, the distance to the water will be greater than or equal to the height at which you feel slightly uncomfortable. And the water will be less than or equal to the temperature at which you gasp slightly upon entry. If either of these factors is not in the optimal range, the equation can still be balanced by attempting  to invert one's self in the distance between the take off and landing. All complex math aside, jumping off of stuff is neat. And so is having good photographic evidence of said act. So here's a few summer photo tips for capturing the perfect cliff jump.

***WARNING: Jumping off stuff is dangerous. Always make sure you have a safe landing zone clear of obstacles and with enough water to cushion any fall. Also, try not to be dumb. You have been warned. Anything you do now is your own fault.***

Choose an angle- Pick a location from which to shoot that gives your audience some context information. Let us see the jumper, the water and the rock. Also keep in mind where the light is coming from. A jumper silhouetted against a bright sky can be cool, but it may not convey much information about what's going on. Try changing your angle to show us more of the scene.

Set your exposure- The key here is to choose an accurate exposure that has the capacity to freeze fast motion (which means you need a high shutter speed) and enough depth of field to accommodate a moving subject. Based on the standard principles of gravity and acceleration the average person will fall at a rate of...um...hang on a second, carry the 2...fast. They'll be going fast. So you're going to need a shutter speed in the range of at least 1/1000 of a second to truly freeze their rapid downward motion. Not to mention capturing the epic curtain of water caused by their often less than graceful entry into the drink. This is one of those activities where a faster shutter speed will never fail you. Aim high.

Lock the Focus- ​The auto focus system on most cameras will struggle to lock onto a moving subject and fire off a frame in the time that it takes a person to exit a cliff top and enter the water. That means you'll miss the shot. So you're better off switching over to manual and focusing on something that will be the same distance from you as the jumper at the optimal location in their descending arc. With the camera pre-focused, you can fire off frames with no delays. Now you're ready.

Time your shot- ​Don't just set your camera to rapid fire and machine gun frames as your screaming friend careens towards the water. Even high frame rate bodies miss moments in between the frames. Instead of trying to capture every moment, watch for the perfect moment, and try to capture just that. One great image will always be better than 10 mediocre ones. After all, how many are you really going to hang on your wall? This kind of timing takes practice. But with a little work you can start to anticipate when the greatest moments will happen. Combine that with good composition and you'll have a great photo.

Now get out there and try not to hurt anybody!​

Nature film? Yeah. I'm workin' on it.

Do you ever ask yourself: gee, what happened to that nature film Bob was working on? Probably not. But if you did, the answer would be this: "LAY OFF ME! I'm working on it, OKAY? God, some peoples kids..." Or something like that. As last year got busier and busier with paid work, this personal project got pushed to the back burner, but it certainly didn't disappear. As items on the back burner tend to do it's been percolating softly. Just plugging along in the background. Now that I've gone through a full cycle of seasons, I'm going back and getting more footage of things I missed the first time around. Filling in the blanks, as it were. More ice, more fish, maybe a couple birds if we're lucky, better light, better sound. Not to mention a bunch of new help from friend, photo aficionado, and wildlife biologist Travis D. Bartnick. Ha, I said it. Now you're really committed, Travis. It's public. That means all 6 regular readers of this blog now know that you agreed to help. Can't back out now, amigo. Just kidding...I only have 5 regular readers.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Stay warm.

The New Year.

Wow. I blinked for a second and it was 2013. Right before I blinked it was Thanksgiving 2012. I was eating turkey and little carrot tarts and sweet potatoe pie and then BAM! It was 2013. And it's not like it's January second or something. We're well into it. It's the eighteenth. Damn it, now it's the twenty-first. How does that keep happening? Well, a much belated Happy New Year to everyone. (P.S. Pretty glad that Mayan-Calendar-End-of-the-World deal panned out for the best. Congrats on that one, everybody. We handled that one really well...for the most part.)

Every year, that little patch of days after New Years and before the year gets into full swing is my time to reflect. It's introspective and centering and it puts my whole next year into perspective. I look back and figure out what went well, what didn't, what I intend to differently this time around. That sort of thing. Turns out 2012 was a kind of a big one. My business grew (maybe more than I was ready for, but that's another story); I expanded my offerings to include graphic design, logo development, and illustration; my truck passed the 200K milestone and kept rumbling along, I became an uncle. And, oh yeah, I got engaged (see above). That was kind of a big one. Snuck that in right at the end of the year. For any one that knows us: yes, it was about time. I know. **Sidenote: Not bad for a self-engagement portrait, right? Do you think I can shoot the whole wedding myself? I think I can do it. Sarah is dubious.

Already, 2013 is shaping up to be no slouch of a year either. For one thing, we bought a house. Okay, we're buying a house. Turns out that's sort of a long process, but we're into it now; accepted offers and inspections and insurance quotes and everything. All the crazy things that come with being a home owner. I'm going to be a home owner. I am alternately ecstatic and terrified. For the most part, I still feel like a little kid and I can't believe that people are letting me do all these things that real grown ups do. For example: I still can't believe that they let me drive a car. And I've been doing that for well over a decade. I have these sneaky little moments where I think I better not mention it to anyone because for some reason I'm getting away with it. I don;t want to ruin it. And then I remember that I'm almost 30. THIRTY. 3...0. And that sounds like the age that a real grown up would be. So I guess I must be a real grown up now. Weird. Who saw that coming? To those that know me: yes, it's about time. I know.

Well, I'm mostly rambling at this point and frankly I'm even losing the coordinates a little. I guess that's what happens when you get to be my age. My real point is this: 2012 was Awesome. 2013 will be Awesomer. I can't wait. Stay tuned for some great new stuff coming up in the next couple weeks. More design, more photos, more awesome.

Thanksgiving.

Just a quick photo from last week before we head off to New Mexico (where, apparently, there is no water) for Thanksgiving with my brother, sister-in-law, and new nephew, Simon. This photo was taken in the little building around the artesian on the west side of Ashland, where clean potable water flows out of the ground twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Incredible. A few years back, when we lived in a little house with no running water, this is where our water came from. No need to boil or filter or anything. Just fill a jug and take it home. Shooting this photo reminded me that I am thankful for many things: for family and friends that love and care for me, for being a working photographer in a tough economy, and for living in a place where clean drinking water just flows out of the ground. Not everyone has that. Not by a long shot. So, to whom it may concern: thank you.

P.S. Lots of people have asked how I got this photo to turn out the way it did, so watch for a tutorial on how it was done (a.k.a. how to freeze motion with flash), sometime later this month. In the mean time, have a happy holiday, everyone.

Did you get my good side?

I've been doing a lot of portrait work in the last couple months and I've been noticing a common thread that runs through almost every session. This is certainly not new, but I've just been paying closer attention. And I've found that almost every shoot seems to contain a conversation that goes something like this:

Subject: Okay, make sure to get my good side.

Me: Okay, no problem...which one is your good side?

-OR-

Subject: Okay, just don't get my scar in this.

Me: Yeah, of course not...so, where exactly is your scar?

-OR-

Subject: You can photo-shop this, right?

Me: Sure...but what would you like me to change?

And let me follow that up by saying that I haven't been out documenting a herd of Ug-o's. It's been normal, attractive, real people. To my eyes none of them have had anything to be embarrassed about. It's all an issue of confidence.

As a photographer, it's also interesting that everyone has entrusted to me, a relative stranger, their insecurity; the part of themselves about which they feel the most self conscious. They obviously feel the need to bring it up, as if I have clearly seen their hideous deformity, but am too polite to mention it. To them it's the elephant in the room. I take this as a compliment; that my subjects feel comfortable enough to divulge these nagging self doubts. But I am often left wondering why they feel this way in the first place. In almost all of these situations, I have not noticed what they perceive to be their biggest flaw until they point it out. And even then, it has never stood out to me as an issue. It's not as if anyone has come in and said "Okay, let's do these photos, just don't get this third hairy, ear growing out of the middle of my forehead."

Ultimately, I feel a little bad for everyone, knowing that they have this thing about themselves that is always hanging around in the background, undercutting their confidence. And the great irony is that, for the most part, it doesn't even register for the other people around them.

All cards on the table, I will admit to not being fond of having my own photo taken. I have a weird tendency to let my left eye lid sag, and I often adopt an awkward grin that makes me look slightly creepy and dim-witted. It's hard to describe, but let's just say that it's not all together flattering. It is my great and sincere hope that I only make this face for photos, because if I'm walking around like that all the time...I don't even want to think about it. I am also not impressed by images that in anyway capture the back of my head, where apparently the ratio of hair coverage to vacant scalp is rapidly becoming 1:1. I do not like this. So to my subjects, let me say this: I'm with you. You're not alone. I get it.

But I would like to propose that we start to change the way we think about ourselves, taking comfort in the fact that, for the most part, others don't even see the flaws that we each obsess over. What if we started to see ourselves as others do? What if our scars and wrinkles could be marks of a life well lived instead of blemishes to hide from the world? What if we flaunted what we were most proud of or rather than trying to conceal our insecurities? What if we loved ourselves?

Let's do that instead.

Lincoln & Elise.

It's a been a crazy week, but I managed to fit in an engagement session on Tuesday evening for Lincoln and Elise at Houghton Falls. This is one of my favorites from that afternoon. Great place to shoot and, of course, great people. Gotta love that combination. Congratulations, you crazy kids.

Farms.

These are the first in a series of photos I'm shooting for Northland College of the local farms and farmers who are providing sustainable foods for the campus cafeteria. This project has been amazing. Great people, beautiful places, and, of course, amazing food. Before I get too far, I want to give a special thanks to all the farmers who have a made time during a really busy season to help with this. You guys are a amazing. Above are Todd and Kelsey from River Road Farm. And below is the lettuce they're growing.

This is Chris Duke of Great Oak Farm with his laying hens, and below are his bees.

And then, the two photos below are a soy bean field I passed along the way. I'll probably get sued by Cargill or Monsanto for even photographing these genetic mutants. In fact, there's probably a man in a Monsanto cap slashing the tires on my car right now.

While it still makes for an interesting photo, this is text book monoculture: massive fields of the same subsidized crop devoid of ecological balance and nutritional value. It's crazy that we call all three of these things farms. They are not the same. Not even remotely. After walking around at River Road Farm and Great Oak Farm constantly surrounded by a diversity of life, this field of soy feels like the surface of the moon. Even stranger is the fact that we as a society have decided to aid and abed this version of agriculture that serves us least while we place nearly insurmountable road blocks in the path of the others. Agribusiness has played us all for fools. And, sadly, it worked. Time to open your eyes, everyone. Time to change.

And now, back by popular demand, actual photography.

The staff at Sun Printing isn't just any old staff, so theyre not getting just any old staff photos. I love companies that have the stones to do something a little different. Here's a little peek at a couple of the portraits coming out of the photo-shoot today in beautiful Wausau, Wisconsin. These are for their new website, which let me tell you is going to be sweet (they showed me the top secret files, I can't say more or they'd have to kill me). Needless to say, it's going to be a little more light hearted than the previous version. It's been awesome to work with the folks in their creative department to plan and pull off this shoot. Lots of great ideas bouncing around the room. Watch for more in the next couple days.

Interesting...

 Last Friday's post was an intriguing view into the actual interests of you, the devoted readership of the Hired Lens Blog. The post, containing a photo of me with a black eye and a bloody nose (both of which were produced in a little program called Photoshop, sorry to disappoint), was far and away the most visited page in the history of this site. I always thought the "most popular" title would fall to some other page, but no. It is clear that cute babies and striking portraits and photography tips (or just great life advice) are not what you come here to find. Not at all. I've discovered that what you, my beloved readers, truly want to see is photographic evidence that I have indeed received the savage beating so many of you apparently think I deserve. I also found it enlightening that no one (including my loving partner, Sarah) cried "photoshop!" but instead assumed that yes, of course Bob got mercilessly pummelled by someone. That just makes sense, when you think about it. Thanks, everybody. Your confidence is overwhelming.

While surprising, this new information is ultimately very useful in plotting the course of this blog into the foreseeable future. Give the people what they want, right? Therefore, when I'm in Wausau later this week for a photo shoot with Sun Printing, I'll tell the man pictured below (creative director/rugby aficionado Craig Bieri) that his massive and intricate tattoo makes him look like a little pansie. Should be interesting.

Wish me luck. Please keep reading, I'll post photos. I swear.

Friday.

Do you ever have one of those weeks that feels like you've been punching yourself in the face for the last 5 days? Man, something about this week has felt epically long. And I can't even put my finger on the exact reason why. Whatever the cause, time has been creeping past. C R E E P I N G. It's not even that it's been particularly bad. Just the usual ups and downs of working for a living (which, P.S., I would really rather not do anymore; how exactly does one become a member of the 1%?). But today is Friday. Making this afternoon officially, as R&B sensation Robert Sylvester Kelly puts it, "the freakin' weekend." And I am, in fact and with due haste, 'bout to have me some fun. So, have a good two days of not-working, people. And enjoy these randomly selected photos, that in no special order show the story of nothing in particular. Weekend. Bam.

The Classic 50mm.

The 50mm prime lens (meaning a fixed focal length of 50mm rather than a zoom) has been an unparalleled photographic work horse since the invention of 35mm film. It's often referred to as a normal or standard lens and it used to be the regular kit lens included with most camera bodies. A 50mm offers a happy medium between wide-angle and telephoto and, usually, a fast aperture (typically 1.8 or 1.4) that gives you the option to shoot in low light or isolate the subject with a sliver of sharp focus. It's simplicity encourages good technique, it's price is approachable ($100 to $500 depending on features and brand), and its versatility makes it potentially the only lens you'll ever need.

Now, before I get too high and mighty about this let me say that I am terrible at taking my own advice. This post is supposed to be about simplifying, about using your equipment to its fullest rather than buying something else. It's about truly mastering the basics rather than just upgrading your gear. I, on the other hand, have often done the opposite.

Over the past decade, I've bought and sold more photographic equipment than most small camera shops. At one point I even sold one 50mm lens and then promptly bought a different one. Out of desperation and nagging insecurity, I have several times attempted to buy my way out of photographic slumps and creative dead ends. It almost never works. I tend to travel with more camera equipment than clothing. I have been known to take multiple cameras for a "relaxing" afternoon at the beach. The back seat of my car is like a drifting dune of photo equipment, ebbing and flowing from driver to passenger side and back again. This is partly because I'm an idiot, but also because I fear that with out lots of fancy equipment on hand at all times I will miss a great photo. This is almost never the case. When I look back through my archive, I find that most of my favorite images were taken with minimal (and often cheap) equipment at times and in places where a huge camera case would have only held me back.

That in mind, here is my resolution: I'm going back to shooting with a 50mm...most of the time. Now, I have to hedge my bet a little because I know I will have clients and shoots for whom the 50mm just won't be quite enough. I'm not going all Kung Fu Master and leaving my worldly possessions behind to simply walk the earth. But I am going to try to get back to basics as much as I can. And shooting with a simpler rig is a great way to do that.

I find that bare bones equipment forces you to be more intentional about composition. It forces you to zoom with your feet rather than your fingertips, to look carefully, to think about angles, and to pay attention. PAY ATTENTION. It creates challenges that you have to think through rather than skirt around. In short, it makes you work a little harder, but it makes you better. And it rewards you with images that you wouldn't get any other way.

 So here's to the classic 50mm, long may it reign.

Senior Portraits? Book Now.

Listen up people: if you're interested in booking a senior portrait session (or any portrait session for that matter) with Hired Lens Photography, contact us soon because the calendar is getting pretty darn full. July has been packed, August is almost all booked (I only have two openings left towards the end of the month), and September is already filling up fast. And for anyone interested in doing something really different, I've got a couple new locations in the old bag of tricks for this season. Where are they? I'm not going to ruin the surprise, but trust me when I say that they're cool. Call 262.305.9187 or go to the contact page to book your shoot.

P.S. Last year, we had a couple people who went for the underwater senior portrait challenge but due to some bad weather, some bad luck, and some super cloudy water, we had to scrap the idea. So it goes. But I haven't given up. I'm reissuing the challenge and offering a 15% discount again for anyone that uses one of their portrait settings to do an underwater photo. If we have to abandon the plan because of bad conditions, you still get the discount. Any takers?

Busy week.

Wow. It has been a busy frickin' week. Awesome, but busy. I was all over the map, thematically and literally, and next week shows no signs of slowing down. Plus, summer is now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, in full swing. I can tell because my forearms and the tops of my feet are a deep, swarthy tan. My legs, however, are still the delicate lily white of a man who wears long pants to work every day. If I wear shorts right now it looks like I'm still sporting a snug pair of freshly bleached thermals. The contrast is astounding, maybe even appalling. In photographic terms, I'd estimate the variation to be somewhere in the range of 8 full stops. Yikes. I need to find a little time to get some daylight on those puppies. Now that I've over-shared, here is a random smattering of this weeks photographic highlights. Rock the weekend. You've earned it, people.

 

Spring.

Being a Photographer.

Two weeks ago our wonderful incredible friends Megan and Robert had a beautful little baby girl and we got to meet her this past weekend. As you may have guessed I took a photo...or two. We also went to my brother's baby shower, he and his wife are due later this summer. It's pretty incredible to meet a little person like this, or think about my brothers son who we'll get to meet soon, and know that I will be taking pictures of these people for a very long time. May be that sounds like a silly way to think about it, but that's what it means for me to be a photographer. I can't really separate that part of me from the rest of my life, they're one in the same. It means I'll take their pictures the first time we meet. And it means I'll be there to see them toddling around in diapers, maybe when they're riding their first bike. I might take their senior portraits, get a photo of them at college graduation, maybe even shoot their weddings. I might take photos of each of their first children. Pretty crazy.

I love being a photographer, but I struggle with the business end of it. I don't like the invoices, and the e-mails, and the spreadsheets. Taxes don't necessarily come naturally to me. And really, I could take or leave some of the more mundane marketing photographs that I take. But all those other things pay the bills. They keep lenses in my bag and a camera on the table. And for that I'm grateful. They make it possible for me to be a photographer, and be there with a camera for moments like this. So, they're worth it.

Nature Film-Sneak Peek.

I've been in a big debate with myself about whether I'm ready to announce this or not, but at this point I'm too excited to keep it to myself. So here's a quick sneak peek at a scene from the new nature film centered around the Souix River currently in production at Hired Lens Photography. This is just a rough cut of some recent footage that will be part of one scene. But don't expect to see a final cut any time soon. If this project is a marathon, we're still not even to the first mile marker. There's hours of footage still to be shot and logged, narration to write and record, and, of course, the most tedious bit of all: the editing. Right now, I'm tentatively looking at Spring 2013 for an actual release of the full film, but that could (and probably will) get pushed back even farther. I'm just trying to be honest with myself, these projects take some serious time. Not to mention, I still need to get footage from three more seasons. I'm also looking for a few more sponsors. That's part of why I'm sharing a little preview right now. I have a couple partners/sponsors on this project already, but I'd love to get a couple more. Any one interested? Drop me a line.

Little Ones.

 Just a couple of my favorites from a photo shoot I had a couple days ago with little Abigail and her big brother "Batman." This is hands-down the happiest baby I have ever seen. She did nothing, but smile and laugh the whole time. Even when she started getting cold laying in the lawn, she just furrowed her brow a little bit. She never cried, never whined. I wish more of the adults I work with were like that. And look at those eyes. For anyone questioning that blue, these are not touched up. That's true, straight from the camera color.

And where would a little sister be without a big brother, always at the ready to defend her with a stick.

Oh yeah, and Marvin showed up too, just to take a quick crack at baby photos. Not too shabby for his first try. Way to go Marvin.

Sun Printing Stop-Motion.

The good people at Sun Printing in Wausau finished up the final editing on this stop-motion video we started working on together last month. This started as more than 3,000 still frames and got pieced together into this little film. I shot most of the stills and put them together into raw footage and then the creative department at Sun did the heavy lifting of trimming those clips into a great little story. I love it. Well done, team. Well done.

New Assistant.

As Hired Lens Photography has grown and expanded into new markets during the first part of 2012, we've found the need to bring on more staff. I'm proud to announce the addition of Tallulah Tarkington to our creative department. Though she brings limited experience to the job, she seems eager to learn. As a first step, I need her to stop trying to piddle on the camera bag, but once that's ironed out, I think we should be good to go. A special thanks to Animal Allies in Duluth, MN for helping us find our new helper.

Update on 2012-04-04 14:56 by Bob Gross

Tallulah also had a brief sitting at the studio yesterday.