benhider.com/blog

Whenever I google my name to try and see what images of mine exist in the world I get this Intelius website. It’s pretty scary to think that for $40 anyone can find anything out about me. (…and yes, I google my name fairly often and I’m not ashamed to admit this!)

If you’ve ever had to try and pose a small child, you’ll know how hard studio photography with children is. They just want to look at the big flash or play with their feet. On top of the child being distracted, the parents think it helps to stand off to the side and make cute noises at their little precious. Although this may temporarily make the kid smile, it doesn’t help me getting the shot with them looking out of the camera. Now double that with twins who are too young to sit up on their own….

To see more of the commercial work I’ve been doing go HERE and HERE

I rarely have to check my hotmail account anymore as I generally only use it for junk or website subscription stuff. However all of my craigslist wedding postings link back to it so I sometimes feel the need to lookout for client requests. I got this request today… anyone wanna cover this for me. I would be totally down if I had size 13 feet.. NOT!!!

“I am a male actor/writer/video artist in search of a specific type of male photographer, I need a handsome male so I am comfortable shooting certain style photos with. I am asking to pose at the barefeet of a cool laid back photographer open to taking shots of me posing at his big barefeet. I am looking for a guy with really big well groomed masculine feet size 13 or more, and it has been hard to find for some reason. I want to sit on the floor or a chair and look up at you holding on to your feet or implied toe licking and foot kissing for my fetish site. I need to travel to your studio and I can assure you this will not be sexual, only fetish style shots. I do require a photo of you and your barefeet before booking the session and if you want I can meet you before at a cafe to discuss. Prefer to stay in manhattan. Please send all pics to me at  videotalents@gmail.com if interested in working with me. I can only afford like 100 cash for a short session so hopefully we can work that out.”

Eva Mendes (c) Steven Meisel/Vogue

I only just looked up this guys music, and was somewhat surprised by it, although I should have guessed by his fan base. He seemed like a really nice guy, being happy to sit and eat a sundae with some pretty excited fans.

(c) Ben Hider

I’d stopped checking this blog because they’d stopped posting. Apparently not anymore!! – www.blogotheque.net

I own far too many jackets from my years working in outdoor retail. It also means I can’t spend full price on items like these awesome arc’teryx jackets, especially when they cost $800!!! That doesn’t mean I can’t window shop.

This was the most incredible Burger King I’ve ever seen.

Foamhenge in Natural Bridge, Virginia with Dario giving an over the shoulder

The Enchanted Studios (creator of Foamhenge)

I’ve shot the pole dancing championships last Thursday, spent all of Saturday in a strip club and then shot this at the Museum of Sex today. Maybe a road trip to Atlanta will change things up a little?

I have seen many people take terrible images with beautiful cameras, and vice versa. It helps a great deal to never be struggling with the equipment you use. Often a better quality camera will improve your ability to capture greater detail in lower light but some people love the grainy plastic lens look. These two cameras could not look more similar yet have a greater divide in customer base.

Leica X1 – $1999.99 – 36mm F2.8 – 12.9 megapixels

Yashica EZ-F521 – $89.00 – 43mm  - 5 megapixels

Food photography is a special skill that’s full of all sorts of tricks. Ones that I’m trying to learn, and hoping that photoshop can amend. I’ve been asked by my brother for an image of a cracked egg with the shells included for some packaging design he’s working on. Here is my first attempt with an egg that’s edible, but not as fresh as it probably should be for it’s big moment in the spotlight. I’m hoping a fresher egg would render more definition in the edge of the egg whites.

Of all the photographers whose work I was introduced to while at Pratt, Mitch Epstein is still one of my favorites. We saw a selection of prints from this body of work “American Power” a couple of years ago. They were printed pretty huge (larger than 40″x60″) allowing some of the images to really stand out, but also swamping others. I’ve stopped buying photography books since I graduated as I don’t have the same kind of finances or the time to read them, but I may invest in this one.

Reading the introduction to his book “Work” helped me a great deal when composing my thesis statement. He says:

“I didn’t want to lose the magic I felt when I spontaneously opened up to a situation I hadn’t see coming. Along with the fear of deadening the creative process, I feared killing a picture with intent.”

This is an elaborate (and more intelligent) way of saying how I feel about shooting, where I’d rather just walk around taking pictures, than planning situations or creating images that represent my inner struggle. Not that personal issues can’t be in the final content of my work, I find that preconceiving the image flattens the final images or just doesn’t fit. This way of shooting means I need to create a lot, and the editing and sequencing becomes critical. None of which is happening right now as I’m completely consumed by my event photography (translate as – “making money”)

Book Signing: American Power - Presented by The Strand, New York. – Thursday, October 22, 2009. 7-8pm.

He was in Calgary yesterday and gave this advice – “On a basic level we are same. I want a happy life. You want happy life. We can communicate, we can walk together, we can make a common effort for a better world.” And, “The destruction of your neighbour is destruction of yourself. The concept of war is out of date.”

He arrives in NY on Sunday when I’m hoping to photograph his teaching on Nagarjuna’s Commentary on Bodhicitta(jangchup semdrel) organized by a Vietnamese group at the Manhattan Center. For a schedule of his all his upcoming teachings around the world go here.