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Go HERE to buy a shirt and help my friend Mattie No Times pay for his new liver. I got mine about 3 days after I paid for it. (Or just make a donation!)

Just to make sure that when the first person/celebrity walks onto the step and repeat we aren’t all making adjustments, a couple of photographers step out for some lighting tests. It’s really not rocket science to get the settings right, but it’s always nice to check. This image was shot at 1/200th sec. F6.3 @ 250 ISO & 1/4 Flash. For pictures from last nights event go HERE. Shooting events with step and repeats is not why I got my MFA, but I don’t mind it at all and it’s a good chance to get a lot of images of different people up on Getty (the images always sell). I’m really looking forward to shooting more street stuff with my new 5D Markii.

If you’ve listened to his podcasts and like them as much as I do then you’ll be excited about this upcoming show.

This was a fairly calm carpet from other ones I’ve worked. If one person starts shouting and stealing everyones eye contact then the noise level goes up. It only takes one over excited photographer to turn the whole event into a madhouse.

For the pictures I took of the 2010 BET Rehearsals go HERE

It’s amazing that you could live in China and not be able to visit apple.com, wikepedia.com or imdb.com!!

(via gizmodo)

I was reading this (abbreviated below) today on how to be a good critic on photography. The only one I REALLY disagree with is the final point. I don’t think it is the critics job to make a suggestion on how to improve the work. It’s the artists job to take all of the comments and work on how their own perception along with the criticism received (valid or not!) will improve or affect their work. Often criticism is taken as a way of reworking already created pieces, when I think it should also be seen as another mode of thought or perception of the work. Otherwise these are 4 good rules to start with when being critical about photography. (I also disagree partially with the final part of the third point, I don’t think every person pours their heart and soul out when making work! It’s this assumption that can lead to weaker critical thought or the ‘cotton wool’ affect.)

1) One must respect the artist whose work one is criticising. That doesn’t mean that one has to like everything but rather that one must try and understand the creator’s motives and approach.

2) It is beholden on the critic to be knowledgeable about photography – not in some narrow, parochial way but in a deep and broad way.

3) The judge should be humble. The critics’ role should be to serve the photographers whose work they are appraising. He or she must bear in mind that whatever they feel about the image presented to them the person whose vision it is has no doubt poured their heart and soul into its making.

4) The critic must supply a reasoned argument for their opinion. It simply isn’t good enough to say that one doesn’t like something without backing up that opinion with reasons and examples to support one’s viewpoint.

5) The critic should make suggestions on how to improve a work. If they don’t have any suggestions they have no business being critical!

“No Reservations” is the perfect mix of a cooking show, travel show and documentary. Thankfully unlike lot’s of other Travel Channel shows, Anthony Bourdain isn’t a ‘hippy-dippy traveller’ who loves everything and patronizes the locals. He comes across as more of a journalist that eats than a food critic. How do I become his travelling photographer for all the shows??

We had breakfast at “egg” and then went to PS1 today and saw the 1969 and Between Spaces show with Alexis. Our favorite work was the swimming pool that you can step into by Leandro Erlich. I’m gonna try and squeeze in the MOMA contemporary photography show that closes tomorrow.

More importantly we came home via the Irish markets on McLean Ave, where we were inspired to make our own Battenburg cake. We followed this recipe here.

I’ve written about Brian Ach’s Photographer Project before (go HERE to buy a copy). Jason Kempin is an old friend and coworker, I edited his images at Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2006, and now I occasionally shoot alongside him at events. You really learn how good a photographer someone is when you edit their raw take. I like this portrait of him with his Gimme! coffee and his responses are spectacular.

I got the Fujifilm Instax 200 camera for christmas from my Dad. He’d also bought one for my mum, who uses 600 Polaroids at the beginning of every school semester to get headshots of her elementary students for the classroom wall. She should probably be sponsored by Polaroid (or now Fujifilm) as she has single handedly kept the art alive in the mind of over 500 children who would otherwise have never seen an image instantly pop out of a camera and develop in their hands.

The image quality is pretty good and it handles colors and focus nicely. It’s definitely a change to be shooting a polaroid that’s such a wide format which I think will look amazing for landscapes or group shots. The almost square format of the original Polaroid 600 film could be considered a large part of its appeal and certainly has affected the styling of the typical ‘polaroid’ image. The film costs about what Polaroid 600 used to (see after break for Polaroid costs now); about $1 an image.

The panel on the side has a few basic functions like 2 focus settings and 3 exposure choices, not dissimilar to a Holga. (Dimension of camera – 178.5(W) x 94.5(H) x 117.5(D) mm)

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It’s my New Years resolution to take more pictures while I’m not working. It’s been a year since I graduated from Pratt and I’ve turned my focus on earning a living as an event photographer. So here is my first image of 2010…