I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a neuroscientist talking about how our choices are largely determined by these little squirts of dopamine and a bunch of other stuff I would like to pretend I understood.

One thing I’m pretty sure I could get my head around was that there are all kinds of things in life that give us these little squirts of dopamine, in other words, little bio-chemical shots of happiness.

Right now I’m building a sample album to present to couples during our consults. I’m using a wedding from last fall that was one of my all time favorite weddings to photograph. I’m culling images, doing little edits, sorting and thinking about how I want the images laid out and I realized I was getting these little shots of joy.

I thought I would post a few.

Photography, for me at least, is about looking for the right light, anticipating a moment unfolding and then capturing it when it does. This one unfolded while Steph was getting ready. Mitch and Steph had decided to have a private moment before the ceremony to see one another. Here she is just about ready to walk out and see Mitch. The light from the window was soft and bright and she was holding her flowers just so. I waited until something in my gut said “hit the shutter dummy!”

This is the result.

Mitch has his back turned waiting for Steph to come up to the alter where he’ll see her in her dress for the first time.
This is seriously one of my favorite moments during a wedding. Steph approaches with her grooms gift and flowers in hand. Shaking just a bit.

Image on left is Mitch just before he turns, image right is Mitch right as he sees Steph. Need I say more?

A deep breath… an embrace.

For a limited time I will be offering free couples sessions to build up my portfolio.

We will spend a few hours at some of our favorite locals here in the Santa Cruz area during our session. What you get is a DVD of edited images with print rights. What I get are images for my portrait portfolio. Its a total win win situation!

Just click here to contact me and set up your free session.

I have been rearranging images on my drives, backing up all the stuff from 09 and what not and there are so many images that I love I thought I would share a few for the next few days or so. Or maybe its cause I’m head over heals myself and seen these other couples on their wedding day makes me feel all squishy inside.

This is one of my all time favs. I just told Mitch and Steph to take a few steps back and do what comes natural…

Beck and I headed out to San Francisco to check out the King Tut exhibit on Sat. It was quite the adventure. Next time you are up on the Wharf I highly recommend Scoma’s for dinner. Just be sure and bring the $$$.

In a recent blog post fellow People Photographer (and fellow traveler) Kirk Tuck wrote,

Do these images mean anything to anyone else? Does it matter?

I read on forums where people ask “What should I shoot? I’m bored…” and it amazes me. There is so much beauty everywhere. Who has time to capture it all?

You might need to read the entire post to follow where I’m going with this but those words struck a chord deep with in and they where resonating with in me still on Saturday when Beck and the kids and I headed out to Sea Bright for a little fun at the beach.

For those of you who are only at Santa Cruz beaches in the summer during peak tourist season you are missing out. A little known secret is that the best time to visit the beach is in the winter. The crowds have dispersed and the light is low and gentle and you can have all that beauty to yourself.

Heading out of course I brought along the camera and the 50 1.4. And like any creative I was pre-visualizing the images, meditating on the light, thinking about angles, etc. But when we got to the beach and settled into our day all that melted away and the images simply materialized before me as the story of our day together unfolded. To be honest that is exactly how I prefer to find images. Just watch the story and pick out images as they happen.

My best girl Beck. She really is a wonder woman. She’s the kind of woman that when you find her you forget your self, your agendas, your own way of doing things. She’s the girl those country and indi bands write tunes about. She’s the prettiest girl I know who doesn’t know it.

Kaleb is all about being nine and a boy in all the best ways. He likes dirt and picking on his sister and fart noises.

Sonja is her momma’s daughter and entirely her own person fighting hard to hold onto her last days as a child.

LAND SHARK!

My best day yet

Classic West Coast Nor Cal Sunset.

So like Kirk asked, “do the images work?” I dono. They work for me.

That first image of Beck is exactly how I always picture her when I’m not with her. Reminds me of that song by Rogue Wave “Eyes” the way she looks at me. The images of the kids are exactly who they are. The set of images will always be there to remind me of our day together. So they work for me.

So much beauty everywhere, every day in all our lives. Who has time to capture it all? Shame on any of us when we fail to see it.

Technical Strobist Type Stuff: the last shot was pretty basic: One SB 800 hand held with SC 17 chord TTL, knock down the ambient to pick up the hues of the sunset. Not the greatest shot but it works cause it means something to me. The other images were all 50mm 1.4 ISO 160 about 3200 shutter speed. But honestly, who cares it is who is in the images and that they were found that matters right?

I’m kind of a book junkie. Boarders, Bookshop Santa Cruz, the Public Library* these places are like little dispensaries of crack for me. But not just any book. Ok, well just about any book. I tend to read in themes. For a while I was working my way through the collected works of the Puritan John Owen (16 fat little volumes in Elizabethan-interjected-with-Latin-footnoted-up-the-wazoo on the nature of humanity and the Puritan take on our communion with god). Another time it was all about brains. How the brain works, what is the difference between the brain and the mind, how the brain falls in love, etc. And of course there was the series on world history, evolution, physics. I read everything I could find by Wendell Berry** and I love Flannery O’Connor.

The point is I read a lot. I don’t know. Maybe I’m trying to make up for all the goofing off I did at KU.

When you read as much as I do you are bound to come across a ton of stinkers – or as a friend calls them “steamers” as in steaming piles of ….

So when I find a book that really resonates I slow down and bore into it. And I love that. I love finding a book, or any creative work really that I resonate with – that makes me think “me and that guy/girl could be pals. I bet we even like the same beer.”

Matthew B. Crawfords “Shop Class as Soul Craft: an inquiry into the value of work” is one of those books.

I haven’t always been a photographer, but I have always been in the trades in one form or another. I’ve always felt like there are two ways to approach the trades. There are the guys (sorry, they are mostly guys) who don’t see it as a vocation and feel no fidelityto the work (Crawfords word) and there are those who do. I’ve never been the best tradesmen. I’m not the worst by far but there are some real masters that I’ve met and worked with over the years that have a kind of Zen Master-Obi Wan mastery over their particular specialty that at times can make you feel like a rank beginner. Crawford writes about the value of the trades and our need to return to teaching them as a valuable soul-crafting endeavor. Ever more so in todays out sourcing, pseudo-do-it-your-self-er times.

One of the concepts he talks about that I have believed for a long time but have never really been able to articulate is that of fidelity. In context he is talking about fidelity to the bike he is working on and fidelity to the customer who brought it to him for repair. He shares his struggle with wanting needing to do justice to the machine itself and repair it to it’s former glory Vs. his fidelity to not run up the customers bill and yet still do right by his customer.

What has this to do with photography? Everything.

When I’m out on a shoot my two fidelities if you will are to the image. I’m a photographer. I watch and plan and prepare all for what Henri Cartier-Bresson called the “decisive moment.” That moment that is so rare that arises and disappears quickly but that if you are attentive and prepared you can capture in the opening of the shutter. It is the moment in time that is essential to telling the story, expressing the idea, creating an image that resonates with the viewer. But there is also a fidelity I feel to my clients. I feeling that everyone deserves the best images yet not everyone can afford a photographer who can capture those images and tell their story. Which leads to a struggle with my fidelity between my art and craft as a photographer and my business as a photographer who has rent to pay.

I haven’t yet figured out how to bring those two fidelities closer into alignment.

Anyway. When I get all gummed up thinking about these things I find that going out with my camera and walking the streets hunting for images for no other reason than to make images helps to clear my head. Which is good because as a photographer you have to constantly be working on your craft, as well as shooting “just for yourself.” Doing so results in a further perfecting of your abilities, which should be a no brainer for anyone who considers them self a “pro.” There is nothing like just doing your art that reconnects you with your own true self especially if you’ve been doing to much thinking about the art. Or as Yoda would say “there is no try, only do.” Or something like that.

Following are a few images I found while on one of these little excursions. The first two are from today. The last is from a few weeks ago when I wandered into the local flea market with a 50 year old Rollei TLR film camera.

I can’t say that after finding these images I got any further along the path of reconciling those tensions I wrote about above. However, I can say that in finding them I also found a deep soul level satisfaction. And in the end that is why I’m a photographer anyway.

Hope you enjoyed the images,
Mike

*Until I got a huge fine and they wouldn’t let me back in.
**Highly Recomended

Happy New Year folks. I don’t know about you but I have high hopes for 2010. Not that ‘09 was all that bad really. In fact in some ways it was one my best years ever. I got off my butt and actually started trying to make a go at photography as more than just an art but as a business. I made some new and pretty rad friends. And of course I met my “+ 1″, Becky.

But as good as 2009 was 2010 holds even more promise. I’ve got several inquiries and a couple of consultations to set up for weddings this year, and a birthday party needing a photobooth on the schedule.

Speaking of photobooths, we brought in 2010 with an impromptu photobooth at Peter and Jana’s Roller Skating Capes and Bling NYE party.

All the images are up on Facebook, but Facebook wrecks images so I wanted to post a few here.

This is the opener, the guest of honor Ryan

What I love about the photobooth is it lets everyone get into the act. All night whole families came over and got what amounts to mini family portrait shoot. I would do 3 -4 shots of each group. One “normal” and then coach them to be a little more – uh not-so-stick-up-your-butt like. Which isn’t all that hard in this case considering the context (hello, capes AND bling) and who the party goers where.

Case in point, check out these sets:

Another thing I love about the photobooth is I have absolute control over the light. Place the subject, pose and compose. Super rad.

The more willing people are to get a little wacky the better the images – which is why this would be great at a wedding or a party with an open bar. Or in this case a party with my friends who are all just a little off anyway.

For you technique geeks I set up two SB 600s 8ft up on stands, with diffusers on the heads fired through shoot through umbrellas. They are at about a 45 degree angle to the backdrop. Triggered by an SB 800 on camera (hint:set it to — so it won’t ad to the exposure). They are at full power (didn’t complain a bit and I didn’t have a single misfire, you will want to give em a brake every 2 – 3 shots but you will need to talk and compose people anyway so it works out). I shot at 1/40 at 5.6 with a 17mm lens, hand held. The backdrop is a 10x seamless gaffer taped to the wall on one side and clamped to a light stand on the other.

Allan and Brenna get a double entry in my year in review. Instead of going for the traditional ring exchange they opted to go under the needle for something a little more, uh, permanent.

The only thing is they had neglected to get an appointment with one of the many local tattoo shops. But my buddy Mac has a shop just up the road so I dropped in and explained their predicament. He has done one of my tats and his work is amazing. Mac is such a good guy that he opened up his shop on his day off just to tattoo their rings.

This series of images are among the most popular in my portfolio for obvious reasons.

Here the newlyweds wait for Mac to set up. I love the image of Brenna giving a reassuring touch to Allan’s arm.

Brenna is the first to go under the needle as an anxious Allan watches.

Next it’s Allan’s turn.

Many thanks to Mac at The Gilded Lilly in Felton for accomodating us and allowing me to photograph the session. After all, no wedding album would be complete with out a ring shot.

For a few years now I’ve been working on a personal project of sorts. I’ve been shooting portraits of the street performers, buskers, poets, and activists in downtown Santa Cruz. I have to say it has been a rad little project. I’ve used everything from digital capture, Holga, to medium format film. I’ve met some unique and beautiful people and captured some amazing images.

However, that project is effectively over. The Oh So Wise Santa Cruz city leaders who consider themselves good little liberals have enacted laws that have all but driven away the performers away. The intent, as stated, of the laws is to make the down town safer and more hospitable. They claim that the “street people” intimidate folks and harass them thereby driving away business. Really the law is aimed at the homeless who also scrape by a living begging for money/food/pot.

The laws make it illegal for anyone to camp in the city limits. The good folks of Santa Cruz don’t want to build any shelters because no one wants one in their neighborhood, so it is just easier to criminalize poverty. Another law forbids anyone from staying for more than one hour with in a few feet of any tree, bench, building, statue etc. This is the one that catches the performers. There are little ladies in yellow and blue jackets with “Hospitality” across the back of the jacket whose job it is to enforce the law. They drive off these malicious and evil doers who have the audacity to bring their art to the people. The fact that their tags label them as “Hospitality” is a Orwellian accident hasn’t escaped me. I witnessed one of these little ladies ask a man to leave because he was sitting on a window seat in front of a store. Of course the man was clearly a trouble maker. He claimed he was only waiting for his wife to finish her shopping inside but we all know he was really just a wolf in sheep’s clothing waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting shopper.

Any way, my rant, like my project is over.

Hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed capturing them. There are plenty more where these came from.

This woman was among a group of Krishna’s going about doing what they do – you know, annoying people. I was about to pass them on when she began to dance. Mesmerizing isn’t the right word. There was a transcendence to how she moved that for most of her dance I forgot I had my camera. Lucky for me I snapped out of it and got some amazing images of which this is one.

This is Jose Garza. One day he’ll be headlining a punk show, just wait and see.

Curtis is on a crusade to remind the rest of America of our failure to rebuild New Orleans and to raise money for his home town.

Of course no collection of Santa Cruz photography is complete with out The Great Morgani.

Lyrical I is a street/beat/jam poet. A lot of people think they are poets, but this guy has a gift.

Ok. So confession time. I’ve always found senior portraits to be the dumbest lamest thing in the world. Mostly because the images I’ve always seen were the same old boring shit.

But then, this year I got an email from Brit’s boyfriend telling me how he doesn’t have any money but he wants to gift a senior portrait shoot to his girlfriend. Oh and one more thing, she hates to have her picture taken.

Wow, ok great sign me up! Who wouldn’t jump at a chance to do a particular kind of shoot that they despise of a person who hates being photographed for almost no money.

But I’m a big softy so I booked the shoot.

We met just before the shoot and talked about how the shoot would work and what Brit was looking for blah blah blah.

So I did my standard thing. First we got the safe-lets-make-grandma-happy just like every other photographers work kind of shots. So of course Brit was uncomfortable and I was bored and the images looked, well, great by most standards but I hated them. They weren’t my style and that was just not acceptable.

So we switched wardrobes (well Brit did) and locations. I explained to Brit that now that we have the standard stuff done with we can play around and what ever we get is bonus. Right away she relaxed a bit. Then her boyfriend showed up and sparks flew.

This first shot is my go-to portrait/headshot set up. One speed light, hand held, working with the Sun, hard light.

Then we got her love interest involved ala American Gothic:

Same set up as the first image only going wide angle up close (something else I love).

I have no problem using props. I love to use old cameras to shoot with and if I can’t get ‘em working again they make great props.

So yeah, I learned two things.

First, don’t make assumptions about inquiries. Of all the horror stories other photographers tell about low budget shoots that are always a PITA it has yet to happen to me. Every time I choose to help someone out photography wise I’ve always been rewarded in the image department. It don’t pay the rent but it does feed the soul.

Second, just because other people manage to turn a certain kind of shoot into boring ass cliche images doesn’t mean I have to. Which means I’m not only open but stoked to shoot senior portraits.