Brooklyn Photographer Joe Buglewicz released HOTLOADING a quirky memoir/promo book chronicling nearly a year driving a bus in Alaska. The 60 page "book" is printed on full color newsprint and the images were made with a Contax film point & shoot.

My buddy Joe Buglewicz — that’s him, a cigarette, & his “taco meat” up top —  just released a rad new promo book, “Hotloading.” Well, it’s actually a newspaper. Check his tumblr here! or, maybe you prefer just the straight up images on his website?

He used Newspaper Club to print this 60 page, full color, book. I TOTALLY wanna use this company for promo books in the future.

So, what’s “Hotloading” about? It’s a photographic memoir of nearly a year driving a tourist bus in Alaska. It’s really good & it’s super quirky. All the photos in the newspaper were made with a film point & shoot (It’s either a Contax T2, or T3, for all you film gear nerds. Joe? help me out here).

The El Mateo!
Luchador mask courtesy of the limited edition “Weird Sports” book by Sol Neelman.

Check it out: I’m in good company.

BOY! Doesn’t this post’s title sound cocky!?

All that means is Jen Rynda replaced me at the Patuxent Publishing Company when I quit last December. And In case you’re curious, she’s doing a great job.  She’s also putting a fresh new face on the Athletes of the Year photos — which, I suppose if I left a legacy at PPC, that would be it. …which was a legacy belonging to Fran Gardler before that. She’s pretty good at shooting sports, so, for some reason the powers that be assumed she’d be good at shooting the Athletes of the Year. I get the impression that expectation made her a bit nervous. So, she bribed me with a burrito last June to teach her how to use my old lighting kit (which was actually cannibalized by a few other staffers hahaha!). During our lesson, she made this cool, moody photo of me.

This This and This (specifically the flying lacrosse player) are some pretty cool examples of how she’s making the Athletes of the Year shoots her own.

So, earlier today (yeah! how’s that for a fast blog post turn around?) we met up for lunch and I started talking about lighting. ….y’know, one of those nerdy things photogs sometimes talk about. I mentioned using a Lastolite TriGrip Deflector silk to diffuse the harsh light  from Nikon my SB-900 in a photo I made of Melissa Golden eating pizza, and one thing led to another and BAM! — we’re talking about High Speed Sync/focal plane lighting. So, we went back to my place and I gave her a quick demo of what the new Pocket Wizard Flex system can do with a speedlight and D700 + 35mm f/1.8 at 100 ISO, 1/8000th of a second, at f/1.8 outdoors on an overcast, drizzly day.

Now, I’m not really a tech/gear blogger, so I’m not gonna go into a big technical explanation. There are a ton of blogs out there better at nerding out on gear. I learned about fp (focal plane) lighting from The Strobist, for example. So, if you have the time, do some digging.

All I’m gonna say about this shoot is that it took very little time to set up. 10 minutes, including set up, break down, and two location changes. I rarely takes me 10 minutes to set up the big lights.

I’m NOT gonna say the results are “just as good as using the big lights.” But they’re different than using the big lights. Obviously if I used two speedlights the light sculpting might be more impressive.

But, y’know… it’s my go to method for running and gunning a lit portrait. Below are a examples of how much light the SB-900 actually gave the shoot and what the set up looked like.no light (obviously).

Who needs a tripod when you have a bannister? …although, I wouldn’t mind getting one of Lastolite’s TriGrip Brackets, either.Indoors with the TriGrip. ISO 100, 1/8,000th, f/1.8 …the strobe was set to Manual at full (1/1) power and zoomed in to 24mm.

This is without the TriGrip at the same settings. …and yeah. Jen’s out of focus. That’s one of the problems you’ll run into when shooting at f/1.8. Aside from my focusing problem, I also think the lighting looks a little gross in comparison to the one above. Sure, the light is spread out, lighting the room a bit better, but the quality of light looks cheap. — in my opinion. There are just too many weird highlights and shadows. Oh. And I should say, I’m not sponsored by any of the companies I touted in the post. …but if Nikon, Pocket Wizard, and/or Lastolite wants to give me a call (gear, and money) I’m all ears (and eyes).

And just for reference, this is what the room looked like with the same exposure settings, sans flash.  dark, right?

Flag-laden Simon Penning, age 19, from Guilford, MD, middle, joins other Preakness-goers and uses the cracks in between the the wheelchair accessible portable toilets to urinate. Infrequent rains, beer, and urine, made this particular part of the infield muddier and more pungent than other areas.

Blake Andrews recently made a really good and insightful (well, to me anyway) blog post about taking pictures of people peeing in public/public restrooms. So, I was inspired to bring out this oldie (but a goodie). This is probably the best photo I made from my 2007 journey into the Preakness infield.

As most guys know, there’s a “no talk. no eye contact” social more  when it comes to public restroom etiquette. Small talk is super small, and greetings are often morphed into throaty grunts or head-nods.

Yeah yeah yeah. there are exceptions, but guys and their …uh, stuff, is a touchy (no pun) subject. I can recount numerous times when I’ve been in a bathroom and I see something worth photographing — no. not like that! get your head outta the gutter — but the fear of (physical & violent) confrontation — IN THE BATHROOM OF ALL PLACES — makes me rethink whipping my camera out.

…fine. make that last phrase dirty. but that’s your one pass.

So, really, I’m just glad to know I’m not alone thinking that taking photos in bathrooms could be kinda awesome. Feel free to share yours in the comments section. And/Or email them to Blake. He’s looking to make a follow up if enough people show any interest. who knows… you might see mine in that list.

FASTER THAN A SPEEDLIGHT!

ABLE TO GEL SMALL FLASHES

STRONGER THAN A VIVITAR 285

…he’s THE STROBIST!

My buddy Drew and I used to joke about how mild mannered (yeah right!) David Hobby’s alter ego “THE STROBIST” was a great super hero’s name. And the last time I got to photograph him, I really wanted to make him into a super hero, but David wasn’t about to put on any spandex. …can’t say I blame him. I probably wouldn’t have done it either. So, I finally got my “super hero” photo! Albeit, it’s a bit more noir-ish than your typical “caped crusader” look.

And more important to me, this photo is way more like how I shoot than the one that ran in the Howard County Times. Below are a few more frames from the day. He made some nice portraits of me, too. He might be posting them as a way to show off this rad new contraption he made — a beauty dish for an sb-800. That’s what we used for this image. he hand held it and aimed it behind his head.

If you ever get the chance to meet him –  AHEM – you’ll see he’s like the nicest guy.

LOOK! you can see into the shadows! thanks on axis fill!

David wanted to experiment with the silk lantern, the setting sun, and trees. It was a really cool idea. …which I will no doubt steal one of these days. All in the name of flattery, of course.

I really did help. …a little bit.

Here’s the final product: BOOM!

For the last four years I’ve spent Christmas Day with my girlfriend Jess and her family. And it’s soooo weird to me.

You see, I’m an only child. And I was raised by a single mom. …and, to an extent, my grandparents.

For a while, my mom and I actually lived with grandparents and my two great grandmothers. So, as a wee pup, I was the only kid at our family’s holiday celebrations. If I can be cynical, Christmas was like a big tease to me. There was always this HUGE buildup. Most of the presents under the tree were toys for me. — and we were one of those families who opened all the presents on Christmas Eve. After I the manic high of shredded all the wrapping paper, and I surveyed my generous bounty, a sobering reality set in.

… it was over.

Over a month of pent-up anticipation was deflated in 20 minutes. And it wasn’t even Christmas yet.

I think we can all agree that the Holiday season is totally different for kids than for adults. Sure, adults get cool stuff, but kids… kids get toys! — and toys are meant to be played with. And I don’t care how well intentioned an adult is, there’s nothing like playing with other kids.

But I was surrounded by adults — my mom being the second youngest person in the house.

Don’t get me wrong, for the most part, I love being an only child. But Christmas Time for me was a bit… unsatisfying. boring.

…and lonely.

Well, let me tell you, there’s nothing boring about Christmas with my girlfriend Jess’s family.

*Jess in her Christmas robe.*

She’s a part of a big, tight-knit, Baltimore family. –well, two, really. her dad’s (above) and her mom’s (below). The whole day is festive. The kids are playing! the adults are talking (and drinking) and everyone’s eating too many cookies.

ha! My goal this year was to not slip into a food coma.

I’m not saying I didn’t, but it wasn’t as bad as years past.

–thanks to the cheese plate!

Don’t get me wrong. I had a pretty good childhood and I wouldn’t change my Christmases for anything. Our pasts shape who we are. And I really like who I’ve become. My mom did a great job. I miss being around her on the Holidays.

Christmas with my Mom and Grandmommy (Grandaddy and my two great grandmothers have since passed) are familiar, simple, and low-key. My grandparents anniversary is Christmas Eve, so after he passed, my grandmother wanted to shake things up. One year we went to Hawaii! But most years we eat at one of the few open restaurants and watch movies. Christmas night ends quietly…

In contrast, I’m exhausted by the end of Christmas with Jess. — in part from too many cookies and cake.

*Decker, playing with his cousin Casey under a piano.*

This big family life is a world I’m fascinated by and I love exploring in pictures.

Even after four years, I still feel like an outsider who’s been let in. It’s wonderful!

– and super interesting.

My college friend Margaret Goerig is going on a 21st century-style road trip! That is, she’s driving cross country with her dog Rennie, meeting up with Facebook friends, writing *cough* — i mean blogging about it on her site, http://www.flitflitter.com — and driving everywhere in a charming jalopy of a camper — Roxie — which is probably older than Margaret. She came to visit me in Baltimore Wednesday, October 27, 2010. After i saw Roxie, I couldn’t not make a portrait.

She’s a really good writer, too. I personally like this post about learning how to not always finish a task — a hang up I often wish I had.

Holy Smokes. You guys see that gigantic visitor’s spike in my google analytics dashboard? That was on the day David Hobby, aka The Strobist, pimped me out on twitter. …his handle is @strobist for those reading this post who didn’t find me through him.

1,835! that’s how many people checked out my blog July 15th, 2010. For the most part they went to two pages: This one. and This one.

Thanks to all you folks who subscribed to my twitter feed. …I think it tripled! And I appreciate everyone who subscribed to my blog on their rss feed. I’ll try to do you guys right by keeping this blog filled with interesting images and I’ll give y’all a good explanation when I can remember my set up. hahahaha.

And of course, thanks to David Hobby! No wonder Time Magazine named The Strobist as one of the top 25 blogs of 2010. I wouldn’t have seen that incredible spike without him. I think my regular page views are up, too.

Sometimes photographing another photographer can be intimidating. …sometimes it can be annoying. But I felt neither emotion when I got to photograph David Hobby last week.

It was fun! It helped that we already knew each other.

(20 cool points to whoever can guess what David’s drinking.)

So, why was I photographing Mr. Hobby? Time Magazine named his blog, The Strobist, one of the top 35 of 2010 and The Howard County Times (where I work, and where David used to work before the Sun) is profiling him. I’m not sure the rank is in any significant numerical order, but he’s #18 on the list.

My original idea was to make a wall o’ lights. Like, bring out all of his strobes. Then I saw his backyard and realized it was too hilly. But I’m not saying I don’t want to try it at some other time — hint hint, David.

Here’s an extended caption: This image of David Hobby, made in his Dorsey Search backyard, Friday, July 9, 2010, was made with a Nikon D700, a Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens, and shot wide open with an aperture of f/1.8, with a 1/25th shutter speed and an exposure speed of 200 ISO. A neutral density filter (which belonged to David) was used over the lens. Five lights were used: three Alien Bee 1600′s — two off camera, one, on my right, modified with a beauty dish at 1/4 power, one to the far left, modified with a magnum reflector, at full power, and the one seen in the background, bare-bulb at full power — one Alien Bee 800, at his feet, at 1/16th power, and one Nikon sb-800 speedlight, on the right, for a little rim light, but mostly for show. The set up (except for the sb-800) was powered by two Paul C. Buff Vagabond II’s and the lights were triggered by a combination of Pocket Wizard II’s and utilizing the lights’ optical slaves. This info might seem like gobbledygook to most, but the followers of Hobby’s “The Strobist” blog know it as “Strobist Info.”  Former Patuxent Publishing Co. and Baltimore Sun staff photographer David Hobby’s blog was named by Time Magazine as one of the top 25 blogs of 2010. The Strobist blog demystifies off-camera lighting while maintaining a budget-minded populist ethos for the non-professionals who just want to make their photos better.

And since I love outtakes…

photo by David Hobby

we were having problems with his new Einstein strobe, seen right behind me. Notice how it’s not going off?

Flippantly testing the pocket wizards.

Here’s the final product/what I turned in.

and here are my CYA shots.

and here’s one he shot of me!

Brad Trent is super bad ass. Giving Credit to where credit is due, The Strobist recently pimped him out, discussing his regularly practiced fourth-wall-breaking “Artificial Portraits” series.

So, that’s where I heard about him. Now… I’m a big fan. and I LOOOOOOVE his wackadoo style. It seems like Mr. Trent just likes to have fun. In turn, I’m having fun looking at his stuff.

It’s a really good lesson to learn for all you shooters out there. Perhaps, like a smile translating over the phone, fun will translate through a photo shoot. …similarly, so might frustration.

Enjoy, and feel free to post your experiences when the emotions of a really fun or frustrating photo shoot translated on “paper.”