David Sorcher's PhotoWorld

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Congressman from Kentucky

©David Sorcher 2014

Last month i was asked to photograph yet another of our regional politicians for Cincy Magazine. This time it was Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie. As you can see from the above image, Congressman Massie is "out standing in his field", but before i get to how we came to this picturesque moment some background information is necessary.

©David Sorcher 2014

Originally i was offered one opportunity to shoot the Mr. Massie (btw, first tip when photographing politicians is not to show up and announce out loud that you are here to "shoot" the congressman ;-)). That was at an armed forces academy day at a local Kentucky high school where he was scheduled to speak. Knowing i would need some one-on-one time i reached out to his aide beforehand to set up when we could do that. She offered me 15 minutes of his time before he would be mingling with the attendees prior to his speech.

The school offered no good locations. Inside was mostly dark and institutional and outside was blazing sun with no good, relevant backgrounds, the worst of both worlds. I finally settled on the stage he would be speaking from, mostly for its simple background and the symbolism of the flags to at least tie him in to his office in some way. In the end, given the time allowance and other constraints, i think i produced the best portrait i could under the circumstances, though one which admittedly i find rather mundane at best and really just a tad bit boring.

©David Sorcher 2014

My second shooting opportunity that day came as Mr. Massie mingled with the crowd before his speech, speaking with constituents and students considering one of the military academies after high school. These weren't bad editorial moments, but not the kind of situation likely to produce a good photo for a full page bleed image for the article's cover page.

©David Sorcher 2014

My last opportunity that day was during the actual speech. These situations rarely produce great imagery and i wasn't expecting much. But just before Thomas was to be introduced i noticed that there was no spotlight for the speakers as i thought had been arranged. The overheads were very hot and out-weighed all the other light on the speakers. I alerted the congressman's aide who set someone on the task. Unfortunately, i don't think they were an actual lighting person. They did finally get a spot on the mark, but it was weak at best and didn't create a very good light ratio. In the end i believe i only submitted this one speaking shot which also shows the audience and some of the honorees on stage.

I was disappointed to say the least. The writer, Danny Restivo, had shared many very interesting facts about Thomas Massie with me before this day. He holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from MIT and lives completely off-the-grid in a solar powered house that he built himself on his 1200 acre farm near Shawnee State Forest where he keeps bees and raises his own cattle and chickens. And when he is in Washington he drives an electric-powered Tesla around town. Frankly, this was not my preconceived picture of a Tea Party candidate. Given such a background i felt my images from the day were a complete failure.

My original impression was that Tom didn't want us to come out to his farm for photographs, but i wanted images that reflected Tom's self-sustainability, not just another politician in a suit. Since this was an aspect of his nature that had also impressed Danny and would be a big part of the article he was writing we both began conspiring to make a visit to the congressman's farm a possibility. Danny was going to talk with Tom that afternoon after the speech so he put that question on his agenda for their interview lunch.

©David Sorcher 2014

As it turned out Tom was very willing to have us out. His only concerns seemed to be that he didn't want us to show unfinished aspects of his little castle on the hill (and the other side of the house does indeed sport castle-like turrets). His home is a work in progress. But the side i was most interested in was the one with the solar-paneled roof. It seems rare to find a Republican with such a solid personal investment in alternative energy, especially one living and serving in the middle of coal country.

©David Sorcher 2014

Tom has been keeping bees for a number of years and neither he nor his ten-year-old daughter Sarah showed any fear of them. For that matter neither was i, though i was not quite so hands on with the bees as Tom. We had an interesting chat about bee sustainability and colony collapse issues while i shot these. Oh yeah, and honey straight from the comb…delicious!

©David Sorcher 2014

I also wanted to use a bit of the wonderful surrounding landscape for some of these, showing the man and his land. That winding road behind him is his driveway.

©David Sorcher 2014

At first it was agreed that we would not shoot inside Tom's house, but in the end he was most gracious about giving us an interior tour. I think that again he was more worried about photographs of unfinished aspects of his masterwork. And it is indeed that. Tom cut and carved the rafter beams himself from trees felled by an ice storm on the land. He also laid the hearth stones himself and incorporated a wood burning pizza oven into the design. The place was an architectural and artistic joy to behold and i was so glad to be able to visually connect this man to a work of which he is so obviously proud to have created.

©David Sorcher 2014

Tom followed us down the long winding driveway as we were leaving for one last shot. I had hoped to capture some of his 50 head of cattle in the background of the first shot in this post, but just in case you never gave it much thought, it is really hard to actually cue a herd of cattle from a half mile off and they obviously had some other off-camera plans at the time i captured that shot. So he drove down to see us off and pose one last time with his bovines.

©David Sorcher 2014

As Danny and i started our two hour journey home i certainly felt much better about this shoot than the first one at the school. At least i feel that i have captured images that say something about the man himself, ones that show him in the midsts of his own environment and grant us some insight into who this person might be. I want to thank Tom for letting us peek into his private world. I honestly don't really know much about his politics. As i have mentioned in these pages before, i don't feel it is my place as a journalist to impose my own political views upon my subjects though i am pretty sure that if we went there we would no doubt find much to argue about. So i stuck to the matters at hand, finding common ground while i shot in talk on sustainability, off-the-grid living, alternative energy and beekeeping. It's comforting to know that in these days of harsh political division there is still room for common ground and understanding. While i might not vote for Tom if i lived in his district, i would certainly kick back and have a beer with him any day of the week.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Urban Archaeology

Today's trash is tomorrow's artifact, cryptic keys to understanding our culture left behind for future historians in urban junkyards, secluded dumping grounds and forgotten wooded lots. The remains of what we eat and drink, the tools and machines that drive our industry, mysterious messages scrawled on hidden concrete walls, will all no doubt be evidence of our existence long after this civilization has fallen and the next tries as best it can to understand the people that went before them. And as history has shown, all civilization do inevitably pass.
I have always considered myself something of an amateur archaeologist, trading in my spade and brushes for a camera, trying, most probably in vain, to decipher my world through images of the rusted remains of things our society discards when it finds their usefulness has finally come to an end. I had been scoping out this one section of the West Folk Mill Creek for some time and finally ventured in for a look-see. So here, submitted for your approval, another chapter in Urban Archaeology.

(please be sure to click on any image for a larger full screen view)

©David Sorcher 2014

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Nature's Way…

A few years back i found an old cast iron owl lantern and hung it from my porch. I never put a candle in it, but i have an affinity with owls and thought it was a nice piece of commercially made sculptural "art" to decorate the front of the house. I soon found that the open lace design meant to allow light out also functioned well at letting things in. So it was a nice surprise a few years back when small birds took to nesting in it's base every spring.

©David Sorcher 2011

Four years ago the first eggs appeared in the lantern nest and i made a few images of the chicks. I didn't spent too much time with it, but i did at least want to document the moment.

©David Sorcher 2011

It was so wonderful having nature come right to my doorstep. I had just purchased a 105mm macro, a lens i have really come to love since, and this was a great opportunity to capture the unfolding drama of nature without having to travel, well, anywhere at all, to view it. The only problem shooting into the nest is that the openings in the ironwork are quite small so a hazy vignette was created by the edges as i tried to shoot through them. Let's just call it "artistic blur". ;-)

I know the birds returned the following year, but for some reason or other i ignored them, at least photographically. I enjoyed the morning chirpings at feeding time, but did nothing to record the unfolding events.

Last year i thought i might give a documentary project on this a go when i noticed the birds busily preparing the nest for yet another year. I waited for the chicks to hatch, but before i could get started disaster struck. Over night all the chicks mysteriously disappeared. There was no sign of struggle or the birds themselves, but they were far too young to have flown away.

©David Sorcher 2014

So i got a little excited when i noticed two bird spending a lot of time around the owl lantern this spring. It was clear that they were preparing the nest and i decided that i would attempt a more in depth nature study this year. I watched as the little blue-green eggs appeared in the nest, one a day over the next five days. This time i would start before the eggs hatched. Since i recently got an iPhone and was experimenting with that camera i tried shooting with the phone at first. One advantage i immediately discovered was that the lens is so small on the iPhone that i was able to shoot into the nest without being partially blocked by the edges of the metalwork. As the eggs began to hatch i envisioned a shot of a full nest of hungry hatchlings with their beaks raised upwards in anticipation of their next meal.

©David Sorcher 2014

Alas, this was not to be. That very night disaster struck for the second year in a row. The nest was empty, two dead chicks were down on the porch. There was no sign of the remaining three birds and i can only image that they had been eaten. Small as the holes in the metal work are, they were not small enough to protect the birds from some aggressive predator. Nature's way….

These hatchlings were tiny and while i grabbed the iPhone at first to record this tragedy i quickly became aware that some more serious equipment was necessary for close, clear, sharp images. So i grabbed my DSLR and the 105mm macro. What had started as a nature documentary on birth, life and spring had now become another image for my Future Fossils project. The cycles of life and death…so it goes…

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Insta-Who?

As i continue the exploration of my new "space phone" as a viable tool for expression i have also maintained a respectful distance from the hype of instagram, its social implications and flurry of filtrations. It is not that i am opposed to instagram in theory or even the use of filters per se, but i think i need to see if this phone camera is fully capable of straight picture making first before i venture into the fray…then again, i might never jump on the insta-wagon. So far i can say that i am enjoying the "camera at hand" concept even if i am not always satisfied with the results. It does push me to make more images, good or bad. Sometimes the camera surprises me with the quality of its output. Other times i just can't convince its automatic functions to do what i am thinking or seeing. But isn't that often the case? Still, it is the camera at hand. I just wish the damn thing would stop ringing when i'm trying to make pictures? ;-)

Collapse of Western Civilization ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

Though i am committed to the straight photo for the time being that doesn't mean that i am always looking at straight subjects. You've probably figured out this is shot through the glass block windows of my basement. I've always loved spacial distortion they cause.

Shadow-Selfie ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

OK, so maybe not completely straight photography…I suppose one might consider B&W conversation as a kind of filter. Both the camera in the phone as well as instagram offer B&W filters, but there is certainly an advantage to doing it in photoshop where you can control the percent levels in each of the color channels and subtly effect the tonal range of the final image as well as endlessly adjustment the tint.

I've been doing a lot of these shadow-selflies of late, which kind of feel like a throw back to earlier days in my photography. Maybe it's because i am working with a new camera format here that i feel drawn back to make these primal, neophyte images.

Easter Sunday Avenue ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

If you have seen much of my work you know that i often like to work in a polyptych format. Nothing about the functions of the iPhone camera is going to change that. The camera recorded nice saturated color on my later afternoon walk on Easter Sunday. Certainly this is one of those times when i ordinarily would not have had a camera and saw something i wanted to capture.

Cellar Door ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

I toyed with this in both color and B& W and this won. Since i shot this at home i could easily have gone inside for the DSLR, but instead took the lazy option. And i suppose that is a question which nags me about all this. Is this really the lazy option? If i shot this with my big camera would it be better? Would it be different? Will i find myself re-shooting these ideas later on a larger format?

Picit & Friend ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

I have to say that the image quality even under less than ideal lighting conditions is better than one might expect with a tiny lens and sensor. Remember that megapixel count alone does not guarantee good resolution and the size of the iPhone sensor is not nearly as large as a full-frame DSLR. I'm not making large prints here, but it certainly doesn't look too bad on the web.

Daffodils for the Dead ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

Part of the trick with getting the sharpest results with this particle camera is shooting the right subject in the right light. While the camera may handle questionable light well, it excels in particularly good light. The late afternoon sun on these daffodils in Spring Grove Cemetery was just right for bringing out the optimum sharpness and color the camera can provide. Though i'm sure i will still be packing my D4 for my next trip to Nova Scotia.

The Baron's Razors ~ ©David Sorcher 2014

When i think about it, this close-up still life of antique straight razors might actually be best approached with a large format camera. That certainly would have been the accepted fashion of thinking amongst photographers back in the day when it was all film and wet work and one of our most important practical choices was negative size. A 4x5 approach would have also offered me the options of swings and tilts to control prospect and depth of field as well as a much finer resolution in the resulting negative. Large format was the preferred choice of the still life photographer. One might argue that the quality gap between making an an iPhone photo instead of a DSLR image is similar to that of 35mm vs. 4x5. Frankly, i'm pretty sure that a 4x5 negative in this case would be far superior to the DSLR in terms of quality and control. But of course, i don't own a 4x5, so i defaulted to the camera at hand. Not too shoddy after all, i think. :-)

Monday, April 14, 2014

The Camera at Hand

There is an old saying that the very best camera is the one you actually have with you at any given photographic moment. I have to admit to being a bit of a gear head when it comes to cameras though. From the very beginnings of my interest in photography i have also been fascinated by the mechanics of the art and have developed a strong appreciation for the finer things when it comes to equipment. That said, the saying still holds true. You don't need a high end DSLR to make good pictures or even a DSLR at all. What you do need is vision, an understanding of composition and the recognition of the possibilities of light. You also need to be able to discern the limitation of whatever device you are using to capture your images and work within those boundaries to create the best image your equipment is capable of producing.
To that end i am continuing to explore the possibilities of iPhone photography. It is, after all, the camera that i always seem to have with me at all times. After my first post of images from my phone a couple of weeks ago i had a flurry of encouragement from all my instagramming friends. Frankly, i personally remain somewhat skeptical of this medium for myself. It's not that i don't believe it has a place as a form of expression, though it is quite obviously overrun with wannabes who think that simply adding a cool pre-set filter instantly makes the most mundane and poorly executed images somehow "art". While i do know true instagram artists who really make the most of the medium i still wonder whether it is something i really want to explore and develop on my own. In the meantime, though, i will still continue to capture images with my phone, if for no other reason than the simple fact that it was the only camera on hand at the time.

©David Sorcher 2014

All the above images were shot on a single, beautiful spring afternoon last Friday. They were processed through photoshop, though little was done other than some minor levels adjustments and unsharp mask. I have yet to explore the every growing world of phone camera filtration, so until then, #nofilter. ;-)

Friday, April 4, 2014

Anatomy of a Location Portrait Session

While i generally reserve this blog for more personal projects i also like to present some of my assignment work here from time to time and relate my experiences with these shoots.
I had the pleasure of shooting Rocky Boiman for Cincy Magazine last month (you can read the article HERE). An ex-NFL linebacker who played for the Titans, Steelers and Chiefs and earned his Super Bowl ring as a Colt in Super Bowl XLI, Rocky is currently pursuing a career as football color commentator and has also been active in local politics.

I have always enjoyed doing environmental portraiture, much more so than studio work. From my perspective being able to incorporate aspects of a subject's personal space in their portrait adds so much to our understanding of that person in the final photographs. People also tend to be more comfortable and at ease in their own environment so theoretically that should led to a more relaxed and honest image. Of course it adds all kinds of new challenges to the shoot as well. I am walking in cold, having never physically met the subject before and having absolutely no idea what that environment will look like. What will the nature light be like if any? Will the space be neat or cluttered? What personal items will be available that can enhance the shot without looking forced or kitschy? What equipment/lenses will i need to handle the space? Enter the unknown…

In this case we can also add that i was not quite sure going in exactly what aspect of Rocky's life the article was going to feature. Were they more interested in his past career as linebacker, his current career as a color commentator or his involvement in local politics? I had spoken to the writer earlier that week, but never had an opportunity to see the article he was writing before the shoot, so this wasn't really clear to me. My best bet was to cover my bases as best i could (yes, i do realize i just used a baseball metaphor in reference to a football player).

I must say, i was quite impressed when i arrived at the home, a modest mansion of sorts at the end of a long driveway atop of a hill with glorious views. It was a new home for Rocky, his wife Kelli and their brand new son Beau and fortunately the rooms had nice, soft, natural light coming in through the windows on all sides of the house. I had brought some lighting gear, of course, but i do really prefer to use natural light when it is appropriate and available.

After making a quick survey of the house for good set locations and determining just how much time Rocky actually had for me (he could give me an hour) we got started in his study. This seemed like the best spot for a shot that might hint at his political aspirations. So i tried framing him up against the map in the background while he sat on the edge of his desk. The rich, dark woods and room tones seemed to emphasis this aspect of Rocky's life quite well. The light is from the window to the left with a white reflector as a shadow fill. I got lucky with that as serious dark rain was forecast for later that day, but when i arrived a hazy-sun sky was still throwing an adequate amount of light into the room.

It also seemed a good bet to put at least some emphasis on Rocky's family life. They were happy to do this as they hadn't really had any official photos done of the family since Beau's arrival. Little Beau wasn't exactly the most cooperative subject, but we all did our best to work with his fidgetiness and i think this one didn't turn out too bad. Getting one person to look good in a photo is often difficult on its own. Two people is, of course, just a bit harder. Add a third and make that third an infant…well, you see where i'm going. It probably took more time for this family portrait that any of the others. Kudos to grandma, by the way, who stood behind me attempting to focus young Beau's attention in one spot for at least a second or two.

We finished up the shoot in Rocky's "man cave" in the basement. I had communicated prior to the day that i would be interested in working some memorabilia from his glory days in football into some of the shots, including his Super Bowl championship ring. I was a little worried that this idea wouldn't work out when he told me that much of that stuff was still in boxes from the move, but i was pleasantly surprised to find most of his trophy room set up when i arrived.

Since the house cuts into a hill the basement had glass doors out to the backyard so i was able to make use of the windows for my key light again. The background was getting lost, though, in the dark corner of the room and i also felt i needed some kind of accent lighting on the left side of Rocky's face, so i set up a white translucent umbrella and shot two speedlights (Nikon sb-900 and sb-910 triggered with the su-800 ) through it. I also used a reflector to fill in the area between the key light and the strobe for a smoother transition. I hate lugging around heavy and bulky studio equipment on a location shoot like this, especially when i'm not working with an assistant. Set-up and break down times are time consuming and i'm not convinced the larger lights would really do that much of a better job in this situation. Big lighting equipment can also seem invasive in a subjects home as well as distracting.

I ended the shoot with this headshot, showing off his Super Bowl ring (and, of course, his rugged good looks) with his Colts #50 jersey framed in the background. It wasn't until later that i realized what a perfect complimentary contrast the room colors made with his striking red hair. Just for full disclosure here, Rocky does not wear this ostentatious ring around on a daily basis, but retrieved it from a safety deposit box for the sake of the photos. He told me that he did wear it for about a week after the Super Bowl victory back in 2006 and who would fault him for that?

All in all i was quite pleased with my final results. You just never know what you are going to walk into no matter how much you prepare. Frankly i was a little worried from my pre-shoot research as i could not find many off-field photos of Rocky on line that i thought were very good leading me to wonder if he might be a little stiff in front of the camera. Sometime you get a subject that just can't relax no matter what you do and that always shows through in the final images. But aside from being a really nice guy Rocky handled himself like a pro which always makes our job as the photographer just a little bit easier.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Almost Insta-Instagrams

Okay, so i finally folded and got myself one of them new fangled "space" phones. I had been nursing (and despising) my old flip phone for some time and the opportunity to step up presented itself. I have always had a reluctance to embracing new technology and i'm usually slow to change. My decision to move into smart phone tech was not, however, fueled by any strong desire to text, instagram, monitor my email or any of the myriad of mind-numbing games and activities one can engage in to zombify one's existence in this modern age. In a world where personal, eye-to-eye conversation with friends is quickly becoming passé (even when standing in the SAME room) i remain solidly opposed to following the sheep herd with its face stuck firmly in its phone screens while real-time life is going on all around them.

So what did fuel this drastic step? Recently i took an Enquirer assignment and just before the event i was asked if i could send a photo of the crowd immediately from the scene. I realized that i just didn't have the tech to do that. Without a guaranteed hotspot i would not be able to send the photo from my computer. Without a phone capable of taking a reasonably good quality photo i couldn't even send that from the phone. So as with most of my technological leaps this one was driven by the simple need to be capable of doing the job.

Of course as a photographer i would be silly not to explore the photographic possibilities of my new "space" phone. Honestly, i am very hesitant to opening an Instagram account and not fully convinced that i really need to join that culture. This is not a slight of Instagram per se. Like any visual medium there is both good and bad out there. It is a new format on the photo scene that creates its own niche through its limitations, immediacy and presentation style. I kind of liken it to the SX-70 polaroids of the new millennium. I have at least one friend that i have regularly encouraged to create a book of her Instagrams because they are just that good. She has mastered the form. Still, i'm not sure that instagramming is for me anymore than, say, large format photography.

I call these "almost insta-instagrams" because i have emailed the shots from my phone to myself and then run them through photoshop before posting them here. That certain takes a bit of the "insta" out of the equation. It also sidesteps the mandatory square format of Instagram and takes the use of the pre-set filters off the table. I actually find the camera in this phone (iPhone 5c) quite impressive for what it is though i have my doubts that it can truly serve as the compact everyday camera i've been searching for to do my street work. But it can certainly serve in a pinch when an image presents itself and no other camera is available.

The camera's automatic features do seem to handle difficult lighting situations such as in these backlit shots fairly well.

The little lens in this thing if pretty sharp and shows nice texture and detail. Of course this is all in good light. I don't have high hopes for great results in low light situations.

I wonder is there is a certain kind of subject matter that suits cell phone photography well. It occurs to be that mundane objects photograph well with this format, especially when presented in filtered Instagram form. No filter here, of course, but hopefully that makes sense to someone out there.

Geometric forms of light and shadow are the obvious subject here. This is an image i might try to reproduce with the D4 just to have a higher quality file of it. It worries me that i might want to do that with every "good" image i take with the phone. The files are certainly good for internet use, but it would be silly to compare it to what you can get out of a full frame DSLR when it comes to making prints. The phone actually handled this high contrast situation well, probably because my white house acted as a giant reflector to open up the shadow areas a bit. One of the obvious downfalls of the camera is no manual control and very often shadow detail gets lost in high contrast situations like this. But then, it is really a phone in the end, isn't it.

And sometimes that lack of shadow detail works well for an image, as in this shot of Jack emerging from the darkness. I'm still not sure what this will all mean for my photography. Sure, i will be able to visually express myself now in those times when i have left my big DSLR beasts at home, but i don't really feel like iPhone photography is a viable option for the vast majority of my serious work. But the phone will certainly help me with other aspects of my job such as providing a mobile hotspot for file transmissions as well as allowing me to make a quick photo grab of a scene when necessary for immediate emailing. As for signing up for an Instagram account…well, i think i'll leave that decision for another day.