Article.

Thanks Jess for the heads up.

The Art Institute of Chicago, to which Penn gifted his archive, has put together a micro-site of that archive. It can be found here.

I lost half my afternoon to the archive. I bet you do the same.

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The new head will have two primary uses: photographing jewelry in my studio with a DSLR and shooting portraits, vignettes and landscapes in the field with both a DSLR and MF/LF cameras. While I generally like to keep my gear as light and compact as possible, this was not paramount here. Stability, range of movement, smoothness of movement and durability were the primary requirements for the new head. A secondary requirement was an Arca-Swiss compatible quick release, preferably built in. Price is always a concern, and I preferred to keep the cost reasonable.

The first thing I did in the search was to eliminate ball heads. They are not ideal for the studio, especially for still life and product shots. My existing ball head remains perfectly viable for those times when I want a ball head.

Next I looked at geared heads. I would love one of Arca’s cube heads. They look amazing. They are just too pricey. Even the PhotoClam version of the head is pricey. I next looked at the three geared Manfrotto heads. The 410 and Pro Digital heads both looked like they would work great, particularly the 410 with its very reasonable price. Both are only available with Manfrotto’s quick release system, however. This is a no go for me. I want to be able to use an L-plate with my DSLR.

This left me with three way heads. I looked quickly at the Manfrotto heads, but my experience with the low end 3029 head made me doubt their lower end and mid-tier offerings–which all had proprietary QR systems anyway. Gitzo heads are nice but again have a proprietary QR system. In fact, most of the mid-tier three way and pan/tilt heads are available only with proprietary quick releases systems.

Only one head seemed to tick all of my boxes: Induro’s PHQ series 5 way heads. These are two way pan/tilt heads with base panning and camera panning. They appear well made with smooth movements. They have a built in Arca-Swiss compatible clamp as well as folding handles for transport and are bristling with bubble levels. They can be twisted into just about any position necessary. They are not cheap, but given the features and unique design they are not unreasonable. I went to B&H to pick one up. I purchased a demo unit from the used department that looks nearly new. It is the smaller of the two available sizes. Given the size and weight of my equipment, the load capacity of the smaller head is perfectly adequate. It also fits easily into my tripod bag with its handles folded.

I have shoots coming up on which I’ll put the head through its paces. My brief toying with it has shown that it is far more smooth in its movement than either my Bogen or Novoflex heads. The levels on the top of the head needed to be adjusted–easily done with the two screws on each level. I am looking forward to using the head later this week; I have the feeling that it is going to make shooting much more efficient.

I’ll post a follow up after a few shoots.

Before anyone suggests I should have encouraged him to stop at the light, when he paused beside me and I assumed he was stopping. I think the officers were as surprised as I was to see this guy do this.

And, I hope they’re pulling over motorists who run the lights down there as well.

As per my usual travel routine, I shot instant film. Since the trip isn’t about making photographs, instant film frees me up to play photographically while letting me fully immerse myself in the moment. As soon as I scan or shoot a few of them I’ll get them up here.

Notebook:: Self Portrait 1997

In 1997 I was in high school and working at the Motophoto in the Auburn Mall. I spent a lot of time killing packs of polaroid and abusing the photo copier. Stan, the manager was very understanding.

More to come soon.

Notebook:: Morse Mountain, ME

A selection of ten photographs taken on a hike over Morse Mountain to the sea. These landscapes are outtakes from a larger project I am working on in Maine and Korea photographing pine trees. This issue is closely tied to the earlier Hiking Bukhansan issue.

Notebook: is a semi-regular magazine I have been publishing through MagCloud since 2010. It is one way that I work through small projects in order to keep ideas moving.

On making a ruckus in your industry

Bring forward a new idea or technology that disrupts and demands a response

Change pricing dramatically

Redefine a service as a product (or vice versa)

Organize the disorganized, connect the disconnected

Alter the speed to market radically

Change the infrastructure, the rules or the flow of information

Give away what used to be expensive and charge for something else

Cater to the weird, bypassing the masses

Take the lead on ethics

(Or you could just wait for someone to tell you what they want you to do)

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Within the photo industry at large, nearly every item on that list has been ticked off over the last ten years. The digital revolution combined with the web is the heart of that list and the locus of change within the photo industry. Looking at my business practices as a microcosm of that, I see many of these ideas at the heart of the changes I am confronting in both my relationship to the industry at large and in my relationships with individual clients.