The Betrayal with the Reward - Part III (Final)

What if we all got together and started a photography blog?

As if I needed one more blog to manage or be a part of.  Here's the rub:  This one will benefit not only the readers, but also the users.  Different, right?  Well, in my mind it is.  With every photo that's posted, we're going to do our best to describe what it is we did to achieve it.  For instance, for those that are photography-savy or just want to learn, we're going to tell you what we did to the camera's settings prior to taking the picture and after.  (i.e, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO settings, flash usage, etc.)  We'll also tell you what camera gear we used and what we did in the editing room post-shot with Photoshop, Lightroom, or other editing programs.  In the end, we'll not only be educating our readers and dazzling them with what we hope are only great photos, but learning ourselves about the different ways we all shoot things and edit them afterwards.  I'll be the first to admit, there's not one photo out there from me that hasn't been in some way altered by my 3rd wife, which still remains to this day, Photoshop.  It's become as natural as getting in the car, putting on your safety belt and driving.  You take the photo; edit it in Photoshop;  done.  It's the way of things.  And then a few days later, you look back on it and think crap, I should'a done that instead.  Damn you, hindsight.   Reminds me of something Leonardo da Vinci said, and this is not a joke:


"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."

This is true for so many things besides photography and art.  I don't have a man-crush on Leonardo da Vinci, but when someone says exactly what you're thinking, but you can't express it in words, you tend to remember it.  Like you won't forget that one time when you came walking out of the bathroom with toilet paper hitchhiking on your heel.  And then your co-worker said, Um...dude...

There.  Write it down.  Copy and paste it to your forehead.  Tune in next week for another episode of Jonathon's Stolen Catchphrases.  I'm going global with this.  

Don't say you weren't warned about my tangents.  I do this.  A lot.  


Re-routing...


If we don't do this with every photo, don't come chasing us with baseball bats and the I told you so fingers, please.  We will do our best with the details based largely on all of our schedules. 

Details are still forthcoming, but I'm trying to get several of photographers I know involved in this.  The site will launch January 1st, 2011.  We will try and post as frequently as possible to keep it fresh, hopefully around 2-3 times per week, maybe more, depending on how big our author-base grows. 


More to come.

The Betrayal with the Reward - Part II

...I'm pretty sure Coke came out my nose at one point.  And that wasn't too far from the truth.  

It's not that I'm not familiar with commissions.  Because I am.  Relatively.  Maybe not as much as my buddy Matt, but close enough.  I've done all sorts of projects for people.  Some of which have been a lot of fun and some, well, not so much.  When I tell people what it is that I do, they usually follow that up with hey, could you make me a (insert your desired goofy project here) comment.  I was once asked,  

hey!  You know that Photoshop program!?  Okay, this is what I want you to do...take this picture, see me in it there?

Uh-huh.  

I want you to take away some weight on my body, remove all my wrinkles, and change the color of my shirt!  Can you do that??  

Why?

Because it would be great! 

Oh, so you want to look like one of those Cosmo cover models that are so digitally painted on the magazine cover that if their Smashbox makeup kit saw them in the mirror, even it would freak?  Um...no.  Scram.  I didn't say that, but I really wanted to.  I got off on a tangent.  I do that sometimes.  Bear with me.  

My point is that I'm used to commissions in all shapes and sizes.  Like, this one time...oh crap.  I'm doing it again.  Nevermind.  

But this wasn't a commission.  This was something bigger.  Three childrens books.  Thuureee.  300-350 drawings.  I want this project.  I need this project.   So, I started writing a letter...

Dear Photoshop,
I know you and I have been close over the years and all, but sadly, I have to go away for a while and have an affair with Illustrator for a -

No, I didn't actually start writing a letter, 'cause that would've been stupid.  But I did reply to the initial email and the progression bloomed from there.  This was back in October.  On December 14th, I signed the contract and fully committed to the project.  I can't reveal much more about the books themselves other than that.  The first book is tentatively scheduled to be on the market sometime next Spring.  Having said all that, special thanks to Kallie for giving me this opportunity!  

Now, I'm going to switch gears, turn around, and back up the truck to about a week ago.  And you thought we were moving forward...ppffff.  Nope.  But I have good reason.  Stay with me.  I have to keep my 3.8 readers a day coming back for something, right?
  
I have a few friends that are awesome photographers.  'Bout 3 or 4 to be exact.  I don't include myself as one, because I don't think of myself as one...yet.  But I learn from them and they learn from me.  We're symbiotic that way.  But not in a Venom meets Spidey kind of way.  Anyway, a week ago, I asked this question to myself:

What if we all got together and started a photography blog?

To be continued...tomorrow.  Again.

        

The Betrayal with the Reward - Part I

Being that I work with most things graphical professionally, I'm no stranger to using Photoshop or Illustrator on a daily basis these days.  When I was first hired however, I'd never before used Adobe Illustrator.  In the days that followed, I avoided that program like that creepy dude who talks too much around the water cooler at work, because the task of learning it seemed too daunting.  I can do that in Photoshop, I thought.  I don't need Illustrator.  Vector-shmector.  My PSD file in Photoshop might be 500 megabytes when I'm done, and take up more hard drive space than the entire HD capacity of my old Macintosh II, but by golly, I'd make it work!  I'd stick out my tongue and tilt my nose upwards at the thought of using Illustrator.  Don't tell me what I can't do in Photoshop, dammit.  I'll show you.       

At some point in the months that followed, my job slowly, eerily, and blindingly moved towards the more frequent of use of Illustrator.  Those irritating vectors.  Who's idea was this anyway?  I was not comfortable with this, but strangely intrigued.  I was not happy at all that I was gradually allowing this program to nestle itself in my life, like a cute stray dog I had taken in, at an emotionally weak and absent-minded moment.  Crap.  I'm turning to the dark-side.  The Emperor would be proud.  Him and his wrinkles.  And his finger-lightning-baddass-ish-stuff-I-wish-I-could-do. 

I couldn't betray Photoshop.  Or, at least I thought I couldn't.  Or, could I?  Could I learn both and not offend the other?  Could I use both in harmony?  Screw it, I thought.  I'll be the one that brings the gun to a knife-fight and see what happens.  Photoshop's got my back, right?  Right?

More time passed and I grew more comfortable with using it.  

One day, in the Summer of 2008, I had an idea.  An idea that would not only change things, but help others to see this infamous vector-shmector program as the brilliant, loving stray dog that it is.  Only then, I thought my idea was small and minute compared to the huge-ass world known as the Internet.  And it still is.  Really.  Slow your roll...my idea wasn't that big.  My idea was actually more of a question than an innovation, at first.  Why couldn't I use Illustrator as a means of digitally inking artwork?  Black ink over pencil drawings, but digitally.  In other words, I can make a mistake on my linework, erase it, redo it, all without having to apologize for it.  Change the line thickness (stroke) in one click?  Re-size without having to worry about resolution?  Someone's doing this already...has to be.  I'm just not that cool or innovative.  And so I searched.  Google told me nothing.  Yahoo said even less.  Youtube had a few faithful Photoshop inkers at the time.  But not like my traitor-ass was about unveil.  If I was going to betray my world known as Photoshop, which I've been using since version 3.0, I was going to do it with my boots on.  Illustrator style.  With a smiley face.  And boots.  

After experimenting with different stroke weights, brushes, and probably a few curse word combos, I discovered that it could in fact be done.  Holy shit.  Someone needs to know about this;  Someone needs to see how this could help things, I thought.  This result led me to one conclusion: Youtube.  Use a screen capture program, record myself doing this, upload the video to Youtube and save an inker's day.  And his boots.

On November 22, 2008, I uploaded the video to Youtube.  Little did I know where my delicate betrayal of Photoshop would land me.  And I still don't, really.  It's officially out of control.  Spinning.  Unraveling, yet soothing.  I'm buried, yet resting on the surface in the sun.  With my sunscreen on of course, or my wife might just kill me.  Her wrath is worse than cancer.  Believe me, I would know.  

Fast-forward to October of this year.  At time when many inkings, photographs, videos, and curse words had passed, I receive an email from a publisher.  In a nutshell, the email asked, I'm publishing 3 childrens books, would you be interested in inking all of them?

I'm pretty sure Coke came out my nose at one point.  


To be continued....tomorrow.