Just Me and My Cameras

With all the ups and downs of this year, the distractions and sidetracks, I've managed to rally around my work in photography. So much of the time I find myself just wanting to be a hermit, not seeing or talking to anyone, forgetting everything that's happened this year and get into a space where I can remember what I was like and how I felt before I got sick. A camera and a pocket full of film helps me get there. When I'm out taking pictures I'm in a perfect world. Nothing else matters and I'm happy. Just thinking about it now makes me feel good.

Being able to post my images on the web and to see how much wonderful work is being done by people all over the world is inspiring. I've connected with some new faces and old friends through Flickr, where I do most my photo posting now. I've met and become familiar with the work of photographers in Japan, Israel, Australia, Canada, The Republic of Moldova, England, France and right here in San Francisco. It's a great way to share work and explore our common creative pursuits.

Flickr also provides a means of publishing work that until recently was not available. I've been experimenting with creating short photo essays and posting them to Flickr. I put together a three part essay on our November trip to Los Angeles. Each part consists of five images with captions that create a running narrative chronicling our adventures there. I created another five image essay documenting a fire that broke out in a local cafe and the quick response of the SFFD.

I've had a tremendous amount of support from friends, near and far, and I greatly appreciate every bit of it. The support that we've received from my sister Susan and her family is truly above and beyond. Anna's brothers have helped in ways they can't imagine. But, I couldn't have managed this year at all without Anna. I owe her everything.

Right now I have a month long break from clinics, doctors and needles. Things are looking pretty good; the numbers could be better, but they don't tell the whole story. I'm a very, very lucky man. And I'm looking forward to a fresh year full of pictures.

Cafe Fire

Wednesday evening a fire broke out a few doors down from where Anna and I were having dinner. We realized what was happening when we saw three engine companies and two truck companies of the San Francisco Fire Department pull up in front. We grabbed our cameras and and ran out onto sidewalk and began shooting the scene.

The Rain Tree Cafe on the corner of Irving and Eighth Avenue seemed be burning. I moved in close to the fire fighters as I had only a 35mm lens with me and Anna was able to stay back a bit with her wide to telephoto zoom. I managed to stay close but out of the way while shooting as the fire fighters broke through the front door of the cafe and put ladders up to the roof. Smoke began billowing out the front door as fire fighters moved into the cafe and attacked the source of the fire. We crossed the street a couple of times seeking different angles and views of the activity.

In no time I had run through the two rolls of film I had with me. While anna continued shooting I went half way up the block to Express Photo. Alan Dejecacion was still running the C41 processor despite the fact it was the day before Thanksgiving. The lab was closing in 30 minutes, but Alan took my film and said he'd have it ready in fifteen minutes. He quickly sold me another roll of film and I was back out shooting the mop up of what turned out to be a small grease fire. The cafe had closed early, but someone had left the grill on and in the course of a couple of hours a pot of grease sitting on the grill had begun to burn.

Thanks to Alan I was able to post a short photo essay on the fire to my Flickr page within a few hours of shooing the pictures. While we've seen the demise of most the photo labs in the City it's a relief to have Express Photo right in the neighborhood.

(Not only does Alan help keep Express Photo running, he's also a great photographer. You can see many of his documentary projects and photojournalism on his Flickr page.)

Photo: ©2007 David W. Sumner

Bay Area Art Quake Launch

This week Anna started a new art blog and invited me to be one of its regular contributors. Check it out. It's called Bay Area Art Quake, I posted my first entry this morning.
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Image above: Notes for review of David Seymour
exhibition at the de Young Museum.
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Recently I've taken some time away from posting here simply due to the stresses of the day job and the chemo treatments. All of that is settling out now. Anna and I are actually heading to LA for three days to scout out a few galleries.

I have been posting quite a few images to my Flickr page. There you can see some recent work and some older favorites. Next week I will be posting images from the LA trip.

Stay Tuned.

Pick a Lens, Any Lens...

Lens selection is often an interesting topic. I've heard all kinds of suggestions on what's the best lens to use for a particular situation. The on line forums are choked with questions like "What's the best lens to use for portraits?" I find these questions a bit silly. Any "how-to" book or quick web search will tell you the most popular portrait lenses are in the range of 80mm to135mm.


(Kathy Cruver, Nikon F3, 180mm lens ©2002 David W. Sumner)

Really it's not an issue of the best or right lens. What's important is what will work within the context of your shooting style, what are you comfortable with? James Nachtwey has been quoted as saying he never uses anything longer than 50mm. HCB used a 50mm almost exclusively. Josef Koudelka for many years shot almost all his images with wide angle lenses. Then he quit using wide lenses all together. Then later he started using a panoramic camera for much of his work. So what's right?

When I was shooting color landscapes in the 1980's I rarely shot with anything other than my 20mm and 180mm lenses. Today I hardly ever take my 180mm out of the closet. Currently in my bag is a 20mm, 28mm, 55mm, 135mm, and two camera bodies. Now days 95% of my images are made with the 28mm lens. I'm not fond of zoom lenses, I'd rather step closer or move to one side looking for a good perspective. But that's what works for me and I've experimented for many years to get to this point.

(Artist, Dale Erickson, Nikon F4, 28mm lens ©2006 David W. Sumner)

In reality a nice portrait can be made with a 20mm lens or a 300mm lens. You just have to pay attention to what you're doing. When you're looking through the view finder, look critically. Move a little and keep looking. When it looks good, make the picture. Don't worry about right or wrong. The more you practice the more you become familiar with what makes a good portrait and will realize that a good portrait can be made with any focal length.

Remember Burma

Detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, appeared at her front gate yesterday as several hundred courageous monks marched through barricades blocking access to her home in Rangoon.

LINKS:

Chevron and Burma

Photos from a "brave Burmese living in Rangoon," who cannot be identified right now.


What's the Story with Burma?


BBC Profile of Burma


New York Times on Burma


Huffington Post on Burma


Independent Media looks at Burma


US Campaign for Burma


Human Rights Watch on Burma


Democracy Now on Burma


Amnesty International on Burma

Should We Even Care?

There is a lot of stencil art on the streets here in San Francisco. Much of it is original work, but some has obviously been appropriated.

Photo: ©2007 David W. Sumner

The stencil image (above) of Billie Holiday is on Van Ness Avenue. The original image is a photo by the late William Gottlieb.

Portrait of Billie Holiday: ©William Gottlieb

So what do we make of this? Is it an homage to Gottlieb? Is it fair use? Is it a copyright infringement? Given the context does it matter one way or another?

What if Gottlieb, were he alive, came along and signed his name to image on the sidewalk? Would that upset the person who made the stencil and painted the image on the concrete?

Should we even care?

Shoot First, Crop Later?

Usually I don't spend much time pondering such age old debates as to crop or not to crop. But there has been a lot of chatter lately about the purity of the in-camera crop and corruption of shooting first and cropping later.

I try try to do as much in-camera cropping as possible to make use of the full frame for every composition. But some times I'm faced with little time to get the shot: no time to get closer or switch lenses. My choice is always to get the shot regardless.

Recently I was roaming around the Ferry Building and I saw a girl feed some pigeons. The birds were actually sitting in her lap as she fed them. I stepped up and just as I was about to press the shutter release a little boy ran into the frame chasing the pigeons away. The boy's father reeled him and I backed off to let the pigeons come back. The girl was a little self conscious, but she went with it.

Most of the pigeons came back to be fed, but none hopped up onto the girls lap. I started closing in and heard the little boy running up behind me. I grabbed the shot from where I was, just before the pigeons took off once again. This all took place in less than a minute. I managed one frame. Not the image I had originally wanted, but a general depiction of the scene.

Here's the image I came away with. So where is the picture? Is it in there some where?

And here's my decision. There was no choice but to crop.

Now I'm not sure this image is even worth keeping, but it's a good example of need for and usefulness of cropping. Granted, I believe in the full frame and doing one's best to avoid cropping any image. But I also believe there are times when one must decide to shoot now and crop later or lose the shot.