History and Influences

I started my photographic journey in about the 6th grade, with a Polaroid camera and a pack of instant film. As a 7th grader, I was allowed to use the family 126 Kodak camera. I will certainly never forget buying my first real camera - a Pentax K1000.

I was a ninth grader at Arlington Catholic High School, and just across Mass Ave from the bus stop was (and still is) New England Photo. The owner was (not sure if still is) a man by the name of Ara. I believe he was Armenian. Extremely nice man, from whom, I purchased several cameras.

As an aside, I will always remember the day a friend of mine came back from New York City and had lost all of his equipment in a car break in lower Manhattan. He really loved the Canon AE-1 Program he had and wanted another one of the same. However, it had been several years since the AE-1 Program had been in production, and they were hard to come by. I thought that if anyone had one to sell, it would be Ara. So we went to the store and asked, and Ara said he thought he had one. Well, after a few minutes Ara came out of the back room, in what could be called High Procession, with an AE-1 Program, but not just any AE-1, a BLACK one! NEW IN THE BOX, and as I recall, it was a kit with the 50 mm lens all wrapped up together. My friend bought it in heartbeat, and I was proud to have helped him.

Back to my Pentax - I got the K1000 and a 50mm F2.0 lens from Ara, and my parents paid for it. I remember the whole kit and caboodle being $119.oo plus the tax, and my mother was extremely skeptical about what would happen with this major purchase. Well, that camera served me well. I learned so much from that box, I was in heaven. I took that thing with me everywhere, and Mom constantly reminded me of it's safety and make sure it did not get stolen.

So it is that I cannot remember when I upgraded that camera, it may have been when I returned to good old Woburn High. But I remember moving up to the Super Program, then the ME, then the ME Super, and that camera served me through my brief stay in college, and then beyond.

It was late 1987 that I started with the Woburn Daily Times newspaper group as a freeelance photographer and I purchased my first Nikon FILM camera. An FE. May have been an FE2. Nice camera, and it served me well.

I upgraded on a fairly regular basis and used a pair of F4s's for film cameras for all of my assignments.

So why the walk down memory lane? Well two reasons.

First - I have been asked to be the guest speaker at the upcoming Reading Art Association's Annual Dinner on June 11th, and I need something to speak about, so I have been going over some of my old stories and photos for some inspiration.

But moreso there was a small article in the NY Times newspaper today (6-3-08) that spoke of one of my earliest influences in photography (though I am not sure I should be proud of this - read on.)

As a photojournalist at the Woburn paper, several freelancers came and went and we all had to share assignments and mostly darkroom space. It was a constant struggle to schedule time to get developing and printing done.

One of the freelancers who spent some time with us, was a man called Steven Senne. He is now a bigtime photojournalist with the Associated Press based in Boston.

As he was leaving to move on in his career, he presented me with a book of photography and told me that I was like this man - Arthur Fellig - also known as WeeGee.

I was chasing fires and news nearly 24 hours a day in those days, cutting my teeth as they say and trying to get established in the photography business. WeeGee was the ultimate in spot news or crime photographers - based in New York City - the crime capitol of the world. He was in some persons eyes, the ultimate papparazzo also, as he photrographed the seedy side of NYC when not chasing ambulances. His moniker of WeeGee was a play on the title of the Ouija Board a game which supposedly predicted the future - WeeGee could seemingly predict where the crime was and oft times was there before the police.

Have a look at this article and try to remember it the next time you are out perusing a yard sale - you never know what you may find.

Old Photos Found at Yard Sale

It makes me wonder - if I lose a box of my photos, will some museum want my stuff long after my death?? :)

I LOVE the smell of Terabytes in the Morning...

OK, I know, that is SO overused it isn't even funny.

But it is the truth! Amen it is!

You see, I just added 2 TERABYTEs of Hard Drive Space to my old ancient machine, that will easily carry forward to my next machine, which I am configuring now. So as I write this little missive, one of the 1 TB drives has finished formatting and we are 25% of the way through the 2nd.

Why two TERAbytes you ask? I am glad you asked this! I will be the first to admit that this is a lot of storage, and does everyone need it? NO! Do I need it ?? YES, YES and YES! I am currently generating an average of 1 GIGABYTE of photos per day, nearly seven days a week. On a really busy day, I can generate 4 or 5 GIGABytes of photos. I am also now recording live sound at some of the assignments and creating audio slide shows. And it all adds up to needing mucho storage.

The Final Tally

You may remember my blog posting late last year about the number of newspaper photos I have taken over the years. (Story Here).

Well here is the final tally for 2007:
178 GB of photos, totalling 80,749 files, stored in 1,230 folders.

To recap 2006, 177 GB, 80,647 files, in 1747 folders.

So to do the math, a reduction of 30% in folders, but since the file sizes have gotten bigger (and presumably better), the overall total stays the same.

I dunno, I don't think I did 30% less work! But hey you never know! LOL

NIKON D300 Report

As I approach the one month anniversary of my acquisition of my Nikon D300, I was asked by my Colorado friend if I was really happy with it.

Before I answer that, I would like to remind everyone of the mantra that I, and my photo friends Bud and Dave, preach - the camera is ONLY a tool. It is the photographer that creates the image, or captures it to film and pixel. Indeed, some of us are Nikon shooters and some of us are Canon shooters and they both do a fine job.


So let me speak about my new D300. Nikon's newest budget ($2100!) camera is a joy to use, and yes, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.


So there I said it. Go ahead, diss me, flame me, yell at me, but I will still stay the same - I LOVE IT. It is the finest digital cmaera I have ever used. The quality is awesome, the colors are beautiful, and the skin tones are just magnificent.

I was specifically asked about the High ISO quality of the photos and I must say that this is where I think this camera really shines.


Many of you know that I do a lot of low-light shooting at High School gymnasiums, wrestling rooms, and ice hockey rinks for the newspaper. Now using my D200 was actually a very nice low light - high iso experience, as long as you maxed it out around 1600.


Well now I shoot all the way up to 3200 and the noise is nearly non-exsistant. Conversly at 200 ISO, which is the bottom iso for this, the results are breathtaking.


So here is a photo, I shot recently at the O'Brien Ice Rink in Woburn, it was taken at 2000 ISO:

Clicking on the file will bring up the original, from the camera, untouched, photo (caution large file). Please notice her right eye - it is sharp as a tack (remember this is 2000 ISO). Now notice the noise pattern, especially in the shadow areas. WOW. PLEASE NOTE - I only shoot at MEDIUM resolution for the newspaper, so the above photo is about 6.3 MP in size. I am certainly willing to send a 12.8MP file of another high ISO shot to anyone for comparison purposes - just let me know.

Here is a closeup of the area for those who do not wish to download the whole file:

Beyond the high iso quality, I am amazed at the battery consumption of this camera. I would not have, anytime in the past, gone into an assignment with less than 3 batteries for the camera. Well that has all changed. The 300 sips from the EN-EL3 battery pack, and I am routinely getting 1200 - 1400 photos from a single battery on a single charge. As a matter of fact, and my intern Melissa can attest to this, we went to a Girls Basketball game the other night, and I had only 8% of the battery left, per the camera's LCD, and I shot the second half of the game without even thinking about it. Did I have second battery with me? Of course I did - I would be foolish to not have one, but am I confident in this cameras abilty with that low a battry power?? YES I AM!!!

Problems:

OK, now you and I both know that there is no such thing as a perfect anything, there will always be, IMHO, a problem with something, especially with all things mechanical. And this camera I am sure is the same.

But I have not yet found anything to report. Yup, nothing. Everything works as advertised, from the drive, to the sensor, to the flash,l everything is peachy.

I do have one problem with it - and it is probably the best problem to have:

I call it CHOICE OVERLOAD.

There are so many choices to set in the menus that it really is overload. I give the example of white balance: No longer do you choose Sunny, or Cloudy or Flourescent - now there are subsets underneath: Under Flourescent for example, you have White, Cool, Warm, Sodium, Mercury, etc etc. Sheesh - just how the Heck am I supposed to decide?? Ya ya I know - do a custom WB!

Anyway, that is my story and I am sticking to it.

As always, comments and critiques are always welcome.

Gallery Show

Just a reminder to everyone that I will be opening my first ever gallery show on Sunday in Winchester.

It is open to all and will be held at the Aberjona River Gallery at the Aberjona Nursing Center at 184 Swanton Street in Winchester.

The opening is Sunday Nov 18th from 3 - 5 pm and light refreshments will be served.

Hope to see you there!

20 Questions.....

I was recently contacted by a college student, and asked aout my career. I thought I might share the exchange with you all. Feel free to comment or ask any questions....

Joe,
I am currently enrolled in a News Photography class.
One of the requirements for the course is to complete
a report on a contemporary photojournalist. Would you
be interested in being interviewed for my report?
Thanks,
Adam

I agreed to help him, and he sent me the following questions. Each is followed by my answer...


1) What is your background and education?

I don not have any extensive photography training. I picked up a camera in the 6th grade and basically never put it down. I have in my lifetime only taken a couple of organized courses. But I have attended many seminars and the like and photography comes somewhat naturally to me.

2) What types of work do you produce?

I am a general photographer - I produce what the newspaper needs everyday, and then for my commercial work it is whatever the client needs - that is one of the biggest joys of this job - I NEVER EVER have the same day twice.

3) If you have won any significant awards, what are they?

OK I have to admit that I am not big into competitions and awards. I have won a couple of awards from the New England Press Association and several blue ribbons and a best of show from the Woburn Guild of Artists, but really they are not the driving force in my work. I do not go out everyday and look for art to win awards. I look for art to fill the newspaper and tell the story of what life in Woburn and the surrounding area is like.

4) Why did you choose photography?

Well, this is a long story, but here is the nickel version of it ... as stated I got my first camera in 6th grade. I was in a class for "gifted" students when the teacher tossed me a camera, told me to dissect it, and write a report. Well, I was hooked - but not enough to make a career out of it. My true love was (is) the ocean, and all through school I worked on getting my commission to the Naval Academy or the Coast Guard Academy. Well, and this is somewhat ironic, I failed the physical exam for both of those schools due to my EYESIGHT. Yup, my uncorrected vision prevented me from pursuing my dream, so I just picked up my other dream, and ran with it. After a couple of years out of High School and finding regular college was not for me, I began selling cameras at Hunt Drug in Melrose, and through some of the customers there, I landed the gig at the Woburn Times newspaper, which then through a number of events, became a full-time gig for me (and happily so!)

5) What are your sources of inspiration?

Wow, this is a hard question, but here goes - in the early days of my photo career, I was chasing ambulances a lot, and spending ungodly amounts of time out on the road. This prompted a friend to introduce me to the work of an old NYC photographer called WeeGee. He was the ultimate spot news photographer and I still to this day love looking at his work. More recently, meaning 20 years ago, I was taught the craft and art of photography and darkroom skills by George Rizer of the Boston Globe, Jon Hill of the Boston Herald, and double Pulitzer prize winning photographer Stanley Forman. All of whom I am now proud to call friends. I also learned a lot from nature and landscape photographer Arthur Griffin. Arthur's books have been an inspiration to me for years and I am most grateful that I got to know him before he passed away. More recently I am also inspired by Lou Jones' work - he is just fantastic, and by some of the work of William Thorpe, Adam Seligman, and many of the photographers at the SOPHA Studio in Manchester NH. You know, IMHO, it is hard to limit this list to a handful of people, as I really believe we are inspired by every image that we see. Even when we make the I like it / I don't like it judgement of a photo or piece of art we are inspired by that piece.

6) Do you have any special techniques or tips?

I don't really have any special techniques that I use, as for tips well, there I am loaded! First off - I think every serious photographer should learn how to develop and print their own B&W FILM. Yes I said FILM. Find a camera, shoot a roll or two and find a darkroom to process it. Learn about the magic of the dark. I really mean that. My darkroom experience has been able to help me with Photoshop. I know that may sound strange, but it is absolutely true. Secondly - pay attention to light. The direction, the color, the intensity - even when you are NOT photographing. Learn to see where the light is coming from and where it is going. Look at reflections and glare and try to learn from it. Light is a fascinating subject and since it is a close as a flashlight in your hand, or as far away as a distant galaxy, it will NEVER be the same twice. Look at it and learn it. It will make you a stronger photographer. Finally, get down and get dirty with your photography. I learned that as a child from that old TV show the Magic School Bus. Get down and get dirty. I do not believe that the "rules" of photography are written in stone. The rule of thirds, or triangular composition, or even that the sun needs to be behind your back for the best photos. NO NO NO!! Break the rules, find your own rules and then break them. Shoot, learn, shoot learn. And always remember to have fun.

7) What type of equipment do you use?

I am a Nikon Digital Shooter, but I learned with a Pentax K1000 film camera and had several other Pentax cameras before switching. I have the normal compliment of lenses and flashes. But please remember that the equipment DOES NOT MATTER. It is the person behind the shutter button that makes the tool work.

8) Is there anything else you would like to mention?

Well, now that you have me writing, I could go on forever. But I think I could leave you with this. As stated above, I believe you must be open minded about photography. I have been doing photography for more than 20 years now and I strive to learn something new about the craft and art everyday. Do I succeed in that? Not always. But I try. One of the joys of digital, beyond the instant gratification of seeing the photo on the screen, is the ability to shoot and shoot and shoot. The ability to learn and experiment. I remember the film days - would I hit the shutter and burn through a roll of film with out thinking about it? No way. I am afraid to hit it now? No Way! With the digital revolution you are only limited by the amount of batteries and the memory cards you have.

Thanks for the opportunity to help you with this - any chance you can send me a copy of your report when you are finished with it ? I would be intrigued to see it.

Joe B

Rant Mode : ON

Many of you who know me, know that my atitude about my website is pretty laissez-faire. I am not shooting on spec, I have a guaranteed sale on all the assignments I shoot.

So maybe I shouldn't be so pissed off at this, but this really got my dander up earlier today at the soccer games.

The were two games this morning, Girls at 10, and boys at 12. The early game was for the Middlesex League Championship, and it was Woburn -vs- Winchester (archrivals for years!). So as I am standing photographing the girls game, a photographer I have never seen before shows up, sporting a PRESS pass around his neck, and starts talking to me.

What are you shootin' at?? He asks, and I casually answer him with "200 ISO at whatever the camera says is OK".

He moves off and we shoot the rest of the first half.

So here is the incredulous part: I asked him who he represented, as he was sporting a press pass, and he told me this: "Oh I am a FULL TIME STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER for _______________ ( a large daily paper in an area of Massachusetts that is a 40 or so minute drive away) and I don't work on the weekends, so I just find out the top games in the area and I go shoot them, and then I pass out lots of business cards to the crowd. I do really well with the parents from _________________ and _______________ and _________________ etc.

Is it just me?? I just cannot beleive that this guy has the unmitigated gall to come to my house and try to sell photos to my customers. Ya ya I know, it is a free country etc...

So now I am competing against the parents, the big corporate website shooters, and some GWCAWS.

It is enough to make me just want to fold my tents and go back to refusing the reprint business.

No, not really! The website for me is a time saver and an income generator, though not a ton - I will never get rich on the web income, but it is enough to take the family out to dinner or buy some small camera gear.

I suppose I should be happy though... many of those on the sidelines threw away the small sheet of paper he passed out, and his website is so long, I doubt anyone will remember it (www.xxxxxxx.exposuremanager.com sheesh!)

So I hope you will tell all your friends about MY WEBSITE and I truly thank you for any and referrals!