Famous Photographer #1

Ansel Adams

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I recently studied Ansel Adams, one of the most famous photographers that comes to mind when thinking of photography. Ansel grew up mostly playing piano till his parents gave him a camera on a trip they took where he found his calling for photography. The piano was still a part of his life. 

Ansel had mentors in his life that helped him grow to who we know him as. That helped him get shows. An interesting fact is he shot for over 5 years (about how long I have been doing photography now) before he ever even had a show and he did not make money from it. ( I have had a few shows and been paid to take photos for people).

I can relate to him because of the fact that we were not good at school and how we learn. Adams was taken out of school, while I got extra help when in school. He liked to try thing new things with photography and I do as well but with the more technology side of things. He liked finding and going to cool places and getting shots that the every day person would not see or go. 

Ansel Adams used a camera called a medium and large format which at that time was a very big and heavy camera because he had his tripod the plates and filters and also other things he had to cary up to all his locations. 

He was a big into the dark room as well. ( I have not done film but at some point i would like to and develop it as well.) One of the funny dark room things he did was after he made a print and wanted to make sure it looked right he put it in the microwave to make it dry faster.

As the years went on and he could no longer go to crazy places, he did workshops and taught photography. He taught sometimes without a camera just a paper with a frame cut out. 

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If your interested in learning more about him heres his book and a documentary

Yonkers to Home

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Yesterday my dad's friend and I went to Yonkers NY to drop something off at a warehouse. I went along to give me something new to do and places I have not been too. We made a few stops  along the Hudson River at parks and small towns on our way back home. I went off a few times as he sat in the car. Also when your looking through the photos you will notice some photos shot from the car. I have not made any panos in a while so it was fun to make some new ones. 

The same day at night my dad was watering the plants and told me to grab my camera and come out and made another pano. On the big pine tree you can see the moon is also in the shot.

Chatham Farms 9th

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Yesterday was Chatham Area Farm Tour day put on by Chatham Agricultural partnership and Farmers of chatham. Its where local farms give tours of the there farm for free and a photo and video contest. There was 14 farms on the list you could go to. 

To learn more about the farms click here and check the farms we went to below.

We went to- Maple Leaf Sugaring . Dog Wood Farm & Rock City Mushrooms . Spruce Ridge Farm . Equine Advocates Rescue & Sanctuary . Ooms Dairy Farm . The Berry Farm . Kinderhook Farm . Little Ghent Farm . Love Apple Farm

UPDATE- I won the photo contest with the BW horse equipment

I know it says 2017 but they announced the winners in 2018 and will be shown during the farm film fest.

Other series

When I go out and take photos and then go back and look through them, some of them can be grouped into series or collections. Like as you can see, I do look for things when shooting out and about. I have thought about making these into books or some kind of photograph product. They can be a printed collection because they go together. These are just a few examples of some of the groupings.

Why #3

Why do you shoot and share a lot of your photos?

The reasoning behind me shooting so much an then sharing, is to show that I am being active and to show people that I love what I do and that I am still doing it. People have asked be who know that I am big into photography and ask if I am still doing it.  When you look at other photographers on facebook page, they post there service work 99% of the time and may throw in a "out and about" or interesting photo once in a while. I like doing the more art side of photography showing people the world how I see it.

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Whats with Zach Neven Creative and not photography?

I did that switch because theres more to my creative ability then photography, yes a lot if not all that I do is photography. But I have made videos, graphics, website, sculptures, art and many more creative things. I call my self a creative because in todays world knowing how to do many things is good. Say someone asks me if I can make them a video. I know how to film and I know how to edit. I like to be open to the creative, artistic world.

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Have you ever thought about stopping?

With being your own boss there are times where you get stressed and anxiety can make you thing a diffrent way about things. So yes there have been times where I have thought about stopping and just giving up on things. But then I think about everything that photography has done to me as a person and a creative. It might not seem like things have changed for me because the change happens over time. From being the kid who would never leave his room, to staying in a "safe" zone for driving. Also talking to people and doing things "old zach" would not have done. One of my sayings is that I will never not have a camera on me or with me. I do have ideas for things not photography related that I want to do that could change how I do things. But like one of my saying is, "i am playing the long game with big plays along the way"