Famous Photographer #3

Walker Evans

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Born in 1903 and died 1975 which would make him 71 years old when he passed away. He lived through the great depression and the first world war. 

He worked for organizations like FSA and magazines such as TIME. with his photos of American life and architecture. He did not want his photos being used for political reasons, he more wanted to document for historical reasons.  

He went to college for writing but decided to drop out and go to work and photograph. He worked in wall street as a clerk and took photos during his spare time. Since photography was not paying him well he needed to make a living some how.

Walker made friends with a writer named James Agee who both worked together to make a book about life in the farm land. When it first came out it was not very popular till after the war was over.

Most of walkers photos were taken with a Leica but his other cameras were Rolleiflex, 8x10 camera. later in his life he used a Polaroid SX-70. 

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There are many books about his work, the most famous of his books

Ghent NY

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Yesterday

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This starts a week ago on Instagram. I was going through and looking at photos of Hudson and I came across a photo of an abandon building that someone was taking photos of. I commented on one of the photos "is there away you can take me up there" so me and the guy the is restoring started talking and yesterday we were both in town. He was showing his friends the building project and I tagged along taking photos. This was my first time going into an "abandon" building and my first Hudson rooftop. If you want to follow a long click here. It was crazy way to get to the roof top. First there was a ladder in a closet that had a tinny opening to the attic and a little bigger opening to get to the roof and the steps were steep. It was cool to see how they go about saving a building and what an old city building looks like. After that I went about my normal Hudson walk. I am learning that all you have to do is ask for things and sometimes things can happen, like this and also the airplane and helicopter rides that I have done. 

One of my artist friends who does street art kind of art had an opening in Chatham. He is the artist who did the treasure hunt this year. He goes by Scout Pines and you can follow him on Instagram. I knew a few people there and it was cool to see what he has been up to. The funny part about the opening was, since I don't drink alcohol they had ice tea just for me.  During his show I walked around town doing some long exposure night photography, something I have not done yet with my Sony A6000. so it was fun playing with that. 

Why #5

Would you rather fly in a plane or use a drone for 24 hours?

Easy plane over drone any day of the week. The reason I would pick flying around over using a drone is because with a plane you get to see whats coming a head and there are many ways to view. With a drone its only 1 view in the sky.

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Do you ever talk to or meet with other photographers?

Yes I have is the short answer. I am in a group of local photographers, I have met some of the members and have had shows with them. I have also searched up local photographers in the area and met a few and talked shop as they say. I also have talked to and follow photographers on Instagram who do very good work. Speaking of Instagram I follow a bunch of cool local artists. 

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How many photo have you taken?

That is a hard question to answer because over the years I have used many kinds of cameras. I have used many kinds of cameras from throw aways to DSLRs, it its very very hard to give an exact number lets just say 100,000's. Think of the sessions I have done, the trips, Hyper-lapeses and animations, walking around for fun. 

Famous Photographer #2

Annie Leibovitz

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She is mostly known for her portraits but she does has has done photojournalism as you can see by the bike. She has gone to war torn areas and followed well known people such as Hillary Clinton. She has done more than just portraits and photojournalism. 

Rolling Stones was her first big job when they were starting out. Her BF at the time was the one who pushed her to go and be one of their first photographers. She stayed with them for a while and to this day she still shoots for big companies. 

When digital cameras first came out she did not really adapt to it. She still shot film because of the fact that things could still happen with files. But she did like how the upgrades were for the technical side of things. But today she does mostly shoot digital photography.

She is very creative with her portraits and telling the persons story in a single frame as you can see on the side. There are many famous portraits done by Annie that tell the persons story and or character. 

When She was shooting for magazines she would have a full page spread, so as she was taking photos she thought about the center fold and not to have her subjects right in the middle.

How Annie and I are similar is that we pretty much are not with out our cameras. Photography helped her get out in the world and talk to people. ( Photography has 100% gotten me out of being shy and staying inside). The saying "it does not matter what gear or tools you have its how you use them" is something she and I can agree with. Learning how to use is better than buying new tools. She was also very big into BW in her early work.( as you know I am a big fan of BW) We both like the candid moment more than a posed moment.

"It didn't matter the subject was. What mattered was photography."

" The camera gave you a license to go out alone into the world with a purpose"

"The camera makes you forget you're there. It's not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much."

“One doesn’t stop seeing. One doesn’t stop framing. It doesn’t turn off and turn on. It’s on all the time.”

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If you want to learn more about her. Here is her book and a documentary

A quick fun fact I almost met her in Hudson this year missed her by a few mins.

Color Run 2017

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I was personally asked to be a volunteer camera man at the first ever Chatham Color Run. I said yes and got the map of the run and a little about what was going to happen a few nights before the day of the race. I have never been to a color run but have seen many of photos and videos of what the event is. I was thinking about all the cool shots with the chalk I would be getting and the throw at the end. I do like to volunteer my time, thinking about what this could turn into and also network and build portfolio. My favorite fun raiser of the year is coming up and I will definitly be doing a blog post about it for sure.