It is FREE and so very entertaining

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom

Over the past year or so I have wondered onto this site a number of times.  The entertainment value has been extraordinary.

You learn and get exposed to new things and it's all done with humor and simplistic approaches.


Here is what Zack Arias had to say about these folks on his own blog.

"I’ve been a big fan of these fine folks for some time. This is Lok, Kai, and Alamby who make up the DigitalRev team. It’s hard to describe exactly what they do but suffice it to say that they are the Top Gear of photography. Or should I say, Top Gear is the DigitalRev of cars. Kai (in the center) is the mastermind behind the most subscribed to photography channel on YouTube. He’s irreverent, hysterical, and completely brilliant. Lok and Alamby are perfect  and grounded compliments to Kai’s insanity. They are my favorite photography personalities ever. It’s the understatement of the year to say that I was honored to get to meet them and take part in their ongoing “Pro Photographer. Cheap Camera.” series.
I met up with the trio in the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong this week to find out what my challenge would be and what cheap P.O.S. camera I would be armed with to meet their challenge. Kai showed up with an old Kodak C142 point and shoot and an old Nikon flash. My challenge was to shoot people on the street but I had to use the flash. The first challenge was figuring out if I could get the flash to sync with the camera. Once we found a way to get that going then I had to find subjects in low light areas so the flash on the camera would fire. I could not force it to fire at all times. There was zero exposure control on that crap ass camera and zero control as to where it would focus. It was the kind of camera that makes you wonder how point and shoots ever progressed and was a good example of why Kodak failed in the Point and Miss category of cameras.
So here is the result of my challenge. It was so much fun. I sort of went all fan boy on them when I saw them! A selection of images follows the video."

The topics are limitless, and you can find review, challenges, and just about anything related to photography within the boundaries of this site.

Bookmark it and when you have some time, pick out a couple of videos and enjoy.

I think you will find their style and knowledge well worth the time investment.

 

Penn [4] is mightier than the Sword!

Irving Penn [number 4 for those keeping count]

An artist whose work I happened across this semester in my quest to find a homage candidate.

I do so enjoy a portrait session to pass the time of day.  And Irving Penn has done so many fine pieces of work to admire and learn from.

I discovered that a foundation exists to promote his work.  Always nice to see that efforts of this kind exist to help preserve art for all to enjoy.  I worry that some forms of art and music will continue to suffer funding and continue to fade away from our daily lives.  I firmly believe in preservation of classics in the art and music world.  I do what I can to help in several local charities.  The St. Louis Artist Guild is one.  Missouri Botanical Gardens another.   

http://irvingpenn.org/

One of my favorite images from Mr. Penn.  Simple but at the same time a complex construction of lighting and positioning to get these results. 

First Official Lab Time for me today

Needed to bring in all my stuff, paper, supplies that will be handy for working in the lab.  Set up both the BW and Digital Photo II lockers with those items.

Located, and I mean looked high and low for the original RAW files for those images I wish to present on Tuesday for potential use in the St. Charles County Art Council Exhibit.  I have only three days to now re-evaluate my choices, see if the original TIFF files are worthy or should I redo them.

Post production work is always a process that shows visible improvement over time.  Software improves, my personal learning of the use of the software improves [gosh I sure hope it does over time and repetitive use] and exposure to other's work and seeing what can be done is bound to sink in eventually.

What does not change I find is that if a photo is decent enough, it will hold up over time.  It's essential elements should be present.  It might be just a tweak of exposure in some dark shadow or a touch of vibrance or maybe a touch of dark vignette to frame the subject better.

My work is in front of me.  I hope and truly believe that my best work is yet to come.  I have seen good enough in the past when shooting to envision something and produce an image worthy of my vision.  As I improve as I believe we all do [different timelines, different paces] I trust my ability to see things and then produce an image that depicts that vision will work.

My goal is to enjoy the process, not to rush thru it.  Not that a grade is not important, I would not be human if I said it did not matter.  It does, but I really want to learn more about how I approach my photography.  Putting myself into my work. Finding the satisfaction in what I am doing and why I am doing it.

I hope this semesters classmates will share with me this passion and joy and we can have a great time doing what we all do best.  Photog!