Peter Read Miller is an amazing Sports Illustrated photographer I wrote about for WIRED.com. I touch on his storied career, his new sports photography book and his upcoming sports photography workshop. He is more than willing to share his tips of capturing great sports photos.
Read the article to learn more:
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2014/01/peter-read-miller/
From the Vault: The Fat Boys pose for a portrait in Palo Alto, California during summer of 1987.
Click on the image above to learn more about Jeff Frost’s incredible time-lapse photography in this article I wrote for WIRED. (photo by Jeff Frost)
I interviewed artist Jeff Frost for WIRED.com about the amazing short films he creates using time-lapse photography.
Check it out here: http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2013/10/jeff-frost-time-lapse-photography/
Click on the photo above to read more about Frank Bott’s motorcycle photography in this article I wrote for WIRED. (photo by Frank Bott)
Frank Bott is a tireless man who has dedicated countless hours to perfecting his motorcycle photography. I spoke with him for WIRED.com recently and he shared some of his Gorgeous Motorcycle Portraits Made With a Gigantic DIY Lighting Rig.
Getty staff photographer, Ezra Shaw, had extensive coverage of America’s Cup in San Francisco. Click on the image to read more about it in this article I wrote for WIRED. (photo by Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Getty Images staff photographer Ezra Shaw’s coverage of the America’s Cup this year was incomparable. I spoke with him for WIRED.com recently and he explained how managed to capture these great photos of the America’s Cup from land, sea, and air.
Buenos Aires Archbishop, Jorge Mario Bergoglio walks in a procession in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 28, 2005. In 2013 he was elected as the 266th pontiff for the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Francis. (photo by Joe Gosen) (Joe Gosen)
I always hear or read about photographers finding little gems in their photo archives. Today I have one of those stories of my own.
The back story: In 2005 I traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with six Brooks Institute Visual Journalism students as part of an international documentary class I was teaching. On one particular day five of us went to a rally in the city center (Plaza de Mayo) where I happened to take a picture of a priest walking among the people in the procession. I filed away the picture with some others I shot that day, not really giving it a second look.
Fast forward to today: I was skimming the headlines on my iPhone and saw a picture of the newly elected pope. His face looked familiar. I immediately looked through the pictures I shot while in Argentina and quickly realized that the priest I had photographed eight years earlier was actually the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergolio, who is now known as Pope Francis.
Lesson learned: This was another good reminder for me of why we should always try and hold onto our pictures, even the outtakes. We just don’t know the potential historical value of our images in a given moment. This photo also served as a good reminder of the value of maintaining a good system for archiving work. I was happy to have found the picture I shot so long ago in just a matter of minutes.
Reporter Ari Karpel met with the sound designers for Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” Sound re-recording mixer, Mike Minkler, and Wylie Stateman, supervising sound editor for the film, explain how the process of the opening moments of the film. Have a listen to the KCRW report.
NPR did an interesting story about the some of the challenges the Library of Congress faces with preserving audio recordings made during the last 125 years.
Surprisingly, the challenges are not only limited to the recordings made in the early days of audio but those made as recently as 10 years ago due to rapid changes in technology and issues related to ownership of the recordings. And while we often make keywords, descriptions and other metadata entries as part of our workflow as photographers, we often neglect that necessary chore as as part of our audio workflow. Take five minutes and listen to the report and see if it gives you any ideas of why you might want to start adding metadata to your audio files.
A new year.
An old friend.
A lovely hike.
I met with Justin Willett of Tyler Winery on a Friday in late February and he gave me an excellent history lesson on how the area became known for pinot noir starting back in the early 1970s at the Sanford and Benedict vineyards. He showed me the La Encantada vineyard, which he uses for his wines, as well as pointed out all of the vineyards in sight along Santa Rosa Road near Buellton.
What I learned is that the proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the relatively stable temperature of the region and the composition of the soil all contribute to the unique growing conditions of the area, resulting in some favorable characteristics in the pinot noir and chardonnay grapes.
My lesson on the region continued a couple of days later when I met up with Sashi Moorman, the winemaker for Evening Land Vineyards. Moorman took me to some vineyards on the windswept hills along Sweeney Road in Lompoc.
From the higher vantage point I could clearly see how the appellation populates the valley. After taking in the panoramic scene, Moorman then directed me to the soil around a row of pinot noir vines planted four years earlier. It looked like a bed of white rocks, not the rich sandy soil I am accustomed to seeing in other vineyards. Moorman said that locals call the diatomaceous earth”chalk rock” and pinot noir seems to thrive in this stuff. But in this part of the appellation, the vines don’t grow as robust as they would in other conditions. Because of this, Moorman was able to plant 7,000 vines per acre.
Moorman doesn’t just limit himself to grapes, he pointed out a plot of land where he grows wheat and has plans to make his own bread in the tasting room of his own wine label, Piedrasassi New Vineland Winery.
I learned a lot about the region during my two recent visits but I learned even more once I read the story Jon Bonné wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle titled, “A Dramatic new chapter for Santa Rita Hills”. The story was published on the SFGate website on March 2, 2012 and it also appeared on the front page of the Food section of the Sunday paper on March 4, 2012. Eight of my pictures ran with the story on SFGate and three photos appeared with the Sunday printed edition.
WINEMAKER TO WATCH PROFILE — Gavin Chanin of Chanin Wines
Click on the image to read this post on Photoshelter’s blog.
Photoshelter is an invaluable resource for budding and seasoned photographers. They have been at the forefront of helping photographers market work, expand their online footprint and grow their businesses. Over the years I have read the articles on their site, watched their video tutorials, listened in on their webinars and basically soaked in as much information as my brain would allow.
In 2011 I began teaching a new kind of web class at Brooks Institute, one that was inspired by all that I have learned from the Photoshelter community over the years. Grover Sanchagrin caught wind of this and interviewed me recently. He posted our conversation on Photoshelter’s blog today, including 5 attitude changes toward photography websites.
Click on the image to view test out the sounds.
I grew up with the sounds and smells of a coffee percolator brewing the morning cup of Joe in our household. I hadn’t thought much about it until I stumbled on to this story on NPR’s website about sounds that have all but disappeared.
The idea for the NPR story was inspired by a blog post on Mental Floss titled “11 Sounds That Your Kids Have Probably Never Heard.” Remember the rotary phone? Our home number took a particularly long time to dial. It had a 9, a 0, a couple of 7’s. It was a laborious and time-consuming phone call to make by today’s standards (as you can see in the video below).
NPR took this idea a little further and grouped the clips to allow viewers to play these sounds to create some natural sounds music, so to speak. And then they modernized it by finding today’s equivalent sounds and grouped them, as well. Have look – and a listen. Brooks Institute visual journalism grads Maggie Starbard and Melissa Forsyth helped out with the project.
Chloe awaits the arrival of Cpl. Ward Van Alstine in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011. Van Alstine befriended the stray dog in August while serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and adopted him through a program called Nowzad Dogs charity. (Photo by Joe Gosen / Special to the Chronicle)
Cpl. Ward Van Alstine is reunited with his dog, Chloe, in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2011.
On November 23 I was inching along the freeway in pre-holiday traffic when my cell phone rang.
It was an assignment editor from the San Francisco Chronicle asking if I would be available to shoot an assignment on Thanksgiving.
I had to think about it a minute.
I already had plans for the day with my family and friends. Did I really want to work on a holiday?
“The story is about a marine who befriended a stray dog while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan,” the editor said. “He managed to adopt it through an organization and have it flown back to the U.S. They’re going to reunite on Thanksgiving day in Santa Barbara.”
I didn’t have to think a second longer.
“Yes, I’ll do that story!”
Have a look at the touching story that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle’s website – SF Gate. Four of my pictures ran in a gallery with the story.