Photographer Of The Day - Julia Galdo & Cody Cloud (JUCO).

Part of my process to keep inspired and driven to create is keeping an eye on the industry around me and the people working in it, the people making great images and building awesome bodies of work, the people fashioning awesome careers for themselves. I do a lot of investigation along these lines, so I figured it'd be a nice addition to the blog to talk about some of these photographers and share their work with my readers. We'll see if I can make this a series.

Today I wanted to talk about Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud, otherwise known as JUCO, an advertorial/fashion photography team located in Los Angeles, who've been killing it for the last few years. Their work's been popping up all over the place - shooting for a wide range of advertising clients and publications, and constantly making new work that has a super distinct style and point of view.

One of my favorite things about their style is their awareness and fearless sense of color, and the way it plays into their images as a compositional element. intentionally invoking color is a daunting ideal for me; I feel like I need 4 years worth of color theory to even approach it comfortably. They are heavy on the use of pastels and it may not be for everybody, but it's definitely their voice and I'd think their clients know what they're getting when they commission them for work, and they desire that specifically.

Another thing I find so impressive about them is that they are constantly making ( and presenting!!! ) new work. I follow their portfolio updates on Behance - they're pretty nonstop with it, and I'm consistently floored with what they're doing. Sometimes it won't be a commissioned shoot, sometimes just personal work, but either way, you get the feeling they're making new work because they thoroughly enjoy shooting ideas they have.

It's super inspiring.

You can follow Julia and Cody's work on their website, Behance portfolio , and their tumblr page. Check 'em out.

( all images © JUCO )

Fuji X-Pro1.

My friend and studiomate Taj just got a fuji x-pro1.  Absolutely beautiful camera, love how it brings with it a lot of the highs and lows of shooting film cameras. And the image it produces is great. Of course, I had to take it out for a spin. Here's some of what I was able to capture.  

Yashica Electro 35 GT.

One of my favorite things about being an avid film shooter is the unending plethora of old, really good cameras available- for often not much more than a song- that all impart their own unique character to the image. Decades and decades worth of camera manufacturing precede the last 15 years of commercially available digital cameras, each with their own lens constructing, quirks and perks that either limited them or made them special. There’s some real gems to be found. One of my favorite ways to do find new cameras is through Flickr. In fact, I do a lot of camera researching and Flickr is always part of the process, sometimes at the beginning and usually somewhere in the middle, when I need to see what images a certain camera is capable of producing. (I’m quite the nerd when it comes to this stuff.) It’s become a very exciting thing for me, when I get my hands on a “new” piece of gear that I can shoot - the results are far more unpredictable than in the digital realm, but unpredictable in a positive way - there’s usually a surprise lurking around the corner for how sharp an old rangefinder is going to be, or what kind of colors a certain lens is going to produce.

I say all this to say that I’m going to start shooting a new camera today, and I’m quietly beside myself with excitement. Yesterday, in a rush of frustration with my Rollei SL35 (which I believe may be suffering the dreaded Pad Of Death™) I began tinkering with a DOA Yashica Electro 35 GT I won on ebay a few months ago. I had prepared for its arrival by purchasing a battery conversion kit - the original battery isn’t produced anymore - and buying up some Kodak Ektar 100, only to find the camera not powering on. You can shoot with the camera with no battery, but it won’t meter, and since the shutter is electronically controlled, it will only shoot at 1/500 second. I sat it on the shelf at the studio, disappointed, but happy I could at least shoot the Rollei. Ha.

Long story short, another Yashica Electro found its way into the studio, a black & silver GSN model, and so I had the brilliant idea to switch battery door on the cameras just to make sure it wasn’t a contacts issue with the GT. The GT’s compartment door had been very oxidized when I first received it, and though I tried to clean it pretty thoroughly, I wasn’t convinced.

It worked.

The GT’s metering is weird - it only tells you if the shutter will be slow or the shot will be over exposed, via two arrows visible in the viewfinder, and a set of SLOW and OVER led indicators on the top of the camera. It’s an aperture priority only camera, meaning you set the aperture and the camera electronically sets the shutter speed (in a range of 30 seconds to 1/500 second) to properly expose the film. I’ve actually only shot fully-automatic rangefinders so far, so this might take a little getting used to. Since the max shutter speed is so low, shooting wide open with even ISO100 film any time during a sunny day will probably result in overexposed shots, so I’ll have to be mindful of that. (Those limitations I was talking about.) The lens - a 45mm Yashinon DX ƒ1.7 - is pretty legendary for the images people have been able to produce with it, considering the cost. It’s super sharp, super contrasty, and has a pleasing-enough out of focus blur at wider apertures. Super excited to shoot through it.

Aside from the common occurence of failed electronics in these cameras, it’s a well built, sturdy, handsome piece of equipment. Feels like it was built yesterday, even though these were being produced in the early 1970s.

In Search Of.

So it appears my rollei SL35 is out of commission until further notice - I was taking a shot and the shutter button jammed. it's probably an easier fix than its been seeming, but I know how fragile these cameras are, and NOBODY fixes them. I was trying to make the SL35 my main walk around, and had actually jumped into the process of buying lenses for it; the 50mm 1.8 QBM mount that's on the camera in the above shot was shipped out of Germany (and took forever to get here).

Long story short, I will be in the market for a new 35mm shooter with high quality lenses & build very soon. In the past I've tried to do this within a very small cash bracket, but I think I'm ready to drop cash on it now, just so I know it's always ready, can be fixed, and has great lenses. I've narrowed down to the Voigtlander Bessa series, and the Contax G series. Both are rangefinders, the Contax I believe has autofocus, the Bessas do not. I don't need AF, as I've found even average RF systems to be super accurate (some of them), and the Voigtlander uses the same mount as Leica - so in theory I could step up to that glass at some point.

Either way, it'd be a huge move. I've got some saving to do, though.

Resources.

So many great resources out there for photographers working on their craft, or business. In the absence of formal photography education, these resources have definitely held my hand through the dark over the years. I refer to my experience/skills so far as self taught, but without YouTube, blogs and magazines, it’d have been much harder to figure out my way. I thought it’d be nice today to take some time and share a few of the resources I’ve found most helpful.

• aphotoeditor: one of the best resources for working photographers of all kinds - less about technique, more about navigating business, client interaction, the overall business of photography and also a healthy dose of trends and overviews of the art world. lots of interviews and opinion from the decision makers for publications, ad agencies and other such art buying folks, too.
• chase jarvis blog: chase is one of those guys who’s ability to share his insights and experiences has become a business in and of itself - he’s got a show on youtube that he brings great guests on, and not necessarily to speak about photography specifically, but always things that photographers (and other creatives, in general) can use to bolster their art and careers.
• phlearn: I just found out about phlearn in the past week - finally managed to watch a video they did on youtube regarding the differences between curves and levels in photoshop. demystified! (it’s one thing to know what happens when you play with these adjustments, another completely to understand why it’s happening.) they’ve got a plethora of tutorials and videos that I’ll be digging into over the coming weeks.
• fstoppers: fstoppers covers the gambit of photography, usually from the standpoint of a semi-working to working photographer looking to grow their skillset/equipment list/business. so, there’s plenty of reviews, articles, tutorials/videos, touching on a range of topics. they also do a good amount of discussion about dslr video production, too.
• fashion photography blog: melissa rodwell’s blog showcasing and sharing her knowledge as a working fashion photographer, including lots of BTS footage, tips and experiences. definitely fed the fashion photography bug for me early on.
• the strobist: most budding photographers interested in off camera lighting learn about the strobist early on - david hobby’s pretty much a guru at this point.
• zack arias: zack arias was the first photographer I felt like I got to know as a person, from the very conversational laid back way he writes, to his brutal honesty about his career, his take on whats happening in the photography world and his awesome portfolio reviews he does with his wife, Meg. the other cool thing is that if you’ve been paying attention to Zack for a few years now, you’ve seen him slowly transcend into a really respected name. super dope.
• the art of photography: ted forbes’ epic episodic is one of the best things popping on youtube imo. you can tell he’s an educator from the way he speaks, and he has a great knowledge about lots of aspects of photography, from technical stuff like darkroom technique and film selection to fundamentals like composition, to ideas about artistic pursuits and even business commentary. he gets deep, but manages not to drown his viewers. love love love his show.
• the candid frame: i just happened upon this podcast within the last year while searching itunes for podcasts about photography (there are a few good ones.) this one though, led by Ibarionex Perello (awesome name) is my favorite - super simple concept. he invites photographers from all practices into his studio and just has a flowing converstation with them for an hour or so. it’s a great listen, a great way to get familiar with new photographers or to actually hear some of your favorites speak, and a great way to get inspired to get shooting.

That’s all I’ll mention for now. I recommend all of these, in no particular order. You can never have too many resources.

Redesign/On Blogging.

 

Burning the midnight oil on yet another redesign - but finally the one that serves the purposes my personal site and portfolio did individually, in one neat residence. Also, A far more sensible hosting platform with a flexibility/cost ratio that makes my pockets much happier.

Of course, there is the dreaded process of going back over my work and editing (read: searching fruitlessly for things I haven't actually shot yet) down to the work that I'd like to show here. A grueling, but necessary process. I won't actually hard launch this site until I've completed that process, and I'll leave the Virb-hosted site up and linked here until that happens. This blogging activity is really only to jumpstart that area of the site immediately - more on that below.

So far I really like the progress here - committing to an identity as respects your work can be a very daunting task, bordering on impossible - so the good feeling I have is one I want to hold on to.

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In all the time I’ve been maintaining a portfolio, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to “blog”. In the past I’ve maintained a blog well, and even garnered something of a dedicated readership, but those days are clearly long gone. I’m realizing that I had more time then; I was an office drone with 35+ hours (of required sitting and staring at computer screens every week) to support the kind of mental processes necessary to blog.

This time around, I’m going to keep it very simple and spend my initial energies focused on repetition and consistency.

(This will be the last post I write about posting.)