I’m going to Hawaii
I’m sitting on this bed. I’m sitting here wondering what to pack. I will need a bathing suit and my iPad, and that’s all
Sincerely,
Isabella.
More Darla Cuteness
Didn’t get enough of Darla last time. This time she lathers up her face with my Mom’s $155 an ounce Le Mer face lotion from France and explains that she is a Princess.
Photo Walk on Sunset Cliffs
I have often talked about Photo Walks. You know walks where you bring your camera and you hope to take a nice picture. I talked about it in my post, How Photography can change your life. It did Mine. You can check that post out here. How Photography Changed my Life.
People commented on the post quite a bit saying how they felt the same way about photography about me, and how it was the little things about taking pictures that helped them to live better. One comment in particular really touched my heart however. An elderly lady, talked about how her husband who was wheel-chair bound, recently bought a camera. Every day she would wheel him around and she did it so that he could take pictures. He could take pictures of life that was happening around them. Every day they went out together.
I realized that photo walks were very important. I have two legs that I should not take for granted. I walked several miles tonight along the beautiful Sunset Cliffs in San Diego. Here are some of the sights that I captured.
Some kids cliff diving off the rocks while a paddle boarder watch. I am not sure I would make that jump.
A bird soaring over a particularly nice cove.
I like how the sun hits these sheer sandstone cliff walls and makes them look golden.
Another photographer tries to capture the last rays of the sunset.
5 Reasons Why You Need to Buy an Instant Camera
I am often intrigued by Polaroid cameras and photography. I blogged about it before and even tried to make Polaroid work for me. Read the Blog Here – The Polaroid Project.
At the time, I felt that Polaroid had become more of a curiosity than a must have and I found that it wasn’t worth the hassle. But over the past year, my thoughts keep returning to Polaroid cameras and their place in photography and I have come to the conclusion that the Instant Camera is something that every household should own.
I bought an instant camera today. It cost me $79. That’s pretty inexpensive. And the film is only about $1 for each exposure. Again much better than I had initially found with my original project.
I bought the Fuji Film Instax Mini 8. A simple camera with a flash and exposure control.
The film looks cool, just like original polaroids with the border. The film cost about $1 an exposure which is totally affordable.
What Recommendations do I have for buying a Polaroid Camera?
Well first off. You don’t need to buy a Polaroid Camera you can buy an Instant Camera. I know everyone is fascinated with the hipster retro-aspect of Polaroid and I think that’s where a lot of people make mistakes. I certainly did.
I bought an old retro Polaroid for about $100 on Ebay, then I had to hunt down film from the Impossible Project and pay about $2 to $3 for an exposure. Since the camera was old and the film faulty, almost all of my exposures looked pretty bad. I was trying to go for a retro look and it was costing a lot of money.
So my recommendation is to buy an instant camera from Fuji or Kodak or even the new Instagram camera that should be available in 2014. These will all be cheaper and take better pictures. The new Instagram camera will even have the traditional filters to place on the pictures before printing. That camera looks exciting to me. I will probably buy one. Check it out here – The SocialMatic.
Now this camera looks pretty awesome. I am waiting for it, anxiously.
The second thing I would recommend is to buy something that has a flash and a way to control the exposure a bit. You will be using the camera indoors and outdoors so you need some control.
So its that easy. Buy something cheap. Something New and Something Inexpensive. And as always, make sure you check the price of the film because that will end up being your biggest expense by far.
So here are my Reasons Why you Need to Buy an Instant Camera.
1. Facebook has created the need for something more permanent
This sounds weird but it occurred to me that Facebook completely changed the way that 90% of people in the US look at photography (including myself).The process for photography, even after digital photography came about almost always involved printing so people could look at the pictures. I used to print the best pictures and send them to people.
I have thousands of photos on Facebook. What is going to happen when I get so sick of Facebook and delete my profile?
People no longer do that. The process today is snap a picture and upload it online – most notably – Facebook. The problem with this is that people no longer print pictures and there is no longer a permanency to any photograph that they take.
But what happens when they get so sick of Facebook and want to pull their profile down? Almost all of their pictures will disappear forever. Facebook is going to be responsible for your grandchildren not knowing what your life is like. Despite the fact that people take tons of pictures, they probably will have very little to show for it.
You need an Instant Camera to make it easy for you to take pictures and have them printed.
2. You need to hold some pictures to feel them.
I remember when I converted all of our old family pictures to digital pictures for my Mom and Dad. My mom asked me a question, and she was right. She said, “But don’t you want to go through a box and feel the pictures as you go through them?”.
That tactile approach to photography is missing today. Having an instant camera will restore it to your family pictures. You need to hold the pictures to really feel them and experience the moment.
The experience of going through an old musty box of pictures and finding one of your Mom with a beehive haircut is something we need to keep hold of.
3. It will teach you the basics of Film
Remember when film drove the way that we took pictures? It was expensive and it was time consuming. And most of all you didn’t want to keep changing the roll of film in the camera every two minutes.
Well digital cameras changed all of that and we live in a better world. But we are missing film – the look of it and everything else nostalgic that it offered us. Having an instant camera is a great way to retain the way photography and film used to be without having to go through the same headaches.
An instant camera will teach you to wisely take your photos. That is something we are missing with digital cameras.
The old Kodak Tourist Camera. Changing film on this was a bear.
4. Because they are Fun.
If you have a kid. Or if someone you know has a kid. Or if you are getting married. Or if someone you know is getting married. Or if you are going to be having any special events – you need an instant camera.They are a lot of fun and photography should be fun and bring people together.
The instant camera will generate a lot more interest in the pictures than if you bring your Iphone or your DLSR. The instant camera will allow you to create cool and different pictures that no one else will get. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that the instant camera will be something you need someday.
5. Because Kids Get It, They know what we are missing with Photography today
Have you ever wondered why kids are so attracted to Polaroid and Instant Cameras? Well its because they get something that possibly we don’t and that is all the things that I mention here.
They understand that photo sharing is not just about sharing it on the internet. It’s putting the photo on a frame, or sticking it to the wall, or the refrigerator. It’s about having something to touch and hold that was instant and memorable. I think kids really get what is missing in photography.
If you have a family and get an instant camera you will probably find that they take a stronger interest in photography.
My nephew Charlie often tells me why he likes Film vs Digital. There is a return to film and Instant Cameras are a great way for you to hold on to that experience
I’m glad I got my instant camera today. I probably won’t be able to share many pictures online with it but I am sure that I will get to share them in other ways that might just end up being more important in the long run.
Photographing a Great Family
The Frank Flare
It was 7th grade. We were playing flag football on the black asphalt at St Rose. Our name was the Dallas Cowboys and for the moment we were playing as good as them. We got back in the huddle and Mike barked out the play – The “Frank Flare.” Oh God here we go again I thought to myself. This can’t possibly work- again. We’d already run the play at least a half a dozen times in the last dozen plays and the other team could not possibly fall for it.
The “Frank Flare” was an ultra-simplistic passing route were I would basically run three steps diagonally off the line of scrimmage and turn around. As soon as I did, Mike would throw the pass. It was perhaps the only pass route I could ever think to execute and given the ball was being thrown from less than 5 feet away, the only pass my ham-fisted like hands could catch.
But it worked. And it worked again. And again. And Again. And many times more. And all the way to the Championship. It was my first, and my last foray into football greatness.
A Great Family
That was a time I had with Mike Macie my childhood classmate and friend. And here I was 30 -some odd years later meeting him again but this time with his family. 5 kids and his Wife Mary who also a great friend and a very special person to my sister. I didn’t even actually know Mike and Mary were married until my sister told me but I was not surprised.
I remembered Mike as an extraordinary gifted guy and Mary as one of the funniest girls I ever met with and incredibly kind-heart so no surprise that they were together. As you can imagine, their family is great. Each of the kids (Thomas, Peter, Matthew, Luke and Libby) seem to have inherited all of the great qualities of their parents.
If you want to see the entire gallery of pictures you can click here. The Macie Family Be sure when you get the bottom of the page to click the link for the next page. There are 13 pages of pics.
A Day at Scripps Pier La Jolla
We met at Scripps Pier which happens to be one of my favorite spots in San Diego. The weather was a little overcast but the place is always beautiful no matter what the weather. I met the kids first. I could see them instantly as they each looked like Mike and Mary. I really liked the Macie kids they were so easy going. They would do anything that I asked.
Here are the kids running and posing for pictures along the beach for me, 30 seconds after I met them.
We had some fun running in the water. But I realized after we did it, that peoples pants would get wet. One of the kids, I think Thomas said to his Dad, “Hey it looks like you pee’d your pants” That was a great laugh. If you see any pictures that look like that you know that its just salt water.
I get nervous to take pictures with really photogenic people like the Macies. If the pictures do not come out – then the only person to blame is me. Or I guess I could blame my camera.
It is a bit of a bittersweet time, Thomas is heading off to College. This was a great chance to capture some late summer memories before Thomas goes off the college and grows a mustache and eats pizza everyday.
What I love about Photography
I guess photographing the Macie’s really reinforced what I love about photography. It’s about bringing people together. It’s about capturing what is the most important thing in life – love. And its about looking back at our lives – even if its only a day ago – and learning to appreciate everything we have been given. I think you can see all of those things in this family- and that is what makes them a GREAT family.
The Best 5 Photo Sharing Sites and Why I use All of Them.
It seems like every few months a new photography sharing site is coming online. We are truly in the Golden Age of Photography when thanks to Camera Phones, everyone has a camera and everyone is sharing pictures. All these websites are rushing to capture a bit of the massive online photo sharing market.
When someone ask me the question, “Which photography website should I use?”,my answer is usually “All of them.” You see my strategy for photo sharing is to use different websites. They all specialize in different aspects of sharing and they all usually add something to my photo sharing that I can’t get from a single site.
The truth is I have about 5 favorite sites that I use, although I have probably tried about 20-30 over the years. I’ll rank my favorites here and the way that I use those sites because I do not use them all for the same purpose.
#1 – SmugMug – The Best All-Purpose Photo Sharing Site My Site (www.frankiefoto.com)
How I use it – My bread and butter site. I upload everything here for people to download. I keep my blog here. I do my printing here. This is the site I use to store all of my work as they have unlimited storage capability.
I spend $30 a month for this site. That’s by far the most that I spend on any site that I use and I spend it because it is worth it. Although I am just an amateur, SmugMug is built for professional photographers. They have integrated printing services, a shopping basket and an infinite number of customization options for galleries and your site.
I got my site customized by www.fastlinemedia.com and they even integrated a blog on my SmugMug site. A blog is a critical must have for photo sharing. I personally think it is impossible to adequately share your photos without one.
Check out www.smugmug.com if you want to look at this site and sign-up, there are free accounts you can get and some amazing new templates. They are really improving lately.
While SmugMug ranks high for all of the professional services and customization, the lacking part of their site seems to be in the community and sharing. You can view other peoples galleries but there just doesn’t seem to be a good mechanism for viewing and voting other photos as they come in on stream as they are uploaded.
#2 – 500PX – The Best Place to Showcase your Best Photos. (My Site – www.frankmckenna.com)
How I use it? I use this site to share my best photos. I do not store pictures here or print from this site. I use this because they have the best sharing community on the internet. You can get a lot of exposure from all over the world when you upload here.
I think 500PX and SmugMug are in an all out war. You see SmugMug originally started out years ago and their whole strategy was to present users photos in a way that made them look beautiful. More recently 500PX started with the same concept. But 500PX setup a system where you only upload one photo at a time.
They wanted users to share only their best work. Their less is more concept worked and 500PX quickly emerged as a place to share your best work. This was not the place to share all of your work.
I have an awesome account which is their premium account level and it runs less than a couple of hundred a year. It is well worth it. Why do I use 500px in addition to SmugMug?
Well, because I get a ton of inspiration off 500PX, they have great customized sites where I can share a link to some of my best work and they are a place where the best photographers in the world share their work. Both sites serve a different purpose.
#3 – Tumblr – The place to share artistic images or just to get more exposure. (My Site –http://frankiefoto.tumblr.com)
How I use it? Tumblr has a very young age demographic. So I primarily use this site to share my beach and surfing pictures and pictures of San Diego. The photo sharing is a lot like Instagram (which I do not use) and it allows me to get more links to my blog for traffic.
Tumblr also is a pretty awesome site to capture some truly artistic work. I follow some amazing photographers on this site.
Now Tumblr is free and while it is considered a blog, I don’t really consider it a blog. Definitely not like WordPress. To me Tumblr is just a more sophisticated Instagram with some additional features and capability to use it on the Desktop.
I don’t find the pictures to be great resolution because they are typically small but it is a great site to get a pretty big market of viewers very quickly.
#4 – Facebook – This is the best site to share personal photos with your friends and family. (My Site – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vinh-Long-Orphanage/434930639893998)
How I use it? I post personal family photos for sharing with friends and family. I don’t like to share much more than that on Facebook because the resolution is so bad it makes the pictures look pretty crappy.
Arrgh. I know. I think photos look like crap on Facebook. But the fact is that Facebook has the easiest interface for sharing personal photos with your personal connections.
I also think FaceBook has an amazing capability to reach a broad audience for your photography work if you are willing to put up with the substandard picture quality and pay a lot of money to promote your site on other people’s timelines.
It’s also great for promoting a cause with your photography. I have a photography project with Vinh Long Orphanage in Vietnam and I have been able to post photos and get a world-wide reach to get them more exposure.
Facebook is free. It connects you to hundreds of millions of people. You almost have to be on Facebook to share photography even if the pictures don’t look good.
#5 – Pinterest – This is the best site to share photo ideas with people you are working with. (My Site –http://pinterest.com/frankiefoto/boards/)
How I use it? I use it as a way to have another channel to promote by blog and writing. I find that that Pinterest crowd are a bit more interested in lifestyle. Also, I use it share photos of kids and home life. The Pinterest crowd seems to be more in tune with this type of photography.
Pinterest is unique. They seem like the only photography site that is directed toward working on future projects rather than showing older work. I don’t share much on Pinterest and I don’t get a lot of interaction with other people on the site but I do find it invaluable for sharing my work and other ideas with people that I will be working with.
In fact Pinterest has become the go-to place for wedding photographers working with their clients.
Even if it does destroy some of the creativity of the photographer it is an invaluable site to have your photographs on. Check out this great article I read on it yesterday. Pinterest Destroys Creativity.
So what is not on the list, here are the ones I am not a big fan of
Google Plus I share on Google Plus and photographers swear by it but for some reason if you’re not Trey Ratcliff or another super celebrity photographer it just doesn’t seem to work.
I think the photos look beautiful but quite honestly I just don’t think the general public has quite figured out when and where to use Google Plus. For that reason it didn’t make my top 5
Instagram – I share on Instagram to but it is limited to sharing photos from your iPhone. To me that just replicates what I use Facebook for so I don’t bother. Instagram is great for businesses to share their product and is great advertising it just doesn’t work for me.
Flickr – I have an account on Flickr too but honestly their site looks outdated and pictures don’t look great on it. I think Flickr is on the decline and its never really worked for me. It didn’t make the cut.
ShutterFly – I have an account on Shutterfly too but everything about Shutterfly is outdated.
The printing is not good. The picture quality is bad. They don’t store the full resolution images for you to download later. ShutterFly is great for a few things but I don’t find them useful.
Adobe Reveal – Adobe Reveal used to be photoshop.com but they changed the branding and quite honestly its crap.
I used to like it but in typical adobe fashion they just were playing outside their core competency and it just doesn’t work. Adobe makes great software, they don’t make great photosharing sites.
Photographs of White Man in Vietnam Exposing his Leg
Needless to say, if you are a White Man in Vietnam looking for a reaction from the locals, its quite easy to garner attention. Take for example this man, as he shows off his leg and gives thumbs up to passers-by he gains near celebrity-like status. He could have done this for hours, but we needed to leave.
As I instantly suspected, this pose was a traffic stopper.
Or at the very least it made them pause as their brains worked furiously to comprehend what is was their eyes were seeing.
Funny Conversation with Darla
Darla decided that she wanted to move in with me. This is the conversation we had.