Still alive

The other day I received email from someone about my distressed photo technique. He argued it is much easier and faster to achieve this weathered look using his computer.
Well, I doubt it.
I know very well that working in a photo editor is not really such a fast and simple process. It might be more accessible and less complicated than working in the darkroom but any serious digital-editing buff will tell you it’s not a speedy and trouble-free process.
On the other hand, distressing a photo print is quite simple and even takes less than a minute.
All you need to do is rub down the photo with sandpaper, wrinkle a bit to create random creases, soak in coffee/tea and let dry in the sun.
There are of course other methods, but this one works quite efficiently.

Share This

Generally speaking, I’m a winter person. Call me crazy but I just don’t like to sweat and I’m not all that fond of heat exhaustion. But every winter, there are always these moments when I miss a few things about summer. Well, just the good stuff.
One of these things is hiking in the mountains, over looking the ocean, taking pictures, watching the sunset at the top and possibly the best part, the nightly visit to a coffee shop we stop by afterwards
Another thing I miss about summer is being able to bike ride at night to Hollywood, particularly to the run down eastern side, which is to me one of the most unique places to photograph. I like to ponder and wonder which camera to take along with me to Hollywood, often letting the camera’s (light) weight be the main factor in the decision.
Last Sunday I chose the Diana+ and shot 3 rolls of 120 film:
One Kodak 800 Portra (color) and a couple of Ilford 3200 (black & white).
This image was taken by Amoeba Records west of Sunset & Vine and is an experiment in Diana pinhole, which is not like real pinhole photography but non-the-less yields some interesting results.

Share This

One of the reasons I like selling my books on Amazon is that Amazon puts them on sale, which obviously makes them more attractive to the potential buyer, but also because it makes my books’ prices more reasonable.
Over at Lulu, on the other hand, the prices are fixes. Sure, I can change these prices any time I feel like it, but I’m limited to the basic price set by Lulu.
So now you can find my book No Rules Street Photography on Amazon for $33.08 (while it’s $45.95 on Lulu) and I’m even happier with the price of my book
I am Not an Artist - $21.12
trust me, its quite a bargain!

****************************

Meanwhile I discovered some people take offence in Amazon constantly changing book prices. (try searching “Amazon price gouging” in Google)
Apparently Amazon uses a mysterious variable to control and adjust book prices. I’m not quite sure where the problem is. Dynamic pricing is often a good practice for the consumer and at times will give us the opportunity for a really good deal. As it is, Amazon’s book prices are often the lowest around, not to mention the frequent convenience of purchasing a used copy for a really great bargain. And by the way, most of the time, the changes in prices are between a few cents to a couple of dollars.
boo hoo.

A couple of pages from my book I am not an artist: unconventional and creative photography

Share This

One of the main ideas behind my endless quest through the land of experiments is a search for a technique to combine photography with other forms of the visual arts.
Therefore I was quite happy when it occurred to me to try combining mixed media and image transfer; two methods I’ve been doing independently until now.
Unlike most of my past experiments, this one worked well right from the start.
And because I spread plenty of mod podge over the mixed media parts (not only to make sure the different pieces are glued well but also to finish and seal the whole thing), this method creates the perfect surface to transfer an image onto.
If you are not sure how (and why) this method is done check out the Mixing mixed media with image transfer post.
I’m not yet sure what term will best describe this process and the best I could come up with is: mixed transfer… OK, not too clever, but that’s all I’ve got right now.

Image transfer. Rainy day in Westwood Village.

Share This

If you’re looking for a strange looking, heavy and a bulky camera that will slow you down almost to a halt, Argus C3 is definitely the right camera for you!
The Argus is a square boxy rangefinder from the late 30’s which weighs about a ton and feels like a real burden after just a few minutes of carrying it around, but amazingly enough this is still not its greatest attribute.
In order to take a picture you need to focus through a small round window next to the viewfinder which is half yellow and half clear and pretty much impossible to see anything through it. After the illusion of focusing you switch to the viewfinder, select your shutter speed, fiddle with the hidden fstop settings and you are now ready to make the exposure. But wait; hold on, you can’t take the picture yet. First you need to cock the shutter, and if you forgot and missed that wonderful Kodak moment, oh well, I’m sure another one will come your way very soon.
And to make life a bit more complicated, in order to advance your film to the next frame you need to release the film advance catch and only then you can wind the film while the frame counter moves to the next number.
What can I say? A delightful little camera.

Share This

The images below were all done with the same texture; it’s the texture I talk about in Create your own texture post.
One thing I have to mention about using textures is that I often prefer using photographs I captured on film over the digital ones. Analog images tend to be; at least MINE are, soft and mysterious, therefore it’s much easier transforming them into vintage and moody images. In fact, I only had to take two steps to create these images: adding the texture layer and changing the transparency to Overlay.

These photos were taken with the Canonet QL17 in Beverly Hills.

Share This

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen…The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army—Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; this is all we can expect—We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die:
Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings, and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the Tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and shew the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.

Evening Orders. ‘Tis the General’s desire that the men lay upon thier Arms in thier tents and quarters, ready to turn out at a moments warning, as there is the greatest likelihood of it.”

           General George Washington, Head Quarters, New York, July 2nd 1776

George Washington at Federal Hall, Downtown NYC
Holga; Kodak TX 120 Tri-X Pan 400ASA; 2007

Share This

Recently I’ve noticed something funny: bloggers often apologize when they don’t post for a few days. Death in the family, loads of work at the job place, finals at school, writer’s block, the dog ate their keyboard… whatever. So many excuses. So little time.

I think its funny because:
1) Blogging is a creative outlet, like writing a journal or a diary, so it depends on muse and spare time. Obviously it has no deadlines.
2) Nobody cares. (really.) Apparently most people don’t even visit the blog and they actually read and sort through blogs in their rss reader, so it is doubtful they even notice when the busy blogger missed a day or two or five of posting.
It’s not like they’re sitting at their PC, astonished “oh my goodness, what his face, didn’t post anything today… Now my day is completely ruined!”

So no more apologies. Just post something good, something fresh, when you feel like it, when you can. We appreciate the effort.

Share This

Another lovely mixed media masterpiece.
which by the way I don’t really like calling it “mixed media” even though it incorporates layers of different mediums, but until I come up with a better term, I’ll leave it at that.
So anyway, this piece is simply a canvas board covered (using mod podge) with vintage newspaper and other found stuff (mainly ticket stubs, stamps and textured papers), lots of Gesso and 5 of my favorite photo prints.
As you might have guessed, it was in fact true fun putting it all together, especially the part of splashing Gesso all over the place. Very useful for folks who grew up with an over- tidy and hygienic mother. (like mine)(I think she believed our home was actually a museum of squeaky-clean arts)

Share This

Most articles and books about selling photos will tell you that the most important thing about selling your photos is making high-quality striking photos.
So they’ll spend a chapter or two (or more) teaching you how to make better photos.
Because better photos = more sales.

But sadly this is simply not true.

I’m not a psychologist and I don’t know why people like certain photos more than others but one thing I learned is that it has nothing to do with the photographic quality of the photo.

At times, people buy pictures because they like them and want to display them over their bed or at their office but more often they buy pictures, because they need them for a certain project and because the pictures they buy have the theme they need to fulfill that precise objective.

It is especially true about digital images; customers will often purchase them for projects such as book or magazine covers, brochures, advertisements etc.
It is also true about photographic prints as they are often acquired to be used in a exclusive design projects.
In these cases the salable images are… well, whatever images the project requires.
So basically, if I have the images they need, and the price is right, they’ll buy them, and if I don’t have them, they’ll go looking for these images somewhere else.

It’s not like they want to purchase unique photo prints made by Nitsa, not really.

All they want (for example) are a few black & white urban prints that will work well in a valet parking lobby area of a certain hotel in Atlantic City.
And they don’t really care who (or what) is Nitsa and they couldn’t care less if the photos are so wonderfully well-exposed (or not).

Selling photos, I guess, like many other things, is more about good marketing rather than good photography.

The picture here by the way, is one of the most profitable pictures I ever took… and I don’t even like it!
Among others it was bought by E television to be used as a background for one of their brainless reality shows. Originally it was taken upon a request from a friend who wanted to use it on his book cover, well, he never did use it, and I can’t really blame him for that.

Share This