Photographing a famous landmark

The common advice when photographing a famous landmark is to make sure you frame it in a pleasing way and of course make sure to find a new and a different angle.
Ok, right. I’m not sure what kind of a “different angle” you can come up with for a photograph that was taken by millions before you. Yeah, good luck with that.

So in order to avoid getting stuck with yet another cliché you can
A) avoid shooting well-known, shot-to-death landmarks or
B) Be creative, adapt a new approach and create something original.

Ok, sounds great you say, but how do I adapt a new approach, what does it even mean?
Well, when creating your famous landmark image you can create something new either when shooting the photo or at the post process/printing stage.
You can completely change the final appearance of the photo by selecting a camera that utilizes your vision best such as the Holga, polaroid, classic camera such as the kodak brownie, large format, pinhole or even a modified digital camera. Each one of these cameras will provide you with a unique image that can help depicting your insight.
If you like abstracts why not shoot an abstract of that landmark? If you are a street photographer you can make a picture where people are the subject and the landmark is the supporting cast in the background. If you like to make panoramas or time-lapse photos, you can certainly put a new spin on any overshot landmark.

Now, improving an average (not to say boring) shot of a famous landmark at the post processing or printing stage can be a bit tricky as it is very easy to overdo it and further add to the cliché.
But, as long as you have an idea and a general direction, and you’re not just playing around with the filters in your photo editor, you can absolutely make something original and imaginative.

I usually, not only avoid shooting landmarks, but I also keep away from visiting them. (I just get quite uncomfortable in big crowds)
But on this particular day in San Francisco, the colors, the sky, the crisp air, just seemed so perfect to photograph the Golden Gate, So I did.

When printing this photo I knew I need a different approach or I’ll get stuck with yet another boring image of the Golden Gate. So I decided on taking it to the 70′s and make it look just the way I’ve imagined it back then.

Metallic Prints by Kodak

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was having a great deal of trouble with the complicated process of ordering metallic prints from dotphoto.com so ultimately I decided to order them from Kodak Gallery.
Metallic prints are printed on a special paper and display images with excellent depth and a distinctive metallic look. Color metallic prints are particularly vibrant, sepia prints have a gold-like glow while black & white have a unique silver shine.
Kodak metallic prints are of superior quality and just beautiful.  Another thing I liked is that they printed and  delivered the order in  just a few days which is always a plus.

I scanned the prints but there is no way to show or even give an idea what the metallic prints really look like.  I guess you will have to try them out for yourself.

So I made some of these prints available for purchase over here.
All the metallic print are signed and dated 5”X7” and I offer them for $45 each which includes shipping and a 4″X6″ standard print of the same image.

Buy these prints

inkjet image transfer II

Here is the second inkjet/printer image transfer I made. It is done exactly the same way the previous image transfer was done except this time I didn’t print the image on a standard contact sheet.
Instead I printed it on a clear sheet protector that has pockets; I believed they are used to hold baseball cards or something like that.
Anyway, this is just another approach to image transfer.
So what did we learn today? We learned that the great thing about image transfer is that it allows countless ways of doing it.
Go ahead, give it a try; I’m sure you’ll make me so proud

One way. New York City 2004. Black and white image transfer.

Inkjet image transfer

This morning I was longing to make some good ol’ fashion image transfer, and though image transfer is not a huge production, still, I had no time to spare.
However, one little disorder I suffer from is that once I have an idea in my head I can’t get rid of it no matter how hard I try.
And then it hit me: inkjet transfer! duh!
Inkjet or printer transfer is a method I came up with a couple of years ago and as far as I know, I don’t believe anybody else is performing inkjet transfer quite the same way, which is OK, no, actually its great.
Inkjet transfer, like I mentioned before, is a really fast and a no-brainer method (no wonder this brain came up with it).
I think in a way my technique of printer transfer is so simple that it completely confuses some people; I always get lengthy emails asking me puzzling questions about this process. It definitely takes longer to write these emails than making the actual transfer
OK, so this is how it’s done:
1) Print a mirror image of your chosen image onto any kind of plastic sheet; I usually use a standard sheet protector.
2) Once the printing is done, and since this kind of a medium will not absorb the ink, the ink will remain wet. All you need to do now is transfer the image onto any type of photographic paper by pressing the print face down into your paper of choice.

So I made two transfers this morning: the one here (taken in NYC in 2000) and a second one which I made the same way but with a twist. I’ll share it with you next time. So stay tuned and don’t touch that mouse!

Inkjet printing on special paper

I don’t know much about inkjet printing, but every once in a while I like to get some special printing paper and either transfer images onto this paper or just print my latest images.
A couple of weeks ago I found a sample pack of Inkpress digital media paper.
It has 23 different print papers, such as Watercolor Rag, Cool Tone, Fiber Gloss and
Luster Duo ( I have no idea what it means).
So I chose to first try the Matte Canvas but to add a twist I printed to the wrong side.
It might be hard to tell from the scanned version but this print turned out pretty cool.
I think I’m going to frame it.

This picture was taken on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.