Open Studio 2-6pm 12/12

Get ready for shameless self promotion by Pete & Alison:

We are a part of a big Open Studio tour this Saturday (Tomorrow!) from 2-6pm. You can come check out the fancy new digs that we just moved into right before Thanksgiving. Check out some of our prints, have some food, and even have your picture taken.

Our studio is located at 3901 Rhode Island Avenue Brentwood, MD 20722

There will be a bunch of studios open Including the Washington Glass School, Red Dirt studios, Flux among others. good chance you could find some cool holiday gift ideas at anyone of these places.

hope to see you there.

Pete, Al & Zoe

We have officailly moved!

Hey Everyone-

Been a bit quiet here of late. Why you ask? Well, we have been up to our collective eyeballs with work (yay!), and we were also knee deep in moving to our fancy pants new studio (double yay!).

Wanna come see it? You are officially invited to the Gateway Arts District Holiday Open House on Saturday December 12th. Check out some info here.

We will have prints on display, and maybe some fun stuff set up.

Also, THIS Friday (12/5) we are participating in the the 2nd annual ArtFest hosted by The Art League in Alexandria at their Madison Annex building. Read more here.

We will also have a few workshop announcements soon. Also, if you want to sign up for one of Pete's winter session classes at the Art League School, better do it soon. They are filling up quick!

Till next time,
Pete & Alison

It ain't about mega pixels kids.....

This is pretty sweet. Low tech photography at it's finest. Shaun Irving is a clever guy.

The Camera Truck.

Thanks to my friend Holly for sending me this link.

Michael Flomen...brilliant

Check out this video on Michael Flomen.

Pretty inspiring to me. Let me know what you think.

pete

image copyright Michael Flomen.

Adobe Announces Lightroom 3 public Beta

Adobe has made the Lightroom 3 Beta available for free download. I watch some of the videos they posted about the changes, and there is some pretty exciting stuff (film grain slider? cool....).

Check it out here.

Keep in mind that this is a beta, which means that there is some things in the program that may be buggy, or not quite operational. They even pointed out a few things that are not active yet (grayed out) in the video. I think I am going to wait to download it, but I like the direction that it is going. I'll be keeping my eye on it.

Still Room available for the Transfer workshop this Saturday 10/24.

Hey all-

There are still a few spaces left for this weekends images transfer workshop at the Washington Glass School. If you are interested, either call 202-744-8222, or email washglassschool@aol.com.
You can read the class description here.

hope to see some of you there.

pete

I think my heart just shuddered.....

Good news! Go tell it on the mountain! Polaroid is not dead!

Frankencamera?

So some folks over at Standford University (they seem to be a pretty smart bunch) have developed what appears to be a camera that does HDR (High Dynamic Range) photos all on it's own. In a typical HDR photo, one would take 3 or more images of varying exposures an combine them using Photoshop© or Photomatix Pro© to make one evenly exposed shot. Well, this camera would take several shots and combine them "in house". Pretty cool.

The extra odd ball thing in this is that the designers used a Linux based software and plan to keep it open source so that any developer can add features to it (think iPhone apps).

You can check out the NPR interview here.

And the YouTube video here.

Whaddya think?

Another Legend Lost......

Irving Penn has passed at age 92. Check out the WaPo article here.

If you are a fan of portraiture, then you should be a fan of his work. He was brilliant. Apparently grumpy as all get out, but brilliant none the less. He is in the conversation with Avedon, Arnold Newman, Helmut Newton and others as one of the finest portrait photographers ever.

Happy trails Irving. Thanks for the images you left us.

The world's first camera for Narcissists?

what does this say about our current "please get me on reality TV" state of pop culture?

just sayin'....

Upcoming Fall Classes & Workshops

Hey All-

Just wanted to give you a rundown of the classes and workshops we will be teaching this fall. A little something for everyone.


Intro to the Digital Camera - 9/19 11am-4pm @ The Art League School - For those who just got, or are planning on getting a digital camera. It is also a good refresher for those who have had one for a while but maybe feeling a little rusty. Covers all the basics in one day. You can register for this workshop here.

Intro to Photography Tuesdays 7-9:30pm Starting 9/22 @ The Art League School - Photography from the ground up. All the basic aspects of photography in a 9 week course. Weekly assignments and critiques. Digital or film welcome. Register here.

Night Photography - Thursday Nights 7-9:30pm Starting 9/24 @ The Art League School - This is a half classroom, half field trip class. All low light photography with a handful of techniques taught that can be used on the 4 field trips. 9 weeks long. Register here.

Image Transfer Saturday 10/24 - 1-4pm @ The Washington Glass School - The process that you thought died with Polaroid lives on through the magic of Fuji. The focus of this workshop in on the use of the images on glass, but the techniques can be used on many other media. Additional processes are also discussed. You can find registration info here.

That is it for now. Look for more updates soon, including info on our new studio!

Annie Leibovitz in mortgage trouble?

Say it ain't so....well it might be.

Used her catalog as collateral. oy.

Read about it here.

We Made NPR.....

OK, so it was related to one of our clients (and all around good guy/artist Tim Tate). Still, we had a bunch of photos, and hot links. All around cool if you ask me. Plus, I got a mention in the blog posting.

You can check them out here, and here.

A little good pub never hurt anyone. Oh well, back to vacation.

pete

Inkjet printing

As an instructor and as a photographer I often get asked about inkjet printing. Over the years my response has remained mostly the same; At this point, it is not my thing. This is for several reason.
1- Cost. While you can get a decent, or even a very good inkjet printer for a reasonable price, when you start to add the cost of inks and paper (the paper you use REALLY counts) into the overall equation, the cost is pretty high.
2-The environmental impact. Simple put, the myth that digital is better for the environment is just that: a myth. Yes, there are not as many chemicals in the process, but landfills are being jammed with old, outdated computers, printers and cameras. And truthfully, the chemicals in traditional photography (when handled properly) are much kinder to the environment then they once were.
3- I still really like traditional photographic prints. For color, the RA-4 process still produces superior results for less money. And, you can get away with less resolution that what is needed for inkjet print. Why? because, anyway you slice it, inkjet is dots on paper. Traditional photographic prints are still light through dyes, and continuous tone. Plus, it is still cheaper. (see point 1).
Now, does this mean I shun inkjet altogether? No. I use inkjet prints for fast turn around images for my clients, contact sheets for CDs, and for printing on my CDs. I will also admit that I have seen stunning results produced by some photographers using inkjet printing methods. If you don't believe me, go visit Jim Steele and Craig Sterling at the Torpedo Factory (3rd Floor) in Alexandria, VA. Absolutely beautiful stuff. The extra kicker with them is that they mostly shoot on film, and scan it in for the purposes of printing.
That brings me around to the whole analog versus digital photography argument/discussion, but I'll save that for my next post.

Till next time, keep shootin'.

Pete

Pinhole Workshop at the Art League School

Hey all-
We are teaching a one day workshop at the Art League School on Sunday June 28th. It will be a fun workshop where we build and use pinhole cameras. Photography in its primitive form.
Interested? Great, there is still space, and you can register here.

hope to see you there,
Pete & Alison