paying it forward

Had a fantastic time yesterday as a volunteer photographer for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Telethon.  What made it to fun, wasn't that I was using my area of expertise to help my community, it wasn't that we got to meet 80's rocker legend Dee Snider, Governor Quinn (who made a point to shake my 11 year old sons hand) a bunch of radio and TV personalities, it was that I sent one email to the fantastic Harrington Photography Department faculty and students looking for people to join me and I was met with an overwhelming response.  Some shot all afternoon, some popped over for an hour or so after work when they could.  Learning outcomes...mission statements...call it whatever you want, but I'm proud to be surrounded by a group of faculty and students who really care about our city, each other and doing the right thing.  

I was joined by faculty member Ron Gould, graduate Alfonso Monroy, and a ton of student including Daniel Stewart, the ever energetic Nancy Veloo, Marlee Power, Kate Kaplan and Cortez Dorris.

dip and dunk!!!!

Huge thanks to my friend Jeff Phillips for stoking the film fire. I've been running a ton of film lately, but last night I ran the first black and white film that I've processed since 1999! Go ahead and cue Prince...I've been shooting nothing but 3200 so far, I gotta say it's certainly walking me down memory lane! I'm looking forward to souping some high speed Noblex film!

Open House Chicago, 2014

The best clients call you every year and ask you to shoot 'cool pictures' at their event.  Huge thanks to Justin and the crew at the Chicago Architecture Foundation for having me shoot Open House Chicago for the third year! I'm already looking forward to next year!

Squad rescue next to work this morning

irony

Scenes from a Graduation

Congratulations Sam, we're so proud of you!

Splashdown!

Spent yesterday with photo teacher Samantha Wascher's Photography and Advanced Photography classes at Aurora Central Catholic High. Went through two gallons of whole milk and five packages of Double Stuff Oreos. Very fun day with a fantastic group of students who once they understood the concept, made some great shots. 

Breaking New Boundaries...

Piles of scrap car, truck and minivan parts at Adelman's heading to the metal recycler

With all the recent media surrounding Adelman's Truck Parts being a major (and international) chop shop, I wanted to share some images from a field trip last fall.  

To address the need for our commercial photography students to fully understand the social value and inherent non-financial value that their images possess, I wrote two classes, a 200 and 400 level 'Social Practices in Photography'. The idea is to get students out of the studio and into the community to add value and attention to an existing cause with the tools they already have. To lead this effort, the amazingly talented photographer and educator Jeff Cristman has been teaching (and preaching) both of these classes with some fantastic results.  

 The view of the Calumet region from atop the US Bank building

I have been attending the shoots, outings and field trips whenever possible for over a year now and am really looking forward to this summer when we will experiment with an eight-hour version of the class. Last fall I attended several of many trips to Chicago's Calumet area that included a rooftop vist to the Bank One building for an aerial view of industrial region,   

Nike Launch site C-44 at Wolf Lake

a stop at the former Wolf Lake Nike Missile launch site and you guessed it....(drum roll please) a trip to the now famous Adelman's Truck Parts, complete with a guided tour around the yard and a trip through the storage and shipping facility.

Jeff Crisman photographs Adelman's warehouse

Photography student Kate Kaplin interviews
 a yard worker with her iPhone 

The employee who gave us the tour was was very professional, helpful and answered numerous questions.  It was a cold evening and we were in the yard well after closing time and he could not have been more accommodating.    

So what are these brave new boundaries...?  Below is a snip from an email that Jeff sent right after the story broke: 'So how many photo programs can you enroll in where you get to go on a field trip to a chop shop?'

Adjacent to the dock, pallets of complete engines and parts await transportation

Inviting Everyone to Play Along

I sent this out to my colleges at work last week and got a quick 45-50 participant and they are still coming in.  

Depending on where you are and your stair/ elevator situation play along, even if you only forgo the elevator once a day thats better then not at all.  

Feel free to share as it will only help...

The 2014 HCD Stair Challenge

 Before you engage in an adolescent staring contest with a co-worker put down your juicy beef combo and read this.

The negative effects of this years holidays were exponentially compounded by an additional (and completely unplanned) extra three days on the couch.  Now I like frozen pizza, ice cream and Gilligan's Island re-runs as much as the next guy, but I stepped on the scale this morning and the digital readout simply said STEP OFF!  What the..?#!@#??  I was crushed!!!  So after flinging it into the backyard I realized it just might have a point.  Here is what I propose, it’s easy and will only help all who choose participate. 

The 2014 Harrington Challenge-

Take a vow that for the entire semester you will use the stairs for ALL inter-floor transportation.  That’s right, taking control of our collective health starts with just one little step (actually there are 22 and one landing between each floor) Here is the catch and the carrot…  The reason you need to take the vow is if you slip and take the elevator, you need to put a dollar into a kitty (location to be determined soon) and at the end of the semester, we will take out all the money and buy something completely ridiculous like a couple dozen Portillos Chocolate Cake Shakes for all the participants or something else equally as horrible and delicious at the same time!

So if your in, just stair stare at this email, hold up your right hand and tell the elevators they can join the scale in the snowy back yard, even if its just for a semester.  You might want to do a quick (and yes annoying) 'reply all' so we can all encourage each other to make sure it sticks.  

Here's to a healthier 2014!!

Dirk

Quantity of light vs Quality of light, then and now...

I had a discussion with an adjunct a couple of months back about where commercial or professional photography is heading and after a colorful debate we agree to disagree. 

His point was that professional photographers were essentially mandated to use professional strobes and packs or they were rank hacks and only watering down an already watered down industry. 

My point is this, if you look at the direction that dSLR manufacturers are going in terms of ISO's (and usable ISO's) it is no secret that the quantity of light needed to shoot a job today is drastically less then it was just ten years ago.  With every new camera that is released, these high ISO's keep getting better and better.

Take a quick look at this video that Canon released a couple weeks ago:

http://www.canon.com/news/2013/sep12e.html 

While they are not telling us just how dark it was where they photographed the fireflies (or lightning bugs depending on where you are) you know it was quite dark or they would not be showing it off. 

Monday night I was teaching and illustrated this fact on the board, I knew the divide was large, I was shocked to see how large it was.  I was demonstrating how full ISO's either doubled the amount of light or halved the amount of light depending on which way you were going. 

I drew them out on the board from 100 to 12800, like this:

100   200   400   800   1600   3200   6400   12800

I used a recent job and a past job to make the point, the past job was a series of headshots at an annual meeting and the recent job was a series of casual headshots for a local company.

In 2004, I hauled a 2400 watt/second pack with two heads (plus a backup) down to Florida along with a case of Hasselblads. With the larger original size and characteristics of medium format glass, I shot portraits at f/8.

I couldn't be any happier to share with the world....well....the world!

My summer Modern Alternative Photographic Practices class was the first group ever to photograph the earth from the Stratosphere with a toy Holga camera.  To get the shot we were hoping for, we actually sent four Holgas up.

The earth as photographed from the Stratosphere with with a Holga

The student led project took a couple of weeks longer then our 15 week semester with the second of two launches taking place a week ago today.  The largest challenge we had to overcome was triggering the cameras while they floated 20 miles above the earths’ surface.  We tested several mechanisms before student Ryan Ledesma brought forth a concept robust enough to trip the cameras in frigid near space temperatures.  His solution came in the form of a power door lock actuator, the final payload carried two Ford actuators in fact.  After he made the suggestion and (much later that night) after the wife and kids were asleep, I worked through a short segment of PVC pipe and various cuts of wood to craft a mechanism that held two cable releases.  Then hitting the power lock mechanism with 15 volts, both the attached Holgas fired even in our test freezer in the adjunct lounge at school.

Another challenge that had to be overcome was positioning the Spot II satellite GPS tracker.  In order for us to get the location on the iPad and follow the payload back to earth, the GPS needed to be pointing up towards the sky.  Not a problem while floating up on the helium filled weather balloon or coming down on the parachute, but if the payload landed on its back or nose (as it did in our case) it could be the difference between retrieving it, or losing it.

While discussing this in class one night, a visiting student (I seem to accumulate these...) made the suggestion of placing the GPS unit in a Gyrobowl which is a bowl designed for children to keep their food from flying about.  The SPOT II was a shade too big to fit into the bowl, which sent me back down to my workbench after the house was quiet.  A glass of wine (or two) later a fully functional Gyrobowl inspired cradle was ready for the GPS and launch.

A million other details later and our Kodak moment was captured, on fresh Portra 400 professional to be exact.  I've always liked the combination of slightly overexposed and saturated grain in the Holga. We did pick up quite a bit more radiation fogging on the other side of the ozone layer then we were expecting but it adds to the look and feel of the final image.   I love the authenticity it adds.  The new Ektar 100, pulled a stop would have probably given us the image with considerably less noticeable fogging but the plastic lens and fine grain film never seemed to look right to me.

So stop by the school if you wanna see the 40 inch print in person and feel free to drop me a line or call if you wanna do a launch yourself.  I'll be happy to help however I can. We've learned a lot this semester and I can't tell you how much fun it is.  Also, a huge thank you to my students for a fantastic summer term and the best section of this class I've ever led.

Now never say never again and remember the pen story!

Dibs 2 (and happy summer...)

If you are not from Chicago the idea of shoveling out your parking spot and placing old furniture to keep others from benefiting from your sweat may seem odd. Honestly we've lived here for 18 years and as entertaining as it is, we still find it quite odd too.

But as I'm sitting here guarding the annual Boy Scout Pack 90, post fourth of July parade picnic spot, I realized that I'm surround by the exact same phenomenon.  For several years now, I've been assigned to be the grill master for our growing pack, this year I'll be cooking for almost 100 scouts and parents, it is great to be involved with something this big, I absolutely love it.

The parade ends in a large Brookfield park where people eat, catch up and enjoy a drink or two together.  The Boy Scout group is only one of a couple dozen large groups that show up early or even the night before to stake out a prime location in the park.  Like every year we got here at 7:30 to secure our spot and as I'm standing sentry in a park full of empty and 'saved' picnic site I'm finding it oddly inspiring and picturesque.

There is an unusual calmness to the park as you walk through prior to the laughter and joy that will follow.

I hope everyone has family and friends to enjoy this holiday and all holidays with. Be safe and have fun!

If you wanna check out the 'Dibs' phenomenon (and you should) click here.

The Value of Listening...and some really cool plumbing tips

I'm always stressing to my students and students in the program how important the simple skill of listening is.  We talk about a lot of business, utilize (and praise) the support of ASMP and try to cast our students out with a solid understanding of the business tools needed to find and retain a client.

I recently had an experience that taught the lesson better then anything that could be or has ever been said in a classroom.  To understand fully you need to know that my wife and I have a rather small house in the western suburbs of Chicago, if you have been out you know what I mean.  Alongside Kate and I, are our two boys, 10 and 12 so the real estate of the single bathroom is at a premium.  My poor wife, surrounded by her three boys (even the 2 cats and hamster are boys) the shower is often her only escape.

For about a year now the pressure has been on a steady decline until recently when it barely had the pressure for the faucet to convert itself from tub filler, to a shower.  So like anybody who doesn't want to attempt a re-pipe or other fix I started calling around to get an idea of what a fix would involve.  And don't get me wrong, I do a lot around the house but the thought of water spewing in from all angles is enough of a visual for me to call a professional.

Call number one: a ten-minute inspection and a three thousand dollar estimate (of course they won't know for sure until they 'get inside.'  Get inside what?  The pipes??? Are you really going to get inside, I thought you already said they all need to go???

Call number two yielded a similar 10-minute once over, although this one did at least turn the water on to check the pressure.  This was $950.00 for a partial re-pipe after taping on the pipe like a damn Pipe Whisperer to determine that the original 90+ year old pipes are full of 'gunk.'  I gotta say, I'm no plumber but the pipe whisperer bit (and the look on his face while he waited for the pipe to air it's secrets) was both too odd and too much for me.

While at a little league game, (our city and our oldest) are big into baseball, another parent told me her cousin-in-law is a plumber who lives a block or two over.  A couple messages back and forth and I was answering a very thorough battery of questions, the conversation ended with me texting him a couple detailed images of fittings, faucets and other plumbing 'stuff'. He explained I may need new inserts on the faucet, with the pictures he would be able to bring the right one.

I really like where this is heading already...

NEOCON 2013

If you are attending Neocon, stop by the Harrington booth on the seventh floor and write on our walls!