This blog is dead.

You can now find me here. Hope you like!

This blog will soon die.

Because I have a much better one in the works. Will have the address up as soon as I work out the kinks.

Shooting for Haiti pt. 1

As you may know, I offered to volunteer my time and shoot anyone willing to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti. The first family to take part in this was the Griffards and we couldn't have asked for better conditions.

It was a perfect spring like day at the UW campus thanks to El Nino, and there were hardly any people around. The boys spent most of the time running around so I got to test my AF system's 3-d tracking capability (which was pretty good). We made our way through the quad down to Drumheller fountain hitting some good spots along the way. All in all, it was a great shoot and I want to thank them for donating to a good cause.

Part two will be coming up in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

Simplicity

Warning: this post is purely gear related and might bore anyone who doesn't usually wield a camera around.

When I started getting into flash photography, I was in need of a bag that could hold up to 4 flashes, a body, and a few lenses. I also needed a bag I could fit a couple lightstands in as well as a 28" softbox and a couple of umbrellas. Of course, there wasn't one bag that did all of this so I purchased a Tamrac Pro 12 and a Giottos tripod bag to address my needs, or at least what I thought they were. The Tamrac comfortably fit all my camera gear down to the lens cleaning pen and spare batteries. It even had room for a 14" laptop if I chose to bring it along. The tripod bag fit 3 lightstands, 3 umbrellas and has a nice velcro'd enclosure in the middle that holds my Westcott Apollo softbox.

After the purchase of my second body, I found myself needing a bit more space and bought a Tamrac Expedition 7 backpack camera bag off of Craigslist. That bag held a gripped D700, the D90 body, the 70-200 & 28-75 lenses, 3 primes, an SB600 and two Vivitar 285 flashes, which is a ton of stuff crammed comfortably into an already bulky backpack. So what does this have to do with anything?

When I'm out shooting, I'm often dealing with families who have small children with small attention spans and I'm ALWAYS over packing. The fully packed Tamrac Pro killed my shoulder since it only had a shoulder strap, and was hard to manage two shoulder bags with a camera around my neck. The backpack was more comfortable but not easy to access when I needed to swap lenses quickly and I found myself leaving it open on the ground so I could change equipment fast. Not an issue until we needed to change locations, which required me to repack everything so I could zip it up and toss it back on.

I was finding out the hard way that even though these bags held all of my gear, they were not working for me. Not only that, but the amount of gear I was bringing was unnecessary. I almost never busted out 3 lights after finding out how easily I could lose someone's attention trying to work out a multiple light setup. Watching Zack Arias' One Light DVD made me realize that one flash used properly could get you extremely good results. So I made a goal to pack less and shoot more, but that left me back at my original dilemna: What kind of bag will work for me? I knew I wanted a basic shoulder bag similar to a messenger pack but only to hold my lenses while I was out shooting. The Shootsac was an option but I didn't want to shell out that much cash for yet another bag. After some internet research, I found what I thought to be the one. It was a $30 Lowepro bag, extremely simple in design and looked to suit my needs. I ran down to Kenmore camera, found the last one in black and picked it up intending to use the next day for a family session.

After figuring out what gear I was gonna pack, I tried the bag on and was surprised at how easy it was to access my gear and how much my shoulder and back were going to appreciate it. I fit my 70-200, the 3 primes and the SB600 in it with plenty of spare space. I did have to add an extra insert not included with the bag to separate some of the lenses, but no biggie, I had a few laying around from the other bags.

As a bonus, I also found a Black Rapid strap for a very good price and immediately purchased it. Prior to this, I was using a nicer Lowepro neoprene strap with plastic clasps but the BR design is so intuitive it's silly.

Moving around the shoot the following day was a breeze since I was packing light and the bag was so small. I could swap lenses quickly, lie on the ground to get different angles, and the only hinderance was my coat (50+degrees and sunny so it was my fault for bringing it).

I don't know how other working photographer's operate but I assume they follow the KISS model (keep it simple stupid). It's just like me to spend a ton of money on stuff only to find a $30 solution, but I'm just glad I've found it. If you're finding that hauling your gear is keeping you from shooting, look into simplifying your setup. Only one shoot in and I know I'm changing the way I work for good.

How Can I Help You?

I have really been thinking about what makes good content for a blog and particularly what makes me stay current on a person's blog. Obviously photographic content is great, but I find myself drawn to those with diverse content. Most of the photographers I really stay up on not only show beautiful images, but they also can tell compelling stories, show a behind the scenes look at their workflow, and really strive to connect with their readers. I have to admit that I haven't really taken blogging seriously until lately and previously had just used it as an outlet to shove more of my work out on to the web with no intention of reaching out to people beyond my circle of friends.

So now I'm really trying to make this something more personable and hopefully valuable for any of you who read it. In doing so, I'd really like to know what it is that you might like to see/read from me. Pretty much all of my photography knowledge/inspiration has come from the internet and I feel it would be appropriate for me to try and give back to anyone interested in learning the medium. I would be happy to share anything that I know, and it would be a nice challenge for me to encounter things I don't know to keep me on my feet and progressing with this. I am planning on continuing with more post processing tutorials and would even like to do some shooting tutorials if anyone is interested. Anyways, just drop me a comment and let me know what I could put up that would help you grow as an artist and I'll do my best to provide.

I hate not being there...

There is a problem I'm constantly plagued with as a creative individual. It never starts when I start with a new medium or idea, but rather attacks me after I've put in the work and have started to build my self confidence. It's not exactly "writer's block" but the result is usually the same: A halt to my creativity, a severe loss of confidence, and a complete abandonment of the medium. I'll explain.

I grew up drawing and through school figured I'd somehow make a career out of it. I spent a ton of time drawing and sketching, to the point my grades suffered and I had to spend my senior year making up credits while my friends were kicking back. I felt I had the talent to make it in a sea full of mediocre artists but I soon found out that there were people out there doing it far better than I, and often at my age or younger. The deeper I looked, the more I found there were artists out there who I'd just been finding out about that were amazing and far beyond where I was at the time. Not only that, but these people were pretty much unknown too (most being street/urban artists). It wasn't necessarily that I didn't expect that, but it stung since I was at a point where I was taking it seriously and simultaneously finding out the bar was much higher than I thought. I began to emulate the styles of those I admired, as most people do, finally reaching a point of just giving up because not only was I unoriginal, but I couldn't even copy my influences well. Nowadays, I almost never pick up a pencil or a pen to draw. When I do, I usually start with the same lines I always use, screw something up, then write a note to myself saying "you suck".

This is a little self destructive, yes I know. The sad thing is that this same problem has plagued me with almost everything I do. Art, skateboarding, snowboarding, music, etc. There is a reason I'm 28 and still lack a solid direction at what I'm doing in life. I haven't changed from my architecture major because for some reason I think since I don't care about it, I might avoid this cycle of creative self destruction. I won't care that there are thousands of other gifted architects doing it better than me and so I might actually be able to do my job for longer than a few years. That's why working retail for 7+ years was so easy.

But here I am, trying to pursue something I'm completely in love with, and finding my withering confidence starting to eat my dream alive again. Everyday, I'm finding new photographers who shoot the most amazing photos, and some don't even do it as a profession. I see some of the work on their sites, and then revisit my own site with the thought to pull it down. Truth is, if I hadn't spent the money on it, I probably would have already. Even flickr has a plethora of talented photographers who have thousands of views with hundreds of comments per photo. It seems like the more time I spend looking at other peoples' work, the more I start to despise my own. I'm desperately trying to ride the line of appreciating my own talent while understanding I always will have room to grow. Everyone started somewhere and I'm just a little late to the party.

My confidence comes in knowing that I've found this low point, and that I'm not going to be content with mediocrity. I'm not going to be one of those disillusioned photographers who go about thinking they're way better than they really are. I have a long year ahead of me as I try to develop into a professional level shooter and I know the obstacles will always be there. I'm going to try and maintain my focus, keep shooting, and make every shot better than the last. Patience is not naturally within me so if I work hard, hopefully I'll be where I want to be sooner than later. Of course, I just hate not being there yet.

I'm sure many of you can relate, even if it's not in photography. Here is one of my favorite photographers sharing his thoughts on the matter. This video will always serve as a motivator for me and I greatly appreciate him sharing himself in this way. Hopefully it might help you too if you're in the same funk.

I'm a Mac

I'm a Mac, originally uploaded by J Shoda.

As some of you might know we recently purchased an Apple computer after many, many years of owning PC's. It's funny that as technology has gotten better, it seems our computers have gotten worse and less useful with less time. The HP laptop we purchased just over a year ago now runs terribly (which replaced another similar HP) and I do all the regular maintenance stuff with defrag/error check, etc. I even upgraded to Windows 7 in hopes it would improve it's performance but to no avail. For the work that I do on computers, I need a laptop I can count on for performance and display. The HP was never even close to color correct so I couldn't edit photos being away from the desktop setup without looking like vomit. Shopping the PC market right now is basically the same as it was a year ago when we purchased this and even though the prices are low, I didn't want to spend anything on a computer I'd be replacing in a year.

So I looked into Apple as I have many times, only holding back because of the high price tag. Luckily being a student gets me a discount and so I ventured into the Apple store while we were in Oregon and almost bought one. My initial thought was to buy either the higher end 13" Pro or the lowest end 15" Pro. The cost was still up there and I could get some sweet lenses or a bigger light rig to use with that dough. I decided on our last day in OR to stop in again and take another look. I was sold on the 15", I knew that much since I would be using it for portable editing, but the guy who I was talking with was a graphic design major and sold me on the 2.8ghz model since the graphics card wasn't integrated into the core and running Adobe stuff really hogs the memory. I got a sweet discount, a free printer (which I didn't need and still have), and saved some money on sales tax. Not a bad deal, but that's not to say I had some buyer's remorse. Well, not for long.

The whole platform is phenomenal. Out of the box, the setup only consisted of registering the computer which took less than 10 min. No stupid bloatware preinstalled, hardly anything to do to get it the way I wanted it. I was amazed. After owning PC's, you get used to spending a day just to install the OS. Then you have all these dumb programs running that don't need to be, on top of the already clumsy operating system. The display is beautiful, the build is rock solid yet compact and everything makes sense. The trackpad is awesome, especially in contrast to our completely akward chrome trackpad on the HP. Who approved that? The thing takes less than 20 sec to boot up from being off and is on instantly from sleeping. Oh yeah, the battery on this lasts forever. Seriously. Running it with the lowest brightness on power saver mode gets me through a whole day at school and then some (6+ hours). The HP's battery was lucky to get 2 hours of use and after one year, it is already in need of replacing.

Needless to say, I'm an Apple fanboy now, but I still had one hurdle to overcome: Getting Bethany sold on it. She hates Apple. Not because the quality of their products (namely the recent ipod she put through the wash), but because they represent this elitist group of people who she deems as hipsters. Of course, we all know who hipsters are and I certainly don't think I have the mustache or glasses to become one, but owning the same computer as somebody who purposefully rides a bike that doesn't change gears does scare me. Well, about as much as communism.

After 3 weeks of having the Mac in our house, she has not touched the old laptop until recently when she discovered how much better the Mac really is. I think I've finally found a computer that should stay with me for a few years and hopefully will find one to replace our desktop setup too (my main workstation). If you own a PC and are not familiar with Apple's computers, seriously look into them. They might cost a little more (the newest MacBook comes pretty well equipped for about $1k), but you will be so relieved when you see how efficient they are. The whole experience is like spending years searching for someone who speaks your language, and finally finding them. Now I'm off to buy some tight jeans and neon green Ray Bans.

Shooting for Haiti

With the influx of news reports coming in on the recent earthquake in Haiti, it is hard not to reflect on how blessed I am to live in this country at this time. It's especially difficult to stomach the fact that this event has just ruined the lives of many and I'm sitting comfortably in my apartment watching it happen on TV in between peppy car insurance commercials. Given my current student status following the holidays, I don't have much to give in the way of donations, so I want to help out by using my camera and shooting some 1 hour sessions for free (well almost). All I would ask is that you donate to the relief efforts going on in Haiti. The sessions would be within the next two months when the weather lets up a little, and I'm opening this up to everyone (singles, couples, families).

Here's what you do:
1. Make a donation to any of the organizations doing relief work in Haiti.
2. Shoot me an email at jeramie[at]shodaphotography.com with something showing that you have made a donation (doesn't have to show an amount but please give what you can).
3. Let me know the best weekend to get together.

Like I said, this is open to everyone, whether friend or stranger. Spread the word, I'll probably only be doing 4-6 of these so contact me as soon as possible if you're interested.

Let's do some good together and keep those in need in our prayers.

6 Months!

Somebody is turning 1/2 a year tomorrow! To celebrate, she got to try out eating rice cereal from a spoon. Did it like a boss!
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Snowboarding

Most of what I've been doing lately has been client related and I haven't really set aside any time for me to just do my own thing, so I decided last night to set up some lights to see if I still know how to do this photography stuff. I had a grand idea in mind based on a lighting setup I saw a sports photographer do a while ago and wanted to replicate it. Unfortunately, my D700 doesn't have a remote and the self timer is a pain in the butt since it wants to autofocus when you push the shutter, not before it snaps the shot, so I had to get Bethany's help to finish the shot. She was cold, I was hot in my snowboard gear and we spent about a half an hour taking photos in front of the apartment. Here is the end result, not quite Sports Illustrated material but I'm still rusty.

2009: My Year in Review

My year through the photos I've taken (all chronological).

The camera I started with.

My first DSLR.

Our 2nd trip to Hawaii.

Evey's first trip to Hawaii (in the womb).

The love I lost.

What I gained in return.

My first good lens (50mm f1.8).

My first good result using a flash.

Where I got into school.

My first broken flash.

Of of many trips to Portland.

Our first time seeing Mt. St. Helens.

My 28th Birthday and the first time skating in 3 years.

50 days into my 365.

Bethany getting closer to the due date.

And even closer.

4th of July

Evey's arrival.

And her taking in her surroundings.

Overcame my fear of royal blue.

My first 35mm.

Evey with her grandparents.

Port Townsend in the summer.

Evey with her other Grandma.

Trip to the coast.

Good friends in Portland.

Our local breakfast gem.

Trip to the Zoo (yeah, I shot flowers at the zoo).

My big boy camera and lens.

New friends.

Our first wedding.
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Our attempt at humor.

Our own backyard.

My name in a web address.

Xmas in the city.

Us.


It's been a fantastic year with a few minor setbacks but we're really looking forward to the possibilities of 2010.