rlketcham.com

Just another one of Dave since I haven’t posted anything for a while.

There is always a story.

Just a teaser image for the book Revival that is coming together a lot slower than I planned.

Voiceworks at Centrum all day yesterday.

I am still chasing the whole new and processing  experiments with the new system, the flowers were at the back entrance to the local Walmart and it was raining like crazy. The colors just popped so I had to shoot a couple of images. If I can get it figured out I’ll add a section to the blog for just E-P2 images and keep everyone updated on the process. As it stands now I would tell everyone to get one of these cameras it is the most fun and best files I have ever seen out of a camera this size.

The flowers were shot in raw and converted in LR and a little Nik Color Efex added. I will probably go back to the jpg workflow with this camera though they are great out of this machine. Also These were edited on my 13in laptop instead of the dual screen set-up and that is a real different experience.

There are two other shoots that will be getting posts one is a local Vintner and I have a couple of images to post that were shot jpg with the D700 and I have some great images from my street shoot with Willow, a young model here in town. As they say more to come soon and a few more over on the flickr stream

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Couple of my favorite images from a shoot last Friday with Katie. We tried out a couple of new ideas and they managed to kick off a whole new set of inspiration for an upcoming shoot.

This isn’t what I had planned for a post today but the challenge was thrown down. My friend Mark K at JerseyStylePhotography saw a post over at Zack Arias blog about Get Off Your Arse or GOYA. So Mark challenged a few of us to get out today at lunch time and make a few images. Great idea until I noticed the pounding rain and wind. Anyway I got at least 2 for the GOYA challenge and a couple for another post I have planned for later this week. Glad you pushed me Mark, it was a good day to try out a couple of things with the G9 and a flash, if the weather cooperates there will be more this week.

f2.8 1/30 yeah it is dark this time of year

The above was taken in back of the shop by the old heating oil barrels and it is dark this time of year even at mid day. Below is the front yard by the fire pit and I liked the B&W conversion, and yeah I need to do yard work.

Ok not much but it really was wet and I have more for later this week.

I am seeing a lot of gift guides pop up for the holiday season and I got to thinking about what I would like to give and receive at about anytime of the year. So once again I am about to tell you a little bit about how my world is ordered. It won’t become a habit I promise and yes it does have a photography related point.
After years of books on people like Brancusi or Noguchi for the holiday gifts Ryan (my son) returned to college and of course money got tight. So we decided to use the whole ‘make me think’ thing for gifts. Now I see a lot of things listed by other photographers that I would love to have to make the making of images easier or because it just is cool stuff. However I would always rather have ideas or something that keeps me thinking for the rest of the year. So below are gifts from the last two years from Ryan.
The first is a framed typewritten page telling what my gift was and how to keep it. To date I am the only graduate of the school he enrolled me in.
Text of the gift:

Dear Dad,
This November I enrolled you in an advanced Ninja Training
Seminar. You are the only survivor, as the Nnjas killed everyone they
found when taking roll call. You have passed with high marks, having
remained  undetected. This is the last of a series of courses they
have not caught you attending. Congratulations!

Invitations to future post graduate seminars will be sent to you
encrypted in the form of software glitches, bugs and programming
code that doesn’t work. If you maintain the high level of excellence
that has marked your training so far, the Dragon Clan Ninjitsu
Training Academy and Institute of Obfuscation will honor your
achievements by removing all trace of your enrollment from their
records

Keep up the Good Work!

Love Ryan

The second was a Quantum Gift box based on the Heisenberg principle of quantum physics. The photos may make it make sense. I check every few days to make sure my gift isn’t there.

The point as it pertains to Photography is to look around you and see in a new way, give that to those around you. As Mark K says get your camera in a new place, I’d add to do that you need to put your head in a new place. Hanging around new ideas or other creative people will help. Try something totally out there to see what it does or how it makes you see the world.

Give the gift of ideas, knowledge and truth if you are giving to a photographer or any artist. Weekly assignments from the giver written out for the year are good or help getting a show together or help selecting images for a book. Books are always a good gift but maybe they should be books on the why not more of the how. A good place to start is with David duChemin for books on the why of images, but it doesn’t have to be about images it can be about ideas.  Anything that will add to the creative energy or that little push to take things to another place. Besides exercising the creative thought to come up with a gift idea shows the caring much more that looking thru a catalog or list of things.

It doesn’t take money only a little bit of that which we all have, ideas, no amount of gear or money will generate those.

Anyone who stops by here on occasion really should be reading my friend Mark K at JerseyStyle Photography. Mark  always has something to say that is worth reading, I should say almost always because his latest post is an interview with me. I am truly honored to be one of his Sunday Focus guests.

So If you are at all curious about how I would answer a few photography related questions check his blog out and stay for some of the finest Photography that you will find anywhere, especially the noir photos.

Thanks Mark.

San Juan Friends

Spent last week without any internet, phone or TV and it was a good break. Gave me time to plan the next phase of photography and where I want to take the creative ideas. It was nice to shut out the outer influences that bombard us daily and just hang out with a couple of friends and the deer on the island. If you can call re roofing a house and garage just hanging out that is. I also found out that roofing is a young mans game, or at least not something that working at photography or a computer puts you in shape for. I survived and held my own so I figure there is some life left in the old body. Although I think I would now rather help friends move than do their roof.

Below are a few shots I managed to get with the G9 while there.

Morning fog

San Juan Lawnmower

Mailboxes at sunrise

I am off to Las Vegas this weekend to shoot a slideshow for a friend at the Shelby plant and then drive a Shelby Cobra (720 hp makes a quick trip) back to Washington. I’ll make a real commitment to updatet this blog more consistantly when I return as well as share some other news. Gotta go pack now.

It is this kind of attention to detail we should all strive for in everything we do. The PT Wooden Boat Festival was this weekend and there were thousands of boats of all sizes here. Harbors full and barely anchor room in the bay. Some of the finest boat building art in the world from small to large. Detail work on each and everyone that was incredible.

I would go on about how this relates to photography but I believe you all get the point. I will be a little off grid this week and have some changes to talk about next week, just details.