January 1, 2013

PhotoGraphics8

 

It’s no secret that I love to travel, to study and to hunt out ideas new and old that will make me a better image maker.

But months on the road are not free. And gas is certainly not. The hidden but sad truth is that my bill collectors do not put my bills on HOLD while I load up my entire family and spend months on the road traveling, studying, filming and making new images. So while each of my giant trips is fairly open in it’s destinations, I still plan. Last year by big project was the EXposed workshop. It was more work than I imagined, but it also came out better than I ever imagined

Here we are in 2013 and the time has come – In around a month we’ll hit the road again for about three months. For details on that visit the tours page. This years project is one I’m very excited about. One that takes on some of the harder to approach concepts of photography, like composition and over arching technique. But it does something more. As the adventures progress, this film explores history and looks for what we can learn from it to make our art better.

The truth is I don’t know exactly what I’m going to find our there. But I know it’s going to be interesting and I’m confident you’re going to like what you see. We’re gearing up and laying out plans now for what’s shaping up to be a bold project for a small fish like Seim Studios. But stay tuned. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

You can get more details on PhotoGraphics here and join my newsletter below to get updates. See you on the open road.

Gavin Seim

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December 28, 2012

cf2-video-poster

Color Fantasies 2 just landed taking color processing in Lightroom to new levels.

If you own Color Fantasies V1 you are eligible for the discount upgrade price of just $18 thru Jan 2 2013 ($24 thereafter).

You should have received an email with you special upgrade code for CF2. If you didn’t get it just let us know and we’ll fix you up.

Just email, effects@seimstudios.com

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December 24, 2012

Gavin is hitting the road again for an early 2013 tour. Visit his website for details. More travel talk in the after show.

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #89

Direct Podcast FeediTunesPodcast Alley

Today’s Panel... Gavin Seim Nina BeheimKerry GarrisonBrady DillsworthMark TeskeyJohn Cornforth

We wrap up 2012 with our annual Christmas roundtable featuring loads of photography tips and gear favorite gear and gadgets of the season. Join the discussion on the PPS forums.

Brought to you by the Seim Effects. And the EXposed Photography Workshop.

Use code: PPSCHRISTMAS to save $30.00 on EXposed before Dec 31st.

PPS #89 Forum Discussion HERE. Share Your Opinions.

Main Time Indexes:

  • 000:00 Introductions.
  • 005:30 – News Highlights
  • 023:45 – The 33 Tips of Christmas
  • 01:12:05 – A Visit with John Cornforth
  • 1:23:55 –  Picks of the Year
  • 1:59:30 – After Show. Sailing & More.

LINKS…

Nikon D5200 looks good. Also the Nikon D600.

The wall portrait article.

Gavin’s LIGHT LETTER

Lytro Light Field Camera

Sony NEX Series

Sigmas 35mm 1.4.

Zone System
Gavin’s articleFree videos.
Crash Plan Backup

Film is Coming Back.

Gavin’s article on signature and branding usage.

Picks…

Kerry
NEX 6
Sticky Filters Lighting Gels
Tripad Laptop Tripod Tether TableDojo Review

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December 16, 2012

I drove up that morning alone. My first time at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. My wounder and my sense of adventure on fire. I wandered as the sun rose higher, looking for a way to convey what I was seeing. The vast starkness of Mammoth is deceptively complex and easier to hike than to show on a the two dimensional image. It’s steam clouds and flowing mud made me wounder what it would feel like under my bare feet. But of course I stayed on the path, wondering at it’s starkness and looking for something in the glaring light to convey it’s unique beauty.

I made this image in 2010, over two years before I finished it. It spoke loudly and I knew it was what I needed – But not being quite as experienced at then pre-visualizing a scene, I suppose had to wait for my skill in the finished image to catch up. I just kept coming back. Considering how it should best be presented.

These days I generally plan an image in fine detail before I release the shutter. Visualizing works and once mastered it changes how you see. But that another story. Check out my EXposed workshop.

In the end, this gentle platinum showing the stoic drama of this barren copse of trees, still standing proud on it’s steaming mud flow. It was what I needed. This is their story. Finally finished.

Release details: Prints Available.. Order Open Edition originals above.. Master prints and Signature Limited Editions are listed below and can be ordered by contacting gallery.

Released prints….

 

For Photographers. How it was made…

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December 16, 2012

Hey Diary,

It wasn’t so much the email barrage that I sent out that is keeping me from sleeping. I didn’t throw a thousand dollars of my family’s grocery money out in to a windstorm, flush it in to the ocean, or burn it in hellfire like I did when I sent out the post card. Neither created a single call. But it was the post card, (created by marketing experts by the way) and the shame I had to return to my family with when it failed that hurt so much.

And it’s that I don’t have any answers. I don’t know why it failed. I wake up at 3:48 am and stare at the blackness: maybe the post office lost it, maybe the printer never delivered it, maybe I had the wrong phone number, address and studio name on it. Maybe a reverse Santa snuck in to their houses and took the post cards and left a cookie and warm milk.

I can never know.

It’s too bad my timing is off right now. Maybe I can find a way to hang on for a year or so, but I don’t think I can absorb a mentoring session from the person someone recommended. Not after I saw her portfolio.

I just want to cry about what I saw there. It’s so sad. It’s so heartbreaking. It’s so gut wrenching to witness what is happening to photography: the lens choice that distorts bodies, the horrible lighting that can only be described as accidental when it looks like lighting at all, the total disregard for posing, composition, color.

The complete lack of taste.

The pillaging of the industry, the snapshotty abomination and arrogant disregard of all the hard work of those who have previously sustained this art form actually makes me physically ill. It rips at the core of all I hold sacred.

But you say she knows marketing? That’s too bad. Then the profession may indeed be doomed. To have the power to litter the world with this unmitigated garbage without the responsibility to the profession from which it is derived is a recipe for catastrophe.

There can only be hope if she and the millions like her who are diseased by their ignorance can be saved by an appreciation for what the craft could offer if they would only learn. Maybe that’s my job. God help me. God help us all.

If I have to abandon all I hold dear to my soul to continue in this profession by not condemning this atrocity then, at the risk of sounding arrogant myself, it’s photography’s loss, it’s society’s loss, it’s humanity’s loss.

Sincerely,

Todd Kunstman, M.CPP
KenMar Photography Inc

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