nickonkenShoptalk

It comes from within...

I'm here in Seattle for the holidays, getting ready to head back to LA tomorrow. Had an apple croissant and a fantastic conversation with my good friend and mentor, Chase Jarvis this morning. Every time I talk to him, I'm so inspired.

He reminded me, that everything about this business stems from within. The original passion, to make the amazing images you desire to make is your livelyhood. It's something I've always lived by, but tend to forget sometimes and easy to do so. If you do what you're passionate about, and it seeps from your pores, people will see that. They're keen to it and are attracted to it, no matter how geeky it may be. People like passionate people.

Moral of the post: Get back to your passion. Look at things from within. If you're not shooting what you're passionate about, then you need to rethink what you are doing because you'll either find yourself out of a job, or hating yourself.

Digital Gangsters are Everywhere!

Just had a great weekend in Portland kickin' it with my boy's Jacy & George. Jacy, is a digital producer at Nike who I worked with on the Nike Corre job in South America. George has a design company called Eleven3 and they specialize in the web 2.0 world, not to mention they do kick ass work. We met through our mutual friend Jesse. These guys are all Digital Gangsters. They have a strong pulse on what's going in the digital world and where it's heading.

We had an inspiring conversation last night on all of this. The digital revolution is here already. Are you owning it and using it to your advantage?

Moral of the post is, check out George's work at Eleven3. They do custom blogs, web apps, and much more web 2.0.

They also have a bigger umbrella company called We The Media.

Point and Shoot

I've realized for me that with point and shoot cameras it comes down to A: image quality, and B: portability. Some of you might have seen my post on the Leica point and shoot, which was a great camera, but for me portability became an issue. The lens that stuck out about a half inch made it hard to just slip in your pocket, and since I don't carry a purse it creates an issue. Therefore, I never took it out with me.

Lets face it, point and shoots are really made for "friend" cams. Something that you take when you're hanging out with people. I'm not the one that's going to lug an SLR around everywhere I go. That said, megapixels in a point and shoot are all relatively the same whether you have a 6mp or a 10mp. I'm rarely going to print them let alone print them to a 12x18 inch size. So it doesn't really matter too much, as long as it's at least 6mp.

I finally decided to replace the Leica after I sold it 5 months ago. After much research, I came across the Canon SD750 Digital Elph. It was only $215 on BH, so very inexpensive for a great point and shoot camera. It slips right into my back pocket like butter. Some of it's cool features: Manual mode which gives you 2 stops of exposure compensation, a decent macro mode, a photo stitching assist mode, different color settings, as well as others. One great feature is the red eye remover that you can go into and remove the redeye after you've taken the shot. Very handy. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a great little P&S. Pick it up at BH here: Canon SD750

A nice backlit shot with exposure compensation:

The Simon Baker Story

I've been waiting for this to come out. Shot the Simon Baker story this summer out on the beach in El Segundo. Had a great time, and my lovely team pulled out the stops to get it done, and a great job at that!  My favorite stylist, Melinda Tarbell,  and I had to put our heads together to do some quick onset problem solving to iron out a few humps along the way. A big part of photography is being able to solve problems on the fly to create a favorable outcome. It's like a puzzle.

In case you don't know who Simon Baker is, he was in The Devil Wears Prada as mysterious writer who hits on Anne Hathaway throughout the movie. He also had a TV show called The Gaurdian, and stopped by for a spot in LA Confidential.

Marie Claire was super excited with the results. So excited in fact, they decided to do a contributer feature on me, which I'm proud of. (Thanks to Kyle Barnes for giving me a photo to throw in the mag last minute)

They did a little behind the scenes page so if you look on the bottom left of the below scan, you'll see a few photos from the set.

You can see the rest of the Simon Baker photo story here: http://www.nickonken.com/Stories/SimonBaker/

Travel Lenses

So a question I get asked quite a bit, and especially recently after the Dominican post is what lenses I carry with me on travel work. Something that could probably go into the book if it happens. (Knocking on my desk made of wood) This obviously can vary due to personal preference of what A: What you are trying to achieve visually, and B: What you like to physically carry.

I like to blend in as much as I can, so the best bag is a little handbag I picked up years ago from H&M. Sadly, I haven't been able to find an exact replica since then. It's a grayish green color. It has one main pouch that fits a couple lenses comfortably in there, granted I've thrown a couple up to 3 in there. Probably not the best for them, but the situation called for it.

My lenses of choice(Canon of course) for my 1Ds MKII body(Hopefully the 1Ds MKIII soon if that thing ever comes out) is the 20mm f2.8, the 35mm f1.4L, and the 70-200mm f2.8IS. This covers the range for the type of imagery I like to shoot. I prefer to shoot with fixed lenses as much as I can. Others may use the zooms to cover the range, but I think it comes down to more of a personal preference. I like fixed lenses for close proximity because sometimes they are sharper at those focal lengths.

The 20mm f2.8:
I love the 20mm for wide angle that isn't too wide. It's great for landscapes, cityscapes, and dynamic close up journalistic shots. Here are a couple examples:

Cityscape:


Landscape:


Close Proximity Journalistic:


The 35mm f1.4L:
This is arguably my new favorite lens. It took over the 50mm f1.4 which I rarely pull out of the bag anymore. The 35mm is great for times that you have close proximity interaction with your subject. It's a great editorial lens. I use it for more of the lifestyle scene and portraits. Examples:

Portrait:


Travel Lifestyle scene:


The 70-200mm f2.8L IS:
This lens I use a ton when traveling. I call it the Sniper or Ninja lens. I love it for shooting things that are a bit of a distance away, that you aren't necessarily able to interact with your subject or far away abstract shots. Here are some examples:

Sniper on subject:


Abstract:

TIP: It comes down to personal style of what you like to shoot and carry. Develop a set of travel lenses that suit your creative vision.

So you want a Rep?

Check out this article posted by AVS (an anonymous rep blog) on what to think about when considering getting a rep. Great article!

http://www.avisualsociety.com/2007/12/03/getting-an-agent/

Becoming a Photographer

I just read this great post on aphotoeditor.com on becoming a photographer through the route of assisting. It was posted by a seasoned vet by the alias of "Old Geezer" and is some fantastic advice if you're wanting to take yourself to the top level. The world of becoming a professional photographer is not an easy one, but there are many different routes that get you there. This is one of them. The best way to learn about the business hands down is working on set with the pros. In my opinion, photography school is for the birds. If you're an assistant already, this article is some wonderful words of wisdom, some of which I wish I had when I was assisting.

TIP: Learn from the best. Get on set.