Chris Orwig - Flipside

my annika

up in northern california visiting family and yesterday we walked to a park at dusk. there is something about fall that makes me reflect, reminisce and appreciate the gift of time. annika (my oldest daughter) climbed up the play structure and at the top i captured the portrait shown above. she is now 5 years old, yet that picture makes me imagine her many years from now.

thankful

this portrait of my beautiful wife photo above was taken by my 3 year old daughter sophia in our backyard. i set up the camera, taught sophia how to use the shutter release and walked away. she told kelly where to look, waited for a few moments and pressed the button – what a wonderful moment and shot! it makes me so thankful for my family. i hope you get to spend time with yours, have a wonderful thanksgiving!

surfer and 2 trees

as certain film gets older it starts to degrade and fall apart, yet i find beauty in the decay that marks the passage of time. even more, the image above is a scan of something that you are supposed to discard  - it is the flipside of the “real” image. almost like a soft reflection of a more concrete ideal. is it just me, or does this type of idea/image connect with you? i’m curious to hear your thoughts. click on the image for a larger view and enjoy!

family at sunset

above is a photograph from last weekend of some family friends at the coast. it was made with a large format wood and brass camera and expired/discontinued film. in a time when perfect pixels have such high value, i find myself even more drawn to the subtleties and imperfections of certain types of traditional photographic techniques. and for me its not a question of “either or” or “new versus old”… rather i take a “both and” approach and enjoy many different types of photography. to view the other photos click here – enjoy.

joe curren / rincon

joe curren surfing rincon yesterday. it was small but fun… and joe with his fluid style was lighting it up.

tischa and joe

a portrait of tischa and joe curren from last weekend at an event in santa barbara. both are inspiring and wonderful people. if you’re not familiar with joe check out his photography here.

rob machado / the drifter

i apologize for the delay in posting…. i’ve been shooting a ton this last week! here are a few quick pics from last night when rob machado and gang came through to play some music and promote rob’s lastest movie the drifter. it was an epic show and film!

jay maisel / interview

jay maisel is an amazing photographer. in fact he’s one of the best.  his photographs are vibrant and alive. he is a living legend. over the last few years i’ve had a handful of opportunities to hang out with jay and i’ve consistently been impressed and inspired. a few weeks back when we crossed paths i asked jay a handful of questions and recorded his response. as always, jay’s words were honest, insightful, entertaining and thought-provoking.

click on the play button below to listen to 10 min of our conversation. before you begin, grab a pencil and a scratch sheet of paper as you may want to jot down some notes. enjoy!

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visual poetry / live presentation

i am incredibly excited to announce that this thur nov 12 at 10am (pst) i will be giving a live 1 hour webcast presentation in regards to my latest book, “visual poetry”. the presentation will be a mixture of inspiration, anecdotes and photographs + some time at the end for questions.

if you’re looking for a creative boost, be sure to join in on the fun – click here for the more info!

above are some of the photos from the book (click on the image for larger view)

david duchemin / interview

david duchemin is more than a typical photographer and the more i get to know him the more impressed i am.  as a person david is honest, humble, engaged and fully alive. the poet kay ryan once said, “i like to think of all good poetry as providing more oxygen into the atmosphere; it just makes it easier to breathe.” that’s exactly how i think about david’s work (whether photography, teaching, writing or speaking)… in other words, while viewing or experiencing david’s work i’m awestruck and my breath is taken away… yet after a few moments its as if there’s more oxygen in my lungs.  as result i breath and live more fully and wholly.  if you’re not familiar with his work/books/blog/etc. click here.

as a side note, david and i have been talking about putting together a photographic workshop/retreat sometime next year. it would be a chance to dig deep, to be renewed, revived and of course to have a ton of fun. collectively, we would explore how to create a solid vision and in turn discover how to create more compelling photographs. if you’re interested in offering some suggestions of workshops you’d like to see, or if you’d simply like to sign up to be notified of workshops click here.

the last time david and i met up i asked him a few questions and you can listen to our conversation by clicking the play button below – enjoy!

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photographing nature / ralph clevenger

i just received my copy of ralph clevenger’s book, “photographing nature” and i am so excited to finally have the book in my hands (thanks to greg lawler for snapping the photo above and below). the book is phenomenal!!!

as many of you know, ralph is one of my colleagues/on the faculty at brooks, one of my photographic mentors and a great friend. as you can imagine i had high hopes and expectations for the book. i’m incredibly pleased to say the the book exceeds even my extremely high and outlandish expectations!

i’ll post a full review once i’ve read it completely, yet for now you can view
more info about his book by clicking here.

chris jordan photography

chris jordan’s photography is haunting and thought provoking. he recently released a set of photographs of albatross chicks that were made on midway atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the north pacific. the nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. on this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

the images are difficult, yet if you haven’t seen his work click here