Chris Orwig - Flipside

sophia

macey

float

there is not much that compares to the anticipation, disappointment and sometimes surprise of shooting with film. the above picture was the later. i had gone on an early morning walk at the local santa barbara harbor. fisherman readied their gear, the fog floated among the boats and a faint horn blew out at sea. i walked and only made a few frames.  this is the one i love the most.

so often i feel like my photographs are cluttered – like i’m trying to fit everything in. this one reminds me to stop stuffing full the frame. it teaches me that so much of photography requires a delicate, not domineering, touch. the best pictures, or at least the ones i like the most, are those that result from taking a deep breath and floating on the surface so as not to disturb the beauty that is already there.

elliot crowley

elliot is on the pro photo faculty at brooks institute (where i teach as well). he is a good teacher, thinker and photographer. this portrait was captured on the back steps of the brooks cota campus with a hasselblad 503cw & trix bw film – click on the photo for a larger view.

when your dad’s a photographer

digging through the archives today i came across this photo from a trip to mexico last year. my daughter annika’s expression made me laugh out loud. photographing your own kids has to be one of the be hardest and most wonderful things to do as a photographer. it’s a constant challenge/balance to know when to take pictures and when to put the camera down. and here i obviously wasn’t doing the balance part so well ;)

tom curren

tom curren is a humble and talented man. his surfing embodies style, expression and soul. always a forward thinker, here he looks toward what lies ahead.

macey

joshua tree national park
large format 4×5
type 72 polaroid

annika

another school year coming to a close… while many summer adventures lie ahead. the picture above is of my daughter annika at her school playground this week. it was taken just moments before we went to see the end of the year 6th grade play.

the pictures i enjoy most are those which define moments in life. they are a pause before the spin around the bar. yet this picture provides even more. somehow it allows me to see into the future. when i look into my little annika’s eyes i can imagine her all grown up. i can imagine myself an old man looking at this picture and remembering how precious those early years were… as tears fill and blur my sight.

i madonari

here are a few pictures from last weekend at imadonari – an annual italian street painting festival in santa barbara. they were all taken with the fuji x100. as you can tell, i’m having a blast with this camera. its allowing me to think and see in a whole new way. which photo do you like best?

trading places

yesterday, i found this 30 year old slide at the bottom of a camera/gear box. i held it up to the sky and took a photo of it. the image is a picture of my family (mom, dad, big brother and little sister), aunt and cousins – i’m the little blond guy in the middle.

what intrigues me most about this photo is that i am now the same age that my dad is in this picture. its pictures like this which make you realize that photography can help you reflect upon time in a new way. in a sense, i have traded places with my dad – except without the curly hair, big glasses and mustache. that’s one of the things i like about photography –  it allows me one to slow, reverse, fast forward, study and ponder the passage of time. the end result is depth and growth that would have otherwise been lost.

blue or pink!?

i have to be one of the luckiest men alive! i have two fabulous girls (actually four if you count my wife kelly and our golden retriever daisy) and this week my wife and i went to the doctor to find out the gender of our third child – can you believe it, three kids! we wanted to be surprised so we  asked the doctor to write the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. after the visit, kelly took the envelope a the local cupcake shop (whodidly cupcakes) and asked if they could open the envelope (after she had left) and then bake four cupcakes with blue or pink frosting in the middle…

that very same night, after dinner we each took a cupcake and counted down 3-2-1!
simultaneously we took as big of a bite as possible out of the cupcakes!
we were all surprised and ecstatic to see that the frosting on the inside was……

PINK! we are soooooo thrilled!!!

the gift

above is an iphone pic of my daughter with my new fuji x100. the camera is unbelievable – simple, quiet and intriguing. what’s even more unbelievable is that the camera was a gift from one of my best friends who is a colleague, mentor, co-conspirator, photographer and all around uber creative guy. he gave me the camera with no strings attached, yet it did include a challenge.

here’s what he said, “create, have fun and… the only thing i ask is that you somehow, at some point use the camera to do good for others.” it is an opened ended challenge and i’ve been trying to think about what could be done. do you have any suggestions? i’m all ears.

untitled

i just got a fuji x100 as a gift. i’ll tell the full story later. for now here’s one of the first portraits i’ve made.
if you’re curious about the camera and want to learn more click here.