I was very happy to take this photo, as it’s one that I would have been unable to take a week ago. Shot on the Lower East Side around 8:00 at night, I was enjoying dinner with Meena and a couple friends when we saw this figure across the street. It was just creepy enough to make me want to take the photo — but it was so dark, my 20d wouldn’t have been able to do that.
Happily, I was carrying around my new 7d. I just received it last Wednesday, and suffice it to say, it has low-light capabilities that my old camera couldn’t have dreamed of. I’ve already been using it to freeze action in dimly lit high school gyms, and it works better than I could have hoped for. Granted, it’s not the best camera out there, but it was at the budgetary sweet spot — and coming from an eight-year-old camera to begin with, I feel spoiled anyway. Aside from its low-light capabilities, which are going to come in really handy for weddings, its 7fps burst rate is another advantage for the aforementioned high school sports. It’s got some great weather sealing, which will come in very handy when I’m shooting in a desert environment later this year. (More news on that as the time approaches.) And although it’s a camera more built for action than staid portraiture, it’s a vast improvement over my 20d in that area, as well.
This is a major change for me, photographically; hopefully one of several to be coming soon. Two more are in the works right now (of decidedly lesser caliber, nonetheless exciting) and I’m eager to see what comes after that!
Finally, a casual reminder that if you happen to be in New York, please stop by Furnish Green to see some of my work printed and available for sale!
This week, I’m taking a big step with my photography. For the first time in my career, a selection of the images I’ve made will be on display and for sale in a public showroom. And on Broadway, no less!1
Furnish Green, a highly hip shop with lots of accents to decorate your home, held a photography contest that was brought to my attention by friend of the blog Tina Ramchandani. I entered — mostly because “why not” — and am one of two winners!
I’ll have five photographs on display, some from my portfolio (including the front image), others that haven’t seen much exposure yet. I didn’t realize while putting together my selections, but most of them are street photography. The woman with the iron is the only exception.
The prints are gorgeous, framed and matted nicely, and available for extremely reasonable prices. If you’re reading this, and have any opportunity whatsoever to check it out, please do! I know the shop’s proprietors will appreciate the foot traffic, too. And they have an amazing selection of other antiques and shabby chic items, as well — antlers, ancient chests, Remington typewriters, and other fascinating pieces. Check it out!
Furnish Green
1261 Broadway, Suite 505 (Fifth Floor)
between 31st & 32nd St.
New York, NY 10001
My work will be presented at least through March 10.
1Oddly, this isn’t the first of my endeavors to put me on Broadway: Meena and I, along with a few of our friends, used to have a twice-monthly comedy show at Broadway Comedy Club, ’round the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater.
Just making a note here that my portfolio has now seen an update that was long overdue. I’ve added four images from the past six months, and taken one very old one out. I’d like to take out a few more to strengthen my portfolio, but I’m happy with how it’s looking for right now. The front image remains the same simply to maintain the image dimensions for the following horizontals and verticals.
You can view these updates either by viewing the slideshow on my main page, or simply checking out the entire portfolio.
I’ve been decidedly more business-oriented this week, which sadly meant less shooting. Alas, it’s stuff that has to happen, so better to do it sooner rather than later. (I was also stymied earlier today by a visit to B&H at about 3:00 p.m…. and on Fridays, they close at 2:00.)
I’ve created a logo — I kind of like it, though it’s just a stopgap. I really just need something to serve as a logo until I can sit down with a designer and discuss brand identity. But in the meantime, this isn’t so bad, I think.
Other news: I’m finally just about finished laying down some online infrastructure. I’m present in the “big three:”
Now it’s time to ramp up “job searching” again. I’ve got plenty of dates set aside for portraiture, headshots, and personal projects. I’m hoping to make it a very productive summer!
I’ll be spending tomorrow at the Jersey Shore, which shall nevermore be taken seriously. I’m hoping for some nice shooting opportunities — back Monday!
If you’ve visited the site lately, you’ve noticed some obvious changes. I’m finally (finally!) buckling down and taking this whole “internet” thing more seriously.
Complete and total overhaul
Perhaps most obviously, I’ve trashed the old WordPress blog that used to live on trappleton.com and replaced it with the stuff that matters most — namely, my photo portfolio. It’s sad to lose the blog that generated some honestly surprising popularity on StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit with that old Starbucks chart (even if I did royally screw up the proper way to show two variables on different axes) but that blog just was not sustainable. It was fun while it lasted, but I was spread too thin.
This is mostly because I’ve been devoting most of my spare time to photography for the past year or so. After a bit of a “well, duh” moment, I began to refocus my website.
My new blog is now relegated to its own corner of my website, instead of front and center — as it should be. However, it will ideally see more regular updates, since I’m shooting often anyway.
New platform
With the blog now in its own place, I decided not to go with a self-made portfolio website. Though I like to think I have certain web design sensibilities, I found a third-party platform that has several advantages:
- It’s far more slick and customizable than anything I could create. (Dammit, Jim, I’m a photographer, not a web developer!)
- I can easily sell prints and downloads.
- It’s extremely simple and requires barely any thought on my part to use.
This product is Zenfolio. I’ve been using it for about three months now, and I can’t recommend it enough. If you’re serious about photography, drop the Flickr page and consider something else — my vote, obviously, has been cast.
I hate to stoop to shilling on an inaugural blog post, so if you are thinking about using Zenfolio, feel free to ask me for a referral code. It’s a discount for you and a discount for me!
Tighter focus
I shoot people.
I thought that was a unique tagline for the whole three seconds in between when it popped into my mind and when I Googled it. Regardless, it’s true. I looked through my favorite photos and found that they’re all photographs of people. So I deep sixed anything that didn’t somehow fit under this theme, and I have to say, I’m a lot happier now.
A lot of my portfolio is old; some of it is positively ancient. (My apologies to gifted photojournalist John Tully for including a photo of him from way back in our college days together.) However, a lot of it is pretty new, too. And that’s a trend that will continue throughout the year.
Headshots!
It will forever be impossible for me to type, write, or say that without imagining it being announced in a deep baritone.
About a year ago at my full-time job, I realized that I love taking headshots. It’s challenging to try to evoke the essence of a person’s actual personality during a portrait session, and extremely rewarding when I accomplish that. Since this is a fairly specific realm of photography, I’ve created a section of my website dedicated entirely to it.
As always, if you’re at all interested in having headshots taken — acting, corporate, social media, anything — please drop me a line.
More to come
I’ve got some plans in place. Some will be popping up shortly, others are far in the future. Stay tuned, sports fans…
