1-2-3 Jump Dang it!

I spent the last two weeks in California and Florida with a client of mine. we had some really good times! I was hired to set up a small photobooth for people that wanted to get their picture taken. The Idea behind the booth was to to mimic the the ads created for their new product. The original ads are pictures of people jumping, So we did the same thing, everyone was jumping.

The idea was a hit, we had a line of people for three solid days. my voice became hoarse counting and telling people where to stand. it was a lot of fun. I discovered a few different things about people in general.

1. Around 30% of people that think they are jumping.... can't leave the ground! its hard not to laugh when they are being so enthusiastic and they barely catch air. It reminds me of Napoleon dynamite "you got like six feet of air that time"

2. Some people have no concept of timing, 1-2-3 jump!... ok lets try again 1-2-3... Im not sure if this has anything to do with language barriers, but it was pretty dang funny watching people stand in their "ready to jump pose" for a few seconds before they realized the camera had already taken the picture. we would try again and to no avail almost every time.

3. Around 80% of people use the same pose jumping. arms straight in the air, which reveals their belly causing a re shoot. This was so trying... shot after shot people throwing their arms in the air, big belly's flopping out for all to see.

4. I have to laugh because a handful of people walked on to the set and faced the background instead of the camera. "uh hello, Could you turn around please??? wait, wait, only some of the way around... easy, easy, that's right, face me!

By the end of it all, my patience was wearing thin. to borrow a quote from one of my favorite movies... "baby steps to 4 o'clock". All in all it was a success. We walked away with some great photos. I want to make a coffee table book of all of the out-takes. It would make for a great book. I just need to make the people anonymous!

Next time you find yourself in one of these situations, just laugh! It makes a stressful experience an enjoyable experience!

Abandonment

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My friend Erik Hillard shared this via Facebook. I instantly became fascinated, it's kind of hard not tobe fascinated. In college I did a small series on abandonment of buildings found in Utah county. I wish I could have worked on a project of this scale. I know very little about the photographers who worked on this project,Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, but they created amazing and compelling work.

It still amazes me that as americans we have a tissue mindset. Use it once or twice and throw it away... maybe build a strip mall. nothing is sacred, everything is disposable. All it takes is traveling through europe to realize this about America. A building built in 1911 is considered new in europe. Here, we will destroy it to make way for a new Starbucks. We are quietly destroying our history one strip mall at a time.

The thing that strikes me the most is the historic quality of the buildings photographed. How could we allow them to deteriorate so quickly? While working on my project I was mainly photographing houses, shops, movie theaters, etc. The buildings in this work however are of significant historic importance, librarys, churches, theaters, etc. I look at this and instantly feel an emotional connection to the work. A strong body of work should always emotional to the viewer. have a look at your own work and see if it is emotional. Something to think about anyway, right?

are you one of these people?

Driving my car is one of my favorite times to notice... notice how the light is shaping the world around me. The very stimulus of vision is a very complex law of physics, but we all have the sense of sight. What is it that creates what we see? The answer very simply put is light! So while driving I take time to notice what light is doing to the world around me. I pay attention to the road of course, but I am constantly fascinated with what the light is doing to the cars, road, telephone poles, mountains, buildings and other objects that surround me. I am also keenly aware of the specific textures of these objects.

I particularly pay attention to what types and directions of light are bringing out texture in all we see. I remember my first photography class and working with black and white film. The film always seemed to record texture better in black and white. I began to search for light that would enhance a subjects texture through direction. Thats when i started noticing lighting situations from the car . I would drive along and stop and shoot anything that looked interesting.

Right now I am sitting in my office looking at the arm chair in front of me. There is beautiful window light coming from an east facing window. The light seems to just fall on the chair perfectly, creating both shape and texture. I love looking for sweet little examples like this in everyday life.

I hope all of you can benefit as well!

hello...

My name Is Jedediah (like the mountain man) and I am a photographer. Words sometimes come easy for me. Other times however, it can be difficult. Please bare with me as I take you through my thought process and history.

By now I hope most of you have visited www.aphotoschool.com. There is a brief explanation of how I found photography in my life. if you haven't visited the site yet, please do! you can find more info about the school and the classes offered as well as my background.

The purpose of this blog is not to sell you on my class, or to pitch whats happening in the school. Its more of a way for me to take you through my creative process, as well as provide insight into the photography world. I hope that you the readers gain something from the hodge-podge that is my mind. I hope to relate experiences, techniques, theory, business practices as well as show you what inspires me.