The Moose Sleeps on a Lower Branch

Well, it's a squirrel. Just sitting there, staring in my window. Not suspicious at all. Still staring. Stop it, squirrel.

At least it's not this.

On Our Front Window

This guy stopped by our place this afternoon, stayed about ten minutes, then flew off. (For those of you keeping score at home, that's ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/800th of second, with a 45mm macro.)

If This Is Friday, It Must Be Jazz

Glenn Cashman plays the tenor saxophone with the Luther Hughes & Cannonball/Coltrane Project at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Friday, July 15, 2011.

The Brush Man

Clayton Cameron, known for his percussion work with brushes, performs with the Clayton Cameron Sextet at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Friday, July 8, 2011.

Also see: Jazz At LACMA.

Jazz at LACMA

A jazz bass player performs with the Clayton Cameron Sextet at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Friday, July 8, 2011.

Strobox

How many times has this happened to you: you need to communicate your ideas on how to create the perfect lighting set up, but you have a fear of both paper and pencils.

Finally, there's a solution. The Strobox iPhone App.

It's free, it's fast, it's preloaded with images of gear you're not even sure you can name, let alone use, afford or store. Just click and drag a background, a camera, about 7 or 8 lights, three reflectors and that weird Brolly-box thingie.

Don't forget the snoot!

Add a model, and view the whole thing from above. In just minutes ... you'll have thoroughly overlit your subject in a fairly entertaining way.

But wait ... there's more!

You can look at other people's photos ... complete with lighting diagrams made with the App! That's right: no longer will you need to Guess the Lighting.

Heck, now if only your underpaid photo assistants could just afford to have phones...

Backstory, Part Three

I found a complete copy of the May 23, 1990 edition of my college newspaper, the California State University San Bernardino Chronicle, so I've scanned it to show to my photography students the type of work I did when I first started. The issue, made when I was 23, included five of my photographs.

The first three were sports photos (see here and here).

But I also published two features in that issue, shown above.

Backstory, Part Two

I found a complete copy of the May 23, 1990 edition of my college newspaper, the California State University San Bernardino Chronicle, so I've scanned it to show to my photography students the type of work I did when I first started.

The issue, made when I was 23, included five of my photographs.

Above: on the cover, a photo of the celebration after game one of a three-game series. On the Sports page, two further shots: a home run complete with the ball in the frame and a pitcher mid-throw. Keep in mind that in those days, I was shooting a Pentax K1000 -- with no motor drive and no autofocus -- and developing my film by hand.

Through the Middle

A woman plays the flute between two Mark Rothko paintings at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Hill Street

A man plays guitar on South Hill Street in Los Angeles, Sunday, July 3, 2011.

Backstory, Part One

I'm preparing for a new term of teaching Photojournalism online, so I've decided to take a look back at my earliest involvement in the field.

In 1988 I began working for my college newspaper -- the California State University San Bernardino Chronicle -- and stayed involved for several years. (I eventually worked there as a photographer, as a writer, as Managing Editor and as Photo Editor.)

I haven't saved many tearsheets from those days, but I found a complete copy of the May 23, 1990 edition and for fun I've scanned my contributions for that issue.

Above: In those days I shot baseball with a Pentax K1000 and Tri-X film. No motor drive, so just one chance to get the timing right. I don't remember what settings I used, but I like the shutter speed -- fast enough to freeze the bat, but slow enough to let the ball blur.

Happy 4th of July

Above: Michael Tuba Heatherton as Uncle Sam.