Here at Polara we’ve said before that learning from your fellow photographers is simply the best way to learn photography, but there is one exception to that rule and that is “to learn to do it yourself”. When you can combine the two you are guaranteed a winning outcome.
We had felt for sometime that we needed to augment the studio Food and Beverage Photography Portfolio with some cool splashes and pours. A wonderful friend and resource, Dan Tidwell, was so nice in letting us borrow his laser trigger for a week. Dan is known for his forensic and technical photography and counts among his arsenal a Gigapan and a time lapse in box set-up where he’s put to use and can monitor from anywhere in the world.
These first photos you see are the start of a series of photographic “splash” and “pour” explorations we are embarking on to see what capabilities some of the new lighting equipment we have acquired has in combination with this new technology.
To give you more of technical look. This was lit with a trio of Einstein monoblocs that at 1/16 power freeze the action with a 1/10,000 of a second flash duration, moving liquids can be turned into into frozen sculpture. It takes some time to lock down all the variables from the amount of liquid to adjusting the millisecond delays but it was surprising to all how easy and fun making a mess can be. Here’s a short video of the fun we had.
Playing with Laser Triggered Splash and Pour Photography
In Remembrance of Steve Jobs
When my daughter, who now is 23, was in middle school, it was time for the annual science fair. We were old hands by this time at science fairs having been through it a couple of times with her older brother. We had all the science project suggestion books (this was pre-Internet, if such a time really existed) and started leafing through them, disappointed that we had in two years already exhausted the best ideas as the dog-eared pages attested to.
We wanted to do something beyond prototypical erupting volcanoes and how well do plants grow kind of project. Something that was a bit out of the box, and my daughter wanted something that wasn’t the typical “girl” project. We hit upon the idea of learning, really learning, how a computer works.
In the basement was an original Mac Plus we hadn’t used for some time. Our daughter had a fascination for this little beige box and what made it tick. So off we went to the library to find everything we could on Mac computers. Since we didn’t want this project to be one of those “Daddy did it for me” projects, we made out daughter, all of 11 years old and with a pixie hair cut, get a book from the library, find the right Apple manuals and figure out what all those mysterious black rectangles did on that single big, green mother board we would find.
Then with a little homework on “Daddy’s” part, we figured out how to wire up LED’s to a battery box and a switch. Together we drew the circuit diagrams we needed and shopped for the parts at the local Radio Shack. Now came the hardest and the most fun part of the project. My daughter and I bravely pried the case of that old Mac apart-being carful not to touch the power supply. We managed to pry up the motherboard with the help of a couple screwdrivers.
We then began to drill holes near the important parts we had identified from our many diagrams we found in the library books. I did the first hole and my daughter, holding the drill awkwardly with both hands, did the rest as I pushed the motherboard against the tip of the drill, figuring better my fingers at risk than hers. Together we soldered in the colored LED’s next. I held the wires and solder together as she did the rest. I had her twist the wires together after she watched me do it and in no time we had all the leads running to this little wooden box that we had commandeered as a control panel.
It was only then, after we were proudly surveying our work, nursing a couple of minor burns, that my daughter noticed some weird scratches in the back of the case.
We investigated and figured out that when you held it just right you could tell those weird scratches were actually signatures, signatures of the whole Apple team that had been responsible for making the early Macs. We later found out that when the first Mac was done, they had a big party and Steve Jobs made everyone sign a piece of paper. It was that paper he took and without telling anyone, made a plate which would inscribe all their names on every Mac off the assembly line.
I remember my son walking up to us just after we had noticed the signatures and in his best know it all 12-year-old voice said, “Yeah it’s cool, even Steve Jobs signed it though he didn’t actually make it.”. A family discussion ensued about what it really meant to make something and how, in the end, it was so right for Steve Jobs to sign this thing. He had unveiled so many mind blowing, technical breakthroughs and he was the man who was really behind the Mac. Only now do I realize how that “Man behind the Mac” had taught us something else again…not just how computers operate but how it was recording history and what pride and team work were all about.
Portraits of Influence
One of the wonders of photography is how time imbues images with power.
These images are a series of Nobel Prize Laureates, former heads of state and famous political figures. Each of them traveled to Portland over the last couple of years as part of the World Affairs Council International Speaker Series. It is a step outside of food photography for me however it’s nice to work the mind in different ways. Featuring Karl Rove, Howard Dean and Pervez Musharraf.
Live From Nowhere Near You Volume II
A while back I shot some PR photos for my friend Kevin Moyer. Some years ago Kevin was waiting outside a show for friends, when a street musician caught his ear. Kevin remembers that “He was better than the band we had just seen and all of these ‘music fans’ were leaving the show with their $20 t-shirt merch purchases tucked under their arms and not paying any attention to this guy playing at their feet for free.”
The chance encounter inspired Kevin to go into his attic studio to create Live From Nowhere Near You, a compilation album featuring collaboration between Kevin, street musicians, and artists such as Spoon, Members of Pearl Jam, Stars, Gus Van Sant, Five Fingers of Funk, and more. All of the proceeds from the album benefitted Outside In, who help homeless youth receive the medical and other health services they need.
As if that weren’t ambitious enough, now Kevin has come out with volume two of the series. It is a sprawling three disk set that features previously unreleased tracks from Bright Eyes, The Helio Sequence, Britt Daniel of Spoon, James Mercer of the Shins, Eddie Vedder, Corin Tucker, The Strokes, Daniel Johnston, Modest Mouse, The Dandy Warhols, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Wilco, members of Pink Martini and much much more.
Probably the coolest story about the album is that it contains an unreleased Elliott Smith track, titled The Real Estate. Kevin went to high school with Smith, and he and Larry Crane, the owner of Jackpot recording studio, happened to come across the lost song while Kevin was visiting his studio. If you’re an Elliott Smith fan this makes the album a must as it is the only place you can find this song.
You can buy the album here. Volume one is available here, and if you want to like them on facebook you can do that here. If you want to listen before you buy, Under The Radar magazine is streaming it here. You should check it out.
The Dan Plan – Building Dan’s Body
As many of you know, I’ve been filming my friend Dan McLaughlin in his quest to become a professional golfer. He calls his project The Dan Plan, and he is trying to put in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice over five years in the hopes of achieving his goal. Quite a feat for someone who had never played golf before the age of 30.
Our latest video features Dan’s program for getting his body in shape for his game and swing. Dan works with Physical Therapist and Strength Trainer Shawn Dailey, who specializes in working with golfers in all levels of the game. Together they are creating a program where by Dan can strengthen his muscles in a way that builds his swing from the ground up. Take a look.
Cherry Blossom Wind Storm
Every year around this time the cherry trees drop their petals in our parking lot. Yesterday the wind picked up and the ensuing cherry blossom wind storm was too pretty not to film.
How to Make a Krogstad Aquavit Grenadine Fizz With House Spirit’s Matt Mount.
Our friends at House Spirits came to me about making a series of videos explaining how to make some of their signature cocktails. Of course I was happy to oblige. The first in the series is the Aquavit Grenadine Fizz. I Got to try one of these after the shoot and I can report that they are spectacular. Take a look.
The Dan Plan
Hi everyone,
I’ve been working with my friend Dan Mclaughlin on a documentary project. Dan is an interesting guy. He worked for a long time as a photo assistant/photographer and then last year he decided to make a big change in his life. He quit working and took up golf full time with the goal of becoming a tour pro in 4-6 years. This is a huge gamble considering he’d played almost no golf before he decided to do this. The result is a project he calls The Dan Plan. He’s trying to test the theory that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert at something.
His website has a countdown of the hours he’s put in, along with regular blog posts and video that documents his progress. Check out this video I shot and edited for his site. It explains the project pretty well.
Ultimatum Stop Motion
A while back I had the chance to work with Jered Bogli from Nike on a very cool project. The original project started as a flipbook hangtag for the Ultimatum backpack. With the help of Darcy Henderson stylist extraordinaire, we came up with this cool stop motion animation video of the backpack eating stuff.
An Apple a Day or More!
The Willamette Valley is painted with a green swath of farm and forested land, sitting between the Coast Range and the Cascades, making Oregon justifiably famous. In the last ten years, this cool and misty breadbasket of the Pacific Northwest has produced everything from Hazelnuts, Marionberries to award winning Pinot Noirs. Some people would argue the slow food movement got its start here in Oregon where farm to table is merely an hour or so drive away.
This inspired one of our Food Photographers, Michael Shay. He began working on a series of still photographs and short videos celebrating the “Bounty of Oregon” showcasing local ingredients in their raw glory and preparing a dish in a wonderful artistic yet scrumptious fashion for us to try and enjoy.
In cooperation with ace food stylist Carol Ladd, the wonderful fall gift of Oregon apples was featured. And they don’t get any more local than this, having been plucked from Carol’s tree. The video was done as a collaborative effort between Michael Shay and one of Polara’s other photographers, Jeremy Dunham. Jeremy had a keen eye for angles while helping with gaffing and editing the final piece you see. Like so much of the work at Polara (especially food photography) “the sum of the parts is greater…” as the saying goes.
And the sum of these parts was a delicious apple tart, as much a feast for the stomach as the eyes. Bon Appetite!