Covering the X Games: The good, the bad and the ugly

This year was X Games 15. I’ve been fortunate enough to cover a dozen of them, starting with the second year. I was recounting this with Chris Stiepock, Vice President & General Manager of the X Games. I’ve known Chris all that time, since it was called the Extreme Games and had “sports” like bungee jumping and sky surfing. The latter was people skydiving with special snowboard-type apparatus that allowed for some crazy aerobatic maneuvers.

New Nikon Rumor Causes a Stir

These are all rumors, though they do seem credible and/or possible. They come from Czecch forum Grafika On-Line, supposedly from the UK from an anonymous source at a company that provides Nikon UK with IT services.

Behind the Scenes: Clementine Ford Shoot

I recently photographed actress Clementine Ford (“The L Word”, “The Young and the Restless”, also Cybill Shepherd’s daughter) for Curve magazine. I love working for Curve, they interview interesting people and give me the opportunity to create whatever images I feel like. I never see the interview first. And usually I don’t talk to the personality before the shoot, as it’s all done with their “people”.

Photo Editors, Art Directors, and balls.

I’ve worked with a lot of photo editors and art directors over the years. Some I’ve been with for ages, others use me a few times and then I never hear from them. No feedback, good or bad, to help me understand why? You’ve probably had the same thing, too. Constructive criticism or simple explanations, like perhaps they felt they couldn’t afford you, help both sides understand and perhaps retain a good relationship.

Wiebetech RTX 400-QR

If you’re like me, you have a lot of external hard drives on your desk. Some are there to back up others. And it’s a messy tangle of wires and cables, between the power cords and their various transformer parts (often wall-warts that have to use a Power Squid or similar because they’re too big for UPS power strips). Sure, they’re cheap. And you keep buying more and bigger drives. Some of us replace the drives inside the cases with larger drives as we need to, saving a precious buck or two. But it gets confusing. Which file is where, and just how many duplicates do we have of what, where?

I almost lost my head. Literally!

I’ve been hit a few times while shooting extreme sports. Some have knocked me on my butt, some have ruined cameras. I used to joke that my middle name is “Impact Damage” (term from Nikon repair) and the truth is that I’ve broken more cameras than most photographers will ever own. This particular story is no exception.

Wedging my head between a rock and a hard place

Getting the shot you want isn’t always easy. I’m working on a few war stories to illustrate that, including this one. I wanted to create an unusual image for a client highlighting their product. I had one of their sponsored, professional riders at my disposal. But not just any rider, this guy is the world champion downhill mountain bike racer.

Podcasts

I drive a lot. A LOT. Often on my way to shoots, meetings, the airport. I keep a TON of good podcasts on my iPod, many are photo-related. Some have video or embedded images, some are just great interviews. These are all available on iTunes, free of charge. Many can also be downloaded from other sites, but my preference is iTunes. It automatically downloads the new episodes when available, and syncs them with my iPod.

Here are some great podcasts to keep you inspired and always learning:

Adobe ® Photoshop® Lightroom™ - Not just information about Lightroom, but interviews with some of the greats. Gregory Heisler, Pete Turner, Jeff Schewe, Steve McCurry, Jay Maisel, tons more.

The Candid Frame: A Photography Podcast - Ibarionex Perello interviews often lesser-known and fascinating photographers, as well as some well-known ones.

Creative Lube - Leslie Burns-Dell’aqua’s podcast on creativity and marketing.

Dekepod - Deke McClelland’s podcast on all things digital imaging. Deke is ALWAYS entertaining, ALWAYS informative. Great tips with video.

Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor - Chris Marquardt’s podcast on all things photography. It’s heavily skewed toward beginners, but he’s a fantastic teacher and very entertaining, often interviewing interesting experts (ok, I’ve been interviewed twice, so I had to say that!) and giving tips that even seasoned shooters can learn from. This was one of the first podcasts, and Chris and his guests have introduced me to other podcasts along the way.

History of Photography podcasts - Jeff Curto, a professor of Photography at the College of Dupage, records his class each week and the podcasts include the images he’s discussing from pre-Niepce to present day and the relevence of all of it. It’s like getting a free semester of his class. I’ve repeated it a couple of times, he sometimes adds something new.

Jeff Curto’s Camera Position - Again, Jeff Curto, this time talking about the why of photography through his own eyes and experiences.

Lightsource Studio Photography Podcast - mostly amateur stuff, but they do talk to industry heavy-hitters from manufacturers like Phil Bradon from MAC/Pocketwizard to working shooters like Michael Grecco.

Photoshop User TV - News and tips of all things Photoshop, in a video format.

The Russell Brown Show - If you like tips from Russell Brown like I do, free videos to watch any time is a good thing.

I do also subscribe to a variety of others on a large variety of topics, but these are the core photography podcasts that keep me juiced and creative. If you know of other good ones, send them along!

A Bunch of Fun Stuff I Found At PMA

I had a couple of days open and decided to head to Las Vegas to see some of the newest photo goodies for myself. I found a huge variety of interesting stuff, from the stuff I want to the really oddball. The economy hasn’t hampered the innovation much.

Photography - How Hard Can It Be?

If you’re good at what you do, you make it look easy. I’ve been shooting for 20+ years, and have gotten really good at creating good images even with extreme time crunches, and sometimes tight budgets, too. But it leads to clients, and especially their accounting departments, thinking they might be paying you too much.

What the heck is wrong with the social networks?

The social networks all have a “Terms of Service” that you have to agree with. Read carefully.

Two new plugins from Image Trends that make life easier

Image Trends, Inc. produces plugins for a variety of Photoshop needs. The two here are for whitening teeth and eyes, and for removing shine from skin. It’s taken quite a bit of custom masking and work that I normally do by hand, and literally makes it happen with a couple of clicks.

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