Seize the Night at the Center for Photography, Woodstock NY:
I’m very excited to teach at Woodstock for the 1st time this year! We will spend the days going over how to take control and create spectacular night images. At night we will explore amazing landscapes and locations in Upstate NY.
9/20/13 – 9/22/13
The process of poring over your work is full of nostalgia, criticism, angst, and pride. As an artist, you need to spend time with your work to see what sticks. Some images that were important to me last year don’t have nearly the same hold now. We constantly create to inspire and inspire to create. Back in January, Tony Rizzuto, from Photographer’s Breakthrough, asked if he could feature me as their February Breakthrough Artist. I’ve long admired Tony’s imagery and educational work. He started Photographer’s Breakthrough over a year ago with fellow creative Elizabeth Stone. It is an amazing online resource to get feedback, listen to critiques, and gain inspiration.
I can’t remember the last time I was interviewed, and I was definitely a little bit nervous. Luckily they sent me their questions via email and I was given a week to reply! I was asked to submit 40+ images broken into 3 different themes. The 3 themes I chose all had to deal with Time. Night Visions focuses on my fascination with the night sky. Time Exposed explores the movements and magic of the long exposure – with a heavy focus on my pinhole work. Moving Portraits, a new project, hasn’t been featured on ruinism before. This is my take on the smaller snippets of time. I combine these little flip book photos to create mini video vignettes of moments that we might normally pass by. Soon after all the words and pictures were sent off to Photographer’s Breakthrough; another good friend, Eileen Rafferty, asked if she could feature my work in the winter issue of her magazine, Butterflies and Anvils. I met Eileen about the same time I met Tony at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. Eileen is an inspirational educator that is very fascinated with the process of creativity. Eileen had recently come to speak at the B&H Event Space as well as be featured on B&H’s Photo’s Real Exposures.
I have been a big fan of Butterflies and Anvils – Eileen’s photographic journal about inspiration and art. I’m proud to say that I have all 8 issues of this quarterly magazine and was honored to have my work featured in the latest issue. Because I had recently subjected myself to this “poring over” process with Photographer’s Breakthrough, I felt an incredible comfort with my work and where I was going. Of course that can change on a daily basis, but once Eileen and I got chatting about my images and the process of photography, you couldn’t shut us up! We talked about various projects, tools, and inspirations for over an hour and a half. Once we had the words, we discussed what photographs would fit best. I’m very interested to get the magazine and to see how Eileen edited the work. She did send over the first page of our interview which can be seen below.
Issue 9 Winter 2013 of Butterfly and Anvils will also feature more visions, creative writing, seasonal flavors, and general musings on the artistic path from Eileen and her friends. Issues are printed on demand through HP’s MagCloud and cost $20. HP uses a heavy stock paper and the quality of the journal is very high. Once you order Butterflies and Anvils, it typically takes 7-10 days to get in the mail. I should have mine next week! So please check out Photographer’s Breakthrough and Butterflies and Anvils and let me know what you think. If you are a Creative, don’t forget take some time to really go through your work. Make some prints, share them online, hang them on the wall and live with them. Look at what you did 10 years ago, 5 years, last year, and last month. What images still resonate? Keep poring and keep creating.
Bannerman Castle 03 ~ Mamiya 7 with 43mm lens ~ 1 1/2 hours at f/11 ~ Fuji Acros 100 film
Join photographers Gabriel Biderman and Matt Hill as we lead you on a night photography tour of one of the oldest and most inspiring locations in all of NY – Bannerman Castle. This turn of the century castle rests upon the small, lonely island of Pollepel about an hour north of NYC in the middle of the Hudson River. Perhaps you’ve seen it on a train ride north or on a boat tour from Beacon; it has mystified generations of people and now you will have the opportunity to photograph it at night.
This will be a rare overnight excursion, so bring a tent if you think you will sleep, last time we shot until 9am! Thom Johnson co-founder of the trust and author of the book Bannerman Castle (NY) (Images of America)
Gabriel and Matt will go over the basics of night photography and how to successfully meter, capture star trails, paint with light, and hone your “night vision”. The majestic Castle and Residence will be the main focus but there are many little details on the island that will be yours to capture, including the Twin Towers, rising from the water, that guard the south harbor. This will be a very hands-on, one-night workshop that is sure to add some amazing images to your portfolio.
Logistics:
We are making this unique opportunity available on two separate full moon nights in 2012:
Thursday May 25th from 4pm (sharp!) until 9am Friday May 26th – SOLD OUT!
Fee: $350 for one night. Payable by check/money order to the Bannerman Castle Trust. Please contact me for this information.
Boat transportation to the island and from Cornwall on the Hudson are included in the price. We recommend that you bring your own food, snacks, and water. Tents and sleeping bags are recommended, if you want to sleep. No animals live on the island but there is plenty of poison ivy so please wear the appropriate shoes and clothing (shorts are not recommended). Portable toilets are located on one side of the island.
This is an extraordinary night adventure and is limited to 6 people.
Technical Requirements:
Film and/or Digital SLR Camera, Tripod, & Cable Release
Who should attend: You must be familiar with your camera, especially in Manual Mode. A full list of suggested gear will be sent to you upon payment.
Vegas to Zion: Dusk to Dawn with Tim Cooper:
This is one of the most exciting and intense night photography workshops out there. This weeklong experience will take you from the sleepless streets of Vegas, to the Neon Boneyard, Ghost towns, and the epic star trails of Zion National Park. This workshop will take your night shots to the next level!
3/24 – 29/2013 – SOLD OUT!
LOOK FOR OUR 2014 DATES SOON AT THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY
I was incredibly fortunate to have my first “work” trip of the new year be a Linblad/Nat Geo week-long Expedition to the Baja Peninsula. I soon discovered that the Sea of Cortez is an amazing place to set up a cubicle! My good friend, David Brommer, and I were sent down to showcase a ton of gear to the lucky 60+ guests of the tour, plus teach alongside famous Nat Geo/Traveler photographers Bob Krist, Michael Melford, and Ralph Lee Hopkins.
We flew into Cabo San Lucas, and after joining the rest of the tour, we took a 3 hour bus ride to the very remote and exclusive Las Cruces resort. First overwhelming impressions – the constant crashing of the waves along the shore and the bazillion stars shining brilliantly in the sky. Even though I was exhausted after a full days worth of traveling, the night sky drew me out to shoot some long exposures on the Fujifilm XE-1 and X Pro 1.
This first shot was taken along an old breaker/dock area that wasn’t doing a great job of stopping the waves from spilling over. I reluctantly left that camera to burn an hour long exposure and then set up the other rig just out of the picture in the upper left frame.
The area is called Las Cruces, because when Cortez landed here in 1535 he placed 3 crosses to commemerate his arrival in the land of supposed gold, but really lots of pearly oysters.
I’m torn between the celestial and the hour long star trail shot for which I like best. No moon was out and the sky was riddled with stars and satellites from the water to the mountains on the other side
What really sucked about this week was that I had to get up for the sunrise over some epic landscapes every morning. I’m not a 6am kinda guy…but work demanded it, so I showed up. I really loved this in between moment when the warm morning sun shared the same time and space as the cool night sky. This magic moment was fleeting as the sun quickly began it’s domination of the day-time.
Bob Krist was talking a lot about creating moments that include people for storytelling and scale. I just love how the three philosophers are each pointing their camera in a different direction with the brilliant sunrise silhouetting them.
We had set up a Canon 1dx with a 300mm 2.8 lens and a 2x teleconverter for people to use on a tripod and gimbal head. Here I caught some interesting wildlife – one of my favorite students Leonard, who tried every piece of gear we brought with us! This was almost the last siting of Leonard before he was swept to sea…luckily we were able to recover the Canon 8-15mm lens!
The Expedition was a Land and Sea Adventure. We started on land and shot the sunrise, ate breakfast, and then had several photography lectures through the high sun hours. The classes covered the basics to inspiration. I gave a talk on night photography and then led the students out on several night shoots. Here is a shot of Ralph giving his presentation and a sampling of all the gear that was available for the guests to use.
On the 4th day we left the land for the sea. We boarded Linblad’s Seabird in La Paz and got our sea legs ready. We were incredibly fortunate as we did not have to go far before we were able to witness whale sharks feeding! I’m still working on that underwater video footage but if that riding with whale sharks wasn’t enough, for desert we witnessed two humpback whales breaching as the sun set along the horizon!
The next day, after a brilliant sunrise and breakfast, we raced herds of dolphins as they performed many acrobatic tricks around us! I’ve really never shot “wildlife” before and it is really tricky! Ralph called out camera settings, shutters blazed away and we tried to anticipate where the dolphin would break through the sea. Sometimes you just had to set the camera down, breathe, and take in all the beauty. Then fire away again! We photographed the dolphins for maybe 20 minutes and I ended up with over 700 shots! I had to do a quick edit afterwards, immediately deleting 250 missed shots. I probably ended up with 3 dolphin images that I could be proud of.
Another 6:30 wake up call, another beautiful day in the Sea of Cortez.
Part of the reason I was asked to join this expedition was to teach the night photography segment of the workshop. Most of the students were new to creating night scapes and we got 3 moonless evenings to experiment capturing stars and the trails that follow. Below is a 1 hour exposure on with the Fujifilm X E1. The Fuji X E1, X Pro 1, and X100 are the most capable cameras of creating 1 hour exposures without the need for stacking or long exposure noise reduction.
And then my coworker, good friend, co-teacher, and bunkmate – David Brommer and I, in our quarters! I’d like to thank David for working hard on the relationship with B&H and Linblad/Nat Geo. This was one of the coolest gigs that I have ever worked! After swimming with the sea lions, I have now adapted them as my new spiritual animal!
But in all seriousness, it was an epic adventure. We became great friends with the 65+ guests who signed up for the trip. They were so thankful to have B&H reps on board and help them try out all the latest lenses – from 4.5mm to 500mm. It was an honor to teach alongside with Bob, Michael, and Ralph. And I have a newfound love and respect for wildlife and expeditions. Linblad is one of the most professional organizations that I have ever dealt with. The adventure starts when the sun rises and there are tons of opportunities for you to take advantage of the day. Whether it be snorkeling with sea lions, kayaking, zodiac cruises, or just chilling at the beach.
