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Posted 1 month ago

Skyrim Fail
In response to webmixx’s question: “That shot from inside the cave in your last post was fantastic. How did you get the blacks so uniform? Did you add blacks in photoshop via a Selective Color Layer or through a Levels Layer?” I have to give the majority of the credit to the Canon 5DII and the magnificent morning light of Maine.  Other than a bit of burning and dodging in Lightroom this photo is untouched.  The sun was very direct and there wasn’t anything in that cave for it to bounce off of, the light was soaked up very easily.  Going into it I was hoping for a little more exposure inside the cave but it turned out to be pretty dark.  I did use a flash to add some detail to the foreground of the scene. Since this blog is supposed to be highlighting subjects other than my work we’ll say that it’s promoting Maine: go to Maine.

Posted 3 months ago

Posted 6 months ago

FMGreen, I’ve known them for years, I was even in the band for a brief moment, and between the three of them they make up half of the people who follow this blog.  What can I say that they don’t already know about themselves?  For the people that don’t know them, it’s been a long road; rough in the beginning.  Lots of different band names and lots of different bass players, the worst of which were Jewel’s Verne Fish and TJ Rinaldo respectively.  I don’t actually remember if TJ was the worst but he was the shortest lived, he may have even been the first back when the band was called The Adventure Breakfast Club after a boy scout camp-out mishap… hey, that could be a band name; The Boy Scout Camp Out Mishap… hmm, maybe just the title of an album.  Anyway, in the years following they settled on a strong three person line up, got sweat on by Slash, burned with fire by The Reverend Horton Heat, and began listening to Peter Gabriel.  It’s these components (three great musicians and baptism in sweat, fire, and mediocrity) that make up this unstoppably rocking band.  For years I went to their rehearsals and to their shows.  I looked forward to hearing them play as much as any of my favorite bands (ya know, real bands).  I was always an FMGreen fan.  The best decision they ever made was to pretend to break up the band in order to kick me out without hurting my feelings.  If they hadn’t done that I never would have had the thrill of being in the crowd and watching them play.   FMGreen just released their third album, VICTORY!  Listen to it… and Follow FMGreen on Tumblr, I do. 
Recently, I had the pleasure of photographing the Syracuse University Fashion Design Program’s New York City gala honoring Vanessa Williams (for what exactly I’m not sure, I guess she’s fashionable).  The event consisted mainly of a cocktail party followed by a runway show.  I discovered that event photography isn’t my favorite way to spend my time; taking pictures of party goers mingling under bad lighting, or elbow to elbow with other photogs fighting for the best shot of VW (I’m tall, I just shoot over them all).  On the other hand, the runway show was a blast; my first and hopefully not even close to my last.  The designers were all seniors from SU, whose clothing design was quite impressive, but the models were honest to god NYC fashion models.  My first task when I showed up to the event was to photograph the models getting hair and makeup done.  An intimidating and exciting room to walk into, but I held my own.  As I was photographing one girl she pointed out that I was on her bad side… I told her I couldn’t tell. I was impressed with the entire event, especially the design work done by the students.  If I hadn’t known, I wouldn’t have thought for a second that the designers were still in school.  Must be a hell of a program, check it out: vpa.syr.edu/art-design/design/undergraduate/fashion-design For more of my pics from the runway show go to flickr! Sorry steelopus, green must not be “in” this season.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is, in my humble and rather narrow opinion, the best museum in the country.  My relationship with the place is only about a year old but I can confidently say that what has grown between us is true love.  As a photographer, it’s a big deal to “fall in love” with a new subject.  I remember my first love clearly, the subject that convinced me to finally commit to my relationship with the camera.  Since then I’ve had a number of relationships with subjects.  Some were just crushes that never panned out, others were lasting, some are still growing.  The Met was love at first sight.  Exploration is in my blood and this museum allows me to explore to my heart’s content.  I’ve been there countless times and I’m still finding rooms and artifacts that I’ve never seen before.  It is in no way just an art museum.  The Met is an exploration through the history of human thought, design, and expression.   In this photo is William Wetmore Story’s Cleopatra.  She is sculpted from marble, which I believe captures the softness of a woman better than any other non-photographic medium.  She sits, contemplating her own suicide; a moment like this becomes a bit ironic when carved into stone, but so is finding a statue of Cleopatra in the American wing immediately after exiting the Egyptian Wing.  This seemingly out of place stone woman is one of many surprises and things of beauty to be discovered at The Met.  For more images from the museum visit my flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/jkputnam/sets/72157625513976791 Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York or page through its collection database here: www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database  
Here is the situation; I purchased a new lens and filter (Canon 85mm/1.8, 4 point star-filter) for the purpose of photographing one of my favorite bands in concert, Murder By Death.  It was a small show in upstate NY, I knew I would be able to get close and I knew I would get a spot that would give me a good view of all members of the band. Well, I was able to get close and I was able to get a good view but… there was no light!  An exaggeration, there was one light. It was behind me and lighting only the singer. Immediately my star-filter was useless and the 1.8 aperture on my new lens was necessary.  On top of all of this the light level was so low that I had to use an ISO equivalent of 3200.  In my mind all of these factors were adding up to a bunch of crappy pictures… but I kept shooting none the less.  With determination, and a conversion to black and white in Lightroom, the photo above is the result.  It’s a new look for me and the image quality is not something that would usually make it past my editing process, but I love this photo.  I could blah about “the moment”, but to me this picture is about determination.  The circumstances weren’t ideal, but something was happening… and I had my camera with me. Murder By Death is made up of some really down to earth people who are all good at what they do and who write really great music together.  See this band live, you will become a fan.
The Reef is the brainchild of Christopher Webb and John Jerard, the directors at Christopher Webb Films and Jerard Studio, respectively.  The Reef is a stop-motion animated film that Jerard and Webb have been working on for the better part of ten years.  They invited me to begin photographing the production a year ago.  The Reef’s set and all of its characters are made entirely of garbage, which is obvious when standing in front of it, but when the lights come on and a scene is recorded on film, The Reef transforms. The motionless trash becomes an underwater environment where all of its handmade creatures move and interact.  The Reef as a project has never been stagnant.  It has been cut apart and transported from one studio to the next.  The set is rearranged and new characters are conceived and created constantly. With this photograph I wanted to show The Reef in motion.  To accomplish this I combined two photographs; first, an exposure of the motion blur created by moving the fish along its path, and second, an exposure of the set and the fish in its final position.  This was my first try at combining multiple images in any capacity and overall I’m pretty happy with the results.  However, if I shot it again I would add motion blur to some of the things “growing” around the set to give it all a little more life. This photograph was made to accompany an article appearing the spring 2011 issue of Overflow Magazine. To see a clip from The Reef, go here: christopherwebbfilms.com