Picture Notes

This is not a commissioned photograph of a spider web covered with dew.

I worked as a commercial photographer in Florida for about 20 years and was commissioned to make photographs for advertising. Much of the photography I was asked to do was over thought and deliberate. Sometimes it was difficult but it also had rewards so it was a good way to make a living, but it made the photography kind of mechanical - “just a money game.” People who work in the business need to know the end of the story, the reaction to the photograph in the market, and I rarely got to see this.

The reason I bring this up is because I continue to look for a new direction to take the photography. There is a certain cynical attitude left over from my time as a commercial photographer that limits what I will show here. That’s why there aren’t many photographs of people on this blog, just so you know.

I’ve put a movie of fall clouds on the portfolio page.

Here’s a big fat blueberry that reminds me of summer in Maine.

I had a funny thing happen to me a few weeks ago that I’m still thinking about. I had moved in closer to study a few pills that I had put into a glass and I looked long enough to see the unexpected. Sometimes looking closely at something can be a remarkable experience, other times everything is just as it should be, it’s expected. There are lots of metaphors here but I’m going to leave them alone. Some things just don’t stand up to close scrutiny, to macro photography. I try to remind myself to always look for and expect to find dust and to not look if I don’t want to see the dirt, there is always dirt.

Every once in a while I find myself saying things that I hadn’t planned to say and didn’t think through completely. These unexpected “truths” have caused me large amounts of pain later and I always regret saying them even though I can never take them back. I wish I could find a way to fix all my mistakes.

This is the cemetery at Trinity Church in New York City and I’m facing the direction of the missing World Trade Center. I like the fact that the churches are all small and they are tucked in with large buildings that are almost arrogant.

This is a street in New Orleans at night from one of the major hotels. Not all of New Orleans flooded, just the parts were people lived. It still feels empty and forgotten.

I don’t have any photographs of Iraq but they would go here as well. When gas hits 8.00 a gallon we may remember these as the good times. Not really. I’m joking.

being here…

It’s so easy to get lost
and think about the past
and forget to look into the reflection…

Feeding to carnivorous turtles?

Aquariums, they are like being inside the ocean but you are dry.

Finding a couple of things annoying right now, it might just be because I’ve been working and I’m tired, or just because I’m tired of working, haven’t really decided yet. Still, don’t understand why anyone would leave spam on this site and expect it to be posted in the comments. Their Google ranking is meaningless to me and I’m not going to sell their products on my site - Business 101 Baby! Please stop it! Spam comments will be spamed and deleted, they will not be posted. I realize it’s a machine I’m writing to, humans can’t be that stupid, or could they. OK, so I don’t really need to answer my own questions. Just look around and pay attention to what’s happening in Washington, DC - your government. You can answer that one for yourself.

the shadows speak to me
the loudest, because of their shapes
and the time it takes me to feel something,
the part that makes me human

she walked into
my space and sat down
and sighed
but everything was ok

Do what it takes to make the city safe for pedestrians. Here in Washington, DC, every few months a man hole cover blows up into the air putting people in danger. This New York City mitigation process caught my eye. I was safe from the steam. I’d like to spend more time there. Everywhere else really is “the sticks.”

Underwater in Florida, looking up at fish swimming in the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. I don’t really have anything to write about, photography wise except that I visited the Newseum in Washington, DC on Saturday and saw every photograph that has won a Pulitzer prize. Photojournalism makes my work look predictable for so many commercial reasons; I knew who was paying the bill and they never paid me to capture sadness or human misery.

I only spent a few months working on a small town daily newspaper and it was the best job I ever had. I was covering for a person on leave. I hope that I’ll get to return to a small paper someday. While the large papers are loosing readers, the local papers should continue to do well, at least that’s my prediction. They just need to keep the local news off line.

Sure… I have a camera.

When some people believe that they are something, like a photographer, that’s good enough, that’s what they are. It’s not really a lie, because they believe this, until whoops - so sorry. There are others who think that loving something makes you what it is, like loving to read makes you a writer. Others think that having a good camera, or reading photo magazines or knowing famous photographers makes you a photographer. I can usually tell if a person is a photographer by how they hold the camera - but that’s not always reliable.

Part of my day job is to evaluate photographer’s portfolios and resumes and try to decide if there is a fit with what we do. The organization has many photographers on reserve and could have 3 or 4 out in the field working at any given time. Over the years I’ve come to see this process as kind of learning experience for me, a dance, if you will. I’ve finally decided that I need to ask direct questions in order to see if we have a fit.

Question #1 - Have you ever been paid to make a photograph or photographs? This could be the base line. I can’t train photographers to shoot while they are in the field, they have to have that, I have other things that I need to train them to do. Loving to take photographs and having a good camera really isn’t enough. Newspaper photojournalism experience works here and in many cases is preferred.

Question #2 - Do you have Photoshop knowledge, skill and ability? This is the digital age, if you don’t have Photoshop you can’t be on the team, we have to pass. I know requirements aren’t fun but we are all stuck with them. If you are a photographer and take courses to learn the program there is a good chance we would come back to you. Computer skill is a given, it’s not a question I ever ask.

Question #3 - Have you ever written a caption? This may seem like a funny question after asking Question #1 and it won’t disqualify a good shooter, we’ll just need to train them. Usually commissioned work for ad agencies and magazines don’t require the photographer to write a caption - commercial photography never requires a caption and magazines usually have people to write captions. We require a caption and we don’t have anyone to write it for you. We will give you guidance but it’s your job, it’s part of the assignment.

Next - the caption. The home page of bkoplitz.com has changed again. I just didn’t like my street photography, it not really something that I do.

Messages on top of messages.

I wonder how much money it would cost New York City residents to clear all graffiti and messages off public and private spaces from about 10 feet down. It’s like Times Square has spilled into the rest of the city in it’s own way. It’s a colorful and rich world full non verbal messages that can be ignored or studied - depending on circumstances.

I think of the sounds that the young can hear and older people are deaf to and I wonder if visually there might be the same thing going on in reverse. I like the way everyone knows what a font and a point is, and what kerning and leading does and that 10 years ago only printers and art directors knew and cared about type faces and what they brought to the page. This may be the golden age of communications and female folk singers.

There is a new flash movie on Instantpictures.net - a collection of city scenes that aren’t in the tourist brochures or in the stock agencies.