Adam Elmakias is cool. (Release the RAW)

Adam Elmakias has started doing this thing (I’ve been calling it a photo challenge) he calls "Release the RAW” where he releases a RAW file of one of his images and you get to take it and edit it and submit it to the twitter thread and he reviews them the next week on Twitch (and also uploads it to Youtube) and also screen-records himself editing it.

It’s SUPER COOL.

I tried the first couple but have been off of it the last few.

It’s really cool to see the thread of everyone’s edits, but my favorite is seeing his final edits on his Insta and trying to replicate that on my own, then watching him go through it. I’ve already learned a ton just from watching two videos. I also like that I can read the metadata in Lightroom to see what equipment/settings he used to catch the shot.

I think I’m going to start doing blog posts posting my edits and some cool stuff I got out of that week’s challenge.

If anyone reads this and wants to join in, links are below for what you’ll need:

Adam’s Twitter (Where he shares the dropbox link for the RAW photo)

Adam’s Insta

Adam’s Twitch

Adam’s Youtube Channel

-KP

New Stuff!

It only took a month and a half, but I’ve got new images in my gallery now! Super proud of them. A really nice portrait shot and a series of 3 church shots. I’ve been trying to experiment with editing, and watching a lot of youtube videos (especially Peter McKinnon).

We’ll see what happens next!

-KP

I'm Back!

Not that anyone looks at my website anyway (I know I don't), but I've finally got all the technology needed to continue working on my photography. Which means, when I get organized enough, I can start posting things to this site again.

YAY! 

In all honesty, it's been kind of rough for me lately, and Ive been lacking motivation to do....really anything. But I'm going to try to get back into this, especially since summer/busy work season is coming to an end. 

Styles of Photographing

People obviously have different styles in their artwork and the way they approach it. I think I have figured out mine.

With photography, I feel like people are either dedicating time to go out and shoot, or are more of a bring-your-camera-along kind of person. You have the people who specifically plan places to go to just to take photos, who plan every shot they want to take, who seem to have a purpose to their photos (let’s call them the “Photo” people). On the other hand, you have the people who make sure they bring their cameras along wherever they’re headed, who want to take pictures, and do, but that’s not necessarily their sole purpose (let’s call them the “Picture” people).

I think both ways are great and produce great photos.

I think my personal approach is the second one. I love photography and the art of taking a great photo. When it comes down to it, though, I just don’t think the way we’re typically told to think about photographing. I sometimes feel like my main concern when photographing is to just document the space/person/whatever the subject may be. Of course, I want to document it in an accurate, technically and compositionally good way, but my main thought is just capturing it. I feel like the more planning I put into a photo, the worse it gets. Not in all cases, but generally speaking. First, I thought maybe I’m just not taking photography as seriously as (what seems to be) everyone else, or my skill level isn’t as good. But the more I’ve thought about it, I think this is just my style. Less planning, more doing. Which is NOT how I handle anything else in life.

Dorothea Lange Was Cool

For a few days this past week / weekend my house was off the grid (more or less). Due to cable company problems, our house phone, internet, and cable was off. I thought it would be much worse than it was, but the only real problem I ran into was not being able to look up little things that popped into my head, or work on homework. Luckily the weather was nice, and it was all pretty peaceful. Of course, movies helped get us through the silence.

While I primarily relied on DVDs, I tried to watch what was on the few channels we could get without cable (while they weren’t blinking out). The TV gods were generous and Saturday morning I was able to catch most of a documentary about the famous photographer, Dorothea Lange. (Thank you PBS/CET Arts!)

This episode of American Masters talked about Dorothea both as a photographer and as a person. Her story was told through friends and family, and of course through photos.

Things I Learned:

-Dorothea has a bajillion more works other than Migrant Mother

-The subject of Migrant Mother was named Florence Thompson, who first did not like the attention her photograph got. Because of it, though, she later got donations sent to help her get better when she was terminally ill.

-Dorothea married a man named Maynard & later in life re-married to a man named Paul. They loved eachother very much.

-She became ill with cancer and Paul took care of her through it all.

-She died 3 months before her solo show at the Museum of Modern Art

-Her spirit/attitude reminded me of my grandma

-She was a cool lady

*The thing I watched was:      Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning - An American Masters Presentation

Interview With A Vampire (JK, it's Virginia)

Today I had the opportunity to sit down and interview the one and only Virginia Imhof! Virginia is a Photo major with a Spanish minor here at NKU. 

Who inspires you the most?

I guess Pinterest and Google are where I go to find inspiration for my art. 

What about like not for art? Like inspiration as a person?

Umm...I guess like things I read, like books and stuff, I see personality traits or attributions I like and try to apply them to myself.

What is your least favorite artistic trend?

Old or older people posting pictures of their food before they eat it. It's dumb.

What is your favorite music to listen to while making work?

I like to switch it up a lot. 

-ZZ Ward (blues/rap/folk/rock?)

-rock                  -sometimes pop

-90's jams (if I need to stay awake)

What is your favorite social media platform and why?

Instagram. I think it's easier to promote artwork, in my opinion. At least for photography.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Australia, Italy, and Ireland.

What TV show are you watching right now?

The embarassing one or the other one? Actually, they're all kind of embarrassing haha. 

-Hey, Arnold!          -Dawson's Creek          -Glee

Who are 3 artists you are looking at right now?

1) Bryan Adam Castillo - he does really interesting double exposures, colors, and layering.

2) Annie Leibovitz - she has a wide range of work, aaaand she did a project where she reimagined Disney Princesses, so why would I not like her??

3) Lindsey Dupuis Bledsoe -  she does fashion photography and celebrity head shots. She has interesting things she comments on and uses Instagram really wisely. 

Check out Virginia's work at: virginiagracephotography.com 

-KP

Vlog! (is a gross word.)

Me? Homecoming Photographer?

I am currently the Director of Public Relations for APB (the Activities Programming Board). Among other things, one of my jobs is to photograph our events (YAY for getting paid to take pictures!)

This past week was Homecoming here at NKU, which is put on by APB. Therefore, I got to take a bunch of pictures at the different events – which was different than normal because of how many people showed up to the homecoming events! So sometimes I was a little bit anxious about taking pictures and CONSTANTLY criticizing myself. Looking back at all the images I got, they’re OK….but most are not up to my own standards I put on myself. Whether it be a blurry image, poorly composed, “why did I have it set like that?”, etc. But it was experience, which is never a bad thing.

My biggest struggle was photographing the Nearly Naked Run (an annual event where people race in their underwear). First, I was super uncomfortable looking at/taking pictures of guys in their underwear (not a pretty sight). Then it was figuring out what setting to best capture the race, should I have moved from my position at the start/finish line? Should I have gotten more audience reactions?

The best photo-op was the concert – rapper, K Camp. Nobody was allowed to stand past the stage line, except for me J Being able to be the only one past the human-barricade made me feel like a “real band photographer”. I’m not entirely happy with all the photos, and would have liked to move around more, but that small privilege gave me a confidence boost I needed.

I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this one after graduation!

-KP

K Camp & his photo/video person (AKA my competition)