Pushing Pixels

Perry Dozier Jr. - Columbia, SC 2009

Looking back on my email box, I found the first correspondence letting me know that I had been selected to participate in fourth series of the Palmetto Portraits Project a year ago today.  Less than five days from now, on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, the exhibit will open to the public with a reception at MUSC’s new James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine, located at 29 Bee St. in Charleston, SC.

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Tags: art, gallery, photo, photograph, photographs, photography, south carolina.

My first fine art photography show Symbology, installed in the black box theatre at the Columbia Music Festival association.

As I sat on the porch where I currently live, listening to the water fall in the Koi pond, and trying to catch up on growing email inbox this morning, I ran across a facebook message from a few weeks ago that new friend and fellow artist Anastasia Chernoff sent, after visiting my photo show, the subject of that message was “The after-show glow…”  In her message she equated the emotions of putting your first show together, to giving birth to a baby (something I’ll never know about), and went on to say “…the opening night was all so beautifully surreal. An incredible high that, to this day, STILL resonates within me when I think about it.”  That last statement is something I can now completely understand though.  Now that I look back on the whole experience of my show which closed at the conclusion of the 2009 Artista Vista three weeks ago, it STILL resonates within me, and I’m sure it will continue to, for the rest of my life.  While my entire life has been a complete whirlwind for the past 3 months, filled with the stresses of work, travel, putting on my first show, and trying to buy my first home, I sit here this morning feeling the calmest, and certainly the most content I’ve been in the past 8 months, all thanks to the wonderful friends, and family who now share my life with me.

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Tags: art, artist, gallery, photograph, photographer, photography, picture, show, video.

9/27/07 - Columbia, S.C., Local alternative rock band Closer, rehearses for their upcoming performance at the Five Points End of Construction Celebration on Friday, October 5, 2007. The group which has been together off and on for almost eight years consists of David Reed, (vocals, guitar), David Baker, (bass), and Nathan Reed, (drums). © 2008 Brett Flashnick/All Rights Reserved

After reading the story The Day the Music Died in The State today, about how Richaland County just shut down all of the bands that practice at the Sumter Street Storage sheds, I really can’t help but wonder what can be done to help make this area more friendly to the creative community.  The Sumter Street Storage facility was not only a safe haven for up and coming musicians to practice over the past 20 years, but it was a source of creativity for my own visual art as well.  I made the above image of the alt. rock band Closer as the practiced inside of their rented shed in late 2007.  I cringe to think of all the tax money that the Columbia Talent Management project just spent on a survey about how to attract the creative class to the area, when the answer is simple.  Prove that you are there to support them!  Most creatives didn’t get into their respective fields to get rich, or famous, they probably didn’t even choose it at all, it chose them.  We create because there isn’t anything else we could envision doing, or because creating fills a deeper part of our souls and fulfills our lives, and the lives of those who are inspired by what we create, be it music, art, poetry, etc…  The easiest thing you can do to help out is show them that they have your support.  I know this was a ruling made by the county fire marshall, but what now?  Now is the time for Columbia to step up and provide, or just even allow a place like Sumter Street Storage to operate.

Tags: alternative, arts, band, blue, Columbia, creative, facility, music, ordinance, photograph, photography, photojournalism, practice, rock, SC, south carolina.

I have received several emails from readers and people who have seen my shot from the 2008 Carolina Cup Races, that I posted a few weeks ago, so I decided that I amy going to demystify how you make a shot like this work, by using a remote camera.

For those who don’t know, a remote camera, is a camera which you place in a specific location ahead of an event that would not be accessible during the event, and is then triggered by a hard wire, or radio signal. The list of equipment I used to make this image is as follows.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
Remote Trigger: Pocket Wizard (not pictured) and LPA Designs Pre-Release Cable CM-N3-P
Mounting Hardware: Ultra-Pod II
Protection: Kata E-702 GDC Elements Cover

Complete Setup: This is what the setup looked like when it was completely assembled. The camera and lens were mounted to the Ultra-Pod II and then inserted into the GDC Elements Cover. After everything was strapped down and the camera was protected from any flying mud or sudden rain showers, I used the left arm hole to attach the PocketWizard and the Pre-Release Cable to the camera and then cinched up all the other loose openings. You don’t have to use a rain cover or a remote cover, a clear plastic bag, a plastic cup, and some tape will do the same trick. I really do prefer rain covers as opposed to remote covers, so you can see to make any adjustments to exposure or focus without disturbing the entire setup.

Now comes the setup. Be prepared to get there early, some venues require you have the remote in place days before the event, while others will allow a remote to be placed hours before the event. It is also a good idea to make sure your liability insurance is up to date, because if someone or something trips over your remote and gets injured, you could be in some hot water. Once you have looked into all of the logistical details, its time to place the remote. It generally helps to have some working knowledge of the event or sport you are photographing, because you will have to anticipate everything happening long before it actually occurs. Since this was not my first time photographing a steeplechase or horse racing in general I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to see. With this in mind I chose a fence to place the remote under, and estimated the spot in the jump where most of the horses would come over. With these things in mind I had my assistant for the day, Cindy stand at that position in the jump so I could focus and frame the image up. Once everything was set, I taped all of the adjustment dials, focus rings, etc… on my camera in place so they wouldn’t move, made sure the whole setup was nice and tidy, and proceeded to make some test images of Cindy and I jumping around the frame to verify focal plane, and framing of the image. Once this was all done, it was time to go make some feature shots while waiting on the race to begin. *This is why it is important to use a pre-release cable, because it will keep your camera awake and ready to fire, so there is no delay firing the first frame when the time comes.* When the race began I decided to shoot from down the track with my 300mm f/2.8 and 1.4x converter, with the PocketWizard on the hot shoe of the camera, so I could have two angles of the shot, incase the remote didn’t work for some reason. Once the event is done with, you can go back to your remote, and collect your images and hope you got what you envisioned.

Tags: Camden, camera, carolina cup races, photograph, remote, SC, south carolina, steeplechase.