I have the honor this month of being featured on the cover of Contract Magazine for a project with Tsoi Kobus of Boston. This is the new Johnson & Wales Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence. A another great project by a great client!!

Click here to see the whole article here

And some fun snap shots from the shoot….

I'd eat any of them!

Yes it is Chocolate! In the Chocolate Lab of course, sorry Morgan

The benefits of shooting a culinary school

You decide...

Taking in the best in Providence at Al Forno

Me, using the exhaust fan as a ladder

Headed home after a great shoot! Love Southwest!

I have been working with liveBooks for several years and now I’m happy to have transitioned to their new Scaler site. Happy as well to be featured on their website… Take a look.

My chemistry professor used to say “Better never than late,” but I’ll post this anyway. Back in July I had the honor of being a co-instructor at a Phase One PODAS (Phase One Digital Artist Series) workshop. There have been many PODAS workshops to date, but this was the first architectural one, so where better than Chicago. Myself and Chris Barrett where co-instructors and we were well supported by Phase One with leader Kevin Raber and 3 others from the company, along with Andre Oldani from Alpa who brought lots of Alpa gear to try out. On Sunday Jeff Schewe came in to show us some nice photoshop techniques for working with architectural images. The 14 participants were treated to the PODAS debut of the new Phase One IQ backs. Each participant gets a complete Phase One system to use for the duration of the workshop. Each kit contained an IQ160 back mounted on a DF body with an 80mm lens. Along for the ride were 2 cases stuffed with other Phase One lenses to try out too. Chris and I worked mostly with our own cameras systems, Alpa for me and Arca for Chris. But we were both glad to try out the IQ backs with great results.

The nice part about a PODAS workshop is that everything is taken care of, transportation, meals, locations, etc. For the participants, just show up at the airport, and the next 3 days are fully loaded with shooting, eating, and touring the city, sunrise to well past sunset.

We had a great group of people in attendance from professionals to serious artists and enthusiasts. I’m looking forward to doing another PODAS hopefully sometime soon! Maybe an IQ back too…..

Trump

Art Institute of Chicago by Renzo Piano

Marilyn

Check out episode #218 of TWIP with Frederick Van Johnson and Doug Kaye.

Listen to Episode #193 of This Week In Photo!

Thanks Alex Lindsay & Thomas Hawk!

In February I took a trip down to Palm Beach to teach a workshop in architectural photography at the Palm Beach Photographic Workshops.  This opportunity was given to me a few years back by Norman McGrath who used to teach the workshop. Thanks Norman, its been great fun!

This year we had 6 participants and a great teaching assistant, Bill Antalek. This class size is near perfect so that its pretty easy for everyone to get around to the various locations and its not too big a group that we cannot fit into smaller spaces like a house.

The workshop runs over 4 days, Wednesday through Saturday, and we spend a few hours in the morning doing classroom sorts of things, like photoshop techniques and short lectures on preparing for a shoot and even the business side of things too.  In the afternoons we would head out to some locations to do primarily demonstrations of shooting under different lighting conditions like tungsten or daylight or a mix of both. We worked with both of my medium format cameras and also the Canon 5DmkII system with 24mm and 17mm TSE lenses. While most were interested in the MFD system, they were all working with DSLRs so shooting with those cameras was beneficial for the participants.

The group this year was a great mix of experience levels and backgrounds too. It was a great fit and I really enjoyed working with everyone. Another treat was the new facility that the PBPC has moved into in West Palm Beach.  Great new building thats part of the Public Library and City Hall complex. New computer labs and studio space too.

Here are a few snap shots from the workshop along with the final images shown in the snaps.

A well documented and controversial project in Philadelphia is the new home for Barnes Foundation, a unique and unrivaled private art collection of mostly French Impressionist paintings.  Moving past the long battle over the future of the Barnes, we now have under construction, its new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.  The new design by Tod Williams Billie Tsien with local architects Ballinger, features a somewhat exploded box,(compared to the existing floor plan in Merion), surrounding a central “light box” spine. While I am sad to see the Barnes moving from its original location, I am very interested to see how it works in its new gallery space.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days of time in the Merion location after its renovation some years ago.  I was assisting my mentor Tom Crane in photographing the renovation by Venturi.  Taking the time to really study the galleries and to see how the works are presented to the visitor, reveals some of Barnes’s passion for the arts.  Seeming very cluttered and haphazard at first, you begin to get some clarity of the organization as you drift between the galleries.

I’ll be keeping an eye (and a lens) on it as it progresses.

Front elevation on the Parkway

"Light Box" framing on the western end

Looking down the central axis

Obviously I’m a big fan of medium format digital for my architectural work, but when it comes to personal work and travel photography I’m happy to switch gears and reach for the Leica M9.  I was new to Leica when the M8 arrived which was a crop-sensor camera.  I had always admired Leicas but never thought to own one because I felt even with those amazing lenses, that putting the image on a tiny bit of 35mm film was not worth the money.  Now with a full frame digital sensor at 18MP, this camera offers amazing image quality.

Although worlds away from medium format in terms of camera type, there are many similarities in regard to image quality.  Both the Phase One backs and the Leica M9 use a Kodak CCD sensor and both do not use an anti-aliasing filter.  The AA filter is commonly used to prevent digital artifacts in the photos, but it also softens the image considerably.  The biggest drawback with no AA filter is that moire patterns are more likely to show up on fabrics or metal mesh materials but the resulting sharpness of the photos is worth the moire risk.  Looking at the Leica files they feel very familiar and similar to the Phase One files in both sharpness and dynamic range.

That’s the technical background about the M9, but let’s see how fun it is to shoot with.  Every fall, not far from where I live is the Radnor Hunt Concours D’Elegance which is a great antique auto show.  What’s nice from a photography point of view is that this show is held outdoors and does not suffer from the horrible lighting conditions you’ll find at an indoor show like at a convention center.  The reflective nature of cars will show all of the harsh light sources directly in the paint.  Shooting outdoors, on a nice overcast day provides a very nice quality of light.  There are of course other issues shooting at a public event – people of course are there and not likely to move out of your frame when you’d like to.  This is where another great feature of the Leica system comes into play.  My favorite lens on the M9 is the Summilux 50mm f1.4.  This lens like any f1.4 or similar fast lens, has very shallow depth of field and allows you to isolate details of your subject from it’s background.  In the case of shooting cars, I can focus tightly on a detail and not worry too much about the people in the background since they will be thrown out of focus.

Take a look here and see the results.  Some of these were done with a Leica 90mm lens as well.  While not as fast, the 90mm by nature of being a longer focal length also has a shallow depth of field with similar results as the 50mm.

All of these files were processed in Phase One’s Capture One Pro 5, and the black and white conversions done in NIK Silver EFX Pro.

Check out the 167th episode of This Week in Photo:

Thanks Frederick Van Johnson and Syl Arena!

So why medium format digital?  Its a 2 part story really.  One is more cerebral and one more technical.  For me the journey begins back when I used to wave around a 35mm SLR (Canon AE-1was the first) and shoot way too much stuff with less purpose.  After college at Drexel University (1991, BS Architectural Engineering) and with a strong interest in photography, I finally found the tool that made it all gel in my head- the large format camera.  My first was a Toyo 4×5.  The whole process of photography slowed way down with this camera.  It must be used on a tripod, and the image is viewed and focused on a ground glass under a dark cloth (picture Ansel Adams).  The process becomes much more deliberate and since the materials are expensive, you hope to come away with something special each time. This is the cerebral side of the story.

There are strong technical benefits to these cameras as well.  Primarily for me was the in-camera perspective control.  The lens can be raised and lowered with respect to the film while maintaining the camera body parallel to the building.  This eliminates the ‘keystone’ effect of tilting the camera upward in order to see higher up the building.  Further, the back of the camera can be shifted left and right with respect to the lens allowing you to ‘see’ more to one side or the other while leaving the lens pointed where you want it.  Speaking of lenses, view camera lenses are quite free from distortion (barrel or pin-cushion) because they typically are of a ‘symmetrical’ design, meaning that a 90mm lens is roughly 90mm from the film plane when focused to infinity.  By keeping the design simple and by not having a viewfinder mirror (the Reflex in SLR), these lenses produce very clean images.  Combine the lenses with perspective control and put the image on a large sheet of film and you have a superior image capture system for architectural photography.  This had been the system of choice for many, many years.  Some even working in 8×10 film.  One further point, since it was often difficult to communicate an intended crop of the final image, photographers often tried to never crop an image.  Aside from cutting the film you couldn’t be sure your crop would carry through the process and be published as you intended. Studying the edges of the frame is where we spent a great deal of time under the dark cloth (since even Polaroid film used for proofing was not entirely full-frame to the 4×5 camera).

Panfield 4x5 Film Camera

Fast forward to the introduction of digital cameras and now we are faced with a dilemma   of how to make the transition from film.  I was not interested in moving in to a DSLR solution at all.  For one I do not like the 2:3 proportion for most of my work and as stated above, I really enjoyed the process of working with a larger, slower, camera.

I began an 18 month process of looking into medium format digital backs and camera systems.  At the time, around 2003/2004, there was not any one good solution.  You need to get into a digital back and then figure out a camera system to fit it to.  Even then, there were not good lenses available in the wide angle range, and stitching became the method used for capturing wide images.  As much as I like slow and deliberate, I was not interested in capturing 4 images and having to combine them together in post.  The search continued.  Finally I got into a system with a Phase One P25 digital back (22MP) on an Arc Swiss F-Metric 6×9 camera with some Schneider Digitar lenses, including the 24mmXL mounted in a special electronic shutter with external controller.  This system proved very tough to focus with the ground glass system, even when checking on the computer.  I then moved into a new type of digital system initially developed for film shooting.  These are medium-format cameras (film, 6×6-6×9) but with no bellows.  All of the focusing is done with a helical lens mount similar to focusing an SLR lens.  Focus became very predicable and fast.  After a time with that system I then found a superior design in a similar system offered by Alpa of Switzerland which is my current system.  I use the Alpa 12 MAX, the 12 SWA, with the viewfinder, and lenses, Rodenstock 23mmHR, Schneider Digitars, 36mm (Alpa Switar version), 47XL, 72L, and 120N shooting to a Phase One P45+ (39MP) back.  The back has been in service for 3 years with flawless performance and over 52,000 captures.

ALPA 12 MAX Camera

ALPA SWA Camera with 36mm Switar and Viewfinder

How does the method of shooting 4×5 film compare to shooting MF Digital?  The camera set-up and study of the image is very similar.  I still want to get as much correct in the field as possible.  Had I been working with a DSLR and having at times to correct perspective in post I know a lot of time would have been wasted in rough processing images in order to make those corrections in the field to study the edges.  What I have learned about myself is that I cannot even take an image seriously if it is not properly perspective controlled.  I need to see the composition and feel the proportions of the image.

Moving back to the technical side for a while, I still am working with lenses that are of a symmetrical design, all but the 23HR, which needs distortion correction in post.  People asking me about why they should move to MFD, would be asked the following question: Do you want to do more or less post production work?  MFD offer less work since there is no perspective correction, no distortion correction (except for the 23), and no color fringing corrections either.  You get a more pure, ready to use image right out of the camera. Combine that with a large sensor, with large pixel wells, (less noise, and more dynamic range), and you have a superior capture system for architectural photography.

While great strides have been made in 35mm DSLRs particularly with Canon’s new 17mm & 24mm TSE (tlit/shift) lenses, I still prefer the medium format photography.  I own a Canon system as a back-up and a second system for use at dusk when I may need a second camera set-up, but my heart still loves working with the Alpas.