Favorite image ( continued )

We got on the plane to fly to Hong Kong and after we were in the air one of the stewardes' came back from the forward part of the plane and stopped at my seat. She then ask me to collect my belongings and follow her. I did, and she took me to First Class and gave me a seat. A friend of mine, Dixie Mitchel, was a stewardess for American Airlines and alerted some of her co-workers that I would be on the plane and if a seat was available, bump me up to First Class. It was a great trip over and hell on the way back, I didn't get bumped up and really didn't realize how tight the regular seats were. I also didn't realize the implications the move had for me in the eyes of the other photographers on the trip. They immediately started wondering who that guy was and why the perks....I didn't have a clue the buzz had started. We flew into Hong Kong went through customs and then into China. We traveled mainly south and west getting eventually very close to Viet Nam. We talked to different photographers in different cities but also traveled in the backwoods so to speak. In fact we were in one area where Caucasians had never been seen and people ran from us.

The Chinese culture has always been somewhat of a magnet to me, I like their design, history is fascinating, and the geography simply amazing. The photograph of the boat on the Li River speaks a volume of what the trip did for me. In College as part of my degree track I had to take 12 hours of Art History in addition to the 45 hours of other art classes plus the 18 hours of my major area. This doesn't sound like much till you consider we were in class 2 hours for each credit received and expected to spend at all other waking hours in the discipline were were studying...were spent a lot of time in the Art Department. I never quite understood the Chinese watercolorists.....mountains just don't have fog and look like the ones I had constantly seen in the paintings in Art History.

We got on the boat in the dark, about 5 in the morning. I had my 4 x 5, Nikon 35mm, and my Mamiya RB 67. I was loaded for bear. As we slowly moved down the stream daybreak slowly started to replace the pitch black night. I started noticing strange forms along the river bank, not quite able to make them out. As it got lighter I started getting goosebumps......Like the Chinese paintings I was surrounded by huge rows of spiking mountains. We stopped the boat and I scampered up the bank to capture the image of something I thought didn't exist.

To be continued...........

A favorite image..

Shooting as much as I do and having the opportunities I have had has resulted in my seeing things I never really thought existed. In 1987 I had applied to American Field Service to go to China to teach English and also learn Chinese. My thinking was that my understanding Capitalism and understanding and fluently speaking Chinese would be more of an asset to business entities than a China man speaking English that has no personal grasp of how Capitalism works. Just a thought..... I got my reply back from them of Thanks but... No Thanks. I was sitting in my studio on a Saturday shortly after receiving the news in January and the phone rang. It was a friend of mine Paul Ness from Kodak. After a bit of small talk he asked me what I was doing in July. I looked at my calendar and I was open.  He then asked me if I wanted to go to China for the month. I was floored. He explained that Kodak had arranged an exchange of professional photographers from China the U.S., Canada, and Australia...did I want to go ? The words fell out of my mouth..absolutely. Promising to get back to me later he said to clear my Calendar for July.

As the date grew closer I started rethinking my decision. I was located in a town of 11,000 with a market area of about 60,000. Summer is good for Senior Portraits, Weddings, Family Portraits, and booking for the  Fall of all of the above. Could I possibly afford to miss these dates. I work 7 days a week as I must be available for commercial as well as portrait clients. It can sometimes run me to my wits end, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  My store front would be closed for a month. Dark....adios....not there....should I do it.

The appointed day arrived to fly to Seattle to go and I went. It was the most amazing experience of my life and it changed how I saw my business and understood my potential.

To be continued.....

Nicaraguan Moments...

Several years ago I produced a video telling of and the reasoning behind the Downtown Tulsa Rotary Clubs' Water Well Project in Nicaragua. This project has been ongoing for several years and has been responsible for gaining potable water for thousands of people. It has also provided the liberation of the children from the daily job of gaining water for their families to a great extent. The long walks to and from the wells kept the children out of school, and hindered them greatly. It has also brought to an end the reliance of the Barrios on hand dug wells that are easily contaminated and go dry quickly.

While there I met one of the premier Fashion designers of the Country. Knowing that I was a professional photographer she asked me if I would photograph her newest collection which was to debut at a fashion show in Managua that weekend. The show was sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Cartier Watches and I thought it would be great fun and a needed break from the drilling work. If she won she would have her line open in New York and really launch her career.

She told me of her collection and we decided to shoot the outfits outside primarily due to the fact that I had no lights to speak of and the environment was different enough to really tune up my senses. We spent the day shooting and ended up on a lava field for some of the shots.

At the show I was wined and dined on finger food and wine and the lights flickered signaling the start of the show was on us. There were three designers in the show and there would only be one to go to New York. The music started and the models started their walk down the runway. It was exciting, fun, classy, and something I quite frankly never expected to see. The three designers all took a bow after their models did their walk with each one having around 7 different designs. The lights flickered again and the intermission was signaled. In about twenty minutes the lights did their thing again and we took to our seats.Turn on your imaginators and walk with me through this next segment.

The room is pitch black. Faint thunder rolls followed by silence. More thunder, a brilliant clap of thunder which raised EVERYONE out of their seats, and a soft light fell on the stage. Thunder sounding like drums rolls through the space and fog starts covering the stage. Everyones' eyes are dancing around the room as flashes of lightening are blasting  the stage. Looking at the stage I can see the fog start to move out of the center as the floor opens. Everyone was spellbound-you could hear a pin drop. All eyes were on the stage as the new 600 series Mercedes Benz rises from the fog. I have NEVER seen something so amazing. What a way to introduce a car internationally. Aha....right place right time....again.

Making a long story short, my designer won and I assume launched her career in the Big Apple. I need to follow up with a friend I have in Nicaragua and see where she is.

YEEEEEHHHAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW continued

I got in this morning and sanded and recoated the desktops. Really lookin' good. Tomorrow will be the last coat then I'll install them in their locations in the reception room and my working office. I am waiting on the OK to start on production of a video about an artist friend of mine, Andy Thomas. Google him to see his work. He is amazingly talented and a nice guy besides. I'll keep you posted on the progress. It should be challenging and fun. Must get caught up-too much Aha and YEEEE Haaaaaaa... if you know what I mean. Later

Desk Tops

I varnished the desk tops this morning and they are fabulous. I couldn't ask for more....other than them being done. It looks like it will take one more sand and two more coats of varnish. They are just drop dead good lookin'. YEEEE HHAAAWWWW .

Well this weekend is the production time to get caught up. I went to Missouri yesterday to pick up the base for my reception room desk. I'll get the top to it and the top my production desk sealed this weekend. Both are American Black Walnut tops, three inches thick from a tree that I grew up with. It was in the side yard of the old home place and we lost it a year and a half ago. I took two 10 foot sections to a sawmill and had them slice them into 12 three inch thick sections. They have been drying for a year in a barn. I have always felt that I wanted to have some of that wood with me ever since I was a kid. It appears as though we may lose another one this year and I'll do the same with it. I'll post the pictures of how they turn out soon. Must go, have a great weekend.

Back to work...

I picked up the Tulsa World this morning and in the D section was yours truly talking in the Airstream...what a kick. The production company did say that I'll get a link to add to my blog so my readers can see the interview. I'll post it as soon as I get it from them.

I showed my client the previews of his Monday shoot and a selection was made. I did the finishing work, cropping, retouching, and the prints have been ordered. I generally wake up about 3:00 and start thinking about the business. It is this time of morning I solve problems, create new directions to go...generally work out the upcoming day. As mentioned before I was snot happy with the jewelry shots and this morning I figured out how to correct the problem. That will be the main efforts for the day.

Aha Moments cont.....

Well, it was great. I am somewhat nondirectional but in spite of myself I found the Ambassador Hotel. I actually had been there before and had a brief memory of the location. The Airstream was parked just south of the hotel and what a fine piece of machinery. Airstreams are objects of legend for the quality of manufacturing and just plain solid American spirit. This one had been custom made to function as a remote "Production Studio" and I'd sure arm wrestle someone for it. It was stunning as it sat sparkling in the bright sun, reflecting the Oklahoma blue sky.

I didn't really know what to expect although I've been producing short videos for years for commercial clients. We had the meet and greet and talked about Aha Moments. I have been fortunate to have several and I'm sure have not recognized some that I should have. My turn came up and I stepped onto the ramp to enter the mobile video domain of Mutual of Omaha. I guess that will be the closest I will ever come to a Luke Skywalker moment. I got seated and we started talking about my Aha's. The time zipped past and even though it was a brief encounter, although longer than Andy Worhal predicted, I had a blast. I talked of my wife and I and how we met, and other topics that I guess you'll have to see on the Aha Moments web page. It was just a real kick in the pants-a good time. Thanks Mutual of Omaha ! I had a great time.

Aha Moments...

Quite frankly I have never photographed jewelry in the digital format. There is a difference ! The quality of light records differently and adjustments must be made. My day today will be dedicated to solving the problem of the lighting. But, first things first..........

I would have never thought anyone was reading this blog....it's only about two weeks old....just a pup. Checking my email last week I got a note from Ashley from Skaddle Media, producers of Mutual of Omaha's " Aha Moments" campaign. ( Check them out at www.ahamoments.com...they are amazing. ) She had read the blog and asked me to talk to them on camera relating my "Aha moments" as part of a 25 city tour they have for the commercials for Mutual of Omaha. I have been so lucky and seem to have had a steady stream through the years of Aha's.....but who'd a thunk. I am elated with this opportunity. Everyone has Aha ,moments....you just have to recognise them. I must go.....to be continued.

Challenges....

As I said in my last post it's the Mayfest weekend. I met another artist, Sally Wade. (swadeworks@gmail.com) She is a jeweler from Tyler, Texas and makes some fine art......no pun intended. We talked for a while and hit it off. As usual cats and dogs were falling from the sky so the crowds weren't visible and we had time to really talk jewelry. ( It is almost like a Rite of Spring, Mayfest-rain and wind for the first day or so. ) I liked her style and she is a very nice person, we decided to photograph some of her work.

Jewelry is tough to photograph. I was in on the photographing of thousands of dollars of diamonds, rings, and other jewelry with Joe Bergeron at his studio in New Orleans on several occasions in the early 80's for his client Diamond Dealers Exchange, Phillip Gabriel Sr. Lighting is the key and getting there may take hours. However-once there it gets pretty easy with just minor tweaks for additional pieces.Sally has a "look" in mind for her work that she hopes will aid her in getting into more shows.

In many exhibitions for The Professional Photographers of America, Wedding Photographers International, and many state affiliations of these organizations there are guidelines for what they want to look at in terms of size, mounting, and density of the image. The prints are viewed in a dark room with lights that are actually pretty bright, and if not printed to these specifications, the prints look washed out. Sally does great work and needs great imagery to aid her into getting in to more shows. We set out on the road to success.....found a few more bumps than expected.

To be continued

Gone to Pot.....

This is the Mayfest weekend for Tulsa. Great artists gather and sell their wares to an art hungrey population. Tulsa is one of the great supporters of the art market and this event brings out some of the best.I met one of them this morning through a potter friend of mine, Brent Skinner. I' ve known Brent for years and he is a wildman from the word go.....and a great potter.His fried Dan Ishler creates some fantastic pots that are classical in shape and wood fired. This process results in Bisque ware which he then treats with different colorants and refires. Dan has done this professionally for years and has created a rather large following of collectors for his amazing pots. As an art major in college I took ceramics and used it in my regimen of nightly duties. Originally I was a printmaking and drawing major and would start the evenings off with the print room and get all "inked up" running proofs and finished prints. By 10:00 it was time to hit the pottery room and throw pots for a couple of hours to get my hands clean from the ink. About midnight I'd enter the darkroom with clean hands and generally work till 3:00 or so. Ed Albin, head of the Art Department, instructed the janitors to leave a room open so I could get in on the ground floor and crawl through a window to walk back to the dorm. It was during this period of time that I not only learned the qualities of processing and printing B&W prints, but also the magic of the early morning. On many occasions I would overextend my time in the darkroom and leave just before dawn. The magic of sounds and the smell of dew on the grass are memories I'll always treasure from my college days. Dan and I got together and photographed a few of his pots. It was a great test for the new studio and the lighting controls I have. It was a fun shoot.

Lucky Breaks continued...

Byron and I never made any films, but we had one heck of a good time trying to. He was primarily a writer and was able to research several stories and come up with some great scripts. They made the circuit in H land but no one took the bait. Through Byron though, I met the man that brought up the first gold off the Atocha
shipwreck. As part of his settlement with Fisher he received 11 treasure maps as part of his pay for his efforts in the operation. Byron had spoken with him about the possibilities of making a series on the recovery of the bounty from the wrecks. I met Byron in Hilton Head S.C. and we drove to Florida to meet with Rick, the mapman. While there he showed us a video that had been taken of his crew plotting and mapping an area that gave readings to the location of some metal under the sand. As expected as they dug below the waterline on the island the hole started to fill and they had to bring in sump pump to remove the water as the digging continued.Soon the pump quit and the digging had to stop so the pump could be taken in for repairs. The hole was filled up and all parties sworn to secrecy and a date was made to reconvene to start the dig again.Before the pump was returned Rick got a letter from the owner of the island telling him his lease was up and not to return to the island under the threat of arrest. Rick didn't go back, but through the Salvage rumor mill, the story was that one of the men went back and left the island with 10 "milk crates" full of silver. Byron and I were teething at the bit.

We then went outside to try to see what one of the metal locator instruments looked like and how it worked. It looked like a raygun from a zzzz grade 1950's Space Flick. I had never seen such a dumb looking device in my life. I was skeptical to say the least as Rick gave it to Byron to try out. He explained that it would "bump" when aimed in the direction of the metal showing the holder the location of the source. My BS O Meter was pegged out. Byron couldn't seem to feel any bump so he handed it to me.Gripping it I slowly waved it across Ricks backyard and just passing a tree I FELT A BUMP ! Tried it again and the same thing happened. We all walked to the tree and behind it was a pile of silver bars. The hook was set.

To fund the exploratory work on the series we needed money. We came up with the idea of having an auction in Atlantic City of Bounty taken from past sunken ships as there was great interest at the time due to the recovery of the Atocha. Byron lined it up and Rick got the other salvage people involved. We were to take a percentage of the total for our efforts. The night before the event a cocktail meet and greet was held at the casino for the prospective buyers and the salvage people with displays of coins and other bounty. The next afternoon people were milling around but as the auction started the crowd thinned. The sales were a bust and we barely made enough to cover the hospitality the night before. Byron called and told me the news....we had forgotten one small thing....we were dealing with PIRATES !! While the auction was going on in the Casino, the largest amount of booty was being sold out of car trunks in the parking lot !!! Live and learn...

Lucky Breaks...

I have always felt that you can guide your own destiny to some extent. In my situation for instance, I always have seemed to be in the right place at the right time, and sort of had the perception that I was. Be it creative awareness or constantly reaching out for opportunities, I seemed to have things fall in my lap. Everyone knows at least 100 people. Of these people, some are closer than others, and some may be in a related industry, or in a business that can use my services. Sometimes they don't put two and two together, but that doesn't mean that I haven't or shouldn't. I love my work, enjoy it immensely and I'm good about being able to "see" my subjects in a great light. I am always talking about possibilities with friends and clients and it has generated business in unexpected ways.

About 1977 a gentleman and a couple of kids came into the studio in Carthage and he asked me if I had any Ektachrome Tungsten film. Well, that made the antenna come up....That is a professional film and I asked him what he needed it for. He said he was going to California to take one of his daughters to college and might want to take some night time pictures...and "by the way, my name is Byron Morgan and I'm a film maker for NASA". I introduced myself and got him a roll of the film. We talked for a minute and he asked me where Morgan Heights was. He then added that it was named after a farm his grandfather had. That opened the door to more conversation and I closed the studio, gave them the tour of Carthage, showed them Morgan Heights, had lunch with them and sent them on their way. I didn't think that I would hear from them again but three months later Byron called....Will you come to Washington D.C. and photograph one of my daughters weddings. While there we hit it off well and formed Byron Morgan and Associates, a film Company.

To be Continued...

The "heat" amounted to the thought that my portraits weren't "Professional" as they were done outdoors. That was silly in my mind...it was a matter of viewpoint and as far as I was concerned, that was the end of the conversation. The issue at hand that they didn't see coming was the wind of change. The next year I did 11 seniors, the next 150, then the photographers that had been in town for years started folding i.e. retiring.

The new business I was looking for came in the area of "Commercial work" or Annual Report Photography, Product Photography, and Editorial work. My first big break came from Joplin Printing in Joplin Missouri. Teledyne Neosho needed a brochure showing their capabilities within the Jet engine rebuild areas. All of the images had to be shot in 4 x 5 transparencies and there were about 30 images in all, most of which were in the factory itself. I toured the facility with the plant President and the artist in charge of the design of the brochure. He told us what he wanted in terms of items shot and the artist and I discussed the pictorial viewpoint I would use. There were several considerations to take into account especially when shooting on location. The light source had to be compensated for, the time to shoot each shot would take in actual shooting time as the "line had to be shut down for the shot to be made. The lighting and set up could be done in regular time but the line couldn't be moving in the photographs. To stop the production cost thousands so I had to minimize the actual down time. Changing the 4 x 5 sheets of transparency film on location, "setting" each location scouring it to rid it of objectionable items such as trash, logos on clothes, tools out of place, etc. The shoot was a rounding success and the Brochure was fabulous. I had done an image of a number of machined engine gears that seemed to be floating in space that took an award from The Professional Photographers of Missouri/Commercial Division. This success led to years of assignments from Teledyne Neosho and started me off on a commercial career.

Senior Portraits

In 1972 I started opened my first Photographic studio in Carthage, Missouri after graduating from Grad School with my Masters degree. Up graduation I thought I would get a teaching job in Film or Still Photography and continue my fine art pursuits. Part of that interest was was fueled by the thought that if I was teaching on the college level I would have full access to a casting foundry, ceramics room, printmaking facilities, and welding supplies. 600 applications went out, 4 responses came back, all stating that with the cessation of the Draft, enrollments were down and positions were cut at the schools I had applied to.....there were no jobs. It became pretty clear that there was something I had to do.....create my own job. I had sworn up and down that I would NEVER own a studio......I had worked for Don Sothern in Springfield while in school and it just wasn't interesting enough to pursue as a life career. But in light of the employment circumstances, I figured I could do it for three or four years until the teaching market came back. As it all worked out, it has been the most amazing decision I could have made. Morgan Studio has opened doors for me that I would have never have dreamed of, giving me world travel, seeing things I thought I would never see, and the opportunity to meet people that I have admired from afar.

Part of the success of the business in the beginning was to be open to change and be knowledgeable about the capabilities of film and cameras. In the early 70's Digital was not a household word.....only scientific. The photographic studios of the time were mired in tradition and seemingly unable to change. The mood of the day, as the curtain was dropping on the late 60's, was to be natural, and your own person. I hated the studio style of portraits as they placed the individual/individuals in unlikely "poses", situations, and were very predictable. I felt as though I needed to do something different.

I had always enjoyed natural light and started photographing clients outdoors, or at their homes using window light. My first Senior portrait was Will Grey, photographed at the low falls at Morrow Mill. In fact, he was my only Senior portrait in 1972, "Class of 73". I took some heat from the other photographers in Carthage, there were three other studios, but I ignored it. I was looking for more business in areas they didn't pursue.

To be continued.....

Getting ready for Mondays session

I had forgotten how much paint a new floor takes to get where it isn't all sucked up into the wood.I painted on the 4th coat this morning as I have two sessions Monday.

The coving on the floor and walls is looking good. Isn't infinity great....

Architectual Issues in Imagery

Architectural assignments are challenging from several points, primarily because of the lighting involved and perspective control. Many images will be exteriors and throughout the day the light is always changing, as night settles the interior/exterior lighting ratios come into play. This creates a problem as to the decision that must be made as to the final " look" of the image, i.e. Day or Night. If shooting an interior the "color" of the interior light is important as it must match the daylight color temperature of the light filtering in through the windows, if there is any in the image. Without the balance of color temperature and intensity the image will look unnatural.

Perspective comes into play with the problem of parallax, which is the convergence of vertical and horizontal lines. Our eyes and mind take care of this problem by "correcting it" and, in fact, we don't seem to notice it until we see a corrected image. It looks right in person.....but we don't seem to notice when viewing it in "real Time" that the top of the building looks smaller than the base. Correction of the parallax issue, makes the lines converge in a linear way that creates a visual perspective that makes the buildings top as wide as the bottom giving us a false perspective look. Using PC lenses ( perspective control ), a view camera, or select software can correct this problem. Morgan Studio has all of the above solutions.

Commercial assignments..

I really enjoy the commercial side of the photographic profession. All jobs are different,in challenging locations, and always have a problem to solve. It may be the lighting, background treatment, amount of equipment needed to make the image, some of what may be specialized, or something that is unique to my vision and experience. I have found that people view all things differently generally based on their familiarity with the item. The first impression I get is seemingly always tied up with texture and color, then shape. The longer I am around an item the more I can understand it as to its function, but the first impression will almost always lead me to the final image. Of course this is also tied into the desire of the client as to what the image should say to the viewer.

I booked my first "in studio" session today, it is an Executive portrait and it will be fun.