Colleen and Todd Engagement from Orange Portrait Photography on Vimeo.

Colleen and Todd Engagement session at Fullerton Arboretum. Shot and edited by Lukasz Globisz.

Colleen + Todd Engagement

Only 75 days left to graduation!!!

Western Michigan University received a $100-million dollar donation this week to start a medical school.
The University President says the anonymous donations is one of the largest cash gifts to a U.S. university. An unidentified donor in 2009 pledged $1.8-million dollars which also went to the medical school. Western Michigan expects to open their medical school in the fall of 2013 or 2014.  
More about this story here.

Wow!! Now that the biggest donation to a US university since 2004. Shots above of CSUF Alumnus, Jonathan A Gordon at our studio in Orange.

The Castro Family - Thank you!

Personal Training

Exercise at least 30 minute a day....at least that's what these guys say we all should do.  Jim is one of the best personal trainers I have known. He is also a very disciplined athlete himself and with his reasonable diet and exercise every day he is a fine example of how one can stay in good physical shape. Jim works at local LAFitness. Here training with Natalie.

Remington 5

Two shots of the same Remington 5. These photographs are 10 years apart in time and technology used. D3X with 45mm PC lens and Exposure 3 in PS5, Cambo Legend with 135mm Linhof f5,6 and Polaroid 79 film.

Perspective

My thoughts go to Japan, the people of Japan, especially a couple of friends I used to work with in London. Tragic events like the one in Japan often put our lives in a different perspective. Photo above: Anaheim Hills, California, 2011.

MSF (Doctors without Borders) Response to Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

Sophie Marie

Victor Bruno

dog day

Cost of street parking in Laguna Beach: 4 quarters. Making your dog that happy: priceless!!!

Four Sisters

Check out these gorgeous sisters that booked our studio for the signature portrait. Colette, Rochelle, Carissa and Andrea were all super fabulous.  Andrea who came all the way from Florida for that shoot. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you again.

Apple's Joint Venture has just been launched and it just happened that in my local Brea, CA Apple store I became their first "Guinea Pig", and quite a happy one I must say! Yeah, I am one of those hopeless believers addicted to Apple products but for me the bottom line is that those are the tools and I need them for my work.

The less they break and the faster the service the better, right? As far as the quality is concerned Apple proved themselves successful. Service is way above average, true. However, due to it's high demand it is kind of hard to line up behind a large crowd of customers with their shiny iMacs, craving for more memory or with laptops in desperate need for some complicated upgrade. It can be a full day off your studio/work and if you are like me - I don't have an assistant - you end up loosing a day of your work.

But now there is a solution. Joint Venture lets you register 5 systems with their peripheral devices such as iPads or iPhones and have over the phone support, which if needed reserves a special genius appointment that as a follow up for your over the phone tech support. Example? I need to pin point a problem with a graphic card that is not suitable for my work (this is a very gentle way of saying that something in your Mac simply broke down), so I log in to my account, book a genius call and wait. I get a phone call from Scott over at Apple's Cupertino and of course he comes up with a solution. We run some tests and follow up the next day - Apple calls on time! My replacement part gets ordered and two hours later I pick it up in my local store. Joint Venture works for me, at least this time it has. Cost: $499 for a year for 5 systems. What? Too much? Think what would any photographer do with a day of work, especially with a deadline on your calendar and think again.

Additionally, by joining this program you may take advantage of complimentary education at the Genius Bar 3 times for 2 hours each time with a maximum of 8 employees per each session. Not bad.

Here's some more about it

and a link to Apple's Join Venture site

On a personal not I would like to thank Chris Diaz of Apple brea Store for his top notch service help.

2011 Spring Special

Orange Portrait Photography 2011 Spring Special: Book our Venice Wedding Package between today (International Women's Day!) and March 31, 2011 and get this amazing hand made 4x6 proof box that can hold up to 400 prints, complimentary of our studio. Contact our studio for consultation or to book a date for your wedding now, or refer a friend and receive up to $100 in gift certificates! 714-639-3688

Here is a you tube video from this year's WPPI. Thanks for all the help and work Maria!

We are in Brides Magazine

This is our ad in Brides Southern California Edition. Thank you Josh and Jenn. It was a beautiful day. We wish you all the best and hope to hear from you again!

Check out our online profile with Brides.com.

ASMP - Photographers! Your action is required!

This is a note I received yesterday from the American Society of Media Photographers. Please take a moment to read this and act now, especially if you make your living as a photographer:

You may have heard that the U.S. Copyright Office is in the process of hiring a new Register of Copyrights. The former Register of Copyrights, Marybeth Peters, retired in December, and Maria Pallante has been appointed to be the Acting Register of Copyrights during the search process. For more information about the Register of Copyrights and Maria Pallante, read this press release.
The Copyright Alliance (of which ASMP is a member) has been engaging in many discussions with Maria about the important role that the Copyright Office plays in our society, and how all creators rely on the Copyright Office to be a strong advocate for artists’ rights. The Alliance and ASMP have also encouraged the Office to select a candidate that has an appreciation of the history of copyright, a deep understanding of copyright law, and strong commitment to the principles of copyright enacted by Congress and interpreted by Courts.
Eugene Mopsik, ASMP’s executive director, met directly with Ms Pallante a few weeks ago. He briefed her on ASMP’s views on the issues that photographers face. Now, it is your turn to share your own views.

Share Your Thoughts

Maria Pallante is giving creators a unique opportunity to provide the Copyright Office with thoughts from artists about the important role of copyright and the Copyright Office in our society.
Lucinda Dugger, the Copyright Alliance’s Director of Outreach, will be compiling all of the input into one document and passing it on to Maria. So, please send her your thoughts by Monday, March 14, 2011.
I know you are busy, but a sentence or two (or more) from you would be most helpful. So, if you feel so inclined, please follow these simple steps:

• Jot down your ideas. You may want to comment on:
  
  • The importance of copyright in your life;
  • That it is important for the Copyright Office to hire someone who is willing to understand and advocate for the creative community.

• Remind the Copyright Office that the viewpoints and actions of pro-piracy groups affect creation, innovation, and the economy. Tell the Office that you disagree with these groups who:
  
  • Seem to represent illegal downloaders;
  • Advocate that all artists should give their works away for free (and find another way to make money);
  • Oppose practical piracy solutions from the creative community;
  • Insist that consumers’ opinions on artists’ rights are more important than creators’ perspectives on artists’ rights.

• Also include your name, your profession, city, state, and — if it is okay for the Copyright Office to contact you directly — your email address or other contact information.
• Email your thoughts to Lucinda Dugger at ldugger@copyrightalliance.org.
• Meet the deadline of Monday, March 14, 2011.

Thanks for taking a moment to weigh in on this important issue. It is important that the voice of the entire creative community be heard. Please feel free to spread the word of this request.

-----end of note-------

I encourage all professional photographers to support ASMP by joining it. They provide education, legal support, help pros get software at discounted prices and connect professionals in the industry. My ASMP profile can be viewed here

Snow Storms

Some winter! It still snows like crazy in Nebraska and Kansas and it is pretty snowy in Denver and Utah. I am so glad my family is finally enjoying the sun and warm weather in Silesia, Poland. Weather forecast for Europe: sunny, 6 degrees Celcius on an average (42F) with a little bit of rain in Spain. Enough for the weather. This shoot was for my friend's beautiful daughters: Melita and Olivia. It snows in Southern California, but only in Big Bear City and Orange Portrait Photography studio.

Profoto with Chimera Shallow light bank on top, Profoto strip soft box and beauty dish on front two sides. D700 with 45mm 2.8 PC-E,  24-70mm 2.8ED, the best assistant in the world (Izabela, my wife) with a Zebra-White California Sunbounce in front, old window pane - Orange Circle Antique shop district in Old Towne Orange, fake snow flakes from Michael's, two very happy and cooperative models wearing GAP, some weather unrelated sneezing. Gesuntheit!

My kids are all right - 7D test from Orange Portrait Photography on Vimeo.
This is a footage I shot on a Sunday morning while taking photos of our children with my wife. We pulled out our film cameras: a Hassi, 6x7 Pentax and a Mamiya, plus a bunch of 120 and 220 negatives and shot pictures for a Blurb.com book project. Sorry for my bad camera and focus work but I had no redrock or assistant to pull my focus. No stabilization either. Shot wine open with a 35mm 1.4L. No pro res 444 conversion, just basic export. Sound from 7D built in. Sound track from Apple garage loops. The book can be seen here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2006513

And the photos from that morning can be seen here.

Books that inspire me: "River of No Return", Photographs by Laura Mc Phee

Alturas Foundation selected artist Laura McPhee as its initial Artist-in-Residence in 2003. Ms. McPhee worked during the next two years in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, capturing images that address Americans' conflicting ideas about landscape and land use, and our values about our relationship to the natural world. From May through September 2006, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, featured her Idaho work in "River of No Return", an exhibition of forty 6' X 8' contemporary photographs from more than eighty she created during her Alturas residency. Recently, Yale University Press published a collection of the Idaho images also entitled River of No Return, which features an introduction by poet laureate Robert Haas. 

 

Source: Alturas Foundation

My personal note on this: you don't really need to go beyond your back yard or your neighborhood to produce great images. In fact someone said once that a great deal of learning about any process is action.  I often catch myself dreaming about distant assignments. All those remote places waiting for Mr. Slav and to be explored. How pathetic! The truth lies in hard work spread along a period of systematic and hard work.  I am going to pretend I did not write this note, of course. As it is often the case, we are great at giving advice but not necessarily at implementing those ideas in our own lives. And for all of you macho photographers with big cameras: check out Laura McPhee and her big 8x10. Great book. Stunning, poetic images.

The Impossible Project

A very interesting project has been launched recently in the US. The Impossible Project is aimed at preserving what is left after Polaroid decided to drop the production of it's instant films. A group of young entrepreneurs got together and bought the old Polaroid factory plant,  some of the instant film production machines and chemical process lines and launched a new instant monochrome film in the famous SX70 and Spectra camera formats.

Those instant films are not for everyone, though. If you are still into shooting film and look for a reliable way of testing before taking the final exposure I would suggest Fujifilm FP 100C instant film for 4x5 cameras. It is a great product especially if teamed with Fuji's Provia f100 used for the final exposure. The images above and the Impossible Project should give you an idea of what I mean here. PZ and PX are fantastic for experimenting with the medium but not stable enough to be a reference. One should not confuse it with the project's original intention. A big thank you to Fuji, by the way, for continuing to manufacture their instant films. Polaroid on the other hand is more about Lady Gaga than serious tools for artists and pros these days. Pop culture uber alles!

Coming back to the Impossible Project I started using PZ and PX Silver Shade monochrome instant film this past Fall. The examples I am posting here are part of my little, private project with a working name:"Objects of the past".

Check out the Impossible Project website and their gallery of images. I was told the new shop in Berlin is a very interesting place to pay a visit. More and more people are turning to new (old) disciplines of photography. Polaroid, or instant photography is the purest of them all in my personal opinion.

I am hoping to publish a book of my polaroids on Blurb this Spring. If you are serious about trying your luck in instant photography be sure to read a book by uncle Ansel Adams: "Polaroid Land Photography", New York graphic Society 1963. Some of the tips regarding the handling of these fragile and unique films are invaluable. Finally, one more publication to check out: The Polaroid Book, published by Taschen - worth looking at....or go to a local shop and get a Fuji Instax Mini camera and start taking instant photos tomorrow! Haiku photography is fun!

Paul, Scott and Dave of Goodman, Dicus & Teinert,  LLP, a successful Law firm from Orange that has recently relocated to the Old Town Orange. I had the privilege of doing head shots for them. More can be seen by clicking here.

Wedding Destination - Catalina Island

Exploring new wedding destinations with a good friend of mine - Marek. I keep my fingers crossed as he is passing his type rating exams to start his new job for a commercial airline. Despite the clouds we safely landed on what is known in the US as of the the three most difficult airports (Sedona, and Big Bear are the other two) to land. The island is a gem. On a clear day I can see it from the top of a hill next to my house in OC, but to fly to Avalon is certainly something completely different. Because of automobile restrictions on the island the waiting period to get a car permit is.....18 years. Fantastic wedding destination only one hour from LA. Thank you Louie of Du Bois Aviation for taking care of us on that day! More about the island's history here.