Where the Hell Have I Been? The 52 Project, and More.

Right, so, the past month hasn't exactly been the kindest to me, stress-wise, but now I feel a little more on-track, focused, and ready to get back out doing what I do best. What happened? Employers, wishy-washy clients, and an overload of "pro bono" work finally got the best of me when it came to working up some blog posts. And though they may not have the same tech-junkie tone to them, I assure you they're still coming from the same overly-opinionated guy. ^_^

So what's new? No I'm not talking about photography news, there's plenty of other outlets for that; this post is going to be fairly egocentric, so let's get to it. New in my life this past month: more individual freedoms as to Mat Marrash Photography, the purchase of a film camera, and the considerable slowing-down of my photographic processes. Yes, that's right, a film camera; and not just any film camera, the medium format legend, the Hasselblad 500C.

My "New" Hasselblad 500C, Fantastic Camera, Stunning Imagery!For starters, yes, this camera is old. It is, in fact, six years older than my mother (and probably better condition since it hasn't had two kids :p ). Why would any rational, tech-minded person do such a thing? Simple reasoning, there's nothing I can find for less than $10k in the digital world that comes close to the feeling I get when I see the big, beautiful 2 1/4" negatives that come out of this camera. So what does this new addition to my photo lineup mean to you, the readers? It means two things, firstly that yes, I will be talking about how much film is aiding my lifelong study of photography, and secondly, that the photos you see from now on will be a mix of film and digital, with a stronger emphasis on quality over quantity. This baby only gets 12 shots per roll of 120 film, and with two film backs, I've got 24 shots to get something good before a 2-3 minute down period of speed reloading. Quite a drastic change from the 1D Mark II which doesn't even fill it's buffer until 26 frames have gone through, a 3.25 second process.

A random but adorable Pembroke Welsh Corgi at Findlay's Riverside ParkNow onto the processing aspects of film, or total lack-there-of. The image you see to your right has had NO processing, only cropped from how it was scanned; hell, there's even some scratches and dust because I was too excited to get these things online! Why should I care that there's no processing involved? The past two years of my photographic life have been spent worrying about a suitable editing workflow. JPEGs and RAWs out of camera just have no chance of looking like this! Even with the help of some store-bought presets, there's a good chance this look can't be achieved without considerable effort, time, and extra money. And as of lately, these are things I'm finding I have less and less of. It's relieving and equally terrifying that all I have to do is finish a roll, mark it, and send it off to the lab, (now if I can find a lab that doesn't terrify me with the consistency of their results).

So film is slower, not instantaneous, and every single aspect of the camera is manual, what is there to like about film? Exactly that, slowing down is the key. I thought it would take longer to happen, but I'm sick of going to a sporting event with reasonable expectations of coming back with several hundred images, only to cull down to the first hundred. It feels cold, sloppy, and frankly, unprofessional. I've always liked to be more deliberate with my images, and 12 shots to get a keeper or two sounded right up my alley. Little did I know my keeper rate would be much higher than the 10-20% I've been used to with digital. Here's some examples from my first two rolls of film through the Hasselblad 500C. 11/24 isn't bad, especially considering that the first roll was improperly wound, resulting in another 3 keepers that just wouldn't scan properly due to inadequate negative spacing >__<.

What good can come from slowing down, spending less time on digital, and more time on film? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure, but I hope that with a good year of consistently trying it, something cool is bound to happen. Enter "The 52 Project"

Over the next 52 weeks, I plan on:

1. Shooting at least 1 roll of 120 film per week.
2. Processing the film at a lab for the first 10 weeks, then by hand.
3. Scanning and uploading at least 3 images from each roll to Flickr.
4. Updating the Blog on my progress of The 52 Project.

It's a hefty order, but I'm up to the challenge and will start with the postings next week! Technically, I've already got enough finished rolls to cover me for the next 2 weeks, but I'll be fair and try to have genuinely new stuff for each week. Personally, I like the idea of a 365 challenge, but with the nature of film, processing, scanning, etc., it seems a little more reasonable to have results for once a week rather than every day.

For those wondering if I'll still have other content besides The 52 Project, of course I will! It may not be as frequent, but there's already some blog posts on the back burner and I plan on having a lot of nicely spaced content throughout the next month or so. So stay tuned, things are going to get VERY interesting!

Put down the camera Uncle Bob.

It's no news that "everyone's a photographer", but over the past several months (years for most professionals), it's getting just plain ridiculous.  Dads at soccer games with Nikon D3's and 300 f/2.8's, chaperones at prom with Canon 5D Mark II's and fast primes, and uncle Bobs at weddings rockin' R-straps and Fong-spheres.  Are hobbyists ever going to draw the line and just stop trying to compete in the professionals' market?

For those who're reading this and scratching their heads a bit, let's start from the beginning.  A long-long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,(or about 2002), the professional photography world was starting to look toward the innovations that digital photography was bringing them. Popular 35mm camera manufacturers were starting to come out with higher resolution, more rugged digital bodies, and the medium format world was already starting to acknowledge the advantages of 25+ megapixel tethered capture. Many large volume, lower cost photography operations such as the one I work for were also starting to migrate, and even starting to utilize the power of the internet for their marketing and sales strategies. But a strange thing happened alongside this boom in professional volume; consumers who'd before not had access to high end film labs and expert developers now could rely on their personal computer to process images. This continuity between professionals and consumers has only increased with the larger scale by which digital photography has propagated itself into the digital lifestyle. What used to be a startup cost of several thousands of dollars could almost be had for several hundred. Image processing that used to cost up to $15 per roll of film could be had for the one time value of a memory card plus software.

This is Bob, at this particular event, it was the Father of the Bride!Add a few years of technology and about a few million emerging pro-sumers/ professionals to the mix, and you can see where there might start to be a problem. Let's not forget to include the plethora of image hosting sites that offer everyone FREE service (Flickr , SmugMug , Photobucket , to name a few). Wow, photography's not looking so bad now is it? This is exactly the thought which is catapulting thousands and thousands of otherwise normal, hardworking moms, dads, aunts, and uncles into the photography market. And who could blame them, right? Well, let's first lump "them" into a persona we can all identify with. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Uncle Bob.  And sorry Uncle Bob, but I can blame you! If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to ask you a few questions:

(I'm going to spend the rest of this post referring directly to Uncle Bob and those like him, so please bear with the aggressive statements that follow. ^_^ )

Question #1 - Wow, that's a nice new (insert DSLR here) Uncle Bob, so why are you here?

Truth is, you're not here because you want to be, you're here for what you think is saving you money in the long haul. "Oh my God," you thought, "there's no way I'm paying $10 for a 4x6 of my niece/nephew!" Or "Why would you pay $3000 for someone to photograph your wedding? I could buy my own gear for half that and shoot it as a wedding gift!"

Question #2 - Just what part of your little "investment" is saving you money?

Truth is, it isn't! Even though today's entry level DSLR's are cheap by professional standards, they're still at least a couple hundred bucks. That's not even including the mountain of accessories you may feel compelled to buy to look "professional".  And what happens if you manage to damage your gear in the midst of playing the pro? That's right, you eat even more of the cost. Let's not even consider the fact that you might be doing  weddings without the reassurance of backup equipment, good insurance, and good contract/lawyer.

Question #3 -  Furthermore, what part of this is saving you any of the time/hassle?

Uncle Bob, you already have a day-job. Why needlessly add more hours of work for something that's going to offer you little/no return, especially when there's probably already a professional on the job? Don't think it takes time? Consider travel time, shooting,  post processing, and uploading. Even with very little of all four, I know I'd rather spend a majority of that time not shooting for free.

Question #4 - Do you even really know what you're doing with your gear?

If your answer is no, I admire your honesty, but go ahead and add education to your totals for cost and time. If your answer is yes, why are you always standing behind/around me when I'm trying to take a shot at a job I'm being paid to do?

Am I being a tad overzealous on this topic? Hell Yes. Why? Because I'm sick of showing up to sporting events where I know I'm going to see more mom's with Canon 7D's than those with snacks for the players.  It's just plain rude to be constantly bumped by a random dad's monopod whilst he's creeping right behind me on the football sidelines.

So what can I as a pissed-off professional do to quash this onslaught of Uncle Bobbing? Why I can dress in bright colored clothing and passively ruin Bob's shot, just what any other mature adult would do. Honestly, it usually never comes to that, but as a preventative measure, I always have sassy-colored clothing on hand just in case. Don't believe me? Well, I wouldn't want to be called a liar. Just check out this Flickr set of an Uncle Bob's volleyball shots:

Wow, Uncle Bob certainly did take a lot of pictures ^o^

 Not only are the .jpeg's he's posting for free unprocessed, ill color-balanced, and often out of focus, you can probably see me in every single one of them. I usually never follow up on Uncle Bobs, but I just couldn't help myself. ^_^

Bottom line Uncle Bob, put down the camera and enjoy your life. There are already people being paid much less than you think to waste their time at your kid's game, wedding, or other drawn-out event. And if you're really in it for the love of photography, start off small, at home, or maybe while traveling. But if you're polite, respectful, and not planning on undercutting my territory, I'd be glad to help a fellow enthusiast out. Happy shooting Uncle Bob, please just don't interrupt my day job to ask what the heck ISO is.



A Bloggin' We Will Go

It looks as though the time has finally come. As social media are stretching my web presence thin, I might as well conform a little more and create a gateway to them all. But first, a few ground rules:

• If you're looking for inspiring and original writing, this blog is not for you.
• I will not be a regular. I'll try for weekly posts, but no promises otherwise.
• This is not for those that are bandwidth shy; there will be many images.

Still interested in following along? I'd be glad to have you. This is my first online journal/blog/social media compilation, so any thoughts/comments provided will be much appreciated.