So, imagine for a moment that Canon really does come out with a full frame  square sensor. Imagine it’s around 40mp. Now imagine putting that camera body digital back on a view camera and being able to use Rodenstock digital lenses (some of the sharpest and clearest lenses I’ve ever used). That would be sweet.

For architecture photography, this is not a great solution. The widest digital view camera lens is a 28mm and it’s very dark with not a lot of movement.

But, for food and product photography, this is a life saver. You can pick up a used Sinar pretty cheap and this adapter is about $1,870. It’s pretty inexpensive solution for high quality view camera system. The newer digital lenses though, are not cheap. I wonder if anyone’s done a shootout between older view camera lenses and newer ones.

Check out PDN’s Gear Guide post: New Sinar Mount Lets You Attach Digital SLR to View Camera Body.

It was a really great experience and I hope everyone who took the workshop got something out of it. It was certainly great for me to go back to all the basics and refresh my memory. As they say, “The best way to learn something is to teach it.”

Here is a PDF of the presentation I gave at the start of the class. I thought it would be worth sharing

Download (PDF, 2.68MB)

However, in most of these cases, pricing photography “by the day” is a dysfunctional system, and not in the interests of the photographer or the client. There’s an inherent conflict when a photographer is compensated in inverse proportion to her productivity. The more photographs she produces, the less she is paid for each of them. Any photographer’s natural motivation will be to produce enough work to satisfy the expectations of the client, and no more. That is no way to run a business.”

by Jess Dudley

via A Photo Editor – Real World Estimates – Pricing Photography for Image Libraries.

NPPA: Cost of Doing Business Calculator

Funny story about this doughnut: I was on assignment for American Airlines in flight magazine, American Way, and part of the assignment was to shoot Voodoo Doughnuts. I was trying to shoot an interior of the downtown location, but it happened to be during Spring Break. The place was totally mobbed and had to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get inside. If you’ve never been to the downtown Voodoo Doughnuts, it’s about the size of dorm room. Getting a clean, travel-esque, interior photo is nearly impossible when the place is empty. It was just ludicrous to even try with the place packed shoulder to shoulder with high school kids.

I did what I could and then asked for a couple doughnuts to shoot as backup.This shot is the one they picked to run and I’m really happy they did. I mean, look at this thing! This shot makes me want to go to Voodoo Doughnuts every time I look at it.

And yes, I did eat it after I shot it. It was sooooo worth it.

p.s.: Props to PhotoShelter for creating their rad WordPress plugin. So if you like this shot, you can buy a copy of it by clicking on the photo. Word.

iRelease helps transform your old paper model release forms into information you can use. This powerful cloud based mobile application, in combination with its sophisticated ‘Live Syncing’ online account, organizes your forms into an easy to use and robust online filing system. It’s just a simple three step process, type in the models details, get them to sign the screen, take their photo, and then the device takes over from there. It automatically creates a complete model release from, saves a copy to your device and syncs the form to your online account. You can even email a PDF directly from the application. Its quick & easy, and it does the heavy lifting for you!

via iRelease.

Took my first crack at shooting video this past week. I’ve been toying around with the 5D Mark II’s video mode since I got the camera last year. It was neat, but I really didn’t have much interest in it

I’m starting to believe that fate exists. About five and half years ago, my wife and I were visiting Portland to decide if we wanted to move here from Virginia. Both of us love eating out and breakfast is one of my favorite meals. If we were going to relocate to Portland, it better have a good place to go for eggs, waffles, and pancakes seven days a week.  Looking through a tour guide, Besaw’s had exactly what we were looking for and so we went. It was absolutely delicious and we knew then that moving to Portland was going be alright.

Around the same time that we were having our first Portland breakfast, a young woman named Cana Flug had just become the new owner of the 105 year old establishment. Already famous for its breakfast, over the next five years, she breathed new life into the restaurant and grew their dinner scene into one of the best night spots in Portland.

Then through an interweaving thread of shoots, people, and connections, I get a call from Cana looking for new photography of their food and dinner scene. I can’t tell you how excited I was. I love this place and I love their food and it was truly a joy to shoot. Hope you enjoy the photos and if you’re ever in town, go to Besaw’s. Go three times, because everything is so good there.

Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I did making them.