Jay Watson Photography Blog

Our Only Summer Swell

Jay Watson — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:13:36 +0000

There was only one swell that hit Northern California this past summer. All the others were over hyped or they just passed right on through. A few magic days came to Santa Cruz starting on July 24th. The swell arrived on a Thursday evening and by Tuesday morning it was long gone. There were some other waves this past summer, but nothing like those special 4 days in July. I finally got a chance to go over my edits this weekend. Here are two gems from the last few mysterious hours of our only summer swell. “Forget it kid, they’re ghosts.”

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Summer Swell, Capitola, CA © Jay Watson Photography.

About the shoot: Fog causes noise. Embrace what you can not control.

Goodbye Mr. Penn

Jay Watson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:23:25 +0000

Irving Penn (June 16, 1917–October 7, 2009) lived to be 92.

photo by Irving Penn

“Beautiful and boring,” wrote New Yorker magazine’s Janet Malcolm in a review of an exhibit of the butts at the Museum of Modern Art in 1975.

“He considered himself a workman,” said photography historian Diana Edkins, a former curator of photography for Conde Nast Publications, including Vogue, now with Aperture Press. “His uniform was his way of saying, ‘I may be king of fashion photography but I’m not going to play that game.’ “

His unfailing courtesy and formidable reputation elevated him to a level generally saved for legendary figures in the arts. By mid-life most people who knew him called him, “Mr. Penn” as a show of supreme respect.

from the LA times Oct 7, 2009

Oyster shell. photo by Irving Penn

Hells Angles, San Francisco 1967. photo by Irving Penn

Goodbye Mr. Penn

Inked Magazine: Dead To Me

Jay Watson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:25:34 +0000

Now on the newsstands is the October issue of Inked Magazine featuring a spread I shot of the San Francisco punk band Dead To Me. Members Ian, Chicken, and Nathan are signed to Fat Wreck Chords and were 3 of the nicest chaps to photograph. They were awfully good sports about hiking around the wretched hobo-smelling sand dunes of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. It was also windy and cold, but the guys just cracked jokes and were stoked to be in Inked. Me too. Big shout to my homie and long time SF music photographer Jeremy Harris on this one.

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Outtake portraits from left to right: Ian (drums), Chicken (vocals & bass), and Nathan (guitar & vocals).

My selection for the band’s group shot.

Inked Mag selection for the group shot.

Note about the shoot: San Francisco’s dunes are a unique gem for city residents, but you would never know this is a “protected” area. We ran into some diplomat sleeping in a nest stocked with cardboard, dirty socks, and an empty bottle of Mad Dog. What time is the dinner party Sir Henry?

Group Art Show • Shooting Gallery • Sept 26th

Jay Watson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:37:10 +0000

This Sat I will have (2) 8″ X 12″ pieces in a group art show at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco. The Hell’s Belles Car Club will be hosting the 4th Annual Pinewood Derby Car Races & Art Auction Saturday, Sept 26th 6:00pm at the Shooting Gallery. Proceeds will benefit the Bay Area Women & Children’s Center SF. One of the pieces I am showing is from a collaboration with artist and hombre Brian Bounds from Autoculture. Thanks to Jamie O’Keefe for the invite.

• Free admission
• Silent Art Auction
• Pinewood Derby races
• Awards for fastest car & best in show

Saturday, September 26th: doors at 6 p.m, races at 8 pm

Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 931-8035

Rodeo de Driscoll part 1

Jay Watson — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:36:45 +0000

A photographer that you know of likes to shoot rodeos. These are events that happen in quick movements and at great speed.

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Loot From Lexar

Jay Watson — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:03:14 +0000

Since 2004 I have been a pseudo sponsored photographer by Lexar which means they hook me up with a little gear. Andrew Rodger and Alex Wile run Lexar’s Pro Corner and were kind enough to update my Lexar profile last week and send me some kit. Thank you Lexar, Andrew, and Alex! Very appreciated!

Freshly opened: New UDMA firewire 800 card reader and 8GB UDMA x300 CF card. This combo = super fast downloads. My older firewire reader was cranky but the new pro version is built much better. The cards snap into place for a safer connection.

Less spaghetti. The shorter firewire 800 pigtail is a nice option for the laptop. The total card count is now up to 26 GB (not including the 2GB mystery card in the camera).

War stories: I secretly would love to proclaim my success rate with digital storage media. However I don’t want to spoil a good streak, and I know accidents can happen at any time. So here is what I will share…I have had film ruined from heat, entire rolls scratched by (roller transport) labs, incorrectly processed by labs, bent and folded by (dip and dunk) labs, lost by clients, and ruined by airport X-ray machines. My least favorite story to tell you is how I once casually walked into a lab and saw my naked film draped across the counter without any sleeve or protection. You can laugh… it gets better. The front door was wide open, the wind was blowing, and nobody was behind the counter! Thank you for shopping! Needless to say, scanning and removing all that dirt was a chore and of course they never received my lunch money again.

2009 International Photography Awards

Jay Watson — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:54:25 +0000

The 2009 International Photography Award winners were announced this week. A gallery of work from the finalists in each category can be seen here: International Photography Awards. Some of my favorite entries are below.

Fine Art: Francois Robert “Stop The Violence”
Brilliant iconography of symbols to create a strong message without a single word.

•••

Editorial/Sports: Julian Abram Wainwright, Viet Na: “Freefall”
How did he do this? Julian Abram makes Olympic divers look like dancers and turns sports photography into high art.

•••

People/Culture: Rachel Papo, United States: ” Serial No. 3817131″
Guns, cell phones, and youth. Papo’s photo essay covers teenage Israeli girls who are required to serve for 2 years in the military.

•••

Deeper Perspective: Yann Gross, Switzerland: “Kitintale Skates”
Ugandan skateboarders who skate and destroy.

•••

Editorial/Environmental: Ed Kashi, United States: “Oil in the Niger Delta”
I got to meet Ed Kashi last year when he spoke in SF about his work. His dedication to photography is exceptional. Ed’s documentation on “Oil in the Niger Delta” is extremely important. I would use the word powerful, but that goes without saying. When I say “important” I mean that more people need to know about this and the whole story. The best photojournalists go after stories that other media outlets have ignored. This is unfortunate for the people of Niger’s Delta, who Ed has clearly proven could use some political help.

• • • • •

It looks like I missed out again this year as a finalist but I have grabbed a few more honorable mentions. Although the honorable mentions have not been posted yet, the IPA sent me emails last week confirming the results for some of my entries. I will post the details once their official announcement is made. Once again, nice to participate. Contests are not really that important, but a little recognition is sweet.

I am a fan of the IPA. The founder, Hossein Farmani and his staff are people who have a huge respect for photography. While it may appear the IPA has a category for every genre of photography that exists plus a few extra, this allows for more images to be submitted (more work for the judges), more competition (better work), and more winners. The amount of entries has grown exponentially over the years making the IPA one of the more prestigious competitions, and they kindly acknowledge the work of both professional and non-professional photographers. Check out the link above and get inspired!

Tutorial: Diptychs in Lightroom

Jay Watson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:32:57 +0000

Here is a video tutorial on how to build diptychs in Adobe Lightroom. I was hit with a few emails asking about how this is done, and wanted to share some of my discoveries and workarounds. Man, I wish I had something like this years ago. Cumulatively I have wasted years doing this in Quark (cough!) and PhotoShop (time suck). Finally there is a super fast and intuitive way for photographers to put multiple images together on a page. Your money also gets you additional tips on custom sizing, exporting, and archiving your finished diptychs.

Tutorial: Diptychs in Adobe Lightroom from Jay Watson on Vimeo.

This is the first tutorial shared on this blog, and it feels incredibly geeky of me to post a software demo. Maybe I am paying back the world for all the free demos I have viewed online. Whatever the truth is behind this demo, PLEASE set me straight. If you dig it, share the link. If it is wack, let me know so I can put effort towards other things log cabin building.

1964′ Impala. Mounted On Wood

Jay Watson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:36:37 +0000

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Another photo illustration on wood I finished last week. This was originally intended to go to an art auction last month in Hawaii to raise money for Habilitat, a substance abuse center in Oahu. However, I ran out of time and sent two other pieces to meet their deadline. The annual Habilitat luau is one of the largest luaus in Hawaii, and this was the 5th year I have contributed (Pineapple’s second year) art for their silent auction. More than $175K was raised for the program at this year’s luau. The residents at the center are incredibly kind and appreciative to the contributing artists. They check in with me all the time, and often call just to say “mahalo.”

Now that my work has been to Hawaii 5 times, it is time for it to go to Japan. Camera and photographer available.

Tazio Nuvolari Had Advice For You

Jay Watson — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 00:14:41 +0000

I have saved this newspaper clipping from the LA Times for 10 years, and cut it out from a story when I was getting the paper delivered daily when I first moved to California. Think I would have kept it at all if it only existed online? Wish I had a chance to photograph Nuvolari. Sounded like an interesting guy.

LA Times Newspaper clipping circa 1999, photo: Jay Watson

Tazio Nuvolari was born on November 16, 1892. He had 46 major road victories. Prior to auto racing, Nuvolari won the 35o cc motorcyle European Grand Prix in 1925, and was a Nations Grand Prix winner 4 times. Nuvolari was left partially paralyzed from a stroke in 1952. Ironically he died in bed a year later from a second stroke at the age 60 on August 11, 1953.