Hey, look, it’s Mr. Bernhard Thielen’s excellent NewsSpot app for Google Reader featured there, with my icon work. Mmm. Feels good. Also, still an excellent app. If you’ve made the jump to what I’m convinced is the only mobile platform actually built on solid design theory, why not pick up a copy? It’s worth the coin (and, I don’t get a cut, so, this isn’t some shameless shill just to line my own pockets here, I designed the icon for Bernhard because I think his company was doing good work and wanted to support that.).

As I’m working  on the new design for ZmZ here, I found the various other drafts and revisions and put together a quick and basic timeline of the site’s evolution over the past four years. I find it interesting. That is all.

Full-size huge version without the fancybox via the external link.

Hey everyone. Remember when I did those cast photos for my friends, local theatre start-up EclecticPond Theatre Co (ETC)? Well, I’ve been up to those same tricks, this time doing a fair amount of photo work for their next performance, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Ironically put on in winter. oh well, warm thoughts, yeah?

Anyway, they were, as always, lovely people. Lots of new cast this time, but a few familiar faces in the mix. And, as always, I encourage everyone in the Indianapolis area to get out and support these guys and local theatre. This show will run Feb 10-11, 17-18, and 24-25. Hit the link below all the pretty pictures to learn more on their website.

The graph pretty much says it all, but here are some bonus facts as we approach five years of me having worked in digital:

• I have shot between 18,986 and 19,686 frames using 3 different DSLRs
• Of those shots, I have kept only 6,377. That means I discard 2 out of 3 shots.
• Of the kept photos, 59% I consider merely snapshots, and don’t keep in Lightroom.
• In Lightroom, 53% of the photos are marked Commercial or B-Side. Only 47% of my LR photos are for my own collection.
• Only 12% of my LR photos are shared on Flickr.  That’s a mere 1.6% of all frames I’ve shot.
• Only 4% of my LR catalog is being used in any portfolio capacity (here or 500px). That’s down to 0.5% of all frames shot.
• When I shot my photos, by year:
• 2007 - 0.5%
• 2008 - 7.1%
• 2009 - 4.4%
• 2010  - 23.3%
• 2011 - 56.1%
• 2009 was my year of doubt, as I apparently kept fewer photos, instead of more. 2011 is when I got my studio lights, and I have 240% more photos from 2011 than I did in 2010 as a result.
• 62.4% of my pictures are tagged “people”

Just so you know.

on tumblr: http://papyrusmustdie.tumblr.com/post/16293185865/yeah-im-just-going-to-have-to-go-ahead-and-argue

:

Yeah, I’m just going to have to go ahead and argue your use of both “thoughtful” and “creative” based on your everybody-and-their-developmentally-addled-brother’s font choice there, bucko.

Previous entries can be found here.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

Tokina AT-X Pro DX AF 11-16mm f/2.8

Olympus ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 II

Are you a photographer? If so, are you of the belief that the most important part of your system is the series of glass lenses strapped in front of your sensor by metal, plastic, shims, and spacers? If so, this new series of wallpapers might be for you. Nothing grandiose, just simple, elegant, minimal looks into the most important part of any les: the elements. Three lenses at 1440×900 px so far from my personal collection and use, but, what lenses would you like to see added? And what resolutions?

All free, of course. Go spread them around. Just don’t say they’re yours. That’d be rude.

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8G ED

Olympus ZUIKO Digital ED 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD

Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM

Bonus! Now with a pancake prime:

Panasonic LUMIX G 20mm / F1.7 ASPH.

Now with Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR II also. Future updates will get a new post. Any Canon requests?

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

So, with some help from Megan and the illustrious Nick Henry, I was able to brave the 20 degree working conditions outside–as well as the drifting snow–to shoot a few last pictures with my beloved chicken skull mask. Why? Well, they’re for something I’m not quite ready to announce yet, but, they do have a real purpose. Also, they’re just generally kickass.

For those interested, these were done with a Quadra ranger kit. The A channel was firing into a Paul Buff 64″ silver PLM for the key, straight off to my side. To my other side and just behind me I had the B channel firing through a strip bank, letting it just barely catch me edge to pull it back out of the shadows. Megan and Nick held the two modifiers steady against the wind. The D700 was on timer with Nick and I alternating hitting the shutter.

It was stupid amounts of fun.

The secret is that making Art, creating things, is a transformative process. The act of creation takes certain elements of our psyche, energy, if you will, and morphs it out of our heads and into the real world. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can be alchemized. The reason why Art works so well in therapy is that it allows for negative energy and/or trauma to be cleared out of our heads, and turned into something productive, without having to speak about things literally. Pictures can communicate energy without words, and in so doing, can tell stories that would be otherwise stuck in the murky world of the subconscious. The act of creation is akin to shining light on our shadows, (Jung again) and it enables the creator the opportunity to move on. Catharsis.

-Jonathan Blaustein