TAG

I’m very excited to tell you about something new at SnapFactory. We are calling it TAG.

TAG stands for The Artists Group at SnapFactory. The Artists Group is who we are; SnapFactory is where we are.

TAG is a local gathering of people dedicated to the exploration of ideas as expressed through art. We are a refuge for artists who desire to explore their medium and get constructive feedback along the journey. We believe that through our art we can change humanity in a positive way.

TAG is free to all who wish to participate. There may be costs associated with some of the activities but there will never be a price of admission to our events.

TAG is about ideas. We agree with TED in “the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.” TAG is open to all forms of art and is committed to expressing ideas through our art.

TAG is local. While we understand the power and virtue of online community we choose to meet face-to-face. We believe that community is key to our growth. We meet at the SnapFactory studio in Phoenix, AZ.

TAG is global. We want to share as much as possible with those who cannot meet locally. To this end we publish our learning on the web in the form of blog entries, videos, and podcasts.

You can participate in several ways:

The Group

The Group is a select group of 12 artists who are passionate about their art. The Group meets frequently and the membership of this group is rotated regularly.

Each member:

  • Discusses their work and seeks constructive feedback.
  • Chooses a project that is beyond anything they have attempted previously and works on that project for the duration of their time with the group.
  • Will display their work to the public in a free gallery showing.
  • Will be available to answer questions during the showing of their work.
  • Will research art and discuss their findings with the group.

The Group hosts discussions with experts in different fields of the art world. These discussions are released on our website under a Creative Commons license so they can be freely shared and posted.

If you’d like to be considered as a member of The Group simply answer four questions and send them to us:

  1. What is your medium? (Photography, painting, writing, etc)
  2. What ideas or themes are you exploring in your art? Please elaborate.
  3. Who or what inspires you? Why? You don’t have to limit this to one person or thing.
  4. Please attach or give us a URL where we can see your work.

TAG Events:

Several times a year The Group invites an artist to displays their work in a local gallery. Everyone is invited and there are no admission fees. The artist is available to answer questions about the works displayed and discuss the ideas that led to their creation.

Throughout the year TAG will screen films that challenge us to think in new ways. Following each film there will be time for discussion.

We ask that you support the artists who are involved in TAG by purchasing their works so that we can continue to offer The Forum and Events free of charge.

We plan to launch the first TAG events in March, 2009. We’ll keep you posted on new developments right here on the blog. It’s going to be awesome.

Inspiration in the rocks?

About a year ago my friend Craig was telling me how uninspired he was about his photography. He had his new 1D Mark III and was telling me that there wasn’t much to shoot. I challenged him to a friendly duel. I told him there’s always something to shoot and told him to grab his camera.  We walked outside to a dreary drainage area and I proposed the challenge: 5 minutes in the pile of rocks, my iPhone vs. his fancy camera, may the best man win.

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The scene of the photo challenge, just a pile of rocks in a parking lot.

As we shot I encouraged Craig to look for pattern (that’s easy in a pile of rocks), unusual point of view, rule of thirds, texture, line, form, etc.  Here are my results from worst to best.  Remember, these were all shot with an iPhone in about 5 minutes.

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My shadow.  It’s not very original but I couldn’t resist.

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Dried mud.  It’s a bit out of focus but I like the texture.

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Tree from below.  Check out that blue!  The iPhone doesn’t have great white balance.

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Rule of thirds from a nearby wall.

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This is my favorite.  Some dead leaves on concrete.

Well there you have it. You can find a photo just about anywhere you look.  Now it’s your turn, take the 5 minute challenge.  Go out to your parking lot, back yard, park, etc and make some photos.  Post the URL to your shots in the comments section.  Let’s see what you’ve got!

Click here to see Criag’s photos and read what he had to say.

New Workshop: On-Camera Flash

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We’re finally ready to announce a new workshop in our lineup. Please welcome Digital Photography 102: On-Camera Flash to our ever expanding collection of workshops.

Take your photography to the next level by learning how to use an on-camera flash. In this workshop you’ll learn how to use an on-camera flash for maximum creative effect.

This is a one-day workshop and has a nice low price of just $50. The workshop begins at 1:00 pm and ends at 5:00 pm. There is an optional field trip to Mill Avenue immediately following the workshop for some real-world experience.

The first workshop is December 13, 2008. Click here to enroll.

Topics include:

  • Understanding the controls on your flash
  • How your camera determines exposure.
  • Flash Photography Basics
  • Using the Aperture to control flash exposure
  • Getting creative with flash and shutter speeds
  • Balancing flash and ambient light
  • Rear-curtain shutter sync
  • Freezing action with your flash
  • Bouncing your flash
  • Using a flash in low-light
  • Using your flash to soften shadows (fill flash)
  • Scarlet and Red Epic

    In case you missed it Red just announced a new system for their DSMC (Digital Still and Motion Camera) with two brains; Scarlet and Red Epic. Chase Jarvis talked about this possibility a few weeks ago and now it’s become a reality.

    Red-sm

    For a sneak peek at the marketing materials click here.  I’m not sure how long these will be live so forgive me if the link is broken.

    The implications for photographers, like myself, who shoot both video and still is pretty staggering.  For the cost of a medium format camera I can have both a high end still and HD system that rivals film. Ultimately this lowers costs and increases quality and productivity.

    I’m going to beg, borrow, steal one of these systems as soon as I can. I’m just about $50k short at the moment but hopefully a local rental shop will start stocking this system. I can’t wait.

    I find this appropriate since I’m just a few hours away from getting a look at a Red One system. Who knows, maybe there will be some used Ones on the market soon.

    Episode 11 is coming soon…

    I’ve been shooting, editing, diagraming, re-shooting, and editing more. Digital Photography One on One Episode 11 has been one of the most fun and most challenging episodes to date. This episode is all about lighting setups.  In order to pack the episode with as much information as possible I’ve had to really work hard to make it seamless.

    The wait is almost over. In the upcoming episode I’ll be covering about 6 very flexible lighting setups. Each setup will have a diagram, a video overview, sample photos, and some behind the scenes video showing the setup in action.

    Setup-1

    I’ll be showing you how we set the lights to achieve specific looks. The example above shows that you don’t have to have a ton of equipment to get some really neat looking photos. My goal is to take some of the mystery out of studio lighting.

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    This simple setup uses a single light with large softbox.  Both of these setups will be shown in the video with more sample photos for each.

    I’m working hard to make the diagrams easy to understand so you can use them to create your own art. If you can wait a few more days I think it will be worth it!

    Swarovski

    Yesterday we spent the day in the studio shooting some product shots for one of our favorite clients.  All of the products were from Swarovski and the crystal bra was the focal point of the campaign.  Here’s a quick mock-up I did from one of the shots in the set.  I’ll definitely post the final results when they are available.

    Diane did a fantastic job with hair/makeup and Erin was terrific with the wardrobe styling (as usual).  Marlow DeVonne was the model for this shoot.

    We also shot a lot of behind the scenes footage that will be part of an upcoming Digital Photography One on One episode. Stay tuned…

    Swarovski-blog
    © Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

    Marlow!

    I had another session with Marlow yesterday and, as expected, it was awesome. I can’t wait to get everything through post production and share it.  Here’s another shot right out of the camera.

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    © Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

    Great weekend of shooting!

    Marlow
    Marlow DeVonne
    © Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

    I had a terrific weekend in the studio.  I was able to work with Yasmin again and Marlow DeVonne.  I am a big fan of photographers like Andreas Bitesnich, Mathias Walter, Marc Baptiste, Ellen Von Unwerth and other European fashion photographers.  Working with Marlow I was finally able to get some Bitesnich looking shots (the photo above is straight out of the camera) as well as some Baptiste looking fashion shots.  We plan to shoot again tomorrow and refine the look.

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    Yasmin
    © Copyright 2008 Mark Wallace/SnapFactory

    Yasmin was also terrific to work with. We were able to shoot some terrific fashion shots that would feel at home in a J. Crew catalog.  The great thing about both shoots is that we video taped a lot of the behind the scenes and I’ll be posting the lighting setups along with completed photos and lighting diagrams in Episode 11 of Digital Photography 1 on 1.  We have two more shoots to complete before the video footage is finished but I think it will be worth the wait.