Photo Traveler

Bob Krist’s Travel Photography Blog

More Fun at Home….

Destinations, Events, Ironies, Lighting, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Technology, Travel — March 7, 2010

Photo © Bob Krist

Well, I know this is supposed to be a travel photography blog, and I have been traveling lately (but again, can’t show the results just yet due to legal issues), but I am having a stone-cold blast working on my “New Hope: In Character” community portrait project.

New Hope, or Coryell’s Ferry as it was called at the time, was the place where Washington and his men crossed the Delaware to defeat the Hessians and the Brits in Trenton on Christmas Day all those years ago.

These guys re-enact that crossing every Christmas Day here in Bucks County. They get in those longboats, and unless the river is choked with ice, they row across Delaware come hell or high water. It’s an amazing sight to see and a Christmas morning tradition in these parts.

Now, I don’t want to say that they take their roles seriously, but some of the guys who re-enact the crossing had ancestors who were actually involved in the original crossing three hundred years ago. Can you say, “tradition?”

I was so appreciative that these gentlemen decided to come up and participate in this portrait project. In these parts, these guys are almost as famous as the men they are embodying.

For a look at the lighting setup, hit the jump. Read more…

Drop, and Give Me….How Many????

Destinations, Events, Lighting, Photo Techniques, Travel, Workshops & Seminars — February 26, 2010

I’m heading off to San Francisco, blizzard gods willing (update: they’re not, I’m holed up in an airport hotel watching it snow after a two hour battle up here because my flight showed “ON TIME” until I pulled into the airport!), to teach a seminar for National Geographic Traveler with my buddy Ralph Lee Hopkins. I’m going to hang a few extra days and shoot some stock.

Okay, stop laughing. Travel stock of San Francisco? Good luck selling it. Yeah, yeah, I know.  But I’ve never really shot there, so I’m doing it for the therapy value. Peggy and I lived in the Bay Area when we were first married and I was in acting school (at the American Conservatory Theater), and I hardly ever get back and I always wanted to shoot it. So who cares if it never sells? At least that’s what my therapist says….

So the blog will be a little quiet and I thought I’d share a couple more shots from the New Hope portrait project. Like the one above of Dan and Katie, proprietors of New Hope Fitness. Now that’s what I call strength training. This shot was a lot easier for me to pull off than it was for Dan. All I did was use the regular big softlight I wrote about in the previous post.

A more difficult challenge came lighting Adele, the Ghost Lady of New Hope. Adele gives ghost tours of town, and you really need a scorecard in this town because it’s full of them, from as far back as the Revolutionary War and beyond.

To get the basic “ghoul” lighting, we took the big lightbox off the stand and aimed it up  from the floor. That was a cool effect, but the lantern candle wasn’t quite cutting it, and we had a shadow of her arm across her face.

We bypassed the candles (truth is, I knew they’d never be bright enough) and instead put in a little Morris mini flash slave in the lantern to simulate the lantern light. Then all we had to do was balance the light from the box hitting all the black of her outfit with the light from the slave hitting her face—-piece of cake.

Only took twenty minutes until we had enough ND material in the lantern to provide a good balance. Then we had to work out a position where the highlights in Adele’s glasses weren’t too distracting (couldn’t get rid of them altogether—-the studio space we’re shooting in is said to be haunted too, and the ghost just wouldn’t let me have an easy time of it!).

But, thanks to Adele’s patience and good relationship with the spirit side, we got off a fun shot.

In My Little Town…

Events, Lighting, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques — February 22, 2010

Photo © Bob Krist

Every time I spend some time around New Hope, PA, where I live, I’m always blown away by the great array of talented and interesting folks we have living in town. It’s a little art community on the banks of the Delaware River, and it’s home to great music clubs, art galleries, restaurants, funky shops, artists, sculptors, actors, musicians, cabaret artists, female impersonators, brewers, screenwriters….well, you get the picture.

I’ve always wanted to document my neighbors, and I have some studio space this month (courtesy of the New Hope Arts Center) to work on a project I’m calling “New Hope: In Character.”  I just started shooting this week and thought I’d share a couple with you. Right up top is Andre who runs a great restaurant called Zoubi.  Andre is from France and is the quintessential restauranteur—friendly, charming, and sophisticated.

Below are Sam and Stasia, the girls from Love Saves The Day, a funky shop (the original was in Greenwich Village) where you can find vintage clothing, toys from the 50’s and 60’s, and, um, all kinds of other stuff. There’s always a wacky mannequin outside the shop, and so we just had to include her.

And finally, Brendan the master brewer (so young, and so accomplished) and his associate, Dan, from the Triumph Brewery, where I often rush the growler to bring home some fresh, delicious suds that really make it hard for me to even pretend I’m leading a low-carb lifestyle!

Photo © Bob Krist

Photo © Bob Krist

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As part of this project, I also spent last weekend offering pro bono portraits for area families with a member serving in the military. We photographed 45 families in two days!

It was an incredibly busy and rewarding weekend. We met some amazing folks who have put a lot on the line for us all, and it was a real pleasure to give a little something back.

My friend, Rich Kennedy, photo editor of the Doylestown Intelligencer, volunteered two days of his time and did all the computer work (plus some excellent art direction when I started to melt down on occasion…like when 13 people from one family showed up)!

We also had help from photographer Arun Paul and Rose Gutekunst, not to mention Peggy (aka SWMBO).

For a look at the studio space and a quick discussion of my basic light setup, hit the jump. Read more…

Doctors, My Eyes Have Seen the Light….

Career issues, Destinations, Events, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Travel, Workshops & Seminars — February 18, 2010

I had the very great privilege of being interviewed by Jason Odell and Rick Walker, the well-known Image Doctors over on the  Nikonians site last Sunday. After we three agreed that it was a fitting reward for old married guys to be able to spend Valentines Day discussing the latest camera gear and talking tech, rather than composing love poems and taking our better halves to a Nancy Meyers movie (hey, I already went to see It’s Complicated….and I loved it!), we got onto the meat of the interview.

We talked a lot about shooting travel and the two new lenses I got to shoot for Nikon recently. The Docs are great interviewers and have been doing this popular podcast for a number of years now.

Of course, choosing to start my Valentines Day hanging out with my new friends probably did nothing to further my cause in persuading “she who must be obeyed” into actually letting me buy the new glass I tested (and an FX body or two).

So I don’t know how smart a move that was….every time I start talking FX (which really only started since I shot that recent gig in Miami—-damn 24mm f/1.4, I wish I knew how to quit you), she brings out the chiropractor bills and the receipts for my Aleve usage to date….not to mention the dismal state of the business.

And speaking of seeing the light, my good friend Brenda Tharp is running a tour to one of my favorite places, Iceland, this summer. I’ve spent a lot of time up there over the years for National Geographic and other pubs, and it is a spectacular location. And you couldn’t find a better leader to show you around than Brenda. It’d be a great place to shoot that new wide FX glass I’m craving….Check it out…

Tango Audio Slide show

Audio, Destinations, Events, Photo Techniques, Travel, multimedia — February 15, 2010

Don't click this, it's just a screen grab!!!

I posted an audio slide show about Tango in Buenos Aires….I think NG Traveler will have it up on their site too, but not sure where. This was originally going to have an interview narration with a Tango anthropologist and was going to be more educational, but then my editor said just do it a lot of dance pictures and snappy music, and I thought, why not?

Ordinarily, I HATE going out and shooting nightlife. First of all, it all starts too late (don’t you people have something to do during the daylight hours????). Secondly, everybody’s having fun, and you’re the nerd with the camera and the lightpole and no life and everybody would just prefer that you go away….

But…I loved documenting tango. I actually looked forward to getting up in the middle of the night to go out. It’s such a beautiful, passionate dance, and the Portenos were so warm and welcoming to my presence. I was blown away by the artistry of the dancers, whether the pros on stage during a show, or folks at a neighborhood milonga.  It’s the real deal, it’s a lifestyle.

And I was privileged to have been a close witness to it. That’s why, despite all the bullsh… about our business lately, it’s just so cool that this camera gives you entree into so many different worlds.

Everything you need to know about shooting the news….

Audio, Career issues, Events, Ironies, Photo Techniques, Technology, multimedia — February 8, 2010

Forget journalism school, here’s the secret formula…..

YouTube Preview Image

On Haiti and Health Care

Audio, Destinations, Events, Travel, multimedia — January 20, 2010

Photo by Evan Vucci/AP

I first went to Haiti in the late 70’s when I was still a photographer on the staff of the Hudson Dispatch in Union City, NJ. My wife Peggy and I were so blown away by the culture, people, and the poverty that we sponsored several Haitian children’s educations for many years, until the NGO we did it through folded up during one of the really violent spells a while ago.

They have a saying down there, “beyond mountains, there are more mountains,” which pretty much sums up what has happened to this nation in recent history. Every time they seem to be getting over the hump of one problem, another bigger and more serious one raises its ugly head.

I don’t see how this current problem could get any worse, and they need our help. We like to give through both the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. They seem to be efficient with getting stuff done. Although efficiency in the face of a total collapse of infrastructure is definitely a relative term.

On the home front, we’re going to be facing our own earthquake, one that was started in the faultline that shook up yesterday’s Massachusetts runoff.

No, we don’t need no stinkin’ health care reform. Our system is just fine. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at this brilliant multimedia from the AP’s Evan Vucci.

The sad reality is that you don’t really have to look as far as Haiti to see neglected, desperate segments of a population struggling for basic healthcare. You can stay home and see it right here.

No passport required.

Photo Traveler Holiday Camera Bag Giveaway!!!!

Destinations, Events, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Travel — December 23, 2009

Okay, a number of emails came through about the Scrooge-like tone of my last post on photo careers (hey, all I can say is, “don’t shoot the messenger.”) and also about my Nutcracker post, questioning the Homer Simpson lookalike reference. You think I would joke about something like that????

So to quell any thought that I might be making this stuff up, I’ve posted the latest author portrait that will run with my next book for Lark Publishers, on the Power of Moment, just to prove that I wasn’t kidding about being more Homer than Nureyev. As far as the photo career stuff goes, well, just ask any recent j-school graduate (God speed Tiny Tim!). But I’ll be writing more about that stuff in the New Year. Let’s try to enjoy the holidays!

HomerBob10

"Springfield Bob" has a LowePro bag to give away!

Speaking of which, thanks to the generosity of the folks at Lowe Pro, I’ve got a brand new Outback AW300 to give away.  This is the waist pack that I use, which I alternate with another slingbag.

So I thought I run a contest of sorts.  I’m going to send this bag to the poster with the best travel photo tip to show up in the comments section of this post by midnight EST, December 31st.

A couple of ground rules. First, you have to live in the 50 states….no, this is not American jingoism. I simply don’t want to deal with overseas shipping and customs.

Second, it has to be a tip that concerns travel photography, not just travel. So all those cool ideas you have about finding cheap hotel rooms and good airline seats etc. you have to save for another blog contest.

If we actually get more than one entry To handle the onslaught of entries, I’ve assembled a panel of the judges who are fellow professional traveling journalist/photographer/video types of my acquaintance. (If I make them judges, then they can’t enter!)

They’ll stay anonymous so nobody knows who to get mad at if your tip doesn’t make the final cut! (And I’m staying out of it altogether). They’ll be looking for originality and real-world usefulness. In the case of similar tips, we’ll count the one posted first.

(Even though it may take me a while to approve posts, they’re all time stamped. And posts have to be approved to appear just to stem the huge flood of spam posts we get—with the effort these spammers put in, it’s pretty clear to me that selling counterfeit prescription drugs and pianofortes (?) are the growth industries of the coming decade)

So have a great holiday, and send us your best travel photo tip….who knows, you may start the new year with a cool new camera bag!

Keeping on your Toes, Philadelphia-Style!

Audio, Destinations, Events, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Travel, multimedia — December 14, 2009

Picture 1

Photo © Bob Krist

I just posted an audio slideshow about the Pennsylvania Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker in Philadelphia and boy, did working on this really put me in the holiday mood. You have to love the dedication and the skill levels of professional ballet dancers…if I ever get reincarnated with a body more like Rudolph Nureyev than Homer Simpson, I would love to move with such power and grace… but as far as this life goes, all I can say is, “D’oh!”

I was impressed with the talent and discipline of the kids in the cast as well….what a cool childhood memory they’ll have working in this gorgeous staging by the Pennsylvania Ballet at Philadelphia’s beautiful Academy of Music.

For tech stuff, It was done with 2 D90’s and a D300s, ISO 800-1600, Automatic White Balance, and 12-24mm f/4, 17-55mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8VR, plus a little 35mm f/1.8, 10.5mm f/2.8, and 85mm f/1.8.  This show is running, in a smaller size, on National Geographic Traveler’s Intelligent Travel blog too.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go have a doughnut and practice my plies and jetes!

Kinobe!

Audio, Destinations, Events, Ironies, Travel, multimedia — November 20, 2009

Picture 5

www.kinobemusic.com

My assignment this afternoon was to document the visit of Kinobe, six incredibly talented musicians from Uganda, to the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Camden, NJ, where they gave a concert and workshop for the music kids in this inspiring school.

It’s a program sponsored by the Jonathan Krist Foundation, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Kinobe seemed to have a good time too.

We brought the guys back to our house tonight for a spaghetti dinner and a place to crash before they hit the road again tomorrow  (these are true road warriors—-they make me look like a stay-at-home Dad….they haven’t been home in 9 months).

What a wonderfully talented, friendly, and well-traveled group. I can’t remember the last time we’ve had dinner guests with whom I could swap stories about the best places to pitch your tent during the music festival in Timbuktu, or the ins and outs of the world music scene in Paris.

They are all Mac enthusiasts too, and we’ve spent some good time trying to figure out the cheapest way to soup up basic Mac laptops for audio.

Now, I’m not going to dwell on the mistakes I made in my second or third time out as a documentary videographer, other than to tell you that during one of the key speeches, I was doing this super creative pullback from the keynote speaker’s image in a mirror to the  speaker herself (genius!) and I thought I was recording when I was just on preview! But I was running my Olympus LS-10 Audio recorder (something I know a little better than my Panasonic camcorder) the whole time, so at least I got audio.

But so far, as a videographer, I make a very good spaghetti chef.

Check out Kinobe—-their music is guaranteed to make your weekend!

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