Actualities

Documentary Photography

2011-10-12T14:45:00.000-04:00

No, no no ... you should be looking at my documentary photography blog. I've moved everything over there.

Working Weekends

2011-08-13T14:29:00.000-04:00

A model poses for a photographer at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Friday, August 12, 2011.

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-03T04:16:00.000-04:00

Above: Michael Tuba Heatherton as Uncle Sam.

Street Sight

2011-06-26T13:17:00.001-04:00

Two people view photographs during the opening reception for the "Street Sight" exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Saturday, June 25, 2011.

Friday Flower

2011-06-24T23:24:00.001-04:00

I'm not really a flower guy. It's important to stretch, though, I think. This image was made as a little flash-technique exercise. I shot at 1 p.m. under full daylight sun. The trick: I set my flash on HSS (High Speed Sync) and changed my exposure to ISO 100, f/4, 1/4000th of a second. Since the flash was connected via an off-camera cable, I was able to position and direct it where I liked --

Double Portrait

2011-06-24T01:28:00.000-04:00

Today at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Also, there was this.

The Downside of Street

2011-06-22T01:30:00.000-04:00

A skateboarder falls during the "Wild in the Streets" event at Lafayette Park in Los Angeles, Tuesday, June 21, 2011. And on my other blogs: Wild in the Streets First Day of Summer

Gelling Your Flash

2011-05-28T15:25:00.000-04:00

Recently, I've had to use gels on my flash for both color correction and for effects. It occurred to me that, if someone is interested in gelling their flash, they may easily be led astray by the "advice" they find on photo forums. You know, those same people who tell you to use the bottom of a 2-liter soda bottle instead of a Gary Fong diffuser. They're out there, in the forums, and telling

Turrell at Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh

2011-04-22T13:13:00.000-04:00

Patrons examine the work of James Turrell during the show "Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works" at The Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. See also: Turrellean Blue.

Screening at OXY Freewaves on Friday

2011-04-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

20,558 (Twenty Thousand Portraits) from Ted Fisher on Vimeo. A long while back I made a project with Doug McCulloh where we photographed 20,558 Los Angeles residents. The images were shown in a variety of ways, and tomorrow one of the short films created from the photographs is screening at: 2011 OXY FREEWAVES: THE ART AND POLITICS OF SPACE A night of global and local media works exploring

Happy April Fools' Day from Los Angeles

2011-04-02T15:51:00.000-04:00

In case you were wondering, I've vanished from San Francisco and I'm blogging at Los Angeles Portraits and also at Documentary Photography.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from San Francisco

2011-03-16T17:53:00.001-04:00

More:At Least It's Green Into His Own Parade Ornia Republ Leaving One Hand Free for BeerAbove: Two men wave flags at the St. Patrick's Day parade in San Francisco on Saturday, March 12, 2011. This was the 160th presentation of the annual event.

How to Calibrate the Sekonic L-308DC

2011-03-02T22:27:00.000-05:00

Sekonic created a great new light meter. It basically updates the Sekonic L-308s with new features aimed at filmmakers using DSLR and hybrid cameras. Sekonic calls this DigiCine or Digital Cinema. In other words, they've added a cool new HD Cine Mode. Great. But the instruction manual ... is not so great. And it shipped with a typo, even. So, here's how you calibrate the Sekonic DigiCineMate

iRection

2011-01-30T14:06:00.000-05:00

I really don't know what to say about this ad I photographed at Macworld in San Francisco yesterday. I had no idea Bruce Weber was even shooting for Apple.

In Love and Wha?

2011-01-28T01:36:00.000-05:00

On my other blog on documentary photography I've been focused on photojournalism as a subject. So, lately, all of my reading has consisted of books written by photojournalists. I guess, if you think about it, that's not a great idea. I mean, take people who are good at making pictures and ... have them write. Hmm. That said, books about photojournalism don't have to be entirely about, you know

Documentaries in the News, Real Cash Edition

2011-01-19T20:31:00.000-05:00

You know what I need? Fifty ... Million ... Dollars. The New York Times has a little article on how I can get that. I mean, they didn't name me specifically ... but I could really use the cash. Ford Foundation to Put Up $50 Million for Documentaries The Ford Foundation’s program, called JustFilms, will dole out money in three ways. The first involves partnerships with organizations like the

Actually

2011-01-09T23:24:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't realized it, I'm in San Francisco, blogging at: San Francisco Portraits & Documentary Photography There will be more posts here once I sort out the role of each blog.

Meet the New Blog, Same as the Old Blog

2010-12-02T11:37:00.000-05:00

Well, not really the same. The new blog I've started is focused on documentary photography -- but is really meant to cover the merging of the tradition with new approaches to documentary filmmaking and new media. The first two posts: What Would Walker Evans Do? Statement of Purpose

Shoot The Moon

2010-11-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Previously, I wrote about the new Panasonic GH2 using its new "tele conversion" feature for video: Panasonic GH2 Tele Conversion: Bagful of Primes? Well, above is a video that purports to show the feature in action. Essentially, using the new Panasonic 100-300mm and a Canon 400mm the videographer gets amazing shots. The feature seems to allow a 3.6 multiplying effect if one shoots at 1080p or a

I Would ... But I Need The Eggs

2010-11-09T00:21:00.000-05:00

People behave in somewhat disheartening ways, sometimes. Okay: most of the time. That's kind of a problem when your main interest is human nature. On the plus side: there's no shortage of subjects to make a film about. I've been posting over on San Francisco Portraits a bit. It's amazing, if a cliche, how fast the weather changes in this city. Above: after one outbreak of sunshine and before

Future of Photojournalism

2010-11-06T13:55:00.000-04:00

On Friday afternoon, Mrs. Actualities and I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to hear a panel on The Future of Investigative Reporting. On the panel were: David Cohn, who founded http://spot.us -- essentially a "citizen journalism" site with a model based on bringing together freelancers, publishing venues and the public. In short: the public can support stories they feel are

Panasonic GH2 Tele Conversion: Bagful of Primes?

2010-10-30T13:03:00.000-04:00

Panasonic GH1 1080p Camera Test from Ted Fisher on Vimeo. I have a hacked Panasonic GH1. It works great, and it's great to be able to work with a camera that's so small and light. The Panasonic GH2 is shipping soon, and it has a few key improvements -- it should be better for low light video, for example. There's one advanced feature that's really intrigued me, though, that might end up a

Zoom H1 Lavalier Test with Audio Technica ATR-3350

2010-10-25T06:49:00.001-04:00

I had to record a voiceover, so I dragged out three lavalier microphones for a quick test, plugging each into a Zoom H1 and recording a snippet of normal speaking. The results? While the audio quality won't match a high-end microphone, the recording is fine for use in documentary interviews on location. (By the way, for those times when your wireless mic is likely to run into interference,

Film Courage

2010-10-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday. I'm in San Francisco. That doesn't mean I can't listen to a radio show in Los Angeles. In fact, I recommend that -- if you are interested in film -- you do exactly that: Today at noon PST, check out Film Courage on LA Talk Radio. You can listen live, or check out the archived shows. Definitely look through the archive list -- there's some great stuff there, including a session

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

2010-09-22T17:02:00.000-04:00

When I was growing up, I lived close to Pomona, home to drag racing events of all kinds. (Well, the kinds with cars, nothing involving cross-dressing. As far as I know.) During the season, there were endless ads promoting the big events -- and that darn "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" announcer about every 15 minutes. I feel a bit like that, as I've been promoting our next screening a bit heavily. Hey