Skeeter and Greg

I had the opportunity to follow Greg Pinkston and his Harris Hawk, Skeeter out hunting last week.  This is what I hope to be the first of at least a handful of shoots if not more.  I had never been around hunting birds before and certainly did not know what to expect.

It was cloudy and wet (Not very normal for Albuquerque) so I knew it could be a bust if it started raining.  I don't own a housing or a Rain cover for my camera (on the wish list now) so I had already relegated the outing to a meet and greet and maybe get a photo or two.  

Right out the gate I knew no flash.  At least not till I had talked with Greg regarding Skeeter's possible reaction.  I never got that far.  Greg pulled Skeeter from his truck and I started shooting.  There was no standing around either.  Skeeter was ready to hunt and Greg was off into the brush.  I was just trying to keep up and remember if I locked my truck.

 They were hunting Jack Rabbits.  Well, Skeeter was...  Her eyesight is magnificent.  Obviously designed to see things at far distances.  We would be walking along in the brush and Skeeter would launch from the perch after her quarry.  So I have no pictures of Skeeter leaving the perch.  Returning, yes.

Finally Skeeter got her rabbit. 

After that it was time to head to the truck, mission accomplished.  But Skeeter was reluctant.

Once we were within 50ft of Greg's pick up Skeeter flew over and commenced the final "routine."

We were then greeted by Mike Sayamontry, another avid hawk hunter and his Harris Hawk Zing.  Before we took off to hunt he did show me his Goshawk that he planed to let hunt later.

Mike and Zing actually ended up getting a quail in the end.  It had hid in a hole under some brush but Zing did not let that deter him.

 

Not being a hunter I wasn't sure how I would react to "the kill" but interestingly I had no real feeling either way.  I was once told, regarding a nude photo shoot, that looking through the camera, the photographer was distanced from the actual subject matter, but as soon as he pulled his head from the camera the reality of the situation was staring him directly in the face.   So maybe I just held my camera tight to my face and kept my "filter" up.

V.... Again

So, yes.  My dog.  Again.  This won't be the last time she is the subject of a blog.  I love taking her picture.  Even thought after about two clicks of the shutter she is done.  My first class at Photo school required living subject matter to help execute the exercises so I used my dog (Skye at the time).  My instructor finally told me I had to find new subject matter.  And he was right.  Skye was my crutch.  If I couldn't or didn't want to find people, she was an easy out.  I finally started shooting portraits of people but I still would run back to the dog to play.  My first digital camera experience (Nikon 1d) was shooting Skye.

So now its "V."  I was setting up a couple of lighting scenarios in my back yard and she stepped in.  I have a handful of shoots on the horizon so I wanted to play a little.  She filled in nicely.

Re-Organizing

Things have been set in motion that I can only hope to keep up with.  And therefore things must change. While my blogging consistency leaves little to be desired, I have separated my illustration from my photography.  This Blog will be Mad Mantis Studio's sole outlet while The Phantom Mantis will consist of my "other" art adventures.  I've placed a link on the right hand side. I'm currently lining up a handful of shoots to expand my portfolio and hope that some make for good blog entries as well as fantastic photo opportunities.  Until then...

Here is one happy dog!

Dragway... Round 2

 

Through a few connections (that I am completely grateful for) I was able to get closer to the "Line" than before.  The images speak for themselves, but I could never have gotten such shots without being granted the access.

These images are a quick run of edits with some post production.  The sheer volume of images will keep the more subtle gems at bay till I can look over the group numerous times.

I will admit that the first couple of hours I felt like I was taking the same shot over and over again.  I walked away ultimately with about 1500 frames.  Once the sun got low and began to back light the track, I got visually more interested.  My intentions have always been to capture the more human aspects to intermingle with pure "Hot Rod" shots, but I was carried away by what was in front of me.

Ultimately I hope these images grant me the validation that I'm seeking.  There are a lot of "photographers" at these events and it makes complete sense.  The subjects can be very striking especially in context.  But I hope to stand out a bit due to approach and expertise.   While the rattling of my eardrums, the smell of smoked slicks, and the eye candy of cars flying down the track on two wheels carried me away, my intention is still to photograph people.  I prefer shooting with a wide angle to standard lens which means I need to be close.  Not to say telephotos are bad, but they immediately (to me anyway) can communicate a strange sense of insincere voyeurism.  If, I suppose, voyeurism can be sincere. 

My last trip did not prepare me at all for this.  Last time I wandered around and timidly shot when and where I felt comfortable.  I didn't leave my comfort zone at all.  Mostly because when I'm doing my own thing I don't want a stranger taking pictures of me and I feel most of the world responds this way (true or not).  I pushed a little bit, but hid behind the fact that I was shooting cars not people. 

I now feel that my first run was more of a trial of my interest and this trip turned into hopeful leverage for a more lengthy project.

Albuquerque Dragway

A couple of weeks ago I decided to explore the Albuquerque Dragway.  I'm looking for photo stories to keep the skills sharp and maybe shoot stuff outside my comfort zone.  The dragway has been on my radar for awhile but its hours of operation (weekends) always seems to conflict with other missions.  I have always enjoyed watching and looking at pictures of funny cars and dragsters as far back as I can remember.  It was like they were piloting a missile.  There was also something even more inherently dangerous about a vehicle that required a chute to slow itself down than Formula One (Nascar has never had a huge draw over me).

For someone like me who does not have a vested interest in any one team or individual, I was afraid I'd find myself bored.  I mean, how many times can you watch two cars speed down a straight away at the speed of light...  Well, for me, a lot.  I could not believe how freaking fast these guys were going. 

The smell of burned rubber and gasoline was constant.  And so was the deep bass rumble of idling engines.  A couple of times I checked to see what the hell was dancing around in my camera bag (worried my camera was off on some auto-focus adventure in the dark) only to realize it was just the machines' engines.

I enjoyed myself and the venture yielded a handful of good imagery, but I'm still looking for my story.  I need a human aspect to balance out the beastly machines.  Something that helps bond this idea of human speed through mechanical assistance.

City of Rocks - Part 2

The pinhole.  Amazingly this primitive camera has yet to be named by Bridget.  There is nothing special about a pinhole camera in the sense of components and structure.  It is a box with a pin-size hole on one end and film on the other.  No glass no shutter and just a fixed F-Stop.  You can buy manufactured pinhole cameras or even just pieces of metal with machine drilled holes, but in a world of digital cameras with exacting matrix-meters and camera raw files that can retrieve information from the depths of 14 bit wells, there is something chaotic and haphazard about a camera that uses a #10 needle hole in a Nestle Quick lid.

I built my camera while I was still in school for photography.  I shot with it quite a bit for a short while.  Once I realized that it was not going to be an aspect of my commercial portfolio the camera was shelved.  Over the last six years it has seen very little use. 

Early Polaroid Tests behind Bridget's apartment

 

 

 

Choosing to shoot film right now is daunting.  Professional labs are disappearing daily.  New Mexico has one professional lab - Visions Photo Lab - in Santa Fe.  So the concept of patience is taking a whole new meaning for me.  I used to hate the anxiety of developing film myself.  Between getting the chemicals the right temperature and then watching the clock for each step then drying an cutting and sleeving and blah blah blah.  I just could not move fast enough.  Then I had a local lab do it for me and that was at least bearable.  Now I send my film to Santa Fe and it takes basically a week to see the results...  Developing my own film is starting to look real appealing again.  

Observation Point #1

Hoover Rock

 

The Outcropping

Observation Point # 2

We shot these on our last day at the park.  While they are excellent executions of pinhole photography there is some room to improve.  Cloudless skies leave much to be desired.  Just the few wisps in the lower photograph up its excitement value dramatically and its by far the least interesting of the four.  As you can see from my previous post we had clouds all the time.  Just not when we decided to shoot the pinhole.  Also next time I will shoot using a red filter.  It ups the exposure time by 2 to 2.5 stops but it should bring the sky down in value.

The image quality is soft and dreamy at best.  There is a sweet spot in my depth of field but its much closer to the pinhole and even then its not super sharp.

 Detail Example - Click to Enlarge

I'm glad I dusted it off and took it for another run in the wild.  It will definitely be a staple when traveling by car!