Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

Fishing: Alligator Bay, Florida

As the Wednesday post, a fishing photo. It was Sam Abell who told me this trick of working on long assignments when things were getting slow. He said that he usually made an appointment with a hunter or a pilot or a fisherman for early in the morning as a way to get himself out of bed and motivated.

It is good advice and Gene K Strickland is certainly a fishing guide who can get you motivated. He can cast a net into a 25 mph breeze and still come up with baitfish.

-Stephen Alvarez

Canon 5d 16-35mm f2.8 II, 1/40 sec

Homage: Sarawak, Borneo

It's a tough to know when you are paying an homage to another photographer and when you are just copying them. For me the difference is intention. I shot this image of Todd Burks rappelling off a mountain in Borneo as an homage to one of my mentors in photojournalism, National Geographic photographer Michael Nick Nichols.

It was Nick's picture of a man rappelling off of Mt. Thor in Canada that captured my attention and turned me down the road I have taken. Nick became a friend, mentor and later introduced me to my wife April at his annual backyard party. That party has grown into the Look 3 festival June 12-14 in Charlottesville.

So on my second assignment for National Geographic I decided to pay Homage to Nick and all that he had done for me with this picture.

I still like Nick's photo better.

-Stephen Alvarez

Canon EOS 1 20mm f2.8 Fuji Velvia

Ahu Akivi: Easter Island

I knew that I had to shoot on Rapa Nui -Easter Island- as part of my story on the first colonization of the Pacific islands -Beyond the Blue Horizon- (interview about the story here).
One of the great challenges of being a photographer now is to go to iconic places and think up something new.
Heading out there for National Geographic Magazine is pretty intimidating. Rapa Nui is so well known, so photographed, what would I do that was new? In fact when one of my friends learned that I was headed there they asked "is there a picture that hasn't been taken?"

When I first said I would go there for the magazine I really didn't know if there was a new picture to be made. Or more specifically a new picture that they would publish. So I did what I often do, I put it off and left Rapa Nui for the end. Beyond the Blue Horizon took a LONG TIME to shoot, almost a year. In that time I was privileged to sail with the Polynesian Voyaging Society and after watching their navigation by waves and stars I knew the picture I wanted to make on Easter Island.

There are a set of statues in the center of the island that represent the original explorers. I knew that the picture to make would be of those statues against the stars that the explorers would have used to navigate to and from the island. This picture ties a well known place in the Pacific to the ancient explorers and their ancient map, the night sky.

How did I make the picture? I put a Canon 5d on an Orion telescope mount. The mount tracks the earth's rotation so the stars stay relatively still. It is a 6 minute exposure and somewhere in that 6 minutes I fired a strobe to light the statues. The camera is moving for the entire exposure so you can see some ghosting around the edge of the statues.

It should have been relatively simple to shoot, except I ended up visiting Easter Island during the wettest time in anyone's memory. The evening I made this picture I took 2 frames before the clouds closed in.

A print of this image is part of a show opening at Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville on Saturday May 3.

There is a great article in the Nashville Tennessean by Jonathan Marx about the exhibit here.
-Stephen Alvarez

to set this image as your desktops background check out the "Wall Paper/Desktop Pictures" link on the right.

Think Fixed Tech: Digital Asset Management

Yeah, you probably have some system, right? Some way of cataloging. But if youre a normal human being, your beginnings were humble and probably predate the many choices you have today. Here is a general rundown of available cataloging tools, or Digital Asset Management. The field is crowded and the product you choose needs to be tailored to your needs and budget. In rough order of power, features and cost:

iphoto - Comes bundled with the Apple iLife suite. The 08 version can archive thousands of pics and has basic editing functions. Category: You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat Cost $80 * you also get iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand and iDVD. Cant beat it for the price but like I say: "If you have an $80 photo library, get an $80 tool to manage it.

MS Expression - The borg takeover of this software leaves me feeling very uneasy but it was a great product as iView Media Pro. Category: Nervously pessimistic Cost: $300 As is typical of microsoft, there are about 50 different versions to choose from. Best of luck.

Extensis Portfolio - Good brand name, scalable product to allow all levels to enjoy. RAW support and a 30 day free trial. Category: Too Good to be True? Cost:$200

MediaDex - The Cumulus single user product. Dont know a thing about it but Cumulus is a very powerful DAM thats not limited to photos (or you might say, not specializing in photos). Category: Dark Horse for Starters. Cost: $80

Cumulus: A real heavy hitter, probably overkill for all but the largest companies. Category: Grandaddy. Cost: Not Sure

Aperture 2: What a laugher V.1 of this was. Dont we expect better from Apple? Well, how about this? Not only offering powerful image cataloging but also a mid range adjustment function (Photoshop lite?). Maybe trying to do too much and no server option. Anyone try it yet? Category: Getting There? There? Anyone? Cost: $200

Montala - I say Montala, you say HUH?!. How about I then say 'free"? Yeah, this may just be the future but youre going to need a code monkey to start it up (easy) and maintain it. But you can also add in functionality to customize it. All web based, so theres no install and you can use it on any machine. Category: The Future is Now Cost: You Heard Me

AS is evident there are plenty of solutions out there at really reasonable costs. If you have specific experience with any of the above (and indeed any I may have omitted) please post in the comments. There is a lot to learn here and I think for the photographer of any level its only second to having a proper back up strategy.

Geof Bowie
www.thinkfixed.com

Merry Pranksters in Your Library

Yes indeed that is the original Merry Prankster, Ken Kesey. Can't say that I even remember shooting this picture, but I guess that I am not the first person who can say they don't remember something involving Kesey.

I found this picture in a box while I was moving my office this week. Remember those days when your photo library was a physical thing? But now those negatives and prints that used to be boxed up in the closet or under the bed are ones and zeros spinning on a hard drive (in my case many hard drives).

How are people organizing their digital libraries? What software are folks using? What hardware?

I was using iView Media for library and am beta testing Expressions Media 2 now. I know it is a Microsoft product, but so far so good, one catalog has over 72,000 images in it and I can find everything quickly. I wish I could say the same thing for all the boxes in my closet.

-Stephen Alvarez

Motu Nui: Easter Island

On the south end of Rapa Nui are 3 small islets –Motus. The ancient Rapa Nui had a contest to swim to the islands, pick up a bird egg and swim back with it unbroken. The first one back to the top of the volcanic crater was declared “Bird Man” for the year and was king of the island.

I shot this image on assignment for National Geographic Magazine, but not with the intention that they would ever publish the picture. No matter who I am shooting for, I always make some pictures just for me...

This image is one in a portfolio of 12 limited addition prints represented through Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee. It is also part of a photography show that opens at the gallery May 3.

-Stephen Alvarez

Canon 5d 35mm 1.4 lens

David Alan Harvey

If you haven't seen it, look at David Alan Harvey's entry for yeaterday in his blog. Dave is one of my favorite people and one of the greatest photographers of our time. He is launching a new project to look at America.

Dave is also asking for all our help finding subject to photograph. Please take a look at his post.

America can certainly use a good looking at, and it will take someone of Dave's immense talent to pull it off.

Good Luck Dave

-Stephen Alvarez

Black Dog: Uganda-Sudan Border

Crossing the Uganda Sudan border. A truck loaded with American missionaries and Sudanese refugees makes their way to Kajo Kaji, Sudan. This was perhaps my 3rd trip the border area and only the second dog I had ever seen there. In general you don't see animals up there. Way too many people competing for food.

I've always been attached to the starkness of this picture. Usually I advise people not to shoot in the middle of the day, but sometimes it works well.

-Stephen Alvarez

Leica M6 35mm 1.4 lens Fuji Velvia

Jellyfish Lake: Palau

Stingless jellyfish float through one of Palau's brackish lakes. Thousands, maybe millions of years ago these jellyfish became isolated in small lake in Palau's Rock Islands. They evolved, becoming stingless and adapting to less salty water. Now you can swim through clouds of them in the lake.

For this picture I put a Canon 5d with a 24mm 1.4 lens in a EWA Marine bag while I snorkeled around the lake. The bag lets me take the camera much deeper than I am willing to dive. If you are ever traveling in Palau, this is something you should not miss.

-Stephen Alvarez

to set this image as your desktops background check out the "Wall Paper/Desktop Pictures" link on the right.

Mystery Falls, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Doesn't Monday sometimes seem like this, a terrifying uphill battle?

At 281 feet, Mystery Falls is the deepest pit in Tennessee and one of the most spectacular cave pits anywhere. Images like this are such a team effort. Kent Ballew (in the red suit) spent countless hours rigging ropes out into the pit. Neeld Messler is suspended on a rope below him firing a flashbulb to light the waterfall, a third assistant is hidden behind Kent, and a fourth is above me controlling a flood light. Where am I? Hanging on a rope with the camera on a tripod bolted to the wall.

This isn't the image that I intended to make. I wanted to shoot the cave from the bottom looking up at the pit, but the water was too high -I'll post that cave picture later (it's the cover of this book). It is good, however, to change perspective. This image is very much what it is like to be there, struggling by the waterfall. Difficult, scary, but also very exciting.

Happy Monday

-Stephen Alvarez

Canon EOS 1n 20mm lens, Fuji Velvia 50