Picture Stories by Stephen Alvarez

For Phone Friday: Mobile Photo Gallery

I feel like I am making some sort of confession here: Yes I am a professional photographer, yes I use hipstamatic on my iphone...

In the past I've talked the importance of a photographer having a visual diary, a place to record daily images that are just about what you are thinking and how you are feeling. That's what I've been using the camera phone / hipstamatic combination for the last couple of months and I have put some of the pictures up as a gallery on my archive (here). 

I've chosen hipstamatic because I like the set it and forget it aspect. In that it reminds me of shooting with a Dianna camera, one setting, what you get is what you get. Instagram (which I often use to upload) makes me look at the phone too much. With a visual diary I want to be looking at the world around me, not at the back of my phone.

Stephen Alvarez

Sewanee, TN

Fall in the air in Budapest

I am just passing through Budapest again on my way home. What a difference a couple weeks makes. When I arrived in August it was almost 100, hot and dusty. Now fall is definitely in the air. It has been a good, hectic and productive few weeks in Europe. As always I did not get nearly everything I wanted to accomplished, but what I did get done I can't complain about. Ok, off to the airport. Phone Friday is tomorrow and there is some interesting news.

Stephen Alvarez

Budapest

Location photo equipment you never think of, the umbrella

above, the umbrella doing its job on Waterloo Bridge photo by Robbie Shone

There is great, everyday photo equipment that we never pay any attention to. The hand truck, A clamps, gaffers tape. Today I'd like to praise one of my favorites, the Umbrella. 

Bad Sandisk card / crazy travel

I'm entering a period of crazy travel. Paris, Washington, London, the Middle East in the next 2 weeks... Packing for wildly divergent trips back to back is tough. To make matters worse things that should work are breaking. 

My brand new Sandisk extreme pro 32 GB card died after a shoot yesterday. I'd think that there would be better quality control on a $250 cf card. Thank god for LC Technologies Rescue Pro software (here). $40 and I was able to recover the files -no embarrassing calls to the client. Still why don't things break when I am not busy?

Stephen Alvarez

Spring in Washington

I'm in DC this week editing with JL. It looks like the air date for our Nashville prostitution story is mid April. That means we've got a lot to do in not a lot of time! It is, however, coming together nicely. One of the problems is there is so much good material.

DC is beautiful in the spring. Weather is warming and cherry trees blooming. Sadly on this trip I won't have time to enjoy any of it. Ok back to editing...

Stephen Alvarez

Washington, DC

 

Why I love New York, beyond the donuts

Ok food, specifically donuts and bagels are two reasons to love this city. Another is just the amount of knowledge here.

I have a job coming up with difficult and specific camera mounting problems. Trying to work the issues out in Tennessee would involve ordering a lot of equipment, sending most of it back then ordering more stuff. In New York the problem is handled by walking into Foto Care. At any given time there are half a dozen people in the that store -some work there some are just visiting- who can help. I can talk the issues through, talk to the equipment manufacturer rep, look at different options...

Fast, fun, problem solved in minutes not days. That leaves more time for Donut Plant.

Stephen Alvarez

New York

Leaving Paris

It is 5 am and I am packing to leave Paris. My project here is done. The end of a long story is such a strange assortment of emotions. I've been working on this story, thinking about it, researching it, shooting it, talking about it for over a year and now it is... over. I'm happy, sad, relieved, elated, empty. It was funny to be putting away my Paris metro card and not be sure when I'd need it again. So now on to other projects.

As usual I've come on this trip with plans to read and write, to get caught up on some things. And as usual, the reading is unread and the journal pages still blank. Maybe on the flight to DC. Ok the cab is here and I still have to get 5 bags down 6 flights of stairs.

Stephen Alvarez

Paris

West Virginia

I'm on assignment in West Virginia this weekend driving through the cold and snow... Here's a quick frame from the window of our rental car as we passed Strasburg last night. It is shot with my iphone, but like I always say, the camera in your hand beats the one packed in pelican boxes in the trunk...

-Stephen Alvarez

Seneca Rocks, WV

stuck

I bet that right now someone is reading this stuck in an airport. You are stuck now because some jackass tried to blow up a Detroit bound flight last week. Security is tighter, traffic is heavy, weather is bad, a perfect storm of travel delays. 

It sucks, and I feel for you. While it might not help, maybe this photo can put things into perspective. This is the main road through Kajo Keji, South Sudan, the truck stuck on the single lane bridge belongs to the company in charge of maintaining the roads. Double Stuck.

Remember things could always be worse.

-Stephen Alvarez

 

Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, Balance

Tsingy de Bemeraha 2009, Madagascar ©Stephen Alvarez/National Geographic Magazine

The Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar is coming up December 3-5 and I have to get my presentation ready. I think I am going to talk about one of the real arts of a long professional career: Balance