National Geographic April 2012, African Masks by Phyllis Galembo

National Geographic is currently the only magazine I have a subscription to which was a gift to me from my girlfriend, since she knew I had previously been paying for each issue individually from bookstores and other new stands she thought it'd be a nice to have a yearly subscription.
Nat Geo has been one of my top favorite sources of world photography, news, history, and culture. I'd even go to garage sales or thrift stores to find older issues from past decades.

When I sit to read the new issues I take my time to browse and actually read the articles to understand what the photos are about. I've even used articles as sources on science papers. I take the magazine pretty serious. Since the spring semester started I haven't found time yet to read February-April, but when I get them in the mail I'll leaf through and glance at the photos.

In the 2012's April issue the cover story and big spread is on the Titanic and it's story with photos of the shipwreck under water. Looking at photos I'll have to check out the full article and text on it. I'd be lying if I said from April's issue the Titanic was what immediately intrigued me.

It was the colorful, intricate, and spiritual portraits by Phyllis Galembo of African masks was stand out right away.  Phyllis Galembo, a Professor at University of Albany, has for over 20 years traveled to Africa and Haiti to document the culture that comes with the mask.
The April Issue brings attention to what Galembo's work has been about and the fascination that belongs to it.
"It's the creativity. It's not just the mask. It's about the entire ensemble and the uniqueness of ritual dress."


Galembo's photos highlight the creativity and uniqueness to the fullest and NG gives readers the platform to experience of these cultures and lets us look in awe of other worldly beings.

Here are a few photos from the feature -

Cathy Newman writes the article for NG,
In the realm of the spirit world, the mask is more than mere facade. It is utterly transformative. The man in the mask—and it is nearly always a man—may speak in a different voice, move differently, behave differently, because he is a different being. The mask is put on. The line between reality and illusion, god and man, life and death blurs. The masked man is not playing a role. He becomes the role.  NG

The article addresses a cultural distinction, but rather than comparing cultures I reflect on my own and look at what makes ourselves distinct and also try to find examples of what similarities we may share. 

Costume and dressing up has a great history in photography where photographers explore, experiment, and point it out, being inspired by halloween, past generations trends of their own societies, as well as original costumes inspired by nature like the masks from Galembo. 

Read the article on NG and see the full gallery with additional captions for each mask and dress. 

Visit Phyllis Galembo's website to see other work.

Youtube Ride Channel, How to Skate Vids - Composition with Michael Burnnet, Part Two

In yesterday's released part two of the 'In Focus' series by Ride, Michael Burnett explains composition with more detail and specifics on skate photography.

He explains giving enough room in photos, and not cropping subjects to the minimum, which makes obstacles larger and adds more drama to the trick and rider.
Burnett also talks about using a shallow depth of field for portraits and other still shots, by using a large aperture like f2.8, which will have the subject in focus and the background out of focus. A large aperture is definitely used in various way and reasons in all photography, good element to experiment and play with.
Depending on available context, surrounding and what story you want to tell with your photos, he also explains that you should only fit what you need in your photos by filling up the frame, by getting close up to the skater, but if there is from to work with like spectators you may want to be farther away from the skate to include that as context to the photo.
Fish eye lenses are the most distinctly popular used with skate and other action sport photography for their distorted effects that can easily emphasize scale while still remaining close up to the skater and subjects.
Alternatively, Burnett shows how a longer lens can compress distances and also be effective.
He talks about something I've used before, but never thinking how much more effective it can be when applied to skate photography and similar motive objects, panning with mixed lighting. This is when you shoot with a secondary light source and have a slow shutter speed which results in a focused subject by your the flash and while you pan the background blurs.

What is great and absolutely helpful about these In Focus videos  is that Michael talks about these tips and shows past photos where they were applied, but then also at the end he does some live shooting with some of the pointers.
At the end of this video he is also encouraging to all photographers, even reaching out to beginners.

Youtube Ride Channel, How to Skate Vids - Composition with Michael Burnnet

I just came across this video from the Ride's Youtube Skate Channel.

In this part 1 video from a series of 2 called "In Focus" Thrasher Magazine's Michael Burnett explains composition for skateboard photography.

He points out several tips, from above and below angles, plain backgrounds, and geometric shapes and patterns.
Some of these elements can also be applied to street photography and inspire ideas for any other kind of photography.

Interview with Jason Yim, Reviewing Salam Sejahtera

SF local Jason Yim, the sales manager at clothing brand Benny Gold and team rider for Leader Bikes and Macaframa, just came out with his photo zine Salam Sejahtera from his biking trip last November to Malaysia.
I first met Jason about a year ago through Benny Gold and found he was easy going "goofy" guy and that he took photos, with an interest in using film and since then have followed him and his photos.

Earlier this week I met up with Jason to pick up a copy and we talked a bit about his trip and the zine.

Derek M: How would you describe yourself as a photographer? How does your demeanor translate to your attitudes and approach when you're taking photos?

Jason Y: I don't really think of myself as a photographer. I just enjoy taking photos. My approach to shooting something is usually when it's more "in the moment" I guess. I feel pretty comfortable asking strangers to shoot their photo, but it's a different feeling when you just shoot it from the hip or get the shot in their worst moment haha.

DM: Is there any theme to Salam Sejahtera? Why did you decide on that to title the zine, what is it's significance in respect to your trip, the people, and your photos?

JY: Salam Sejahtera simply means greetings or peace and well being in Malaysian. I named it that because of the positive vibes we received from everybody.

DM: Why were you in Malaysia? What was your trip about? Who went, for how long, what did you guys do?

JY: I was in Malaysia for Kuala Lumpurs first big track bike event. It was pretty crazed, the government poured a lot of money into it to get it organized the way it was. They even had news casters there and everything. It was a huge turn out. Me and a couple team mates from Leader Bikes and Macaframa were flown out to ride bikes and participate in the events they had. The trip felt really short lived. We were only there for about 5 days and every day was a bike thing. There wasn't really much time to do touristy type stuff and check the country out more. But none the less we all had a good time being in a country we've never been before. Faz was one of the dudes that took care of us and couldn't have been a better host. I think he's even coming out here for the Red Bull event.

DM: Did you guys know anyone over there, where did you stay?

JY: We didn't know anyone personally, we just knew of them through facebook

and have kind of been getting in contact with each other that way. I met a bunch of my international team mates from Leader and they're all awesome dudes - Faz, Rudy, Ippe, and a bunch of other people. We stayed in KL at a hotel the organization booked us at.

DM: What is your first time visiting Malaysia and the other places you visited while there? What were your expectations before the trip, what experiences did you anticipate?

JY: It was my first time there. I really didn't know what to expect. But I really wanted to buy a bunch of crap from the black market. Fake iPhones n shit. Ate a bunch of interesting foods. I wanted to see more of the city out the bike stuff took up a lot of the time.

DM: Was there anything you weren't prepared for/didn't expect? Any culture shocks you experienced? Was there anything really new to you?

JY: It was so hot and humid out there. it was like mid 90 degree weather with rain sometimes. The out of towners were definitely not used to it at all. The people from there were so used to it I even saw some dude wearing a crew neck in that weather and not even tripping about it at all. I would be sitting down with my shirt off in the shade doing absolutely nothing and still sweating my ass off. Everything out there was new to me, there was so much to see and experience it's kind of hard to put into words. I

can tell you that traffic out there is pretty insane, they really don't give a fuck out there haha.

DM: In terms of quantity, how much were you photographing (number of roles of film)? How difficult or easy was it to decide on how much/what to include in Salam Sejahtera?

JY: I think I shot about 12 rolls? I brought 2 cameras with me just as a back up and it actually came in handy. on the 10 th roll or something my main camera crapped out. I was kinda bummed cuz it was a super rare one that's hard to find on ebay or even in working condition. It was kind of difficult picking the photos I wanted in the zine. I actually wanted to keep it less bike related as much as possible, and 3 days spent there was at a bike thing. But I think I gathered enough.

DM: What did you want to do with this zine? What did you want to show with it?

JY: I just to get it out in peoples hands. I kind of wanted to show the timeline I experienced and things I saw that you wouldn't normally see here in SF.

DM: What other things over there besides the people interested you?

JY: Just the way of life out there is totally different. It's hard to explain. One of the photos in the zine that explains it pretty well is the one I think is 2nd or 3rd to last page. It's the family of 3 riding on the scooter, no helmets, with the mom holding an infant in her arm. I saw tons of that kind of stuff and was blown away by it. Cars are super expensive out there so a lot of people resort to scooters. I even saw a family of 4 with the baby sitting in the front zipping through the freeway.

DM: You were prepared going with your cameras and film, did you have it in mind to make a zine out of your trip or when did you decide to make it, instead of just posting photos online like you normally do with your photos?

JY: I wanted to make sure I had enough film on me for that trip. And I did have in mind that I wanted to make a zine out of it. Once the zine gets out a little more I'll start uploading some photos from it.

DM: You recently created Extra Bigger, what's the story behind that? Why did you guys decide to do it? For you, what's it like having this platform and being on board with your friends?

JY: I just wanted a group of friends that shot photos to contribute to a tumblr. Simple as that. Lately the fan base has been growing. I don't know what it is but there's this photo of Kanin and his bike on there and it's got like 1700 notes on there. I guess it just has to get reblogged by the right person. The platform is as simple as it is. Upload whatever photo you like for people to see. That's about it.

DM: Even though you don't consider yourself a photographer, do you have future ambitions with photography? Any ideas, projects, other trips maybe? Or just whatever happens happens and as it comes you'll take it from there?

JY: I just kind of do it as it comes. I recently did that flannel shoot for my work at Benny Gold. It was my first time doing like a model/product shoot and I think it turned out great. Luckily my girlfriend was there to be a stylist. She's done stuff like that for photo shoots in the past. She's awesome.

There are a lot of components to Jason's photos that are similar to what we see these days from other film photographers like the candid perspective, but what is so stand out is definitely his comfortability with strangers so that his photos show another side of people's lives that many photographers don't capture, even when it comes to his photos of friends and life in SF. We can see the honesty, enjoyment, and positive emotions in the people and subjects from Jason.

Jason's Salam Sejahtera is a black and white 60 page print, a limited edition of 60 that you can get for $5 on the Extra Bigger Shop.

You can see other photos by Jason on his personal tumblr.

Feature Shoot's Online Group Show #2: Window Seat

This past Friday Feature Shoot posted it's second online group show, Window Seat. They opened submissions on February 20th, detailing the topic about being photos taken from the windows of airplanes.
Although this isn't Feature Shoot's first online group show, having their first earlier in February, this is really the first time I've come across a collection of photos online being called in a group show. I've seen where sites ask for submissions of particular themes and guidelines, then posts selected works like A Dirty Job's themes of the month or like some of the fun projects Jeff Hamada posts on Booooooom.
I have two initial thoughts about Feature Shoot's online Group Shows.
1) How quick an online group show can be when it's open to submissions to anyone who saw it on FS before the deadline.
2) How little detail there was on Feature Shoot's call for submission, which to me extends to how impersonal these kinds of open submissions and group shows can be.

From the call for submission to the deadline, photographers had just two weeks to take, edit, and select photos to submit. As little time as that is and how unfair that can seem, I'm sure there were many submissions and the more significant point to me is how quick a group show was put together, because it was online, and nothing had to be printed or extensively organized as a real group show exhibit would come with.

With the short description in the call for submissions participants and readers don't sense any unity Feature Shoot's group show would have, not like a physical group show exhibit would. As a viewer I didn't see a personal connection between the photos and the photographers, neither did I have a collective impression from the photos, which are things I'd normally experience with a real physical group or solo show exhibit.
With such a short notice for a group show, without a more overall personal significant motif for the show besides particular images, photographers don't have more time to think about and create a more meaningful selection of works this results in a less cohesive union for a group show.

Photographer Elizabeth Weinberg tweeted it best Saturday, "A lotta photography out there that's beautiful but got no soul. I look for that magical union of the two."
When all a photographer is going for is a nice photo, it's not that special if it isn't important to them.

With a quick and short kind of online group show post like Feature Shoot's compiled of maybe meaningful work to their photographers, lacks a direct description of what the work is about like the way physical group show exhibits do, and a viewer does not get the same experience.

However I feel about online group shows, I would like to note I did enjoy some photos in Window Seat, especially from Adrian Studer, William Rugen, Rebecca Stumpf, and Meighan Ellis. (Would have be nice to know at least where the photos were taken.)

The New York Times' The Lively Morgue

The New York Times recently created The Lively Morgue, a tumblr site for publishing it's massive archive of photos. Since the NY Times's first illustrated publication in 1896 it has been using photos to document and share global history, and since then has collected over 5 million prints.


The Lively Morgue gives us a sense of what kinds of photos they will post and where the photos are coming from in their description, "It was an era of bold global exploration to the North and South Poles. Aviation was evolving at breathtaking speed. Russia was in revolt. Pictures. New York took its place as a global cultural capital. The world was again convulsed in a war that ended with the atomic bomb. More pictures. Civil rights were won on the battleground, while explorers turned their sights to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Pictures and more pictures."


In their posts, the photos will be accompanied with short caption and sometimes extensive back stories. Photos and extended back stories will be posted on the Lens Blog. To enhance backstories, back side of prints will also be shown, providing notes from the photographer, contexts in which the photo was used, and other information. The New York Times will even have some prints seen on The Lively Morgue available for purchase.


I am beyond excited to follow The Lively Morgue, to see eras of the past, historical cultures I'll be only able to know through these photos and the stories shared about them. It will be great to learn about things of the past that I would have otherwise not even heard of. Projects and sites like this give the newer generations a piece of the past and opportunity to be engaged and be touched in some way by people and life styles so foreign to their era. The past has been the foundation and still influences the present and should be more known and widespread. If you're into photography, history, or older American and world culture, The Lively Morgue is definitely something you should consider checking out and following.

6 foot Negatives for Vanishing Cultures

When I first skimmed NPR's first page on my phone about Dennis Manarchy making 6 foot negatives portraits I was beyond interested and impressed. To hear about a photographer using a camera that big to make that size film negatives sounds insane, especially considering the whole process of building the camera and developing that size negative. As digital becomes more widely used in print and online industries, it's a small amount of photographers that continue to use film and even few that push the limits and see what new things can be done. I remember last year when I came across the short video on Darren's Great Big Camera and was even blown away by that idea.  

Once I was able to go back to the NPR post and read more on why Manarchy was even doing anything with this scale of film I saw that this was more than just himself as a photographer, but a project to document historical Americans. For now, Manarchy is using a prototype 35 foot long camera, but is hoping to raise funds with his kickstarter page to build a polished product for the project Vanishing Cultures. Manarchy's project will take him around the states to photograph people and cultures of America's history.



With the help of his team, Manarchy is certainly taking up a great project that is socially significant in remembering these people and documenting their portraits like never before, as well as literally huge in the photography community, especially with the camera's 200th year anniversary coming up. I cannot wait to see more from this project and see how this will inspire other photographer with large format film and what other creative projects will come.