With the first full week of 2010 coming to an end, I figured it was time to pick some images from 2009 which summarized the year.  Instead of picking the top images, I picked five images taken in 2009 along with how they changed my style or approach when photographing.

Winter in Washington Park

On the first weekend of January 2009, some snowfall finally graced Denver.  Not knowing how much would fall, I planned to wake up early on Sunday morning to see the result and photograph around Denver.  When heading out that morning, in my mind I was thinking of the tree at Washington Park I had photographed on a May 1, 2008 (Snowy May Day).  Arriving before sunrise at the park, I took the similar photograph, but then decided to explore the subject some more with different angles in addition to what should be included in the frame.  The end result is the above image which now includes the boat house at the park.  While I went into the location with an idea of the subject, exploring new perspectives and challenging yourself in the field is important.  This approach was something I had always done in the field, but on this day it just hit home with the result.

Rocky Mountain News – Final Edition

On Friday February 27, 2009 the Rocky Mountain News published their final edition. The News had been a part of Denver for almost as long as Denver was a city and this final edition marked the end of an era. The final edition which I purchased was placed on the front porch to my house as this is how many people received the paper.  The idea for this image came to mind when I was walking back from the local convenience store where I purchased a few copies of the paper.  There were two reminders which came with this photograph.  The first is to think about how people see the subject you are photographing.  In the instance of the newspaper a front porch is where you would expect the paper to land and become a part of your day.  Sure there are the days it is in the grass, bushes or elsewhere but that isn’t a positive outlook of picking up the newspaper.  The second is to be aware of what is happening around you as you never know when a good photo opportunity may present itself.

Coors Field Seats

While at a Colorado Rockies game this fall with a large group, just before the game I noticed the sun starting to drop behind the stands on the 3rd base side of the stadium.  As this late afternoon light streamed through, the beverage holders near our seats started to pick up the light.  Pausing from a conversation witha  few others, I grabbed my iPhone and took the above image.  This image shows the importance of having a camera with you at all times even if it is a mobile phone, and is the basis of the Along the Journey… series.

East of Denver International Airport

During the month of November, I once again did the Thirty Days project.  Near the end of the month, I flew back to Denver from a Thanksgiving trip in Southern California.  Knowing that the my flight would land after midnight I thought about heading out to photograph at that time, depending on the weather.  Upon arriving at my car close to 2am, I thought about it and took a drive east of the airport to photograph.  I knew it would be cold, so I prepared myself as best I could in the conditions.  After spending about 45 minutes on the plains I headed home tired, but more so happy I pushed myself to use that opportunity to photograph.  It is easy to stay somewhere warm, but the images can not be created without pushing yourself.  In this instance I found my Day 30 image, but also have ideas to look into later this year.

Hannah’s Birthday at Disneyland

My niece turned five in 2009.  For her birthday, she was treated with a trip to Disneyland to see the princesses and fairies.  I decided to fly out for the occasion and join my sister’s family, as well as my parents who made the trip to Anaheim.  Of course there was no way I would not head there without a camera and during the day I took many images of Hannah enjoying herself at the park.  Capturing the moment is important but so is taking time out to enjoy the important moments in life as they will quickly pass.

There were many other pictures taken during the course of 2009, but I feel the above five highlight the year and serve as a reminder of why I photograph.

Earlier this week I posted on Picking a Personal Photography Project.  In that post I asked you to post some of the projects you are just starting or have planned for 2010.  I went through the feedback I received in the comments area of the post as well as through e-mail and picked some to post.  The projects listed below are quite interesting and I hope these inspire you with your goals in the new year.

• Alex Saunders is making a project of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Southern Colorado. In September of 2009 he spent three days there and would like to get a solid group of 12 images for his portfolio.  This would encompass the dunes as well as the surrounding area.

• Marcy James has two projects she will be working on completing. The first is meandering through her murky watered futuristic place, no man’s land where she is thinking she will make artifacts found there. The second is finising her butte, america book to submit for blurb’s contest.

• Christopher Rice is in the early stages of planning for a photography project to document a portion of the Denver metro area.  This planning is to determine if the project is feasible and the scope he will encompass.

• Annie Florin, a children’s photographer in the Bay Area, is looking at two different projects.  While the first is in the planning stages at this time it is an interesting concept which brings together her local area as well as something in common with her focus of children’s photography.  She will also continue her Jack project featuring her son.

• I will build on my Winter in Washington Park image as I work to document the Denver area.  It is quite common to photograph the mountains in Colorado however the Denver area has it’s own beauty.  Covering the city in the different seasons will bring some challenges but also will highlight what the city has to offer.

I hope we will be able to check-in on some of these projects in the upcoming months.  Is there a project you are working on which you would like to share?

A few months ago I went to a joint ADCD/ASMP presentation where Chase Jarvis talked about creativity. One thing which resonated from this talk is your best camera is the one which is with you. It doesn’t matter if it is a high end Nikon camera, point and shoot or even a cell phone camera.

Most of the images you see on this blog were taken with either a Nikon D700, Nikon D200 or a point and shoot camera. However I decided to follow in the steps of Chase and many others and start using the mobile phone as a way to express creativity and also to start to see things different in the world. Now the quality you will get from a cell phone is much different than a high end camera, but the composition elements remain the same.  Using an Apple iPhone 3GS and an iPhone application I am able to be creative on the go.  By doing this I have found I am looking at objects differently that I would in the past, bringing more creativity to my photography.

For the past few months I have been posting images on my Twitter feed as well as Facebook Fan Page for Neil Corman Photography.  However now with a collection of images, they are now featured on this website and available for purchase in small sizes.  The collect is called ‘Along the Journey…‘ as life carries on there is always time to stop and enjoy the surroundings you experience.  New images will continue to be posted on Twitter and Facebook, with the top images being included for sale in the gallery.

The following images are samples of some of the images taken with the mobile phone.

Chair Lift - Avon, Colorado

Coors Field Seats - Denver, Colorado

Do you have a collection of images taken with a mobile device, if so feel free to provide a link in the comments.

“The times they are a-changin” is a song by Bob Dylan from the 1960’s and today is proof of this as the final production run of Kodachrome will take place. With the special make up of the film it requires a different process to create and even to develop with only one lab left in the country which will handle the processing until the end of 2010.

Since it joined the product line over 70 years ago many photographers have used the various iterations of Kodachrome due to the colors it created in both still and motion picture film. From the Afghan Girl photograph in National Geographic by photographer Steve McCurry to the Zapruder reel in 1963 the film has caught many special times. Kodak has created a special gallery to share some of these images.

So while Kodachrome will no longer be an option for those photographers who shoot film, the images of the past will remain as a reminder and of course so will the words of Paul Simon…

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

The question “Where did you take this photograph?” is one which I receive quite often at gallery nrc with pieces of work shown during the Denver Art Walk each month.  During First Friday in May one image which received a lot of questions is the following photograph from Rainbow Curve in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Rainbow Curve Clouds - Rocky Mountain National Park

The first question I received was “Were you in an airplane?”, or “How far did you hike to get that image?”.  My response was always, I was at Rainbow Curve just off of Trail Ridge Road instead of a story which I could have made up to stretch the truth.  For those of you not familiar with Rainbow Curve, it is the pull off just above treeline on the eastern side of the park and included at the location are restrooms and enough parking for maybe 20 or 30 cars.  To me the location doesn’t matter, but it is about the story the image tells.  When this image was taken I was heading up the road towards Bear Lake and about 1/3 of the way up decided to backtrack and head to Trail Ridge Road.  Just prior to hitting treeline I popped out of the clouds and was treated with the following scene.  As I chatted with a few people prior to sunrise who stopped as well, I told them to wait 10 minutes or so since sunrise was right about to happen.

I bring up the question of where did you take this image as I was at the Downtown Denver Art Festival this past weekend, and noticed a photograph which looked like a familiar location.  I inquired about the photo of the mountain lion and was told a story which didn’t seem to sound right as the background was in some of the images I have of mountain lions taken at a place in Montana which caters towards video and still photographers.  Using a “game farm” allows the safety of both the photographer as well as the animals since you are not tracking animals in the wild which could put an animal in harms way.  I did some research prior to selecting this place to see the photographers using it and why it makes sense to get photographs in this manner.  So the story I was told by the photographer at the arts festival was that he hired a guide outside of Glacier National Park who knew there was a mountain lion in the area but it still took a great deal of time to get this image.  I could have asked more questions to the photographer about specifics about this but decided to take the high road and let him get back to his booth and his story for other patrons.  Upon getting home I confirmed the location based on past images of mine, in addition to asking another photographer who has been there during the winter.

But I am wondering, does the story he is sharing with people help sell the image?  Would you buy the image based on the story of him being in the wild finding the animal or is it just the image itself which would draw you to purchase the photograph?  If you bought the image based on the story, and later found out the truth how would you feel?  To me deceiving the buyer doesn’t make any sense as a photographer and a business person as the truth will come to light at some point which not only hurts your reputation but those of all photographers.  A photograph tells the story, but maybe in this case the story needs to tell the story to sell the image.

It is at this time every year I remind myself that it is about the future and not the past…

The website A Photo Editor has an interesting post from earlier this month regarding the photograph on U2’s new album No Line on the Horizon.  The title song of the album was inspired by the photographers work and he allowed it to be the album cover with the condition of no text may obstruct any part of the image, which something not really done.  Additionally the terms of the usage was an artist to artist deal, meaning U2 could use the image and the photographer obtained rights to the song for his use in the future.  More information of how this whole transaction came about may be found on the A Photo Editor website and his recent post Hiroshi Sugimoto’s No Cash Deal with U2.

I find this transaction interesting with the value of the work exchanged between two artists.  While Sugimoto will receive the exposure by being on the front of the new album and likewise have his image show up on any iPod when music from the album is playing, which can be quite significant for a band like U2, for this the value exchanged are the rights to use the title song of the new CD, which was influenced by his images, in any project of his in the future.

Photographers should look at this exchange with interest as there is a common misconception of when it is alright to use music as part of a presentation or more so website without the proper license.  I have been to numerous websites of photographers who have strong statements about stealing their images, but yet use pieces of music which are quite mainstream and most likely not licensed for commercial use.  If we are trying to educate people on why it is wrong to take images from a website shouldn’t we respect the work of other artists?

As I was catching up on some of the blogs which I follow, I came across the following video from Atlanta Photographer Zack Arias.  This was a timely video, as I have had some discussions with other photographers about how the winter brings out the worse in our fields and usually it shoots down motivation.  If you are a photographer, check out the video and you will find after the first minute the content of the video suddenly changes.  It just may be that kick you need this time of year and get back in the game for the spring.

If you would like to view the full screen version, you may do so at the following link.

Today marks the final edition of the Rocky Mountain News which was the oldest newspaper in the State of Colorado.  Since 1859, the News has provided the news to the residents of the Denver area.  I headed out this morning to pick up a copy of the newspaper and on the way home, placed it on my front porch.

As I brought it into my house I dropped it on top of The Denver Post prior to giving the RMN one final read.

While the Denver Daily News had the headline of “We’re a 2-Daily Town” which may be true in their eyes, it is a different landscape now for print media in Denver.

Today the media landscape of Denver changed as it was announced by EW Scripps the Rocky Mountain News which has been around almost since the birth of Denver over 150 years ago would publish their last edition on Friday February 27th, leaving Denver as a one newspaper town.  While it wasn’t a total surprise this would happen since the announcement in December that Scripps wanted to sell or shut down the paper in thirty days, it was a decision many had hoped would not be the final result and a buyer would be found.  As the distribution of news turns to the web, advertising dollars have decreased which isn’t helped with the current downturn in the economy as well. Newspapers are needing to redefine themselves to help with the changes the web has brought in recent years.

With this change in the Denver print media it was somewhat ironic Detroit Michigan Photographer Rosh Sillars presented this evening at the ASMP Colorado chapter meeting on the topic of new and social media for photographers.  In his presentation discussing the various social mediums available in this present state Ross did a great job explaining how to best set-up your soft marketing of social media between the hybrid (Flickr, YouTube) and community (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace) sites as your website and blog remains the focus of this marketing.  However as someone who already uses some new/social media the one item I took away from this presentation is that there is not one solution for all and you need to address the various options which are right for your business.

As I walked home from the presentation, I noticed a satellite truck in the middle of Civic Center Park and a reporter preparing for a 9pm live shot.  Looking at the set-up the shot it included the skyline of Denver and the building which houses both Denver newspapers.  This evening the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post logos were both illuminated on the Denver Newspaper Agency building, and while this may continue after tomorrow the media landscape of Denver has changed.