Sketchbook – “St. Matthew” by Michelangelo

Sketchbook – “St. Matthew” by Michelangelo. Joel Addams

Michelangelo’s “St. Matthew” is a bit more formed and appeared much more progressed than some of his other works in sculpted series in the Gallerie dell’Accademia.  His book in his left hand was not as appreciable from the angle I chose to view him, but his robes looked smooth and consistent.  I think sculpting would probably be the most difficult art form technically to ever master.  Moving from an outside to an inside space without the technology appears almost impossible.

What is evident about these artists running about during Michelangelo’s period is that they appreciated the precision of the human form to the highest degree.  A strong sense of reality in the musculature and joints would allow even a basic student of anatomy to identify specific stuctures (veins, muscles, tendons) under the skin of these sculptures.  In marble.

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Sketchbook – “The Awakening Slave” by Michelangelo

“The Awakening Slave” Pencil on toned paper. Joel Addams

If these appear headless, you’re not entirely incorrect.  Michelangelo’s works “The Slaves” are definitely unfinished and the head of “The Awakening Slave” is turned to the figure’s right and back.  The face, however, had not been fashioned by the Renaissance Master before he died.  So…no tomb decoration for il Papa.  The figures of the Renaissance appear to always have a slightly larger torso than many other figures I have been looking at.  Their musculature also appears pretty beefy.  Ah, those Renaissance chaps, always going for the ideal.

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Sketchbook – “The Young Slave” by Michelangelo

Sketchbook – Michelangelo’s “The Young Slave”

“The Young Slave” Pencil on toned paper. Joel Addams

SKETCHBOOK – MICHELANGELO’S “THE YOUNG SLAVE”

Well, you gotta do something while you wait for the light to change.  Or for people to pack the hall of the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy.  Enough people, that is, to fill up the hall for the photograph that you have been wanting to take for awhile.  The preceding hall to the famous David sculpture by Michelangelo houses several unfinished works by the Renaissance master, under the general title “The Slaves”  and were originally commissioned for the tomb of a pope.

Having been tutored by the great Zachary Proctor, I went to work on sketching a few of these.  Zachary had suggested that I continue with only drawing the lines of the objects, as I clearly was not gifted in adding the values and the shading of more complex drawing.  These were a bit of a challenge in that the forms themselves are not clear.  The human shapes are of course, still embedded in the marble.

Sketching about ten drawings over the past four months is an exercise in craziness.  I always start thinking, “if this doesn’t look horrible, then perhaps I’ve succeeded.”  I’ll admit my favorite part of the sketch is adding a stroke or two of white charcoal.  The highlights are always the best in drawing. The blacks are always the best in photography.

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The David, Florence, Italy

The David, Florence, Italy

Always happy to be back in beautiful Italy, prepping for the Intimate Tuscany Workshop and Tuscany Village Tour with Drake Busath.  I thought I would warm up a little bit in a city that cradles its art.  Of late, I have had an interest in not necessarily photographing works of art for their own beauty, but photographing the interactions of people with them.  I had envisioned this image for sometime, as I wanted to show the absolute madness of our society for this particular statue.

Granted, it is quite breath-taking.  It is massive in its own right, but combined with the aesthetics of the sculpture, The David by Michelangelo evokes a grandeur and beauty of the human spirit.  I sat for awhile sketching out his other, unfinished statues in the hallway leading to the David and also watched people’s reactions as they turned the corner and could see the statue centrally placed in the rotunda of the Gallerie dell’Accademia.  Many people were visibly taken aback, and many tour groups who were forced to listen to the didactics of their guides on other works of art simply could not look away from it and anticipated moving closer.

My goal was produce a black and white image which emphasized the statue as subject, but which clearly showed the immensity of the crowd that is often thronging the statue.  I often wonder if art would be as popular if not institutionalized, brought into the museums and charged large fees for it.  If The David were still standing outside in the rain, would we give it as much attention, make it a destination spot from all over the world.  It seems hard to think otherwise, as the sculpture seems to speak for itself.

www.joeladdams.com

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“Antelope Island and Clouds”

“Antelope Island and Clouds” Utah. © JoelAddams.com

ANTELOPE ISLAND, UTAH

While shooting with a friend of mine in the west part of the Salt Lake Valley, we noticed what the clouds were doing to the north of us around Antelope Island, one of the state parks that harbor all the bison in a protected sanctuary.  The sun was brilliantly hot, but as the clouds moved overhead, they illuminated parts of the scene, including the island itself.  Multiple images are put together to make this high resolution panorama. I felt like the X-PRO 1 sensor did a fantastic job at both the dynamic range and the detail of this scene.

Camera: Fujifilm X-PRO 1
Lens: Fujifilm 35 mm f/1.4
Settings: ISO400, f/5.6, 1/2000 of a second
Filters:  None

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Fujifilm’s X-PRO 1 – In the Studio

I have enjoyed the Fujifilm X-PRO 1 more than I anticipated. After having it hang out in my bag for a few months, thinking that it was my “fun” camera that I would pull out when I wanted to go to dinner and just have something small, I slowly started incorporating it into daily use, both on the street and then in the studio. I was pretty blown away by the very aperture (f/1.4) on the 35 mm lens, and I knew that this lens was highly regarded among the reviews on all the major techie sites. But for the price, (now $1399 for the body and still $599 for one of these lenses), I believe the X-PRO 1 (or X E1) with a 35 mm or 60 mm lens to be one of the best deals for a very wide aperture on a professional APS-C sensor. The results have been phenomenal for me, and now I think of the X-PRO 1 as less of a “fun” camera and more of a serious camera. In fact, I look for opportunities to use it. (But wait, aren’t you supposed to look more professional with bulkier, heavier cameras in your bag? Don’t you want to be the guy to show up at the most famous location with the longest lens?) Whatever floats your boat. If you hand me a metal, well built camera with a killer lens and sensor, I will suddenly start planning my next backpacking trip or walk across Europe around it. Thank you, Fujifilm. And by the way, if you put a full frame sensor in one in the future, I will buy that one, too.

THE BRANZINO

The branzino is a Mediterranean whitefish that is not too large, not too small. I had never eaten one. I believed the guy at the fish market, and I bought one both to eat and photograph. I have a certain passion for seafood, both in a visual sense and in a gustatory sense. Evidently, from my limited reading they are becoming more and more popular on restaurant menus these days. I just thought they looked kinda cool and they still looked pretty fresh to me.

Final image of the subject, a Branzino taken on a Fujifilm X-PRO 1 with a 35 mm lens. © Joel Addams

The f/1.4 is key for some of these studio shots, as it makes handholding much easier (faster shutter speed) and it can focus the attention on a specific area of the image.  The vertical shot below focused on the eye of the fish, still fairly glossy considering its long voyage to my plate.  The 1.4 also removes any distraction from the background and allow for text or other images, depending on how the image will be used in the future.

Vertical shot of the Branzino with aperture at f/1.4 on the Fujifilm 35 mm X mount lens and the X-PRO 1.

The sharpness of the lens/sensor combination was truly remarkable, and I was pretty impressed from the whole thing being in such a small package.  At f/4, when I needed more of the fish in focus, I was getting a sharpness at 100% and even 200% that I was not expecting.  While I had a few troubles getting the focus points in the right place, I eventually got the hang of how to do this more quickly and it didn’t bother me much.  Overall, I’m pretty excited to start traveling the world with this camera and a couple of the fantastic lenses.  Oh, and be smart and get it now after the price dropped by $300 on the X-PRO 1.

ADVANTAGES OF THE X-PRO 1

Metal Body
Three great fixed lenses
Current lowered price
Small, but excellent sensor and image quality

DISADVANTAGES OF THE X-PRO 1

Slow focusing time
Difficult to change focusing points

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Now on Apple iTunes: eBook “Power of the Glance”

It’s a great day when you see your own book finally available on a ubiquitous distributor of eBooks.  Apple accepted my eBook Power of the Glance: Travel Portraits in Black and White for distribution and is now searchable under Art and Photography Books.  It can be previewed and downloaded for US3.99 here:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id583665473.

Cover and Back of “Power of the Glance: Travel Portraits in Black and White” by Joel Addams

EBOOK – POWER OF THE GLANCE: TRAVEL PORTRAITS IN BLACK AND WHITE

This ebook has been a long time in the making, with photographs that started in 2005 and 2006.  Some of my first images of people came from Peru in Iquitos while working with the fabulous Hope Alliance.  I can remember that I felt completely nervous and wasn’t quite sure how to approach people.  I think I was nervous about people yelling at me.  That turned out to be silly because as I asked a few older men if I could take their picture, they seemed like it was a privilege.  One of those images is on page 40; the man with the horizontally striped shirt.  It seemed basic at the time, and even now, but I still feel like it was compositionally sound and natural.  Further down the street that day, a young man and his father were running a taxi service and had stopped for a break in the square.  Tucked away in the back was the boy’s young brother who peered at me through saucer-like eyes.  Unwavering dinner plates, actually that just stared at me from a few feet away.  He didn’t move as I lifted the Canon 20D with a fixed 60 mm lens up and focused on his eyes.  It remains one of my favorites, and is on page 46.

“The portrait became more interesting to me after having reviewed the work of great travel photographers and even some commercial photographers who saw in the person, and especially in the face, a wealth of complexity.  The human experience can be played out in no better place that in the human itself, and the study of it can become as exciting as unlocking a riddle or discovering the double meaning of words in a poem.  People seem to hide their experiences, their emotions, and even their desires in the weight of their gesture, in their wrinkles, and of course in their glance.  And this is where the power of the interpreter of the human condition lies, for if one can determine the meaning of the glance, one will know the intentions of the subject.  The careful observation of the mouth, the arms relaxed by one’s side, the desperate nonchalant tension around the eyes all are clues to the meaning of the poetry that makes up a person’s life, but nothing surpasses the power of the glance.”    - Introduction, Power of the Glance

Girl, Terai Region, Nepal. Page 19

HARDBACK EDITION

I had initially considered a hardback edition of this book.  I am disappointed that the costs of publishing something that should be kept and well considered as an art are so incredibly high.  They make the costs to the public unreasonably high.  Even though some of the world’s best and most well known art photographers are selling limited editions of their art books (say, 500) at very high prices (say, $585), I don’t this is yet feasible.  I will continue to look for a publisher of the work, as their quality to cost ratio is much higher and would make a fine art book more affordable.

Until then, please enjoy the eBook on iTunes for iPad, iMini, and iPhone for US3.99.  I would appreciate any feedback on the images, layout, experience, cost and delivery methods at joel@joeladdams.com or on this thread.

Thank you all for continuing to follow my work,

Joel

NGOs THAT I SUPPORT

Tissue Banks International
Himalayan Cataract Project
Hope Alliance

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Great Products – Travelers or Otherwise

I’m a sucker for quality, that has never been an issue.  Ever since reading Yvon Chouinard’s book Let My People Go Surfing, I realized that I, too, believed in the product well made, well crafted and in paying a premium for it.  It just makes sense on a value spectrum, on an environmental note, and simply in owning something that is awesome and will be awesome for awhile.  It is on this note that I introduce to you some of my favorite products from 2012 (or at least that I used in 2012) whether they be for the photographer, the traveler, or anyone else for that matter.

A PAIR OF PANTS

Yeah, you read it right.  The best pair of pants.  Besides underwear, I argue that pants make up the most crucial part of your wardrobe.  If your pants are off, you my friend, are going to have a very miserable trip, vacation, shoot, night out, night in…Pants for me have to fulfill my goals of being all things to me: they have to be nice enough for an office visit and not nice enough that I can quickly go hiking in them.

Passanger Pants, REI. Shark color.

They need to fit well above and beyond everything else.  Too canvasy?  Kuhl…until they made the Desparado.  Too  cottony? Most pants until the outdoor companies realized they could thread a few percentage points of spandex in those babies and viola, you’ve got yourself a killer pair of do everything, be everything pants.  Thanks, Mountain Hardware for making the Passenger Pant in shark color ($80 REI).  They are all of these things.  I own three pairs.

AN INTERESTING NEW CAMERA

This one was easy.  Sure the market saw a rush (or delayed rush) of new cameras this year, mostly encompassing in the digital world the Canon vs Nikon clash of similar cultures.  I agree the Nikon D4 and the Canon 1Dx, not to mention the fabulous Nikon D800/Canon 5D Mark III, have all been more than noteworthy.  The Nikon D800 probably changed the playing field among the four of these.  And yet, I’m still more interested in the low profile, very cool Fuji X-PRO 1.  Ok, it’s slow on autofocusing; we get it.  Aside from that though, it’s an advanced amateur/street photographer/back-up-pro-just-in-case-my-other-cameras-go-down-but-I-really-just-want-it/travel photographer’s dream.

I love the solid/metal feel to it and the manual controls.  I am starting to see what I can get out of the digital video.  The sound so far isn’t that hot (even though it is stereo instead of mono), but I guess you shouldn’t expect a ton.  The pictures are great and the 35 mm lens is awesome.  The price is also dropping to around 1249-1399 which is awesome.  Fuji is building more lenses which means it should be around for awhile (and upgraded eventually).  I’m very pleased with it, and I’m trying to find trips that will make it my main camera.

AN INTERESTING MAGAZINE

This year I still have to hand it to PDN.  Photo District News puts out fantastically useful articles in a variety of genres, and even if you aren’t shooting weddings or fine art, it’s really interesting to follow the trends and great photography.

To have it in your hand is a different experience than on the web.  You should subscribe if you wanna know more about the industry as a whole and love cool photographs.

AN INTERESTING VIDEO

Besides Gangnam Style, which happened to define for me the difference between “Good” and “Entertaining,”  my favorite video so far this year was David McLain’s trailer for his upcoming documentary on “Bounce – The Kirkwall Ba, Orkney Islands, Scotland.”  David McLain is a well known National Geographic photographer who started really becoming a well known cinematographer .

A SET OF HEADPHONES

I understand that beats by DRE are very stylish and probably very good.  They don’t contour to my head very well, so maybe this is a “it’s me, not you” situation.  I also don’t like to be stared at TOO much when I’m monitoring sound in another country or anywhere, actually.  Black is fine.  I tested out several sets of headphones when I went to purchase, meaning about fifteen.  I have been very happy with a set of Sennheiser HD 280 pro.  They sounded like one of the best to my ears, they fold up very well, and they contour perfectly.  What’s not to like?

They continue to do great work in the studio as well as on location. They do not have a noise canceling feature, but for $100, I have been more than pleased with the purchase.

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Day for Night – Hot Springs

A day for night shot in central Utah. By Joel Addams

CENTRAL UTAH

Think of this as a sketch in the ol’ sketchbook.  There is a lot of cleaning up to do in a post-processing sense, but this is what I was envisioning when passing through the beloved hot springs in Central Utah.

The Tennis Guy – Hasselblad Black and White

The famous 70′s tennis player comes alive again. Zachary Proctor photographed by Joel Addams

The famous 70′s tennis player comes alive again. Zachary Proctor photographed by Joel Addams

The famous 70′s tennis player comes alive again. Zachary Proctor photographed by Joel Addams