I have this theory that it’s good to bumble. That way you
bump into stuff you didn’t know, or forgot, existed….

This week I was rooting thru a few hard drives, looking
for some specific image. While I was there, in these hard
drives, I bumped into a bunch of other stuff. I pulled a
few of them out and am throwing them up on drool.

Long live bumbling!

FRONT ROOM

I have this funky upstairs front room. Not really a studio, I
call it a work room. But I do use it for shooting from time
to time.

I actually prefer that room to a studio. I find studios so
antiseptic. My front room is anything but…….

NOTEBOOK

Every so often I go on notebook making sprees. Just messing
around. Tape, a bunch of test prints and a bit of time (the 4th
dimension, don’t forget) and you end up with a notebook.

I don’t know what it is about these things, perhaps the fact that
they aren’t antiseptic, but folks seem to love ‘em.

Here’s a page spread.

SHOT COP

A few years ago I was asked to photograph Supt. Ralph Erfle for
an article on cops who had been shot in the line of duty.

MAINTENANCE

I was staying and shooting in some hotel in P.E.I. a while ago.
During lulls in the shooting I set out to find and photograph
some of the hotel’s maintenance workers.

BUMBLING IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM, THIS WEEK

My old friend Jody Benjamin asked me to shoot her for the
cover of her upcoming album. We ended up shooting it in
the washrooms at The Atomic Rooster.

The shot involved me shooting down from one cubicle into
the next one where Jody was sitting (on the commode) with
her leg up, boot flat against the door. A standard barroom
procedure for women, I’m told, because there are no locks
on the doors and who wants an intruder to barge in when
you’re stranded, just sitting there?

So, we’re in the can and this is what I’m saying: “Pull your
panties down. Good, now spread your legs. Spread them
wider. Your panties are still too high, pull them down more”
and so on. You get the idea.

There weren’t too many folks in the restaurant while we
were shooting but, when we came out of the bathroom
everybody there looked at us and grinned.

Here’s me and Jody in the can. To see the cover you’re
going to have to wait for the album, which is being mixed,
even as we speak, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

GEEK KORNER

Okay, got my shiny new Nikon D3x this week. And, did I mention
I also picked up the new Nikon 50mm AF-S f/1.4 prime lens to
slap on this baby?

Every review I read raved about the camera’s superior image quality
and totally complained about just how much of the fabulous moolah
one would have to shell out to get that quality.

Well, I don’t know about you, but when it comes to quality, especially
the quality I deliver to clients, Tony Fouhse Foto spares no expense.

I have to say, the first files out of this machine pretty much blew me
away. They come straight out of the camera at about 16×20 inches,
300 ppi. Massive.

But wait, that’s not all. Nikon have done something special to the AA
filter (the thingy in front of the sensor which, I believe, has 24 million
lenses in it, one for each pixel in the sensor). The bottom line is that
the pix this thing produces are the closest thing I’ve seen to what actual
film looks like. The gradations are great, the rendering is realistic, the
color is concise…..blah. blah, blah, add your own alliteration here.

A 100% view, screen capture. No sharpening, no post production at all

Somewhat more than 100%, no post production

Of course, the thing is just a tool. It’s not like it will make me a better
photographer, or anything. It won’t. But, believe me, there will be a
certain je ne sais quois about the images the camera produces that will
have some little effect on what the “product” looks and feels like. And
that’s what I wanted.

Finally, I want to let any drool readers know that, even tho this baby produces
real film-like files, I’ll still be shooting film for certain applications. Now, tho,
it won’t be because the film looks better. No, it’ll be because of the process
of shooting film is so different from pounding out digital shots. The magic
and mysteries, the great unknowingness of the process of shooting film, still
really, really turns my crank.

NOTE

This is a detail of a lovely, hand written note that I received this week from
a client. Thanks Jean.