Cloudy moon...

I snapped a couple pics of the moon the other night. It was going in and out of the clouds and looked kind of cool. Not the best moon picture ever captured, but I thought it was nice enough to share.

My fellow photogs...

As this decade is coming to an end, I thought I'd look back on a few people who don't always make it in front of the camera. I'm talking about those people who are normally BEHIND the camera. Over the years. I've snapped a few pics of some fellow Dallas photogs, and now I'm sharing them with you...

Dylan Hollingsworth

Allison V. Smith

Ange Fitzgerald

Irwin Thompson

Mona Reeder

Stephanie Alexander

Joel Winburne

Rachel Parker

Scott Mankoff

Texas Grammy nominations...

Texas musicians have racked up a bunch of Grammy nominations this year. In honor of one of this year's nominees - Roy Hargrove - I am posting an old picture I took of him...

Art Conspiracy 5...

I will be participating with 149 other artists and several bands on December 12, as part of ArtCon 5. You can watch a video interview about the event here:

www.kera.org/artandseek

John Popper...

Some pictures I take wind up getting filed away and forgotten. I almost forgot about this portrait of John Popper, the musician and frontman for Blues Traveler. I took it near the end of 2008, then never did anything with it, until now...

Almost ten years...

December 14, 1999 was the first shoot I did for The Dallas Morning News. It has been almost exactly ten years, and they've been a pretty awesome client. I've learned so much through those ten years and done so much. I think I need to track down a copy of that first assignment and share it. It was some restaurant in Hillsboro, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, ten years is about nine years and six months longer than I initially thought I'd be shooting for them. I was so young and nervous back then, I just knew I'd blow it somehow... but, I didn't. Now, let's hope for another ten years!

The other website...

Not sure if I mentioned this lately or not... I recently moved my music, band, rock and roll photography website to a new domain name. I'm going to use www.janikphoto.com with a PH in photo for my editorial and corporate work portfolio from now on. I am still working on that website, so you STILL see a temp page online. I just rotates through some pics and gives my contact info. I really need to get that new site built.

Back to the rock and roll pics... They are now at www.janikfoto.com with an F, as in foto. Eventually, I'll have the two sites link back and forth between each other, so you can easily find both. However, I wanted a distinct transition between the two bodies of work. I didn't want it all on one website. I hope it wasn't too confusing for everyone...

ASMP Christmas party...

ASMP Dallas Christmas Party:

At Ghost Bar Dallas Roof Top Lounge "W" Hotel

When: Thursday December 10
Where: Ghost Bar 2440 Victory Park Lane Dallas, TX 75219 (214) 397.4100

members and non-members are welcomed -- In fact, the entire photography, design, advertising, commercial art, art, modeling community is welcomed to join our soirée. Just mention one of our members (or say you saw the poster =).

The "private" party is from 7:00 - 9:00 PM (the bar opens to the public at 9:00 PM). We can stay as long as we like until closing.

There is no charge to enter for us, or our invited guests, spouses, or dates. ($20.00 per person to the public after 9:00 PM). No one under 21 years old is allowed, please dress appropriately for the Ghostbar or you may be refused entrance.

There are a limited number of snacks & free drinks and after they are exhausted the party will become a cash bar. We will have a live band Luv Bus, fronted by Gary Boren, which is a mix of jazz/indie/salsa fusion band, that also plays Johnny Cash covers, YeeHaw! (hey, I happen to like Johnny Cash). The clubs Disco starts at 9:00 PM and will be up-volume, up-tempo, and get-up- & dance.

Parking -- There will be valet parking at the W hotel that is NOT paid for by ASMP - there is limited self parking in the area - since there is a Mav's game at 7:30 that evening we suggest you use the valet and be aware there will be traffic.

Presidential portraits...

World leaders need pictures, too. Follow the link to a great feature on portraits at the United Nations in New York:

www.newyorker.com

Digging through old photos...

I was digging through old photo files, looking for an image that The Recording Academy (the Grammy Awards people) wanted to use. While searching for it, I found a bunch of photos that were either:

a.) terrible to look at now, but I thought were cool way back then.

b.) terrible then and now. Why did I even bother shooting them?!?

c.) still cool after all these years.

I always liked this series of images strung together. It is of the Texas indie band Eisley from 2002. I shot it with my good old Mamiya medium format camera using available light and a small extension tube on the lens. That camera made for some great images. I think these would still hold up today...

I also thought this image below was decent, considering where my skill level was back in 2002. If I shot it today, I wouldn't throw it away, but I'd definitely feel like I phoned it in. It's still got a place in my heart, though. And, at least it shows that I didn't suck back then, but I've also grown a lot as a photographer over the years.

It's not all Rock and Roll...

Dallas just doesn't have enough music photography to pay all the bills, plain and simple. It makes up a big chunk of my annual income, but I'd be driving a 1980's Honda Civic and eating Ramen noodles if I ONLY shot music in Dallas. We'd all like to herald the vibrant and talented scene here, and it IS amazing. However, it's not LA, NY or Nashville.

I bring this up, because you'll have to diversify in Dallas. Yes, I shoot a lot of music here in Big D, but I also shoot a lot of corporate and PR stuff. And it can be fun, because it gives me some variety. For example, I was recently commissioned to do some shots of a private school during their family day and during a community performance.

These images will most likely be used in brochures and on a website for the school. There wasn't much rock and roll, but I liked it! Was that a bad pun? Yeah, I know... I'm cheesy like that sometimes. Anyway, enjoy the non-rock side of my shooting...

Christmas cover...

The holidays are here and Christmas pictures are starting to pop up in newspapers and magazines. Here is the most recent cover of Quick with one of my photos. It was a fun shoot, doing a little naughty Santa style theme. The girls were supposed to be spiking the holiday punch. The pics go with a feature on fun holiday gift ideas...

No flash wedding...

I normally don't book more than one wedding per month, but I had a friend getting married. He was my photo assistant for several years, and he's a real nice guy. He needed a photographer, and of course I was going to say yes!

The cool thing about his wedding was the great lighting in the church. There was actually enough decent, even lighting that I was able to shoot most of my pics without flash! I'm a big flash guy, so this was special for me. It gave me a chance to blend in with the crowd more - just a few quiet snaps vs. a popping flash. It was nice that there wasn't a constant flashing to draw attention to me. I was able to get some real nice "fly on the wall" type images.

The other bonus is that it forced me to take more shallow depth of field pics, since I didn't want to push the ISO too high. This gave me the opportunity to really isolate my subjects, bringing more focus to their subtle gestures and emotions. It was definitely a plus!

Here's a good example, where I caught one of the brothers holding flowers as he waited for the bride and a bridesmaid. It's just a quiet little moment that I think would've been spoiled with a bunch of flash and a giant DOF...