No time for love, Dr. Jones!

If you're a 20-something like me, let's all take a trip back to our childhood and reminisce on our first experiences with MOVIES. There was that period in American film, the late 70s through early 80s, that completely grabbed our attention as kids. The Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones trilogy gave us no choice but to view movies as endless sources of adventure.

I didn't actually see these movies in the theaters of yesteryear (too young), but we all had VHS copies of Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET. It was only a decade ago that we revisited new Star Wars trilogy in the theaters, and we went crazy for the good old days. And it was only in 2004 that the original Star Wars trilogy came out on DVD as a bonafide set.

What's going to make this summer the best summer ever is the FOURTH installment of the Indiana Jones series! Check it:



Steven Speilberg (director) and George Lucas (producer) will reportedly gross $10.4 trillion from this, so you know it's going to be really great! What's interesting is how this blockbuster franchise will look (for the first time) through the lens of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. He first collaborated with Speilberg in 1994 with Schindler's List, and has shot every one of his films since. Kaminski loves to shimmer up and soften up warm light. He also likes to use blue gels (think Minority Report). And he's addicted to handheld, jittery shots (think Saving Private Ryan).

And I'm sure Speilberg will manage to slip in his usual trademarks: the slow zoom-in of someone gazing soulfully off-camera, the yearning-for-the-father-figure-I-never-had theme, the scenes were at least two conversations are going on at once. Oh yeah, and the mindblowing action sequences that can't be stopped.

So I'm sure this will be the ultimate summer movie. Old meets new. Action, adventure. Fortune and glory. What's next for Speilberg? He's shooting Lincoln, the first biopic about Abraham Lincoln to come out in a long time. So excited.

Red Rocks engagement pictures | Sarah & Andy in Denver, Colorado

Unusually warm days are the saving graces of Colorado winters. They make engagement sessions so much more enjoyable! We can count on the sunlight, but sometimes we luck out on the good weather. Sarah & Andy discovered the models within as we explored Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver. Absolutely perfect location for engagement shots::

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It was such a gorgeous day and the blue light was everywhere that we drove back to Denver and explored LoDo for a while. All the buildings reflect the Rocky Mountain sky so much that Denver turns into a kingdom of sapphire.

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Union Station is a mere memory of what it used to be back in the day (can you imagine the 40s??). They made it come back alive though.

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These people are in love!! I think they had fun.

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The cop in the background played a significant role during the shoot, but I won't say how. Little secret between photographer and couple...

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We found ourselves taking a tour of 17th St., starting with the Oxford Hotel::

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Pristine arrangements of color are there in the soft afternoon::

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Our last shot during the magic hour::

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Sarah & Andy, thank you so much for allowing me to document this real love between you two. Your mutual charms are radiant with every moment.

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Blogs, Blogs Everywhere

It's amazing how the photo-blog as photographer's marketing tool has completely taken center stage these days, almost over the photographer's own website! I'm not only confounded and amazed by powerful it is for your business, but it's so easy to subscribe to hundreds upon hundreds of photo blogs from around the country in no time.

Plus, the www. is a borderless nation. You can view photography from other countries. The words are written in alien languages, but the photography is spoken in the same language among all of us. It's so overwhelming, the reach, the extent of this art! Does it level the playing field artistically? I mean, how many styles do you have to come across before you realize that photography itself is a limited art?

I always think back to the masters, especially Raphael. Walk around any national museum of western art and you'll find a common theme among the classical paintings: the canvases are bordered with squares and rectangles.

I was delighted when I came across Raphael's Albo Madonna:



A painting within a circle! Ingenious. But beyond this altogether mundane difference (in the physical borders of this art), how far can photography reach in pursuit of originality? Is originality even necessary for a photographer, that's the question. Perhaps emotional clarity + technical consistency is the perfect recipe for a successful photography business. As photographer, we all attempt, at least subconsciously, to develop our own styles and visual philosophies, in order to stand apart from the crowd. You can, for instance, tell apart a Jesh De Rox from a Scarlett Lillian. Their styles are ultra-distinct.

But it seems that with a more available technology à la digital camera, the crowd is bigger than ever. Even with the most extreme post-processing workflows and techniques, creating something truly innovative in photography these days is difficult. There are only so many angles and colors, so to speak. I doubt that becoming relentlessly original is even a priority for the average photographer. Photographers just wanna have fun, as per the old Cyndi Lauper wisdome.

I suppose that with an ever-broadening technology at our fingertips, there will be more and more opportunities to discover new ways of portraying the world around us. New, fresh angles that will become the "slight tilt" fad of its time. Perhaps a 1-600mm f/0.1 IS USM "superlens" that will no doubt become available (whoa). Something that may go even beyond the 2-D landscape of our computer screen...

Effectively, not much as changed artistically since the days of Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson. We are all on the hunt for the perfect moment. The only difference between us and them is that our current technology has allowed us to capture more of them.

So, if we could suddenly fast-forward, say 50 years into the photography industry, would we be able to speak our granddaughters' artistic language? Will she even need to use a "camera"? These are the horizons that make photography really, really exciting. Possibilities are endless, folks; could be as complex as the unknown, or as simple as the difference between circles and rectangles.

Podcast of the Week: the [b] school with the [b]ecker

Any photographer hasn't been living under a rock will know about Becker, a truly awesome SoCal photographer with a heart of gold. He's [b]ranching out his presence in the photography industry with his brand-new [b] school blog.

These are awesome videos! There's a TON of info here. You can also download these 1-3 minute vignettes of photo how-to, workflow tips, and his own reflections on photography, via iTunes. I have the absolute slowest internet connection and the a[b]solute earliest model iBook from 2004, so these are best enjoyed via podcast. On your iTunes menu, click on:

Advanced --> Subscribe to Podcast

Then enter this URL: http://www.thebschoolblog.com/rss/itunes.cfm

Go get it!