NEW YORK PHOTOGRAPHER’S BLOG

NOTICE. THIS BLOG IS BEING CONTINUED IN A NEW PLACE, AT www.beckermanphoto.com/blog

Please UPDATE YOUR LINKS AND BOOKMARKS

AND HERE’S THE FEED FOR THE NEW BLOG

http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlackAndWhitePhotography-2

THANKS DAVE

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I’ve created a new photoblog within my own domain — it’s now here:  http://www.beckermanphoto.com/blog.  I am in process of trying to move the content of this blog into that one.

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Here’s the question in a nutshell and feel absolutely free to skip this if you don’t know and could care less about SEO. But it’s an interesting question to me, anyway.

The storefront is at www.beckermanphoto.com which is the domain I control. It runs in a VPS container, and I can pretty much do whatever I want with it including mess it up.

The blog you’re reading now is at wordpress.com, i.e. dbeckerman.wordpress.com  The only real downside to it is that you can’t add your widgets du jour, and the best you can do with themes is modify the css (for a price).

Now, WordPress.com allows you to setup a subdomain for the wordpress blog, so that it might be blog.beckermanphoto.com

They charge you for this, but not much.

So, if I created this subdomain, would google then count the incoming links to this blog as part of the www.beckermanphoto.com domain, which should increase the rank.  Would they actually crawl this blog as part of www.beckermanphoto.com?

Would that be a good thing?

Or, would it have no effect at all with search engines and continue to be treated separately.

Now you might say – well why not just put another wordpress installation on the storefront server?  And I could.  And once had it there.  But I had my troubles, which I could get over, when they were both on the same server in terms of oh, just stuff getting messed up because at the time I didn’t really know what I was doing with some of the linux stuff like the htaccess file and this and that which I probably know enough about now.

At any rate – what would you recommend as far as search engine optimization goes?  Leave it all as is?

Also, by creating a sub-domain, I could just keep working in this blog as I’m doing now, and it wouldn’t break links that are already pointing here.

I could do what I usually do – try it and see what happens.  But if anyone has advice – let me in on it because it is a complete mystery to me.

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Alright.  I’ll bite the bullet.  I’m installing latest version of WP for the blog on my storerfront server.  It’s actually a good idea because I can test WP upgrades first (such as 2.8 whatever) which I’m installing now before using it with my store themes.  I’ll import a bit of stuff from this blog, and then put up a notice to change your bookmarks to the new location.  I think I know enough now (fingers crossed) to be able to handle two installations on the same container.  But what it also means is that when this server goes down – so does the blog.  So while I was having all the issues with the store ISP over the last few weeks (fingers crossed it seems stable now) – you could still get to the blog.  Whatever.  Gotta do it.

This is the most sophisticated design that the storefront has ever had in it’s ten years of existence.  It’s structure is finished; though there are still cosmetic bits to play around with.  I bought the wordpress theme from Graph Paper Press and then set about to modify it.  Most of the modifications are minor, but if you are going to jump into modifying the theme, it helps to have some wordpress programming and CSS knowledge.  It’s something that I couldn’t manage a year ago when I first looked at their themes.

It took me something like three weeks of fiddling before I found a theme and a way of displaying the images that I thought was spiffy and also not overbearing.  Everytime I walk by the fancy flower shop nearby I notice that the window display has changed.  Sometimes in minor ways, sometimes a completely new design.  And when I have the money, I sometimes go to Eli’s which is the most expensive food shop in this area, and sure enough, there’s Eli – one of the Zabars – who must be in his 70’s, walking through the store and moving things around.  It’s a never-ending process and I think it takes as much effort to keep the web design fresh, as it is to move physical stuff around in a window display or food store.

The basic idea is to catch the potential customers attention – and the attention span on the web is less than a millisecond.  Click.  View. Nothing catches your eye.  Click somewhere else.

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STATS: 1/15th of a second; 30mm at f1.4 Canon 40D, ASA 1600

And so, with the freakin’ store in relatively good shape (I made a drastic change and changed themes), I jumped out into the street finally, and did some night portraits. One after the other like someone who had been starved for images. I’m probably going to take a trip up to Yonkers raceway tomorrow night with my sister. The summer days bore me. I want the night.

No, the site isn’t completely finished, but I think it just needs one more day of coding to put all the tags into a dropdown from the top menu and to make sure the SEO crap is working. What I had been trying to do all along was come up with a thumbnail theme where I wouldn’t have to re-enter all the posts and photos that were already posted in the database. There are four variations of this theme, (you can see the link on the bottom of the pages) and this is the free one. I’ll probably spring for the variation that costs about $50 because it has a few other features I want to use. It was odd, because I had tried this theme about a year ago, and I wasn’t proficient enough with css to really make it work for me. Now I can. (I assume that about 90% of the readers have don’t know what I’m talking about with this CSS and plugins and all that — and as I write this I figure it should have it’s own post. But you know me, I never do that. Start with a portrait of a guy selling flowers at night, and veer off into the technical or whatever other junk is flowing through the neurons.

As far as this shot goes… it was just one-two-three. I did ask him to stand in a spot where I could see there were headlights pointing at him, hoping for a bit of side lighting (which I got) and click, and thank you… and on to some drunken teens who came running at me…pleasing to have their picture taken.

During the day, they’d give me dirty looks if I took their picture. On a Friday night – all they want is to be the center of attention for a millisecond. I think someone could write something about that sometime. The difference between the night and day person. Maybe it’s just booze that makes the difference.

The film crew returns on Thursday to shoot me “in action.”  I’m hoping to get them into the Metropolitan Museum since I’ve done so much shooting there and it will probably be unusual as far as the film goes to have indoor shooting.  But if not, I think we’ll go to the Central Park Zoo.  By the time the film is cut, I’m sure I won’t really get that much time in it – maybe a few minutes, but I look forward to seeing it.

Since it’s so rarely seen (literally), I’m thinking I’ll pull out the infrared flash and ir camera for the shoot.  It’s also something that’s worth (in my opinion) documenting and both locations are good for IR.

On behalf of Jumeirah Essex House Hotel and CentralPark.com, we are very pleased to invite all of our Photo Contest winners and judges to our celebratory cocktail party at the Jumeirah Essex Hotel on xxx-xx-xxxx.

The party will take place from 5:30 – 7:30pm in the South Gate Gallery at Jumeirah Essex House Hotel and will feature the winning photographs for the past four season’s contests.  If you (and your guest) are able to attend please RSVP …

—–  Ah.  That’s cool.  That’s a pretty small party, though I guess the prints will stay up for a while.  That would be 12 winners and their guests = 24 people plus the judges.  I wonder if they’ll serve pigs in a blanket.  I haven’t had those for years.  And I’ll have to figure out who my guest will be.  I heard that there’s a new escort service that just started up for aging photographers.

I don’t know about you – but I usually have one day a week where I seem to be able to catch up with everything – and for me it’s Tuesday.  I have no idea why this is, but just about every Tuesday I seem to be firing on all cylinders.  Today I managed to finish printing all the orders that were left, and even a couple that came in today.  I was able to find most of the negs. for J’s book (though there are still a couple missing).  God – I hated to do it but I had to spot two pretty dirty negatives and that alone took about an hour.  Every time I have to go back and work with a rescan of a negative I could kick myself – both in terms of finding the thing and then having to clean it up.  That’s one thing I don’t think I’ve ever had to do with a digital capture (dust-spotting).  In fact, with all the digital shots I’ve done, I can’t remember ever having dust on the sensor.

Then I got together 20 photos and sent them off to the editor who is working on what I’m calling the Matt film (she liked the Taxi Cab at night) shot the best.  And finally I did a 23 x 30 print from a 40D negative by running it through PhotoZoom Pro giving it a slightly grainy look to make up for what would otherwise have been some artifacts.

In other words – a busy productive day.  The pigeon shot (above) was one of those negs. I had to find for J.’s book.  I actually scanned it on the 4990 flatbed because I had put the SprintScan Neg. Scanner in the closet.  I can’t get as large a scan, but it was good enough for book printing purposes.

Tomorrow will be more packaging / shipping – and then I should be up-to-date and actually be able to go out and shoot.  I’ve been thinking about taking the boat that goes up to what used to be Shea Stadium from 23rd street.  It’s a double decker boat with an open top deck and the ride takes about two hours.  I’ve been waiting for the weather to get non-rainy – as most of the shots I had in mind were pointing up at the underside of the three bridges the boat goes underneath.  Well – I have to check the schedule for that and the weather.

When I get back from my little trip to N.H. I’ll start thinking more seriously about how to organize the workshop walkabout.  (Ever see that movie — Walkabout? very good).

I also got most of the new parts of the store working properly. The most viewed images is interesting because in some ways it is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Which is to say that when an image is at the top of the list because it’s popular, it will also get more clicks because it is popular.

Audience for this article: anyone who is interested in well-executed WordPress Plugins.

After a lot of experimenting with various WordPress photo gallery plugins, I came across a plugin called Similar Posts (there are actually several related plugins on this site) that really did the trick for me.  What I wanted was to do as little work as possible when adding an image to the store, and not to have to maintain two separate sets of images or do anything extra other than adding a new post.

In other words, I wanted a plugin that would simply pull back the thumbnails which are already attached to existing WordPress posts, and allow me to order them, and format them with css.  Period.

I didn’t want any fancy Ajax effects (though I could add them if I want) and I wanted to have the thumbs automatically added to my own theme as I add new image posts.  The popular photo galleries that I mentioned  are prone to breaking as new releases of WP or PHP are introduced which makes your gallery (in my case the store) unusable.  Whereas if  Similar Posts  were to break, the thumbs would break, but the images and structure of the site would still be usable.

If you look at the source code for one of the gallery pages, you won’t see any javascript includes, and the thumbs are just pure html.  (I should still put the alt tag on them for SEO purposes) but the point is that the html code can be pretty much however I want it with very little overhead.

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I’ve been experimenting with a plugin called NextGen for WordPress.  This is a powerful and well-thought out plugin for doing galleries and a lot more.  You can see the beginning of how I’m using it if you visit the sidebar of the store and look at the New Prints section.

What I was particularly interested in was whether I could create gallery pictures that would easily link to the appropriate posts.  Answer to that is yes.  And of course you get all the new-fangled fancy thinbox, fatbox, lightbox effects…. and there’s a download for a slideshow based on your gallery that I haven’t had a chance to play with yet.

If you’re interested, you can check it out here: WordPress Plugins.

I’ve really only touched the surface of it at this point; so no reviews or anything like that.  But my first impressions are that this will give me some of the functionality I’ve been looking for in the store section.

Gave my first one-on-one photography lesson today.  Began with E. around 9:30 and it went about four hours.  I lost sense of the time. Not surprising since I don’t wear a watch.  It was about 1/3 Lightroom in the beginning, 1/3rd shooting.   And then 1/3rd going over Lightroom techniques again with images we’d shot.

I think it went well, and that E. picked up a lot, both about Lightroom and how I use it, and maybe even more about how I’m set up to shoot, and how I shoot.  We both ended up with a few good pictures to boot.  I think the hardest thing to explain, is what makes a good picture, in terms of the editing process.  Also how you can take a so-so shot, and turn it into an interesting picture, sometimes.  He was surprised to see the raw versions of several recent shots he had seen in the blog.  They were underwhelming in raw unretouched form.

This is the sort of stuff that Ansel goes through pretty thoroughly in his book The Making of 40 photographs.

You can look at the prints that Ansel starts with, usually printed flat, and then see how various parts of the prints are accentuated and cropped.  But how to know what you want to do with a picture,  that’s the artistic part.  And that’s the part that I don’t know if it can be taught; or whether it is the result of years of working at the craft.

It’s one thing to teach technique, but coming up with why an image that’s worth working on, and what are the parts to bring out, that is tougher.  It may be even tougher now, since the tendency with digital is to overshoot.

But I do think that there is something to be learned by how my camera is set up, how I shoot, how I approach people (or don’t) doing the shooting, and then going back to study and review the images.

Here you’ll see many of the same subjects covered: the basketball game, the Sicilian Man… I have to admit, looking back on the images, the choice of subjects was usually mine. Which is to say, I would see something and say, let’s go over there. Which is I suppose the way it is in the beginning. It was an easy-going lesson, in the sense that Eric could see how I made contact with people: the Sicilian guy, the basketball player, and others. Whereas, sometimes I would shoot first and ask questions later. This is the street sense that you pick up after a while.

It’s not all dangerous stick the camera in someone’s face, at least not for me. And it was an easy way to get started. I don’t think my shooting style would have been the same had we been in Times Square.

I’ve announced the Central Park Workshop for Saturday, August 15th, at 9 A.M.  You can register / pay by going to link below.  First come, first served.  Limited to five people (at most 7).

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE CENTRAL PARK WORKSHOP AND TO PAY / REGISTER.

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UPDATE:

I’ll put up a page over the weekend for registration and payment.  I’d like to keep it to five people, but if there’s a big demand, I’ll go as high as seven.  I will email anyone who’s expressed interest once the page is up.  The things I know: Fee $75 for about two or three hours.  Date: Saturday, August 15. Time: probably 9:00 a.m.  If there’s something crazy weather-wise, like a hurricane, I’ll postpone it to Sunday.  But if it’s just general rain, the show goes on.  No Tripods.  We may spend part of the time in the Metropolitan Museum.  (It costs whatever you wish to donate, i.e. I usually give a dollar).   I’ll have a laptop that can take CF or SD cards so we can transfer files.  I have the latest version of Lightroom, but I don’t know if it will read whatever raw files you have, so it might be a good idea to shoot RAW + JPGs.  Not for beginners.  The main idea is to be able to discuss and experiment with shooting techniques, composition etc.  In other words, I would hope not to have to discuss things like exposure, except in terms of artistic implications… In other words, not so much about “correct” exposure, or “what to focus on” but how photographic technique can be used artistically.  If you want to shoot film – I have nothing against that – but there won’t be reviews.

More later…

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Let’s say I was to offer a workshop in Central Park.  I would think the weekend would be the best time.  In terms of light, (though who knows what the weather will be) the morning would be best.  Say 10 AM.

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For someone who has always had trouble sticking with anything for a long time, it is a wonder that I am still as fascinated with the photographic art I discovered at 15.  As I get ready to photograph an award party for my father in a day, I start preparing things in my head.  I have already learned that there will be large windows in the penthouse where it is taking place, and have figured that for at least half the time I’m there we’ll have good daylight.

I’ll bring a flash just in case.

And I try to imagine what it will be like.  I’ll need to dig up a suit, or at least buy some decent clothes since I’ve put on weight since the last shindig and I’m not sure my pants will fit, not comfortably anyway.

I think about what lenses I’ll bring, and even tonight, as I was walking over to the pizza place, I was finding things that interested me.  It’s just one of those fields that has been perfect for someone with a restless sort of mind.  I’ve been lucky enough to be around long enough to go from film to digital and all the learning that involved; both with cameras and printers.  And besides the technical changes, although in my heart I feel that I’m interested in the same group of subjects as when I was 15 – I also feel that the more I learn, the deeper the well (which might be mixing metaphors) but you know what I mean.

Photography is the only thing that hasn’t eventually bored me.

I was asked during the film interview whether there was competition among street photographers.  I don’t remember exactly what I said, but what I should have said is that for me there is competition, but it’s with yourself.  In your own head, your as good as your last good image.  So you try and top yourself.  If you go through a long streak with mediocre results, that’s okay too because it’s causes you to reflect on what you’re doing and why.

That sense, that you are on a journey where the horizon is constantly receding – knowing that no matter how fast you walk – you won’t really get any closer to the end of the trail, that must have something to do with it.  No matter what complaints I’ve made here – and I have had my ups and downs for sure – and will have them again – it doesn’t matter because when you put the camera back in my hand and send me out, there is always that possibility that you’ll come back with a great shot, and by that I mean a shot that goes beyond the immediate circumstances of what in this case is formal party to honor my father for work he did in health care.

So tomorrow (or my sister will murder me) I’ll make sure I’ve got a good set of store bought clothes, and make sure the batteries (both physical and mental) are charged, and see what I can do on the tenth.  The point though – is worth repeating:  it’s just one of those lucky things for me that we found each other, because it has kept me relatively sane, content, and in a state of wonderment for almost forty years.  That’s saying something.

I get a lot of requests from customers to visit my studio.  Now, should I post a picture of this glamorous studio (removed) and explain that it isn’t a gallery where you can view prints, ; or should I let the customer imagine that I have a real photographers studio with someone to offer them tea and crumpets.  (Okay, that’s a bit much, but you know what I mean.) In short, I would say that 90% of my customers live in better surroundings than I do, and maybe I should just let them keep their illusions and let my work speak for itself.

Also, I’ve already had a couple of border-line (i.e. wacky customers) that took up tons of my time without buying anything.  It’s fine for photographers to visit – they get it.  But the regular often high-end client – do they understand what it takes to live this sort of life.  (And frankly, it doesn’t bother me – I’m used to it.  This is probably the best place I’ve lived in.)

(I know Matt — I should move to a one bedroom.  But if I had the money to move, I’d spend it on the Mark II instead).

1. Dental stuff worked out.

2. Futzed with site for millionth time.

3. Put up the business about winning photo contest in the sidebar.  One of those things you’ve got to do, although I really don’t know if I won anything other than being able to say I won. It means a lot to friends and relatives.  My dad was so happy, and his partner said, “sounds like you’re finally on your way.”

4.  Rumors that film crew would like another shot at me.  I’d like to do a two shot with me and Matt going back and forth.  I think that would be as entertaining as Bob and Ray.  Esp. if we prepare a skit first without telling the documentarians.

5. Cat woke me at 3 a.m.  No reason.   Now he’s on his back with his legs up – meowing to hear his own voice I guess.

6. Scheduled my flight back from New Hampshire.  I’ll drive up with my father (six hours) on June 29th, and fly back the next day.  I used Expedia.  I’m supposed to get e-tickets, but so far I didn’t see anything in the mail that looked like a ticket, just a confirmation.  Maybe that’s all you get.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a plane.

7. Practically all my orders are coming from Canada.  Must be the conversion rate.

8. Don’t think there is anything else to enumerate right now. (So far this post is like a bunch of banal tweets).

They’ve been doing a documentary on Matt Weber for a pretty long time, and a few months ago I ended up on film because i was having breakfast with Matt on the east side. I was “on”  that morning and they decided they wanted to do more with me.  So they’ll arrive this morning at my apt. at 10:30 a.m.

HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT

Only problem: I’m in a miserable mood. I’ve had a bad toothache for a few days and have been applying a concoction of Vodka, Orajel and red-pepper to it every night; and haven’t been sleeping well and yesterday I was eating something and the back molar cracked in half.  One half fell out, the other half is still dangling there.

Since I’m phobic of dentists (and doctors) I didn’t just make an appointment when I should have; and even now I’m thinking maybe I’ll just pull the thing out myself.

The house has been filled with cartons lately from a couple of mat deliveries, so I  got up early and got rid of them; but I don’t feel much like cleaning up (do i ever?) and I’m thinking I’ll just let them in and see the place as it really is.  Yes, the cameras will be turned on me and my abode, and there is no plot that I know of so I’ll have to suck it up and see if I can return to the more “up” Beckerman that they saw last time.

They sort of  picked a bad day (for me) to do this,  plus, although I’ve had a few sales lately, between the tooth, not having dental insurance, and knowing what it will cost to fix this tooth (it’s a little bit more complicated than I’m making it because I have a BRIDGE).  and it is a Bridge Too Far.  which is to say that part of the bridge is attached to that dangling  molar.

If I were on the other side of the camera – I wouldn’t care about the tooth, would I? No.  I have photographed people in the most dire conditions. so now it’s my turn.

UPDATE: A FEW DAYS LATER.  MY TOOTH WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF TODAY.  UGH.

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