I had the pleasure earlier this month of photographing two photographers from Iowa. Sarah and Erin came down on a Saturday and spent the weekend with me snapping who knows how many frames.

The first location we went to was an open field with an abandoned home and some rusted out vehicles. It had been pretty sunny the week of the shoot so I figured that it would be pretty easy to get in and out. I was definitely wrong.

You wouldn’t know it from the photographs but, it was insanely muddy. I didn’t realize this until I had already driven my poor car halfway up the sludge-like road leading to the location, parked and tried to get out. So, fifteen minutes later when I’ve gotten my car back on solid ground we get to start shooting.

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I’ve been itching to try something “new” for a while, and after weeks of searching I actually came right back around to the very beginning of things. I opted to buy a new medium format film camera. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the term “medium format” I’ll tell you the biggest difference. A medium format camera uses a film that is about 4 times larger than the standard (35mm) stuff you find at walmart. This means (among other things) that you can make a much larger print from it.

Well, I went and bought a Holga 120N. This little thing is a cult phenomenon. It’s a very cheap camera (mine was about $30) and made entirely of plastic, that includes the lens which is also plastic. The Holga is also extremely unpredictable and no two are alike. They leak light, and have no real precision with regard to the shutter or aperture.

Perfect.

So, I bought one and a good amount of color and black/white film. I also made sure to ask for expired film just so I could make doubly sure that I would have no real clue as to what to expect.

So I took about 24 snapshots in a number of different conditions to get a feel for how it would work.

Overall, I’m pretty happy so far. The expired Ilford black and white film I bought produced extremely low contrast images. That particular result could have been better but, oh well. I’m going to fire a few color rolls tomorrow with a modification I made to the camera and see what happens.

I’ll be sure to post “Day 2″ as soon as I get the film back.

Ok.

So I once thought I hit the end of the internet. I had no more questions. I had seen all of the cool, interesting things that there were.

Or so I thought.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to the awesomest thing this side of breathing, and it works on Mac and PC!

I Give you PicLens

The iPhone has nothing on this amazing photo viewer. Download it by clicking the link above and then click the little play button at the bottom of this image after you install the plugin:

Now sit back and be amazed.

You’re welcome.

If you have spoken to me in the past several months, looked at my schedule or care in any way about truly beautiful music, then you probably know that famed violinist Itzhak Perlman, was scheduled to perform here in the Midwest this Sunday.

I had been hoping to have the opportunity to take his portrait while he was here. He is easily one of my favorite musicians of all time. If you don’t know who Itzhak Perlman is, I urge you to watch Schindler’s List again (he is the soloist in John William’s Oscar winning score for that movie). He also performed the Tango piece “Por Una Cabeza” from Scent of a Woman. 

Well, unfortunately Sunday’s show was canceled due to a shoulder inflammation. Back in 2003 Perlman was treated for a tear in his rotator cuff.

From what I understand, Elizabeth Sobol (Perlman’s Manager) is trying to reschedule the show as soon as possible. That, as I’m sure you can imagine is news I am very excited to hear updates on.

To everyone that was attending the show with me… I will let you know the moment I find out when the new show date is.

To Mr. Perlman… We wish you a speedy recovery.

To Ms. Sobol… I’m sure I’ll be ringing you up soon to see if a portrait session is possible.

A man can dream, can’t he?

I wanted to take a break from my projects today, to tell you all a little story about my morning.

It started like any other morning. I tossed and turned moments before my alarm went off just like any other day. When the alarm did go off, I went across the room and hit the snooze just like any other day. I did this several times over the course of a half hour, just like any other day. When I finally did get out of bed, I shuffled around my house in half-sleeping “zombie mode”, again just like any other day.

As I continued my morning routine, I ended up in the bathroom to get ready for my glorious day. This, my friends was not like any other day. You see, last night my lovely fiancé moved some things around. So on this beautiful seemingly normal morning, something devious lay in wait.

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Ashley came in for her second session with me last Saturday, stunning me with another breathtaking shoot.

She likes to be humble and say that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. That may be true and if it is, the girl is a natural. Any of you photographers out there reading this… Get a hold of her, not only could she use the experience but you know you need her face in your book. End of story.

I will post some more as I get her approval.

Until then, ciao my audience.

David Bickley, Professional Photographer

Pablo Vicente is quite a photographer, and has decided to put me up on his blog. I’m definitely grateful for the press. His blog is very cool and has a lot of resources that I’m sure would come in handy for some of you.

Check it out.
http://digitalpixels.net/

This is what happens when I get bored.

That interview I mentioned the other day went up a bit sooner than I thought it would.

You can check it out here.

Thanks for the publicity guys!

Lots of cool stuff in the pipes folks. Since the launch of the new site several things have happened.

1.) A local college has asked me to come speak at a fashion design class about fashion photography and the fashion industry.

2.) I will be speaking at two middle schools about my career as a professional photographer and designer.

3.) Two of the free photography sessions I was offering were donated to the Missouri Heart Gallery to help foster children find a home (unfortunately I will not be able to show you those photographs, but I will post the gallery tour schedule so you can attend if you like).

4.) The fine folks at Bludomain.com asked to interview me for my new portfolio at www.davidbickley.com. The interview hasn’t been posted yet but I will post a link to that as well so you can all revel in my dorkiness.

5.) Two projects that I worked on at my former agency won Silver Addy’s (an advertising award). One of them was my very first project for that agency (The logo for a company called Purple Tree Technologies, I am also responsible for the web design for that company). One client that I did some web programming work for, took best in show for their trade publication campaign. Kudos to the whole team for their hard work.

6.) My current agency also won two Addy’s, one silver and one gold.

7.) I also gave this blog a face-lift. I will be trying to rotate it out every few months.

Cool stuff all around.

I am a man with plans, and there will be plenty more to announce soon.

Until then, take care.

David Bickley, Professional Photographer