PixelChatter #46

Issue #46

summer 2014

PIXELCHATTER Kevin Brown, Photographer

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Industry Spotlight Sparks are flying on-location

824 and counting

Just a few faces before the camera this year

The blog days of summer How a blog is like your yard

Let’s Face It...

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Scott Anderson

ast year I kept a very detailed record of all sorts of statistical info related to the photo shoots I did throughout the year. Things like how many shoots were half-day and how many were full-day, total number of hours spent shooting, total hours spent processing files and so on. One of the things I tracked was the number of individual subjects that I photographed. I only counted folks that actually posed for the camera. I did not count those oblivious to the camera or those that were candid captures. I also didn’t count groups of people. Of those counted, some were industrial portraits or editorial shots for magazines, and some were executive headshots etc.

The total number of solo subjects for 2013 topped out at 767. A pretty fair number, and one larger than I would have guessed.

With four months to go in 2014, I’ve surpassed last year’s count, logging in 824 individuals - so far - that have put their best face forward for my Nikon.

The faces are varied, and I love shooting every one.

There are smilers and those that refuse to smile. There are smirkers and there are squirmers. There are eyebrow raisers and forehead crinklers. More than a few are blinkers, and a lot of folks have one eye bigger than the other. One subject was blind.

Some are deer in the headlights and some are squinters. Some have what I call Roy Rogers syndrome...with eyes that disappear when they smile.

Some have a lip quiver. Some are scared. Some are happy....and some don’t care.

Most everyone wants to ‘look thinner’ and dozens have warned me that they’ll break my camera. So far, none have....(knock on wood).

Most folks are self-critical when it comes to photos of themselves.

People love to heckle their buddies, but hate being heckled.

Some guys look like Armani and others can’t tie a tie to save their lives (the younger guys). And, more than a few can no longer button their jacket (the older guys).

Plenty have joked about giving me their Zoolander ‘blue steel’ pose, and at least one actually did that before every photo and was totally serious about it. That was weird.

In the end, though, they’re all there for the same reason...and I like to think that their experience in front of my camera is a positive one.

I know I enjoy meeting people and photographing them, and I look forward to many more this year, whether they’re a blinker, smiler, or a crinkler. Can’t wait.

KB Kevin Brown

Kevin Brown, Photographer and Chief Chatterer ON THE COVER PetroSmith shoot in Abilene, TX for Oklahoma City-based agency Saxum.

PixelChatter is photographed, written, and created in-full by Kevin Brown.

kevinbrownphoto.com

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Brandon, my 520th subject of 2014, photographed on May 12.

741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 746, 747, 748, 749, 750, 751, 752, 753, 754, 755, 756, 757, 758, 759, 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776, 777, 778, 779, 780, 781, 782, 783, 784, 785, 786, 787, 788, 789, 790, 791, 792, 793, 794, 795, 796, 797, 798, 799, 800, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 807, 808, 809, 810, 811, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817, 818, 819, 820, 821, 822, 823, 824...

Kimberly....and David, my 48th and 51st subjects of 2014, photographed on January 31.

Lance, my 211th subject of 2014, photographed on March 4.

Erik, my 585th subject of 2014, photographed on June 10.

Barbara, my 668th subject of 2014, photographed on July 7.

...825, 826, 827, 828...

Tony, my 55th subject of 2014, photographed on January 31.

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Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh...

n May, my wife and I and two of our closest friends made a little road trip to Louisiana to attend the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. We made the trek a couple of years earlier, but the event was rained out on the day we were there. I mean, it was a flood.

The weather could not have been better this time around, though. The sun was shining, the beer was cold, and the music - and the crawfish were hot. Can’t wait to go back and do it again somewhere down the line.

See more at my blog.

Crawfish Festival shot with Fujifilm X100s

As long as we’re in southern Louisiana, let’s travel east along I-10 a few miles and stop over in New Orleans.

I love this town.

The food, the architecture, the music, the people, the soul. You name it, it’s got it.

In June, my Louisiana-born bride and I made our annual trip. Each morning I would venture out and do a little street photography.

All images in this gallery were shot with a Fujifilm X100s, my go-to camera for fly-on-the-wall-easy-tocarry-and-super-quiet shooting.

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Every now and then an opportunity comes along to really have fun on a shoot. That was definitely the case when I linked up with musicians-extraordinaire Taylor Young and John Pedigo, better known as The O’s.

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O O O O O O We spent a couple of hours roaming around Billy Bob’s Texas, and shot some fun promo shots for the band before one of their gigs at the World’s Largest Honky Tonk.

Their offbeat personalities rose to the surface during the shoot.

Whether they were ‘riding a bull’ or throwing punches out back, they were totally committed to each shot.

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These two guys tour non-stop and they pack a walllop with a powerful acoustic, yet deeply rich sound.

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INDUSTRIAL INDUSTRIAL INDUSTRIAL PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY

I’m not much of a handy man. Rolling up my shirt sleeves and watching reruns of Home Improvement is my idea of doing manly chores around the house. Tim “the toolman” Taylor is my hero. I aspire to be him.

But, put me in an industrial environment and my inner superhero alter ego emerges and I’m right at home. I’m sort of the photographic equivalent of the elderly lady that can lift a car in order to save her cat. I just love the industrial assignments.

PetroSmith shoot in Abilene, TX for Oklahoma City-based agency Saxum. See more PetroSmith images at my blog.

From top: PetroSmith / Saxum, Quick-Way Manufacturing

Union Pacific

Quick-Way Manufacturing

Dayton Superior

PetroSmith

PetroSmith

Hannon Hydraulics

You can’t teach an old blog new tricks.

Or can you?

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logging is sort of like mowing the yard.

You don’t really want to do it, but you know you should....and you feel a lot better after you’ve done it.

It takes discipline, too.

I’ve had a blog for several years and have had on and off (mostly off) success at being a disciplined blogger.

As we moved thru the first few months of 2014 I decided that I should crank up the mowerblogger and get out there and go to work and not let the weeds get too tall.

I wound up creating an all new blog page on tumblr and spent a good bit of time looking at templates that best-showcased photos. I finally found one that I like that’s very clean and shows photos nice and big.

I’ve found that the blog is a great place to feature photos that don’t really ‘fit’ on my website. It’s also a good place to show behind-the-scenes images as well.

So, if you’d like to swing by and see how the blog is looking, please do. I can’t promise that the blog will have that freshly blogged smell - like freshly mown grass - but I can say that the weeds won’t be too tall.

Visit Kevin Brown’s Blog

California-ography

A visit to California in July oered some great photo opportunities.

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New and updated galleries are waiting.

Visit kevinbrownphoto.com

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FINALFRAME

George Strait takes a final bow at AT&T Stadium in Arlington before 104,793 people, making it the largest attendance ever at an indoor concert in U.S. history. The previous record was set by The Rolling Stones in 1981 at the Superdome in New Orleans before a crowd of 87,500. Photo by Kevin Brown with a FujiX100s with fixed 23mm lens (ISO 1,250 at 1/1000 @ f4) from Row 30.

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