Here’s a warm up. I went out to a place many of us know, and made some photos of bits I thought were interesting. Now, try to guess where this is.

Here’s your first clue:

And another:

Almost there? Or here?

okay, here’s the final one, which is kind of a giveaway…

Yep, it’s the soda fountain at the Museum. Now, I challenge you to finish out your day noticing all the little things you usually overlook. And not only notice, but appreciate. The world is your art museum, enjoy!

This month’s food column focused on the delights of cookbooks and print publications for culinary wandering. I didn’t have much to add to the topic photographically, so I thought I’d share some online publications that, for me, capture what I love about flipping through the pages of cooking magazines. Unlike a recipe search site, which I’ve found myself using more and more, these are sites that include beautiful photography and narrative writing. They are sites that, like a magazine, encourage a viewer to slow down, explore and savor.

Photo zen, found at the Yakima Area Arboretum.

Okay, ran across this very cool video this weekend. Know anyone who’d be willing to spring for one of these cameras for me to play with? Click link below for an awesome video!

Locked in a Vegas Hotel Room with a Phantom Flex from Tom Guilmette on Vimeo.

Read about the photographer, the camera and the shoot the ping pong shoot that preceded this project here.

(Image courtesy Chris Kotsiopoulos) Chris detailed how he created this amazing photo in a photo forum. Click on the image to read more about how created this.

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This is the final result and was featured in the Atlantic and you can click on the photo to see how the photographer created it. Check it out!

Okay, a lot less technologically advanced. The Holga is a plastic toy camera with minimal controls. The shutter is a simple wire spring and the film moves from one reel to the next and can’t be rewound without using a dark bag. Exposure and focus are mainly left up to guesswork. I’ve used it for one other story at the YHR, shooting dreamy images of the state fair in 2007, and explain what it brought to that process here.

For this shoot, I decided to shoot 35 mm film. Both because I’d never tried it before and because it’s easier to process. I could just take it to a photo lab. Because the Holga is designed to shoot 120mm film, I had to modify the film holders a bit, using the high-tech method of stuffing packing peanuts around the reel of film and jiggling it to make sure it will stay in place. I adjusted the 120 film reel with some rubber bands.

I did a little bit of research and found out that 1.5 rotations of the film winding knob will give plenty of space between exposures, and (after ruining a test roll), covered the red window on the back (used to wind 120 film) with a couple pieces of cardboard and lots of black tape. Then I just packed a dark bag and several rolls of film and set off to shoot.

One of the limitations of shooting with this was the limitations of exposure. 400 ISO film is great for daylight, but didn’t give me much indoors. I found myself wishing I had toted along my tripod to shoot the face of the reactor, which I could have “built up” an exposure by exposing the film over and over and over without winding the film or moving the camera. I also could have used a flash on some of the smaller spaces I shot inside and that would have helped the contrast of the image.

Lastly, I converted the digital files from the flatbed scan to black and white. I did this for two reasons — it seemed to fit the historic flavor I was trying to convey with the story and also the color bars on the bottom of the film, above and below the sprocket holes were too visually distracting. Converted to black and white, I felt they contributed to the image, but in color, they just dominated the image.

This was a fun way to tackle this story and a simple way to have some photographic fun. If you’re interested in giving it a try here are the resources I used:

I bought my Holga at Freestyle Photographic Supplies, the simplest version of the camera cost about $28.

You can buy film and get it developed at many local shops if you shoot regular color (not slide, not b&w) film.

I had the negatives scanned at ProPhoto supply. I just mailed them in a stiff cardboard mailer and paid over the phone. They scanned them and sent them back in about a week. Their price list is on their website.

There are also tons of Holga galleries out there and work on Flicker as well, so you can always find inspiration!

We’ve got a couple of different ways of dealing with the year in/year out monotony of covering the same events. If possible, we try to have a different person photograph this year’s event than photographed last year’s event. If there’s an story which accompanies the photos, perhaps we can take a different tack on the story which would, in turn, would most likely provide different photos.

But sometimes neither approach works. When that happens I think the best approach to shooting the same event in consecutive years is to first have a good cup of coffee and then take on a good attitude about the assignment (“it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity disguised as a problem.” Or some such management-speak)

Also, it helps to know what photos were published from previous coverage.

Given the opportunity/challenge/opportunity to shoot an education awards ceremony I  had a grande, non-fat, extra-hot Starbuck’s latte to put me in the proper frame of mind. I still remembered the photos I shot of the ceremony last year so I knew what to avoid shooting. And with Starbuck’s help I was able to take up the challenge with a good attitude.

The photo from this year’s awards ceremony:

Dave Walter, center, was all smiles after receiving a Crystal Apple Award from the Yakima School District Tuesday, April 27, 2010. Walter, one of five Crystal Apple recipients this year, is the director of Instrumental Music at Eisenhower High School. At left is Steve Wright, assistant principal at Eisenhower and right, Chris Walter, Dave's wife. The awards are given annually to outstanding educators in the district.

Last year’s photo:

"Wow! Ohmigosh!" exclaimed teacher Christina Carlson after learning from Dave Dion, right, she was receiving a Crystal Apple Award for outstanding teaching in the Yakima School District. Carlson was surprised with the award at a Tuesday, April 28, 2009 meeting. She is a fifth grade teacher at the Discovery Lab School. Dion is a co-chairman of the award committee.

–Gordon King

So, sometimes it’s helpful to take a step back and have a good laugh at something photo-related.

Go here for a really good laugh and then go out and make some good photos.

–Gordon King

So it’s easy to become discouraged as newspapers lose their position in American society.

I came across this video a couple of weeks ago. It offers a different way for us to approach our job as photojournalists.

Celebrate What’s Right With The World

Lazarus! – The Resurrected | MySpace Video
The video gets a little syrupy at times but don’t lose the message in that sweetness.

And if you’ve lost your job or you’ve just finished a five-assignment day and have an overbearing editor looking over  your shoulder this video is not going to make things right. But it does, at least, offer another perspective on how to approach  life and work differently and how, perhaps to make it better.

–Gordon King