Portrait of Dad

This is a photo I took of my father some time ago in the kitchen of my parents house. I have always wanted to capture an image of my father showing the strength and fragility of a man that has lived quite a life.

My father was in the military, serving in both the Air Force and the Army as a helicopter mechanic and as a pilot. He served five tours in the Vietnam War, flying Huey helicopters dropping and picking up troops...a pretty dangerous endeavor. This image was taken at about 7:00 in the morning sitting at the kitchen table, as he often did smoking his ever present Pall Malls, shirtless and cross-legged drinking a can of Hamm's.

I took paper from a black sweep, crumpled it up and then taped it to the kitchen cupboards letting in some ambient light with a little off camera fill flash. I decided to use Kodak Tri-X to get some grain peaking through the skin tones and some contrast in the lines of his face. The result is a portrait with the subject staring you down, an almost Popeye look with nothing to hide. What you see is what you get, the essence of my father.

Prints for Sale!

Photograph: ©Steven Karl Metzer2011/"Tooth Extraction"

So I have decided to start selling some prints on Etsy. I have been recently doing a little bit of still life work breaking away from the human form for a bit and just start doing little still lifes. Everyone seems to like this print so I put it up for sale. http://www.etsy.com/listing/86721014/photographic-print-tooth-extraction-2011

The image is of my first tooth extraction from about a week ago. It was a surreal process with all of the high end x-ray machines and digital print outs on wall mounted monitors, with state of the art blood pressure machines and dental tools. In the end the dentist just came at me with a pair of pliers. It went from being super high tech to straight up mid-evil. The dentist was very good and talked me through the whole process. I even felt safe as he put me in a head lock trying to pull the wisdom tooth from the
clinches of my gums and jaw.

 So this is the first bandage they put in my mouth after the extraction. I went to change it and started staring at it and it became more intriguing with all of the cross patterns of the actual cotton mixed
with the redness of the blood. So I photographed it on a white sweep

I have more images that I will add to my Etsy Portfolio but for now its just this one. This is a 15x17 image on 16x20 paper. It's a signed digital print using Kodak Endura Lustre Paper.

A Man and His Motorcycle.............

  A couple of weeks ago I hung out with my friend Jeremiah and photographed him in front of his Shovelhead (that's a Harley Davidson motorcycle) at a garage space he shares with some friends. I had been there before just hanging out talking about motorcycles and having a beer or two. I have always been pretty fond of that place and have always wanted to do a portrait there and well this was my chance. I used a good amount of studio lighting, a smoke machine (which is always a good time)  and a great assistant, Zack Johnston. I pretty much shot on all Speedotron with a hidden ring light in the shot all in all we were in and out of that place with in 2 hours or so. You can see the final image on my website (www.stevenkarlmetzer.com) under the New Work Gallery.

Camping in The Apostle Islands

Well I actually got a remarkable camping trip in this year. The destination of choice was the Apostle Islands near Bayfield, Wisconsin (http://www.nps.gov/apis/index.htm). I had been there before a about five years ago on a kayaking trip exploring all of the islands. It left quite an impact on me and I told myself I would return at some point, and I did five years later. Adrienne and I planned a great trip staying on Stockton Island for three days then exploring the sea caves in Cornucopia about 20 miles northwest of Bayfield for a day. We really love to cook when we camp so we had all the kitchen wear and we ate extremely well as we watched the sun fall right into the lake each night..........

Film........ a breath of fresh air in a digital world.

I have always been fond of shooting film, for some reason it just feels a bit different than digital. I shoot a lot of digital captures but film will always have a place in my heart. I suppose there is something tactile about it that I just love. Also not having the instant gratification is quite a splendid thing (unless your shooting type 55 but that film is amazing, instant gratification and all), it sort of makes you think about light a little more. As your waiting for the the film to get processed you think of all sorts of things, shutter speed, ambient light, f/ stops, diffusion,color balance,ect........

Digital capture is definitely the way to go for commercial jobs, its less time consuming and a cheaper cost than having film processed. I'm not here to say that film is better than digital capture I'm just merely expressing my excitement I still have for film, it is a sweet breath of fresh air. I try and shoot as much film as I possibly can and my choice is a large format camera. I am the proud owner of a Toyo  4x5 Sakai Series Field Camera. This is the best camera I have ever owned and every time I look through the ground glass and put the dark cloth over my head, my eyes light up with wonderment. I'm still intrigued by this glowing reversed image coming to life dancing across the ground glass......... I feel this will intrigue me my whole life.

Pulaski International School of Chicago

I recently was asked to shoot a pro bono project for Pulaski International School of Chicago (PISC). This is a neighborhood school that has recently changed its curriculum to International Baccalaureate (IB). IB aims to develop inquiring,knowledgeable and caring young people who help create a better and more peaceful world through inter-culture understanding and respect. PISC also has made a few changes to their staff they have a new principle Dr. Pat Baccillieri. PISC has also hired a few new teachers and in one years time the discipline problems have plummeted. Math and reading scores are on the rise,the percentage of kids who exceed expectations has risen and all kindergartners are reading and writing. Many kindergartners have exceeded expectations and are reading at the 2nd or 3rd grade level! I had a wonderful time photographing at Pulaski International School of Chicago. The staff was wonderful and all of the kids were terrific. It always feels good to do a project knowing that this is helping create an impact on kids and their education.

Welder Shoot/Millers Eureka Inc/Chicago,Il

Recently I had a bracket built for my motorcycle and I went to my friend Eugene's welding shop. As I strolled in I started walking around the shop and quickly forgot about my bracket and started focusing on the individuals and equipment there. I instantly wanted to capture some portraits in the shop. So after meeting with the owner and discussing my idea with Eugene we made it happen. I decided to use my 4x5 camera and shoot film along with some digital capture. So this is some of the first imagery of my photo project on Welders and Mechanics.

I had a really great time shooting everyone at this shop everyone was really receptive to my big clunky 4x5 and my assistant Shawn was great. I hope to go back and finish my portrait session in the next week. I'm really excited to see my 4x5 film and see the beauty that is 4x5 film. I should be posting new imagery of the welder shots in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled!