metro – Page 2 – JonKPhoto

One Giant Movie Set

June 3, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

It’s been kind of hit-and-miss with the nice days in Michigan this spring. Now, I’m not really one to mind rain, but my camera seems to have a rather noticeable aversion to it. Last week summer came out of nowhere and hasn’t shown signs of leaving. That paired with a bit of free time, I journeyed into downtown Pontiac for a bit of photography.

If you aren’t local to Metro Detroit, I’ll understand if you don’t really know much about Pontiac. Let me explain it like so: If they were looking for somewhere to film “I Am Legend,” Pontiac wouldn’t even need CGI or set design. I suppose that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. “Desolate” is a good word for this situation.

I like to refer to Pontiac as Detroit v2.0. In addition to the lack of anything redeeming, the city seems to be headed toward 2 extremes of a spectrum. On one hand, artists and galleries are making their way downtown and creating a kind of depressing version of Ferndale-Corktown. Also, by my count, there are half a dozen locally well-known nightclubs. There’s also Erebus, a rather famous haunted house.

On the other hand the city is like a ghetto. Nearly all the schools have closed, which forced the assimilation of multiple schools under one roof and has resulted in more than a handful of gang brawls, including shootings and the like. Driving around, I feel like perhaps 1 in 7 buildings is abandoned or in need of demolishing. A good 80% of the businesses that are still open are all lumped into a 3-block stretch of a single street. I even drove past the homeless shelter yesterday and noticed there was a special parking area just for female staff members (it’s well-lit and right next to an entrance).

Even the cops left. Seriously – last year the Pontiac PD was decommissioned. The city is now paroled by State PD.

I’ve always liked Pontiac and I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, but when I see news articles about the “revitalization of Pontiac,” I usually just ignore them and move on. Detroit has a fighting chance – enough people care and are actively trying to improve the city. Pontiac isn’t really getting the same energy.

Well, scattered among the vast seas of parking lots, there are quite a few grand structures that deserve some photographic attention. So, I suppose I’ve found my new project. Here are a few of my favorite shots so far. They will be on my fine art site and available for purchase after I feel I’ve really sunk my teeth into the project.

– Jon

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History Repeats Itself

May 8, 2013 jonkphoto1 Comment

When it rains, it pours. When it rains dogs… well, speaking in meteorological terms, that’s impossible, but the idea of it is straight awesome.

The last three posts were all about our fuzzy, drool-covered, blanket-hogging, best friends. So I see no need to stop while we’re on a roll. Here’s dog post numero 4.

Back in another life (it was something like 6ish years ago) I worked at a dog training company for about a year. Recently I got back into the whole Rescue League scene and organized a pet adoption fundraiser (That post down there has all the nitty gritty). Well, in the process of organizing the whole thing, I found myself in touch with that very same trainer.

You’ll never guess what happened.

OK, you probably will. I mean, why else would I be writing a post about this? So to answer the question that’s clearly been screaming from the dark recesses of your mind: YES! Yes I have taken even more pictures of dogs. Not only that, but I also re-branded his company. It looks pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Also – not sure how many of you fine folks have adopted or are about to adopt, but I would like to mention that Canine Resolution has my highest level of approval when it comes to learning how to make the best of your time with your best friend. Tell ’em Jon Kopacz sent ya.

Here’s some pretty stuff. Have a gander!

– Jon

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Head Of The Pack

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013 jonkphoto1 Comment

I would apologize for three dog posts in a row… if it weren’t awesome. But, as it is, dogs are pretty much the best thing in the entire world.

Everyone agrees? Great. Let’s move on.

So back at the beginning of the month I mentioned that I was doing some work for Pedigree’s Dog Adoption Project. While that was an awesome experience, it was only the tip of the iceberg. I got the Pedigree job as a referral from The Michigan Animal Rescue League.

Back, about 2 and a half years ago, I did a bit of volunteer photographic work for the Rescue League. You can check out some of the images in my fine art gallery (click that image on the right to link to it). It culminated in a couple small photo shows at local galleries and a bit of work for the Rescue League to use on their site and such.

This time, while I was already digging in, I figured I might as well give it my all…. so here’s what’s going down:

The Rescue League needed a commercial. This place has been helping you find your best friend for over half a century. People should know how awesome they are. So that happened. Check it –

While I was working on the commercial, one of the volunteers came up with the idea to strap a camera to a spoon and give peanut butter to all the dogs. The whole concept made me feel like a child ’cause I wasn’t smart enough to come up with such an awesome idea… but that’s beside the point. For your viewing pleasure, here’s a boat-load of dogs eating peanut butter:

All the media is fine and dandy, but I felt this time around it would be better to keep pushing and put together an event. So here’s the deal.

My longest-running client owns a bowling center and restaurant in Commerce, MI – Wonderland Lanes and The Mad Hatter Pub. He happens to also love dogs.

He’s graciously agreed to host a pet adoption fundraiser on May 5th. There will be food, music, glow bowling, art sales, and – of course – lots of dogs and cats ready to love you forever. Here are the details:

You should totally come. Even if you don’t bowl, the food is great, it’s a great cause, and how else would you rather spend a Sunday than playing with puppies and kittens?

See you there!

– Jon

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Still as sporadic, slightly more understandable.

March 28, 2013March 28, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

A question I get a lot is “What have you been up to?” or sometimes “What projects have you been working on?” There are assorted variations of this question, but they pretty much all mean the same thing.

I usually respond with… OK – no. There is no usual response, because it’s so rare that I have more than one current project sharing similarities that we can just pretend it doesn’t happen. Next week I may be working with an architectural-agricultural hybrid company, a local animal shelter, a community-based restaurant, and a national organization conducting a student competition. I mention these examples because there was a week last summer where those were the open projects I was working on. (It was a busy week).

So when I answer the first question and describe my current clients, I’m almost always greeted with the same follow up question, “Oh, wow. So you’re taking pictures for ALL those? What are the pictures of?”

Ah.

This seems to be the general consensus about my company and I figured it was time to elaborate a bit on what I do.

Let me begin by saying this is a completely understandable thought process and if you glance up to the those giant words at the top of this page, you’ll agree with me. I began my company as a photographer and for all my dabbling and involvement in other forms of media, if I find myself going a week at a time without using my camera I get all shaky and my hair starts falling out… OK it’s not THAT bad, but I do find myself daydreaming about the next project in which I’ll actually get to create an image.

So, honest and true, when I’m face to face with a person and they mention that they’ve heard I’m a photographer, I don’t mine. In fact I actually get a bit of pride out of hearing that.

But when it comes to clients (we’re talking businesses, here) I regularly find that they’re trying to put out new media and have over half-a-dozen contractors assigned to as many different things… and none of them are even talking to each other.

It makes sense for each person to have their own style and that’s what gives a healthy dose of diversity to any good marketing campaign. But for the finished collaboration to come together in a clean fashion there has to be… well, collaboration.

That’s where I come in.

I may be a photographer, but I’m also a videographer, graphic designer, consultant, and advertising professional – and my client list is rather, shall we say, varied.

More than that, I work with a tight-knit group of media professionals that specializes in everything from web design, branding, and marketing to layout, copy-writing, and packaging. So when a project on a massive scale comes along or when six assignments come in at once, that are just too much fun to turn down, I can still guarantee success and some top-notch quality.

In the end, when I explain what I’m working on for a certain client, people aren’t usually expecting my answer.

So, I made this to help me explain things a bit more clearly.

– Jon

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Windy Travels Part 2.

February 11, 2013 jonkphotoLeave a comment

Back in October, I took a trip to Chicago. Afterward, I processed my 17 gazillion images from the adventure and wrote you fine folks a blog post about it. At the end, I mentioned that more images were to follow and that I would relate my experiences with my new favorite hotel chain.

Promptly after writing the post, I completely forgot.

My bad.

So, here we are. 4 months have passed and you still wake up in the middle of the night wondering whatever became of that followup post… OK That’s probably a bit hopeful on my part. But still – true to my word, I shall visually enthrall you with more optically-dazzling imagery.

FIRST – the hotel. For those of you that spoke with either myself or my lady friend, you know that Ashly and I had been planning this trip for something like 5 months. However, when I say “this trip” I mean a trip. Somewhere. Anywhere.

In the end, we actually planned out 5 different trips… in about 3 weeks. We considered Maine, Kentucky, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a perimeter-tour of the lower peninsula, and Chicago. Chicago won out simply because of the mind-boggling selection of educational day-trip destinations.

We like our learnin’.

That little back story may not seem relevant, but oh how wrong you are. See, 5 days before we left for Chicago, we hadn’t even begun considering going there. We were still in the planning stages of a Michigan road trip. I don’t really remember how we ended up switching to Chicago, but it happened and we found ourselves with slightly over 72 hours of time to organize an itinerary, buy tickets to stuff we wanted to see, and find a hotel whose room fee didn’t require a bank loan, gold bars, an arm and/or a leg, or a first-born child.

In the end we ended up staying damn-near 45 minutes outside of the city. Were it not for the downtown parking situation (which were completely unaware of) it wouldn’t have been an issue. In fact, all things considered, it was one of the better snap decisions we’ve made.

We found ourselves at an Extended Stay out past Downer’s Grove. At first glance it looks like a normal over-niter for business travelers. We found out that (as the name suggests) it’s designed for people to stay for over a week or 2. But enough rambling, here’s what makes it so awesome.

Long-term stay means people need more elaborate forms of equipment to use. Example: A FULL KITCHEN. Now, this might not seem like much to you, but I cook. A LOT. It was awesome.
No explanation needed: It was one of the cleanest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. Period.
Lastly and most importantly: In order to keep the charges down on a room rental that may go past 3 weeks, the hotel got rid of one of the staple functions of most chains. There is absolutely no maid service. While at first you may think that seems cheap, remember that I am a visual artist in a digital age. I take a LOT of really EXPENSIVE gear with me everywhere I go. I don’t need to drag my lights and laptop with me every step of the way. The fact that no one (trustworthy or otherwise) would NOT be coming into to move things around took my nervousness level from my standard 362% to effectively zero.

And also ’cause the per night price gets cheaper the longer you’re there, our week’s stay cost us something like $50 a night.

Conclusion: Extended Stay: Do it.

Oh and hey – MORE CHICAGO PICTURES!!

– Jon

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OH MAN!! I am pumped… like REALLY pumped.

December 20, 2012 jonkphotoLeave a comment

So, you see that big star-looking thing over there on the right, sticking out of the button that says “CLASSES?” Well, I’ll betcha you’ve already figured out what’s going on.

I’M TEACHING COURSES!!

There are currently 6 courses being offered at 5 venues in the metro area. The site is chock-full of all kinds of handy info, like course descriptions, info about all the venues, links to super-talented photographers, and lists of local and digital photo stores!

In the next few weeks, I’ll be adding…. well heck! All this stuff is over THERE. Go check it out.

And if you’re interested, join the mailing list and be the first in line for info on all the new developments!

– Jon

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The Retriever Cometh

December 10, 2012December 10, 2012 jonkphotoLeave a comment

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You may have been on the internet recently. Heck, you may be on the internet RIGHT NOW. So in all likelihood, an internet aficionado like yourself may have noticed 1 or a few hundred thousand trends rocketing their way around cyberspace.

Ignoring “Grumpy Cat” (whose name is Tartar Sauce), Gangam Style, and Reality TV, you’ve likely noticed there is a – close to overdone – trend rocking Youtube. I am, of course, reffering to Electronic/Dubstep-soundtracked montages of things like action sports, skate boarding, or people hurting themselves.

Well, try as you might, you’ll never leave ME out of the loop!

Unfortunately I am not mind-bogglingly athletic. I am neither surprisingly, moderately, or remotely athletic. This isn’t to say I weigh in at a svelte 750, but more that if I attempted an inverted kick-flip followed by a dark-house nose-grind, I’d likely find myself in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the half-pipe, soaking in the snickering humiliation of 2 dozen overly-developed tweenagers.

But back to the point…

I don’t have an affluence of athletic ability. I DO, however, have a golden retriever.

His name is Murphy and he is possibly the coolest person you’ll ever meet.

SHUT UP!

He is TOO a person…

Enjoy.

– Jon

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Jon’s Teaching Classes!!

November 9, 2012 jonkphotoLeave a comment

Or more specifically he will be after the new year.

I’ll be conducting courses in 2-3 sessions depending on content. To start things off I’ll be focusing on all you guys that may be getting cameras for the holidays and want to know how to use them to the fullest extent. As the season warms back up, look forward to a selection of nature, architecture, and event field trips!

The metro-area will be home base for a little while so if you’re part of an art council, community education group, or simply have some interest in learning how to bend light, please let me know and we’ll get something custom-tailored to what you’re looking for!

Check back in a few days for a list of general available classes to see if anything peaks your interest.

Thanks guys!

– Jon

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Just a Little Fun

October 28, 2012 jonkphotoLeave a comment

Here’s a brief interlude to your day.

In my last post, I showed you a few of my shots from Chicago. Well, while I was there, I sank my teeth into a project I’m working on. See, a photographer by the name of Chris Clor has been a substantial inspiration for the past number of year, his creative ideas for imagery aside, a driving factor in his work revolves around stitching together pieces of a picture to create something that simply couldn’t exist in real life. Now, I don’t have an intention of trying to replicate his work (I have my own style). One process he uses, however, is simply a good idea regardless of who you are. Whether he is working on a specific image or just out shooting, Chris continually ads to his collection of pictures that could be, at some later date, used in a larger project.

As it was described to me back in the day by one of my first photo teachers, I tend to have a “cinematic style.” That being said, I began looking for settings that had a kind of movie-like-still look to them. Almost as if you could see the main character holding a conversation or looking for clues to a mystery in such a dark ally.

So, while I was in Chicago, I scoped out some fairly movie-esque scenes that could fit a subject shot at a later date.

– Jon

Here’s the first shot from the Chicago backgrounds:

And here are the pieces:

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Windy Travels Part 1.

October 16, 2012 jonkphoto2 Comments

As some of you may or may not know, I was busy being a tourist in Chicago until this past weekend (hence the lack of posts over the past couple weeks).
I, of course, took a picture or 2. There’s been a bit of back and forth in my head about how to display them, especially since most of the shots fall more into my fine-art style rather than commercial.

But enough of the speculation. Let’s break down the trip a bit. You may say to yourself “Self, why won’t he just skip to the goods?” Well, to that I say: shock and awe. No, not the tactical military scenario, but my reaction to a handful of things in Chicago that you, who may travel there, should certainly know about.

If you are avid travelers or simply have been to Chicago recently (I don’t get west very much) you probably already know. Back in 2008 or 9 or something, The city of Chicago sold rights to all the parking in the city to Standard Parking (effectively creating a monopoly). While the city got a little over a billion smackers out of the deal, they now have to deal with astronomically high parking rates – to the tune of $20 or more for even 15 minutes of parking. Oh, and did I mention that the contract is valid for 75 years?

Of course, as it happens, now that I’m back in Michigan, I came across a news article from yesterday, mentioning that the city will be auditing Standard parking to ensure responsible use of city funds. In the meantime, there are a few little tricks to get around this catastrophe. A number of people have suggested parking outside the city and taking in the bus. I like this idea, but if you are on a schedule and have to park downtown, I happened upon 2 options that seemed reasonable:

1. Parking in Chinatown is a decent way to go. The main lot is less than half the cost of parking downtown and it sits immediately under the “L.”

2. The Adler Planetarium is nestled in the museum campus right on the edge of the city and the road to the front door is lined with parking meters that cost a quarter of the price of parking in any structure. The downside is that there is a VERY limited number of spaces.

I’ve still got a whole ton of other neat tips and tricks for you (Next post: the best hotel to stay at if you’re a visual artist).

For now, enjoy a selection of city shots from Cloud Gate to Chinatown and plenty in-between.

– Jon