In case you didn’t know, I love animals. It’s gotten to the point that I’ll count out the approximate footsteps and speed of movement necessary to “accidentally” cross paths with a dog and owner walking vaguely toward me from a quarter mile away.
Yep – I’m “that guy.”
On the way to a friend’s house in Southfield, MI, I drove over an intersection with good visibility and saw a plume of smoke on the horizon. Thinking it would be something close, small, and insignificant, I picked up my buddy and we went to check it out. (We are photographers after all).
Well, as we were heading in the direction of the smoke, we realized it must be bigger than I thought because we didn’t seem to be getting closer. Turns out it was actually 20 miles away.
From what I gather, it was an abandoned factory complex on Detroit’s West Side and the PD have no idea what happened.
To reiterate the scale, we met up with a volunteer firefighter from a northern suburb. He was there because he saw the fire from Auburn hills – almost 40 miles away.
Here are some of the shots.
– Jon
It was about 10ish years ago, but I remember it rather clearly. I was sitting in my room with headphones on (quite loudly) and I could still hear these thumps. It was probably more “felt.” With the music off and standing on the back porch, the remote wail of sirens filled the evening. The thumps continued.
So, my father and I piled in the van and drove through neighborhoods around us trying to see what happened.
Through the trees we saw the sky glowing, but the color was coming from the ground. As we rounded the K-Mart, we saw what was causing the commotion. There was a blaze we could feel from a quarter mile away. Jets of fire were shooting 50 or 60 feet into the air.
Clearly there was too much hullabaloo for us to really understand what happened, but from the crowd that had gathered, we deduced that a shop owned by a hydroplane boat racer had caught fire. We tried to get closer but were dutifully turned back. The following day, we found out that the tanks of racing fuel had somehow combusted and compromised the acetylene equipment. When I walked down to see the building, I saw that an entire wall had been blown outward as though The Hulk was inside.
A decade later and well into a career in photography, I still think about the pictures I would have gotten had I had a camera with me.
This also brings up the “photo journalism argument.” Is is OK to profit from taking pictures of things or events that destroyed someone’s life or income? I suppose I still haven’t decided which mindset I have. So until that point, I’ll continue to take pictures of things that intrigue me.
As you can probably guess, there was a fire. It was at a tree maintenance company about 3 miles from my house.
– Jon
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
In case you haven’t heard of the “Idle No More” movement, it’s essentially a continent-wide collective of all indigenous peoples, who are now using their numbers and modern media channels for a wide array of purposes. These may include forming political pressure to have sacred locations renamed, re-appropriated, and/or recognized as such. There is also an internal movement designed to teach their own members ways and reasons to respect their heritage and culture.
There is also, of course, the long standing cause: to finally get legislatures’ attention regarding their complete and utter disregard for nature. Well, as we all know, short of a smack in the face (that might not even work) the only way to get noticed when it comes to creating new policy is by getting EVERYONE to say something about it. This is where Idle No More comes in.
For quite a while now, the movement has staged “protests” in cities across the continent, drawing attention to the people and the problems.
Today (Sunday, January 20th, 2013) they held an event in Detroit, discussing their cause, giving a blessing to the Detroit river, and presenting in front of Cobo Hall.
Here’s some of the goings-on.
– Jon
This has been in the works for about 3 months now.
Since the start of term, I wanted to put together a booklet – kind of like a process book (showing clients how I get to the end of a project). So, I did.
I won’t ramble about it, as it’s intended to be fairly self-explanatory. I wouldn’t mind some thoughts and opinions, though.
Whadaya think?
– Jon
This was forwarded to me a couple weeks ago. I’m not sure who sent it to me, it’s just been an open tab in my Firefox for a while.
It’s fairly self-explanatory: a list of 100 things that should regularly be rolling around in every photographer’s head. Now, I’m not one to repost lists of opinionated stuff that I see on-line, but this is a bit different. It’s not preachy, it’s not all opinion-based (black and white is better than color, digital sucks… so on), and it’s not specific over-stated tech talk. Most importantly, it’s just good advice.
Eric Kim is a street photographer who teaches workshops all over the world. This is his brain child:
1. Just because someone has an expensive camera doesn’t mean that they’re a good photographer.
2. Always shoot in RAW. Always.
3. Prime lenses help you learn to be a better photographer.
4. Photo editing is an art in itself
5. The rule of thirds works 99% of the time.
6. Macro photography isn’t for everybody.
7. UV filters work just as well as lens caps.
8. Go outside & shoot photos rather than spending hours a day on photography forums.
9. Capture the beauty in the mundane and you have a winning photograph.
10. Film isn’t better than digital.
11. Digital isn’t better than film.
12. There is no “magic” camera or lens.
13. Better lenses don’t give you better photos.
14. Spend less time looking at other people’s work and more time shooting your own.
15. Don’t take your DSLR to parties.
16. Girls dig photographers.
17. Making your photos b/w doesn’t automatically make them “artsy”
18. People will always discredit your work if you tell them you “photoshop” your images. Rather, tell them that you process them in the “digital darkroom”.
19. You don’t need to take a photo of everything.
20. Have at least 2 backups of all your images. Like they say in war, two is one, one is none.
21. Ditch the neck strap and get a handstrap.
22. Get closer when taking your photos, they often turn out better.
23. Be a part of a scene while taking a photo; not a voyeur.
24. Taking a photo crouched often make your photos look more interesting.
25. Worry less about technical aspects and focus more on compositional aspects of photography.
Most of you know, but for those who don’t – I rarely shoot weddings. It happens occasionally, but it’s always a special circumstance (family and friends).
This allows myself and my clients a unique opportunity. I know them and they know me. This means I can get closer, more natural reactions, and a more personal level of happiness and humor than would be possible with a clients whose only interactions with me had been business-related.
On April Fools’ Day, with the fantastic help of Ashley Lawler, I shot a fairly unique wedding in Bay City at the Perre Marquette Train Depot.
Check out some of my favorite shots from the day!
-Jon
Alright folks – It’s time to kick off this shindig with some current work. For the past number of months (maybe 4 or 5, but it’s really irrelevant) I’ve been working with a local bowling center to spruce up their image and show the community how super-totally-completely-awesome a night of bowling and togetherness can be.
If you are in or around the Commerce, MI area and want to go out for the night, swing by Wonderland Lanes (http://wonderlandlanes.com/) and be sure to meet Dave, the owner. He’s awesome.
Now… pictures!
JonKPhoto 