My wife has been super duper hella quarantined throughout the pandemic, but also has DESPERATELY wanted to see Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in theaters. So, we decided to treat ourselves for Halloween and rented out a theater for two. It’s actually surprisingly not too expensive to rent out a theater nowadays.
amateur enthusiasm
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: 17-rounds of jump rope at the same time. /
A week ago I hurt my back and broke my jump rope during the same workout. After a few days of salt baths, icy hot patches, and sleeping on the floor I bought a brand new jump rope and gave my usual jump rope workout a go. Still too scared to try my HIIT workout that I usually do afterwards though.
NEON DEMON-STRATION: Babay's 1st youtubez with his new camera. /
Rather than being overly precious about making videos, I just wanna concentrate on consistently laying these down on the proverbial wax.
I did a thing, and the most important take away from all of this is that you can do a thing too.
GLORY to Womens. (GLORY 37 / Womens March DTLA) /
Last week, a couple of yuuuuge events took place in my neighborhood: GLORY 37 and Womens March Los Angeles. I rented my dream lens combo (Sony 24-70mm G-Master and Mitakon 50mm 0.95) for the fights and the march, and I also played around with a multiple exposure idea that once woke me up in the middle of the night.
"You've been poisoned." Rented my dream lens combo, fell in love with their pure optical sex, and now I don't want to live in a world where I don't own them. Bruh.
Before falling asleep one night, I saw a photo my friend posted on Instagram that she took with her iPhone that had a double exposure of the beach and the silhouette of a woman layered over it. I fell asleep thinking, "hmm... I wonder how she got two exposures in one file? Digital isn't like film, you can't double expose without some special app or photoshop... Also, hmmmm... these blankets are so warm... still, I wonder...zzzzz... fart (I assume)." In the background, The Princess Bride was left streaming on Netflix. The soft glow of a familiar movie on television serving both as night light and bedtime story. The low rumble of our dryer.
MY EYES OPENED WIDE. "Bulb mode. Like pinhole cameras! EUREKA-BOOM-BOOM-DOWN."
Whenever I've shot along side James Law in his studio shoots for GLORY, his strobes always end up giving him amazing results, where I'm in the same room standing next to him taking photos using the ambient light of a hotel meeting room like a jackass. Needless to say, my shots have always been garbage. So with my new idea, I thought I could open up my shutter set to bulb, listen for his camera to beep every time he got his focus, and opened my "shutter" to catch his flash. After getting a few exposures with stolen light, I'd let go of the shutter button and voila-- in-camera, multiple exposures. 'Fuck you, photoshop. Haters gon' say it's you.'
On the day of the fights, I busted out the lenses I rented from LensProToGo. I had been lusting after them for quite some time, but being the anti-baller tightwad prone to buyers remorse that I am, I rented them instead. Long story short, I want them. I want them bad. Real bad. Like, I would do things.
I mounted the Sony 24-70mm F2.8 G-Master onto my A7rii and the Mitakon 50mm F0.95 Dark Knight onto my A7s. When spun the lens onto their mounts, I'm preeeetty sure a choir of angels sang in the distance. I showed up to the venue and found it to be quite a different setup than I've become accustomed to in my short career in fight photography. The ring was setup on a stage, so effectively, one side of the ring couldn't be occupied by anyone, which of course meant that the ringside photographer's apron would be sacrificed. I sometimes forget that even though I come off very happy-go-lucky in life, I'm actually pretty moody when it comes to my creative endeavors. I felt let down that I'd rented these lenses thinking I could do what I always do, stand exactly where I always stand, and then be able to make a fairly scientific comparison to my usual lens combo; the Zeiss 24-70mm F4.0 and the Zeiss 55mm F1.8. No dice. I don't know if anybody saw, but I think I pouted at the news that I wouldn't be comfortably nestled ringside. What a bitch. Anyway, after a couple of beers and a lot of great advice from James Law, Ryan Loco, and Phil Lambert, I said 'fuck it,' and decided to do a lens comparison between apples and oranges. It would be G-Master vs. Dark Knight. All-purpose king of sharpness zoom vs. All-manual shallow DoF prime. Results vs. Process!
Below are some side-by-side examples of comparable situations that I shot out and around the ring with the G-Master and the Dark Knight. They aren't edited to match, this isn't scientific whatsoever, but it's a pretty good comparison of what each lens is all about. The photos on the left are all G-Master and the photos on the right are all Dark Knight.
It pretty much goes without saying that the G-Master is the better performer in nearly all categories on a website like DxO Mark. It's ridiculously sharp wide open and at all focal lengths. Compared to my Zeiss 24-70mm F4, obviously the extra stop of light is the difference on paper, but the biggest improvement I saw is the color rendition. The colors just look 'right.' If in some crazy scenario where the fate of the world hinged on me to taking photos of an event in an undisclosed location with unknown variables; this would be the lens I'd take (this is another place my mind goes at night).
On the other hand, the Mitakon is very prone to flaring which makes the contrast lie somewhere between milky and a hazy shade of winter, the lens even at the same F-stops is probably less sharp than the GM even when closed down, and they weigh almost the same. That being said, shooting sports with a manual lens and a razor-thin depth of field is waaaaaaay fun. Even completely missing focus looks like a purposeful artistic choice. The challenge of nailing the focus in the viewfinder without focus peaking made me go from feeling uninspired to feeling on fire and anxious to capture moments. There is no way to passively use a lens like this. To paraphrase ol' Jim Gordon, "The Dark Knight was the hero I deserved, but not the one I needed."
The next morning, our friends came over and we participated in the Women's March which basically took place at our doorstep in DTLA. I had a camera on me, but was struck with a feeling that I wanted to be there as a participant and a supporter, not as a photojournalist. I took maybe 15 photos, and this is the one that speaks for me and my feelings at the march:
Later, after we had gone back to our apartment, my friend asked me to show her how I got those multiple exposure shots of kickboxers that I'd shot just a couple of days before. I realized that I'd never told her that I was actually inspired by her multiple exposure instagram post. Apparently, it was a happy accident caused by an HDR app that takes multiple bracket exposures. Someone quickly walked past as it happened and voila, a lost night of sleep for my ever-spinning brain.
Vanishing Objects and a New York Minute. (SWPA Sony Square) /
Last month I had the honor of being a part of "Behind the Lens: A Conversation with Photographers Rubén Saldago Escudar, Mark Fulinara, and Ira Block" at Sony Square in New York City. 'Pics or it didn't happen, you say?' Well...
I opted for the 'cool-guy-with-legs-crossed' pose. Haters gon' say it's photoshop.
In the latest edition of "Craziest year ever," I was flown to NYC to talk about photography and my experience as a winner of a Sony World Photography award. So right after a trip to Austin to celebrate my 4th year anniversary with my wife, I hopped on a plane to the big apple to give a 'lecture' at Sony Square NYC.
I immediately wanted to case the joint. The day before the big day, I walked over to Sony Square to get a visual of where it was all happening. I mapped out imaginary escape routes that led to getaway cars in case my presentation didn't go well. I thought about where best to point off into the distance, so the event photographers could snap a photo of me looking like a visionary in case it did go well. I snapped a photo of my photo in their photo gallery... Photo.
Since I had the big thing going on the next day, I told myself to keep it low key for a day and then party after the presentation. So no food challenge level pig outs, no getting wasted, no staying up late. Instead, I had a few of special missions built in for myself between my multiple hour-long showers I like to take throughout a day whenever I have the luxury of doing so. Just run a few errands and focus on the presentation.
I went to B&H to take a class on studio lighting, but while invite said it started at 1pm PST, it actually at 1pm EST. I guess 3 hours late is a no-no in the industry.
I wanted to train. There are a bunch of famous boxing and muay thai gyms in the area, but I wanted to train in the more esoteric, boxing-based, jailhouse born martial art style the "52 Blocks." Despite a few texts back and forth with a local expert, we couldn't coordinate our schedules, so the mysterious art of the 52 Blocks eluded me. Maybe next time I'll learn a little bit of that Jailhouse Rock.
My wife had been to NYC a couple of weeks before my trip, so she left a present hidden for me in the city. She gave me the cross streets and clues to where it was. When I got there, the present, a letter left behind a placard in a park, had vanished. The placard stated that the park was maintained by the Union Square Business Improvement District. So... good job Union Square Business Improvement District on your fine work at maintaining your parks and keeping them free of litter and loveletters?
The next day, I went on another mission for my wife. She lost a leg warmer after a ballet class and wanted a replacement. To be sure I bought the right replacement, I had the one leg warmer with me and took a trip down to Repetto in soho. I'm sure I won the award for creepiest customer of the day, walking in with a single leg warmer for "my wife" because she "lost one" and I am certainly not a "pervert."
As I traveled around town I made a game of trying to memorize every subway line and walking route I needed ahead of time so I could pretend I was a local. One lady approached me and asked for help getting to Broadway, which I confidently pointed her towards. It was one of the two streets I knew at the time. New Yorkers impress me. They all seem to have somewhere to go and don't need to take the time to appreciate their surroundings. They walk out of a subway stop and immediately hook their left or right without having to look up at street signs to get their bearing. They navigate the city with a certain blind ease; like a person woken up in the middle of the night navigating their way to the bathroom in complete darkness to pee.
On subway platforms I could hear conversations overhead. I just love the anonymity of being in a city that just does not give a shit about you.
The presentation approached. Like a day before a gig with my band, I felt like I was in a haze leading up to it. Not nervous. Not excited. Just in a general fog.
The event was super fun. Got to meet lots of enthusiastic photographers and reconnected with a few people I met during the Sony Awards show in London. I'm super comfortable with public speaking so that went well I think. The only regret I have is that during the Q&A one guys asked me why I made my photo black and white, and I said, "I just felt like it." When the actual answer if I had my wits about me would have been, "I'm a huge fan of classic boxing photography, in particular old photos of Muhammad Ali. So, I was trying to go for that low-contrast black and white look." I hope he reads this.
At the end of the presentation, I was ready to get TURNT-- but forgot that it was a Tuesday night and everyone had to go home. Luckily, a very cool young man named Stanley introduced himself to me as an up and coming photographer. I mentioned that I had been to New York a couple of times before but still had never been to Times Square. He thought that was a travesty, so we hit the streets and did an impromptu photo walk where I packed in as much touristy New York shit as I could into one night.
Our first stop was a recommendation from the Editor In Chief of Popular Photography. She said I HAD to check out Jimmy's Corner, owned by former pro boxer Jimmy Glenn. I was pumped to check out all the memorabilia, and while I scooted around an old man to take a look at a photo of Jimmy Glenn I realized that the man I was hovering over was none other than the owner himself, Jimmy Glenn! We chatted a little bit about what weight he used to fight at, and how I used to have boxing pipe dreams.
Later that night, while I was pontificating as I often do (this time about photography and girl advice), Jimmy Glenn was leaving the bar he walked past me and gave me a little tap on my chin with his fist. KO. We left and took some photos of Times Square where I hammed it up for the camera, then grabbed a couple of slices of crazy cheap pizza. I'm really glad that I didn't let the night get away from me without doing something cool.
