Holiday Gift Guide for Photo Geeks

All I want for Christmas is... photo stuff! I'm shaking it up a bit and posting 10 really cool ideas gift ideas for that photo geek/artist in your life!

First off, pretty much anything on Photojojo is a great idea, there are also great finds on Etsy, B&H, Adorama and Think Geek. I'm going to give a large variety of small and big things, both cheap and expensive.

Canon 24-105 from Photojojo

1. A Lens Mug! Photojojo has the Canon lenses 70-200mm and the 24-105mm for $30 and $24 respectively. They also have the Nikon 24-70mm and 70-200mm for $30 and $35.  Think Geek offers the Nikon 70-200mm travel mug for $24 (a real bargain!) and the Canon 28-135mm for $14.99. Photojojo also offers a nifty Canon and Nikon shot glass set for $18.

Yellow Bloom strap
by cottoncandybynatalie
on Etsy

2. A nifty camera strap. There are a plethora of cool, cheap, one of a kind straps on Etsy like these or these. Fabric, leather, thick, thin, handmade or vintage-- there's everything on Etsy. As far as the best quality sling strap for those profesh photogs there's the Black Rapid Extreme Sport Strap (available in a slimmer size for women) available at B&H for $69.95. They also make an excellent Double Strap system for $129.99

Canon AE1 on Etsy

3. Vintage or used cameras like this Super 8 available on Etsy for $14.95 or this mint Canon AE1. Some of the Vintage cameras on Etsy are a great price but the sellers don't necessarily know if they work or not. So, if you're looking for a cool piece of tchotchke nostalgia these are awesome finds. If you're looking for a camera in working condition, I would recommend looking in the Used Departments of B&H and Adorama, if nothing else than for the excellent return policies. Also both B&H and Adorama carry film!

4. These Camera Cookie cutters! also available here at B&H for around $18. 

The Holidays = Cookie Time for all

The Ona Brooklyn Shoulder
Bag at B&H for $329

5. Every photographer needs a sweet camera bag! I love these bags by Ona and Kelly Moore. If you're looking for something a little less expensive, check out the Tenba Laptop Messenger. Available in 3 sizes (mini, small and large) and 7 cool colors.

6. These TLR camera pint glasses from Etsy $24 for a set of 2. Soooo cool!

TLR pint glasses by vital on Etsy

7. A Wacom Tablet is a must have for any Graphic Designer or Digital Photographer out there. Check out the Intuos 5 at B&H for $323.95

8. A photo book! Like Light Science & Magic or The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook. Or if you're going the fine art route, try Weegee's World, Post Secret or a very holiday inappropriate Tulsa by Larry Clark available on Amazon. If you're in the city Strand has an EXCELLENT art books selection, both new and used. They have rare books, collector's books and autographed books too, a few years ago, my mom got me a signed copy of Jerry Uelsmann's Process and Perception.

Telephoto lens for your iPhone
from Photojojo

9. iPhonography accessories. for that Instagram addict you love so dearly. Think Geek has this Holga iPhone lens filter kit. Photojojo as a huge selection of lens attachments like this telephoto lens for your iPhone. They also have grips, filters, steady cams, tripods and handle bar attachments for your phone. B&H has this Steadicam available for the iPhone 3, 3s, 4, 4s and GoPro.

Lomo Diana Deluxe Kit at B&H

10. A Low-Fi film camera. The Lomography Diana Deluxe Kit available here at B&H for $200. Exclusively for nostalgic low-fi film fun. Note you can also get an instant film back for this camera so you can use it with the Fuji Film Instax Mini film. Actually the Fuji Instax Mini is a pretty great present in itself. There's also Holga and this lovely 4x5 Pinhole camera which takes film backs.






As a bonus, here are some stocking stuffer ideas: iPad SD card reader, camera ornaments, bottle cap tripod, sun print kit, film roll magnets, lens band (moustache pattern), Joby Gorillapod, camera pins from Zazzle.com and last but not least; this Polaroid Waterproof Housing (for point & shoots, see this in action in the Under Da Sun post from June)

Happy Holidays!!!

Cristina Shoots Cristina

An Impromptu Collaborative Photo Shoot or Cristina Shoots Cristina.

So about two weeks ago my friend Cristina Hoffmann and I were hanging out in my apartment, waiting around to go to a party later that night. We were getting ready to go and Cristina decided she wanted to spike her hair into a mohawk. We both kind of looked at each other and said "we should totally shoot this!" So we did the hair and did some small costume adjustments and ran outside and shot in the dark down the street in front of a closed storefront. We had a blast just shooting and trying out new things. I was using my Sigma 24-70mm with the 580ex ii and later I switched to the Sigma 10-20mm. I think we got some awesome shots. Here are some of the best ones.

Check out Cristina's site www.composeproductions.com  She's an awesomely talented photographer in her own right. One of my best friends too :)

This one is my favorite, it also looks great in B&W but I do like the color on her tattoo.

 I kind of like these two as a diptych

Skydiving, It's Not Just for Crazies

A while back it was David's birthday as his present I payed for him to go skydiving. I had no desire to go jump out of a plane myself, especially at that price, so I just accompanied him and took some cool pictures. I was using the 70-200 f4 on my cropped sensor Canon T2i so I was getting more or less a 100-300mm zoom range. We couldn't have asked for a better day and we both had a good time, especially him. Here's the photo evidence of David being a crazy person. 

I tired to put together a little narrative.

Being Productive

So I just joined this site Model Mayhem (here is my page 2712120) and it's actually getting me out of my rut a bit. Been using my camera a lot more and meeting new creative people. As of the past week and a half, I've done three photo shoots and one model drawing session. So I've been pretty busy and I have a ton of new work. And yes I'm using and loving my new lens.

This shoot was kind of a guerilla street shoot. And just making it clear everything here is solely for portfolio purposes, neither I nor the model Davon Smith got paid. We had a great time shooting and I think we got some awesome shots.

Here is some eye candy for you.

This one really needs to be seen large. Click it!

I love the distortion the 10-20mm gives.

After Work Model Shoot No. 2

So here's some more recent work. After work model shoot in Chelsea at the Highline Park. Our model is Luz Declet. Special thanks to Keith Ibsen and Cliff from B&H Photo for making it all happen. I also just bought the sigma 24-70mm 2.8, should be holding it by tomorrow, can't wait to play! I'm also thinking about purchasing this flash and maybe the Lomo Diana kit with the polaroid back. Stay tuned for more updates and work.

After some Lightroom editing. Hipster effect.

Some photoshop brushes and grain effect. I was going for a stencil-look.

Lightroom totally saved this shot. the image was totally blown out as flashes were firing at random times.

Playing around in a cemetery

I took these images at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and I just got Lightroom 4 so I wanted to play around and get a feel for it, please excuse the Instagram-y effects. At the time, I was also shooting with a Red Filter to get that extra ghost like infrared effect. I know it's a little early for Halloween but this place is really cool.