Matt Vanecek's Photo Space

© 2010, Matthew Vanecek

Hello, all! Or at least, hello to that one person who might read this, besides me…
The last week has been pretty quiet (read: BORED!). Work has been really quiet. Home life has been pretty quiet, too. Photography life has been quiet. Everything has been so QUIET! It’s nice, once in a while. You know, take a Sunday and do absolutely nothing–no cleaning, no going out, no showering, shaving. Just, decompress. But when you have days in a row that are more-or-less that way (even with going to work), well, the mind just starts going crazy.

Well, a couple of things happened last week. My RAID unit decided to die. Luckily, it was my unit for intermediate video files, which are really really big. When I’m working on video projects, I convert all my camera files to an intermediate codec, and that RAID unit is the only thing big enough to hold all the files. So, I had to order a replacement. I have a Drobo S that should be delivered. Well, the Drobo S is a little more than a RAID enclosure. I think I’m going to have to rethink my storage configuration, and put my important files on the Drobo! Eventually I’ll build it up to over 10TB…

Also, Friday, I found out about this awesome seminar. I had looked at Creative Live a time or two before, but hadn’t bought anything (yet), and couldn’t catch the live seminars due to being at work. Well, Friday I found out Creative Live had been featuring Jasmine Star from Orange County, Ca. as the instructor. Creative Live had a couple who agreed to have their wedding provided by Creative Live and streamed live to the Internet. The idea was to do a live wedding photographer seminar. The cameras followed Jasmine around the wedding on Friday. She had already done a couple days worth of seminars with selected students. Saturday would be the photograph edit session, and Sunday the review. So, I watched most of Friday, most of Saturday, and all of Sunday. It was quite inspirational to see a professional in action. It was a real wedding, and she was doing real wedding photography. Lots of respect for the couple. It was really great to see how she interacted with the wedding party, and with the wedding coordinator. Every little detail was captured on video–the formals, candids, detail shots. Jasmine tried explaining what she was doing each step of the way–what she was thinking, what her experience led her to do. I have a brand new appreciation for wedding photography. I highly recommend this seminar–it is available for download or streaming at Creative Live.

So, I’m starting out this week on an up-note, I think. I really want to explore my creativity. I want my personal photography/video projects to be expressive and to tell a compelling story. And I want to pick up my guitar every single day. I feel a new drive to refine and pursue my dreams.

Thanks, Jasmine!

Please take some time to check out Jasmine’s blog, and head on over to Creative Live and see what they have to offer. They have more than just photography stuff.

Until next week, keep making images!

© 2010, Matt Vanecek. All Rights Reserved

Hello, again. Things have been pretty quiet lately on the visual arts front. I finished off a video for work. We had Yau-Man Chan (from UC Berkeley, and of Survivor: Fiji fame) in at work as the Diversity & Inclusion speaker this year. He was pretty darn good. I capture the video of his presentation. I wish I could present his video publicly, but I did capture it for work, as part of our photography club. So I don’t think I can post it. Oh, well.

The photography front has been quiet lately. I’ve mostly been keeping up with my personal 365 self-portrait project. I’m almost done with Michael Freeman’s book, “The Photographer’s Eye”. It’s a really good book; I may try my hand at writing a review when I’ve completed it. I’ve been trying to get caught up on stuff, including finishing the book I’m reading. I’m getting around to framing some pictures, finally. I dropped one off at Micheal’s for custom framing, and picked up some ready-made frames for some other pictures. It’s time to get some of my work up on the walls adding some life to those blank spaces. I do have some upcoming sessions, though, and I’m working on some photographs from a couple of burlesque events I went to.

Going forward with this blog, I want to make sure I post every week. I think Monday is a good day. As part of the post, I’m going to try an highlight a photographer whose work I like, or think is interesting. One such photographer is Jill Greenberg, AKA “Manipulator”. Jill began manipulating photographs as a child in the 1980s, and when Photoshop came out, she began manipulating digital images. Jill’s work shows in exhibitions in places like Rome, Paris, New York City, Los Angeles…check out her online gallery and see if she has an exhibit near you. Nothing in Texas (yet).

Go out and make some pictures!

Lisha at Sirens at Sunrise. © 2010, Matt Vanecek

It’s been a while since my last blog post. Photographic opportunities are coming along pretty regularly now. I’ve been using events (dance, burlesque) to try and hone my anticipation skills. On the one hand, I get to see some really good performances. On the other hand, I get to develop my skills and familiarity with my camera. I generally shoot events without flash at a pretty high ISO–1600 or 3200. If there’s enough light on stage, I’ll drop to 800 ISO, but I really need to be able to keep the shutter speed fast to help prevent blurred or shakey images.

I believe being to anticipate and prepare for “The Moment” is a key skill every good photographer must develop. There are situations when the high-speed continuous shooting mode comes in handy, but I don’t think it should be used too much. I want to be familiar enough with the event type and with people so that I can be prepared for “The Moment” and take the shot. Being able to get the shot without machine-gunning the camera saves wear and tear on the camera, generally results in better-composed and compelling shots, and certainly gives me fewer shots to have to cull. Less work is a good thing!

Happy image making, folks!

© 2010, Matt Vanecek

I love taking photographs of people. If you visit my gallery, you’ll see I have some shots from Burlesque events. I’m hoping to round that out with portrait galleries and life candids. Also, I love taking photos of dogs, and would like to practice and get good at that. I love dogs in general, and would love to expand my interaction with this wonderful animal. Finally, I’m enthusiastic about maintaining a clean environment. I’m not an activist, but I believe that it is our responsibility to take care of our environment–we need to pick up our trash and keep our air clean. There are many reasons a person could become involved in environmental issues. I think my main reason is, I just don’t like living in a mess!

A little about me:
Currently, I work in Corporate America for a company that by-and-large stands out from most corporations. My company places a lot of emphasis on integrity, transparency, and environmental sustainability. My opinions may at times differ from theirs, and they are not affiliated with my Web site in any way, so I’ll let you ponder on who it may be (that’s the legalese…).

When I was in Junior High School, I was on the yearbook staff for a while as a photographer. We did a lot of black-and-white (of course), loading our own film rolls, developing the film, and printing/cropping the images. It was loads of fun, and I still think having a darkroom would be fun. When I got older, I drove a truck (18-wheeler) for a living, and during that time got into photography with a Canon EOS Rebel. I’ve taken pictures across the country. One time I remember clearly is stopping in the mountains near the Coors brewery and taking pictures of one of the clear streams up there. Unfortunately, through moves and carelessness, I think I’ve lost many of those negatives.

After leaving the trucking industry, I spent a couple years kicking around South Texas in the San Antonio area. I was looking for a new direction in life. I kindof lost the photography bug for a little while, or at least became less enthusiastic. Then I finally started college, and, well, I was on the fast track. There was no time for anything other than studying and working. After I graduated, I started taking more pictures. I got some of them developed. I took some photographs of my wife’s grandparent’s 50th Anniversary, and generally took snapshots.

Then my wife took up dancing, and I drifted away from photography into video. She wanted video of her performances, and I got some really neat video gear out of the deal. So I spent the next 8 or 9 years working on video skills. I think I got pretty decent at dance event video. I still need work on handheld panning and moving around, but put me on a tripod looking at a stage and I can do pretty well. Throughout all this time, I would still take pictures with my camera, though, and got some decent ones of my wife and her troupe-mates.

My first love is still photography, and a couple years back I upgraded from the EOS Rebel to a Canon 50D. I’ve managed to acquire a couple of L lenses that I’m super-happy with, and have refocused my attention on developing my skills and creativity. I used to be really creative, and even took some stabs at writing when I was much younger. I need to rediscover that imagination and bring it to my photography.

So that’s where I’m at now. I take pictures at various events–mostly Burlesque where cameras are allowed, and the occasional dance recital. I’m starting to get more portraiture going, though. My entire focus is on cramming as much knowledge in my little brain as possible, and practice practice practice to hone the skills that go with the knowledge. I like the poorly lit events, because you have to be able to focus quickly and hold the camera steady to get good shots.

I hope you enjoy my blog and my photographs!

Courtney Crave at Dr. Sketchy's, © 2010, Matt Vanecek. All Rights Reserved

This is my favorite photograph from my last Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School session.