Why I Went to Nikon School

The average penguin knows more about photography than I do - or did before Nikon School.

If you want to be a portrait painter, it is important to learn to take a good photograph for reference.

I used to struggle with film but I am finding digital photography so much easier...and cheaper because I take so many pictures. I now "process" them on my computer and I don't have to pay to print the bad ones.

For me, photography is so much harder than painting - so when I found their brochure in my local camera store, I signed up and went to Nikon School for a weekend. They hold classes all over the country and the schedule with all the details is on their website.

I had to travel to Boston and spend the night since it is not an easy commute from New Hampshire.

The instructors did a First Class Grade-A job and the two classroom days flew by quickly. They answered all of my questions and I really learned a lot. I have a Nikon D2X and there is so much on it that heretofore has been a great mystery to me.

And wonder of wonders - I now take better pictures! In hindsight, I should have signed up for Nikon School years ago.

These were the courses:

Saturday: Introduction to Digital SLR Photography

The ideal starting point for new digital camera owners and anyone considering digital SLR Photography will acquaint you with the basic techniques and terminology of this popular imaging format. Geared for beginners and amateurs photographers this course addresses photographic fundamentals and creative techniques that help you get great shots. It also explains basic settings on your camera, what lenses to use, how to download, edit and store all your great digital images.

Sunday: Streamlined Workflow Techniques

Learn about current industry trends, technology advances, and using various types of software to assist you in expressing your photographic creativity and help streamline the entire digital workflow process. The course includes editing, archiving, color profiling, and printing techniques.

These were my wonderful instructors - mouse over their names and check out their work:

Bill Durrence

Bill is a professional photographer primarily involved with travel and location-oriented assignments. With over 35 years experience in editorial, corporate and commercial photography, he is also a photography instructor and consultant. A former member of the Nikon Professional Services tech team, Bill taught at the Nikon School for over ten years. He is currently an associate with Blue Pixel, a major digital imaging consulting firm.

Reed Hoffmann

A professional photographer for over 25 years, Reed started in studios, then worked at newspapers and now freelances out of Kansas City. He has been shooting digital since 1996 and teaching digital photography since 2000. Nationally recognized as an expert on digital photography, Reed has helped over 30 U.S. and Asian news organizations ease their transition to digital. He is also a founding member of Blue Pixel, a major digital imaging consulting firm.

"Aroma Lisa"

What would Leonardo think?

It measures an impressive 20 feet high and 13 feet wide and took a team of eight people three hours to complete.

The different colours were created by adding no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee.

It was created for The Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia, and seen by 130,000 people who attended the one-day coffee-lovers event.

The Iconic Mona Lisa has been reproduced so many times in so many different mediums but, as far as I know, never out of coffee.

You're looking at 3,604 cups of coffee!

11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month

Major hostilities of World War I (“The War To End All Wars”) were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the signing of the Armistice.

We now celebrate "Veterans Day" each year to honor all of our veterans since the signing of the armistice.

In 1982, Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old WWI veteran held the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War.

When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid, it can't last long." But though a war may be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting.

~Albert Camus

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.

~Albert Einstein

"While I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, I also promise you this—and this is very important as we consider our next steps in Afghanistan: I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way," Obama said during a visit to Naval Air Station Jacksonville. "I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary."

What is absurd and monstrous about war is that men who have no personal quarrel should be trained to murder one another in cold blood.

~Aldous Huxley

A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.

~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

O peace! how many wars were waged in thy name.

~Alexander Pope

It is always easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.

~Alfred Adler

At least we're getting the kind of experience we need for the next war.

~Allen Dulles

Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.

~Anne O'Hare McCormick

Make wars unprofitable and you make them impossible.

~A. Philip Randolph

Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?

~Barbara Bush on ABC's "Good Morning America," March 18, 2003

I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace.

~George W. Bush

I think war is a dangerous place.

~George W. Bush

The American Red Cross has a program called "Holiday Mail for Heroes" and invites us all to participate.

Our enemies...never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.

~George W. Bush

The price of empire is America’s soul, and that price is too high.

~Sen. J. William Fulbright

Public Option Annie

When a bunch of artists protest - it can be fun, creative - and still make the point.

Republican pollster Bill McInturff (the force behind the 'Harry and Louise' ads in 1994) was the keynote speaker on the final day of AHIP's issues conference.

AHIP is the powerful insurance lobby that spends 5 million dollars a week trying to kill health care reform.

And Billionaires for Wealthcare, a grassroots network who is looking to stop them - with song.

AHIP has resorted to out-right lying and scare tactics to block health care reform.

They sent letters that lie to seniors about what health care reform means for Medicare, and they issued a report on the costs of health care reform legislation that is so misleading that the reports embarrassed the authors who distanced themselves from the way AHIP used their work.

Every year, 45,000 people die because they can't get access to the health care they need. Yet AHIP continues to stand in the way of health care reform that would provide coverage to millions of Americans because the industry is more concerned with protecting profits than saving lives.

Here are the lyrics to “Public Option Annie” (sung to the tune of “Tomorrow” from Annie)

I've been humming this all day:

SINGER #1: No, thank you!

FOR KILLING THE PUBLIC OPTION

AND BLOCKING ANY HOPES OF ITS ADOPTION

THANK YOU, SIR!

SINGER #2: Sure,

BUT WHAT ABOUT COMPETITION?

IT’S AN OLD AMERICAN TRADITION

OR SO I’VE HEARD?

SINGER #1: Meh.

SINGER #3:

WHEN OLYMPIA SNOWE

SAID NO,

IT CROAKED

Right?

SINGER #2:

NO, THE OPTION’S NOT DEAD

SINGER #3:

OR RED!

SINGER #1:

EXPLAIN!

Who let these people in here?

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS:

IF WE GET A PUB-

LIC OPTION

WE CAN SNIFF OUT WASTE

JUST LIKE A DACHSUND

COSTS COME DOWN!

SINGER #1: Hey, those “costs” are my profits!

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS:

THE OPTION

THE OPTION

THE PUBLIC WANTS OPTIONS

WITHOUT IT,

IT’S A GIVEAWAY

SINGER #1: Exactly. To us. Am I in the right room?

THE OPTION

THE OPTION

THE PUBLIC WANTS AN OPTION

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS:

OR REFORM IS A CORP’RATE GIVE-A-WAY!

Obama's Plan in 4 Minutes

Here's what he's trying to give us. It's pure and simple - and straight from The President himself.

You might have noticed that Fox News and other right-wing noise machines are trying to twist this into something sinister and dreadful called "socialism or fascism."

It isn't.

Health care reform is only decency and common sense.

A Candidate for Sensitivity Training

I love a good joke.

But laughing about losing your job and watching your health insurance go down the tubes isn't good - and it certainly isn't a joke.

Georgia's GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey is gonna block health care reform no matter how much it hurts us.

While we wait for Chuckles to complete the Sensitivity Course I've recommended to him, let's Lobby Congress ourselves:

House and Senate

(202) 224-3121

The White House

(202) 456-1111

Call today and give your congresscritters a piece of your mind - it won't cost a dime.

Tell the operator who answers what state you live in and she'll connect you to the right person.

You may not realize it, but your opinion counts more than any high-paid professional lobbyist. You have the leverage they don't - your vote.

And in a democracy, this is a big deal. Use it or lose it.

The Ethical Use of Gummi Bears?

I was reading labels on some new art materials this morning and thinking about keeping my paintings archival.

There's a lot of chemistry involved in traditional painting.

See my sad tales in blue at the end of this post.

I used to love the experiments we did in grade school chemistry class.

And here's one of my favorites that involves Gummi Bears.

Now, of course, we will no longer be allowed to take gummi bears on airplanes.

And we must consider the ethics of using gummi bears in experiments like these.

Besides a sweet tooth and a passion for red Gummi Bears, why did I post this?

I've made some awful stupid (sometimes chemical) mistakes. They took me by surprise - sort of like that video clip above.

!. I've got cracked paint from not following the "fat over lean" rule. I fixed that by following the rules and using Winsor-Newton's Liquin or Gamblin's Galkyd Lite in all of my layers.

2. I once got a tip from a painter I admired (and unfortunately trusted) in The Netherlands who said he used house paint to tone his canvas. When I did that a sweet little still life cracked and the paint flaked off after 4 years. Grrrrr, it still hurts.

3. I once mixed my own rabbit skin glue and it took a week to get that smell out of the studio. I had to toss out an expensive - but smelly - canvas.

4. I once painted a canvas with Genesis, forgot that I had used that special kind of paint and a year later I "varnished" it. The paint wrinkled up like an old prune and refused to dry. A painting I liked was ruined and had to be tossed. If you use Genesis Paint (it is wonderful non-toxic stuff) you must not mix other materials with it.

5. I stretched a piece of linen on regular stretchers - 24" x 30," and slaved over the painting for a long time. It hung framed in my studio one winter when the heat was turned off for a week. The linen suddenly dried out and shrunk snapping a long stretcher bar. The painting had to be restretched and I lost 6" off the right side. It wrecked the composition and I cannot sell it. Now I only use heavy-duty stretcher bars for work 20" x 24" and larger.

Truth is an Absolute Defense

Rep. Alan Grayson was born in the Bronx and grew up in the tenements.

He graduated from Bronx High School of Science and worked his way through Harvard University, graduating in three years, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

"Truth is an absolute defense."

-Rep. Alan Grayson

He then began graduate studies and simultaneously, in the next four years, earned a law degree with honors from Harvard Law School, a masters in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and passed the general exams for a Ph.D in government.

In recent years, Atty. Grayson specialized in war profiteer and whistleblower cases aimed at Iraq war contractors that had overbilled the U.S. government by tens of millions of dollars.

Personally I'd like to see Alan Grayson run for the Senate.

Extremely Florida

Best:

Rep. Alan Grayson speaks for me too.

Worst:

GOP Weekly Meetings at a Gun Range?

"A South Florida Republican said it was a mistake to shoot at a target with the initials of the Democratic Congresswoman he is trying to unseat. Candidate Robert Lowry made a brief statement to a local newspaper but refused to speak further Friday about the incident, which happened Tuesday during a weekly GOP meeting held at a gun range."

- As reported by Matt Sedensky

A friend pointed out that there was no mention at which end of the gun range they were meeting...there's always hope.

Video Mimics Classical Oil Painting

I do love a shortcut.

It took me months to paint this portrait of Gwyneth.

As you can see by a small selection of stages below, there are a LOT of layers and a lot of drying time in this painting.

The entire process and how I did it - step by long painful step - explained in detail here.

- OR -

You can watch this little video I found on youTube by EclecticAsylumArt.

EAA's stages of electronic painting with MS Paint mimic the method of classical oil painting I often use.

He begins with a drawing.

He blocks in big flat shapes and determines light, medium and dark areas.

EAA also determines the general feeling of the overall color scheme.

He begins to define the general light and general shadow on the face.

When light meets shadow, the character of the halftone is determined. i.e., does light move quickly into shadow or more slowly thus making for a more gradual halftone?

He begins to work realistic light and shadow. And adds defining details over the background shapes.

Ta da!

EAA's painting took a mere 2 1/2 hours. And it looks pretty darn good to me.

I am humbled by the speed and flexability of digital software.

Here's the entire video from youTube:

I was (and still am) amazed at how close this video is to the reality of working in oil paint. I wonder if a digital artist could make up and use an Old Master's working palette?

In the hands of EAA, MS Paint* appears to be a good teaching tool...for oil painting!

*Note that since I have a Mac, Corel's Painter 11 is more likely to be the program I'd use. I'm going to have to seriously look into this program (and a Wacom Tablet).