Spotlight 7 Week 36: DarkDaze Photography [Mildly NSFW]

This week's Spotlight Seven exhibition features Dark Daze Photography, as curated by Spotlight 7 alum Lou O'Bedlam. Dark Daze got his start as a child when he picked up an Instamatic and used it to shoot the wildlife near his house into his teens. Like many, the photography bug let-up but never went away, and DD returned to photography about 10 years later. In this excerpt, Lou asks DD about his experiences with different cameras, and the different styles they engender:

3) does the camera make the photographer? how have each of your cameras contributed to your style?
No. the camera is just a device to achieve something. But then again yes of course it does. At best it’s a healthy relationship, like all guitar players have their favourite ‘axe’ but they could all knock a decent tune out of any piece of junk with strings. I am very conscious of how differently I shoot on different cameras- for instance I hardly ever shoot digital on the street- I hate having a camera up at my eye, so I shoot on my bronica, with its waist level viewfinder. It slows me down, I don’t waste shots, I think about framing and almost never press the shutter. Polaroid frees me up, no-one ever gets intimidated by having a Polaroid taken off them- but again I shoot max 3 shots and if it doesn’t work then we finish for the day. Digital, I am in for the long haul, I may work for 50 shots trying to get one model in a set-up to move her arm to where it looks right to me. I tweak and I tweak and I tweak, and then just when its about perfect I tear down all my lights and my assistants look at me with hate, and we set up all over again. This is pretty standard. So my digital style is clean and precise, you wont find anything that isn’t meant to be there, my medium format is loose but composed, a lot of balance I hope.

There's much more to learn about DD in the rest of his interview. When did he decide to become pro, how he balances commerce with art, what he's gotten out of Flickr, and much more. This is one of our more in-depth interviews, and DD is hanging around to take questions, so you can't miss this. Please be sure to browse his photostream, and you can visit his website or order prints if you really like what you see. Enjoy! Oh, and spread the word about Spotlight Seven!

Diamond Valley Lake Half Marathon finisher

Diamond Valley Lake Half Marathon finisher, originally uploaded by jakerome.

From yesterday's race. Took this soon after I finished the same event.

Lung Liu in Spotlight Seven

Please join me in welcoming Lung S. Liu for Week 35 of Spotlight 7. Lung has taken photos all over the world, from Bangkok to Vancouver, Mexico and the Salton Sea in California. Lung truly has a gift, as he seems to be able to see the subject and capture an emotion without overt worries about lighting or equipment. It's a gift few of us share, and be sure to read the whole interview and the discussion to see this from several viewpoints. Here's just a bit from this week's exhibition:

5) Tell us about the Muay Thai set, how did you find yourself shooting that amazing series.

I was walking along the railroad tracks in Central Bangkok and ran into some people watching cockfights. They pointed me towards the local gym and I started to photograph there and that just ballooned to other gyms. It was a natural progression.

Check out the rest of the Lung's interview with smoothdude, and wander over to his website to discover more about this fine artist.

G's emphatic assent

G's emphatic assent, originally uploaded by no answers 2.

Flickr friend, and the star of several photo streams.

Christopher at Pictureline

Mike Calanan is a good friend and a great photographer. He was featured during Week 14 of Spotlight 7, and curated our Week 20 exhibition of .charlie. Here's his portrait of the camera shop guy. Nice one! See more of Mike's work.

Sister in Snow

Sister in Snow , originally uploaded by Justin D..

Justin is a long-time member of the group, and provided our Chinese translation. Very lovely portrait of his sister here.

Renq in Spotlight 7

Amazing stuff this week from Renq, courtesy of resident curator madeinsheffield. Our first-ever Estonian artist in Spotlight 7, it's hard to believe that he first picked up a camera 2 years ago. Just goes to show that some people just have an amazing natural talent for photography. Rene Piirkop is the odd photographer that started on digital-- in 2006-- and now exclusively shoots film. The photos are timeless and eye-catching, and Rene gives us a small peak into his work habits.

3) Your portraits are very considered - do you spend much time planning them before hand?
Most of my portraits have been taken spontaneously, quite accidentally, and by momently emotion. I do not plan my portraits.Naturally I pay a lot of attention to the background, but these are quick momently decisions in the course of shooting. I do not make classic photo session where during long hours a model is forced to try hundreds of poses.

Check out all 10 portraits please, and be sure to leave some comments and feedback for our featured artist on the interview page. Thanks all!

Hey, I know that guy!

That's me, photo courtesy of Daniel Krieger, aka smoothdude on Flickr. Smoothie, as he's often called on Flickr isa terrific New York City-based wedding photographer, commercial photographer, photojournalist and a stunning portraitist, too. We met up for lunch yesterday in Chinatown, and then snapped far too many shots on the street. Check out all his work, and be sure to pay extra attention to his great portraits.

South Bay silhouette

DSC_0524, originally uploaded by Ryan M 21.

This is from my neck of the woods. There was great light that night from all the smoke in the sky. Great sense of fun in this photo.

Tiffany

Tiffany, originally uploaded by phoneymanflickr.

Tiff is a Flickr friend, and Pierre is another Flickr friend. What a wonderful age we live in.

harrier pilot

harrier pilot, originally uploaded by andre stoeriko.

Just awesome.

Verónica Noonan (teleoalreves) in Spotlight 7

Week 33 of Spotlight Seven features our first South American, Verónica Noonan aka teleoalreves, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Which means we've now featured artists from six different continents! This is just a little bit of this week's interview.

4) How do you interact with your models when you're photographing them. Do you joke around with them or talk to them a lot? tell us how you get emotion from them?
That's the question. There's a magical success when the model is front of me , perfect strangers who naturally fell comfort, I usually let them be , but when I need something in particular, I guide them with little words, only that. Some awesome things happens to me with the persons in front of my camera. I 'm very thankful. Maybe it's a gift somebody gave to me!!!!

Verónica also maintains her own website, which no doubt features some of the best portrait photography in Argentina. The photos there are definitely worth a visit, and the website is very elegant. She probably has written a wonderful description of her work on her profile page, but as my Spanish is very rusty, I'll depend on her English testmonials to tell you that she has some huge fans. But hey, take a look for yourself in this week's Spotlight Seven exhibit.

Monument

Monument, originally uploaded by davydubbit.

Berlin.

Fireman

Fireman, originally uploaded by Lucas Janin.

From the photographer:

At six in the morning, fire engine sirens woke me from my sleep. Less than a mile from my home, dark smoke was pouring from a house. I quickly grabbed my photographic equipment and left. You can see from the face of the fireman, that the house could not be saved.

Ce matin à 6 heures, de nombreuses sirènes de pompier attirent mon attention. A moins d’un kilomètre de ma maison, un incendie dégageait une épaisse fumée noirâtre.. Vite préparer mon matériel photo et partir... Nous pouvons lire sur le visage de ce pompier que la maison n'a pas pu être sauvée.

Los Angeles, California, USA

Portrait of a worried girl

Portrait of a worried girl, originally uploaded by oxjonte.

Oxjonte was asking for advice on how to get more people viewing his photos in Flickr Central, so I decided to look at his stream. It's really top-notch stuff, and this is one of the best child portraits I have ever come across-- really amazing. It holds together so well, from the jet-black background, to the attentive yet inquisitive stare, the huge buttons, the tones, the shadow, the lighting... everything.

Oxjonte added many other photos to the pool as well, so please check them out and give this gifted photographer some of the attention he deserves.

Masiray by Superchou

Superchou is another Flickr friend, and she takes some really neat photos. The one above, from a computer lab, is a great portrait and I was pleased when she added it to the group. Lately, it's been a treat to view her photos of the Western Center in Pittsburgh, and it's always a treat to see her wide-angle shots. Superchou's wonderful husband (or so we're told) is a musician or musical producer or just some sort of all around musical genius. I'm certain he is both, so if you need a music dude, especially if you're in Pittsburgh, check out Josh's composition, remixes and more.

About a Man, a Mouse, a Gun, a Moustache, Some Gold Chains, a Pair of Glasses, and a Polkadot Bow...

About a Man, a Mouse, a Gun, a Moustache, Some Gold Chains, a Pair of Glasses, and a Polkadot Bow..., originally uploaded by TrEjAcK..

This is my friend Trejack, in what has to be one of the more original photos ever submitted to 6 Million People. It's a satire of a parody, or a parody of a satire. Whatever. Tre is a really good photographer, taking great photos of his daughter, all around Katy, Texas, the local pooches and much more. Really, Tre's true genius is taking one great photo for themed photo competitions, which he has turned into a bit of an art. You can find more of Tre's fantastic work on his website and at his Flickr stream.

Ian aka Binary Boy

Tired, originally uploaded by 01101001 01100001 01101110.

This is my friend Ian, perfectly posed in this perfectly taken self-portrait. Ian, or 01101001 01100001 01101110, is really a great photographer, and is a genius with both MS Paint and Photoshop, using whatever tool is necessary to create the effect he wants. One of his favorite tactics is to create symmetry where none exists, and building outrageously fun camera rigs for his car. Whether you want a photo of car parks or skateboards, Ian's your guy. Be sure to check out more of Binary's work on his photostream and his website, which just leads back to his photostream actually. So no need to check out both, really. Hopefully he returns to America to he can take more photos of the states and so we can have another Flickr meet-up.

Blogging contest

We had a contest in 6 Million People and got 10 entries. We randomly selected one winner using the random number generator from Jason Hill is the winner! Congratulations Jason, you'll get a free year of Flickr. I'll go ahead and list all ten entries here. Good luck next year!

Mr. Wizzard
Mistifrang
Aubirdy
jandprowley
Arty Smokes
My Symbiosis
Jayel Aheram
Jason Hill
SF Lights
Trejack

p0cket-paul in Spotlight Seven

Please visit the 32nd installment of Spotlight Seven, featuring the photography of p0cket-paul, as curated by madeinsheffield. Obsessed with cameras since using his dad's Olympus to take photos of the television, p0cket-paul has no doubt improved considerably since those early days-- his portraits are stunning. Here's a short excerpt for the interview.

8) You shoot portraits in both colour and black and white - do you have a preference or does the choice depend on the subject?

If it is not digital or an organised situation then it will be whatever is in the camera. Although, I believe that everything I shoot should be in colour for conceptual reasons but I have a love of B&W for aesthetic reasons. Sometimes it is hard or pointless not to contradict your own ideology.

Please check out all 10 ten photos and the interview.

http://flickr.com/groups/spotlight_seven/discuss/72157608470218642/