Two of my favorite 6×6 film scans from Japan. Forests of bamboo and the streets of Shibuya.

Exactly one month ago, just days after the Christmas holiday, I boarded a 14 hour flight from Houston to Tokyo, Japan. I have been extremely fortunate to have seen, traveled and photographed many far off destinations during my life, and year after year Tokyo, and Japan in general, have shown up on my “travel” bucket list. It was this year that I got to finally cross it off.

Many of you may not know and even after a face to face encounter, may not realize it, but I am of partial Japanese decent. One of my grandmothers is 100% Japanese and many members of my family including my mother either speak Japanese, live there currently or have lived there at some point in their life. Not only has Japan been on the “I NEED to go there” list for so long given how amazing it is to visit and photograph, but also due to the fact that it is my motherland.

I know several photographers that travel extremely light; one body, one lens, and nothing else. Other photographers take everything but the kitchen sink. I’m somewhere in the middle. I like to pack rather light, but I do enjoy a variety of cameras and like to be prepared. ALWAYS BE PREPARED! For this trip I was armed with a Hasselblad 501c/m medium format film camera, my usual 5D mark II travel outfit and my trusty iPhone 4s. Most of my images were personal pictures and casual snapshots. There were no premeditated themes or stories, just a random sampling of images from the nearly three-week adventure.

Street snapshots near Machida, Tokyo.

Since each camera has its advantages and disadvantages I do find myself juggling cameras on occasion, but for the most part I am pretty skilled at keeping a low profile, being discreet and swapping out cameras and lenses in busy places without being noticed. I’m more accustomed to travel destinations where it’s a necessity to keep expensive gear concealed, and while blending in and not being noticed is really second nature, it was rather unnecessary as everywhere I traveled around Japan I felt 100% safe, not to mention the fact that nearly everyone in Japan, tourists and locals alike, wore expensive DSLR’s around their shoulders like purses or backpacks. In some instances not having a large camera on your person would have made you stand out more than having one.

Everywhere I explored, from the crazy streets of Ginza, Shibuya, and Harijuku to the quiet and peaceful temples in Nara and Kyoto, I was completely amazed and blown away by everything around me. The history, the culture, the food and the landscapes were awe-inspiring. I tried my best to take it all in, and do it justice with my quick frames. It would take me months or years to truly take in everything the small island nation has to offer, however after my three week excursion I really felt like I had taken a lot in. My advice to anyone with the notion of traveling to Japan is to go for at least 2 weeks. There is so much to see and experience that a week or less would be an injustice.

In lieu of a long-winded, day-by-day travel account of my journey, here is a bulleted, non-chronological list of some of the things I did while I was there:

• Walked through the largest wooden building in the world, the Todai-ji temple in Nara. Dates back to the 700′s
• Fed the famous “bowing” Sika deer of Nara…with my mouth. They are regarded as messengers of the gods and roam freely
• Watched my hometown Houston Texans win their first ever playoff game, live, from Japan, at 6am
• Tried and failed to work numerous toilets and other bathroom related contraptions
• Watched This Is Spinal Tap (and about 30 other movies) on an airplane
• Got lost in the world’s busiest (and most confusing) train station, Shinjuku Station, Tokyo. 3.64 million people per day travel through the station. It is a madhouse
• Successfully navigated my way across the crazy intersections of Shibuya.
• Saw more plates of wax food than I can count
• Visited some distant relatives and experienced a complete language barrier
• Drove the winding roads in the snow-peaked mountains near the Mitake Valley and Ome, Japan, near the Tachikawa airfield where my grandfather was stationed during the war. (Also the site of my favorite photo ever)
• Had some of THE BEST bowls of Ramen at a roadside, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the mountains
• Experienced the amazingness of Ghana Chocolate ice cream at a Japanese truck stop
• Saw the sun rise over Mount Fuji in a Shinkansen bullet train going almost 200mph
• Zig-zagged through a seemingly never-ending forest of bamboo
• Saw a palace made of gold. (the Kinkaku-ji temple in Kyoto)
• Slept in a traditional Japanese tatami room, complete with paper walls
• Felt extremely awkward while coughing when 90% of everyone wore masks
• Mastered the subway and railway systems
• Visited what HAD to be the largest camera store in the world (the Yodobashi electronics complex in Shinjuku)
• Experienced the splendor of heated floors and heated toilet seats
• Watched some of THE nuttiest Japanese television programs and saw a music video, shot in Houston, that I was present for, air on Japanese TV
• Had some of the best Japanese cuisine ever (home-cooked, in restaurants, and a couple of amazing street food fairs)
• Went to Garlic Jo’s and Shakey’s Pizza (I’m officially jealous of you, West Coast)
• Went to McDonald’s on yet another continent
• Experienced an earthquake

Feeding the famous Sika deer of Nara, Japan. Photo courtesy of Alex Vickery.

I’lll be making one additional post in the coming weeks highlighting a little photo essay I did using my iPhone 4s, but for now, I have included not one, but three Photoshelter slide shows below. The first contains 90 of my favorite images taken with my digital outfit. The second features about 50 or so of my favorite 6×6 film images from the trip and the last highlights a ton of my unedited, quickie, iPhone 4s snapshots from the journey.

Which is your favorite batch? Check them out and let me know what you think!

Digital favorites from Japan:

JAPAN 8×12 (JANUARY 2012) – Images by Todd Spoth

6×6 film favorites from Japan:

JAPAN 6×6 (JANUARY 2012) – Images by Todd Spoth

iPhone 4s favorites from Japan:

JAPAN IPHONE (JANUARY 2012) – Images by Todd Spoth

2011: I met a lot of interesting people and made a lot of amazing friends along the way.

I’ve been waiting to post this entry for several weeks now. I wanted to have it up during the final weeks of 2011, however a hectic holiday weekend and an extended trip to Japan meant that it was on hold until now. I may be a few weeks late, but since we are still in the phase trying to gracefully scribble a 2 over the 1, it may mean that I’m right on time.

Where can I start? 2011 seemingly breezed by. Going through all of my images from the past year, work, personal and otherwise, I noticed a definite trend. 2011 was the year of the music. Whether that is an isolated anomaly or the beginnings of a journey, who knows? I’m hoping for the latter and I think I may be right.

When I wasn’t hard at work with my own musical endeavors, I seemed to find myself photographing indie bands (i.e.: local hero’s Wild Moccasins and Buxton), hip-hop groups and rap artists (i.e.: Trae Tha Truth, Lupe Fiasco, Mystikal, Z-Ro, The Niceguys, et al). I also found myself branching out more with my editing style. I am experimenting more and it feels good. Since my passion was in design before I even picked up a camera, the occasional creative departure was a welcomed reprieve from the usual and the work I did in 2011 lent itself to that.

2011: I pushed the boundaries of my creativity a bit further and did things my own way.

I met so many amazing and interesting people in 2011. I’m excited to continue my friendships and working relationships with many of them into 2012 and beyond.

This post should really be titled “Favorite Images of 2011″ since my 100 compiled images from the past year are not necessarily my “best” photographs, but rather 100 of my favorites. As always there are several polaroids and a nice chunk of medium format film images, from an on-going personal project on hip-hop.

2011: I discovered that the 6x6 format was made for my style. Look for more of this in 2012. Rest in Peace, Clip.

I have provided two ways to browse my favorite images from last year. Traditionally the first method is an automatic slideshow set to a musical track. This year I chose Trae’s “I’m On” single featuring Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa, Wale, MDMA, and Big Boi. The song samples “Return of the Mack” by Marc Morrison, which was a favorite jam of mine from the 90′s. The track (which may or may not contain a few objectionable lyrics) is also special to me because I worked on the official video with friend and all-star music video director, “Philly Fly Boy”. I got the opportunity to work with Philly several times this year and had a blast. The video for “I’m On”, featuring my own footage, debuted a few weeks ago while I was in Japan and is currently in regular rotation on MTV. It was the MTV Jam of the Week and was played twice an hour for a week straight, which helped me kick off 2012 with a huge grin across my face.

The second method is the usual Photoshelter slideshow. So whether you want to just hit play and jam out to my favorites or silently click-through at your own leisure, the choice is there. Remember, it’s always a better experience when you click the “full-size” control to the bottom right of each module. As always the images appear in chronological order. If you have an extra minute or two check out my “Best Of” posts from 2009 and 2010.

If you wan’t to check out the video for “I’m On” click here: Trae Tha Truth – “I’m On” FT Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco, Big Boi, Wale & MDMA

Here’s to an amazing 2012!

Stay tuned for a post with TONS of images from my Japan trip, coming soon.

BEST OF 2011 – Images by Todd Spoth

Quick portrait of Heather at a rest stop somewhere in New Mexico.

The first two weeks of August were a couple of the most hectic work weeks of the year for me. I had several commercial jobs that required a lot of intense office time, editing, and outputting images as well as several other editorial jobs inter-weaved. I’m always grateful of having work, but as the second week in August came to a close I was feeling like I needed a little break from the office and from life in general.

Heather had been stressed with work and school herself, so over a casual Tex-Mex dinner we looked at each other and decided to just drive. We needed to get out of town, be spontaneous, and just go. We both agreed to drive somewhere each of us had never been to before, so my first thought was The Grand Canyon. I have driven pretty much everywhere in the US, but have never managed to visit Northern Arizona or The Grand Canyon. Neither had she, so we left…straight from there…no plan, just the open road.

Even though both of our smart phones had GPS’, I knew that eventually we would be somewhere with sketchy cell reception, so our first purchase was a copy of the 2012 Rand McNally atlas.

This is the circuitous route, encompassing about 2800 miles, we ended up taking, highlighted in our atlas. Ignore the route up to Oklahoma, that was a mistake!

We had a car, I had a bag of cameras, and we each had a bag of clothes. It was Sunday evening, about 5pm, the sun was looking to set. We were full of Tex-Mex and trying to push the food coma away. Neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before, and my morning was spent on a hectic shoot with Deion Sanders and Mike Tirico of NFL/ESPN fame. We were both more prepared for a lengthy nap, than a 10 hour drive.

Our first stop was Amarillo, Texas up in the Texas panhandle. We drove well into the night, through Fort Worth and spent a few hours catching up on sleep in Amarillo. The next stop was Flagstaff, Arizona which we pulled into the next evening. Flagstaff was one of our favorite little cities and definitely a place I would move in a heartbeat. We had a great meal at a small brewery where I got to watch The Texans win their second pre-season game. After exploring a bit, we got some sleep.

We woke up as the sun was breaking, and made the 1.5 hour drive up to Grand Canyon National Park. It was in the mid 50′s and we were not prepared for the cold, but the drive was beautiful, the light was amazing. We didn’t seem to care that we were in clothing more suited for our daily 100-degree-plus weather. I forgot what its like to see the sunrise. I need to do this more often.

Everything I had read on The Grand Canyon lead me to believe it was a huge tourist trap with wall-to-wall people from all over the world and we would be visiting in the peak time of the year, Summer. I was prepared for the worst, but surprised to find that it was all but deserted. We had the entire park to ourselves.

We drove from outlook to outlook, taking in the incredible views along the way. We climbed out on remote rocks, scared ourselves and had a great time.

I brought my entourage of cameras with me including my Polaroid Spectra, a digital body with a few lenses and a few other toy cameras that Heather had fun with. After getting home and editing the images from the trip. I was re-inspired by the square format. I also realized that I really need a Hasselblad.

After we exited the park, we headed south towards Sedona. We explored the red rock area, dipped into a freezing creek of crystal clear water and then headed further south to Phoenix. We decided to take the southern route via Interstate 10 home, instead of backtracking the way we came. We wanted to see different landscapes and that we did, as the forest and red rock of Northern Arizona quickly gave way to cacti and other drier landmarks through Phoenix and Tuscon. It seemed like we saw pretty much every geophysical area on the trip; mountains, canyons, plains, boulders, deserts, forest. You name it, we saw it. Even when we were exhausted from 9 hour shifts behind the wheel, having interesting scenery to wonder at, made everything ok.

Even, in the dark of night we had fun.

A road-side long exposure somewhere in New Mexico.

After the sun had set on our adventurous day that began with a sunrise over The Grand Canyon, we decided to push forward through El Paso, into the desolate West Texas town of Van Horn where we spent a few hours getting some sleep.

In the morning we detoured down highway 90 towards Valentine and Marfa, Texas. We visited the famed Prada Marfa installation, and explored Marfa and a few other small Texas towns along the route back up to the interstate. I tried to channel my inner Allison V Smith along the way. I mounted one of my GoPro HD cameras from the rear view mirror and had the camera capture 1 still frame every second until I had about 10,000 images. I compiled them into a time-lapse video seen below. I added the appropriately-named instrumental track, “To West Texas”, by Austin-natives, Explosions in the Sky from the Friday Night Lights soundtrack to add some drama to the piece. I kept it simple, with no editing to the piece itself. It’s entirely straight from the camera. Throughout the journey I mounted the GoPro to various parts of the car and captured lots of different video clips that I’m sure I will eventually add here, but for now, check out the time-lapse of us driving through West Texas.

GoPro HD in-car Time Lapse traveling through West Texas from Todd Spoth on Vimeo.

After getting back onto I-10, we made good time getting back home. We had driven almost 2800 miles in only 4 days. No accidents, no tickets, nothing stolen and nothing lost. We had seen more in 4 days that many have seen in years and had an absolutely unforgettable time. I am someone who loves to be in control, loves to plan, loves to make sure I have everything in place well before a trip to ensure nothing goes wrong, but sometimes not planning and just going with the flow and sheer spontaneity of the moment is really whats right and I learned that in those 4 days.

Sometimes we all just need to get away.

THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST (AUGUST 2011) – Images by Todd Spoth

Rapper, Lil B, performs live at the Fader Fort during SXSW 2011.

As I mentioned in my post last week, the past month or so has been crazy. A lot of actual shooting has given way to a lot of time editing and while I still have a ways to go to catch up (do we ever really catch up?) I wanted to pause for a second to reflect on one of my favorite events of the year, the annual South by Southwest festival.

SXSW, held in Austin, Texas, is a now-massive multi-week festival held in early to mid March every year that covers everything from interactive design to film and music. There are tons of amazing things that happen throughout the entire festival, but the majority of the time I focus my efforts on the music portion. I really want to check out the interactive and film portions, but oftentimes scheduling prevents it. Even if just for the music, I have attended the festival for years and will continue to as long as I am able. Every year I have an absolute blast, whether I am attending as a fan or photographing musicians or live shows for a client. For those new to my blog, I have written a SXSW follow up post for the back three years, check those out if you’d like. Each year I walk away with the feeling that I really didn’t photograph much, or at least as much as I had hoped, and every year I surprise myself with a few good frames from the trip.

SXSW 2008
SXSW 2009
SXSW 2010

Every year brings a new twist to the usual flavor, but I have to say, this year stood out more than the previous. Several friends and colleagues in the newspaper photojournalism world made their first trips to the festival, including Gerry McCarthy of the Dallas Morning News and Christian Murdock of the Colorado Springs Gazette. Since schedules were hectic and since the festival (unlike any other festival) spreads itself across all of the City of Austin, I sadly did not get to meet up with either of these guys, but click on their names above to check out their respective works from the festival.

I should also note that good friends and colleagues Ariel Zambelich and Zoneil Maharaj, both from the Bay Area, who I conquered the festival with during the past two years, were MIA this year. Hopefully they will both make it back out next year. They were missed.

The biggest difference this year was the fact that I would be participating (for the first time) as a musician. Usually my routine, weeks prior to the festival, includes securing credentials, researching official and unofficial showcases, scheduling and doing a good bit of research, however the week’s leading up to this year’s festival were packed with rehearsals and playing shows with my band, Square and Compass. We played several shows prior to leaving for SXSW, so by the time I arrived in Austin, I had barely even looked at the lineup for this year.

Three images taken with the iPhone4 and processed with the Instagram app during SXSW 2011. Notice the theme?

My thought driving into Austin was that since I was not officially credentialed (this doesn’t mean much as you can still have a GREAT time without a media credential or a general admittance badge) nor was I on assignment, that I would simply go with the flow, have no expectations and have a good time…off the clock. I think as photographers, especially freelance photographers such as myself, we  (or at least I) find it hard to put down the camera and just enjoy the moment. I believe this is both a gift and a curse. On one had I would love to not have to lug heavy gear around all the time and be free to just watch and enjoy, however on the other hand, this is what I do, and work or no work, making images is my passion, so as long as I have two arms and two eyes I will have a camera up to my face, making these images, which is why, even in years where I am not on assignment to photograph the festival, there are still images made. Even if my intention was to not shoot, there are still pictures. When I get home, weeks later, and go through the images, reliving the moments that unfolded in front of me, I am happy that I took my camera out and this year was no exception.

Although this year’s SXSW excursion was somewhat truncated, I still managed to see and photograph a handful of acts.

When we arrived in Austin during the day, Friday, March 18th, we immediately made a B-line to the annual Flatstock poster art convention that is held in conjunction with SXSW. I am constantly inspired by poster art and make it a point, every year, to stop by the convention center to browse, be inspired and spend money on posters. The rest of the day and night Friday were spent just walking around the area and hanging out. Usually I am running around like a madman, shooting, running to the next venue, shooting, breathing, running, etc, but this go-round I had no expectations. That is, until I saw that the Australian electro-pop group, Miami Horror was playing a showcase that night. Miami Horror, French Horn Rebellion and a deluge of awesome electro acts were playing a showcase at ND Studios. I have been a fan of Miami Horror for a few years now and sadly missed them during SXSW 2009, so when I saw the show was a possibility, I went for it and was glad I did.

There were several things that I was interested in catching on Saturday during the day, however, since my own band’s showcase started in the late afternoon/early evening, I didn’t have time to see anything prior to our show. This only meant that we got to sleep in, leisurely lunch on the amazing food Austin has to offer and relax until we performed. Our showcase went off without a hitch. There was a good crowd and we had a great time playing. Austin is the live music capitol of the world, so it’s not surprising to say that our best shows (in my opinion) have been in Austin.

After our showcase I changed, and headed straight for the Fader Fort for the Saturday night showcase. Last year I did the same thing and was able to enjoy and photograph both Bone Thugs N Harmony and Sleigh Bells, so this year had a lot to live up to. Thanks to acquiring the proper wristbands the day before, I was able to avoid any lines, and headed straight into the tent right before rapper Lil B was set to take the stage. I made my way to the front of the stage and in a similar fashion to year’s prior, was smashed up against a ton of other “photographers” trying to photograph one person. I was armed only with my trusty 35mm 1.4L lens and a limited amount of memory cards, but I made it happen. I had never heard Lil B prior to his set. I must say it takes some getting used to, but at least he was interesting to photograph. I love photographing live music and it makes it that much easier when the venue, stage, and lighting are top-notch as they were here. There is only so much you can do when you are photographing one person with one lens and cannot move, but I think despite the setbacks I made a few interesting frames. Lil B was very animated throughout the set, but for most of the set was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, so the frames of him without the accessories, especially the few playful ones of him smiling and being lighthearted, I thought were special. There is even a frame of him standing next to me, with a bra in mid-flight, next to his head. He doesn’t seem to notice.

After Lil B’s lengthy set, something happened that was only a mere rumor prior to the show. Sean “P-Diddy” Combs, of Bad Boy fame, hip-hop and entertainment mogul, came on stage much to the audience’s surprise and performed a few of his hits including “Mo Money, Mo Problems” and “All About Tha Benjamins”. As a fan of 90′s rap and RNB, it was definitely exciting to witness and photograph the moment. As photographers, especially for live music, we are there as working photographers, not fans, but it seemed like all of that was thrown out the window during Diddy’s set. It was the last few songs of SXSW at the Fader Fort and it seemed like the photographers, security and other personnel were all actively having a good time. So if you can’t beat em, join em. I then started singing along to the songs while photographing Diddy. Apparently he realized that I was the only one who actually knew the entire verses to the songs so before I could react he was reaching down to shake my hand during one of the songs.

Not soon after Diddy wow’d the crowd with his surprise performance did the entire Odd Future crew take over the stage. These guys again, are a new/different breed of hip-hop that Diddy called, “the next generation of hip-hop”. They are definitely different and interesting to photograph with a lot of characters. I wish I had the chance to photograph their full set the day prior, but I fancied what little I saw and photographed.

After the excitement of the Fader Fort we called it a night, slept in the next morning and headed back home Sunday afternoon.

The Fader Fort website has videos of all of the sets previously mentioned on their website. Check out THIS ONE of P-Diddy and snoop around for the rest.

So like every year, SXSW was a blast and I can’t wait for next year. I might note that this was the first year I didn’t photograph ANY indie, punk, rock or hardcore acts. Everything I photographed and pretty much everything I saw was either of the electro, rap, or hip-hop variety. This year was also a total success in that I performed as a musician and not only did that go swimmingly, but I got props from P-Diddy less than an hour or two later.

Until next year, South By…

For now check out the images from this year, compare them to the images from the years prior and tell me which set you prefer. Also check out the videos at the bottom of this page if for some reason you are wondering what Miami Horror, Odd Future or Lil B sound like. NOTE: For those of you that work for “The Man”, the latter two videos might not be safe for work. If you don’t know what “Mo Money, Mo Problems” sounds like, then shame on you!

SXSW MUSIC FESTIVAL 2011 – Images by Todd Spoth

Miami Horror – “Sometimes”

Odd Future – “Yonkers”

Lil B – “Wonton Soup”

Alex Vickery / Class of 2011

It’s been way too long! I know, I know, I know. You don’t have to tell me! My work/life over these first few months of 2011 have been nothing if not hectic, but believe me, I have a dry-erase board hanging in my (new) office with more than a few ideas for upcoming blog posts, so expect that this is the first in a hopefully lengthy barrage of images and information to come.

The girl above is my little sister. She just turned 18 last month and is graduating from high school in a couple of months. They grow up so fast! *tear*

My parents and sister had been living in Rio de Janeiro for the past several years and I think everyone expected them to stay at least until my sister graduated high school, however much to their surprise, they moved back home to Houston last year.

Within a few months my sister was thrust (back) into the culture of “senior year” in the good ‘ole US of A and that means prom, that means applying to colleges and that also means senior portraits.

I have never really done any senior portraits before, I am not a senior portrait photographer and frankly if you allowed me, I would tell you that 99% of the work generated by self-proclaimed senior portrait photographers is usually regurgitated, manufactured and boring, at least from where I’m standing.

CASE IN POINT: My own (computery/terrible) senior portrait from 10 year's ago featuring a favorite band tee and some sneakers.

Yes the above image is real. Yes it’s cheesy. Yes my mom paid good money for those. It was taken in the garage of one of the “prominent” senior portrait photographers that shot most of the senior class’ photos. They all turned out like this. No creativity at all. It’s like they collected checks from every one in the graduating class and pumped these thoughtless, sweatshop images out like an assembly line. This IS however one of my favorite images of myself simply for the fact that the photographer told me to bring something “formal” and I came in what you see above, so who am I to judge what’s good and what’s not? If you ask me they should have gone the extra mile and make me pose in front of a few over sized crayons.

Regardless of all of this, when my sister approached me to shoot her senior photos, I said, “of course!” almost instantly. Anything for my little sis. So after months of procrastination we finally made it happen.

In late February we decided to get together and make some images in the studio. We really didn’t have any big concept or idea to portray so we just dove right in. I just wanted to give her something different, something edgy, and more importantly something that she would be happy with.

When I saw her leather jacket that she was wearing, I instantly wanted to shoot with it, so I plopped her against the wall and used some simple direct light for an edgy look. Afterwards, I went for the other end of the spectrum and used modeling lights with my 35mm 1.4 lens and a few abandoned strings of lights from Ikea to create a softer look. After a few setups we called it a day.

We were both happy with the several looks we created on a whim, in the studio, but we both wanted to get outside and do more.

The outdoor session coincidentally took place on my sister’s 18th birthday. We had a great time, driving around looking for interesting things to shoot, but it was a challenge. Since I live a ways away, I was rather unfamiliar with the area and had no time to location scout prior to the shoot date so trying to nail locations while maximizing the limited time frame the sun provided was especially difficult, but we worked with what we had.

We found a nice field with some tall(er) grass and waited until the sun was just right. We created several different looks and then called it quits.

After I got home and edited the images I realized that the images would be one of my presents to my sister. Since I tried to make the actual images stand out, I wanted the presentation of the images to stand out as well, so instead of just sending her a DVD in a plastic sleeve, I created 2 DVD’s, one for the studio images and one for the outdoor session. I created a cover to slip into each DVD case as well. The idea was to use an image from each shoot across both the front and back like a magazine double-truck, with some simple and obvious text across the front.

The design for the custom DVD covers. Both images shot during their respective sessions.

After all was said and done, my sister was happy with the images and has since told me several tales of her classmates complimenting them and asking about them, so mission accomplished. I fully realize that my images aren’t the most creative or off the wall portraits ever, but I think they are a bit more thoughtful and different than the images of the majority of her classmates not to mention my own, taken about a decade ago.

I have included several selects in the usual gallery below and added a few fun iPhone images as well.

Let me know what you think. What are your thoughts on senior portrait photography? Hit me up @toddspoth via Twitter and on my Facebook page and let me know!

Impromptu HDR iPhone images can oftentimes create happy accidents.

My incognito kit: Canon 5D mark II and the Lubitel TLR.

ALEX VICKERY (MAR 2011) – Images by Todd Spoth

One of my favorite "outtakes" of 2010.

Well another year is behind us. It’s hard to believe. Time flies, I guess. If you were to ask me a year ago to predict where I would be right now, I would be way off the mark.

This year brought a ton of changes, surprises, and detours, but it was a great year nonetheless.

During my archive search for the year’s best images, I began to wonder (like any artist I’m sure) if I progressed from last year. Did I make better images than last year? Have I evolved in my style? My first instinct was “no”, given the fact that I traveled so much during 2009 versus this past year, but after pondering for a week or so, I realized that the images that I made in 2010 were by and large a better representation of where I am taking my work. The portraits are stronger and more focused, and I like that.

Included in the mix are images from my Canon point and shoot G9, my Lubitel twin-lens, and my trusty Polaroid Colorpack III land camera as well as a few editorial event images, editorial portraits, images from advertising campaigns, experimental images, a few personal images, and even (*gasp*) a wedding photo. It’s a motley crew of images, presented in chronological order that I dug from 2010.

I have provided two ways to browse my favorite images from this year. In keeping with tradition, the first method is a simple slideshow set to the lovely music of Australia’s Bag Raiders. It’s definitely a lot more upbeat and fun when compared to last year’s slow, instrumental track. The second method is the usual Photoshelter slideshow. So whether you want to just hit play and dance while checking out my favorites or silently click-through at your own leisure, the choice is there.

Heres to an even better 2011!

Check out last year’s “Best Of” post, check it out, and let me know which set of images you prefer. Todd Spoth Photography’s “Best of 2009″ blog post.

BEST OF 2010 – Images by Todd Spoth

The cover of the Photoshop User magazine Jan/Feb 2011 issue featuring an image by Todd Spoth.

About a month and a half ago I got an email from Mike Mackenzie, Associate Publisher of Photoshop User and Layers magazines, letting me know that they wanted me to be featured in Photoshop User magazine. I was thrilled to be featured in a magazine that I receive and read every month, especially after getting a personal tour of the NAPP/Kelby group headquarters just a few months ago. (see that post here)

I have been a NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) member for years now and have enjoyed the benefits greatly. The guys over @ NAPP work hard at creating the most thorough training content for creative professionals using Adobe software. If you need to know how to do something in Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Bridge, et al, they know how to get it done. Like many of the professional organizations I belong to, I probably only use a fraction of the member benefits, but my favorite is the free 3-day shipping on every order from B&H photo. If you’re anything like me, you are frequently placing orders for this or that with B&H (one of the largest and best photo/video/audio retailers in the country). Being a NAPP member not only gives you complimentary shipping on every order, but upgrades it to 3-day rather than UPS ground. This benefit alone has made my membership worthwhile. Check out the NAPP website at http://photoshopuser.com.

I have been an Adobe Lightroom user since its beta release in 2006. Back then I was trying out Apple’s counterpart, Aperture, as well as Lightroom and ultimately decided on Lightroom. It was just a lot easier to use. The most recent release, Lightroom 3, has made my life a whole lot easier. The things you can do with the software is amazing.

Mike interviewed me about my usage of Lightroom and some of my basic theories concerning my approach to photography. The resulting interview, bio, and image gallery can be seen in a multi-page feature in the January/February issue of Photoshop User magazine. The issue should arrive to NAPP members this week, and hitting the shelves around January 4th according to the NAPP team. I always see the magazine front and center at places like Barnes & Noble, Borders and other places magazines are sold, so pick one up if you can! To read the actual bio and interview text simply click on the image of the spread below or click here.

The cover to the special Lightroom section featuring images by Todd Spoth.

Photoshop User magazine has a special Lightroom section, which is where my feature can be found. A selection of my images are on the Lightroom section’s title page (seen above) and the actual feature is comprised of a two page spread which includes a short bio, the short interview, another batch of images, as well as an additional page featuring a few more images (seen below) The actual design of the spread is meant to look like the layout of Lightroom itself, complete with basic camera settings for each of the highlighted images.

The main, two-page spread featuring a bio, interview and photos by Todd Spoth.

An additional page featuring more photos by Todd Spoth.

In addition to being featured in the issue, I was surprised when just a few days ago, when I received my own physical copy in the mail, that they had chosen one of my images for the cover as well. The interesting part is that the cover image was actually not taken with one of my expensive SLR bodies, but my point-and-shoot Canon G9, which has since been sold. Oh the irony! Regardless of the tools that captured the moment, I think the image looks great.

I initially sent Mike and the guys over at NAPP about 30 or so images to choose from, so the final selection of images was ultimately left up to their team. Below is a short digest of the images they chose for the issue and links to their respective blog posts. There were several other, smaller, images the guys chose to fill out the thumbnail bar towards the bottom of each page, but the main images are all detailed below.

COVER

1. Portrait of Libby Johnston taken with the Canon G9. See “THE RED CURTAIN”.

LIGHTROOM TITLE PAGE

1. Portrait of Kingwood High School swimmer, Matt Barber. See “FUTURE OLYMPIAN?”.

2. Portrait of MLB pitching prospect, Jameson Taillon. See “JAMESON TAILLON”.

3. “Summer Solstice” image created to illustrate the hot Houston Summers. (no blog)

MAIN SPREAD

1. Portrait of my buddy Rob, who is a teacher. (no blog)

2. Matt Barber again. (see above)

3. “Favela Boys” from my 2008/2009 essay on Rio de Janeiro. See “BRAZIL”.

4. Portrait of “The Dog Whisperer”, Cesar Millan. See “THE DOG WHISPERER”.

ADDITIONAL PAGE

1. Portrait of Shawn Welling, filmmaker, dancer, choreographer and painter. See “MORE PORTRAITS”.

2. Portrait from the deserts of Qatar. See “DESTINATION: QATAR”.

3. Jameson Taillon again. (see above)

4. Portrait of friend and fellow photographer, Adrienne Byard. See “ADRIENNE & ELIZABETH”.

The images of the spread above were from PDF’s, I did manage to scan a few more of the pages of the issue, where my images are shown. Since the images below are direct scans as opposed to the PDF’s seen above, I used Photoshop to clean the scans up and make them look presentable for the blog! Go Photoshop! Ha.

Table of contents page featuring photos from Todd Spoth.

About page featuring photos from Todd Spoth.

Masthead page where I am listed as a contributing writer.

(This post has been in the works for some time now, so my apologies if it isn’t as thorough as it should be as the trip was some time ago. I’m finding out that my posts turn out better and more detailed, read: longer- if that’s actually is better, when I blog about the event immediately after or within a week or so, when the details are fresh. A lot has happened since this trip, but since it was so much fun, the details are still there. It is, however, a bit odd to blog about something that happened months ago, so my apologies in advance for what may be a series of single mis-placed thoughts and memories rather than clear and concise recounts of the happenings)

A little over 2 months ago, during the first few weeks of October, I got called to work in Amsterdam and Western Germany. I had not had a real chance to visit Europe since I lived there in the early 90′s so naturally I was very excited for the opportunity. I knew the trip would be a week or so of early mornings, long days, and lots of driving, but even though the trip was work-related, the team got to have some fun in-between shooting.

Lately, when I travel for business the majority of my images are taken with my iPhone 4, but this time I actually shot a bit of the personal/travel images with my Canon 5D mark II and a Canon 35mm 1.4L lens. I used a handful of other lenses as well, but for the personal and touristy stuff, the 35mm 1.4L is my go-to lens. When I’m on vacation I like to go the extra mile and take a few “fun” cameras such as a Polaroid or a Holga such as my trip to Ohio and Chicago this past Summer, but when its a business trip I tend to leave the toy cameras at home, unless the job calls for it.

I had never been to Holland or Germany before so I was thrilled to hear that those were the locations where we would be shooting. I don’t know much Dutch or German, but luckily most of the EU is English friendly. We worked a few days in Rotterdam, which is the industrial metropolis of The Netherlands. The mix between modern architecture and the buildings that still stand from centuries past is striking, especially coming from Houston where the majority of buildings were built within the last century. Seeing a cathedral built in the 1300-1400′s next to a high-rise with a very modern architecture is just crazy. The weather was cold and dreary with intermittent rain. The bike culture in Holland and really Europe in general is like nothing I have ever seen. Houston isn’t the most bike friendly city; I’m used to seeing the occasional group of cyclists, the scruffy bike messenger or the hipster on a fixed-gear, but what I saw in Amsterdam was on a completely different level. First of all, 99.9% of the bikes looked like worn-down, rusty, Soviet-issue models; no frills, no accessories, nothing…just a plain-Jane bicycle. The bicycle in Holland is a cheap and efficient means of transportation, not a statement of individuality or a trend as it seems it is here. Unfortunately (or fortunately) since we had a significant amount of gear, we did not have the opportunity of riding a bicycle, but we did get to enjoy a rather nice Volvo diesel wagon, which by European standards, was considered large.

After flying into Schipol airport in Amsterdam, the first few days of the trip were spent working in Rotterdam. After our work was completed in Rotterdam, we made some time to see some of Holland’s most famous attractions, the windmills. I would have loved to have been there while the tulips were in bloom, but even the dreary weather couldn’t dilute the magnificence of these marvels. The expansive canal system and the network of windmills was amazing to see, especially up-close and personal.

After a bit of sightseeing, we headed into Germany and onto the famous German Autobahn, which certainly lived up to the hype. Everyone on the Autobahn was driving generally 100+ mph, but there were no crazy race cars speeding around each other, simply a sort of controlled chaos. Yes, the speeds were excessive, but all of the drivers seemed to be maintaining these high speeds with ease. I forget what we got the Volvo up to, but we did hit the governed limit on several occasions.

Our few days in Germany were spent around Osnabrück, a little town in northwestern Germany, which we later learned was originally built at the request of Charlemagne around the year 780. As soon as we pulled in for the first time, we were in awe of the medieval architecture and overall mood of the bustling little village. The town center was cobblestone and surrounded by the remains of a fortified wall built in the 1200′s. The town was preparing for a celebration of some sort complete with fireworks that Saturday night. Luckily the view from my hotel balcony provided a nice view of the cathedral and the fireworks show.

The Fall foliage and general atmosphere of the German countryside was amazing. On our way out we detoured through Münster, which was equally beautiful. We spent some time in the town center and had a great time.

After a few more days back in Rotterdam, we headed into Amsterdam. We decided to spend our last day before heading out, exploring Amsterdam. We visited the Rijksmuseum, which is famous for it’s extensive collection of Rembrandts. The actual museum itself was beautiful, even though it was under construction at the time. We spent the rest of the evening exploring various parts of Amsterdam and marveling and the architecture and everything else the city has to offer.

After getting home and going through my images, I remembered that one of my old issues of National Geographic magazine, the January 1915 issue, featured a photo essay on Amsterdam and Holland by photographer, Emil P. Albrecht. After digging up that issue I was amazed when I saw that several of the images in the spread resembled images that I had taken at various places in Holland. The images in the magazine were taken sometime before 1915 and mine were taken at a few of the exact same locations about a century later, in 2010. It’s wild to see what changed and what has remained after almost 100 years.

Below you will find the scanned cover of the January 1915 issue of National Geographic magazine, a few side-by-side comparisons between the images, as well as a slide show of my favorite images from the trip. (Click on the image to view larger)

The scanned cover of my National Geographic January 1915 issue featuring a photo essay on Amsterdam.

On the left, a photo of warehouses in Amsterdam by Emil P. Albrecht, taken around 1915; on the right, a similar image taken by Todd Spoth in October 2010.

On top, a photo of Amsterdam's inner harbor by Emil P. Albrecht, taken around 1915; below, a similar image taken by Todd Spoth in October 2010.

On top, a photo of Holland's famous windmills by Emil P. Albrecht, taken around 1915; below, a similar image taken by Todd Spoth in October 2010.

The cover of 2001's "If They Move...Kill Them" the debut LP for the now defunct, post-punk band, Fairweather, that bears similarities to my photos of Holland's windmills.

OCTOBER 2010: HOLLAND & GERMANY – Images by Todd Spoth

Hanging out with friends Ariel Zambelich, Ben Fredman and Brandon Kruse @ a Thai temple in Tampa.

About 2 or 3 years ago, after receiving a recommendation from a friend (thanks Ben Fredman!) I joined an email list-serv called A Photo A Day, which was started by Melissa Lyttle, a photojournalist at the St. Petersburg Times. A Photo A Day, or APAD as the members affectionally refer to it as, started a years ago as a small email group and although still relatively small today, has somewhere between 2000-2500 members, I believe. The rules are simple. Each member can post 1 photo per day to the group, sometimes accompanied by a caption, or background info and the rest of the members can share their thoughts about the image, what works, what doesn’t , etc. Although the backgrounds of the majority of the members leans towards the photojournalism side, there are wedding photographers, commercial shooters, and corporate photographers on APAD. Its a great place to get feedback on an image you are unsure about, or just connect with like-minded photographers. I may not be as active in the group as I used to be, or would like to be, however I owe a great deal to APAD for providing me with an amazing venue for feedback, knowledge and more importantly, friends. My formal education is not in photography or the arts, so APAD and other groups/workshops/experiences like APAD have proven to be priceless in terms of education, fraternity, inspiration, etc.

Geekfest is another story. Geekfest is APAD’s annual gathering which has taken place for several years now in different cities across the US; Portland, Austin, Chicago, and most recently in Melissa’s home base of St. Pete. I attended last year and had a great time. There are a lot of different photo workshops, conferences and seminars which have their pluses and minuses, but Geekfest is a great weekend of fun that packs a handful of incredible speakers into relatively small and intimate setting. Compared to some of the more commercialized conferences that might make you shell out closer to $1000 to hear the lectures/speakers, Melissa charges attendees only $100, which is a small price to pay given the cost to run the workshop Im sure.

However, to me, the speakers and lectures are secondary to the commradarie, friendship and good times that I walk away from the weekend having gained. I have met several amazing individuals via APAD so getting to catch up with old friends and meeting new ones is my most valued part of Geekfest and regardless of the amazing speakers, I plan on attending in the future because of this.

A sampling of the amazing books/DVD's from Brad Moore and Kelby Media Group! Thanks guys!

A few weeks prior to leaving for St. Pete I received an email from Brad Moore, who works for Kelby Media Group / NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) under Scott Kelby. He informed me that the NAPP/Kelby headquarters were just a few miles away from St. Pete and extended an invitation to give me a personal tour of the facilities. Thankfully I took Brad up on his offer and after landing in St. Pete prior to Geekfest, Brad and I had an awesome lunch (see iphone photos below) great conversation and I had an awesome time touring the NAPP facilities. What looked rather unassuming on the outside, quickly gave way to a colorful world of everything Adobe on the inside. The workspaces were brightly painted and outfitted with personal touches, huge monitors a vibe that cannot be described. There were no 10 year old Gateways here, it looked like everyone had a decked out machine with lots of huge monitors, Wacom’s printers, and everything else you would need to have fun and be creative…efficiently. Having watched several episodes of Photoshop TV, taking a tour of their lovely studio space was pretty awesome as well. Before ending the tour, Brad took me to the warehouse, where they house all the different books that Kelby Media Group publishes. I was then given amazing books and DVD’s on the house. Special thanks to my new friend Brad Moore and Kelby Media Group for their hospitality and their donation of books and DVD’s to the Geekfest crew as well. If you are a photographer or retoucher or just a casual Adobe/Photoshop user, I’d highly recommend becoming a NAPP user. They are stand-up guys and the benefits are awesome!

The actual events at Geekfest were pretty amazing too. Thursday night we had a huge BBQ and party at Melissa’s house and as people filtered in from their flights, we spent the entire night catching up, reuniting with old friends and meeting new ones. Friday night we had an awesome event at a local coffee shop. Two local spoken word poets joined us and were invited to freestyle as a projected slideshow of images from those present were shown. Some of the amazing prose coming completely unrehearsed from the poets was amazing. They would literally see a photo for the first time and instantly dive into a freestyle piece about the image. Funny, sad, deep, or awkward, the experience was definitely one I look forward to at future Geekfests. It was like combining Def Poetry with a photo critique. Amazing!

Saturday and Sunday were hosted at The St Petersburg Times auditorium and featured an array of awesome speakers from a lighting demo from Atlanta photographer Zach Arias to Todd Heisler, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer from the New York Times. All of the speakers were inspiring and down to earth. Sunday morning my good friends Ariel Zambelich, Ben Fredman and Brandon Kruse met up and spent the better part of the morning hanging out and having fun. We had brunch in Tampa at a lovely Thai temple that featured an amazing outdoor eating experience and great Thai food to boot. After coming back to St Pete, we spent a while at a local pub watching all of the NFL games. It was tough to see my Houston Texans fall to the Cowboys, but at least I was in good company.

Testing out the Leica M9! Me on the left taken by Brad Moore and Brad Moore on the right taken by me!

During the workshop on Saturday and Sunday a Leica representative was on location to loan out various Leicas to the attendees. During the day on Saturday I checked out a Leica M9 digital rangefinder for a few hours. Given the mystical cult status of Leica and the $7000 price tag of the M9′s body alone I honestly expected to be blown away by the camera. To sum it up, I was not. The camera itself is gorgeous, sexy and a Leica, however the focusing is absurd and clumsy (even for a rangefinder), the LCD and menu is less than intuitive and their is considerable noise at even ISO 800. Changing the battery and SD card is not very easy either. The files themselves are nothing to write home about. The color range is impressive, but honestly I will take the 5D mark II over the M9 any day. Either way we had fun testing it out.

Here are a few more iPhone photos from the fun weekend…

Lounging at Hobby Airport prior to my flight to Tampa!

My lovely prime rib sandwich somewhere near Oldsmar, Florida.

Thanks to my homegirl Luanne for putting up Ariel and I!

The beautiful blue sky between St Pete and Tampa!

Scattered shoes at the Thai temple in Tampa (<---sweet alliteration)

Pretty blue sky at the Thai temple in Tampa

Friends Rob Hart and Matt Roth having fun Sunday @ Geekfest.

The beautiful screen saver I made for Luanne before I left!

PS: Sorry if this blog seems rather disjointed. Geekfest took place in late September and I drafted the first portion of this post during the first week of October prior to heading overseas on assignment. Better late than never, right?

Finally, after a long weekend, the last post in the 4-part series is here, but for posterity, let’s recap the previous 3 posts.

(Click on each of the following to check out the post)

1 of 4: Oktomat

2 of 4: 5D II

3 of 4: Lubitel

Since the new Apple iPhone 4 was released just a week or so prior to my leaving on this recent trip, and given the fact that I had pre ordered and received the new phone, this post is pretty much a given. I took a handful of images and video after receiving the new phone and prior to leaving, however I was excited that I would be able to travel with the phone to put it through its paces.

I upgraded my phone from the Apple iPhone 3G which was 2 years old. The advancements made in the built in camera(s) were worth the price of the upgrade alone, as it is the camera that is ALWAYS with me, even when there is nothing else. I took somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 images during the life of my 3G (click here to see my previous posts from the older iPhone 3G) and am already on pace to break that record with this new iPhone.

Whenever I see something that inspires me or just need a quick photo of something I reach in my back pocket and pull out my phone. I started snapping images as soon as we were in the airport in Houston and didn’t stop until we were home. I believe I took around 600-700 images during the week-long trip, not to mention a ton of HD video clips as well. During our short stay in Chicago I snapped a photo of this beautiful church on the corner of W. Barry and W. Seminary streets. Moments later I started toying with a few of the image editing apps I have installed on my phone. After combining a few of the effects from 2 different 3rd party apps I stumbled on an effect that I found rather appealing. Throughout the remainder of the trip I would go back and edit images taken on the trip in the same manner and came out with another little iPhone photo essay from the travel.

The original iPhone4 image, the image converted to black and white, and the final image.

The illustration above shows the progression from the initially captured image to how the image looked after the first step with the third image illustrating the completed image.

The first step was to identify which images would work best for the project. I found that high contrast images with fairly simple content worked best. Huge group photos with a ton of people would often seem muddied up, so sticking to fairly simple images worked best.

Secondly I used the Photoshop Mobile app to convert the images into black and white, boost contrast and perfect exposure. The Photoshop Mobile app is great for those basic tweaks that any real photographer would need. Sure there are a few bells and whistles to entice the casual user into purchasing, but it’s the only app I have (and that I have found) that will let me crop and straighten images with a constrained aspect ratio. After saving the edited black and white image I was ready for the final step.

I have several impulse buy image editing apps that I have been into lately such as Red Giant’s Plastic Bullet app that turns your photos into vintage wonders, but the app that worked for me here is Stephen Spring’s Pic Grunger. It’s a simple application that allows the user to select an image and apply any one of several built in textures. Some of the textures look better than others when outputted. I originally dug the “cracked” look, but since it didn’t hold up too well when I transferred them to the computer, I decided to go with the “creased” look. The app seems to output the images at 1000 pixels on the long end (about 1/3 of the original size) which is definitely a negative and I wish there were more choices of textures, but other than that, the app is awesome. The vintage, sepia tone, textured feel produced from the app gave the images a punch that I really dig.

A few of my favorites are in the slideshow below. Check back periodically as I will most likely be adding more images to this gallery from time to time.

Now that all 4 parts to this blog series is complete, please drop me a line to tell me which set of images you liked most!

JULY 2010: IPHONE OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth