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

Today’s blog is the 3rd in our 4-part travel series and focuses on images from our Lubitel 166, twin-lens, medium format camera.

We put a few rolls through the Lubitel during our trip, but it is fairly new to our collection. It was acquired back in March and it takes a bit of getting used to, but I have definitely made some frames I really dig. A few months ago I made a blog post highlighting a few of the first rolls through it. (<—– click over there to check out the first Lubitel blog!)

The Lubitel 166+ (the version we own) is a twin-lens medium format camera that is a reissue of the older Lubitel models, which were actually based on the old Voigtlander Brillant camera. Unlike its predecessors, our version is plastic and very lightweight, which is both a benefit and a hindrance depending on how you look at it. On one hand I love that I can hang it around my neck and almost forget it’s there, but at the same time, I get nervous when I have to stuff it in the bottom of a full camera bag for fear it might be crushed, or crack somehow. Luckily I haven’t had any issues. The controls are fairly simple, but anyone who has ever tried to carefully compose a shot with a TLR and a waist level viewfinder (without a tripod) will understand the frustration. As someone who came from a graphic design background and puts a lot of stock in careful composition and lines, I sometimes find myself frustrated when trying to fine tune a shot, but after the film is developed and I realize I nailed it, (if I actually did nail it) I feel like I just conquered the world.

Given the time and effort that goes into every frame, we only managed to run 3 rolls of 120 Kodak Portra 400vc through it during the trip. Shooting the 6×6 format (which I prefer to the rectangular) we only get 12 exposures per roll, meaning that we walked away with 36 total frames about half of which I liked and are in a slideshow at the bottom of the post. That is an almost 50% keeper rate, which in the world of photography, isn’t bad at all. The vivid color film makes the colors pop nicely as you can see in the above image of the cornfield against the blue sky. The images have a definite mood and texture to them which I like. If you’re wanting a quick snapshot of a scene and have only a few seconds, there are other cameras that will do a better job, but if you can spare a few minutes and can take your time in a fairly static scene, the Lubitel can give you a nice image. Of course, it’s no Hasselblad, but for the price and weight, it can’t be beat.

15 of our favorite Lubitel images from our trip are below, including a few more double exposures as well. Let me know what you think of them on the Todd Spoth Photography Facebook page or Twitter page and stay tuned for the last post in the series (which may be the most interesting) coming soon!

JULY 2010: LUBITEL OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

This second of the four part blog series focuses on images taken with my Canon 5D mark II digital SLR camera. This is one of my main cameras I shoot assignments with on a daily basis. Its accurate, does it’s job and is my workhorse. Anytime I travel, regardless if the trip is business or personal the 5D II is always with me. And almost all of the time I am packing a pretty sizable digital kit as you never know when the opportunity will present itself for a serious shoot even if the trip doesn’t seem so.

However, on several of my last few personal trips, I have found myself using my 5D less and less and instead opting to use the camera that is always by my side, my cellphone, but since that post is coming, we will talk about the 5D here. It’s actually pretty interesting to be able to lay all of my images from my trip out and be able to identify which device was used in each situation. For example since the 5D kit is heavy and oftentimes cumbersome to manage, most of images taken with it were from my aunt’s house where we stayed or nearby. Most of the images taken on different day trips here or there were with other, smaller, devices. This doesn’t mean I love my 5D any less, it just means that since I am on vacation and my other, smaller, devices produce their own interesting images, I opted to save my shoulders and leave the heavier kit in its case. I thoroughly enjoy producing interesting images, but given this was a personal trip, I was not in a pressure situation to produce a certain image for a client, thus I could take advantage of using my toy/smaller cameras and experimenting to my heart’s content.

I did however use the 5D to capture a lot of video clips and time lapse sequences of our family gathering as well, so even though it may seem as if I didn’t utilize it as much as I could have, I really did put it through the usual paces.

21 of my favorite images are in a slideshow below. We have 2 more posts in the 4-part series coming in the next few days so be sure to check those out as I think they are going to be the most interesting of the bunch.

JULY 2010: DIGITAL OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

The abandoned building which once was a bustling Hoover Appliance factory. North Canton, Ohio.

I just wanted to start this post off by thanking everyone that took the time to check out the previous blog post about the huge Blurb book we created for my grandmother. A record number of viewers checked out the blog and I am still getting positive comments from all over the globe.

I talked a little about the trip to visit family in the previous blog, however this blog will be the first in a series of four, dedicated to the images made during that trip. Even though it was a mostly personal trip, I still managed to capture plenty of images along the way. The fact that the trip was a no pressure, non-business, situation allowed me to take out some old toys and have a little fun.

Each of the four blogs will concentrate on images captured with a certain camera or device, digital, film, cellphone or otherwise. You’ll have to stay tuned to check out the upcoming blogs, but today’s blog focuses on the Lomo Oktomat, a tiny plastic camera that captures 8 different frames onto one single frame of film. The tiny plastic lens all aimed in slightly different directions make this toy camera one of the funnest cameras in my collection. And you can’t argue with the price either!

I must have picked up this little 35mm toy camera from Lomo for about $35 or so, at least 4 or 5 years ago (before Lomo and Urban Outfitters got in bed together) and have used it fairly sporadically ever since. I guess that is the nature of the toy camera or at least for the cameras in my collection. I have a ton of toy cameras and old Polaroid cameras that get taken out randomly. There are a few that I really love and travel with me often, but most are just for fun. There are a few Polaroid cameras in my collection I would love to take everywhere, but given the scarcity and thus, the price, of certain Polaroid films that is impossible, but that’s a story for another day.

For the Oktomat, there are few concerns. It is 35mm, which makes it easy to find and process the film, the size is tiny in comparison to some of my other toy behemoths, and the controls are pretty much non-existent, in a good way. There is no (real) viewfinder for you to fine tune compositions, no manual exposure dials and no options for a flash. You simply point (in the general direction of) and shoot. With a quick crank of the film advance lever you are ready to go. Since its 35mm you will change film less as it can have 36 exposures rather than 12 or 16. It takes the saying, “shooting from the hip” to a whole new level.

The frames are grainy and dirty (mostly due to my shoddy scanning abilities), some frames come out dark and unusable, some blurry and sometimes the plastic film advance dial doesn’t want to properly advance the film, but it’s all of the above that add to the overall appeal of the camera, especially when you can pull a nice, dreamy, diamond from the rough.

Libby's ink and watercolor representation of the Lomo Oktomat drawn on our trip.

We ended up carrying the Oktomat (illustrated above) wherever we went on our trip from roller coasters at Cedar Point to the middle of the Amish country. In total I believe we shot about 5 or 6 rolls through the camera which I had processed upon our return. They were then scanned in and rediscovered. Since the camera is so unpredictable by nature, it’s pretty interesting to see what came out when you are scanning the images in.

I did some basic edits to my 36 favorite frames and put them into a slideshow which is below.

Tomorrow will feature photos from a different camera so stay tuned!

JULY 2010: OCTOMAT OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

It’s almost been a week since I departed Houston for Austin and the live music mecca that is South by Southwest, yet it still feels like I’m recovering. It’s mostly the severe seasonal allergies, but the journey wore me out, like it does every year, but like every year, I had a blast and saw some awesome live music. A few days prior were spent in back in Houston with good friend and fellow photographer, Ariel Zambelich from the Bay Area. She took off for Austin Wednesday and I came up with some friends Thursday afternoon.

After getting our bearings upon arrival Thursday, we headed downtown and prepared to attend the Pure Volume House party that night which featured music from Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes fame, Rival Schools and Andrew WK. The show was free via RSVP and even though several members of our crew weren’t on the list, we had no trouble getting passes and getting in. In addition to the live music, Taco Bell was on site handing out endless free tacos and burritos and there was an open bar as well. The stage collapsed halfway during Travis McCoy’s DJ set which forced the show to move onto the floor, DIY-style. Rival Schools were amazing and Andrew WK was amazing as well. The show ended around 5:30am and was a great end to night 1.

Day 2 began with an impromptu portrait session with Ariel and her OhDangMag crew. Afterwards, we caught some jams from The Watson Twins at the Relix Magazine party and then headed over to the annual Shirts For a Cure day show at Red 7. Every year the foundation hosts a handful of awesome bands and this year was no different with sets from, The Riverboat Gamblers, Strike Anywhere, Rival Schools, Fucked Up, Recover, Circa Survive and 7 Seconds. It was great getting to see the guys in Strike Anywhere again. We shared several dates on a tour with those guys about 10 years ago and they are still going strong. Good Stuff. After the Shirts For a Cure showcase, Ariel and I headed to a nearby church where Matt Pryor of Get Up Kids fame was set to open an official showcase featuring Jakob Dylan. When the doors of the sanctuary opened about 30 or so people filed into the small, yet beautiful place filing only the first several rows of pews. Most of the early crowd was there to see Jakob Dylan, and hear his solo stuff (which I might add is no where near as awesome as The Wallflowers stuff!) It was hands down one of the coolest Matt Pryor solo shows ever. After that showcase we really didn’t have too much of a plan. We wandered the streets a bit, and finished the night up by checking out a late set by Minus The Bear.

I started day 3 by spending a good bit of time browsing the annual Flatstock show at the Austin Convention Center. Every year the best poster artists from around the country gather to display their latest work. I am a huge fan of poster art, silk screens and amazing design, so naturally this place is like heaven for me. I make it a point every year to visit and pick up a few things that inspire me. After Flatstock I headed to Ace’s Lounge for a day showcase featuring Hey Champ, Bad Rabbits, et al. Both bands were amazing live and I ended up catching a few others that were pretty impressive as well. After that showcase I headed over the Levis Fader Fort and hung out there for a bit. I saw Adrian Grenier of Entourage fame and caught an exciting performance by Sleigh Bells before the headliner, Bone Thugs In Harmony finished up the night. I wasnt too fond of the music of Sleigh Bells, but frontwoman, Alexis Krauss was a fun performer and helped me make some decent photos (see photo above). As a long time fan of the Cleveland rappers, I am a bit biased, but Bone Thugs really performed well. They managed to knock out all of their hits without playing even 1 song off their forthcoming album. This may be because they were missing 2 of their members, but even so, the set was solid. Click here to see all 5 parts of the Bone Thugs In Harmony set at the Levis Fader Fort.

The rumors of Jay-Z, MIA, and others secretly performing after Bone Thugs were squashed when the loudspeaker announced that the Fort was officially closed, but our night was not over yet. We headed to the annex at Emo’s and walked right into the Fat Wreck showcase. We were in time to see Dead to Me play, but were really there to witness what took place afterwards. The bill listed “Cokie The Clown” which everyone knew was Fat Mike of NOFX fame. Additional rumors were that NOFX (the full band) would play during this slot, however NOFX did not play. In their place was Fat Mike, dressed as a clown, performing a handful of acoustic songs and telling some of the most disturbing and awkward stories that anyone could tell. It would take me too long to explain what happened next, but click here to see the epic ending to the set. Hint: It involves Fat Mike tricking the audience into drinking his urine.

An early visit for some of the best breakfast tacos at Juan In A Million opened up our Sunday followed by a tired drive back to Houston. Another amazing SXSW in the books. I remember sweating like crazy in a t-shirt and shorts during last year’s SXSW journey, this year was a bit different with temperatures in the 20′s on Saturday night and everyone struggling to bundle up and stay warm. Regardless, each year there is a new twist, new epic sets, and new artists to discover. Each year, I set out to really photograph a ton and make a huge body of work, but each year ends the same in that I spend the majority of my time hanging out with friends and appreciating the good jams, and I wouldnt have it any other way. I did manage to make some decent photos though. Check them out below.

As we wrap up the first week of the new year I can’t help but reflect on the past year. There were struggles as there are with anything, but I’d be remised if I didn’t sit back and be thankful for the good things. I met a lot of great people, made a few new clients, learned a ton of great things and made a few decent images along the way.

2009 was the year I was blown away by being accepted as a participant into the Eddie Adams Workshop.
2009 was the year my first major documentary project premiere to a sold out audience of over 250 people.
2009 was the year that documentary project won not 1, but 4 awards including a Gold Remi.
2009 was the year that I owned the copyright for 100% of the images I captured.
2009 was the year that I got to visit 5/7 continents in the span of 4 months.
2009 was a good year.

Here’s to 2010 being even better. The short piece above showcases about 65 of my personal favorites from 2009. They may not have run, they may not have been the best pictures, but they are my special to me in one way or another, so sit back and enjoy.

I have a laundry list of things to do and update and one of the most important things on my “to blog” list is my images from my trip to southern Africa last July. I spent a little over a week exploring various locales from the coastal villages near Cape Town to the border of Mozambique. I worked on an essay on big game hunting near All Days in northern South Africa so stay tuned for a blog about that. In addition to the big game hunting essay I experienced so many species in their natural habitats just wondering about. Sure, we’ve all been to the zoo, but seeing a pride of lion, a huge herd of buffalo and countless elephants free and in the wild is an experience I won’t soon forget. I don’t think I can ever appreciate the zoo after such an experience. I hope that I’ll have another experience in Africa soon as this past trip was absolutely incredible. A gallery of a sampling of my images from the trip is below.

PUBLICATION OR LOCATION: AFRICA (self-published photo book)
PUBLICATION DATE: January 2010
LINK: n/a
NOTES: This little book has been a long time coming. Back in July of 2009 I spent a little over a week exploring Southern Africa and came away with a diverse set of images from the coastal villages near Cape Town to big game hunting near the border of Mozambique. I decided to take a few of the selects from the journey and put together a nice coffee table photo book. The book is being self-published via Blurb.com and will hopefully look great. I will try and take some images of the actual book when it arrives, but for now you can preview some of the various layouts below. They are in no particular order and are only a small sampling of the actual pages.

During my visit to Africa in July of last year, I spent a couple of days with Joeseph Ramakokovhu and Ruben Mhiangu of the Marula Lodge. The pair of native South Africans from the Venda and Sotho tribes, respectively, work as trackers for the big game lodge that caters to foreigners. The owner of the Marula Lodge, Gerard and his girlfriend and partner, Linda are experts in their field. Gerard knows just about every species of wildlife, flora and fauna in Africa and Linda, being the director over Africa for SCI, an organization devoted to hunters rights and conservation, is no slouch either. Collectively the couple is a powerhouse of knowledge on not only the region, but wildlife and hunting all over the globe.

Being from Texas, I was raised in a culture of hunting, I used to spend nearly every weekend with my father hunting geese and duck, but over the years I’ve grown a bit disgusted with the thought of killing an animal. I’m no PETA member, nor am I even vegetarian, but the only thing I shoot these days is my camera.

The few days I spent with Gerard and Linda made me appreciate the act of conservation and hunting as long as the hunters are actually honest and educated rather than just out for a cool-looking trophy for their wall. They helped us realize that sometimes we have to hunt elephant because uncontrolled, their species, as destructive as they are, can systematically wipe out hundreds of other, lower, species.

I still don’t intend on picking up a rifle and heading out to the bush, but I did learn, and had a great experience while doing it. This short photo essay entitled “Killing to Conserve” is the result of my time on the Marula Lodge. The first 18 images of the slideshow is how the essay appeared in my most recent portfolio book. The sequencing might change periodically. The rest of the images are outtakes.

Intro: Alldays, a remote village in the Limpopo province of South Africa, is known for its abundance of Mopane tree bush, arid climate and diamond mines. Situated near one of the largest active diamond mines in South Africa is the Marula Lodge, a private game reserve devoted to the preservation of the sport of big game hunting for conservation rather than poaching.

Every year Libby and I send out a self-designed holiday card using our own skills as graphic artists and photographers. When it came time to produce this year’s card we had some initial trouble coming up with a fresh idea. After a bit of thinking I came up with the idea of using images taken specifically with my iPhone.

We whittled down hundreds of images from 5 continents and numerous events down to 70 colorful images that all appear on the front of the card. I wanted the thumbnails on the front of the card to be large enough to be readable to the viewer, yet small enough to maintain the graphic element of the grid. After putting the design together, we were both pleased with the initial outcome, but wanted to take it a step further. I decided to create the online aspect to supplement the physical card. IPHONEADVENTURE.COM is the manifestation of that.

Since all of the images that were chosen represent a significant moment or memory from 2009, we wanted this project to go beyond just a tiny thumbnail, and to explain itself, in context.

All 70 images from the physical card, are viewable in a larger, un-cropped format on the website. In addition, each image is accompanied by the date the image was made, the GPS coordinates corresponding to where the image was taken as well as a short and candid description of the image. Since the iPhone automatically embeds GPS location data into each photo taken with the device you will be able to see exactly where we were when we took the image via Google Maps. Clicking on the coordinates in each image’s description will open up a new window with data about the location.

Happy Holidays to everyone. Please take a moment to visit our little end of year project, IPHONEADVENTURE.COM

(ps. the image above is also an iphone image!)