Author Archive: ken

Yesterday I got an interesting phone call. It was from a lady who is a new photographer. She wanted to know who does my printing locally. I told her I use mulitple labs all over the country to do my printing. I have found that different labs have something unique to offer. There is one company that I like for printing on canvas, another does well with glossy prints, any yet another does a great job printing skins.

(By the way, skins are the stick on images that can be applied to the covers on notebook computers, iPods/MP3 players, cell phones, and iPads. They have unique adhesive that similar to the glue on Post-It notes so that you can remove the skin without leaving any stickiness or residue. You can also reapply it securely. I have one on my notebook and one on my iPod if you want to see samples.)

By using mulitple printers, I can select the best of the best, in terms of products. In fact, I have started using a printer that creates high resolution prints on aluminum panels, which promises a truely unique look. My first test print should arrive in the next few days.

Anyway, I guess my point is that I take print quality very seriously and only use the best quality professional print labs to produce my images.  I don’t always use the biggest labs, but I use the best.

Thanks for reading!!

-Ken

Ok, in the past few years Mother Nature has been pretty good about cooperating with the organizers of Solfest, the annual musical festival at Fox Island County park. This year? Not so much. However, we got lucky and most of the afternoon was dry.

The performers were awesome, like always, and there was good food and beer. However, there seemed to be fewer vendors and activities than in previous years. I don’t know if its the economy or the weather that scared people off.

Now for some photos:

Shade Jonze

A police dog from a demonstration by the Allen County Sheriff's Dept.

ClusterFolk

Garr

Hay Rides!!!

VW Mini-bus

This last photo has to be put into context. When we were leaving, we spotted an old VW Mini-bus in the parking lot. The amusing thing was that the VW was surrounded by the most boring cars in the world. There were gray Hondas, gray Toyotas, gray chevy’s, then there was the VW standing out like a beacon in the darkness. Plus the artwork was amazing. A cool end to the trip to Fox Island. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Ken

Been busy shooting a ton of different stuff. I’ve also changed my pricing structure for Senior Photos. In the past, I’ve charged a session fee, then prints could be purchased Ala Carte. Starting on May 1st a new package structure will go into place and will create a lot more value for my customers. While the Premium Package offers the greatest value, all three packages save money over buying prints individually. See the new prices here.

OK, here are some photos from last week. The first photos are of Adam, a high school senior from Ohio. We shot some in the studio and some on location downtown.

The next photo is of Jan Diaz, a local singer/songwriter. The photoshoot was for her upcoming CD.

Anyway, those are some recent photos. Thanks for reading!

-Ken

OK, today I shot interior scenes of the completed renovation of the art museum. While many of the photos I took were normal interior photos, I also shot some panorama’s of different galleries. The first one is a 180 degree pano of the main gallery where the Wyeth exhibit is hanging.

An easy way to navigate them is to click on the photos, then use the arrow keys to move around.

This next one is the Expansion exhibit that features 108 out of the 3000 photographs I shot during the renovation project. They were taken over 67 weeks. This pano covers 360 degrees

The exhibits end on May 2nd. Be sure to stop by and take a look. There’s also a new exhibit of Terry Ratliff’s art work hanging in the regional gallery. Check it out while you are there.

OK, thanks for reading!

-Ken

Well sorta. My shoot this morning was rescheduled to next week and it gave me the chance to get caught up with some stuff in the studio. I tell ya, when you own a business there’s always a million things to do. Well once I got caught up this afternoon, I stopped by at Foster Park to check out the spring flowers. Wow, things are looking really good. The Easter flowers are in full bloom, so if you want to see them, be sure you stop by soon. They won’t forever.

The colors varied from soft and pastel to bold and brilliant. Plus the birds and squirrels were frolicking around as well. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

-Ken.

There is now a fan page on Facebook. Become a fan today, it’s FREE!!!

I think such weird things sometimes. I was thinking about the differences and similarities between portrait and commercial photography. While the subject matter can be quite different (product photos compared to, say, high school seniors for example) my general attitude is the same. I view people and companies as clients, not customers. There is a subtle difference between the two. In my mind a customer is someone you sell stuff to. Customer goes to Target and buys a t-shirt.

A client is different. I view my clients as someone I work for and collaborate with. I don’t just shoot a photo and sell it to someone. My client (both commercial and portrait) and I work together to figure out what they are looking for and then we set about creating that image. It works as a partnership.

What makes this job fun is working with different people with different ideas and goals to create unique images.
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Ok this is sorta on topic. I was moving some photos from one drive on the server to another and came across this portrait that I shot a few years ago. This is a high school senior picture and I remember that Allison had some clear ideas of the kind of photos she was looking for. It was the colaboration between us that yielded some really nice photos. I don’t know why I used this photo for an example, it just that I’ve always liked this photo. I think it’s timeless image.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

– Ken

Yesterday I had an interesting shoot. I was contacted by WGBH (the TV station in Boston that produces some the worlds best documentaries) to shoot some still images for them. They needed photos taken of some engravings that were published in Harper’s Weekly in 1870 for an upcoming film. A book dealer here in Fort Wayne (Every Other Book on Cresent Ave.) had a copy of this rare book, and so WGBH made arrangements for me to borrow this book so that could photograph 7 engravings.

Taking photos of an image in a 140 year old book can be a challenge. The pages are very delicate and have discolored unevenly. Really good lighting is crucial to getting a clean uniform image. Below is one of my favorites.



See an old book like this reminds me of what life was like 140 years ago. This weekly publication had tons of illustrations. I was amazed at the quality of artwork that magazines like this produced on a regular basis. Just think, this engraving was an image etched into a metal plate that could inked and pressed on the page to create the artwork. After the artist finished this one, he was off to work on another one for next week. Simply amazing.

They needed the images as pristine and high quality as possible so I saved them as .tifs. The down side is that they were huge files, at about 30mb for each image. Instead of email, I uploaded them to my website and they could download from there.

Anyway, it was a fun and challenging project. I love the diversity of what I do. Never a dull moment. 🙂

Thanks for reading.

-Ken

I’m kinda pumped. Today my exhibit at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art opened. I have more than 100 photos hanging in an exclusive gallery next to the Andrew Wyeth exhibit. So my photos are in pretty good company.

If you are downtown, stop by the museum and check it out. The rennovated museum is pretty awesome and is a real treasure to Fort Wayne.

A great big thanks to everyone at the museum, including Charles Shepard III, Linda Dykhuizen, and Sarah Aubrey!

Thanks for reading.

-Ken

Yesterday I completed a new(ish) video. Actually, the footage was shot this fall, but I re-edited it and added more video and stills. I also added a new soundtrack, a song by Adam Spade. I am new to working with video, so it’s a bit rough.

Click here to open video

Or, on YouTube Here.

Thanks for looking and happy Friday!

-Ken.