Old French Film

Photography Classes by Phone

Okay, not really...how about online photography classes (see below).



Don't forget to check out the new year's greatest bargain in digital photography classes--my classes at betterphoto.com.

I offer:

Digital Art Photography
Photo Restoration

Now, today, when you pick up your cell phone, Just think how you'll look at yourself 50 years from now talkin' on it. Found these fine ladies (tipping my top hat) above the phones at a hotel I was staying at.

BTW--I made it sepia-colored by using the Color Balance (Image>Adjustments>Color Balance, then tweak the midtones sliders that come up) tool in Photoshop CS2.

Happy The-Day-Before-The-Next-To-The-Last-Day-Of-The Year!

As My Stomach Churns: Moroccan Food Harvest

Exotic spices of red and yellow and the best desserts of the East, Marrakech food, while interesting, is missing something. Oh, not the deserts, nor the spices. I just think the chickens might be too skinny as there's hardly any meat on them.

Probably the second thing you'll think about after planning a trip to Merrakech would be: How do I keep from getting sick?

That's a very tough to think about as a I sit here gagging with pain from fever and stomach cramps.

Merrakech is a tricky place to not get food-borne illness. In the Medina (old city), the only food you can get is from food stands, and as good as it looks inside the cute ramshakle space, it's filled with germs that make my body keel over from pain.

The only acommodations in the Medina are charming little Riads (a building surrounded with an open door patio). While they are not five star hotels, they are comfortable and all the latest rage. I liked it, but the wifts of sewage coming down the pipes was a bit more than I wanted to handle.

I think I'll stay in the new town next time.

Of course, I ate everything and anything and have the stools to show it, but am I worse for the wear? Perhaps not. I'm down five pounds now.

Morocco to Paris

Morocco's a tough place after awhile and I'm glad to be out of the alleys of the Medina. There are some parts of the culture I'll miss--the small shops, the veiled women, the comraderie of the men, the sandstone architecture, and the calls to prayer.

I found the food to be only so-so, as when you pay big bucks for a Moroccan dinner in the states, it's usually scrumptious. But in Morocco the veggies are a bit over-cooked generally and the pastilla (the meat pies) aren't as puffy as I thought, and most of the time their made with pigeon. Just couldn't get myself to eat that bird.

Oh...yeah...Merry Christmas. Didn't get much of that this year as Islamic countries don't do that holiday.

Bring on the Dancing Cobras!

Moving from Islamic art, perfect in its symmetry, to snake charmers sounds like a stretch, but this is Marrakech.
It's a little like the 60s meets Islam in terms of the drum-beating in the main square of the Medina (the walled neighborhood). Women covered head to toe offer fortune-telling at the same time as Cobras strut their stuff to music.

Expect to experience a bit of culture shock here. I've found that the best thing to do with people here is to say
"hello" or "hi" in a friendly way and you're sure to pull a smile, even from most of the vailed women.

If you have any expectations or attitudes about Islam, they soon leave you once you're here for a few days.
Word has it people are free, seemingly, to worship as much or as little as they please.
Another word has it, is that the new King here is a very well-liked leader. He's young (and hip), too, even as he inherated the
throne from his father.

Islamic Photographic Quandry

As a matter of religious respect, I'm going to eliminate photographs of people in posts from Islamic countries.
Not that I want to as their are so many tempting candid people pics, but everytime I tried, I felt it was not worth the effort.
Aside from that, people in this day and age in the media seem obsessed with head-covered women.
I'll go with Islamic art, thanks.

Doisneau and Branly--Paris Teems with Culture

What's a guy do at night in Old Town Marrakech? Yep, Marrakech, Morocco. A little under three hours from Paris.

As a newcomer to Africa and a guy who doesn't take to dark, windy streets teeming with people at night, I stayed in as the art bug bit. I thought about my day-before-yesterday in Paris. Groovy baby, it was.

In the story above (go ahead and click it) you'll read about a new museum in Paris--the Musée du Quai Branly--a place that should be first on everyone's Paris must-do list.

Open Your Aperture Wide

Two Empty Chairs


Looking at the Ferris

If you're out photoing, try keeping your aperture open wide (set your f-stop as low as it can go when the camera is in Av mode) the entire day.

Paris Dog

If you ask a dog's owner for his/her dog's photo; the dog will pose for you.

Paris Cafe Collection

Here's the first of three Paris Cafe's that I'm adding to my collection. More coming, and I'll add here so they'll all be together. Text is coming too, from my manuscript, "Book of Signs the Twentieth Century."

Christmas Window Display Award

I hearby now declare the winner of the Christmas Window Decoration Award to this Paris, France shop.

Paris Black and White Photography

What French artist from the middle-of-the-last-century am I trying to emulate here while I'm in this great city of Paris?

Air Tahiti Arrives in Paris

Planes from America land early in Paris--mine at 5:45 a.m. The temperature was 32 degrees F, the skies foggy as was my body as it lifted itself off the plane through baggage claim, into a cab and on a grand photo journey to my hotel. Predawn photos are difficult from a moving car, obviously because of the lack of light, but...some light play there was--


A tunnel of passing light swept onto my camera's sensor.

The flight on Air Tahiti, pleasant, and suprisingly with a few empty seats, was a memorable one.

I highly recommend using this airline instead of others from LA to Paris for these reasons:

1. They fill up as many of their seats for the very expensive long haul flight from Tahiti to Paris, and from what I heard from another passenger "couldn't care less about filling the seats from LA to Paris."
2. Easy to get a deal as I paid six-hundred-something dollars to get here at the busiest travel time of the year.
3. The service is marvelous with attentive attendants, natives of the South Pacific of course.
4. Good food, piping hot and fresh.
5. The tiny televsion with nearly a dozen movies and interactive games. I'm a sucker for trivia.

What is Raw Format?

Shot the moon in Raw format during daylight then messed around with it in Photoshop.

So What is Raw Format? Well, for starters it's not an acronym. It means "raw."

Shoot in Raw and you can go back and reset your exposure and other settings just as if you were back out in the field.

Here's what you can tweak in the Raw dialog box after you've uploaded your photos from your camera to your computer.
(Best to have Photoshop, if you're going to work in Raw format, cause the program will automatically take your photo and put it in a Raw dialog box so you can manipulate it.)

Options in Raw:

1. Temperature
2. Tint
3. Exposure
4. Shadows
5. Brightness
6. Contrast
7. Saturation

There's more too. Try clicking on the tabs in the dialog box. The most useful item, I think, is in the Lens tab. You can control the vignetting (that black halo you sometimes get around the frame of your photo).

Raw=Great Stuff!

Sock it to Me Santa in Guatemala City

When you got scraggly lines drawing out an image or text, blur might not be a bad thing.

Sock it to me, Santa in Guatemala City. This Santa decorated Guatemala City, a version of him I caught from a cab on the way to the airport on my last trip.

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this image is a dog ripping up a sock, forming the shreads into Santa Claus.

When I start out on a Christmas-time Paris trip I suffer from Santa delusions of excitement.

Off to Paris

Perfect Histogram

Image I found that had nearly perfect histogram when converted to black and white.

While there's no such thing as a perfect histogram, I found this image of a .......... that approached sheer histogram heaven. Notice the even distribution of grays, with not much blasting white, nor dreary solid black.

To see a sample of how histograms work look here.

To find out what different shaped histograms mean in terms of exposure of your image go here and scroll to where it says "in real life."

Question of the day: What kind of flower is this?

Lake Peten Bathwater

This lake in southern Guatemala is like bathwater most of the year. While the temperature outside was in the upper 60s on this day after a cold front passed, the lake's water temperature was near the mid-80s.

Poinsettia

Poinsettia

My Own Little "Dwell"

Submitted these images to Dwell magazine, personally at last weekend's "Dwell Indesign" event in Palm Springs.

Hope they consider these, photos of dwellings around the world, for publication as part of a photo essay I plan to write for the magazine.

If not I'll try again with some more, photographs of Vancouver dwellings.

Wish me luck, pitching photographs is a tough business.

Photo pitching tip: Never give up.
pitching photographs, selling your photographs, Dwell magazine, architecture photography

I Signed Books with Kaye Ballard

And she liked me, she really did.

Last Sat. I was at the Borders in Rancho Mirage hustling my Dummies book.

My best response was that from a young woman who was buying one for her boyfriend and who really wanted the signage art I had with me as sample photography. I gave her a large print, and made her day.

The worst response I had was when I went up to a middle-aged woman on her way to the Seattle's Best coffee inside the store. I told her about my book and she broke out into a cackle, a sound the likes which I'd never heard.

Brisk sales I had indeed, that is, until Kaye Ballard came along hustling her book. She was in the Mothers-in-Law from 1967-69.

Of course, I gave her a copy of my book, and she gave me a copy of hers.

I was a boy when I watched her show and I remember it well. I think I watched more television than anyone does today back then. That was one of my favorite programs and I tell no lies. It was not only Ballard who was hilarious, but it was also her chemistry with Eve Arden (Rydel High's principal) that captured me.

I gotta question for those over 30...What movie was Eve Arden a principal in?

Grease, Kaye Ballard, Eve Arden, book signing

"The Mondrian After" Unveiling

I'm proud to announce the unveiling of my new work, "The Mondrian After."

The piece is sold though Jay Nailor at the M Modern Gallery in Las Vegas.

Please share your thoughts both on the great artist, Mondrian, and my new piece below--

Andy Warhol Imitation

Quad Motel by Matthew Bamberg

Guess which one is the original...
Andy Warhol imitation, Photoshop automate, Route 66 art, art photography

Book Signing in Simi Valley, CA and Beyond

Off to Simi Valley, CA tomorrow, beautiful home to the jurors of the OJ trial (just wonder how many still live there?)

The first thing I'm gonna look for is OJ's book, "If I Did It." It won't be there cause it's cancelled.

I'm looking foward to signing and giving out a free "Holiday Motel" print, one of my best-selling photos with every purchased book!

Last and even more important than the cancellation of OJ's literary work, I'll give individualized advice for those who are looking to buy a digital camera for Christmas.

Then, on my mini tour, I move away from OJ land to the land of Barry Manilow and Suzanne Sommers, the Coachella Valley, for a book signing at the Borders in the River of Rancho Mirage. This signing is at 1 pm this coming Saturday, Dec. 9th.

Simi Valley, selling photography, marketing tip, Holiday Motel

Cheers to the Holidays

Wrote this years ago (changed the dead links)

Santa Surfin'

Go ahead and indulge in some eggnog: Beat to death 6 eggs, add a cup a sugar and cup a rum and 2 pints of half and half. Mix and pour into a mug. Bring to your computer and drink while viewing the following:

Ken Gunn

Old Jim's site is no more since last year; it's Ken Gunn who's taken over with Old Jim's help. At any rate, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over there. The holiday tunes remain, but better, plugged in with new giffrics (giff graphics). Leave it on and after a few sips of your drink you'll turn into an ornament of joy. Click on any one of the twelve interactive links of red-and-green and you'll interact with Santas, trees, snowmen and more. Many links offer a click-and-drag Santa’s head around the holiday fun on the page. Why? Why not?


saint-nick.com

After the dizzying hoopla of Old Jim, the tasteful Aristotle's holiday is filled with stories, recipes and a trivia quiz. And it's so user friendly, it's like Internet buttah. Best are the links--from the History Channel to Torah Tots--information sings, flutters, and rings in fact-upon-fact of holiday this-and-that.


whitehouse.gov/president/holiday/whtree/

The White House Christmas tree site is an interesting stop, even though they haven't updated it in years.

Unfortunately, my buddy G.W. is a little behind as all the good stuff is from years ago. However, if you scroll down, you can catch a glamorous look at the presidential ghosts of Christmas pasts from Hoover to Clinton. My favorite image: Robert Laessig's interior painting of the Christmas tree in the Blue Room, not because there are no presidents in the picture, but because it looks like there's a snowstorm inside.


http://www.rollanet.org/~anderson/nightb4p1.html

Most poems aren't done justice until someone's taken them apart and rewritten them. Take Clement C. Moore's Night before Christmas. With over a dozen other versions, each that is strangled so tightly that words, rhymed and jumbled, could would sound to the same to your hard-of-hearing uncle. There's text full of trailer holiday trash in A Redneck's Night Before Christmas. And if you have red and green bags under your eyes, you'll want to take a look the intellectual version, a piece that is certain to deepen those colors under your eyes.


http://www.geocities.com/johnkoji/xmas/

Alone this Christmas Eve? Go ahead and finish your nog grog then click on the Midi link and play karaoke in the language of your choice. Sing your heart out this holiday season.

Christmas cheer, eggnog recipe, Christmas music, holiday

Autumn for Christmas

About a month ago I wrote the poem Unautumn Photography.

I came up with the idea after I looked over the photographs of my friend Betty's journal.

I had promised her a printed copy of the poem with pictures. Here's what I came up with.

I only had low res images to work with so I ran them through a couple of Photoshop filters to give a painted effect. Sharpening low res photos doesn't work very well so that's about the only thing you can do to make them look presentable.

I sent her the photograph yesterday. Let's see if she finds this. I'm not gonna tell her, rather, I'm going to see if she ultimately finds it on her Internet journeys.

Betty, if you do get here, submit a comment as to what you think about this poster.

Everyone else comment too about what you think of this autumn slowly turning to winter. (Quickly in some places!)

Photoshop CS2 tip, sharpening Photoshop, Unautumn+poem, My Day, My Interests

Photographing Pairs

Always look for things to photograph in pairs, threes, fours...a dozen.

Newspaper pitch rant--I think if you read my blog occasionally you might know what a pitch is. A pitch is when you "throw" an idea to a newspaper or magazine. When you throw an idea for a book, it will not be considered, cause publishers usually want a full proposal (nonfiction) or the entire manuscript (fiction). I "threw" a pitch to the LA Times (the Ventura edition) for a book signing I'm having in Simi Valley.

I didn't even get past the name of my book (which is rather long) before the "city desk" editor cut me off saying "no, I don't think so."

Guess that's just the case in LA with all those movie stars even speaking one word (or wearing only one piece of clothing) to get the press' attention.

To the LA Times I say, okay, "whatever."

...and what goes around comes around. Cheers to all you bloggers, who, along with me, soon will make the newspapers change so they publish stories about regular people doing good things.

At any rate, I hope it's not se la vi a book signing with only me at at 7 pm Thursday, Dec 7 at the Borders in Simi Valley.

About the pic: The blazing color makes me smile: )

Los Angeles Times complaint, photographing pairs, photography, pitching newspapers and magazines

Mid-Century Modern Acapulco Part 2

This hotel, off the beaten track in Acapulco, is nearly empty with no restaurants or cafes open for business. I happened to bring my partner's parents up there on a wild goose chase for "modern." I found it, but my partner, while finding it a bit interesting, was anxious to get to a place where, at the very least, you could have lunch. "Dad," who is 6 foot 4 or something like that had to be crammed in a tiny VW buy cab, becasue, as it seemed, cabs rarely drive up the hill to this place. If this place were in the United States, it'd be torn down, then replaced with a 30 story condo complex, each condo selling for nearly a million.






60s Acapulco mid-century modern architecture, Mexico architecture, Mexico+photography

The Digital Traveler's Christmas Camera Gift Guide

Santa's doing it. Parents are doing it Coworkers are doing it--selecting a digital camera gift:


Digital Traveler's Digital Camera Gift Guide


Digital Rebel XT Sports Mode

Digital Rebel XT and changing lenses

Kodak EasyShare night photography

Kodak EasyShare general summary

Quick tips about digital camera gifts


Best shutter lag times point-and-shoot models

Best on-the-job cameras

Best book for learning about digital photography

Difference between Canon 20D and 30D

Difference between the Digital Rebel XT and Nikon D70

Best 7 mp point-and-shoot for the money

Digital sensor sizes

Canon 5D full size sensor review

best digital camera gift guide, photography shopping, Christmas gift, digital+cameras