55. Iconic - June 29-July 5, 2014
Deron-
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Paul-
I decided that Wikipedia could cover this iconic symbol—which may be tucked away in your pocket at this very moment—better than I. so here goes:
“The Eye of Providence (or the all-seeing eye of God) is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God watching over humankind (or divine providence). In the modern era, the most notable depiction of the eye is the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on the United States one-dollar bill. Many religions have used the image of an eye in their religious symbolism. One of the earliest known examples (from Egyptian mythology) is the Eye of Horus. However, the association of an eye with the concept of Divine Providence did not emerge until the Christian era. In Medieval and Renaissance European iconography, the Eye (often with the addition of an enclosing triangle) was an explicit image of the Christian Trinity.”
Our Story So Far… Tony “Bulldog” Francotti, a mob lieutenant who provided the muscle and the mayhem for the local syndicate, was hardly beloved by anyone on the streets. He was born bad and worked hard on cementing his birthright as he learned the rackets. But irony didn’t cast a blind eye on him in late November, ‘59: the bosses put a hit on him when he was caught with his eager paws in the till he helped fill through his seemingly endless criminal activities. All he wanted was a piece, but he got more. A lot more. The precinct boys found Francotti’s naked corpse in an alley off 19th. His head was busted in with a soup tureen, a player piano had been dropped on him from the brothel 5 stories above, his mouth was stuffed with the “Humor in Uniform” section of recent Weekly Digest, one leg had a cattle brand burned into it (the other was missing), his wallet was full of Monopoly bills, and a Burma Shave sign was wedged between his ample buttocks. But the Dicks knew the score: a local photo parlor owner (on whom Francotti had put the squeeze for months) orchestrated the murder by evidence of the words neatly etched into the victim’s back with a phonograph needle: “Olympus E500; 35mm; 1/40 sec. at 3.5; ISO 100, camera is hand-held.”
I decided that Wikipedia could cover this iconic symbol—which may be tucked away in your pocket at this very moment—better than I. so here goes:
“The Eye of Providence (or the all-seeing eye of God) is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God watching over humankind (or divine providence). In the modern era, the most notable depiction of the eye is the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States, which appears on the United States one-dollar bill. Many religions have used the image of an eye in their religious symbolism. One of the earliest known examples (from Egyptian mythology) is the Eye of Horus. However, the association of an eye with the concept of Divine Providence did not emerge until the Christian era. In Medieval and Renaissance European iconography, the Eye (often with the addition of an enclosing triangle) was an explicit image of the Christian Trinity.”
Our Story So Far… Tony “Bulldog” Francotti, a mob lieutenant who provided the muscle and the mayhem for the local syndicate, was hardly beloved by anyone on the streets. He was born bad and worked hard on cementing his birthright as he learned the rackets. But irony didn’t cast a blind eye on him in late November, ‘59: the bosses put a hit on him when he was caught with his eager paws in the till he helped fill through his seemingly endless criminal activities. All he wanted was a piece, but he got more. A lot more. The precinct boys found Francotti’s naked corpse in an alley off 19th. His head was busted in with a soup tureen, a player piano had been dropped on him from the brothel 5 stories above, his mouth was stuffed with the “Humor in Uniform” section of recent Weekly Digest, one leg had a cattle brand burned into it (the other was missing), his wallet was full of Monopoly bills, and a Burma Shave sign was wedged between his ample buttocks. But the Dicks knew the score: a local photo parlor owner (on whom Francotti had put the squeeze for months) orchestrated the murder by evidence of the words neatly etched into the victim’s back with a phonograph needle: “Olympus E500; 35mm; 1/40 sec. at 3.5; ISO 100, camera is hand-held.”
Jerry-
Hey Blockheads,
Here is my iconic toy photo, Gumby! Resting on a folding aluminum chair. This particular one comes from China, but I did have one back in the late '60's, not sure what country of origin for that fella. Had a Pokey also - I remember the wires in their arms and legs getting messed up. I also tried some shots of those plastic trolls from the mid 60's but they just didn't excite me like Gumby. I posed them on a Tonka jeep, dressed with whitewall tires (troll/jeep photo attached). Photographed with my trusty Nikon D5200, 16-85mm zoom at 85mm, handheld (VR is nice!) at 1/60 at f8, iso 800, in my studio-garage, main door wide open, facing South. Oil stained concrete visible in troll photo. The alien looking trolls are called "Moon Goons" - people are selling them on eBay for up to $100!
PS: "His nemeses are the Blockheads, a pair of humanoid, red-colored figures with block-shaped heads, who wreak mischief and havoc." Wikipedia
Hey Blockheads,
Here is my iconic toy photo, Gumby! Resting on a folding aluminum chair. This particular one comes from China, but I did have one back in the late '60's, not sure what country of origin for that fella. Had a Pokey also - I remember the wires in their arms and legs getting messed up. I also tried some shots of those plastic trolls from the mid 60's but they just didn't excite me like Gumby. I posed them on a Tonka jeep, dressed with whitewall tires (troll/jeep photo attached). Photographed with my trusty Nikon D5200, 16-85mm zoom at 85mm, handheld (VR is nice!) at 1/60 at f8, iso 800, in my studio-garage, main door wide open, facing South. Oil stained concrete visible in troll photo. The alien looking trolls are called "Moon Goons" - people are selling them on eBay for up to $100!
PS: "His nemeses are the Blockheads, a pair of humanoid, red-colored figures with block-shaped heads, who wreak mischief and havoc." Wikipedia
Kevin-
There are lots of ways to think about icons of course. But I wanted to focus on brands and logo as icons. And few brands are more iconic than Apple. It’s a brand and a set of products that I have developed enormous respect for, as have many digital photographers. And music and photographs might be the two fields that Apple has impacted most of all. I’m not saying that that impact has always been positive. The sound quality of iTunes music played on an iPod or iPhone isn’t nearly what it can be with good vinyl, or a good CD. But for the vast majority of people in the world they would rather have thousands of songs they can carry in their pocket. And the impact on photography might the even greater. Thanks to camera phones like iPhones, users have posted over 250 billion photographs to Facebook alone, and over 250 million additional photos get posted to Facebook each day. And sadly very few of these images are captured by DSLRs. When I started thinking about photographing the back of an iPhone, where I could capture the built-in iPhone camera and the Apple logo, I realized it would be great of I could get a reflection of a DSLR on the back of the phone as well. Luckily I still have my Nikon D3s.
As a side note, this week Byron and I watched the DVD The Language of Light by Joe McNally. Joe is a Nikon photographer who I have enormous respect for. And Byron and I will be driving down to Milwaukee to hear him speak later this month. Joe has shot for National Geographic for decades and also does commercial photography. For most of this commercial work he uses Nikon Speedlight portable flash units. Sometimes just one or two of them, sometimes 10 or 20 of them. So I decide I wanted to shoot this photo with my Speedlights rather than the studio strobes I usually use.
So there were two Nikon SB-800 strobes. One below the plexiglass table with an orange gel on it, and one on top of the table pointing up at the Nikon camera. The rest of the scene is simply lit by reflections from those two lights. The image was captured with my Nikon D4s. ISO 100, 24-70mm f2/8 lens set to 70mm, with an extension tube attached so I could focus closer. Shutter was at the flash-sync speed of 1/250th of a second. The aperture was closed all the way down to f/22. At that f-stop I knew that the reflected camera would not be sharp, but I didn’t need or want absolute sharpness, I just needed it to be recognizable as a Nikon DSLR, which I think it is.
There you have it, two of my favorite icons in Apple and Nikon. Sorry, I couldn’t figure out a good way to get a BMW into the scene as well.
There are lots of ways to think about icons of course. But I wanted to focus on brands and logo as icons. And few brands are more iconic than Apple. It’s a brand and a set of products that I have developed enormous respect for, as have many digital photographers. And music and photographs might be the two fields that Apple has impacted most of all. I’m not saying that that impact has always been positive. The sound quality of iTunes music played on an iPod or iPhone isn’t nearly what it can be with good vinyl, or a good CD. But for the vast majority of people in the world they would rather have thousands of songs they can carry in their pocket. And the impact on photography might the even greater. Thanks to camera phones like iPhones, users have posted over 250 billion photographs to Facebook alone, and over 250 million additional photos get posted to Facebook each day. And sadly very few of these images are captured by DSLRs. When I started thinking about photographing the back of an iPhone, where I could capture the built-in iPhone camera and the Apple logo, I realized it would be great of I could get a reflection of a DSLR on the back of the phone as well. Luckily I still have my Nikon D3s.
As a side note, this week Byron and I watched the DVD The Language of Light by Joe McNally. Joe is a Nikon photographer who I have enormous respect for. And Byron and I will be driving down to Milwaukee to hear him speak later this month. Joe has shot for National Geographic for decades and also does commercial photography. For most of this commercial work he uses Nikon Speedlight portable flash units. Sometimes just one or two of them, sometimes 10 or 20 of them. So I decide I wanted to shoot this photo with my Speedlights rather than the studio strobes I usually use.
So there were two Nikon SB-800 strobes. One below the plexiglass table with an orange gel on it, and one on top of the table pointing up at the Nikon camera. The rest of the scene is simply lit by reflections from those two lights. The image was captured with my Nikon D4s. ISO 100, 24-70mm f2/8 lens set to 70mm, with an extension tube attached so I could focus closer. Shutter was at the flash-sync speed of 1/250th of a second. The aperture was closed all the way down to f/22. At that f-stop I knew that the reflected camera would not be sharp, but I didn’t need or want absolute sharpness, I just needed it to be recognizable as a Nikon DSLR, which I think it is.
There you have it, two of my favorite icons in Apple and Nikon. Sorry, I couldn’t figure out a good way to get a BMW into the scene as well.
Byron-
If you like Rock & Roll music, I have an iconic double header for you. First is the Fender Stratocaster. It was designed in 1954 but is as important today as it was in the 50’s. There is a long list of musicians that used the Strat. It stretches from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, EddieVan Halen and many more.
In this photo the Strat is leaning up against a JBL 4310 Studio Control Monitor. You can be almost guaranteed that if you listen to music recorded in the 70’s it was mixed in a control room that used JBL 4310’s as their monitors. I acquired this speaker and its twin from Campbell-Mithun. They had 4 pairs for sale while they were moving to a new location. I worked with these speakers during my brief 4 month stint as an intern there. I have a copy of a brochure that has a picture of me and a corner of one of these speakers. We go back a long ways!
The photo was taken in my basement. I knew the afternoon light would come through the basement window and hit the floor. I setup the speaker and guitar just outside of the direct light. That way the light would illuminate them from the side and slightly below. I let the rest of the room fade to darkness. The objects you see around the main subject look like they are from another time period, the cabinet, blond bookshelf, chrome chair legs. It doesn’t look like 2014 because its not supposed to!
The camera was mounted on a tripod, very close to the floor, ISO 100 f/5 at 1 secondIf you like Rock & Roll music, I have an iconic double header for you. First is the Fender Stratocaster. It was designed in 1954 but is as important today as it was in the 50’s. There is a long list of musicians that used the Strat. It stretches from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, EddieVan Halen and many more.
In this photo the Strat is leaning up against a JBL 4310 Studio Control Monitor. You can be almost guaranteed that if you listen to music recorded in the 70’s it was mixed in a control room that used JBL 4310’s as their monitors. I acquired this speaker and its twin from Campbell-Mithun. They had 4 pairs for sale while they were moving to a new location. I worked with these speakers during my brief 4 month stint as an intern there. I have a copy of a brochure that has a picture of me and a corner of one of these speakers. We go back a long ways!
The photo was taken in my basement. I knew the afternoon light would come through the basement window and hit the floor. I setup the speaker and guitar just outside of the direct light. That way the light would illuminate them from the side and slightly below. I let the rest of the room fade to darkness. The objects you see around the main subject look like they are from another time period, the cabinet, blond bookshelf, chrome chair legs. It doesn’t look like 2014 because its not supposed to!
The camera was mounted on a tripod, very close to the floor, ISO 100 f/5 at 1 second.
If you like Rock & Roll music, I have an iconic double header for you. First is the Fender Stratocaster. It was designed in 1954 but is as important today as it was in the 50’s. There is a long list of musicians that used the Strat. It stretches from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, EddieVan Halen and many more.
In this photo the Strat is leaning up against a JBL 4310 Studio Control Monitor. You can be almost guaranteed that if you listen to music recorded in the 70’s it was mixed in a control room that used JBL 4310’s as their monitors. I acquired this speaker and its twin from Campbell-Mithun. They had 4 pairs for sale while they were moving to a new location. I worked with these speakers during my brief 4 month stint as an intern there. I have a copy of a brochure that has a picture of me and a corner of one of these speakers. We go back a long ways!
The photo was taken in my basement. I knew the afternoon light would come through the basement window and hit the floor. I setup the speaker and guitar just outside of the direct light. That way the light would illuminate them from the side and slightly below. I let the rest of the room fade to darkness. The objects you see around the main subject look like they are from another time period, the cabinet, blond bookshelf, chrome chair legs. It doesn’t look like 2014 because its not supposed to!
The camera was mounted on a tripod, very close to the floor, ISO 100 f/5 at 1 secondIf you like Rock & Roll music, I have an iconic double header for you. First is the Fender Stratocaster. It was designed in 1954 but is as important today as it was in the 50’s. There is a long list of musicians that used the Strat. It stretches from Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, EddieVan Halen and many more.
In this photo the Strat is leaning up against a JBL 4310 Studio Control Monitor. You can be almost guaranteed that if you listen to music recorded in the 70’s it was mixed in a control room that used JBL 4310’s as their monitors. I acquired this speaker and its twin from Campbell-Mithun. They had 4 pairs for sale while they were moving to a new location. I worked with these speakers during my brief 4 month stint as an intern there. I have a copy of a brochure that has a picture of me and a corner of one of these speakers. We go back a long ways!
The photo was taken in my basement. I knew the afternoon light would come through the basement window and hit the floor. I setup the speaker and guitar just outside of the direct light. That way the light would illuminate them from the side and slightly below. I let the rest of the room fade to darkness. The objects you see around the main subject look like they are from another time period, the cabinet, blond bookshelf, chrome chair legs. It doesn’t look like 2014 because its not supposed to!
The camera was mounted on a tripod, very close to the floor, ISO 100 f/5 at 1 second.