Steve-Z.com

Hi. Steve here. I have a ton of new photos and posts to publish from my latest adventures. But first things first. I gotta change the name of this website! This is a blog of personal photos and adventures, and as a result it is a steadily morphing entity. As I evolve as a human and as a photographer, the look and feel of the site needs to change with me.

“The Dark Side” was a name that I impulsively came up with a couple years ago one late night when I was changing both of my blogs to my new ProPhoto WordPress blog template (great template, there is a discount coupon at the bottom of the page!).  My professional websites took over an all-white theme, and I thought it would be fun to have my personal site reflect the opposite of that. So I just started calling the two, the Light Side, and the Dark Side. It was never really a well thought out plan, I will admit. One was white, one was black. One was professional work, one was personal work. It was really supposed to be temporary, but, I’m pretty busy with all the tons of things to do with this photo biz, so I just never got around to changing it, mostly because I never really thought of anything else to call it.

What is the purpose of this site anyway? Do I really need it? Does it really matter?

To me, it does. I love photography. I’m passionate about it, and addicted to it. I love taking photos when I’m on my adventures. Sometimes the photos are just travel snaps. But once in a while I get a really cool shot, the kind that I’d like to hang on the wall of my house. So I feel the need to put them out there and share them with the world, rather than have them live a cold and lonely life on a computer hard drive. I want them to see the light of day. I’d like to set up a cart where they could be purchased . . . but that’s a whole nutha project.

I need a new title that is more representative to the photography work that I publish here. In all reality, there isn’t much that is Dark about my photography. I’m more interested in beauty than sadness. I do have a quirky sense of humor, no doubt. I love what I do and I do have some pretty cool adventures where I have a lot of fun. The Dark Side had some people thinking that they were going to see horror movie stuff or something! So I need a title that is smart and clever, and possibly hints that this is a photo blog featuring photos from my travel, biking and snowboarding, and other random photos I take in my free time. There is also occasionally some technical and educational info for photographers, although I don’t seem to manage to find the time to publish a quarter of the articles that I think of in my mind. How do I sum all of that up in a title? How do I sum up 39 years of me in a couple words?

Until I come up with a cool new title . . . I’m just going to have a clean white sheet of paper.  The Great Title-less Blog! I just couldn’t stand the old look any more and had to change it immediately! I made a Facebook comment about changing the name; in a dream world someone will come up with a clever name for me! I’m not counting on that though. My best ideas usually come from an unexpected moment of clarity, and will just pop into my head when the time is right. As for now, I’m going to throw out the idea that I’m ready for the new name to come to me.

As for the photo . . . It’s just a funny self portrait that I took on my recent trip to Washington State. My chin is all distorted and enormous due to the distortion of my Nikon 14-24mm lens. I love to take beautiful pictures. But I also like taking funny and somewhat distorted pictures as well!

If you actually read all of this, thanks. I hope you keep coming back for years to come, as this blog will still be around, although the format may completely different. Evolution is like that.  Cheers, Steve Z.

June 5th was National Trails Day, and I lent some photographing skills to help promote the creation and maintenance of our local trail network. Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance hosted a big trail building day at Betasso Preserve. In case you didn’t know, Betasso is getting a brand new loop, called the Benjamin Trail, that will double the amount of trail in the area, and provide an alternate entrance from Four Mile Canyon.

This was the third trail building day out of the year out at Betasso. There are many more days required before the trail will be open for riding. So do your part and gather your friends and come out for the next work days. As a bonus, there will be food and beverages and beers to be had at the end of the day. Check out BMA’s website for the latest schedule and calendar of events.

I have lots of difficultly buying a product that just works. It seems like when I purchase something, there is only a 50% chance that I will be able to have it work, function, or look like it is supposed to on the first try.  There doesn’t seem to be quality of products any more. We live in a disposable society, where products are actually designed to fail so that you will be forced to buy a new one in a few years.  Additionally, many are just scurrying about with their tails between their legs hiding from The Recession. Consumers are searching for a cheaper and cheaper deal all the time without thinking about where the costs are being cut.

Photography is a luxury expense. As a result, many photo pros running top notch businesses are feeling the crunch of the economic downturn.  No one really understands why it costs so much to run a photography business these days.  I don’t blame them one bit.  I really didn’t have a very good idea when I started doing this either!  There are so many hidden costs that it never ceases to amaze me. And as long as I continue, more and more costs keep surfacing.  My latest is it’s going to cost $1000 just to adjust and calibrate my cameras and half of my lenses.  How much would the already expensive equipment have to cost for the quality to be perfect, so that I didn’t have to make these adjustments and repairs? Sure, I could just deal with my cameras the way they are, but I’m committed to having perfectly calibrated cameras so that my images are perfectly sharp.

The real lesson here, is that quality is just plain expensive.  Just take this photo of this screw for example. It’s hard to tell from the photo, but there are no true threads, just metal rings!  When did it become difficult to buy something with screws that actually had functioning threads?  There were screws like this in two  sofa tables that I bought to display my albums in the studio.  I really don’t have the funds to buy them from Design Within Reach, so I bought some cheap bolt together ones from Target online.  The first ones showed up with brush marks and hand prints under the clear coat on the wood.  Then the second set showed up with non-functioning screws.  Luckily I had screws from the first set, so I could put the tables together.  So while I got a cheaper deal, I still had to waste a bunch of time assembling, disassembling, calling, reshipping, etc.

What is the cost of the cheap tables?  The margins are so tight that they are trying to remove fractions of pennies out of the cost of the tables, and the screws.  Should I always just buy designer tables so that they will (hopefully) work the first time? Should I support local merchants in the way that I hope to have my business supported? My accounting spreadsheet doesn’t really support buying top of the line studio furnishings in a business where I’m always being undercut by photographers who are willing to sell out their digital files for nothing.
Despite the sliding trend of photo studio profitability, I am working towards reaching the higher end of the market where quality is respected.  I am seeking the clients that will recognize the top quality of the product that I offer.  While some people in the world will continue to be content to display their Wal-Mart  prints with bad skin tones proudly on their Target sofa tables with hand prints and screwed up screws, I pledge to offer services that represent, support, and exude Quality. The perfectionist in me will only be satisfied offering a premium product at a premium price.

I took a quick break from editing madness on a Saturday night to go check out Meniskus at the Lazy Dog AKA Brick House. I was playing with my new Nikon 35mm f/1.8G in super low light scenario. It was DARK in there! So rather than try to hide my low-ISO noise, I decided to play with it and use it as a style element. Things gettin’ crazy late at night.

Special guest Mouse Miskey gettin’ cutes on the ukelale.

Chris gettin’ rhythmic on the drums.

Eric gettin’ crazy on the mic.

Disco gettin’ soulful on the guitar.

Eric getting . . . I don’t know what this was.

Last Friday my favorite band Meniskus rocked out a free show at the Boulder Draft House.  For more images from the night check out the Facebook Gallery.

I was invited by my friends from Something Underground to hang out backstage and shoot some photos for Peace and Love on the Rocks. There were a bajilliion musicians there rotating in and out, covering favorite songs from the famous music festival of old. It like rocked and stuff.  You can see more photos from the event at the Facebook Gallery HERE.

This is Paul. Paul Rocks! He is the owner of the Bombay Bistro in downtown Boulder. I met Paul last year on one random night on the Cruiser Ride. After that I’ve been a big fan of the modern Indian cuisine. They offer many vegan and gluten-free options which are a big hit in Boulder as well.

Every so often Paul offers a 3 hour cooking class, where you watch him work his magic in the kitchen. I took some photos, because, well, that’s what I do.

OK this photo is pretty random, but I like it!

This is Paul’s gorgeous baby daughter, cute cute cute!

Bombay Bistro (Boulder)

So I was walking down the street a block from my studio, and I stumbled upon a mobile art happening.  There was a crowd of people gathered around a car, and they were all painting it.  This of course, required immediate picture taking.  Upon a little inspection, here is what I found out.

The GIVING GALLERY Presents:

Running On heART: 13 Cities in 7 Days!

A cross country journey raising awareness and funds for struggling open art studios in our communities

In order to raise awareness for Open Art Studios and spread the word about their power to bring community members together we have decided to turn a car into a national community art project.

Cool!

For more information on the project, the journey, and the fun:

Website: http://www.srgivinggallery.com/

Dotate: http://www.giveforward.org/RunningonART

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DofRVAwOs8k

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/givinggallery

Blog: http://srgivinggallery.blogspot.com/

.: Nikon D700, Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/1000, f/3.5, 400 ISO :.

The Bolder Boulder has been a Memorial Day tradition in Boulder for 30 years.  This year 50,000 people came to run a 10K race through town.  The start is close enough to my house that I can hear the starter from inside, but I’ve never managed to get out of bed in time to see it. It IS held on a holiday after all! Well this year was the first time, and yes, I was paid to be there! I was hired by local marketing company to shoot photos for their client who was a major sponsor of the event.  OK, now I have to go take a nap, 6am doesn’t suit me well.

Last Friday there was a cool little fashion show at the prAna store on Pearl Street in Boulder.  There was free beer from Oskar Blues, appetizers from The Rio Grande mexian restaurant, vodka from Leopold Brothers mixed with Izze, styling by Urban Pearl Salon, and tunes by DJ Red Lion.  There were lots of pretty people as well, so I snapped some photos.  You can the full set on my Facebook page HERE and have a big ol’ tagging party.  :>)

I shot a big corporate event in Denver last month.  Near the end of the they hired a group of ex-Cirque du Soleil performers to put on their show at the Wells Fargo Theater.  It was cool.  Check out the full show and slideshow on my other blog CLICK HERE.

I went and checked out the Boulder Cup pro cyclo-cross races at Boulder Reservoir and South Boulder Rec the weekend before last.  I’ve shot a few pics the first day and none the second; I’ve been way too busy to add extra workflow to my life for fun.  So busy in fact, that I forgot to download the card until over a week later.   Weeee!  I had some fun cropping the photos and messing with the exposures in Lightroom tonight.

Jeremy Powers.

Ryan Trebon.

Tim Johnson.

Todd Wells.

Barry Wicks.

Word.

On Election Day 2008 there were dozens of election coverage watching parties across downtown Boulder.  It was a decidedly Obama-centric affair.  After the polls closed the jubilant supporters spilled out onto the streets to celebrate.

It started out with a boom-box fueled dance party on the mall. It morphed into African-led drumming and chanting. Eventually the crowds gathered at the intersection of the Pearl Street Pedestrian Mall and Broadway.

When the lights turned red the crowd would swarm into the street, dancing and screaming, enveloping cars in the intersection. The peaceful mob would then reluctantly retreat to the curbs a while after the light had turned green again.

This ebb and flow continued for 15 minutes until eventually the police started to congregate. Much to my surprise, they did not use force to end the celebration. They put a squad car a Walnut and another at Spruce and diverted traffic, closing the street to allow the celebration to continue!

So that was really, really, cool to see. I must say I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. I’ve grown up in a generation that has been generally apathetic about politics, a generation that has skipped out on voting because it didn’t matter, nothing’s going to change anyway, right?

Obama has inspired millions. He is a symbol of hope. He is a symbol of someone who stands against the corruption and lies of the politicians of the past, and of the last eight years. No one knows whether he will be able to back up his words, and there are plenty who have, are, and will try to manipulate his words and spew negative rhetoric that fearful will take to heart.

But on THIS DAY, November 4th, 2008, I danced in the streets with a crowd of people so excited and optimistic about future of our country, in the midst of a trying time of war and economic recession. And for the first time in a REALLY LONG TIME, many of us felt a very unusual feeling. We felt proud to be Americans.

I’ve recently purchased a new Nikon d700.  I’ve also been too busy working to take the time to read the manual and do any practicing with the camera.  Last week Peggy Dyer invited me to shoot some pictures at the Fox Theater for the Barack Rocks II presented by Boulder Grassroots for Obama.  She was going to be shooting some video with Lensbabies attached on the front of her friends Something Underground.  It sounded like a great chance to test out the high-ISO performance and low light focusing capability of the new gear.

Then Peggy started to tell me about this cool band called Meniskus, and how I would like them . . .

Um . . . yeah.   I think I’ve heard of them before!

And as far as the camera goes, I was completely impressed with the focusing performance. I was even able to use all-area autofocus at times!  It was quite amazing.  The camera really feels a lot more certain of its focusing selection.  No more of the hunting back and forth trying to find something to lock on to.

I have posted a complete gallery of the pictures from the show HERE.

Last weekend I was paid to go to all four sessions of the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. How cool is that? Way cool, if you ask me. Draft Magazine hired me to shoot photos of drunken attendees as part of their marketing promotion to get people to log on to their website to view and download their photos.  The backdrop simulates the cover of a magazine, with all of it’s vinyl reflective glory.  I made a slideshow of some the the more, um . . . animated attendees. Enjoy!

To view the 2008 Great American Beer Festival Slideshow on its own page, CLICK HERE.

My friends at Green Guru Gear/Ecologic Designs hosted a smokin’ fashion show and a rippin’ party to celebrate the expansion of their facilities in eco-friendly Boulder, CO. You may recall that last summer I headed out the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show with these guys in their vegetable oil powered Sport Utility Ambulance.

Green Guru makes groovy cool products out of all kinds of stuff that we normally throw away. Bike tubes, fabric from Coke bottles, climbing rope, and lots and lots of vinyl billboards. The bag you see above, the runway, the backdrop, and even the outfit you see below once clogged up the landscape with marketing slogans trying to make us buy stuff. Personally I’d rather have ladies acting as billboards trying to make me buy stuff.

The finale featured a contortionist wearing an outfit made from recycled inner tubes. Can you figure out how she has gotten her leg up there? Yeah, me neither!

Covidien is a leading global healthcare products company. They were looking for a Corporate Event Photographer in the Denver area and gave me a call to provide photography coverage at a trade show event at the Denver Convention Center. They were introducing some sort of new tracheometry product. Despite my former aerospace engineering background, I didn’t pay too much attention to the technical details. There was a bounty of sushi and chicken wings to be photographed and fortunately there were leftovers when the event was over. I don’t normally concern myself with food when I’m shooting an event, but a man has his limits. Mmmmmm, sushi. :>)

Last week I was hired to photograph a corporate event outside of Denver in Golden; the opening of a new high-tech mineralogy research lab at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The project was largely made possible through a partnership with the Australian based Intellection Corp. There were all kinds of mineralogy rock stars in attendance. Rock Stars? Um, anyway, Intellection donated one of their innovative QEMSCAN automated mineral analysis systems, which is probably a big deal if I knew much of anything about rocks. The lab looked pretty impressive, but the coolest part was the CSM geology museum. The collection is completely amazing, colorful, and unique. I want to go back sometime when I have my macro lens and take some more cool pics! If you are reading this and are interested in more information about the AMRC Opening, then you can read the Intellection Press Release here.

This month’s Integrated Alliances’ First Wednesday Event was held at Brix in Lodo, Denver. The networking was fast and furious, and I nearly ran out of business cards. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and a caught a photo of a monumental deal closing in place. The details are top secret, but I can tell you this: you are never going to use a fork in the same way again.

I hope to see you tonight at the Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance 3rd Annual Gala Banquet and Silent Auction. If you don’t have tickets, sorry, it’s sold out! It’s gonna be fun! Also, as stated in an earlier blog post, I’ll be auctioning off some Moab mountain bike photography. I hope someone buys it!