I made a picture of me in my studio (aka living room) holding pictures of Brian’s Smith’s studio. Very Duane Michals of me, no???

Also my scanner is broken. Also excuse the morning hair.

I added handy numbers so you could see what’s going on.

1. Eizo ColorEdge CG241W display, EyeOne color calibration

2. Favorite cameras

3. two Ultra ULT 33046 2000 VA 1,200-Watt Backup Systems

4. two Mac Pro Computers

5. 40 terabytes of storage

6. 30″ Apple LED display

7. photos from a Sports Illustrated essay on nudist golf

8. Smith’s library of photography books and magazines.

9. Favorite cameras up close: Graflex RB Series Super D with 200/1.9 Pentac lens, 8×10 point-and-shoot with 110mm Super-Symmar, Sony a900 DSLR with Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1,4 Telephoto lens, Sony Alpha NEX-5 with 16mm f/2.8 Wide-angle lens, White Stripes “Meg” limited-edition Diana+ camera from Lomography.

10. Storage: 40 terabytes of data storage in Sonnet Fusion 500P five-bay Serial esata drive enclosures.

11. Lights: Profoto Small StripLight, Profoto Softlight Reflector, Hensel Maxi Flooder Fresnel Head modified for Profoto, Profoto Magnum Reflector, Hensel Ellipsoidal Spotlight modified for Profoto.

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Nice! I’m a little jealous of Mr. Smith’s setup, especially his lighting and terabytes and point-and-shoot 8×10!

Have a great weekend!

Take it away, Callum:

This image is meant to form part of an ongoing project that attempts to explore narratives in music.

This one is based around ‘Black’ by ‘Okkervil River’ off their 2005 album ‘Black Sheep Boy’.
I don’t know when I’ll get to shoot more, or how consistent the series will be, but it’s been nice to finally do this.

One of the things that I really like about this is that I’ve been asked on a number of occasions about how it’s been lit, I like hearing it because to me it’s a question that’s just a step beyond the usual digital pestering that we’ve all fallen into the habit of (what camera, what settings, etc.).

So I thought I would share this set-up diagram:

So there’s 3 flashes that made it into the final image:

1. Key light – Speedlight, higher than subject. Full zoom setting to create circle of light.
2. Background light – Speedlight hidden in tree.
3. Headlights – Speedlight, hand-held on stand.

If I get more time I’d like to try to explain the song and it’s relationship to the image, it’s complicated. For now I’m happy enough that most people don’t get it, I don’t expect them too.

Thanks, Callum! Read more on Mr. Ponton’s blog.

Here’s what the brass has to say about it:

Quite literally the most freewheeling 360° panoramic camera in the universe!

Take the Spinner 360° in one hand, pull the cord with the other and release it – in a split second the camera spins 360° around its own axis and records everything that’s around you on a frame more than 4 times longer than a conventional landscape picture.

Shoots any 35mm film.

Some examples, from beta testers across the globe (how does one get to be a beta tester? I would like to be one).

See more spinner here.

I’ve been saying for a few months that oh yeah that Leica M8 looks okay, but with a $6,000 price tag before you even get to the glass, who needs it. But you know what? I need it. I need it bad.

I found this out when I was looking at Grant Cornett‘s pictures the other day. He shoots with the M8 almost exclusively now.

Here’s his rig:

I pulled the pictures of Grant’s that remind me of The Glass Family. Because I’m a huge dork and I love Franny and Zooey.

I feel these two could be Les and Bessie.

Do YOU have an M8? Send us your photos!

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go read yourself some J.D., here.

“The worst thing that being an artist could do to you would be that it would make you slightly unhappy constantly. ” – JD Salinger