aaron schwab

i think that being in a retail environment at this time of year falls between air traffic control and defusing bombs on my list of stressful activities, but i got a little shopping done today and intend to get more done and ultimately finish tomorrow. fortunately, i’m only buying for a few people this year; as much as i’d love to shower everyone with gifts, my bank account and credit limit make the opposite argument. it’s just as well, i guess; hugs qualify as acceptable gift-giving, right?

KW seems to have had its first snowstormy punch in the face, which i noticed prominently as i drove at 60 and 70 klicks to and from New Hamburg today. the fustercluck of cars in ditches, rear-enders and babies crying that i had anticipated along such a treacherous stretch of highway was oddly absent — most people fail to readjust their driving habits for wintertime this quickly, but maybe people smartened up this year. or maybe everyone who’d careened into a ditch got towed before i drove by to see (to be fair, i did see a few street signs at less-than-90-degree angles, which is always a sign of bad roads.)

also, i made the mistake of handling an S90 while i was at the mall today, which did the unthinkable in making me second-guess my jones for an LX3. i wonder if Santa will be nice enough to oblige me on either front this holiday season in either case, it’s save save save for me.

(truly, i think the extra 4mm of wide and the hotshoe on the LX3 might do it for me — but i’m still in fantasy land either way. perhaps it’s time to employ one of those get-rich-quick schemes i’ve heard so much about.)

if it’s not taking grad photos, it’s burning CDs (almost 400 in the last batch for the department we recently finished up four and a half weeks of shooting at the university) and, if it’s neither of those, it’s setting up ’shop to touch up faces that need to be printed and mailed out. such is the life of any professional, i’d imagine; when one batch of work is done, a fresh batch is just coming out of the oven, so to speak. hopefully i’ll get my current workload of grad editing done in good time so that i can get some personal and promotional work through the gears and out the door.

among said work are promo photos i took for Life Like Rockets at the end of last month and a few casual shots i took of Jeremy and Cara whilst the former was putting a nice rose on the latter. i took a few photos on my D300 with my 50/1.4 as well as went through a roll of ISO 400 film on Chris’ old Yashica FX-2 (curious how the 50mm lens on it stops up to f/1.9 — what, f/2.0 would’ve been too slow?) if there’s something i learned from that roll of Fujicolor 800, it’s why pros, back when 35mm film dominated most commercial markets, stopped at ISO 400 or 800 when shooting; the grain that comes with ISO 800 film is equivalent to at least ISO 3200 or 6400 on my D300, and cameras have been released in the two years since mine that perform better than my camera does, and they do it at ISOs that reach into six digits. i’ve truly been spoiled by coming into the world of photography a few years after the dawn of mainstream digital usage and maintain that i’d probably be better off had i been in high school and college when 35mm film was considered the cheap and easy alternative to medium format film or view cameras. but, as with anything, i can learn (and am learning) backwards. i’m sure there are entire wealths of knowledge pertaining to view cameras and rangefinders and different film processes for me to learn and, fortunately, i work for a great teacher for this sort of thing.

well, no one can call that last paragraph surprising to have come from me. i really should finish doing my evening’s batch of touch ups so i can get to bed at a halfway decent hour so i can get up tomorrow before noon and finish off the rest of the orders. i’m anticipating posting some nice images in the near future, and i’m super excited about a few things on the forseeable horizon. stay tuned for both!

with three different holiday seasons working at three different retail stores under my belt, i finally came to ask myself a very important question while at H&M in Mississauga with Cagney yesterday: who’s the sadistic prick who originally decided that piping Christmas non-denominational holiday music into every mall environment and store is a good idea? over the drone of crowds of holiday shoppers and their air-raid-siren children, no less. i understand that it’s “that time of year,” but i don’t feel that makes holiday music excusable at all — i mean, really; please introduce me to one person who brims with joy at the thought of hearing one more trite rendition of a classic that’s been beaten to death by a dozen artists before. one! i always wondered why working retail between October and January gave me splitting headaches — i thought it was the roar of the sardine-can crowd or too much harsh, fluorescent mall lighting assaulting my retinae — but now i think i know: it’s because every asshole in every store’s head office thinks that throngs of material good-starved people simply need to hear the trumpet-accented version of “Winter Wonderland.”

on a commercialism-related positive note, i managed to find the Apple Store at Square One mall yesterday. i was delighted to, after wiping the drool off of my face, go inside and get a chance to try out Apple’s newest gadget that piqued my curiosity — the wireless Magic Mouse. it replaces the Mighty Mouse’s scroll ball with a top surface that’s entirely touch-sensitive. dragging a finger across it in any direction registers as the scroll function, it can be used to two-finger swipe, the scroll registers the virtual “momentum” created by the speed of your finger, etc. it works similar to the touch functions of an iPhone/iPod Touch and the Macbook’s trackpad. it has a much slimmer vertical profile than the Mighty Mouse and slick-looking edges, to boot. of course i’m fantasizing at this point about owning the Macbook Pro that sits on my horizon, but two potential things are holding me back from buying this mouse instead of the older mouse style along with it; the Magic Mouse eliminates the buttons present on either side of the Mighty Mouse (which i find indispensable for OSX’s Exposé feature) and the profile is very low, which i like, but i somehow feel i’d prefer the more bulbous mouse shape for prolonged periods of photo editing. plus the fact that the Mighty Mouse comes in wired and wireless Bluetooth versions whereas the Magic Mouse connects via Bluetooth only. while i’m sure the wireless delay is negligible, i’ve felt it before with Logitech wireless desktops while editing photos or playing games (the likes of which only slightly applies to my future ownership of a Mac.)

anyways, my technobabble is over for now. work’s going well — we’re currently into our fifth and final week (half week, technically) of the faculty we’re shooting right now, after which i get a good chunk of time to sit at home and process images, both for Newschool and for other work i’ve done (which includes a recent set of promos for Life Like Rockets which i’m super stoked on.)

as much as i try to avoid saying so, my job has kind of been more of the same, lately. not that that’s a bad thing — whether or not it’s busy, iTunes radio is always piping reggae into the room, so it’s hard to feel too down. Monday’s photoshoot at the Voila Institute was loads of fun and a lot of hard work, and i’m confident that i got some good results. i’ll be sure to post my favourites soon after i’m able to. between that and this past Saturday’s 18-hour day with Joseph in toronto for a gala event that we shoot, however, the wind felt pretty knocked out of me by Tuesday (although coming to the university to shoot grad portraits felt like a cakewalk in comparison to event portraiture, event coverage and model portraiture.) suffice to say my brain has been more so f-stops and lighting wattage than rest and relaxation (although Cagney and i have really been enjoying working our way through the first season of Big Love on DVD when the R&R does present itself in the evenings.)

camera-wise, i’ve got a lot of editing to do for prints, proofmaking to do for both models and grads and a couple more shoots on the horizon over the next few weeks and into next month. Kelly, Anuj, Matt and i are going to have to pick up rehearsals of Kelly’s songs and some covers soon again for our December 20th performance at the CN Tower, which i’m looking forward to (if i can get enough of the dust off of my bass!) there’s also a chance for me to do some photos for Kelly in the near future, which is an exciting thought, and also interesting, seeing as i’m a member of her backing band, which i’m proud to say is called The Fully-Clothed Men. seriously, best band name i’ve come up with to date (though that isn’t saying much.)

last night’s shoot with Broken Enemy more than likely marks my last nighttime outdoor photoshoot of the year — taking photos of Carrie last tuesday wasn’t too bad and last Thursday with Kingdoms was tolerable (for those of us wearing more than a teeshirt, i’m sure) but last night was appropriately chilly for this time of year.

in addition to those three shoots, this past Saturday had me taking photos at Jeremy and Cara’s new tattoo shop — it was probably the last fifteen-degrees-and-sunny day we’ll have this year, and both the weather and the shoot were hugely enjoyable (and i’m looking forward to getting tattooed by Jeremy very much.) i’ll make sure to post a few samples from each shoot soon, as well as make some obligatory Facebook albums.

it’ll be nice to hopefully get all of the editing and printing i currently have to do off of my plate before next Monday, as i have a fairly large shoot that day that i’m really excited for, and i’d love to have an empty backlog of work to do before going into it. i’m sure i’ll post samples from that day as well once everything is done.

here’s a quick and simple sample from a shoot i did with Carrie tonight — it was only around 6:30 in the evening, but it was pitch black already. i’d hoped to get to this particular location in time for a sweet sunset, but that might have to wait until a weekend when we can be out and about at four o’clock. i’ll surely post a link once the rest are ready for show.

edit: after careful consideration, this is the only photo from this particular set that i like, so it’s the only one i’m going to show — at least something worth displaying came from it, though!

i stopped by Tall Ship Tattoos today after work, which is a brand new little tattoo shop in uptown Waterloo, run by a talented chap named Jeremy and his girlfriend Cara, an old collegemate of mine. the three of us went over a bunch of concepts for photos that they want for the shop’s website and walls, and i’m really happy that i’m getting to do some shooting for them this Saturday. Jeremy is super talented and works harder than most people i know and, though it’s new, i’d recommend his shop to everyone. can’t wait to show people the results of the shoot (which might spill into another day, as i have portrait ideas in mind for Jer and Cara themselves.)

other than that, i’m beyond excited on a few other photoshoots that are in the works, including a last-minute of of Carrie that i’ll be doing tomorrow evening. she’s wanted photos for awhile, so i figured what the hey, might as well squeeze some in in Kitchener tomorrow after a day of work (which is going super well, mind you, especially now that i’ve found a coffee shop within reach of where we’re shooting in the science department that sells a coffee and two cookies for $2.00. it’s enterpreneurships like that that make life wonderful, really.)

thusly, lots of photo-related news is on the way, up to and including my website, which is nearing fruition, moreso now than ever before. stay posted!

after hearing word of snowfall today from Cagney and from students at work, i finally got caught in this year’s first November Movember snowfall on my way back from a quick walk across the street. it was wet and surely won’t last with the upcoming warm weekend, but it was snow nonetheless. time to retire the spring jacket in favour of the pea coat indeed.

we’re currently shooting week one out of probably five or six of the science department at UW. the two previous weeks were spent in the AHS department and the three before that in engineering. suffice to say i’m feeling a little bit of shooting burnout at the end of each day, but it’s pushing me to go to bed earlier than later of late. schooting for the year will be done probably some time mid-next month, and i think i’ll celebrate by heading back to Jesse to get a ring in my nose in place of the current stud, as the piercing should be healed up completely by then. it was weird having this little metal dot on my nose for the first little while, but, as with my earlobes and tattoos, i got used to it quickly and now no longer see it as an extra item on my face.

other than being wetly snowed on a little tonight, my day’s highlight came with the drive home from work, on the way to drop Justin off at his place. every morning and evening, when going between Justin’s place and the university, we pass a sub shop called Sub Stop. according to Justin, who lives a stone’s throw from it, it’s been open for something like four years and in that time, neither himself nor any of his brothers have ever seen a customer inside. ever. it didn’t take much speculation to conclude that the place is probably a front for a drug-dealing op. well, if we didn’t shat ourselves this evening when we made our usual joke about the place as we drove by it, only to notice a customer at the cash register inside. it almose bummed me out to think that i wouldn’t be the first customer myself in there one of these Fridays on the way home from work, and i’m not entirely convinced that the man talking to the server behind the counter was actually a legitimate customer. regardless, seeing someone actually in Sub Stop made Justin and i break out in riotous laughter and whoops of “no way! no way!” needless to say, it became apparent to us tonight that taking over a thousand photos in a row during the day makes one slightly sleep-silly.

i’ll end this particularly rolicking entry with a film recommendation — Cagney and i watched our copy of Once for the first time last night and it was excellent. moving, almost, in a way i can’t explain. the nameless male lead of the film almost gives off a Damien Rice vibe (the Irishness being a contributing factor) and the songs that he performs, solo or with the “girl,” are stunningly beautiful and elegant and simple. i don’t want to start gushing like an overly-embellished Rolling Stone piece but it’s definitely a film worth seeing — half for the characters and their development throughout the film and their quirk and half for the musical content. i got a couple pangs of nostalgia while watching, actually, remembering when i was in a band that actually seemed to have a bright future at one point, and almost wished i was back there. see this film, though; if you don’t like it or love the characters, you probably have no soul (or i just like bad movies.)

it’s Devil’s Night, which, considering my lack of rotten eggs and toilet paper rolls, means very little to me. fortunately, being in an apartment building this year reduces my chances of being a victim considerably. i’m kind of stoked on my Hallowe’en costume for tomorrow night (hint: it’s a parody) but i have no idea where Cagney and i will end up or what we’ll end up doing. hopefully we can find a party or bar function to flaunt our costumes at.

other than that, i don’t know what i can go on and on about today — work’s been steady and, aside from meeting the odd interesting person, largely the same as it always is. it does feel nice to be working over having nothing to do, however.

you wouldn’t know it by my recent post frequency, but this blog’s been on my mind a bit lately — i originally started it up at the beginning of last year with the intention of posting daily or every-other-day updates about what’s going on or about whatever i feel like ranting about that day. it seems i’ve fallen far behind on my posts, but Twitter seems to be doing a good enough job with letting people know enough of what’s going on in my life. i’ll have my website launching soon, too (i’m meeting with my very talented and accommodating designer tonight to go over a draft of the layout,) so the blog portion of that site will allow me to keep up with recent photo work that i do — it’s usually photo-related stuff that i bother to update about, anyways. so who knows; this blog might get the retirement treatment or it might stick around for posterity or to give me a venue to write about things that have nothing to do with cameras. also, i know i’ve talked about all this on here before; i just recently became aware of how much less i have to say nowadays on this blog.

regardless, i’m sure i won’t be able to bring myself to delete it, and, if i consider doing so, i’ll likely think of something to put in here just as i’m about to. hell; i’ll probably announce my website launch here (and on Twitter, and on Facebook, and on my hugely irrelevant MySpace,) so stay tuned!

as usual, i’ve been reading good ol’ Kenny’s site on a daily basis as of late, and yesterday, he posted about Nikon’s new flagship pro body, the D3s. the D3s is Nikon’s midterm release schedule update to the D3, and serves as an upgrade to the D3 to tide consumers over until the projected 2011 release of the D4.

all of this new camera glitter (and my subsequent envy over the D3s) got me thinking about the fact that, for eight hours a day during shooting season at work, there’s a D100 stuck firmly to my hand. the D100 was Nikon’s first prosumer DSLR, introduced in 2002, which, in the digital camera world, is forever ago.

the technical advances made in digital cameras since 2002 seem tremendous when you compare the specifications of cameras of today to those of seven years ago. just for kicks, here’s a brief rundown of Nikon’s newest flagship update versus the workhorse that gets my job done every day:

sensor resolution: 6.1MP vs. 12.1MP
sensor size: 16×24mm vs. 24×36mm
maximum shutter speed: 1/4000 sec. vs. 1/8000 sec.
maximum continuous frame rate: 3 FPS vs. 9 FPS
maximum ISO: 1600 vs. 102,400 (not a typo; that’s 102.4 thousand)
runs like a: tank vs. tank

in spite of the leaps and bounds Nikon’s (and everyone else’s) digital bodies make every year — nevermind in the span of seven years — the D100 cameras that we shoot thousands of images with every day do the same thing that a brand new $5000 body would do, and that’s make great images. neither camera is much good in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to use them and, with proper application of light, either can create stunning results.

it’s amazing how much people — myself included — fawn over technical details of camera gear, which makes it easy to forget that a good photographer is a good photographer with any tool in his or her hand. some tools make the task at hand easier to do or the goal easier to achieve, yes — otherwise pro gear wouldn’t exist — but the tool doesn’t equal the skill necessary to make great images.

(note: it’s entirely possible that i lifted my entire philosophy on good image-making from Ken again, but it doesn’t make it any less true. we’re all Ken-heads at heart, let’s admit it.)