Any good artist should always be on the lookout for inspiration. That is why I am off tomorrow to see the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit at the SF MOMA. Not exactly the NYC subway in the 80′s, but inspiring none-the-less.

by Richard Avedon

The speed at which technology moves is dizzying, and photography always seems to riding that giant wave. With ridiculous mega pixel counts and rigs like the Canon 5D Mark II which shoots cinematic quality video, it can be easy to forget from whence we came. As often as I can, I like to take a minute to step back and look at just how far we’ve come.

One of my favorite photographers from the old school is Richard Avedon. The photo here is from his In the American West series. He essentially traveled the country, found normal everyday people, threw up a white back drop, and took their picture. His documentation of how the average person lives strikes a blow to your heart. His images are moving, and manage to capture a person’s  story in that one little frame.

Whenever you fill overwhelmed by all the techno babble, take a minute to look back to how it used to be done. You might just learn a thing or two.

I love this pair of shoes. They raise so many questions. They raised a lot of challenges as well. I have long known just how difficult it is to shoot shiny objects, but putting a mirror below them really ups the difficulty. What stories do you think this pair tells? Let me know in the comments. I’m sure they have a few.

In other news, they Kickstarter fund raising campaign for the American Photo Project is off to a crawl. Two backers and $30 so far. Only 1%. I need to pick up the pace if I am ever going to make it. Just click on the widget to the right to learn more.

There is also only two days left in the typo contest. Send in the photos of those typos to claim your prize.

As always, if you, or any friends, would like to take part as subject in the project, please let me know.

On a final note, don’t forget the challenge to send in a picture of your best public typo.

I feel like I should be doing a recap, or making resolutions for the future, but I think I’ll save that for the end of the calendar year.

How did you spend the last year?

I think shoes are incredible. They are horribly taken for granted. Every pair of shoes have a story to them. With this book, I want to tease the story out of a few of them. What story do you think these boots have to tell?

I think I’m about a quarter of the way through it right now. Still a lot of work to do before my deadline, which is the Artwalk on October 9th. You are coming, right? Wish me luck. It’s starting to look like it may be a bit of a lofty goal. Regardless, you should come by and say hi.

Don’t forget about the contest this month. Send me a picture of the best typo you can find in a public space. My favorite is the winner.

I know I am not the worlds best wedding photographer. There are a lot of things I will do differently, if I ever shoot another wedding. I, however, never fell in the water. Even with the ceremony was across the pool. At least his assistant was on top of it, and went for the camera first.

Laughing Squid ran a piece on this Luftansa flight today. Why, oh why can my flights not be more like this one.

Canon 7D vs. Barbie Video Girl from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

Wow. There is no respect left for the venerable camera. They will cram one into anything these days. As you can see, there is still no comparison for a good high quality camera. Looks like Barbie will need to step up her game if she wants to play in the big leagues. Thanks to Brandon Bloch for bringing this to everyone’s attention. Be sure to check out his other videos.

Maybe Canon should make a Barbie themed 7D.