Tag Archives: documentary photography
Welcome to the Red Photo Houston Wedding Photographer Blog
Welcome to the Red Photo Houston wedding photographer blog. Red Photo is a wedding photographer business specializing in fine art engagement, bridal, and reception photographs. Our mission is to create high quality fine art photos that will become memories that last forever. We are passionate about photography and it shows. Red Photo serves Houston and the surrounding areas: Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, TX. Destination wedding services are available.
This wedding photography blog has been set up to provide you with great images from weddings, my fine art work, and other assorted photographic adventures. Our style combines documentary photography with fine art and produces a unique photographic image that also preserves your precious wedding day memories. In addition to the wedding information and images I will be providing information on how to improve your photography with examples and simple tutorials. There is a dose of philosophy thrown in, all adapted from my 12 years of teaching experience.
Red Photo is Gary Miller and Jim Stevens. We are both highly experienced professional photographers and educators with years of expertise. Besides wedding, portrait, and fine art photography we also teach digital photography workshops to small groups. Keep watching the blog for more information about classes.
Please look around the blog as there is lots of information and plenty of photographs to see. We would love to hear your comments. Thanks again for stopping by. Enjoy your surfing.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in black and white photography, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques, wedding photography
Also tagged blog, fine art, fine art wedding photographer, fine art wedding photography, houston fine art wedding photographer, houston fine art wedding photogrpahy, houston wedding photographer, houston wedding photography, photography, photography blog, photojournalism, wedding photography, welcome
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Photographs From Riding on the Marrakech Express
a pack of camels in Morocco
market in marrakesh
ryad in morocco
I have traveled a great deal, but I have to say that Marrakech, Morocco is one of my favorite places. I had the opportunity to stay for an entire week in the Old section of the city. The city is divided into the New section and the Old, walled section. Inside the walls it is like life has not changed for many years. I was able to stay in an historic ryad. In Morocco, especially in the old parts, it is very common to have a home with a courtyard. From the street you cannot see any of the beauty of these homes. You just see a wall and a door. But once inside it is magical. A traditional ryad has a lovely central courtyard lined with beautifully painted tiles. Many have fountains and plants. They are like a little tropical oasis in the middle of the city. One of the things that I really enjoyed during my stay at the ryad was going up to roof. From there I had a wonderful view of the Atlas Mountains in the distance and I could also see the many other houses in the area. Many people use their rooftops to socialize, or do their laundry and hang it out to dry. From the street you can’t see any of these dramas playing out. But up on the roof it is a whole different world. I think that James Taylor was write in his song, ‘Up On The Roof.’
Life in the Old city of Marrakech is not for the casual traveler. If you are looking for posh attractions and pampering you will not find it here. But what you will find is magnificent architecture, beautiful mosques, wonderful people, and ancient ways. The streets are lined with vendors selling meat and eggs that sit outside in the heat with the obligatory flies around it. This was one of those times that I was thankful that I am a vegetarian. I guess that when you live there your body gets used to the local ‘flora’, but I was happy with vegetables and couscous. The Moroccans make a lovely native dish called tajine. This is the name of the heavy clay cooking vessel and the dish which consists of couscous, vegetables, spices, raisins, and normally lamb. There are several variations of this dish across the Middle East and North Africa.
Morocco was quite an experience in every aspect. Whether is was the 110 degree heat, the Atlas Mountains, the local Berber tribes, or the Sahara desert, everything was wonderfully exotic and invigorating. I can’t wait to return. Anyone want to come with me?
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
How to Get Motivated
san cristobal, chiapas, mexico
Many times during my photography career I have been in situations where I have seen a great photograph but I was afraid to take the picture. This can happen because I want to photograph a person unnoticed, or maybe I am somewhere that I feel it is inappropriate to be photographing. I had this type of situation come up one time when I was photographing in San Cristobal, Mexico in the Chiapas region. I was down there to take a one-on-pne workshop, but also to spend a few weeks on my own photographing in the surrounding area and living with a native family. On the first day there my instructor, Craig Dietz, took me around the town to show me various sites that I might be interested in photographing later on during the trip. He ran me all over town and in the late afternoon, when we both were pretty tired, we ended up at this beautiful rustic church. We went inside partly to rest and partly to marvel at it’s simple architecture. The church was active with several native people praying. I felt a little invasive at that point. I always feel a little hesitant when I am thinking about taking a photograph inside a church or other religious place. It was not too bad for me because we really were not there to photograph, but more to scout. I loved the look of the church, the rustic feel, and the local people were wonderful to watch. I knew that this was a place that I wanted to return to for photographs. The light was beautiful inside.
The following day I returned to the church at about the same time in the afternoon because I knew that the light would be nice. I arrived and looked around, then headed into a side room. The room was really amazing. There were tables with candles burning on them and one of the side walls was covered with soot from the years of candles burning in this room. I sat down in the back to take in the scene. What I had my eye on was this old woman who was praying. I saw the image that I wanted, but I could not get myself to take it. I was frustrated because I knew that it would be a great image, but I wanted to shoot with a wide angle lens on my medium format camera. This meant that I had to get close to the woman praying, probably within a foot or two of her. So I was stuck between seeing a great photograph and not being able to take it. I knew that I had to come up with some strategy to get through this block. I thought for a few minutes. I did not have much time. The woman could stop and leave at any moment. Then I hit upon an idea, my motivational idea. I pretended that I was down in Mexico on assignment for National Geographic and that I was covering the local people, their culture and their customs. And that was the key. With that thought I slowly got up from the back and moved within a foot of the praying woman. I took a few photographs. She did not react at all. I still do not know to this day if she say me or heard me.
Many times we run into road blocks in our lives. I encourage you to find ways to get around them. For me I was motivated by seeing myself working in my dream job. And in that moment it allowed me to capture a great photograph. The image above is from my time in San Cristobal. I did not post the photograph of the woman praying because it would take me days to find it and scan the film. That’s fine with me, because my memory of it is strong enough to still cause a reaction. I have hundreds of images from my three week trip to the Chiapas region of Mexico, but I rarely show them. I am not sure why.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, wedding photography
Also tagged Chiapas, Craig Dietz, digital photography, Mexico, photojournalism, San Cristobal
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A Photograph From the Iowa State Fair
iowa state fair, des moines, iowa
I had a great time a few years ago photographing at the Iowa State Fair. If you have not been there you should add it to your to do list. State fairs have always fascinated me. They are nostalgia, tradition, fun, and great people watching all rolled into one. Where else can you eat great culinary delicacies like corn dogs, turkey legs, and cotton candy. My stop here was a part of my larger amusement park project. I spoke about it before in ‘Amusement Park – Ocean City, NJ‘ and in ‘Amusement Park – Wildwood, NJ.’ A brief history for those who do not know. I have been working on a fine art project on amusement parks all over the world for about 10 years now. It started as a project in a graduate documentary photography class and then grew out of control. Just when I think that I am done with the project I end up stumbling upon another amusement park. This is what happened during my trip to China last June. You can read more about that adventure at ‘China Trip (Part 1)‘ and ‘Part 2.’ I still have to post more images from that trip. It is really amazing how quickly the number of images I have increases. I have always loved to shoot photographs. Even with film I was always the one in the group burning through three times as much film and paper as the rest of my colleagues. With digital, it is even worse, because it does not cost anything extra to take more images.
One of the things that I really love about digital photography is the ability to reinterpret images. When I began the fine art project on the amusement parks I was shooting black and white film. With digital I am shooting in color, but then I can convert it to black and white and tone it and put a border on it. This is a very nice tool and allows an artist to revisit older work and reinterpret it with fresh eyes. I have always used Photoshop to play around with images. That is how I started out and I am still do that today. Many people are afraid to explore the possibilities and they are missing out.
I encourage everyone, no matter what your level of skill, to take digital photographs and then play around with them in the digital world. Just try anything whether you think that it will work or not. You might be surprised at the result and this can trigger new ideas and new inspiration.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography
Also tagged amusement park, China, digital photography, fine art, fine art photography, Iowa State fair, photojournalism
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Photo of the Week – Third Baptist Church, San Francisco, CA
third baptist church, san francisco, ca
This week’s photo is from the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, CA. I was really intrigued by this particular church where one of my friends was a member. She had told me of the great outfits and especially the wonderful hats that the women wear to Sunday services. Once she mentioned it to me I knew that I had to go and photograph during a service. The people at the church were very accommodating to me. I was able to go anywhere that I wanted at any time. This included back stage and even on the stage while the choir was performing. As luck would have it the day that I showed up to photograph was the same day that Rev. Jesse Jackson was giving a speech. I had no problem working with him. His people let me freely take photographs.
I have always been attracted to the documentary style of photography. Documentary photography and photojournalism go hand in hand. But for me they are different entities. Photojournalism deals with events or news. These are things that need to be photographed for the newspaper or a magazine. Photojournalism is very time sensitive. Photographs often have to be sent to the newspaper right away from publication. So in my case photographing Jesse Jackson would be a more photojournalistic pursuit. Documentary photography is more long term. You would follow a story for much longer than a few minutes or hours. Many documentary projects can last for years. My amusement park project, which you can read about in, ‘Amusement Park – Ocean City, NJ‘, and in ‘Amusement Park – Wildwood, NJ‘ has been going on for more than 10 years now. I was photographing at the church in more of a documentary vein because I was working it into a larger project on religion and the way people worship. I wasn’t there just to cover Rev. Jackson’s speech for some media outlet.
While documentary photography and photojournalism are often lumped together they really are two different things and different personality types are drawn to each. You have to have a great deal of patience for each and be fast with your camera. I think that this type of photography has been very underrated throughout the years. You are not allowed to set up shots or alter them afterwards. You are not supposed to bring in any type of lighting or intervene with your subjects or the scene. I think that the skills that you learn as a documentary type photographer really help in other, more controlled, types of photography. I have always had the highest respect for this genre of photography. My favorite photographers, like Andre Kertesz, Sebastiao Salgado, and Henri Cartier-Bresson are all great photojournalistic photographers.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged Andre Kertesz, California, church, fine art photography, photojournalism, San Francisco, Sebastaio Salgado, Third Baptist Church
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Fine Art Photograph – Mississippi Delta Documentary Project
fine art photograph from Mississippi
This weeks photograph is another from my series on the Mississippi Delta area. You can read more about this project in my post ‘Mississippi Delta Photojournalism Project.’ This photograph really shows the idea of mixing fine art photography with the documentary photography style. I began as a documentary photographer. After I had been happily doing that for a few years I decided to go back to graduate school to get my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in photography. My goal was to polish my photography skills and then to obtain the credentials that I needed to teach at the university level. I did my graduate work at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. It was a great place to go to school and a great place for art and photography. Shortly after I began school I was really drawn to the fine art side of photography. You can read more about my quest in my post ‘Becoming a Fine Art Photographer.’ My graduate school experiences led me both to becoming a fine artist and a teacher. I have been teaching at the university level now for the past 11 years. I still create fine art and I have had work in over 100 exhibits throughout the United States and Asia. When I started Red Photo I knew that I wanted to merge my fine art documentary style with a modern wedding style. I really enjoy creating unique images for my clients and also creating custom made fine art albums. Making these albums fills in my artistic desire to create a physical art piece. Just like when I was creating fine art black and white photography where the black and white print was half of the experience.
I am still working on my documentary projects today including this one in the Mississippi and another long term project on amusement parks. You can read more about my amusement park project in ‘Amusement Park – Wildwood, NJ.’
Gary Miller
Red Photo Houston Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in black and white photography, digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography
Also tagged blues, culture, fine art photography, Mississippi, Mississippi Delta, music, religion
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Henri Cartier-Bresson Photograph
henri cartier-bresson photograph, paris, place de l'europe, gare saint lazare, 1932.
“ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. – Henri Cartier-Bresson
This great quote from one of the finest photographers ever is a prudent reminder that we need to constantly practice our art and craft of photography. It is interesting to me that Cartier-Bresson mentions that you need to get through 10,000 photographs before you really can produce some fine images. In recent years the idea of practicing something for 10,000 hours before reaching mastering has been a popular idea. While this is a simplistic view of the idea of what Dr. K. Anders Ericsson put forth in his research, it is nonetheless odd that the numbers are the same in both cases. No matter if this is coincidence or fate, the idea is still there and something that I have preached to many a student; you have to practice to get good. How much do you have to practice? Alot. Just remember that is is focused (no pun intended) practice. Don’t be one of those people that says they go to the gym 5 days a week so they are healthy. You see these people at the gym all the time just socializing and getting nothing done. Don’t be them. Go out and photograph with a purpose. Review your images and see what is working and what is not. Make refinements and do it again. Get your hands around one concept and then move on to the next. On of the key components that has come out of all this research on expertise is that you need to be constantly challenged to continue to grow and improve. Going back to my gym example, imagine if you lifted the same amount of weight the same number of times every time you went to the gym. You would improve at first, but then plateau. You must keep the challenges coming, making them a little more difficult that what you can already do, to keep increasing you skills. Conscious, deliberate practice is what you are after.
Gary Miller
Houston Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in black and white photography, digital photogarphy, fine art photography, philosophy, photography
Also tagged Henri Cartier-Bresson, photography, photography quote, quote
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Photographs From My China Trip (Part 1)
woman with umbrella, beijing, china
wall, beijing, china
tianamen square, beijing, china
pool with toys, beijing, china
man at forbidden city, china
taxi, beijing, china
During June, I lead a Travel and Documentary Photography class in China. I had 27 students from Art Institutes around the country attend this class. We spent 10 days traveling throughout China, including Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. The students learned how to travel and photograph by actually doing it. It was an amazing experience which included long flights, strange meals, lots of running around, dodging cars and buses on the streets, and other assorted antics. I will be posting some of my images here periodically. I want to thank everyone who worked hard to make this trip happen, especially Nancy Li, the President of Easton Resource Development, Inc, who put the trip together and made sure that things ran smoothly once we were there. Also, thanks to Becky Olstad for helping me teach this class and herd cats. And thanks to the 27 wonderful students. I enjoyed looking at their work.
This set of images is from Beijing, our first stop on the trip. I was feeling a little artsy today.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in digital photogarphy, fine art photography, photography, photography techniques
Also tagged China, fine art, fine art photography, travel, travel photography
3 Comments
Mississippi Delta Photojournalism Project
mississippi delta portrait
This image is from a documentary photogrpahy series that I am working on about the Mississippi Delta region, in the Northwestern part of the state. I am documenting the history, culture, religion, and music of the area. This is an ongoing project for the past 3 years and I can’t wait to return there.
Gary Miller
Houston Fine Art Wedding Photographer
Eye Candy and Brain Veggies
Posted in black and white photography, fine art photography, photography
Also tagged blues, Delta blues, Mississippi, Mississippi Delta, photo story, photojournalism
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