It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything but i can assure you it is not out of laziness, a lack of interest or a shortage of blog inspiring imagery. With March looking more and more like May my search for a new roost to call home has intensified. Most of my weekends have been spent researching and rediscovering different neighborhoods in Brooklyn. I’ve been to over a dozen open houses in areas like Park Slope, Clinton Hill, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and most recently Greenpoint. I’ve seen some of the most bizarre layouts and exaggerations of square footage known to man. Contracting work that turn Bob Villa’s tool belt into cover of “Guns N’ Ammo”. (Does that even make sense?) 
Regardless, it has been a physically and emotionally draining experience. Of all the places I’ve visited the one that surprisingly won my heart was Red Hook. A sleepy area off beaten path it offers a laid back vibe with cafes, galleries and a fairly new Fairway supermarket right on the water. All of this amongst old factories, warehouses and one of the most catastrophic housing projects known to the US of A. Zoning laws make it very hard for condos to start sprouting up like wildfire and the ones we saw were laughable to say the very least. Regardless, I love the area and hope beyond reason that something will magically pop up somewhere liveable. So bare with me. I’ll be back with plenty more photos, stories and geekness. Till then, may the force be with you. JD
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New Photo Background and Tasty Vinyl
Wednesday afternoon I headed to Calumet over on 22nd Street to pick up a few extras for the studio. I’ve been looking into getting a new muslin ever since my cat threw up on the rather large white one I had for so long. Although I’ve been using seemless for the most part. I like to mix it up from time to time. Seemless backgrounds are great but getting a couple of nine footers on the train back to Hoboken can be a bit of a haul. I picked up a nice black one that just happened to be on sale. I like the fact that I can take them down easily, roll them in a ball and toss them in the washer when needed. Once I started to use the black consistently in my shoots I didn’t want to shoot any other color again. The black adds a certain drama to B&W photos while adding pop to color. How can you go wrong. I learned early about placing the lights and the model a bit further from it to avoid weird circles and flare ups in the background. Once I got past that it was all gravy. Here’s a picture I took with my new copy of the New Breed compilation. The Wild Style version is a limited pressing of 200 and I was lucky and grateful to get 1/200. The compilation was originally released as a tape comp. in 1989. It featured the absolute best NYHC bands of the time. It’s just be reissued for the first time on vinyl through Freddy Alva’s Wardance Records.
Thanks For Checking In, All 16,000 of you.
Earlier this morning I received an email from Word Press wishing me a Happy New Year and sending me a personalized report detailing the blogs traffic, most poplar posts and where my visitors are checking in from. I was astounded when I read that in 2011 16,000 people from four different continents visited Photo Geek throughout the year. This was shocking considering I rarely check 
my stats or get many comments on my posts. I’ve run into many friends and strangers who when I give them my business card tell me “Oh my God, I read your blog all the time.” or “You’re that dude?’. It’s pretty weird to say the least. It’s one of the many reasons I still do this.
To tell the truth, it’s one of the longest creative endeavors I’ve been involved with. Knowing that I’m actually reaching somebody is enough to keep me going. Knowing that there’s more than half a dozen of you out there is the icing on the cake.
Thank you and Happy New Year,
The Photo Geek
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
I haven’t been posting much lately but i have lots of good stuff in store for the blog in 2012. In the meantime I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
The Good, The Bad and The Very, Very Ugly of Occupy Wall Street.
On a beautiful, sunny afternoon I decided to finally head down to Lower Manhattan and Zuccotti Park to see for myself, just what this Occupy Wall Street movement had to offer. Being somewhat disappointed by the way the media had been covering things and not quite ready to believe what my Left Wing friends were preaching. I headed down to the WTC area to get a look and possibly engage some of the people down there in conversation. I decided to break this down into three separate posts; The Good, The Bad and the Very Very Ugly of Occupy Wall Street. Enjoy.
Below are some of the images I managed to capture.
The Good
Flashback Friday; Maxwells and Dromedary Records Host Camelfest
The older I get the more I find myself playing catch up. I work harder, sleep less and seem to be having more fun than any other time in my life. This creates an unforeseen problem. There just don’t seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week to accomplish the tasks I hope to accomplish. You’d think that with all the modern technology at our fingertips, things would be made easier. Maybe it’s just me, but it only seems to make things more difficult. My neglect towards this blog only serves as a reminder. One of the things I decided to do is start a new installment to the blog titled “Flashback Friday”. This will allow me to free myself from any time
constraints and show work that from the recent or somewhat recent past.
This weeks install doesn’t go that far back. The second week of August to be exact. I was still recovering from surgery when I was contacted by Dromedary Records head Al Crisafulli and Jim Testa of Jersey Beat asking if i
would cover a two day, three show music fest at Maxwells. The festival, strangely named “Camelfest: would benefit the Roots and Wings Foundation. A group that serves to help those that are aging out of the Foster Care System. It sounded like a great cause. Definitely worthy of attention. The thing was I was just out of the hospital recovering from surgery. I still had my stitches/staples in (Eleven if anyone’s counting) and was told to rest and stay out of crowds or situations where you might be bumping into people. “Fuck it” I said. You only live once and Maxwell’s is only a few blocks from me. It wasn’t as if I’d be getting caught in a mosh or have people stage diving on my head. So I went, covered all three shows and had a great time. The few times when I really felt the pain of my surgery was when I bumped myself with my own camera. By the end of it all I was exhausted and needed an entire day to sleep it off. Regardless
, I’m glad I got to be a part of something special. I finally got to meet Al from Dromedary. He’s an all around awesome dude. It was really special getting to see him really enjoy himself on the final night. Enjoy the pics.
Static Radio Stops in for a Visit.
I know it’s been a long time since I posted. Truth is I’ve had plenty to post but just haven’t had the time. Since we last spoke I started a new music related blog which has taken a lot of my spare time. Dave (Rocket Science) and I (Unite Webzine) have been doing interviews, reviews and catching our share of shows at local venues. Needless to say, it’s been a labor of love for me. A friend of mine, Shannon, has done more than her share. Contributing as both and interviewer and interviewee. From day 1 she had been talking about doing an interview with New Jersey’s Static Radio. I was totally cool with the idea until she asked me to photograph them to coincide with the interview. I wasn’t really interested in the idea but her excitement and nagging finally got me to agree. So one morning this week Vic and Michael (The bands key contributors and constant members) stopped by with Shannon. I had never met them prior but took an almost immediate liking to them. The session was a short but productive one. I even managed to get Shannon in on the fun. Something I’m sure she was more than happy to be a part of.
The shoot got me thinking how cool it would be to do something more personal for future interviews. Perhaps a mix of images with the bands both rockin’ out and hanging out. It would be pretty cool. Thanks to Shannon for being such a pest. Special thanks to Michael and Vic for starting my day off right.
Look out for the interview here: http://unitedbyrocketscience.blogspot.com/
Check out Static Radio NJ here: http://www.staticradionj.com/
I Said Watermarking, not Waterboarding Part II
The conversation and debate about Watermarking continues. I’ve been speaking with a lot of friends and fellow photographers since my prior posts regarding the subject. The overwhelming majority agree I need to take steps to protect my work from being used with permission or credit. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve found myself knocking my head against the wall chasing bands on Facebook. Having bands take shit of my website and even found one of my shots on a credible website with no permission or credit. (My email yet to be addressed after more than four days) From now on people can take my work and put it anywhere their heart desires because there’s going to be a big Fucking watermark on it. No worries, no complaints. Safe and sound. The End.
Grand Theft Photo
The other night while uploading an interview and some new pictures to my music website I decided to add a disclaimer “All Photos Property of James Damion and Unite Fanzine.” I’ve been having a lot of people use my photos without permission or credit and it was beginning to piss me off. As I stated in an earlier blog post I’m not crazy about the idea of watermarking my images just yet. However I do find myself spending more and more time reminding folks that if they are going to use one of my images as their profile badge they should at least give me a photo credit. Well, only hours after loading the update I found some kid took the picture off the site and used it for his Facebook profile picture. No credit or notification. I was pissed, especially considering his bands shot was directly under the disclaimer. After confronting him I was still pissed and started watermarking everything. Pictures, records, my cat… You name is. I wanted my Watermarks to be large and obnoxious. I even tangled with watermarks that didn’t even have my name on them. “YourBandSucks”, “DicksDon’tCredit” and more insane ones too dirty to post here. Hey, I was pissed and Nasty Watermarking seemed like a better idea than spitting teeth. I’m calm and detached now and thinking that watermarking might be the next step for me. In the meantime…..
This Won’t Hurt a Bit.
Believe it or not there are people out there that absolutely hate having there picture taken. The mere sight of a camera sends them into panic and hysteria. The most relaxed and chill person can fall into an anxiety ridden state with just the mere thought of the idea. I have seen this happen time and time again. Tuesday afternoon I was witness to such when Jenn came to have some headshots taken for her new business endeavor. As she rounded the corner she smiled and waved hello like a lifelong friend. As we met I couldn’t get over how beautiful and stunning her eyes and smile were. She was sweet, friendly and warm. In our initial phone conversation she told me how much she hated having her picture taken but I couldn’t possibly gauge what she meant until that time actually came. As I sat her down and began to raise my camera the cracks began to show…..and quick. Her shoulders stiffened and her eyes took on that of a dear in headlights. I tried everything under the sun to relax her but none of it came close to working. I had taken as many as five pictures when she called out “Are we done?” while reaching for her checkbook. I told her I couldn’t take her money if I didn’t actually do my job. When I suggested taking some shots outside it seemed to only make things worse. By all means she was one of the coolest people I’d come in contact with in a while. But when that camera came out, it was over. I was able to get some shots but nothing that even came close to portraying how truly beautiful this woman was. Surprisingly, Jenn contacted me later and asked if we could give it another try. I was more than happy to oblige and will have the pleasure of seeing her again on Friday. Jenn, if you’re reading this I’m just going to tell you something a friend told me a few days ago, “Chillax, it’s all good.”
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