Gettin' some Leg-o

When I was a kid I loved playing with my Legos. That may be why I later aspired to become an Architect. Each night I would take my five gallon bucket of Legos out, dump them onto the floor and build elaborate (for an 8 year old) multicolor worlds complete with buildings, rocketships, and little people. It was the great pleasure of my life at the time!!!

Well I recently ran across a photographer on Flickr that has combined my childhood love of Legos with my adulthood passion for photography. He has taken classic photojournal images from the last century and recreated them in Lego format. Going by the name of Balakov, he has managed to create a set of nine benchmark photographs ranging from Henri Cartier-Bresson's "Behind the Gare Saint Lazare" (my favorite), to the ever romantic VJ Day in Times Square by Alfred Eisenstadt shown below.

Additionally, Balkov has some other great Lego creations he has photorgaphed. I highly reccomend you taking a look at his profile on Flickr. I would also take a look at the original photos that are linked to. These are images that have become societal changing, I still remember the Tieneman Square Protest so many years later because of that one photo of the singular student in front of the tanks. Photos are just a slice of time in our lives, literally a fraction of a second. And taken at the right time, and the right place (what Cartier-Bresson called the Decisive Moment), photos really can shape and impact the world. 

Holga-tastic!

The image above is taken with a Holga camera. It was taken by a user on Flickr named Jen Mo. I've been looking at potential for using one of these little plastic cameras in weddings to get a similar look to the picture above. It would have an edgy, shoot from the hip, kind of photography. Unfortunately it's not something that can quite be duplicated in Photoshop. The quality (or lack of) comes from the plastic lens, the tendency for light leaks and the film. Yes FILM... It's not just "stuff that forms on your teeth when you don't brush" As Vincent Versace claims.

Now, I will admit, I haven't needed to or wanted to shoot much film since about 2003, but the grainy structure and characteristics of different brands give it that 1960-70's retro look. Much like Super 8 movies (which I will be blogging about a little down the line). 

I'm thinking I might be purchasing one of these Holgas to try it out around town, and then bring one to my next wedding shoot. If you are interested in seeing more photos go the the Flickr Holga Group. 

David's Bridal out in force

It's that time of year again. The annual onslaught of the Bridal Gown sales.

I have been seeing David's Bridals quite often and I hopped over to their website today and they have some pretty good deals for the budget minded bride. Their wedding dresses start at $99 and wherever you can find a deal you should go for it. For Heather's and my wedding she had a costume designer friend make her favorite dress from a magazine as a favor. For the cost of materials - maybe $40 - she had an amazing dress. I grabbed our photographer's camera with the telephoto and took that photo - hence the bird.

When you do get that deal from David's Bridal or that killer Vera Wang dress give me a call and we will work out a good deal for wedding photography. 

Happy Shopping from William Bay Photography
Cheers! 

"Timeless" has past it's expiration date.

As I have been doing quite a bit of marketing and surfing the net for ideas, I have seen an incredible amount of wedding photography, wedding photography sites, and wedding photography buzzwords...

One of the most used and, in my opinion, useless buzzwords is "Timeless."

"We will take outstanding images so that you can cherish your timeless photos, bla bla bla."  "So-and-so wedding photography delivers timeless images for that once in a lifetime day, yadda-yadda-yadda."

I tend to have a more refined "fine art" idea of photography, due to my background. My heroes are the old dead guys like Paul Strand, Edward Weston, and of course Ansel Adams. I learned from them what "true" art is. "True" art is what everyone confuses with the "Timeless" aspect to photography, and even then not very well. ...If you follow.  

Let's look at it this way:
Photographers catch a notion that something should be done a certain way, (take the rule of thirds or any other rule of composition). Run of the mill photographers latch on to those ideas and concepts and make them dogma for their existence to have some order. Yes, deep inside every photographer is a little engineer demanding it be done a certain way. Some listen to it more than others.

Now one of those concepts is "Timelessness." No-one breaks out of the mold when it comes to that term. It is impossible to have a timeless image. To prove the point, run and grab your parents photo album, then ask your older friends to see theirs. And for kicks check out something from the 80's. They will all show some age, some funky fashion, and, for the owners of said albums it will bring them back to that day and reminisce about that day, what happened that morning, the crazy stunt whats-his names's golfing buddy did right before the wedding.

These are not timeless thoughts! Neither are the photos. They are indeed very dated. As well they should be.

While photos may stand the test of time, they are never ever timeless! Remember that when looking at these photojournalistic ideas and trends. They are just that - trends and they will change. So the photos you take this year will look completely dated next decade. And you should embrace that fact.  Review the wedding photos we've taken and see if you we can help you for your not-timeless images.

Fine Art Gallery is up!!!

I've finally worked through the beast of a catalog of fine art. landscape and travel photos I have accumulated over the last dozen years or so. They are constantly evolving of course, but this is a good break down of all the non-wedding photos I have. Looking through the photos of Thailand I noticed a trend start to emerge of strong portraits. I think at some point I will make a collection of just portraits of my various journeys. Thailand is a great place to shoot portraits. Everyone is so friendly and generous. "Dai Tairoop Mai?" is Thai for "Can I take a picture" and a very useful phrase. More often than not, you won't be turned down.

A Press Release - Ooh I feel so grown up!

I've recently put out a press release! Hopefully it will end up in the Austin American Statesman. And I'll bcome instantly famous!

Former tsunami volunteer to open wedding and portrait photography business in Austin.

The classic story of boy meets Austin girl across the globe, boy and girl fall in love, boy moves to Austin, boy and girl get married, and boy opens wedding photography business.

Austin, TX, (For Immediate Release) February 23, 2008 – As the death toll continued to rise after Christmas 2004, William Bay, Photographer and Candidate Architect, watched on in shock. He knew he was witnessing a powerful event. It became clear that William had to go to Thailand and help in whatever fashion he could.

After closing down his wedding photography business, he flew to Thailand and started right away on a construction site in Khao Lak, the hardest hit area of Thailand.

Four months later he met Austinite Heather Burt, who was also volunteering, teaching English at Thai schools. They hit it off and had a short time together before she left back to Austin.

Eventually William moved to Austin and began working for a local engineer as a CAD drafter. They have since bought a house, become engaged and most recently married just this past summer.

Soon William’s desire to start shooting weddings again began to bubble up.

“It was when I was talking to fellow photographer/friend from San Diego when preparing for Heather’s and my wedding that I remembered the excitement of shooting such a huge day for a couple. It’s a great job! Who wouldn’t want to do that?”

In addition to weddings William has a very unique style of portraiture that is much in line with his personal views on life. No stuffy indoor studios, William insists:

“All of my portrait work is done in natural light, and most often in natural surroundings. Stripping away man-made elements as much as possible to get to the essence of the person being photographed.”

About William Bay Photography

William Bay Photography is now available for wedding and portrait commission work. He likes to discuss wedding plans or portrait ideas with potential clients over margaritas, music and good photos.

Contact:

William Bay

William Bay Photography

512.438.9662

william@williambay.com

http://www.williambayphotography.com

Our Wedding

I  have been wanting to get some of the images up here since we got married back in July. It was an absolutely gorgeous day out at Chapel Dulcinea where we got married. Heather Van Gaale, a good friend from San Diego, flew in to do the photography. I think she did an amazing job. This shot of Heather is everyones favorite.

It started off a little hairy, I was actually late to my own wedding! I had to stop at a country store on my way out for gas since I was on empty. It hadn't occurred to me until after I got back in my X-terra that I hadn't turned off the ignition while filling gas!!! Holy Moly!
I can hear the sherriff informing Heather now: "I'm sorry to regret that your fiance will not be able to make it to your wedding because he blew up due to his own stupidity."

Once I got out there things calmed down a bit and the small ceremony got underway. It was so beautifu. Heather looked awesome! My mom and sister were there, Heather's parents were there. Chris, my best friend, officiated the ceremony.

I've posted a few of the best photos here, they were all taken by Heather Van Gaale (the other Heather in my life). The other 200 of the good ones are here.

A New Beginning

I started giving it some thought as my own wedding approached. I had the other Heather in my life, Heather Van Gaale from San Diego flying in soon and we were talking often. We would reminisce about the hijinx we would get into while shooting weddings together. That's fun. That's exciting. That's why I started shooting weddings, for the energy and the great photos you can get from each wedding. Maybe it's just one photo that blows your mind from any given event, but every Saturday you photographed was one of the best Saturdays ever for a group of people. And that was fun to be a part of.

After being gone for a year in Thailand, and living in Austin for another 18 months I recognized I missed it.

In that light I've decided to throw my hat back into the ring and dust off the camera, and possibly document some of those Saturdays.