Jake Rohde | Valo Photography

I missed last weeks Photo of the Week due to the fact that I was in Mexico on vacation celebrating my one year anniversary with my wife Catherine. We had a wonderful time. I did not however have a computer there, so I couldn’t do anything with the photos I was taking while there, including posting one here. Now that I am back I am slowly getting myself back into the fast pace of life.

This weeks Photo of the Week comes from Mexico. I am not very good at Tourist type photographs of people standing in front of what they did or saw, etc. I spent most of our time in Playa outside the Tourist area, photographing what I would consider possibly more of the real Mexico. This weeks photo is from one of those adventures, check it out.

“Mini Super”
Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
Jake Rohde
Valo Photography

3 Comments | In: Fine Art, Photo of the Week, Photography, Travel | tags: 5D, Canon, Canon 5D, City, digital, Jake, Jake Rohde, Mexico, Photography, Playa Del Carmen, Travel, Urban, Vacation, Valo, Valo Photography. | #

This weeks photo of the week comes from a disposable camera. I have been having a lot of fun using low-fi camera such as disposables, Holgas, Dianas, Pinholes, and others. It is a lot of fun. What I think it does for me is lets me focus more on content and really push myself to try and make a good image with not much to work with. Sometimes it is very frustrating, because there is that lack of control, since there really is not a lot you can control… Pop some film in, you are stuck to that speed, there is no exposure control, so you kind of have to look for light that will fit with what you have… etc… It is a challenge and it is a lot of fun. I think it also shows that you can make nice and unique images with not a lot of equipment. Nice equipment is nice, and I love all the gear that I have, but sometimes it is so nice to reject it all, grab a lo-fi camera and go for a walk and just have fun…

This photo is from Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin. My wife took me there last weekend for a little birthday getaway. I brought a couple disposable cameras with me, and shot through two of them. This was one of my favorite images from the walk. The camera I used I received free from a friend, who had a bunch of leftovers from her company, so really it cost me next to nothing, since I didn’t even have to pay for the camera…

More images from disposable cameras can be found in my Flickr set Disposable.

“Bob 35″
Stugeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin
Jake Rohde
Valo Photography

No Comments | In: Fine Art, Lomo, Photo of the Week, Photography | tags: City, disposable, disposable camera, film, Jake, Jake Rohde, lo-fi, Lomo, Photography, Urban, Valo, Valo Photography, WI, Wisconsin. | #

This weeks photo is a simple photo taken when I noticed some gorgeous light falling on these roses. The light hit the roses and the shadow created this nice separation between the red of the roses and the red wall. It was just 3 minutes of nice light, and then it was gone. This is one good example of BYCE (bring your camera everywhere), because you never know when mother nature is going to give you some nice light to work with…

“Red on Red”
West Bend, Wisconsin
Jake Rohde
Valo Photography

No Comments | In: Fine Art, Photo of the Week, Photography | tags: 5D, Canon, Canon 5D, City, Cream, Cream City, digital, Jake, Jake Rohde, Milwaukee, Photography, Valo, Valo Photography, West Bend, WI, Wisconsin. | #

This is my favorite tree. I have taken many photographs of this tree and they are all very different. My most popular is probably “Tree with Yellow Line” which was lucky enough to grace the cover of the “Cue” section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This photo is another version of my favorite tree. Enjoy.

“Northpoint Tree”
Milwaukee Wisconsin

No Comments | In: Fine Art, Photo of the Week, Photography | tags: film, Jake, Jake Rohde, Mamiya, Mamiya 645, Milwaukee, Northpoint, Photography, Rohde, Valo, Valo Photography, WI, Wisconsin. | #

“Power Lines Sunset”
From the series “Atmosphere”
Milwaukee, WI

I have decided that each week I will pick my favorite photo from the week and post it along with a brief description of the photo. I once tried a photo blog where I would post a photo per day, but in the end it seemed as though I was posting for the sake of posting, and not posting work I liked at all. After thinking about it a bit more, I think I can handle posting one photo per week that I really like.  This week the photo comes from a series I am currently obsessing over which I like to call “Atmosphere”. I commented a little bit on this series in a past posting about experimentation, and I think it is still in it’s infancy. But I really do like the images I am making in this series. I have always been one to lean towards an image that says something, or an image that pops, more so than a technically perfect image. I think some of my favorite images are not technically “correct” at all, and for that matter they are not always compositionally “correct” either. To me a good image is more than a compositionally “correct”, sharp, grainless, noiseless pictures. To me a good image is something you feel when you look at it. I guess maybe that is what I am trying to do with this series of photographs. Escape the technical and concentrate on a feeling.

So I hope you enjoy this image of the week, and I hope you will continue to enjoy the images I post here.

As always I would love to hear what you think.

2 Comments | In: Fine Art, Photo of the Week, Photography | tags: Abstract, Canon 5D, City, Cream, Cream City, digital, Experiment, Experimentation, Jake, Jake Rohde, Milwaukee, Photography, Urban, Valo, Valo Photography, WI, Wisconsin. | #

Yesterday Simon and I went out to catch some evening light. We wondered around North Ave for a while to photograph some people and urban scenes. As I was walking around I was thinking a lot about experimentation. I just recently picked up a new lens, an 85mm prime, which is a focal length that I haven’t used all that often, especially for walking around town. So my intent yesterday was to just experiment with the new focal length in ways that I normally wouldn’t. Initially I brought it along to possibly shoot some portraits, but then the more I thought about experimentation, the more I tried to take photographs that had nothing to do with people… I really believe that experimentation is so very important in any artistic medium. Without experimentation an art form would never evolve. So I made yesterdays walk around about experimentation. When I returned home, most of what I was experimenting with, was completely worthless, but some of the photos were worth keeping. Which brings me to another topic. Failure. With experimentation, one must never be afraid of failure. A lot of experimentation ends up in failure. I have learned to not be afraid of failure. We can learn a lot in our failures. Without a thousand failures we would never land on that one thing that works.

Simon’s experience last night was a little different. He concentrated on a more human aspect and experience. You can read about that here.

So what are your thoughts on experimentation, failure and the interconnection, or lack there of, of the human experience?

Simon Experiments with some street video using the new 5D MkII. Exciting possibilities.

Below is a series of photographs I have started to make. These were a result of an experiment. This experiment is still in it’s infancy, but I am really liking the results so far. Right now I am calling these “Atmosphere”.

4 Comments | In: Fine Art, Photography | tags: Abstract, Canon 5D, City, Cream, Cream City, digital, Experiment, Experimentation, Jake, Jake Rohde, Milwaukee, Photography, Urban, Valo, Valo Photography, WI, Wisconsin. | #