Benjamin Lamb Photography

Riding Bored

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Boom Boom Pow

2011-12-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Jeepers Creepers

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Dairy Queen

2011-12-27T08:16:00.001-08:00

Announcement

2011-12-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge!

Chase Jarvis

2011-12-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

"Thinking clearly is a huge component of creating good art."

Stop Light

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Shooting and driving isn't always a bad idea, Mom.

Switchback

2011-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Nothing

2011-09-27T08:00:00.001-07:00

(Please someone get the title)

Bursting

2011-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

A Humble Kingdom

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Upright in a downcast

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Up, up and away 2

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Up, up and away 1

2011-09-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

Marry the Night

2011-08-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Just Into Trees

2011-08-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

That I Would Be Good

2011-08-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

I think its time to start blogging again.

Austin Hable

2011-07-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

I used to change this young mans' diapers!

Aunt Bobbi

2011-07-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Dirty Light

2011-05-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

The Lamb Family Does Prom

2011-04-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was hired to take my first prom pictures in Corsicana, TX, the town where my parents live. The most exciting part of the job was that my family volunteered to help and we had so much fun! I'm not usually much for publishing test shots or family snapshot photos but these were silly and proved that I'm not just weird, its genetic. :)

Fashion Nation Shoot

2011-03-30T06:06:00.001-07:00

Recently did a shoot with a Texas State organization called Fashion Nation! They're having a fashion show called The Final Chapter onApril 16th 7:30 at The Belmont in Austin...I'm told its gonna be pretty grand!

Hello Moon

2011-03-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

Halloween Stranger - Bone to Pick

2011-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Tooth Fairy Potty Dance

2011-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Gotta Catch'em All!

2011-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Pocahontas was an Indoor Girl

2011-02-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Eeeek! Its 80s Madonna

2011-02-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - OBGYN from Hell

2011-02-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Ranchero

2011-02-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Tae Kwon No You Didnt!

2011-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - The Dark Knight

2011-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - If Indiana Jones Shopped at JC Penney

2011-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - All American

2011-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Hao you doin?!

2011-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger -Tidy Cat Takes a Fresh Step

2011-02-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Will Work for Food

2011-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween Stranger - Cardboard Gladiator

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Slow Burn

2011-01-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

slow burn from frazerchurchill on Vimeo.

This is the life that I want

2011-01-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

"You never know what it is, what that thing is that draws you to that person...but you just let it happen. It seems odd but, you know, its almost like going out there and letting yourself fall in love everyday."

Night Storm

2011-01-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T17:24:00.001-08:00

Bored in the Bushes - A Sequel

2010-12-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Bored in the Bushes

2010-12-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

To Want is Not Enough

2010-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Apparently I'm shooting horse portraits now...

2010-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't help myself! It was such a lovely day and they were looking right at me...and then these two nuzzled up and it was just so adorable I had to get out my camera. Horsey love! Please continue to respect me as a serious photographer in spite of my affinity for adorable animal affection.

Sunset Sucker

2010-12-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Goal

2010-11-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Where's the fire?

2010-10-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Old Glory

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Normally I try to avoid images with Americana in them but I was out scouting for night shooting and couldn't resist.

Right Down the Middle

2010-10-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

Good art is about many things - Paul Graham

2010-10-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Paul Graham from Karsten Wiesel on Vimeo.

Grandma

2010-10-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

More fantastic family images from my obsessive film scanning. These are not pictures of my Grandmother...but I sure wish they were! I’m not even positive they’re all of the same woman but they all have a similar idea - love and adventure. My Grandma and I are heavy on the love, every time I hear her ornery voice over the phone my heart beats faster and the emotion swells like I’m in the middle of ‘Love Actually’ at Christmas time. I miss her. Since I was 13 years old and my family left our New Mexico home for Kansas we’ve always been far apart, only seeing each other on the rare visit for holidays.

When I was younger Grandma and I used to adventure together. During our summer break from school, my brother and I would spend an entire month with Grandma in the mountains of Red River, NM a place I still call home. During the day we would “help” her in the shop which I think was more play than work, but we loved to do it: free candy was our payment and I still know how to count back change without a calculator. After the store closed for the day we would go on walks in the mountains and around town and to this day I’ve never enjoyed walking more. We built blanket forts out behind the shop on the lone aspen tree next to the big dining room window so we could be watched. We constructed rock bridges in the stream at the park for hours. We picked flowers, fed humming birds and watched the rain. Grandma taught me to breathe. Grandma taught me to love being outside. Grandma taught me how to be affectionate. Grandma taught me that I’m “Good as any, better than many”.

I wish we could adventure more together. I wish I had a lifetime of pictures of grandma and I to share. But...its not too late I suppose.

Mom with a Camera

2010-10-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Vitruvian Camera

2010-09-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning out my schools camera closet and stumbled upon these old diagrams. Thought they were beautiful in a very precise way. Click on them for enlarged detail!

Night Portrait - Abduction

2010-09-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Girls

2010-09-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Epoch!

More Testing

2010-09-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Morning with Steven

2010-09-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

Morning is my second favorite time to photograph, night being the ideal. There is a peaceful, freshness to the beginning of every day, basking in the quiet while things slowly wake. Its hard, however, for me to find anyone willing to get up in the wee hours of the morning to take pictures with. Models and artist religiously sleep in and apparently I am the exception with my internal alarm clock permanently set for around 7am. It knows no weekend or day off. It lacks the ability to roll over and go back to sleep. Its a pain but after 31 years, I've stopped fighting it and just use it to my advantage.

This is Steven; a photographer, graphic designer and someone just as insanely obsessed with taking pictures as I am. Over the last year Steven has become a close friend and someone I look to for eager conversation, a push towards working hard while maintaining quality and an ear to bend when my insecurity stops me dead in my tracks and my over commitment fills my head and drowns me. Stevens extremely analytical mind intimidated me immensely when we first met but is now something I greatly appreciate, as it pushes my vastly simple mind to think a little harder. We meet for coffee regularly and talk shop but recently we decided that a need for action was required as the talking had reached a point of exhaustion. So we pushed each other to start shooting or at least take steps to make our photo visions come true. That being said, last Sunday morning we ventured out into the 5:40am darkness seeking inspiration and feeling like the only two people alive.

I don't think we found what we were looking for photographically that morning but I do think we found a call to action that mandated both of us step towards our project goals, over coming whatever obstacles stood in our way. Inspired.

Pals

2010-09-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bro time before it got douchey.

Testing some new photo toys...

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Let Kids Be Kids

2010-09-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

As with family portraits, I really like pictures of kids to be more raw and natural. Ya know, pictures of them actually being kids! When have you ever seen a 5 year old sit properly in a chair, rest his head on a balled fist, hold a teddy bear and smile like an angel? Never right?! Not unless he's being bribed with a banana spit from Braum's (I remember swimming lessons, Mom!) or being threatened within an inch of his life...and who wants a picture of that? Kids play. Kids romp. Kids make silly faces. Kids make messes. I'd rather spend an hour exhausting myself chasing a kid around a playground and taking pictures of them on their territory, enjoying their ignorant youth in bliss, than try to wrangle them down and force a smile out of them.

Night Portrait - With Flare!

2010-09-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Another night portrait, another question. Do we like the lens flare? I've gotten some mixed reactions with the way it discolors the image and subject but, always being one for flare, I kinda dig it. Thoughts?

Roll

2010-09-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

A Family Portrait

2010-09-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

I sat down to scan my ten acquired negatives last night and found myself unable to stop at a mere ten. I'm not sure whether its the ability to peek into the past and see places and people in a time I'd love to photograph or simply the candid rawness of the family depicted but I am fascinated. I would rather take pictures of a family being photographically imperfect but full of joy, brilliant personality and kinship than a canned studio portrait complete with awkward smiles and faux affection.

So indicative of my family, with my brother or I saying something to get a rise out of mom. :)

Lightbox Test

2010-09-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

In the spring I built a huge lightbox tent for taking outdoor portraits with a standardized background. I wanted to avoid using strobes or flashes and harness the natural light but soften it for glowy, lush skin tones. Think glamor shots while camping.

Originally my intent was to use the lightbox in my strangers series, photographing unknowns in a way that prevented their context to speak about them and bring the focus solely to the person. This may still happen...when its a bit cooler in Texas, but a friend of mine was looking for portraits of a group of inspiring young teens graduating from the Kipp Austin College Prep program and my tent and I were happy to oblige. Kipp is a pubic school system in Austin, TX that focuses on educating those whose path to higher learning is riddled with obstacles and I was honored to be photographing the first group of students graduating from the program!

As with all my blog pictures, click on them! They get bigger!

Family Portrait Inspiration

2010-09-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

Shelby Lee Adams,
Sloans on the Porch,
Sloan's Fork, 1988

Now this is a family portrait.

(I apologize for the low quality. I scanned it from an old book.)

Night Portraits Introduction

2010-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a series of night portraits, an idea I've been toying with for about a year and is just now coming to fruition. Taking pictures at night with long exposures and a tripod is one of my favorite things to do, as is portraiture. Combining the two, however, is very difficult because of the lack of light, long shutter speeds and those pesky models who can't hold perfectly still for 30 seconds!

I am still in the rough draft stage and feel like the work I've done is merely a beginning. I'd like to share some of my brainstorms with you and plead for feedback as I continue this project throughout the year.

This is Madison, my friend Aaron's 14 year old sister. I know right, 14?! She is curious and eager and splendidly wide-eyed and will make a killing with the boys at Olathe High School. There is much more of Miss Madison to come!

Acquired Image #6

2010-08-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Acquired Image #5

2010-08-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Acquired Image #4

2010-08-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #32

2010-08-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Acquired Image #3

2010-08-22T08:00:00.002-07:00

Stranger #31

2010-08-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Acquired Image #2

2010-08-18T08:00:00.001-07:00

Stranger #30

2010-08-16T08:00:00.001-07:00

Since I started my stranger series several professors and friends have suggested I give it a go with a large format 4x5 camera. Being lazy and focused in other areas I procrastinated, hoping they would forget and allow me to breeze by with the much easier digital. :) Finally, with the peer pressure mounted against me, I caved and carted a rather buxom camera around in the Texas summer heat, ambushing strangers like a 1930's paparazzi. Not really, there's no surprising anyone with a camera the size of a large car battery.

This is Vanessa. As I approached, she was chipper and friendly, quickly agreeing to my request for a picture. However as I began setting up she began to visibly wrestle with the idea of being in front of the camera. Quickly the hat and beer emerged as she fidgeted anxiously on her perch. As I attempted to take the picture she refused to look at the camera, citing it made her nervous.

Other than enormous film negatives and pristine focus detail, the main push in the use of a 4x5 was to allow the stranger and I to form a rapport as I labored to set-up, meter and focus - a process that takes several minutes at the least. Using the digital camera was a pop and roll kind of shooting that only allowed for maybe 30 seconds of interaction but as I used the 4x5 and talked with these new friends I began to see something that was not present in the quick, digital process - when facing down a large camera unexpectedly in their grill, the self-consciousness had the time to consider itself and emerge, wrestling with the idea of being captured on film.

Acquired Image #1

2010-08-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

I love garage sales...and estate sales...and antique malls...and swap meats...and flea markets - pretty much anywhere I can get old peoples junk really cheap and make it my own shiny toy. In addition to household goods and furniture, I also obsessively hunt for old negatives and slides.

I am fascinated by old pictures not only because they depict a time that I was not privy to but also a people without the image conscious bias that is beat into us by media today. The common man in the 50's didn't really know what to do in front of a camera, so they just stood there, staring. There was no cheese. There was no Tyra Banks teaching us all how to pose and be fiercely ridiculous. It was before we realized that we should try to look good in pictures.

I have BOXES of film just waiting to be scanned but have back-burnered it for the past months because of other deadlines and paying gigs. So yesterday I decided to have some fun and I busted out ten negatives, just to see what was there.

I am so so excited to share a few of these images with you. I've also decided to scan ten negatives a week until the boxes are empty, which I hope is never.

Note to family and friends: Cheap birthday and Christmas present idea - old negatives and slides!

Avedon Obsessed

2010-08-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

Worth ten minutes!

Lightbulb!

2010-08-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

A question and answer session on the Studio222 blog with Erik Valind yielded an answer that validates my ideas that natural light photography is not just for lazy photographers who don't know how to use strobe lights and also pushes me to get more involved and create an image by adding elements. Time to bust out my new Speedlites and push it!

A lot of newer photographers call themselves “natural light photographers”. In your opinion, is “natural light photography” an art form or an excuse to not spend the money and time it takes to learn off camera lighting?

Natural light photography is certainly an art form. After all the hours, ego and money we spend trying to control light in the end we are just trying to recreate something that exists all around us naturally. The best lighting doesn’t draw attention to itself, but to the subject, whether it be natural lighting or carefully crafted and controlled light. Now after saying that I think one should beware of labeling themselves a “Natural Light Photographer” as a crutch, instead strive to be a better photographer all together – one who draws/paints with light. With natural light it seems more about capturing an image, when other lighting elements are introduced you start to get more involved with creating an image.

Engagement Photo Experiment

2010-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been doing a lot of commercial work - portraits, groups, engagement photos. My goal is to mix the traditionally expected images with some spicy art sauce that will make them more interesting for those who aren't into looooove photos. :)

This is Vanessa and Brian, two new friends who have gallantly given me the opportunity to shoot their wedding in December as well as their engagement photos a few weeks ago. These are two of my experiments. I am pleased with the results but unsure how they will be perceived by potential clients with a more traditional eye.

Credo

2010-07-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult by Paul Graham

It’s so easy it's ridiculous. It’s so easy that I can’t even begin – I just don’t know where to start. After all, it’s just looking at things. We all do that. It’s simply a way of recording what you see – point the camera at it, and press a button. How hard is that? And what's more, in this digital age, its free - doesn't even cost you the price of film. It’s so simple and basic, it's ridiculous.

It’s so difficult because it’s everywhere, every place, all the time, even right now. It's the view of this pen in my hand as I write this, it's an image of your hands holding this book, Drift your consciousness up and out of this text and see: it's right there, across the room - there... and there. Then it’s gone. You didn’t photograph it, because you didn’t think it was worth it. And now it’s too late, that moment has evaporated. But another one has arrived, instantly. Now. Because life is flowing through and around us, rushing onwards and onwards, in every direction.

But if it's everywhere and all the time, and so easy to make, then what’s of value? which pictures matter? Is it the hard won photograph, knowing, controlled, previsualised? Yes. Or are those contrived, dry and belabored? Sometimes. Is it the offhand snapshot made on a whim. For sure. Or is that just a lucky observation, some random moment caught by chance? Maybe. Is it an intuitive expression of liquid intelligence? Exactly. Or the distillation of years of looking seeing thinking photography. Definitely.

Ok, so how do I make sense of that never ending flow, the fog that covers life here and now. How do I see through that, how do I cross that boundary? Do I walk down the street and make pictures of strangers, do I make a drama-tableaux with my friends, do I only photograph my beloved, my family, myself? Or maybe I should just photograph the land, the rocks and trees – they don't move or complain or push back. The old houses? The new houses? Do I go to a war zone on the other side of the world, or just to the corner store, or not leave my room at all?

Yes and yes and yes. That's the choice you are spoiled for, but just don't let it stop you. Be aware of it, but don't get stuck – relax, it’s everything and everywhere. You will find it, and it will find you, just start, somehow, anyhow, but: start.

Yes, but shouldn’t I have a clear coherent theme, surely I have to know what I’m doing first? That would be nice, but I doubt Robert Frank knew what it all meant when he started, or for that matter Cindy Sherman or Robert Mapplethorpe or Atget or... so you shouldn’t expect it. The more preplanned it is the less room for surprise, for the world to talk back, for the idea to find itself, allowing ambivalence and ambiguity to seep in, and sometimes those are more important than certainty and clarity. The work often says more than the artist knows.

Ok, but my photography doesn't always fit into neat, coherent projects, so maybe I need to roll freeform around this world, unfettered, able to photograph whatever and whenever: the sky, my feet, the coffee in my cup, the flowers I just noticed, my friends and lovers, and, because it's all my life, surely it will make sense? Perhaps. Sometimes that works, sometimes it’s indulgent, but really it’s your choice, because you are also free to not make 'sense'.

Ok, so I do need time to think about this. To allow myself that freedom for a short time. A couple of years. Maybe I won't find my answer, but I will be around others who understand this question, who have reached a similar point. Maybe I’ll start on the wrong road, or for the wrong reasons – because I liked cameras, because I thought photography was an easy option, but if I’m forced to try, then perhaps I’ll stumble on some little thing, that makes a piece of sense to me, or simply just feels right. If I concentrate on that, then maybe it grows, and in its modest, ineffable way, begins to matter. Like photographing Arab-Americans in the USA as human beings with lives and hopes and families and feelings, straight, gay, young, old, with all the humanity that Hollywood never grants them. Or the black community of New Haven, doing inexplicable joyous, ridiculous theatrical-charades that explode my preconceptions into a thousand pieces. Or funny-disturbing-sad echoes of a snapshot of my old boyfriend. Or the anonymous suburban landscape of upstate in a way that defies the spectacular images we're addicted to. Or... how women use our bodies to display who we believe we should be, Or...

And hopefully I will carry on, and develop it, because it is worthwhile. carry on because it matters when other things don't seem to matter so much: the money job, the editorial assignment, the fashion shoot. Then one day it will be complete enough to believe it is finished. Made. Existing. Done. And in its own way: a contribution, and all that effort and frustration and time and money will fall away. It was worth it, because it is something real, that didn't exist before you made it exist: a sentient work of art and power and sensitivity, that speaks of this world and your fellow human beings place within it. Isn't that beautiful?

(The text was written for the Yale MFA photography graduation book - Yale MFA Photography 2009: We Belong Together) and can be found on American Suburb X.

Stranger #29 - The Three Amigos

2010-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

These three fellas were most entertaining and so very eager to have their picture taken. Homeless and living behind a Denny's in Corpus Christi, TX, they not only posed for pictures but told me story after story. I wasn't sure whether their yarns could be trusted as factual but didn't care either, they were told with animation and the enthusiasm of a child telling the tale of their first day at school.

The gentleman in the middle is a missing person and as you can see, he has the newspaper to prove it. He maintains that he isn't missing at all but simply "At the bash, drinkin to smash." If his family reads this, I have been instructed to tell you that Albert is fine and you can stop looking for him.

Look at the resolution on that baby! :)

Stranger #28

2010-07-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

The reason I like to take pictures of older people is that most of them look so contented. There is a peacefulness in their eyes that says "I've been through it all and I'm still kickin. Things are good and if something comes along, I got it." and I hope to have that look one day.

Stranger #27

2010-07-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

There is something about the honest awkwardness of a child that is fascinating. As we get older we learn to mask our uncomfortableness in all sorts of ways - fake smiles, anger, silence and (my personal favorite) inappropriate jokes. Children don't know how to do all that dog and pony show yet so they either mimic their parents and fail miserably or just give up entirely and stand there. Some days I wish I could forget how to fake it.

Stranger #26 - And We're Back!

2010-07-21T08:35:00.001-07:00

After a short hiatus, we're back! with some new strangers and a mission to actually say something on my blog instead of just lazily posting pictures. Use your words Benjamin, your words!

In the coming weeks I've got lots more strangers to share, as well as some new projects. I've been doing a lot of commercial shooting and would like to share some of that in spite of my hesitations and, frankly, fear. For months this blog has been more of my B-roll than anything. I've put up nifty random shots and some art projects I'm working on for school, thinking I'd save the real meat for my website...which may be a month away or a year, I really don't know. So that being the case, I want to share some of my more efforted work now rather than save it all for one ginormous website launch in the undetermined future.

Recently I've also come across a plethora (yeah, thats right, plethora...its fun to say. Try it.) of helpful information on the web ranging from lighting set-ups to how to publicize your photography to buyers. I know I'm feeling uneasy with my upcoming graduation and as I look for direction and ideas about how to be successful I want to share the information I find with others in similar predicaments.

This gentleman claimed he had been on the cover of several magazines when I asked if I could take his picture. I think he's probably telling the truth with all that character in one glance...it almost looks like a smize. Perhaps he sits at home and watches Americas Next Top Model, smizing in the mirror until his face cramps up.

I think I'm more excited about the fact that he appears to be wearing a Breathe Right strip in public, a feat which I've been tempted to try but never had the gall to throw my old manness out in the open for all to see. :) I aspire.

Stranger #25

2010-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #24

2010-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #23

2010-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #22

2010-06-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #21

2010-06-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #20

2010-06-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #19

2010-06-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #18

2010-06-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #17

2010-06-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #16

2010-06-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #15

2010-06-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #14

2010-06-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #13

2010-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #12

2010-06-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stranger #11

2010-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:00