I'm going to start a "photo therapy" series to temporarily take you, or me, away from whatever it is I'm doing. This first post is a shot I took from Cathedral Rock in Sedona, AZ back in December of 2012.
Cathedral Rock | Sedona, AZ | photo by Steven Williams
Photographer/Filmmaker Rob Whitworth (check out his awesome video BARCELONA Go!) shared this on Facebook yesterday, it's an amazing tilt-shift film by Pau Garcia Laita called GIRONA. It was shot in and around the Catalan province of Girona, Spain.
A miniature look to the catalan province of Girona.
Directed by Pau Garcia Laita. https://www.facebook.com/paugarciafreelancefilmmaker
Music: Three by Cameron Ernst.
Licensed by themusicbed.com
On May 2014 the Catalan Tourist Board organized a social media action in which 5 different artists were invited to spend a week through a province of Catalonia shooting with their own style. This is the result of tiltshifting the province of Girona, probably the one that has the most variety of geographical and landscape locations, where I tried to show the different lifestyles people have with a summertime feeling.
Locations in order of appearance: Cadaqués, Vall de Núria, Ribes de Freser, Calella de Palafrugell, Llafranc, Sa Tuna, La Garrotxa, Banyoles, Besalú, Castellfollit de la Roca, Camprodon, Ripoll, Portbou, Estartit, Girona, Puigcerdà, La Cerdanya, La Molina, Cadaqués, Port Lligat, Monestir de Sant Pere de Rodes, El Port de la Selva, La Selva de Mar, Figueres, Sant Antoni de Calonge, Tamariu, Vall de Núria, Palamós, Tossa de Mar, Illes Medes. If you like it, feel free to comment below! :)
This short film by Rob Whitworth is awesome! It was shot using only Nikon cameras and lenses.
BARCELONA in Flow-Motion - A fast moving short film.... In few other cities is it possible to walk from spectacular location to spectacular location. I had a fantastic time adventuring around Barcelona's winding streets making this film. Special thanks to Ferran Macià Edo and his colleagues from Agència Catalana de Turisme (Catalan Tourism Board) for helping me get access to shoot at numerous stunning locations including: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya Gran Teater del Liceu Sagrada Familia Museu D'Historia De Barcelona Palau de la Música Santa Maria del Pi And an extra special thanks to Marta Garriga Bardalet for patiently modelling during an uncharacteristically cold and rainy day.
My time in numbers:
363 hours work
75 Hours Logistics and Travel
31 Hours Scouting and Location Finding
78 Hours Shooting
179 Hours Post Production
26014 Camera Raw Files
817gb of data
Kit List
Nikon D800 DSLR
Nikon D7100 DSLR
Nikon D7100 DSLR
Nikon D3200 DSLR
Nikon 10.5mm f/2.8G ED AF DX Fisheye
NIkon 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5G ED AF-S DX
Nikon 16-35 f/4G AF-S VR Zoom Nikkor
Nikon 28mm AF f/2.8D
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-S
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED AF-S VR II
Promote Control
Sound Design and Music: Slava Pogorelsky
Email: kultenyeuk@walla.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Kultenyeuk
Rob Whitworth
Website: robwhitworth.co.uk/
Email: rob@robwhitworth.com.hk
Facebook: facebook.com/RobWhitworthPhotography
Twitter: twitter.com/kwhi02
Mount Laguna, CA | photo by Dmitry Word
1. They see challenges as opportunities
Most people interpret fears as obstacles and tend to run away from them. People who live their purpose successfully have developed the capacity to see fear as a sign of what they really need to go for and put all their courage and energy into it.
2. They see life as a game.
Having this vision of life opens up space for playfulness and creativity instead of limitation. This also cultivates qualities of resilience, problem solving and confidence that helps them take risks to get to the next big place.
3. Living the life they want is the only option.
They’re so committed to making their dreams a reality that they banish any possibility of a backup plan whatsoever from their mind. They don’t think things like, “If it doesn’t work, I’ll just go get a job.”
4. They always speak their truth.
They’re able to speak it because they make a conscious effort to connect to their truest desires, their inner voice, and their spirituality without fear of judgment. This connection is typically fostered through meditation, journaling, being mentored and being surrounded by like minded-people.
This is definitely one of the best time-lapse videos I've ever seen. Joel Schat does an amazing job at capturing the beauty of nature that is so often overlooked by today's fast paced living. None of the shots he took are quick and easy, they all take time and that time forces one to sit back and relax while enjoying something that's all around us, yet seldom appreciated. It's seeing videos and photography like this that continue to inspire me to get out and see as much of the world as possible. Amazing job Joel and Roadtrippers.com!
Some old shots I did with Jana a.k.a Eufrat:
March 2011
October 2011
This is a great article my sister posted on Facebook. It's written by Paul Hudson for elitedaily.com, but upon reading it, it sounds exactly like what I tell people when they ask me how I live my life.
Surprise, surprise… happy people live their lives differently. They don’t have different lives. They just do a better job at living them than those who are unhappy.
Happiness is the result of subjective interpretation of perception. Of course, what we perceive isn’t always done so by choice — life does throw things our way.
However, most of the time, we find ourselves in the situations we are in because of actions we took and decisions we made. It’s the way that you live your life that largely decides whether or not you will live happily.
They like themselves and they are the only people they ever answer to. You could like them. You could hate them. You could pay them no mind whatsoever — doesn’t make a difference to them.
They do what they do because they decided to do it. They aren’t trying to gain your approval or acceptance. They don’t want to be part of your team — they’re a team of their own. They live their lives the way they see fit and if you like them for it, great. If not… then so be it.
They don’t believe they have to do anything. Other than pay taxes and die of course — everything else is a decision followed by deliberate action. If they are doing something, going somewhere, participating in something, it’s because that is exactly what it is that they want to be doing.
No one coerced them or tricked them into doing it because they value their opinion above everyone else’s. They do what they believe is right and don’t bother to ask for permission — they just do it.
Friends are tricky because they aren’t really yours, are they? You don’t own them. They are their own people who have their own wants and needs — people who will always put themselves ahead of you and your goals. Friends are great to have, but relying on them too heavily will leave you disappointed.
Those who live happy lives have very close friends, but they keep their independence in order to avoid those moments. It’s the lack of independence and over-reliance that often comes to ruin friendships — all relationships for that matter.
They tell you about the things they are doing with their lives — the places they have visited and are planning on visiting. The projects they are starting or part of. The problems they are working towards solving and the communities they are working with to get those problems solved.
When you ask them what they do, they respond with what they do in their lives, not what work they do in order to pay for the lives they want to one day be living. The real trick is that these individuals know better than to wait to live the lives they want to live. You live life whether you accept or ignore the fact, how you live it in the moment determines how happy you are.
Happy people tend to move around a bit. Maybe it’s because traveling does the soul good. Maybe it’s because the stagnancy of staying in one place their whole lives bores them.
Maybe it’s because they love meeting new people and having new experiences. Maybe it’s because they haven’t found the right place to settle down just yet. You see, these individuals see the world as their home — no single country or city. If you ask them where they live, then they’d answer “earth” if they wouldn’t come off sounding highfalutin.
You don’t need a book to tell you how you ought to live your life. You can live your life by whatever philosophy you wish — as long as you found truths that satisfy you. They have a strong grasp of right and wrong and are their own judges.
They know they’re only mortal — having this knowledge and accepting it fuels their every step. You will do. Why? Because it is inevitable. There is no way of avoiding it, only dealing with the fact.
The happiest of people don’t fear death. They don’t do their best to avoid it. They see it as the inevitability that it is in and live their lives by their terms. They may not be able to control death, but they know they sure as hell can control their own personal lives.
They don’t believe there is a single way that the world is — a single reality that exists. Instead, they believe themselves to be the originators of their reality.
They believe they have full control over how they interpret what they perceive. They see the world the way they choose to see it because they understand the power such a skill has. We all live in a reality of our own construction. Some of us just construct our realities better than others.
Happy people have hopes, dreams and goals. They have wants and aspirations, but they don’t allow themselves to get caught up and lost in them. There isn’t so much a time and place for dreaming as there is a maximum allotted amount recommended.
You can’t live life doing nothing more than looking towards the future because you’ll miss the only time that things actually matter or exist: the present. The present, the immediate moment is the only moment that you can actually live in. The rest is only an illusion.
Devoting your energy to changing other people is a waste of it. People do change, but they only do so on their own accord. They have to decide to change themselves and that only happens in time — you can’t push and force because it doesn’t work.
On the contrary, it often does the opposite of what is intended. Instead of wasting time and energy trying to do the impossible, why not do the next best thing? Learn to deal with people as they are in order to get the result you desire. If you can’t change them, then guide them to do as you wish. Otherwise, let them go.
Model: Cynthia Chavez | instagram.com/missbolivia20 | twitter.com/MissChavez20
Photographer: Steven Williams | instagram | twitter | facebook | tumblr
I was just going through some old photos that I had taken during a camping trip two summers ago with my buddy Jozias and stumbled upon this shot which I took while driving around Big Bear. We were camping up in the San Gorgonio Wilderness for a few days and then spent a a night or two in Big Bear.
Another archived shot from Point Loma looking off the coast of San Diego with one of the Coronado Islands in the background. This is the same sailboat that was in one of my previous posts.
These are some old photos I just dug up from a few years ago, they were all shot using my Nikon D5000 and taken from Point Loma in San Diego and might give you a different perspective of the city than one you typically see in photos.
Here's another old shot from the archives. This was also taken with my old Nikon D5000. I saw these sailboats and took this shot from the end of Point Loma (San Diego, CA) overlooking the Pacific Ocean just before sunset.
I was just digging through an old external drive and found a few old photos I had taken with my Nikon D5000 a few years ago. These shots were taken from Point Loma facing toward downtown San Diego and Coronado. Seeing the mountains in the background would make you think it was a different part of the country.
View of downtown San Diego shot from Point Loma
Coronado, CA
Back in September of 2007 I spent about a week in Buenos Aires, Argentina meeting with my friends at 3Dar to discuss future projects. While I was there I wanted to take a trip across the Rio de la Plata to visit the town of Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay. After a long night hanging out with my new female friends (I ended up traveling with them for a month 3 months after this trip) at an Irish Pub called Kilkenny, I boarded the Buque Bus and headed across the river. Here are a few shots from the trip:
The overview effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often while viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface.
It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative.
Check out the trailer for our feature film CONTINUUM: https://vimeo.com/60234866 If you'd like more information about CONTINUUM and how you can support & even pre-order the film, check out: http://www.continuumthemovie.com. On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect. The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment. ‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment. CAST • EDGAR MITCHELL – Apollo 14 astronaut and founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences • RON GARAN – ISS astronaut and founder of humanitarian organization Fragile Oasis • NICOLE STOTT – Shuttle and ISS astronaut and member of Fragile Oasis • JEFF HOFFMAN – Shuttle astronaut and senior lecturer at MIT • SHANE KIMBROUGH – Shuttle/ISS astronaut and Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army • FRANK WHITE – space theorist and author of the book ‘The Overview Effect’ • DAVID LOY- philosopher and author • DAVID BEAVER – philosopher and co-founder of The Overview Institute ———- CREW Producer: STEVE KENNEDY Director: GUY REID Editor: STEVE KENNEDY Director of Photography: CHRISTOPHER FERSTAD Original Score: HUMAN SUITS Dubbing Mixer: PATCH MORRISON ———- TECHNICAL INFORMATION Filmed with Canon 5D Mk ii. Additional footage from NASA / ESA archives Duration: 19 minutes ———- Planetary Collective: http://www.planetarycollective.com/ Overview Microsite: http://www.overviewthemovie.com/ Human Suits (original score): http://www.humansuits.com/ For more information: The Overview Institute: http://www.overviewinstitute.org/ Fragile Oasis: http://www.fragileoasis.org/
Awhile back Lowepro sent me some gear and one of the items they sent was a Lowepro Nova Sport 35L AW. I'm currently in San Diego loading up my Nova Sport now for a shoot tomorrow in LA. I'll be doing some furniture shots for Furniture Porn followed up by some fashion work with models Kate Compton, Danielle Ruiz and Mina Doll for Arsenic Magazine. I've been out of town a lot over the past few months and this bag just got back from traveling with me through California, Peru, Chile and Argentina and really made traveling with camera gear much easier. I fly a lot and definitely recommend this bag to anyone else that travels with camera gear. The built in rain cover really came in handy while I was rolling my suitcase (with the Nova Sport secured to the top) through the streets of Buenos Aires. On the way down to Buenos Aires from Los Angeles I was able to fit my Nikon D7000 + 4 Nikon lenses (12-24mm f/4G | 35mm f/1.8G | 50mm f/1.8G | 55-200mm), a Canon 6D + 3 Sigma lenses (18-35mm f/1.8 | 50mm f/1.4 | 50-150mm f/2.8), Nikon SB-600 Speedlight, a Macbook Air and a bunch of filters and accessories.
I'm finally heading back to San Diego from Argentina, I'm a week late and not that excited about going home, but it's time. I've been sitting here at the airport in Santiago, Chile for 7 hours already and have almost 2 hours left before being able to board the flight from here to LA where a friend of mine will pick me up at 6:40AM to drive me back to San Diego. 10 hour flight ahead . . . I have shoots lined up in LA just after the New Years and then I'll be working with my band while putting together a plan to go back to Argentina.
Well I've managed to get myself stranded in Argentina for an additional week, but that's not a bad thing. With this extra time here I was able to spend time collaborating with my good friends Tomy and Pali from Tuco Studios. We met the last time I was in Buenos Aires back in 2011 and have been talking about trying to work on some stuff together ever since. We have some cool new projects in the works and the other night I was hanging out with Tomy and he started bring new life to some photos I took awhile back and have done much with. Here's a sample of what's to come, the model is the beautiful Eufrat from Prague and the shoot took place in Los Angeles back in 2011.
I've been hanging out in Argentina for about 2 weeks now and even though this is my fifth time here I've been discovering and experiencing a lot of new things that I hadn't in previous trips. Each time I come here I stay for a few weeks to a month. During this particular trip I've been exploring the photography and fashion elements of this amazing city. So far since I've been here I've befriended some amazing photographers, producers and stylists and have had the good fortune of meeting and hanging out with Jorge Aragon. Jorge is a Colombian born, Argentina based photographer that I've been following for quite awhile and have been friends with on Facebook for a year or two. Prior to this trip we had never met in person, but yesterday we were finally able to get together and he's been introducing me to a number of great contacts in the industry here, I hope to repay the gesture next time he's in LA. He and the models have all been so cool and receptive and I really appreciate the kindness and willingness to help me get acquainted with the key players in the Buenos Aires photography and fashion scene. Jorge is a very versatile shooting everything from products to high fashion. I find his work inspiring and he's definitely one of my favorite photographers in Buenos Aires which is why I want to include him in my Photographer Spotlight series.
Jorge Aragon
www.jorgearagonphoto.com
www.facebook.com/JorgeAragonPhoto
JORGE ARAGON PHOTO™ / All Rights Reserved ® 2000-2014
I've been really busy traveling a lot lately and haven't had a chance to post anything over the past month. I'm currently in Argentina and will be here for a few weeks. Since I'm here I thought I should add an Argentinian model to My Model Wish List. I was browsing through some Argentina based modeling agencies and stumbled upon Mia Flores Piran on the Civiles site. I don't know if I'll have be able to schedule a shoot with her, but I do have some friends that work for the agency so you never know. I do have a few shoots scheduled while I'm here and I will post those when I can.
