The Big Klosowski

...it's beginning with a single step, on a rocky path...or something metaphorical like that.

I’m finally launching my photo of the day blog. Well, maybe not everyday, but a few times a month. I hope.

The little plant that could, in Downtown Denver. Click for Hi-Res Image

In case you haven’t been following my Tweets and Facebook posts, I’ve been pretty excited about this project at WorldwideMoment.org for quite a while. It’s a project where thousands of photographers from all over the world take a photo at the exact same moment – a moment meant to inspire peace.

Today was my day to take the photo, and love it or hate it, this is what I thought best represented the concept.

To me it represents finding happiness in unusual places. It’s about starting small and dreaming big (I like to think the flower is hoping to be as tall as the skyscrapers around it). It’s about thriving out of your element.

It’s also just a darned plant in the middle of a crosswalk – so think of it what you will.

I will say that taking this photo was fun. My initial concept involved a pile of dirt in the middle of the road with the flower in it. However, laying down in the middle of a busy street seemed risky enough without trying to plant a flower at the same time. Trying to focus a 50mm 1.4 accurately while lying on your back and hearing the oncoming traffic coming up behind you is definitely an exercise in stupidity.

Funniest part of the whole exercise was hearing a lady on the street corner say to her walking buddy, “That idiot is trying to take a picture of a flower in the middle of the street, and I thought I was crazy…”

But it was fun, and I liked the image, so there. Enjoy!

Denver, CO shot for World Wide Moment by Allen Klosowski

I shot the above image of Denver off my balcony for the World Wide Moment project. It is a project which is aiming at capturing a Worldwide Moment of Peace on 09.09.09 at 9:09:09 by receiving simultaneous photographs from 10,000 people all over the world!

This includes at least one photograph from someone in every country in the World. Then they want to exhibit them. All together. As a reminder of what’s possible, if only for a moment.

Here’s what they did on 08.08.08 at 8:08 – it’s pretty incredible.

World Wide Moment 08.08.08

It’s an ambitious project, and it needs your help.  We need more photographers in more locations to get the project up to it’s goal.  You are that photographer – and amateurs and pros are all invited.

Getting started is easy.  There is a “mini” World Wide Moment every Tuesday from now until 09.09.09.  They’ve got a Facebook account with almost 4,000 members, plus a website, a you can follow them on twitter.

Just take a look here to learn what time to take your image, then get our your digital camera and take a quick snapshot of whatever you are doing at the specified time.

It’s just that easy, and a lot of fun too!  Won’t you join us?

Once you’ve taken your picture, just email it to Brett at World Wide Moment, and include a brief synopsis of what was happening in the picture, and where it was taken.  I can’t wait to see what your moment looks like.

I’m trying to get caught up with my huge photoshop photo load, but in the meantime, I thought I’d keep you entertained with some of our previous work. Here’s a few from a fun set we shot with our friend Alyssa Phillips here in Denver. It’s a modern take on the classic pinup, all for a good bit of fun!

Close ups can be fun!

This was shot in a retro basement in a house here in Denver. We used butterfly lighting with no fill lights to create the Noir style, heavy contrast look.

Sometimes a modern pinup can be a bit more fun!I love playing with all angles.

We tried to play on the retro feel of the room, and the black and white polka-dot dress.  Technically this set was shot with a Canon 5D, a Canon 24-70mm EF L 2.8 lens, and one softbox in a butterfly lighting setup powered by Alien Bee lights.

I love playing with all angles.

Our photography is all about fun, and we really thought this set was just that.  Lots of fun!  Enjoy.

Legs

Denver’s hottest funk band US Pipe invited Selena and I, through our photography company K2 Photo Studio, to shoot their show when they opened for George Clinton at The Fillmore in Denver on January 10th, 2009.  The show was amazing, and so were the shots.  This month we are lucky enough to have our photographs grace the cover of the Colorado Music Buzz magazine.  Check it out, all the performer images you see below were shot by us.

The Feb. 2009 cover of the Colorado Music Buzz was shot by Selena and Allen Klosowski.

Colorado Music Buzz is high on the Pipe.

Despite the un-Funk of Disco and the whitewash of its derivatives, you can’t deny the pure Funk, and it’s oozing all over the place with the help of one of Denver’s brightest and most promising Funk-flavored outfits, U.S. Pipe.

Read the whole article here.

The show was shot with a mixture of the Canon MkIII 1D, a Canon 5D, Canon 16-35 2.8 L, Sigma 50mm 1.4, and Canon 70-200 2.8 L IS lenses and bodies using ISO 1600-3200 as appropriate.

We want to thank US Pipe and Colorado Music Buzz for having us out to the show.  It was a great time and we can’t wait for the next one.

Oh, and pics of George Clinton and the PFunk will be coming soon!

Our favorite bass playing Twitteratti Mark Perez (@faceofbass) asked me to come shoot their band Ransom show at the Gothic Theater on January 23rd.  It was a hell of a time, and it created some great images!  Here are a few for your enjoyment, especially if you want to see Mark doing what he does best.

Mark Perez (@faceofbass) doing what he does best.

Ransom's metal fury brought the house down!

Even Metal has to have the groove.

Playing metal guitar is a contact sport. (Shutter speed slowed for effect)

Metal drummer's always have the best kits.

Shredding is an artform.

These images really show what can be done in low light with a Canon Mk III 1D and a Sigma 50mm 1.4 lens on ISO 3200.

We’re going to be writing a full review of the show on the Colorado Music Board soon, so I’ll let everybody know when that’s ready.

Thanks to Ransom and Mark for having me us out to the show!

Yesterday I went to the car wash, and as usual I was bored sitting through the complete wash cycle.  This is where my hand Canon G9 camera came in to fill the entertainment void.  Playing with the shutter speed, macro, and aperture settings I was able to come out with some really great abstract photos.

It also goes to show that you don’t need an expensive DSLR with you at all times to make captivating photos.

Using macro, I was able to get extraordinary photographs of the water droplets on the glass.

The soap suds made an image straight from the Hubble Telescope.

Playing with manual focus and long shutter speeds results in this image. It's collage of colors and fuzzy nature intrigues me.

Long shutter speeds combined with macro photography resulted in this image.

Hope you like them!  Days like this remind me why I need to bring my camera with me at all times.

As many of you may know, I do professional commercial and studio photography through my business K2 Photo Studio. Currently I’ve been using OS X on Apple hardware as my workflow method of choice. Simply put, using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Bridge, and the OS X color management is essential to my image workflow.

Here’s an image I shot for Sublime Fashion’s product catalog.

When working with clients like Sublime Fashion, accurate reproduction of color is extremely important. This is an example of where the OS X workflow cannot be beat. Or can it?

I am a Linux lover from way back. The advantages are that the operating system and most software is available for free. I used Linux long before I used OS X, and it really was my operating system of choice. It has the stability of OS X. It can run on cheap hardware with great results, so you are not locked into Apple’s historically higher prices.

Unfortunately, about 4-years ago, as a photographer, I felt I had to move to OS X. The availability of commercial image manipulation programs, plug-ins, and native camera raw support were important. OS X had it and Linux didn’t. Additionally, Linux color management needed to come a long way before I was able to use it reliably.

It looks like things might have changed recently. The folks over at Linux Photography are saying that it might be time for photographers to give Linux another look. Their conclusion.

I don’t think that the answer to Linux for photography is “Photoshop & Lightroom on Linux”. Open Source Software has developed some amazing pieces of software and I don’t see why photography would be an exception. My dominant feeling is “work in progress” and I see the “Linux photography ecosystem” maturing and moving forward in the right direction.

But let’s face it: Linux is not a drop-in replacement for Windows or MacOS for photography yet. Far from it. You can use Linux for serious photography, but critical pieces are still missing or are too kludgy for efficient work; you need to be willing to accept sacrifices. I use Linux for photography as an amateur, but I would never recommend Linux to a pro photographer with time / production constraints.

So there you have it. If you are rocking a DSLR, and are trying to get the advantages of using the high-level tools without the high pricetag, give Linux a try. There are lots of great flavors out there, and each comes with a plethora of image editing tools. Color management has come a long way on Linux, and that is an exciting step in the right direction.

My recommendation is Ubuntu if you are new to Linux. You can even run Ubuntu without installing it to your hard drive by using a Live CD. Setup is easy, and it runs on just about any computer you have lying around. You can dual boot it with Windows/OS X as well. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Personally, I’ll be sticking with OS X for now. However, I might just have to give Linux another shot when it is time to upgrade my system again.