i described myself to an old friend yesterday as artistically impotent. it's true, i'm in a rut. i'm way to busy on way to many project that are not under my sole control or aren't of my making, and i've been feeling a little down about it. i feel like this is probably a good thing in disguise, having a lot of projects to work on, but i'm struggling negotiating time for my own projects. or i had been. i've been holding on for the past few weeks, waiting to get to tomorrow (when the dirty old man arrives) in hopes that having zeebo here will induce such a wave of productitity that i will be done all my projects and miraculously have a bunch of play time. but it looks like i wont need that miracle to start having fun again. \it is the eve of that day and ive gotten a nice little suprise inspiration boost. thanks to chase jarvis.

I woke up this morning to a fabulous tweet from chase, a tweet announcing his new iphone app, book, and photo community site, all titled the best camera. 

Last week, i decided to start taking iphone photos. i've been frustrated for a while with not having a camera on me contantly and up until that turning point, had never considered my iphone good enough to be considered a "camera". it's been a good and bad week. i had amassed a whole screen dedicated to iphone camera related apps, and i still hadn't found one that i liked. a few that i thought were usable (photogene, camerabag) but nothing that made me want to work with them. and then there is the best camera. an iphone app that has a good solid amount of features, in a smooth, clean interface, with great social networking built in (except for flickr, get on that, k chase?). I fucking love it. i've taken more artistic photos with my iphone today than i probably ever have. it is the one thing that this app does that nothing else did, make me want to take photos! the effects are great (and stackable), you can undo or change around your steps, you can instantly upload to facebook or twitter or to an email, and you can see a live mosaic of what people are making. and the best part (cause yes there is one)? you are connected to this whole community of people taking crappy 2 megapixel images! (or 3 for those 3Gs fuckers}. it's not a gear off, it's not about your $10,000 set, or you're 7 light profoto set up, it's just about taking pictures. it's fucking great.

Check out my best camera photos here.

Chase's original blog post announcement here.

Join the revolution here!

 Also, i've started a flickr site for just my iphone photos, check it out! 

exciting news kids! remember that post oh so long ago about my beauty touch up tests? well now you can do it too! the fabulous Haje Jan Kamps found the pic of me on flickr and asked me to rite a little how-to on it for his fabulous site Photocritic.org. i'm going to post the first couple steps here, but since he was so great to me, i'm going to make you go to photocritic.org for the whole article. check it out here.

Step one – process the raw

My first step with every photograph, including this one, is to adjust the raw file to an exposure and look that I like. Normally it’s a little more contrasted and artistic than this one, but since we are going for a simple beauty shot (or as close as we can get with me!) I want an image that is pretty balanced and a little flat.

When doing this retouching process, my last step is always to photoshop the image as I would normally (i.e. change contrast, colour, detail, blur, etc.) and because every step I do that loses information in the image I highly recommend waiting ’till the end for any artistic choices.

Once I have that, it’s on the manipulation!

Step two – the healing brush and the spot healing brush.

At this point I like to get rid of all of the really obvious blemishes. I don’t get too nit picky, seeing as I do all the fine tuning later on, but make sure to get all the big ones (pimples, moles, unwanted facial hair, lines under eyes).

To do this I jump back and forth between the healing brush and the spot healing brush, the difference – the spot healing brush tool samples for you, whereas the healing brush tool you select the sample area.

I find that usually I have to play around a bit determining which one to use for specific things. In my experience the spot healing brush works great for smaller blemishes, such as pimples and moles, and the healing brush works better for thing like wrinkles.

Usually I use the spot healing brush until it stops working and then switch in order to have more control.

Step three – eliminating the double chin.

Seeing as I was teaching myself as I went along, this was probably the hardest part for me. I tried a bunch of things before realizing that transform was the easiest option. I use transform a lot for the whole process actually.

I made a selection from just below my mouth to about halfway down my neck. I used transform to stretch the selection upwards to have the double chin line align with my actual jawline. I then created a layer mask and used a very soft edged brush to paint my chin back in and to get rid of harsh lines around my selection.

Effectively this step is pulling up the double chin to hide it behind the first one.

again, for a full illustrated 9-step beginning to end tutorial head over to Photocritic.org/photoshop-makeovers

so, there is this project that i saw on the magical interwebs recently that kinda caught my attention. it's called Help-Portrait. Help-portrait is a worldwide photo movement/event started by a photographer named Jeremy Cowart. he'll introduce it better than i will:

catch all that? good. there has been a whole lot of controversy for me around this video, and i'm finding very mixed reactions to the whole project because of the image Jeremy presents. i found a lot of interesting discussion happening over at Chase Jarvis' blog about it all, and even felt inclined to pitch in some thoughts. thoughts which i felt like maybe i should be putting up here. now, i am by no means in love with this video, i do, however, get the point (something i feel like a lot of people missed). A lot of people seem to have an issue with the way that Jeremy talked about "the needy", and the thought that a single mother or a homeless person would really "need" a portrait of themselves. which i tend to agree with. i am definetley not about to go propose this idea to the homeless folks around me. But i don't really think that's what it's about. what i think (from what i posted on Chase's blog):

"i think the important part of this project is to remember what it's about. Jeremy is doing it his way, but is very clear (at least to me) that this is an idea, and a starting point. for example, my style of photographry doesn't really align itself with family portraits. does that mean i don't want to be involved? hell no! that just means i want to make it mine. right now i am contemplating doing a day of nudes. because as someone who has shot a few in my day, i know the incredible impact that it can have on people's happiness, self-image, confidence, etc.

help-portrait (if i may be so bold as to paraphrase) is about owning and honouring the power that a good photograph has, and about using that power for good (you know, like superheroes). we as photographers have such an ability to affect people, so lets get out there and use it.

if you don't like Jeremy's phrasing, then phrase it differently, conceptualize it differently. come on, see past the gelled hair and try and listen to the ideas being presented to you."

So i will be getting involved. in fact, as far as i know, i'm the first person to start it up in toronto (which i could totally be wrong about, and if you know of someone, let me know!!). i havent figured out all the details yet, but i have some people around me getting involed and we are in the process of brainstorming what we want to make of it. a couple of the ideas that have come up so far:

• Nudes
• Body Painting (like full body painting, maybe self directed by the posers to incorporate their story)
• Chosen Family  
• Multiple photographers simultaneously shooting

Nothing solid yet, but some jumping points. I, like many others, struggle with this idea of "needy", so i will not be using that as a qualification for posing or being involved. i want people who need it, where need refers to a need for the shoot, and the portrait, and doesn't necessarily mean a need for anything in life. i also want people who are interested in making something more that just a portrait, i want stories. i want stories that can be told and shared and explored. and maybe, just maybe, stories that inspire, cause if nothing else, i think this project is about inspiring people to get up an do something good! so let's keep that up!

If you have an idea, want to get involved (either as part of the creative/production team, or as a  participant), or want to give feedback, either comment here or shoot me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Follow me on Twitter @maxwellander for the latest updates on whats happening with this (and other) projects

and follow the help-portrait peeps @help_portrait

Ps. i promise the wedding update is coming....

I was supposed to take this space to update you about the amazing wedding i shot just recently, but i got totally sidetracked! the wedding is still to come, cause it was an amazing time and absolutely blog worthy (bride on the bar, recreating the last supper, etc.), but for now, lets talk about what i've spent my spare time (ha!), in the last few days doing. As i often tell people, i've been working in photoshop for years now, and started playing with it before i ever picked up a camera. i dont think i'm anything near an expert, but i know my way around, especially for what i need for my photography, which has never been airbrushing... or at least never airbrushing in the way that we are used to hearing about it. i will not make you skinnier, or fix your slightly crooked nose, or that scar you got when you were 12. i just won't. that vagantic pimple in the middle of your forehead, sure, but i am not here to make images of what you think you need to change... except for right now.

An old friend of mine came over this week and at some point in the night asked "can you do all that stuff that they always claim to do to model's faces in photoshop?". i said i could. i can't really, not to the extent that professional retouchers for huge media companies can, but i got some good party tricks kicking around. i decided to show her what i could do. the next hour and a half were spent with the two of us sitting at my computer - me dutifully responding to her directions of "make her eyes bigger, now bluer, now do her lips... how about her neck?". the end result was a barbified version of an already stunning woman (i'm sorry we started with you, it was a readily available old photo!)

I loved the whole process! and it was kinda validating to my photoshop skills. Anyway, i decided i wanted to do more, so got the every supportive heat to take a pose for a quick headshot. I went a little bit farther this time, seeing as i was already in the groove and started thinking of other things to do and ways to accomplish it. it turned out much more drastic, but fun and pretty none the less. i've decided that the heat secretley looks like lara croft, with a lot of collagen. 

By the time i finished this one i was really into the thick of things, and wanted to push myself a little bit farther. i also felt a little bit bad for using my two most loyal models once again, so i thought i'd give something back - me! i figured it would be the most hysterical, but also the most challenging photo yet (not because i think i'm ugly, completely objectively. i'm actually pretty cocky...). well it was, on both parts. i woke up this morning and could think of nothing else! so i waited for the heat to leave for work (cause i only do self portraits when i'm alone), set up a light and a tripod and took 5 times as many photos as i do of anyone else. i will admit, i spent more time on mine so feel like it is more of a finished image than the other two. i spent maybe an hour on each of theirs and maybe 2 and a half on mine. of course i did right, i'm way pickier on my own face than faces that i already think are fucking fabulous! which got me thinking.... hold on, photo first, thinking second.

Alright, so i got to thinking, we live in a cool age, an age where those aging programs used by cops to find missing people are just the tip of the iceberg. we can use imaging software to change poeple to look however we want, and sometimes do it so that it looks unaltered! the important part though, is what we want. the technology has been used for years to tell us exactly that. retouching and airbruching and all other sorts of facial alteration techniques are all things that most people equate with evil beauty campagns and standards. but what if they weren't that. what if they were tools used to show us not how we'll never see ourselves, but how we actually see ourselves... the photo of me on the right is actually much closer to how i conceptualize myself on a daily basis than that on the left. it's closer to what i feel like "me" is... still a little too female but whatevs. it's amazing really, the thought that i have the ability to depict myself however i want to, photorealistically. and that is a power i think i will be sharing... project details coming soon...