Nick Young Photography

My new bookWindows & Walls by Photographs  by Nick Young | Make Your Own Book

2011-05-11T07:33:00.001-07:00

Food

2011-01-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

I have also started a food/food photography blog here.

Take a look!

Nick

Diptychs - Celina Tractor

2009-02-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

I've been playing with diptychs a lot recently, usually with two images of the same proportions, however I think this lopsided diptych works well.

Polaroid is dead, long live polaroid!

2009-01-22T17:48:00.001-08:00

Big Swinger 3000 - Polaroid of a polaroid
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

I was just looking at this old photo a Polaroid of a " Big Swinger 3000", shot with Type 55 pos/neg film, (A Polaroid of a Polaroid! ) and lamenting the death of Polaroid film...

So, I decided to take a look at the Polaroid corp, website and was flabbergasted to see the new 'digital instant' camera they just unveiled.

"But digital is instant" ,you say, "How can this be different?"

It is a digital point and shoot camera with a built in printer! Seriously! This thing can print a 2x3 inch print on the spot, directly from the camera! Bizarre, but ingenious!

~~http://www.polaroid.com/CES/PressReleaseDetail.jsp?prod_code=090108~~

http://www.polaroid.com/en/products/polaroid-pogo/polaroid-pogo-instant-digital-camera

Obviously this has no Pro application and is just a fun party camera, but what a great idea! The photos are described as "sticky back", so basically stickers. What is particularly interesting is the paper which is ZINK Paper™, the prints use no ink, but develop with heat sensitive crystals... amazing.

I still have 6 sheets of Polaroid Type 55 left, they are like gold these days. I will have to save them for a very special project. My 73 year old Mother is visiting in March, perhaps I''ll burn them all on portraits of her and her granddaughter.

MLK Day and Barack Obama

2009-01-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

Back in the 1990's I was a photo assistant in NYC and I was honored to assist on a cover photo shoot for Upscale Magazine featuring three incredible women. Myrlie Evers-Williams, Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz, the widows of Medgar Evers, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and Malcolm X. The photographer I was assisting that day was J. Van Evers, son of Medgar Evers.

I was told that this was the first time these women had been together in one place, it may well have also been the last, as Betty Shabazz died not long after.

I am so proud to have been involved with that photo shoot

I was equally as proud to be involved in the Dr. Martin Luther King jr. celebrations this weekend at Collin College, and that tomorrow the first African American president will be sworn in in Washington D.C.

We've come a long way, let's keep it up!

P.S. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a copy of that photo to link to...

Civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. and our new President.

2009-01-19T19:46:00.001-08:00

New York City diptychs - reworked
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

Back in 1997 I attended this anti police brutality march in Manhattan, which was held in response to the brutal assault of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by members of the NYC police department. (Details may be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima)

Today I attended a power breakfast in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King jr. at Collin College on the eve of the inauguration of the first black President of the USA.

I can tell you I am very much more proud of America today than I was then!

Louisa, and wasteful America

2009-01-07T10:55:00.001-08:00

My beautiful daughter Louisa, an aspiring actress.
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

I made this shot of my daughter, Louisa, at a closed down Mexican restaurant near my office. It's been empty a while and has some interesting funky architecture, great for backgounds.

Unfortunately, on return from the holiday break, I found it surrounded by a chain link fence. It seems it is slated for demolition

It's a good solid structure, one would think it could be reworked easily but, as seems to happen all too often here in the suburbs, it will be bulldozed... what a waste!

Polaroids from my days as a photo assistant.

2009-01-06T09:23:00.001-08:00

Polaroids from my days as a photo assistant.
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

Assisting on my first shoot in the USA. A shoot of the "Counting Crows" out on Long Island, winter 1993 - Mark Seliger was the photographer.

It was around a 16 hour day, but we assistants ended up at a great restaurant in the west village in the early hours of the following morning! Good memories!

I still have a photocopy of my paycheck from that job somewhere... $45!

For the photo geeks, this was shot with a Hassleblad on polaroid type 665 which was never coated hence the image degradation.

New York City diptych - reworked

2009-01-06T07:10:00.001-08:00

New York City diptychs - reworked
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

Sometimes time can improve your images, going back over old shots you can end up seeing them in a new way.

I shot these images in late 1994( perhaps early 1995). I always like them individually, however a couple of years ago I decided to pair them together as a diptych. I think they are much more powerful together than apart.

The first time I paired them I put white space between the images... I like this treatment better.

Lower East Side, near the corner of Rivington and Suffolk streets. 1994/95. Shot with a Mamiya C3 TLR.

A sad day...

2008-09-11T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today Allen Murabayashi of Photoshelter announced that they are shutting down the stock photo agency part of the company, known as the Photoshelter Collection.

I had high hopes for the PSC, they were so very innovative and seemed to truly have the potential to change the industry. It felt like they could be a David to Getty's Goliath... seems as they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

The annoucement was made via email to contributor sand on the Photoshelter blog

Very sad news...

Nerd alert!

2008-07-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Steve Schofield has put together a wonderful series of photographs showing the far reaching influence of America pop culture and Fandom.

He has shot a series of environmental portraits of people, in their own homes, but dressed as if they were at a sci-fi convention.

I could be wrong but it looks to me like the majority were shot in the United Kingdom.

Great stuff!

Steve Schofield

Fathers for Justice

2008-06-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is not photography related but as a single father of a teenage daughter I was moved to post this...

Mark Harris is a Fathers for Justice activist in the UK, my motherland, where it appears child custody and fathers rights are still stuck in the middle of last century. Read his, and his daughter's, story here.

The Father's for Justice website is here.

Nazi propaganda

2008-06-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

Despite the argument that these images are unrepresentative and undoubtedly Nazi propaganda, I would love to see the exhibition of Andre Zucca's wartime colour photographs, "Some Parisians under the Occupation" (orginally titled "Parisians under the Occupation") currently on show in Paris.

TIME Magazine talks about the controversy here

Although the images only show smiling happy Parisians going about their daily lives seemingly oblivious to the war and Nazi occupation (which we know is nothing more than PR) the photos promise to be quite fascinating.

Andre Zucca was possibly the only photographer shooting colour film in Paris at the time so this collection is quite unique. The restoration on these images was also a major feat and is discussed in an article in this month's PDN , however you will need a subscription to read it online.

A Polaroid a day project

2008-05-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here's an extraordinary polaroid project from way before Noah Kalina created his Photo-a-Day youtube video.

Jamie Livingston made a polaroid photo everyday for 18 years, from 1979 to 1997!

It's many things, impressive, daunting, funny but ultimately it's shocking and sad.

Read and follow the links through Photoshelter's SHOOT! The blog with Rachel Hulin.

More on royalty free stock images, 'Everywhere Girl'.

2008-05-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Anderson is a young actress who did a little modeling a few years back, her image eventually ended up on a royalty free photo CD, and it seems that she been featured in so many places that she has been dubbed "The Everywhere Girl", she even chose that name for her own blog.

Her image has been used to simultaneously sell Dell, Gateway and Samsung computers, she has been a college dropout yet attends Brown and UNSW in Australia, all the while popping pills from Vivarin!

Anyway, you get the picture... more examples below,

Idee

The Inquirer

Why using royalty free stock images is a stupid idea!

2008-05-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a perfect example of why using royalty free stock images can come back and bite you in the butt! PC computer manufacturers ASUS & MSI both used the same RF image of a young boy in class with his laptop and photoshopped in their own product. Ironically the original undoctored photo featured an Apple MacBook!

The story on engadget.com.

Surely these two companies are big enough and smart enough to know better?! Not to mention, can afford original photography or, at the very least, exclusive RM stock.

Super high resolution photos with the Gigapan...

2008-05-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting new device designed to shoot super high resolution photos with a regular camera. Basically it's a combo of a robot tripod head and some photo stitching software. The robot tripod head moves and aligns the camera across the scene, taking as many as 350 different photographs all of which are combined by the software into one hugely detailed photograph.

As you can see from the examples on their website, the Gigapan does have some shortcomings if there are any moving objects in the scene, but it's still pretty impressive!

It's still in beta development and is expected to cost around $300, If the quality proves to be good enough for commercial applications, I'd say that was a bargain!

You can also read an article and view a video here at The Times.

Video on flickr...

2008-05-13T13:52:00.001-07:00

fridget
Originally uploaded by werewegian

So now they have video on flickr.

I was pretty much against the idea when I first heard about it, fortunately they have limited it to just 90 seconds. Hopefully, because of that, it won't turn into youtube with TV clips but people being creative with their 90 secs just for the hell of it, like the fridgets pool...

OK, so this one's for Garrison!

2008-05-09T13:51:00.001-07:00

So, Garrison has recently been telling me that, instead of emailing him (and others) links to the odd and quirky photography related things I find, I should post them here for all to see. (BTW, I'm pretty sure Garrison is currently my only reader!)

So here goes! I found this through the Photoshelter blog.

Nate Smith has customized a google map with links to polaroids of places in the neighborhood he grew up and he's memories relating to that place... Here's the twist, all the places recall moments in his emerging sexuality. He chose polaroid because of the connotation that polaroids are used to create dirty pictures!

Definately an interesting project, he calls it the Nascent Sexuality Map

Art supplies

2008-04-29T12:10:00.001-07:00

Art supplies
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

I love to shoot the small details in a room, often they can say as much about the subject as the "big picture".

Blue wall with stripe

2008-04-24T19:02:00.001-07:00

Blue wall with stripe
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

I love this shot! It's the back wall of the dugout at a baseball field here in Plano, Texas. The rule of thirds is definitely in use here!

My images are available on Photoshelter and Alamy.

2008-04-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

UPDATE!

Today (9/11/2008) Allen Murabayashi of Photoshelter announced that they are shutting down the stock photo agency part of the company, known as the Photoshelter Collection.

I had high hopes for the PSC, they were so very innovative and seemed to truly have the potential to change the industry. It felt like they could be a David to Getty's Goliath... seems as they may have bitten off more than they could chew.

The annoucement was made via email to contributors and on the Photoshelter blog

Very sad news...

Parking meter

2008-04-22T10:13:00.001-07:00

Parking meter
Originally uploaded by nick young photo

I'm not exactly sure why, but I love this image!

Carnival

2007-06-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

The Carnival visits Plano Texas...

I wish i'd had more time to spend on this, but my daughter was desperate to get on the Ferris Wheel!

Three card monty

2007-05-21T10:54:00.001-07:00

I love this shot(s)! This image was created for a poster and brochure promoting a film series called "Fools, cons and liars: Trickster characters in film."

I think it works fairly well as three card monty is a pretty well known scam!

Trickster film strip
Originally uploaded by nick young photo.

In need of new inspiration!

2007-05-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

I shoot for a major local College and most of the work I'm shooting at the moment is pretty commercial and safe. I feel I need to shoot some stuff that is more edgy, erotic, that gets me out of my comfort zone and challenges me a little.

I have started looking for some models to work with over the quieter summer months, so with a a bit of luck I'll be able to get myself reinspired!

However, the photo below is one that keeps me excited about working here.

PHOTO OF THE DAY... Collin College - Dance

Thoughts on Photography

2007-04-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I try out blogging to express my thoughts on photography and how it's changed over the last few years. I post photos on www.flickr.com and on my own website www.nickyoungphoto.com

PHOTO OF THE DAY... My daughter Louisa