Hipstamatic love it or hate it?

It's crazy how easy it is now to create interesting imagery now. I used to carry a Diana camera around, complete with a changing bag, a light tight bag that I would use to load and unload film with. I couldn't do it in the day light because the paper backed rolls of film wouldn't wind up tight enough, so the film would get exposed when taking it out of the camera. I would process my film, none of it straight, usually cross processed or pushed 3 stops. After getting the rolls and contact sheets back I would go to the dark room and print the ones I liked the best. Because this whole process took a certain amount of knowledge, time and money, it was somewhat unique. And I loved it.

When I got an iPhone and started seeing Hipstamatic imagery about, it was not just annoying, it kind of made me angry. Making plastic camera images was now available to just about anyone, you didn't even have to care about photography to do it. For the first year of having my iPhone, I wouldn't even buy the app. I was happy with my Shakeit Polaroid and a few others, intentionally avoiding the Hipstamatic, like it was developed just to be my menace.

In an effort to make peace with new technology, I've started using the Hipstamatic recently. It's far from perfect, I always want to tweak things and I don't like most of the lens and films. But the ones I use, I really love. I must admit that I don't have time now for dark room, and for the most part, even shooting film. So it makes me extremely happy to take these quirky little keepsakes.

Most of the time I use these:

Color: the John S & Blanko film 

Black & white: Lucifer VI and Black Keys

See more work: http://www.smcintyre.com/

These were taken with a Diana for a book I did on New Orleans.

I always took my Diana on my travels. The photos above and below were taken in Spain.

Tom Smothers

Another story that didn't make it to the About page:

I don't shoot celebrities often. It really is easier to do my job if I'm not distracted by the giddiness that comes from meeting someone bigger than life. But I loved spending the afternoon with Tom Smothers. He was the John Stewart of his day, and had many incites to share, not all of them funny, some in fact, rather dark. But he loved to tell them, loved having an audience to share with. A real people person, you don't often meet.

See more portraits: http://www.smcintyre.com/

Shooting naked

While working on my new website I wrote some stories for the About page that didn't make it into the mix. I thought this blog would be a good place to share them. Here's one:

Most challenging shoot: 5 naked sax players on Auditorium Shores for the Naked Austin Calendar.  I've had more physically difficult shoots, like shooting in a clean room in silicon valley with a mask and gloves on and high humidity (try seeing through a plastic mask when your breath keeps fogging it up), or shooting out of a helicopter, but this shoot sticks out in my mind because of pesky passersby and their camera phones. I like my subjects to feel comfortable, and while this was a very uncomfortable shoot, people stopping to take photos bothered me and I had to run a few off. Note to self...next time maybe don't shoot the naked guys on Auditorium Shores.

See more work: http://www.smcintyre.com/