Doug Boutwell the occasional odd thought or image
Photography
Anti-Documentary
8×10 images can be at once firmly specific and alluringly incomplete in the information they give us, and I’ve always thought large format would be an interesting medium for shooting a wedding.
The $100 Milkshake
There’s a phrase in aviation – the “Hundred Dollar Hamburger” – which is basically a short flight to go have lunch somewhere. This is the story of a $100 milkshake on my 32nd birthday…
Getting Married In 2011? Let’s Talk!
I have several ideas kicking around in my head, and I’d like to let them out. These are ideas about wedding photography that have been germinating since back when I was shooting professionally. In 2011, I’d like to make them happen.
The Hour Of Scout Is Nigh Upon Us
My Amazing Wife is almost through with her second tour of duty as an expectant mother. This time, she’s not only is finishing out her wedding season, shooting well into her 8th month, but also watching our rowdy little toddler when she’s not working. Here she is yesterday, looking radiant in front of a passing [...]
Buy Our Canon Stuff (UPDATE – ALL SOLD!)
Used Canon gear for sale. Get it while it’s hot! (well, not hot as in stolen, but, well, you know…)
Doug Boutwell: Photographer Of Shoes
Recent images, and a little discourse on why I have so many high-key photos of dirty shoes.
12 Frames of My Family
We just returned from a trip to Santa Cruz, where Chenin had an engagement session. I still love using the Rollei as a vacation camera, because I never do any “serious” photography with it, so it doesn’t feel like work to shoot with it. I also like shooting 120 because you have few enough frames [...]
Lost Sole #2
So this is the basic concept I want to play with in this series… somehow, though, the look of this just isn’t right. Something feels “off” to me. I think it’s mostly a composition / lighting thing. Probably going to re-shoot this pair later on down the road, but this shot sorta serves as a [...]
Lost Sole #1
The first scan of the first neg of a new project I’m working on. Lost Sole #1 Edited later that day to add: I’m never at a loss for amazement at how much detail an 8×10 negative holds… here’s a different lighting setup for the same shot, along with a 100% crop At 1200ppi, we’re [...]
Bombay Beach | Salton Sea | Stuck In The Mud
While making pictures at Bombay Beach, on the shores of the Salton Sea, my Honda Element was nearly lost to the mud.
Salton Sea Photographs | Abandoned Naval Base | Bombay Beach
Another full day of photographing the weird and wonderful environs of the Salton Sea. This portfolio of images is mostly from Bombay Beach and the abandoned Naval Auxiliary Air Station.
Salton Sea Photos | Desert Shores | Salton City
More photography of the Salton Sea and its strange surrounding communities. Pictures from Bombay Beach and Desert Shores.
Seeking Closure
The Salton Sea has held a place in my imagination since the first time I laid eyes on its derelict buildings and abandoned shacks lying knee-deep in salt and muck. I figure it’s about ten years ago that I first went out there, on the recommendation of Tim Douchette. Tim was a bartender at Wolfgang [...]
Inspiration and LOLz
I just had to pass this link along to one of my favorite websites. Check out pictureisunrelated.com for some of the strangest photos you’ll ever set eyes on. It’s simultaneously entertaining, and mind candy for getting your brain into a place where you’ll let weird things happen in your images. Though most of these are [...]
Room With A View
Sorta got lost retouching this shot, and now it’s noon. This shot didn’t work out 100% the way I wanted, but I learned a few things from the process. The moral of the story is, if you’re shooting something stationary, and you’re lighting it, shoot several shots with different combinations of the lights firing. It [...]
Chenin and Max
Shot my amazing wife and beautiful little boy this afternoon. Just a quick portrait of a mother and her child while we still have this amazing weather. Kinda a hack retouch job, but I have an early morning tomorrow… I’ll tweak it some more later I suppose.
Ten Years Ago
I got a wild whim to go poring through old negatives a couple days ago, and came across some shots from college. Took me back to the days when photography was fucking magic, before I was all jaded… where every time you picked up a camera it was just awesome to press the button, and [...]
Too Many Cameras!
We were taking inventory of all our gear and I just had to muse at how much stinking photo equipment you tend to collect over the years. We found stuff I didn’t even know we had… for instance, I had no idea that we have 3 5D’s, nor that we still have 3 550EX’s. I [...]
Last Dance With Type 809
When Polaroid decided to stop producing film a while back, I was pretty bummed. I had just recently invested in an 8×10 processor and started shooting the 8×10 color film (type 809) from time to time, and really, really liked it. I had one box left when the announcement was made, and that was the [...]
The Backcountry of OC
Yesterday I hit the wall on babywatch. Couldn’t just sit around and wait for Junior to come for another minute without pulling my hair out. Had to go do something. Weather was gorgeous, so I went outside for a few hours, discovered some backroads that I didn’t know existed, and took my new 1Ds MkIII [...]