John Batdorff

Door County, Wisconsin

July 3, 2017 by John Batdorff 5 Comments

While over the past 17 years Staci and I have called Chicago home, I spent most of my life in rural Michigan where we both grew up. I've prided myself on always embracing my small town roots but recently it was brought to my attention (thanks to Staci) that I was becoming soft and a bit citified. She's not entirely wrong. There are few creature comforts that I find myself craving on a regular basis, including a good cup of strong coffee, a robust cell signal, and on occasion one of those fancy-schmancy bakery cupcakes. But still I wanted to prove her at least a little wrong and show her that there's still a rough and tumble country boy underneath all those boutique cupcakes. So we set out for a quick camping trip to beautiful northern Wisconsin to visit the famous Door County.

Like all well-intended camping trips where you dream of open blue skies and brisk fresh air, it rained the entire time. But we made the most of it and I found myself gravitating toward the things I loved photographing in Northern Michigan. Door County is very similar to Northern Michigan, but without a quickly growing town like Traverse City there seemed to be fewer people and less tourism on the western side of the lake.

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My two grey-haired girls in our Aliner camper. 🙂

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Beautiful blue flowers in bloom near our campsite's fresh water source.

Ephraim's historic Anderson Dock

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Graffiti up close.

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An old dairy vehicle parked alongside the road.

Gus Klenke Garage in color

I rarely do this but I loved this location so much I decided to shoot in both color and black and white. I shot the black and white versions with a slightly wider angle lens.

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Gus Klenke Garage in black and white.

Where I grew up many of the views are populated with abandoned farm houses from a time long gone. I've always found solace in photographing these farms and imagining how much it strength it took to survive, let alone thrive. My guess is they weren't spoiled by $6.00 cupcakes.

Door County farm house

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And old farmhouse door in Door County.

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The Faith II at Gil's Rock

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A real drive in theater. We didn't have time on this trip, but next time for sure!

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The famous winding road of Door County.

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Not to be missed, but the famous Ford Truck sticking out of the garage along highway 42

The quick road trip was an amazing time even given the bad weather. It actually provided some nice active skies and a bit of a moodiness for my photography. I'm not sure I'll give up my creature comforts any time soon, but the trip was a nice reprieve from our daily lives and allowed us to break away from the minutia and spend some quality time chatting, laughing, photographing, and connecting with the wonderful people of Door County. Next time we go I'm told not to miss the fish boil at the old Post Office. We'll be going back for sure.

Venice

June 2, 2017 by John Batdorff Leave a Comment

I'm finally getting around to posting my Venice photos from our Italy photography workshop, which we'll be doing again in 2018! Until then I hope you enjoy a few photos from what I consider to be one of the most picturesque places on earth.

This was our awesome team from last year! They walked thousands of steps and took thousands of photos, and I'm pretty sure we had thousands of laughs.

Venice is a great place to photograph people. The pace is a little slower and people are always on foot or spending time in the squares.

The gondoliers with their old fashioned striped uniforms and hats provide many photo opportunities.

I thought texting and driving was a problem. I guess in Venice texting and rowing is the equivalent. 🙂

The small, quiet canals create many reflection opportunities of the old colorful buildings and boats.

I can never resist this classic Venice image of the gondolas parked near San Marco square. When the sky is active with clouds at sunset, this is the first place we go to set up for that timeless shot.

While trying to find our restaurant for dinner, we passed this little boat being lit by a small open doorway across the canal. We passed it many times during the day and never gave it a second look. But at night with low light and the glow from the doorway, it became a magical scene.

I love the colors of Murano. The buildings there are more colorful than Venice, so it's fun to walk down the back streets away from the glass factories to find these little gems.

Can you have too many photos of the laundry on lines above the quaint streets and canals? I know I can't seem to get enough.

The seafood market is held in this building and when it rains I like to hang out under the cover of the roof and watch for people entering the light.

Navigating these streets is a bit tough for outsiders, but the locals always know the best routes to take through the tiny, winding alleys between canals. This is probably one of my favorite film shots taken with my Leica M6 using Portra 160.

Since there are no cars on Venice, boats are the only real form of transportation. You'll see the ambulance boat, the “truck” boats, the fishing boats, and the fast boats among all the gondolas.

See what I said about the laundry?

I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour through Venice. It is one of the best places to photograph in the entire world if you ask me, and I just can't wait to go back. Hopefully you'll join me there!

February Bliss

February 9, 2017 by John Batdorff Leave a Comment

February is my favorite month of the year. It's kickstarted with National Get Up Day, and put to rest with National Public Sleeping Day. Everything in between is pure bliss—there's National Pizza Day, Frozen Yogurt Day, World Nutella Day (can you tell I'm dieting?), and National Kite Flying Day. Then, nestled right in the middle is my favorite: Valentines Day!

In celebration of possibly the most romantic day of the year, here are a few stolen moments….

Now for those of you who think I'm a hopeless romantic and a public affection aficionado, the real truth is that I happen to love birthday cake, and Valentines Day is the one day of the year I get to have my favorite kind and eat as much as I want. But I thought a bunch of photos of people snuggling their birthday cakes might be weird, so I went with romance instead. 🙂

10 Hours, 39,000 steps, & 720 photos: A Day of Street Photography in New York City

November 1, 2016 by John Batdorff 4 Comments

This July I took a week to spend some time in New York City to work on my street photography. I rarely get an opportunity to go out shooting just for myself, so with clearance from the boss I headed to the big city to submerge myself in my craft. While I survived almost entirely on cereal, PB&J's, and coffee, I had a fantastic time in one of my favorite cities.

My trusted Monochrom

I spent most of my time in New York wandering around Manhattan, and what I quickly learned is there's nothing typical about a day in New York City. There is so much to see and so many images to capture. The only thing typical about a day in New York is there's never enough time in the day.

I decided to spend a day focusing on my black and white street photography, so I headed out with my Leica Monochrom kit which included a 35mm, 21mm, and 50mm. Generally I shoot with my 35mm, but I love my 21mm for architecture and hip shooting. The 50mm is a challenge for me, but I have come to embrace it's constraints in framing and adore it's efficiencies.

I had recently upgraded my Monochrom to the 246 model and heard the battery life was fantastic, but I thought I would put it to the test and make it my goal to just shoot until the battery died. I planned on about 5-6 hours of shoot time, but this new battery just wouldn't give up the ghost.

Thankfully those roasted peanuts from the street vendors provided the fuel for this journey since the Frosted Mini Wheats were not cutting it after about the 15,000th step. While I was slowly losing steam after 9 hours, the Leica battery seemed like it would never die, so I finally started heading back. The bugger did eventually give in about 5 blocks from home so I can say I did meet my goal. I'm happy for the new longer battery life, but next time I'll pick a more reasonable goal. I ended up shooting for ten hours straight, putting 39,000+ steps on my pedometer, and hitting the shutter over 700 times.

Oculus Rush

Most of the 700 shots were blurry hip shots from playing around, but I got a few keepers too. What follows is a short slideshow of a few of my favorite shots from a day in New York with just me, my Leica, three lenses, and a battery that wouldn't quit.

I hope you enjoy.

p.s. If you received this post via email then you'll need to visit the blog to see the slideshow below. 🙂

Ten Days in Italy: Florence

August 15, 2016 by John Batdorff 4 Comments

As promised I'm following up on my three part series on this year's Signature Series Italy Photography Workshop. Once we had our fair share of photos in Rome, we then spent the second leg of our Italy workshop exploring Florence and the beautiful Arno. Florence is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. The food is fantastic every where you go, and there are surprises waiting around every corner.

You can can't visit Florence without taking hordes of photos of the Ponte Vecchio overlooking the Arno river.

The Arno river runs through the center of the city. You can't visit Florence without taking hordes of photos of the Ponte Vecchio and the reflections of the buildings in the river.

Florence is known as a destination wedding location as newlyweds embrace on Ponte Vecchio

Florence is known as a destination wedding location. Here newlyweds embrace on Ponte Vecchio.

You can not leave Florence without a picture of David

We found fun viewpoints in the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Uffizi Gallery.

Bicycles are a major form of transportation for people of all ages.

I spent much of my time exploring the city with a roll of Portra 400 and my M6. Here a local artist makes brass bracelets with a par of pliers and a hammer.

I spent much of my time exploring the city with my M6 and roll of Portra. Here, a local artist makes brass bracelets with a pair of pliers and a hammer.

One of the things I loved about Florence were the markets. Here a dog stands guard as his owner sets up shop for day.

There is nothing like exploring the markets of Florence. A dog stands guard as his owner sets up shop for day.

I think all the workshop attendees were overwhelmed by the shear volume of interesting artwork and graffiti that was around every corner.

I think all the workshop attendees were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of interesting artwork and graffiti around every corner.

Street photographers can be so annoying as this young man gets very close to two nuns taking photographs of Cupola del Brunelleschi dome.

Street photographers can be so annoying. 🙂 This young man gets very close to two nuns taking photographs of Cupola del Brunelleschi, a famous domed church in central Florence. Portra 160

I will admit I enjoy people watching from a distance. Here, locals gathered to chat at the carousel in the Piazza della Repubblica. Portra 160.

Much of street photography is about patience and finding a location that provides opportunities. I liked the dark red mailboxes and the red floor tiles, so I waited until the proverbial “woman in red” appeared. Portra 400.

It wouldn't be Italy if there wasn't high fashion. This young woman was modeling clothing from her boutique. Taken with my M6 and Portra 160.

I don't know the story behind these fun drawings, but this artist's work could be seen throughout the city.

Door buzzers were even fun to photograph. The graffiti artists in Florence are a whimsical bunch.

Florence architecture is amazing with its beautiful arches, doorways, and classic old plaster adding a textural element.

A local artist takes a smoke break while enjoying the view from Piazzale Michelangelo.

Lastly, I need to thank Carl (a long time client and workshop attendee) for this opportunity. His friend is related to this extremely talented violin maker who invited us to view her workshop. She makes the finest violins in all the world, and we were able to see her working on guitar for a few minutes.

For me Florence is most of all about art and workmanship. In every detail and around every corner in this city you find gorgeous architecture, leather workers sewing purses and shoes or making belts, artists painting or sculpting, jewelers creating one-of-a-kind jewelry, tailors making custom clothing, and more. Being in Florence I am reminded of the value of working with one's hands to make beautiful things. I can't wait to go back!

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

June 9, 2016 by John Batdorff Leave a Comment

My dad and I hanging out on the river together.

A few years back I wrote a post with lots of Father's Day gift ideas for those of you who have photography-loving dads. It's been a long time, so I thought I would update it for this year's Father's Day gift seekers. Everything I'm recommending is something I've either owned myself or something my clients use and love, so I feel very comfortable recommending these as great gifts for Father's Day. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to share your ideas in the comments below.

Photo Accessory Gift Ideas

Think Tank's Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket for the organized dad. If he uses the Compact Flash (larger cards), then he'll want that one, and if he uses the SD (smaller cards) then he'll want this SD Pixel Pocket. It's a great way to keep track of all those SD cards.
A Hoodman Loupe to help view the back of his camera's LCD.
A Hoodman LCD Protector will protect the back of the camera from scratches and dirt.
Eneloop rechargeable battery set. These are a huge improvement to the old school rechargeables and they work great with an external flash that requires AA batteries.
A lens pen kit is a super handy way to keep lenses and filters clean. While I'm on workshop I always have a lens pen in my pocket. These are wonderful for removing smudges off the lens.
Think Tank's newest Urban Approach 15, updated to fit a laptop computer. I was so happy when they came out with a small backpack that also fit a laptop that I had to get one. I love it and highly recommend it!

Creative Father's Day Gift Ideas

Create a Blurb book for your dad with some of your fondest memories. Use BATDORFF25 and get 25% off your next order.
If your Dad loves taking panoramas then print one of his favorites under Whitewall's acrylic. I have two in my office and the quality is a amazing.
Formatt Hitech Filter kits are a great gift to take dad's photography to the next level. The ND Starter kit is a great place to start.

Techie Father's Day Gift Ideas

An Eye Fi card will bring your dad into the 21st century and allow him to send his images from his camera straight to his Bluetooth enabled portable device such as his phone or tablet.
Digital Photographers always need backup devices. Checkout a 2 TB Wireless WD Passport drive and make sure Dad is backing up all those images properly! The newest version of these drives allows you to connect wirelessly… pretty amazing!
Give dad the gift of efficiency with a list of the Keyboard Shortcuts for Lightroom. It doesn't cost much, but he will thank you for sure!
A subscription to Adobe's Creative Cloud bundle for photographers. Dad will get Lightroom and Photoshop, the top tools on the market for managing and editing digital photographs.
Wacom Tablets are excellent for editing photos. I use the medium tablet at my desktop and love it. It's even a decent size to pack in my bag for working with my laptop. It takes a little getting used to, but once you use one then you'll never look back!
Is your dad an organizational freak? I own several Think Tank cable management pouches. These things are great for separating batteries, cables, filters, and so on.

Fun Father's Day Gift Ideas

A Lens Mug. Every photographer wants to drink coffee out of a camera lens!
If your Dad loves Star Wars and is constantly traveling then he'll love this Star Wars charger and think of you every time he uses it! Hint Hint Anna…
Does your dad have a sweet man cave? He'll want a Film Canister TP roll for sure!
A gift card to BorrowLenses.com so dad can check out that new camera or lens he's had his eye on.
Who doesn't need an ultra lightweight jacket that weighs only 3.6oz and will fit right inside a camera bag to have in case the weather picks up while dad is out shooting. I never leave home without my Patagonia Houdini jacket!

The Gift of Learning

A gift certificate for one-on-one photography instruction with yours truly…I couldn't make a gift list without including myself! We can work together in the studio for local dads, or online using WebEx to mentor your dad to get his photography to the next level.
A photography workshop is always a great gift for shutterbug dads. We also happen to offer those too. 🙂