What is with the CJ Gallery?

[Guest ImAlwaysDancing]

No offense to anyone, i dont know who takes most of the pictures..but i was just wondering why all of the galleries from different nights are usually very few photos and very few pictures of anything that is clear..i mean some candid people but usually a lot of swirly lights etc....just wanted to know if i am missing something or is there an artistic standpoint that goes with it i am missing. I just notice that 2night.com covers almost the same parties but has clear actual photos of the club, the people, etc.

[Guest pod]

Uhhh....

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

well, instead of taking boring club photos that could probably be done on a walgreens disposable camera (as the ones on 2night.com are), our photographer, pod, prefers to take a more creative and artistic approach

as for them not being clear, i have no idea what you're talking about... they're very clear to me.

[Guest web_norah]

as the official PR for mr Pod i highly recommend you to look at other sites and notice the difference of quality and artistry in the way those shots are taken.........

as if !!!!! >

i rather have quality over quantity

[Guest mikepayne]

I do think the quality (clarity-wise) of the pictures on CoolJunkie is great. I know nothing about pod's gear and I've never seen it, but you can tell he's got a decent rig.

However, I have wondered about the trails of light that somehow work their way into a lot of the pictures, sometimes directly over people's faces so you know it's not a light source in the background.

I'm no expert on photography, but here's my guess as to why this happens (and pod, please correct me if I'm wrong, I'd love to hear straight from the horse's mouth): I assume these pictures are taken with a long shutter time because they're in a low light environment (most of the pictures do not look like there's a flash), so the light is probably the club's lighting effects reflecting off of people's faces. If that's right, then the trails are the combination of the lighting effects moving around and the long shutter time.

That said, it'd be nicer if they weren't there, but they're pretty much unavoidable if my theory is correct. The only other way to do it would be to use a fast shutter with a bright flash, which ruins the ambience.

[Guest pod]

I deploy a flash on occasion, but it is at low power as not to startle or blind people. Ask Nocturnal (aka Dade), I was demoing my remote to him and I accidentally left it at full power...it was like a nuke going off. I usually keep it around 1/2 or 1/4.

Long shutter speeds are my best friend...usually in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 seconds....less if I boost the sensitivty, but there's a trade-off...the more sensitive i make the sensor, the more noise enters the image. It is a trade off.

And yeah, sometimes the club's lighting will cross a subject, but in my mind it adds to the fact that "they are in a club" rather than a black box with some drunk people nearby.

[Guest mikepayne]

Long shutter speeds are my best friend...usually in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 seconds....less if I boost the sensitivty, but there's a trade-off...the more sensitive i make the sensor, the more noise enters the image. It is a trade off.

Damn... 3 to 5 seconds, eh? I can't do that without a tripod. I have shaky hands. I could never be a surgeon. Hell, I'm surprised you can get people to pose perfectly still for that long to keep them in focus!

Have you posted details about your camera setup anywhere?

[Guest pod]

I'll do it right now.

When I go real long, I deploy the flash at low power to "freeze" the subjects. Putting it low makes it appear to be an ambient light. Plus I put it on remote sometimes to change the direction as well.

OK here is what I use:

Canon 10D digital SLR

28-105mm lens

550 EX flash

ST-E2 transmitter

Nothing too hardcore in the way of lenses. You really don't need more than a good standard zoom for a club.

[Guest trancelator]

I'd rather see Pod's pics than those other crappy pics on that other site. For some reason, his pics remind me of the inserts of the Global Underground cd's. Good stuff, pod.

No offense to whoever takes those pics on that other site but those aren't professional quality. At the very least, they shouldn't post every one of them. And if they're not, I'd hate to think what the bad pics look like.

[Guest endymion]

Snapshots of party people dressed up are a completely different animal than Pod's technical journalistic shots. They are just two totally different things. We choose to feature the journalistic shots rather than the snapshots because we have the option since we have Pod. Guys as good as him are very rare.

[Guest pod]

With TJ as my promoter and web_norah as my spokesperson, I can't go wrong! 8)

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

Guys as good as him are very rare.

awwww...that's sweet! :'(

[Guest web_norah]

seriously though, name one photographer in Miami that does nightlife and DJs in the artsy way that Pod does.....(i am not referring to celebrity or papparazi, thats a completely different line of work IMO).

[Guest coach]

Snapshots of party people dressed up are a completely different animal than Pod's technical journalistic shots. They are just two totally different things. We choose to feature the journalistic shots rather than the snapshots because we have the option since we have Pod. Guys as good as him are very rare.

Different strokes for different folks, of course. Obviously, imalwaysdancing prefers the party snapshots and some people prefer the journalistic style. I've always wondered why ya'll don't feature a mix of both? That way you get something for everyone. I'm not saying that Pod's style or technique are not top-notch, because they certainly are, but, as you say, it's a different style, and some people prefer the other style. I don't know, just a thought.

[Guest macboy]

(i am not referring to celebrity or papparazi, thats a completely different line of work IMO).

...and quite repetetive and overdone. Pod's work is a refreshing and welcome perspective, much better than the usual nighlife photographic landscape. Which is one of the reasons I'm still pissed at Street Mag for going in the papparazzi direction instead of sticking with pod.

[Guest coach]

Oh yeah, but as long as I am bitching, I might as well put in my other two cents. A couple of other things that I would *REALLY* like to see for the galleries.

1) A browse or slideshow type of function. I mean, not to be mean, but even on my little lame-ass site, you can just flip through the pictures without having to go back and forth to the index. I don't even want an automated slideshow function, all I'm asking for is a "Next", "Previous", and "Index" button underneath each picture, so I don't have to keep going back and forth.

2) Some descriptors under the pictures. If it is of the DJ, tell us who it is. Not all of us recognize them off-hand. If you can get the names of your subjects, and they don't mind, put those there. Other than that, maybe just some clever or silly saying. Something to give it a little more interesting context.

Oh yeah, and one thing it really would have been nice to have from last night would have been a nice, solid posed pic of all three DJs with the names identifying each. That way, instead of Macboy having to say he like "the Hernan lookalike", he could have identified him by name.

[Guest web_norah]

it is a picture gallery not a newspaper gallery or art show.....

[Guest 0crystal0]

I have always liked the way pod takes his pictures b/c it is different than your average i have some great shots from many nights thanks to pod.

as for the slide show request, if CJ wanted to do it, it is just a matter of adding a simple script. but i am sure pod already knows this its their site and their prerogative

[CrzyC1414779017]

Pod, you left your tripod in my car. 8)

[Guest shannon_coolj.]

Pod, you left your tripod in my car. 8)

i don't know why, but that sounded pornographic

[CrzyC1414779017]

Pod, you left your tripod in my car. 8)

i don't know why, but that sounded pornographic

Well, it is Pod and CrzyC...it should sound that way. ;D Nice seeing you last night babes!!! :-*

[Guest ImAlwaysDancing]

With TJ as my promoter and web_norah as my spokesperson, I can't go wrong! 8)

You got a lot of support here! I didnt even know that you were the photgrapher. Well everyone has their opinions, i just see your photos as more magazine oriented that is all. And like everyone has said...they definitely are unique compared to most sites.

[Guest ImAlwaysDancing]

Snapshots of party people dressed up are a completely different animal than Pod's technical journalistic shots. They are just two totally different things. We choose to feature the journalistic shots rather than the snapshots because we have the option since we have Pod. Guys as good as him are very rare.

Different strokes for different folks, of course. Obviously, imalwaysdancing prefers the party snapshots and some people prefer the journalistic style. I've always wondered why ya'll don't feature a mix of both? That way you get something for everyone. I'm not saying that Pod's style or technique are not top-notch, because they certainly are, but, as you say, it's a different style, and some people prefer the other style. I don't know, just a thought.

Just to make note i am by no means suggesting a change of the pics or mixture...POD's style should stay his style..but i do think for a clubbing website other photos may suit the needs of the viewer better...but i think i am the only one who feels that way...lol, thats why there are a lot of photo sites out there i guess.

[Guest endymion]

Coach, I agree with all of your suggestions and I would like to implement all of those. I want to feature Pod's work in the best possible light. One of the biggest things that bugs me right now is the huge long URLs on the image pages.

I have solutions for all of this, none of it is hard. It's what I do for a living. It's just a matter of prioritizing. Right now I'm just trying to recover from a hangover so that I can get my butt to Crobar to strike after that party from last night. Not much engineering time for me lately.

[Guest r3nz0]

Blah blah blah.

Pod, you're still a bitch to me. ;D