G.T. Kurtz Photography
Hi, I'm Gary.
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About Me
- Hi, I'm Gary. See the guy in the picture? That's me. Only I've since shaved my head for St. Baldrick's. The little children with cancer get me every time.
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Posts
Editing. Blown away by the resolution and grain structure of Ilford Delta 3200 in 120 size. (Taken with instagram)
It’s just strange to me that anyone would ever think that a work of art shouldn’t be disturbing or shouldn’t be invasive I mean that’s the property of a work of art, that’s the arena of a work of art it is to disturb, it’s to make you think, to make you feel.
Richard Avedon (via jakegarn) by way of Ryan Muirhead“And I’m almost sure
that I’ve been here before,
that this is not the first time I’ve stood in front of this door,
with an overwhelming feeling that I shouldn’t go in,
but it seems this is a battle that I never could win.”Portra 160, Mamiya 645
Best part about Fuji Fp3000b instant film is the negative. Scanning these tomorrow. (Taken with instagram)
Some light reading waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home. Score! (Taken with instagram)
I need to figure out a way to attach this to the motorcycle. Desperately. (Taken with instagram)
Got the Polaroid 250 working just in time to shoot a test pack on the camping trip. (Taken with instagram)
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Photos
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People
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Tweets
- @adamweber @mattleroy Fantastic! I expect pictures. And the tights don't count unless there's glitter involved.
- I absolutely love this portrait series! No makeup, no photoshop. A little NSFW, but you shouldn't be on twitter at work http://t.co/xGKiebxE
- Here's where I'm cropped in the full image. http://t.co/3RTGpvol
- Editing. Blown away by the resolution and grain structure of Ilford Delta 3200 in 120 size. http://t.co/huWA227D
- Finally watching Alien to prepare for Prometheus this summer. Getting excited.
- I've had this song stuck in my head all day thanks to @OfficialThrice's guitar tech. Jerk. You're a killer tech though. http://t.co/M8pJc6iD
- @mattleroy @adamweber @iamembrace Is he going to be rocking the Brittany Spears mic again this weekend?
- @Smogranch I dream of making a pilgrimage to their physical location.
- @creativeLIVE Sunpack 383 is a great one if you can find it.
- @tamarlevine Absolutely! Can't wait to learn it.
- @tamarlevine That he's about to teach us your super special metering method - "THe Tamar Levine method. Look her up, She's amazing."
- @tamarlevine @jmarkwallace just mentioned you on @creativeLIVE. How long do you think before your server's overwhelmed?
- RT @puscifer: Remember to Breathe. It's all gonna work out.
- Just got my first roll of Portra 160 scans back from @the_darkroom. Holy crap! New favorite slow film.
- Thrice killed it tonight! Grinning ear to ringing ear! http://t.co/ZV8HhZkL
- Best recent purchase. Definitely. http://t.co/LdPw6XUc
- @abbyelisemoore Well, I had been planning on photographing you with B&W film, but red hair look so much more fantastic in color! Can't wait!
- @rnmphotography My jaw just dropped.
- @elaine_townsend @abbyelisemoore love it!
- @elaine_townsend @abbyelisemoore Awesome! What color?
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Posts
- May 16, 12"How have I not photographed you yet?"This is how it always starts. When you hear these words it's only a matter of time until I have you in front of my lens.It had been months since I last shot anything just for me. I've done a wedding, event coverage, and senior portraits for some of the local Carolina girls since my last 'why not?' shoot. I needed to do something different, something I've never done before. I needed to throw myself into a situation I'm not entirely comfortable with and make something beautiful out of it. So I contacted my friend Abby and Hannah of Femme Fatale Makeup, and booked a location. And I dug out an old Polaroid 250 that belonged to my wife's great-grandmother, cleaned it up, converted it to take modern batteries, and sourced some film. Here's what came out of that camera. Also shot 6 rolls of 120 over the 5 hours we were there. Until those get developed, enjoy the 'roids.More on the way. Keep an eye on my Facebook page, they tend to show up there first.
- Jul 07, 11
- Jun 14, 11Edit - I definitely posted the wrong link when I uploaded this. To make up for it, I added s picture, straight off of the scanner. Images like this are why I always use the 00 and 0 frames on a roll.
Sorry, no pictures with this one...The cameras are packed, the tickets bought, and the deposit paid. I'm photographing a wedding in Lakeland, FL this weekend!I've decided now would be a fun time to share what I'm bringing with me. I'm taking a train, which has similar rules to a plane as to how many bags can be brought. With this in mind, I'm bringing a grand total of two bags with me on the train. One messenger, one suitcase.In the messenger bag I have my wedding essentials. I also have my laptop, a magazine or two, a book, and some snacks in this bag.My wedding essentials are:Nikon FM2 film body85mm f/1.8 lens55mm f/3.5 lensCanonet QL17 rangefinder with 40mm f/1.7 lens6 rolls Kodak Tri-X4 rolls Kodak Portra 4002 roll Kodak TMAX P3200Square card readerAll of this is packed into a Lowepro Exchange messenger bag. If anything were to happen to the other bag, I'm completely confident that I could cover an entire wedding with this setup. Easily.This bag fits beautifully in my black messenger bag with the rest of the things listed above.In the suitcase is my backup gear, which includes:Another Nikon FM2 (backups people) with a motor drive attachedNikon D70 (the only camera with batteries in it)17mm f/3.5 lens135mm f/2.8 lensHandheld light meterGaffer's tape6 more rolls of Tri-X5 rolls Kodak GoldSunpak 383 flash with Alien Bees Cybersync triggersThis suitcase also includes my casual clothes and my suit.Worth noting: the D70 is the only camera with batteries, therefore the only camera with a functioning built in meter. I know that this wedding will be outside and I know the likely weather conditions in the area. I also know the Sunny 16 rule, and am using film. Therefore, I'm comfortable with using cameras without meters.More later. I promise there will be pictures with it. - May 22, 11I really don't know why I haven't posted these before. I went to college with Sarah. We both graduated from the Biology department at Florida Southern College. While I'm in graduate school, feeling like I made a poor life choice, Sarah is in med school. She is going to be an amazing doctor. If there's one thing that FSC's bio department does well, it's produce great med school students that become amazing physicians. I had the chance to photograph Sarah and Josh in January. We hit up downtown Lakeland and FSC's campus. We had a blast! I can't wait to photograph their wedding in 3 weeks. They're just so stinking cute together!
So every now and then, I forget to rewind the film before I open the back of the camera. I kick myself for it every time. But then I see images like this when I scan the negatives and think that I should do it more often. - May 13, 11
There's something about the way a rangefinder style camera works that meshes with how I see the world. My rangefinder broke last weekend. These are some of the last frames taken with it. Saving my pennies for a replacement. - Mar 29, 11
- Mar 24, 11Yesterday was rough. From the beginning. I won't go into details here, that's not the point of this post. The point of this is to share how I got through it. Here we go.
A couple months ago I heard of Neil Pasricha via TED. He gave a talk, which you can listen to here, about the dark places in his life and how he got through them. In the process, he started this little blog called 1000 Awesome Things. The basic principle of the site is to call attention to all of the simple, universal pleasures in life that we don't think or talk about. Totally worth a read!
I don't know why it happened, but that morning while dragging my depressed, grumpy self to work, I remembered his talk and started thinking about all of the awesome little things around me. And my mood began to improve. Later in the day when I would start to slip back into darker places again, I would go back to the awesome little things. And feel better.
And think "I need to write these down somewhere."
So now I present to you, today's list of awesome, happy things
1. Daffodils are still blooming!
2. Walking outside and smelling flowers instead of gasoline.
3. Dogwoods starting to bloom!
4. And tulips!
5. And azaleas!
I know, I like flowers far more than the average married male. I'm trained as a botanist, what can I say?
6. Free music from NoiseTrade!
7. Facebook Chat conversations with a bride about secret details in her wedding. I am SO excited to photograph this!
I'll try to remember to post more of these as I think of them. Odds are, I'll be posting them on the tough days that are yet to come. Because they always come. Here's to making them suck less. - Mar 20, 11Today was an experiment in expired film. Over the past year, I've had twenty some rolls of expired color film and four packs of Polaroid 600 film, and a Polaroid camera dumped into my lap. And when I say dumped into my lap, I mean either handed to me in a plastic bag or tossed onto the table in front of me. Not that I'm complaining. In fact, quite the opposite. The problem is, I didn't really use any of it.So today, I hit the streets of UNC-CH with a film body, the Polaroid camera, a handfull of film, and the lovely Abby Moore. Our intent was simple - make some gorgeous images involving as many daffodils as we possibly could.
Here are the polaroids from todays little excursion. Two "vintages" of film were used, with wildly different, yet still altogether beautiful results.
Check back later in the week for the rest of the images. I'll have them up here once I get the film processed. - Mar 07, 11Don Miller is a pretty sweet author, and most likely a pretty sweet screenwriter too. I wore my Save Blue Like Jazz t-shirt yesterday and got several inquiries as to the status of the film.
It's been filmed, is being edited, and will supposedly be out by the end of the year.
Now that that's out of the way, He's giving away a book (amazon link).
Hit up his blog and check it out. Here's my entry:
Are you living a great story with your life? from Donald Miller on Vimeo. - Feb 14, 11Kodachrome, the king of color films, was laid to rest last year. I was lucky enough to get three rolls through cameras before processing ceased on 12/30/10. Here's a nice little selection.
I couldn't resist showing the images of Einstein chillin' with the orchid and my hot wife L playing in the snow and leaves.
Below are images from a good friend's baptism down at Morgan creek, under the shadow of the James Taylor Bridge.Listening to: The King is Dead, by The Decemberists, Kodachrome by Paul Simon - Jan 30, 11
- Nov 07, 10
Time to go to confession. See this video by Joe McNally, the Godfather, first : Bless me Father Bob
This post could also be called "Why I always split film projects across multiple rolls."
Tuesday I was at a shoot for my church. Matt, the pastor who came up with the idea for the image wanted a retro feel, so I decided to do this on my Mamiya 645 Super. I picked up a couple rolls of film and went to the location with the model and an assistant. Things went beautifully for the first roll, but when I loaded the second roll into the back, things went awry. The shutter release on my battery winder stopped working. The shutter release on the camera body still functioned though so I just thought there might be a short in the wiring somewhere as it would still work to advance the frame in between shots. I thought to myself "this is odd, but things seem to be working, so I'll go with it." I finished the roll, cleaned up, and dropped the film off to be processed. Then Wednesday night it hit me,and right as I was about to fall asleep I had a small panic attack. I think I forgot to remove the dark-slide from the back on the second roll. Face, meet palm. I freak. To say the least. I'm up half the night playing with the camera trying to figure out what's going on. I ask Matt if he's picked up the film from the lab the next day. He says "picking it up in the am." Awesome. One more day to be worried. I try to let it go, but all I can think is that I totally blew the roll.
Friday night I finally got to see the film. I ran to the table with the two strips of film on it and just about screamed.
There were images on both rolls.
Breathe.
Breathe again.
Ok good. Needless to say, I'm elated. Time to get the camera fixed.
For further, and probably more entertaining, reading on learning from photographic screw ups, see Jack Hollingsworth's article I AM FALLIBLE.
And I bet next time I tripple check that the dark slide is out.
Next up: Alicia, Riley, and a baptized iPhone... - Oct 14, 10
Grab a friend and go on a shoot in the middle of the night. At least that's what I did. The lovely Kristen played the part of said friend. And she totally rocked it in front of the camera. Totally. She's also a pretty great photographer. You can check out her work here. Here are some images. Enjoy.
For those of you that care about these things, all images were shot with the Canon 50mm 1.2 on a 5D. ISO 1600, f/1.2, shutter speed between 1/250th and 1/20th with ambient light only. - Oct 08, 10
I had the honor of photographing the wedding of Ed & Medora on Saturday. These two are seriously the most amazing couple I've ever worked with. Seriously. And their ceremony reflected their personalities perfectly. There was fresh (as in right off the smoker) barbecue, beer from one of the best breweries in the state, and a live bluegrass band. How much more awesome can it get?
Enough words, time for pictures.Is this not the most amazing dress?This man has some serious talent.Oh yeah, there was a swing too. How cool is that?
If God is not, in fact, an overweight African-American woman from the south, I am convinced he is this man:
Or at least close. The scents permeating from his smoker all day were nothing short of heavenly. As was the food that came out of it.
Loved photographing your wedding guys! Y'all are awesome!
Listening to: The Civil Wars, specifically, this concert footage. - Oct 02, 10
I've been kind of a slacker on here recently. Going to give blogging another attempt soon. But for now, check out what I've been working on.
www.gtkurtzphotography.com
It's a work in progress. At the moment there is a gallery and a twitter feed. I'm working on adding some other goodies. You'll soon also be able to follow this blog there as well.
That's all I've got for now. I've got a weekend full of shoots, so it's time to get back to cleaning the gear and packing the bags. - Mar 16, 10
- Feb 28, 10Laura Johnston was kind enough to not only invite me to a shoot, but to give me a chance to use her gear, her makeup artist, and her model, and her sense of fashion to create a set of images that are uniquely mine. These are the results. Thanks Laura!
- Feb 03, 10
- Jan 21, 10
- Jan 18, 10
Sorry it has been a while. Nothing is ready for today, but I felt I should update whomever may be reading this as to the sheer volume of things to come. Since my last post, I have had two portrait sessions, one wedding, and (almost) daily 2 or 3 image shoots. I also have 84 frames of B&W 120 film and 24 frames of soon to be cross processed 35mm film being developed and scanned this week. Big things are on their way...
- Jan 08, 10
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