That being said, in light of the global pandemic of Covid-19, I believe mental health is going to be a major factor in the world’s recovery. I believe the toll of this pandemic on people’s emotional well being will be vast and I suspect those who work in the mental health field will soon find themselves at the center of attention, if they haven’t already. The mental healthcare system in the United States is drastically underfunded, with only a small percentage of recent federal funding being set aside for mental healthcare in the wake of Covid 19. Frontline medical workers are dealing with conditions only those with battlefield experience may be able to relate to. With incredibly high levels on unemployment and a devastating death rate, this pandemic will likely touch the lives of every person on a global scale. With that in mind I am going to be shifting the focus of my project (for now) to encompass people who have in some way, great or small, been emotionally affected by the pandemic.

This is an open opportunity for anyone who sees this and wants to talk. Are you a doctor? A nurse? A therapist? A grocery store clerk? Postal worker or other delivery worker? Did you lose someone close to you? Did you lose your job? Do you struggle with an issue that’s been exacerbated by the social isolation? I would love to speak with you about your experience and how it’s affected your life. The process consists of an interview and photo session, all handled respectfully, with empathy and without judgement. Samples from the previous incarnation of the project can be found here. Please feel free to contact me by emailing Roberto@CarryOnPhoto.com if you’re interested in participating.

Due to the logistical restrictions of Covid-19 I would prefer to remain in driving distance of the Hudson Valley for now, although I would be willing to conduct the interview virtually if necessary. All appropriate social distancing precautions will be taken during the interview and photo session, safety will be a top priority.

Stay safe,

Roberto

Some big things are happening here at Carry-On Photo! Ok, well not exactly huge things, but I’m finally starting to utilize YouTube a bit. Medium sized things! I’ve finally created a YouTube channel for Carry-On and I thought that the best way to premier the channel was with my first ever camera bag review. Anyone who has been to my studio probably knows that I have a closet full of camera bags of various shape and size, because like many photographers I’m always on the look out for the perfect bag that will function beautifully in every single situation (hint: it doesn’t exist, but damnit I’ll keep looking).

A few years ago I wrote a blog post with my initial impressions of the Wotancraft Commander camera backpack. Since that time I’ve had the opportunity to use that bag on my travels, as well as the newer version that was released more recently. In light of those developments I received a few requests to update my overall review of the Commander. How do the two versions compare? What’s it like to travel with? Etc etc. That seemed like the perfect opportunity to make my first video. It’s a bit long so please bear with me, I definitely do a deep dive into the pros and cons of the bag and I try to explain my opinions. I’ll include a brief summary of my conclusions below, but to really get some elaboration on some points you should just watch the video! Please note: I don’t do a lot of video work, virtually none actually, so I apologize in advance for the amateur cinematography and sound – if you guys like gear reviews like this I will do more and try to improve my technique along the way.

Summary: The Wotancraft Commander (both versions) are really beautiful looking bags. Vintage, rugged, and discreet – they don’t scream “Photographer! Expensive items within!” They’re relatively weather proof (I’ve learned the hard way that regardless of advertising, nothing is 100% waterproof), the fabric is tough and won’t tear easily, the leather straps make it super rugged. Overall, it’s a great bag for it’s versatility. You can fit a ton of gear in this bag plus there’s extra pockets for accessories and a laptop sleeve. However, you can’t put a ton of gear in any bag without it getting heavy and that’s where the Commander lost points for me. I’m a big guy, my chest and shoulders are broad (just ask any poor soul that has to sit next to me on a plane), and the Commander just wasn’t made for my frame. The shoulder straps are hard to adjust on the go, there isn’t a hip belt to alleviate the weight of the bag when it’s fully loaded, and the sternum strap on the new version was a complete failure in design. So to summarize, for 80% of the population, this bag could be everything you ever wanted, especially if you’re the type of shooter who likes to take 4 cameras, a laptop, and the kitchen sink with you when you’re out in the field. But for me it just doesn’t really work. I’ve tried both versions on several trips around the world now and it’s just been too uncomfortable to deal with, which is tragic because I really wanted to love this bag.

I hope you all enjoy the video, please feel free to leave comments or questions below and don’t forget to hit the “subscribe” button on the Carry-On Photography YouTube channel!

Lots has been happening in recent months. I’ve finally purchased a photo printer so I can truly keep my entire process in house (unless I need to outsource printing for super large sizes). So that’s a big step. Most importantly though has been the development of my project from Route 66, many photos from that series have yet to see the light of day as I continue to work on them, print them, critique them, reprint them, and thus the cycle continues. However, if you live near Poughkeepsie, NY or Denver, CO you will have the opportunity to see a small preview since two pieces from the project have been accepted for group exhibitions!

The Barrett Art Center in Poughkeepsie, NY is hosting Photowork 2019 until March 23 and The Robert Anderson Gallery in Denver, CO will have their Small Works exhibit on display from March 8 – April 27.

I am thrilled to have been accepted to both shows and to have the honor to display my art in company with many other talented photographers. So if you live in either city, or it’s nearby, please take some time to stop by and support the galleries and check out some amazing photography.

Soon I will post some more images from my Route 66 series and possibly share my plans at potentially expanding the project to something much more long term. But until then this brief update shall have to suffice.

Technical mastery of every single button on your DSLR? An amazing instinct for capturing strangers in a park? I’ve been shooting for 10 years, I’ve shot countless portraits of professional models, amateur models, nude, clothed, friends, family, people on the street, etc – and I can honestly say that I have trouble answering that question. I know what I like when I look at portraits and I know what I don’t like. When I first started out I was really into creating edgy, controversial images that were very contrived and staged. As evidenced by this blast from the past, shot in my college photo classes circa 2006 – 2008. Not a bad photo but it definitely feels like it was shot by a college student caught up in his angsty “artistic vision.” As I progressed in my education I realized that fabricating a story just wasn’t for me and it clearly wasn’t my strong suit.

Fast forward several years to my early work on the Diversity project. I wanted to produce a body of work that combated the culture of body shaming by celebrating the beauty of the nude form in every size and shape it comes in.

By photographing the models on a plain white backdrop with little to no makeup, hair styling, or elaborate poses I completely removed any aspect of a preconceived story from the scene.

Yet what I came to realize as I worked with some truly amazing people, is that when I removed a lot of the formal direction from the project and allowed the models to truly be themselves I ended up telling much truer stories than anything I could have contrived in my college years. Diversity helped me remember what I always instinctively loved about portrait photography – whether you’re looking at Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, or Humans of New York – it’s the stories that truly capture you. So as I began to wind down the Diversity project I started looking for other stories to tell. Realizing that the stories are already there, I didn’t need to create them, was an important step in the evolution of my work.

In early 2017 I attended two workshops at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops in New Mexico. At the time I was in the middle of some serious struggles in my personal life, coming to terms with my own anxiety and mental illness after 30 years of repressing it and dealing with the consequences of that and its impacts on my loved ones. The workshops helped me refocus on the art that I was truly passionate about. Even while I was photographing the Diversity series I did not consider myself a full time photographer – that was something I wanted to change.

The first workshop, Classic Portraiture with Kurt Markus and Norman Mauskopf helped me hone all the important technical aspects of shooting environmental portraits and fueled my passion while working under two amazing portrait photographers. The second, Photographic Obsession taught by Jason Langer, motivated me to find my artistic direction again. I struggled for the first few days of Jason’s workshop, I couldn’t find a theme that I connected with and I was frustrated with my lack of vision. Finally, as he pushed me to look deeper into the theme of obsession the seeds of my new project began to take root.

As I dealt with my newfound emotional issues, the one comfort I had was the understanding that mental illness is not isolated. It is everywhere, everyday people are almost always struggling with their own issues oftentimes beneath the surface. I wanted to offer that comfort to others, to let people know that they aren’t alone in their battles. So I placed ads on Craigslist, looking for anyone suffering from depression, trauma, abuse, etc willing to come forward and have their portraits taken. The response was surprisingly quick and encouraging. I photographed several people during the last few days of the workshop, all of whom were surprisingly eager to share their stories. The struggling artistic 20 something couple, the heroin addicted single mother of two, the abuse survivor slowly putting her life back together.

The photos I took were possibly some of the best photographs I’ve taken to date, shot in simple black and white usually in the subject’s home. I’ve continued the project since then, working on it slowly in the background while I continue to build the rest of my career – it is the project that is currently closest to my heart because it tells my story too. I’ve included two samples here for the sake of this post and more will follow as I allow the project to grow and mature on its own.

So at the end of the day I will amend my earlier statement. I do know what makes a good portrait: a story. Whether it’s a story you have the ability to create out of thin air or you choose to document the story that’s already inside the subject waiting to come out. My own work has evolved by leaps and bounds this past year as I’ve learned to connect with my subjects, to listen to their stories and retell them in my own way. If a portrait doesn’t tell a story it might as well be in the head shot pages of a high school year book.

It can be difficult to remain neutral and simply observe events like this one, especially as they are becoming more and more prevalent across the country. It is easy to see how people are making references to Nazi Germany when you are surrounded by dozens of people chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” after the national anthem is sung, as if daring anyone to question the greatness of the country. It is a subtly hostile mantra.

So I’m not going to waste time with excuses, instead I’ll dive right into it with a well rounded write up of all the equipment I’ve been playing with lately. I’ve done some traveling during my absence and used different gear for each project. They were all personal projects so I used the fact that I didn’t need guaranteed results to experiment with some fun toys.

First and foremost is the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246 digital camera. Obviously it shoots only monochrome images and doesn’t even have a color sensor so it makes really amazing black and white images right in camera with very little post processing necessary. (As opposed to shooting color and converting it in Lightroom or Photoshop where it takes some tweaking to get a “true” b&w image). As someone who got their foundational photo education shooting black and white film I really appreciate what the Leica M 246 can do- it combines the beauty of true b&w photography with the convenience of digital.

The M Monochrom is my first digital camera purchased from Leica (I have a pre-owned R3 that I use on occasion) and I will admit that the price point was a notable factor in my hesitation. Leica makes some of the best cameras on the market and have done so since 1913- so naturally they’re going to charge you for it. The M Monochrom costs around $7,000 which is enough to make most sensible people check themselves into extensive therapy for even considering it. And they would be absolutely right . . . EXCEPT that this camera is worth every penny of that price tag and over the span of a few months has become one of my favorites and my go to camera for portrait work. Leica occasionally offers promotions and sales if you keep an eye out at your local retailer. For more information and specs check out: https://us.leica-camera.com/

The M Monochrom has the classic M body styling that Leica is famous for with one of their flagship models. It was my first time using a rangefinder camera which definitely took some adjustment but I’ve come to really enjoy the rangefinder focusing since it forces me to really concentrate on the composition of my images.

At first I thought the slow process of composition would restrict my use of the camera to carefully orchestrated portrait shoots, but I used it to photograph the band Today Is The Day playing live back in April and the images came out great so it proved itself to be a very versatile camera.

It is on the heavier side but I use it almost exclusively with a small 35mm lens so it’s not too bad to carry around for a day of shooting. However it does make me think before packing it for a long distance travel project. I did purchase a thumb support accessory that slides into the camera’s hot shoe and provides an extra grip point for your right thumb and makes holding the camera feel a little more secure which I definitely recommend.

It goes without saying at this point that I am completely in love with this camera. The images it produces have amazing contrast, true blacks, and are sharp as a tack. It is obviously a big investment, but if you love black and white photography I couldn’t recommend it more. For more samples of what it can do check out my new images from the Indy 500 which were shot exclusively with the Leica M Monochrom Typ 246.

I also recently acquired a mint condition Contax T3 point and shoot 35mm film camera and used that as my primary shooter on a recent trip to Scotland in June. At first I really struggled with it. I hadn’t used a point and shoot camera since before college when I discovered the joy of SLRs and it felt tiny and foreign in my hands. It was a tough transition.

The primary struggle I had was due to the fact that no matter what the shutter speed is, it sounds like it fires slow so I had to really trust my settings and (as with all film photography) hope that things came out okay. It sounded like I was shooting at 1/30 instead of 1/500 which caused mild anxiety.

After a few days I learned my way around the camera and the settings. It offers a surprising amount of manual adjustment for a point and shoot, including aperture priority mode and adjustable auto-focus. Also worth noting is its beautiful, built in 35mm 2.8 Carl Zeiss lens. That being said, while the T3’s adjustable settings are certainly impressive, I wouldn’t recommend it for shooting when you really need the fine adjustments and settings of a full SLR. There is no shutter priority mode so manually adjusting your shutter speed is impossible which did prove frustrating. It offers a manual focus mode which locks the focal length of the lens which sounds great until you realize there isn’t an easily accessible button to transition to that mode quickly, instead you have to muddle through the menu. The menus in general are difficult to navigate without reading the owner’s manual to figure out exactly where to find each setting.

Despite the slow start, by the end of the trip I came to the decision that the camera is great for travel and casual snap shot photography. Its small size means it can fit in my pocket and makes it perfect for street photography when you may not want to point an obnoxiously large camera in a stranger’s face. The downside is when you approach somebody and ask them if you can take their portrait because you’re a professional photographer, some people expect a pro to have the big camera and the tiny Contax makes you look like some sort of weirdo. But it’s an all around fun camera to use and very convenient. The images I took came out beautifully as you can see in the new Scotland gallery and by experimenting with a few different types of b&w film I captured some really diverse photos.

A quick note to wrap things up while on the topic of film, a few years ago I backed a Kickstarter campaign for Film Ferrania, an Italian film company that was going to reopen a factory and begin producing film once again. After several production delays they finally delivered their first batch of P30 Alpha ASA80 B&W film and WOW, what an impressive product. Amazing contrast makes for really beautiful portraits like the ones below I shot a couple weeks ago in New York City. It was well worth the wait. You can find more information about Film Ferrania at: http://www.filmferrania.it/

Despite having created this website to focus on my travel photography I recently came to the conclusion that I shouldn’t limit the content I include here. Having been a photographer for close to 10 years I have experience with numerous subject matters (I even shot a wedding once, it was a little rough) and even though I love travel and travel photography I would be doing myself and my portfolio an injustice if I didn’t showcase my work in the field of fine art portraiture as well.

Landscapes can be fantastic especially from all over the world and there’s no better feeling than working hard to capture that one great image; but my first love is photographing people. Portrait photography was what first drew me to the art early on when I was in college and that passion has stuck with me over the years. Whether it’s candid shots taken on a street in New York City, capturing that quick moment shared between husband and wife or parent and child, or working with a figure model in my studio, I love everything about it.

Since I can’t be on the road 24/7 photographing every corner of the globe, I’ve begun to work on an ongoing project here at home to keep my creative energies focused. Taking my inspiration from Richard Avedon, the master of the white background, I’ve begun photographing a series of fine art nudes against white backdrops with the intention of demonstrating the true beauty and diversity of the human body. Searching for models of any gender, age, ethnicity, and body type I hope to build a portfolio that can truly celebrate body diversity. Some shots are meticulously posed while others are quick snapshots allowing the viewer a brief glimpse into the model’s personality, my goal is for all of them to be honest portrayals of the subject. By working with both professional/experienced art models as well as new comers I hope I can truly create a well rounded and diverse body of work. I intend this to be a long term project, by not giving myself a deadline I hope to always be open to meeting and photographing new people as they express interest in participation.

Hence the diversification of my website and the portfolios contained within. I hope you’ll take some time and look around at the new galleries and revisit some of the old ones if you wish. I also tried to improve the ease of navigation in the gallery pages. Enjoy.