Turntable-ism

My other art…

I was so excited after I graduated from college, I dove head-first into both digi-photo AND DJing at the same time… The art of the turntable was one that was unfamiliar to me, but something that I was completely passionate about learning… I don’t think I would have been able to jump into it if I didn’t move into Flanders directly after graduation (the house of DJs David, Mark, and Tone). I was most definitely blessed to have not only encouraging DJ figures surrounding and guiding me, but also learning and knowledgeable ones as well! I think because of that, I was able to become gig ready extremely fast and full of more resources than I can handle. Here is the entire set…

| DJ ChemE Set | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

The very first piece of the entire set I picked up was the right turntable. Mark spotted it for me on Craigslist for a total steal and it was the Technics SL-1200MK5 – the beast of the DJ world. So I HAD to get a matching table – Ebay to the rescue, and directly behind that was the mixer via Ebay as well… Closer up on the mixer…

| Vestax Mixer | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

I picked it up based on suggestions by both my housemates Mark and Tone. Definitely a solid pick up. Photographically, it has a bunch of interesting angles and subject matter making for an easy shoot – for example…

| Vestax Mixer | Flanders Home | San Diego, CA |

Then the Decision to go with Serato… like Digital SLRs, it is a revolutionary technology that rewrote the entire industry. Like DJing with Serato where you are given the ability to digitally manipulate your music in ways that were impossible before, photography with Digital SLRs has a whole new artistic realm in the Digital Darkroom of Photoshop… Incredible powers – if used wisely and for good Young Skywalker…

I resisted for a long while, the use of Photoshop to alter or touch-up my digital photos… mostly because I just didn’t believe in its use for photos – and because, well, we just couldn’t do all that with film before! But, I realized that I had already stepped across that line in DJing… I conceded and admitted that Photoshop is the industry standard and has become a commonplace part of a photographer’s complete workflow… so as a novice with Photoshop, I decided to go with the approach ‘less is more’… as I learn it, hopefully I will be able to accomplish this in my photos… although now I don’t mind stylization too much every now and then…