Kids With Guns

Posted on February 24, 2014 by gwunterberger

I’m not one for long-term photography projects. It’s not that I’m against them (in fact I envy them), it’s that I haven’t been able to stay committed enough to a single vision or theme. I think it’s amazing when photographers envision a concept, collect images over years, and put together edits that speak to an overarching story. Me on the other hand, I just go out with my camera and take photos of what I find appealing, there’s no rhyme, reason, or agenda. Sure, I have a bunch of folders in my library organized loosely into themes, but each are only a few images deep. I lose interest too quickly, think better of pursuing a certain angle, or lack the confidence to fully develop an idea. But on my weekend walk yesterday I had an encounter that just might change all that.

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Contact | Judah

Posted on November 22, 2013 by gwunterberger

Judah was one of those people that I almost passed up, even though the minute I saw him I had to have his portrait. But like anything in life, you never know until you try…

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Contact | William

Posted on October 23, 2013 by gwunterberger

Meet William, the very first subject I sent a copy of my photo too. He was walking around Washington Square Park with a beautiful Pentax 67 (complete with wooden grip!) and it was the first time that I had ever seen the camera in person. At this point I wasn’t as comfortable taking portraits of strangers, but I had it in my head that I would take photos of people with cool cameras (the theory being that they were photographers, so they would be less inclined to say no). So I circled the park a couple times, gathering up the nerve to ask. He couldn’t have been nicer, and later I realized HE also walked around the city taking portraits. In fact his Flickr account, especially his older stuff, turned out to be a big reason why I started taking the Hasselblad out onto the streets. I hadn’t seen that “look” before, and I fell in love. Anyway, he was also the first person to respond to my image, and the resulting conversation is worth the read.

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Field Notes | Give Me A Hand

Posted on May 21, 2013 by gwunterberger

Bringing back the Field Notes, and it feels SO GOOD! Saw this quiet scene in the lobby of my building and everyone stared while I fired off a few frames. Nobody else appreciated the irony.

Narcissisms | Indiana Jones

Posted on January 17, 2013 by gwunterberger

FNO

Posted on December 20, 2012 by gwunterberger

I believe I have successfully stretched the boundaries of “fashionably late,” considering Fashion’s Night Out occurred over 3 months ago. Regardless, I pulled this out from the archives, so here we go. FNO’s timing this year could not have been better; not because we were finally in NYC to experience it, not because my girlfriend had recently secured a job at a major fashion magazine, but because I had just secured a new camera from eBay! Shamelessly capitalizing on the listing mistake of seller tahoerealtor5, I managed to secure the legendary Yashica T4 super for the meager sum of $50 ( the going rate for a T4 is for upwards of $250.) For those of you that just googled “Yashica T4” and were wondering what could possibly make that plastic 90’s point-and-shoot worth anything near $50, say hello to Mr. Terry Richardson. In reality it’s actually the Carl Ziess lens that give the camera its mojo, but for all intents and purposes the T4 can attribute its fanfare to Terry, so what better way to break it in than to emulate that full-frontal-flash style (minus the penises and vaginises…I’m just not there yet OK)

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Narcissisms | The Shick

Posted on December 18, 2012 by gwunterberger

Gone are the days of shameless self-admiration, replaced with a slightly less self-centered self-portrait. I’m still in the reflection, so there’s that.

Hexar Hazzard

Posted on December 6, 2012 by gwunterberger

I’ve talked about my love for the Konica Hexar before, and I am consistently amazed by the output of this unassuming camera. Despite its 90’s era design, unintelligible operating features, and limiting 1/250th top shutter speed, the Hexar has gained a cult-like following among street photographers as a silent but deadly shooter. Armed with a reportedly “identical” knockoff of the beautiful Leica 35 Summicron lens, the Hexar truly earns its chops when shot in “silent mode,” an inaudible method of operation made possible by mashing odd buttons in sync while turning the thing on. Why on earth the designers hid this awesome function beneath a Mortal Kombat like string of commands, only god knows, but once properly engaged the Hexar is scary silent. Like I’m not even sure that I hit the shutter silent. While this operation is EPIC on the street, it becomes much less EPIC when the shutter starts to stick. Imagine my surprise after a days worth of shooting, adoring and admiring the utter stealth of my “silent mode” Hexar, only to find that the silence had occurred because my faulty shutter failed to fire. Apparently, the lofty Hexar is plagued by a notoriously week electrical connection between the shutter button and the body, a defect responsible for erratic focusing and…you guessed it, miss fires! At first it was an inconvenience, but the more I had the Hexar by my side, the more I noticed the problem worsening. My growing frustration led me to begin leaving the Hexar at home, afraid that if I brought it along I would end up missing something important. But one day I stumbled across an online forum that described a relatively easy fix, but still a fix that involved disassembling the body and exposing its guts to the elements. What choice did I have? Do nothing and be stuck with a faulty camera, do something and potentially ruin a cult icon. Did I have the technology, or steady hands to perform a procedure like that? Read on to find more.

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