|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| . | |||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||
Rangefinder
Magazine Profile:
Kevin Kubota by CharMaine Beleele Centuries ago, the great artist Leonardo Da Vinci wrote “The first object of the painter is to make a flat plane appear as a body in relief and projecting from that plane.” As painters of light, we photographers have been challenged by the transformation of a three dimensional world into a two dimensional medium, for generations.
As the digital age overtakes
us, we have stopped regarding a photograph and saying, “That’s
a pretty good image, for digital,” and
started saying, “That’s a good image,” without regard
to its capture as a negative or a TIFF. Kevin Kubota’s web site
sports the title, “Welcome to the Digital Frontier.” If this
is
Another life-changing event that influenced the Kubota style was moving his family to Bend, Oregon, six years ago. “Bend is a small, recreational destination town and we brought the business with us expecting the transition to be a challenge. On the contrary, the business flourished.” The reason his studio survived and grew was directly related to the growth of the digital technology. “We beefed up our web site portfolio and developed an online viewing and shopping cart system for our wedding clients... Our advanced web site system, combined with the amazing power of gossip in a small town helped our business to thrive in the middle of nowhere. We soon began traveling to destination weddings and pollinating the fields beyond our little oasis.”
And before we become prisoners of film, reluctant to commit to the Kubota’s New Frontier, we can hear caution in the ancient words of DaVinci, spoken as if today, “It is wrong for you to praise and worse to reprehend a thing if you do not understand it well.” And we know that in his time oil paint was shockingly new compared with the watery standard of tempera.
To get a closer look at Kubota’s DaVincian portraiture, visit him at www.kkphoto-design.com or e-mail him at kevin@kkphoto-design.com and check out Kubota’s Workshops at www.kubotaworkshops.com These sites will give you a Mona Lisa Smile. CharMaine Beleele, with an MA in Communication, owns a small studio, Angel Kissed Studio, and teaches communication, at the University of Arkansas. She also writes part-time for a small newspaper in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She can be reached via e-mail at: LBeleele@aol.com. |
||||||||||||||||
|
From the time of flash powder to the pixels of today,
the challenge continues to be taken by the cutting-edge artists of the
twenty-first century. With this “first object” in mind, we
can view Kevin Kubota’s softly rounded mothers-to-be figures or
his stunning romantic wedding couples. We see the work of an artist in
design, a sculptor carving out a third dimension through two dimensions
of light and shadow, just as DaVinci did, just as Weston did, just as
Zucker does. And does the medium make any difference to our perception?
Oil paint or Portra? Chemicals or Pixels? 
true, then Kevin Kubota is one of the pioneers of this New Frontier
Age. He stated biographically, “When digital became a realistic
option for large volume event photography with the introduction of the
Nikon D1 a few years ago, I jumped on it immediately. I’ve been
a professional Photoshop user for 10 years and was excited about using
it for all of my images... I also realized that digital would speed the
images to the Internet and eliminate the scanning costs. I didn’t
realize, or wasn’t expecting, how effectual digital would be to
our creativity and improving our technical ability.” And so, in
effect, what had been a mental, businesslike decision also became an
artistic choice for “Kubota Photo-Design.” It is not often
that the anatomy of the mind affects the anatomy of the heart, but in
Kevin’s case, it did.
Going back in time, it is easy to see how
Kevin became a photographer. He stated, “My Father was a serious
photography fanatic. He took beautiful black-and-white images of my sister
and I and developed them
in his darkroom. He is a very technical yet creative person who loves
to teach.” Another early influence was his mother. He said, “she
taught music to students in our home through the years as I grew up.
I remember playing in the next room while she patiently walked her pupils
through scales and chords for the hundredth time.” Thus, it is
no mystery where Kevin found his natural penchant for teaching. One of
his most recent teaching experiences was as a speaker at the ‘02
WPPI Conference. He shared some impressions of that event. He said, “I
remember stepping outside the presentation room, about 15 minutes before
start time, onto the littered loading dock that was revealed behind the
backstage doors. I read over my notes yet another time, then put them
down to gaze at the sunset sky that hovered over the back streets of
Las Vegas, peacefully incongruous to the 
hustle of the strip. My mind
was put to rest and I entered the room to begin only to be literally
overwhelmed by the flood of anxious faces filling the seats, floors,
walls, and pouring out the door.” As a pioneer of effective digital
wedding photography, Kevin was well aware of the pitfalls of becoming
too technical in the first lessons. “I’ve been to too many
seminars that were full of details and specifications; but without inspiration,
the information and the speaker were soon forgotten.” He added, “Being
a very technical person by nature, it was a new challenge for me to restrain
myself from delivering too much technical babble.” He is quick
to give the WPPI association great credit for his success. “WPPI
has been a major inspiration for me during the past two years that I’ve
been a member. My first convention was so inspiring and energizing, that
I vowed to make it an annual event for our whole studio. I remember being
blown away by Joe Buissink’s heartfelt presentation. It really
fueled me to stay true to my passion for wedding photography and motivated
me to work towards learning to inspire other photographers with my energy.”
At
first Kevin’s professional work revolved around calendars, head
shots and portfolios. Then he came to a crossroads in life and in business.
He said, “Exactly 10 years ago, when I got married, my wedding
photographer, George Carranza became my friend and inspired me to try
wedding photography too.” This did not mean cookie-cutter style,
formulaic or traditional work. George Carranza “was really into
fashion photography as well and his flair for style and sass really reflected
in his wedding work. I loved this look and it inspired me to abandon
tradition and follow a different route.”
Kevin’s evolution from
mere photographer to digital guru actually began as a result of his increasing
prosperity. He needed to hire some
help. He said, “About two and a half years ago we hired another
photographer for our studio. He was and still is an awesome landscape
photographer who expressed an interest in learning more about our wedding
photography style. I trained him to shoot digital—although he didn’t
even own a computer at the time—and taught him the ins and outs
of Photoshop.” Thus, Kevin’s career as an educator began.
He said, “I realized at this point that there was a serious need
for training in the field of digital photography and also specialized
Photoshop techniques that digital photographers would use every day.” Today
this realization has led to a separate program and web site for Kevin-the-teacher,
independent of Kevin-the-photographer. At one of his web sites, KubotaWorkshops.com,
photographers can register for practical “boot camps” and
seminars that will bring them into the “21st century.”
Kevin
has developed the “Digital DaVinci Approach.” He has
founded it on four principles that he feels digital photographers must
take to heart. The first principle is that in the 21st century, “photographers
will need to nurture their creative vision as well as their technical
skills to a much higher degree than in the past.” Secondly, just
as the renaissance men of old discovered, there must be “a balance
of art and science.” The third Digital DaVinci principle is that,
within this balance, the artistic vision must be strong, as strong or
stronger than, the computer science which supports and decorates it.
In Kevin’s words, “Digital can have a significant effect
on our creativity, but it must work at the core level, where the image
is taken, not used as a crutch to make up for a mediocre concept.” The
fourth law supports the important scientific study at the very heart
of digital work. Kubota stated, “The technology needs to be second
nature so that it does not hinder production or dampen creativity.” And
it is on this point that Leonardo DaVinci himself seems to agree across
time and space, for he wrote, “Painting begins in the mind of the
contemplator but can not be accomplished without manual operation.” 
Artists and teachers like Kevin Kubota will help us
balance new art with new science. He said, “I love to share my
experiences and knowledge, which helps me to complete my humble quest
for satisfaction
as a DaVincian
thinker. It truly excites me when I teach a workshop and see that sparkle
of realization in a photographer’s eyes… ‘Yes, I get
it. I see the big picture.’ Digital, Photoshop, and technology
are all just tools, but mastering them will help me nurture my creative
vision.”