Archive for the ‘Portrait’ Category
Shots like this are why I love what I do!
October 23, 2011Sometimes Beer does Mix with Portrait Photography
April 3, 2011A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly to Helena Montana and spend two days with the wildlife artist Josh Elliott. While I am still working on the images from that 2 day shoot, I wanted to share some of the fun that we had.
It was about 7 degrees outside; and yes, that is cold. I shared with Josh, that I needed to hire an assistant to help with the lighting for the outdoor portion of our shoot. He told me not to worry about it as his friend, TJ Lynde and fellow artist, could help. While I didn’t know TJ, I figured that this would be fun and why not. Boy was I right. It was more fun then I ever could have imagined.
As we were heading out to the outer limites of town (which is not very far I must say), Josh pulled into the corner gas station and came out 5 minutes later with a 12 pack of cold brewskis. I just laughed. While I enjoy a good beer, it is certainly not a good idea for me to try and work, shoot and drink all at the same time. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do it.
Thanks TJ for your help. Not only was it awesome, you were awesome. I hope we get to do it again soon!
Sometimes Mistakes Make the Best Portraits
March 14, 2011Whenever I am doing a light set up, I will grab some nearby unsuspecting person and ask them to stand where my client is going to stand. 9 times out of 10, if I am shooting at home, this is one of my kids. Most of the time they grin and bear it and put up with me. I play with the lights, change my settings and off we go.
Last night as I was working on a set up, I grabbed my 14 year old and asked him to stand “there”. I got the same look as always do, but he obliged. And as normal, the light were too hot, this was wrong, that was wrong etc. After 3 or 4 minutes I got it to where I wanted it to be and off I went.
When I got to my Mac this AM and was downloading my images, I saw the shots of Jimmy and started to look at them. Sometimes I glace at them, many times, I just move on; but this time, I kept going back to my first shot; the “its too hot shot”. I put aside my “work” and started to play with his image a bit. After I was done with it (about 4 more minutes later), I decided to print it to see what it would look like. Normally, I will crop the image to whatever size I am printing. This time, I was lazy and didn’t do that. I told my little machine, please just size it to fit. But just as I was about to hit the “size it to fit” button, I saw the below crop. My software didn’t know where to crop, it didn’t know what I wanted. It just said, this is how it is going to fit if you don’t do anything.
I didn’t plan for any of this; it just happened. And that maybe is the best way to learn. Just let things naturally happen.
High School Senior Portrait – What a Blast!
February 15, 2011This seems to happen to me more often then not; I meet someone and end up having such a good time that it seems like we have known each other forever and a day! Elisabeth is one of those people. While it is true, I did meet her many years ago when she was only a few days old; but reality is, that we have not seen each other since. So we really didn’t “know” each other.
Each time I meet someone, particularly someone who is in High School, I always tell them the same thing: This is for you! Not your mom, not your dad; Today is all about you. I ask them what they like or don’t like, and encourage them to tell me that an idea that I have (no matter how wild and crazy) is either awesome or stupid. I stress on the stupid as I want them to know it is what they like, not me (or anyone else). I find it help them to relax and enjoy our time together that much more.
When Elisabeth’s mother found out that I was going to be in California, she asked me to shoot her Senior Portraits. We went back and forth on locations and finally decided on the pier in Huntington Beach. I had an idea what I wanted to do, but as it was going to be January, I did not know if the weather, or the water would cooperate with us. Thankfully both did! It was a warm sunny day and we could not have asked for better.
I have to tell you that even as I was editing these images, I had a huge smile on my face. Not just because of my work, but just remembering the fun that we all had that day. I hope that I will have the chance to do it again with all of them. Maybe Elisabeth’s wedding?? Just a thought 3D! 
And thanks to my assistant Sean who made my life that much easier that day!
Indian Portraits on a Whim!
February 4, 2011Last weekend we had a few friends come to the house to have dinner and just hang out. Included in this group were some 14 year old girls who were clearly a bit bored with it all. At some point my wonderful wife asked “hey, do you want to try on some of my sari’s?” I am not sure what women, regardless of age, would say no to that; And as you might expect, they did not.
What I thought would be a mellow evening at home turned into a spur of the moment full fledge photo photo shoot. The white seamless come out, the lights, soft boxes and everything else. Trust be told, I am not sure who had more fun, the girls, my wife (who did not dress us), my daughter or us “boys”. A lot of laughs and fun was clearly had.
It is these kind of shoots that I love the most; No pressure, so set up. Think on your feet and do what you what with what you think will work best. Granted, they did not all turn out perfect, but a lot of cool stuff came out of it. And I learned more then a few things as well!!
I can’t wait to do it again!
Can you say: To Cool for School. The young lady face on the right is a bit too hot for me, but even with that, it is a neat image.
I call this “OMG!”
Merry Christmas Everyone
December 20, 2010From my family to yours….May this season bring you the joy that we all seek.
Who says that you can’t stand in the water…in Fall…in Cold Weather….for your Senior Portrait??
October 12, 2010I always give the same speech when I work with people: ”This is for you, not for me (or your parents). If you are uncomfortable with anything, just say so. If I ask you to do wild stuff that you don’t like, tell me. I am fine with it all!” I may get a spur of the moment idea and ask if it is ok. Many times people will go with the flow, sometimes not, but most of the time yes.
This past weekend, Becca was one of those people that not only was up for anything, but invited me to get a bit more crazy. She knew what she wanted, she had a vision, but had a hard time deciding on specifics. So we planned for an afternoon together and wondered around a bit. Her Mom was there to help but let this be about her daughter; she stayed in the background and was there to support her and provided some laughs when we did some crazy things.
Thanks Becca for making me laugh! It was a blast!
This is what happens when you have a client who is tired of posing……
The bugs were nasty that night! Becca was getting eaten alive. Every two seconds she was trying to kill another mosquito.
It was almost pitch dark when I took this. I think this may have been my last shot of the night. And I LOVE IT!
Why I love Photography
August 25, 2010Every once in a while it comes together and some sort of photo magic occurs. When I click the shutter sometimes I know that I got the shot, but more times than not, I am self-critical and unsure of myself; I will keep shooting or try something else. But every once in a while, I click and I know it. I know that I got the shot and I know it is going to be awesome. When I get back to my Mac and I see images like the one below, I fall in love with photography all over again.
Blue House Portrait
May 5, 2010My new favorite thing to do with an image is to add tonal contrasts to an image. While I don’t want the subject to become “funky”, I do want their surroundings to be interesting. I look for an image be felt and not just sit there; not to be flat. Perhaps That is too much philosophy , but that is what I strive to do. Sometimes I push it too far, but sometimes (most of the time), it just works.
Below is an example of that. The first image is the finished work, and below that the original. The original is not much to look at, but by adding tonal contrast to the house and playing with a levels adjustment, you can see the result. It literally is night and day.
Rock Gym Shots
April 14, 2010A local Rock Climbing Gym asked me and the great Megan Case to shoot the gym for a new website they are putting together. To be honest, this ended beng a lot harder then I thought and I think we are going to have to go back. While I got a few good shots, most of them are not what I would want to show the public. I decided that I needed to do my lights a bit differently and shoot at different angles. While the lighting was OK, the angles just were all off. Live and learn as they say.
But as I said, I got a few and here they are:
Yes, she is climbing upside down.
I am litterly hanging over the edge to get these next two shots. One of the guys was hanging onto my belt as I leaned over (way over) the edge.
