Musings Part 3
When I opened my first studio, one day I was with a client reviewing what I had chosen as the best pictures, she loved them but begged me to let her see the others. I complied and to my surprise she chose many more images and favored some of the others over what I had chosen.
This taught me two things.
The client or model must be allowed to review all images and that the best images are the ones in which they are a collaboration between me and the person in the photo. When in the collaboration mode, the input comes from both, it is almost like playtime and we are free to be ourselves. The model is no longer a model but a living human, not a prop when approached this way.
It does make some people uncomfortable since they are used to being told what to do, but I always encourage input from whoever I am making photographs with.
Everyone comes to the studio with images in their head and those are the only ones I care about brining to life, unless there are also ones in my head as well!
More often than not it is during the final minutes of the session that the client comes out with their ideas, that is when true creativity comes alive in the studio!
I have a passion for people and value their imagination as much as my own.
I don't take pictures, with this type of process that is impossible, instead I make pictures and know full well that who and what is in the image is just as if not more important than I am in the original making.
It is when I am refining the image in the computer that my "style" comes out.
To me if there is no darkroom work done to an image afterwards, it is but a photo that anyone could have taken, it is the finishing touches that count the most and you have to know when to stop and for me I have found that the best time to stop is when I know that there is just a bit more that can be done....
I took a trip to his website to find most of the work had been finished with plug in photoshop filters. I have nothing against the filters as a starting point but you have to make them your own. They should compliment and enhance, not take away, not distract. Photoshop and the like can make a good image great but it can never make a bad image good.
To my horror some of these images also had crooked ocean horizons! This can be fine and look really great in some, well only a few situations, otherwise it looks like the ocean is being poured out the corner of the picture! (like the shot of bonita beach over there)
And knowing what I know about balance and the human body the some poses would have much more impact if the image was straightened.
And I am not sure what it is, maybe composition is part of it along with getting rid of unneeded crap and keeping the use of filters to only where they are needed to let the feeling show. to a minimum, but when i see some people's work, and they leave me cold, I no longer think much of the skill of such a photog! (I like that word "photog" about as much as I like the word "dude" and that is not very much)
In the end, Art is a purely subjective thing. Either you like it or you don't, but before you decide if an image is any good, really take a look at it, let your own view, your own opinion shine through.
As for my work, I know some of it is crap, I know that I could be less demanding on myself as far as my clients work goes, as some are so used to today's photography, where it is a rare thing to come across really great work and they wouldn't have a clue that I wasn't giving them my best.
I will never compromise and always strive to make the next image the best I have ever created.
PS This post was inspired by a conversation with a friend named Julie.
Testing New Lighting Set Ups
When testing new lighting set ups things can get a bit boring if you don't add a bit of life to the test images...
For anyone interested in the technical aspects, these were done with a bounce flash and four slaves, where I placed them all and how much intensity they're spitting out is a secret!
Some people like to use the word "strobe" but to me strobes are those flashing light thingys usually found in discos or some potheads apartment, that make things look like a stop motion movie and tend to give me a headache and make me nauseous, so I use flashes and slaves.... besides, "flash" is a much prettier word than "strobe".
The flash sends out a burst of light and slaves being slaves follow suit spreading joyous, luminous light everywhere and showering all within their reaches with a momentary blast of white light! Ah! Tis a right beautiful thing!
Using flashes is much more challenging that using continuous light, for you have to envision where the light will flow and spread to.
Striving to keep my work as "green" as possible I like to only use what can be reused. Not using continuous light keeps my footprint rather small as does the use of only the best rechargeable batteries available so that I am not constantly adding to the landfills and such.
It is not uncommon to find me moving the slaves about numerous times during a single shoot, I am very fussy when it comes to lighting as it has the power to make or break an image. My slave flashes understand this and usually cooperate quite willingly, as long as I keep them fed.
Oh and yes, natural light is a marvelous invention, but that is not what I was playing with the other day....
Recent Cherubs at the Studio
It is not always Pretty Ladies, Handsome Executives or Yogis that show up at the studio, sometimes little people like these show up... and well, they just don't behave the same as adults do.....
Musings Part 2 Not All People Pictures Are Portraits
Some of the best portraits can be found in what is termed Street Photography. Like all other forms of photography there are rules that must be learned. Composition, in my opinion is the most important. What is held in that tiny four sided frame needs to draw the eye in and around the image. When the subject is not aware that they are being photographed, they are not hiding behind a false smile or predetermined pose.
I believe that the best photographers are those that have a background in painting or drawing as it is only there that we learn how to fit a whole bunch of stuff into a small space and still make it make sense. I think that all photography schools should have mandatory drawing classes where composition is taught, the students would benefit greatly and their eyes would be trained to see differently than the photographer who has never learned to see as only a pencil or paint brush can train us.
Musings Part 1
These days everyone and their pussycat owns a camera and these days because the image quality produced by the camera is so good that everyone and their pussycat think that they are photographers, and they are. But not all photographers are Artists. It is quite easy to snap a picture of a pretty lady in a bathing suit on a beach and have an eye pleasing picture. But when you look at the image is it just a pose? Is it just an advertisement for the bathing suit? Is the person really anymore than a prop? The secret to adding life to any image is letting your subject's true essence shine through.
To create a successful portrait the sitter's mask must be dropped otherwise we are just creating a representation of the outer shell. The sitter will be recognized but they will not be in the image. As portrait artists it is our duty to assist in lowering this mask otherwise we may as well be taking pictures of flower vases. A true portrait is a collaboration between the artist and the sitter. When we realize that the sitter is more than an animated prop told to look this way or that. This is when our cameras truly become magic boxes!
And that is just the beginning!
10 pounds for 10 bucks... I couldn't resist!
September/06/2011 03:26 PM Filed in: photos
So what does one do with 10 pounds of pears?
Make pretty pictures of course!
Who am I?
September/04/2011 07:29 PM Filed in: self
Often I find myself filled with the urge to do a series of self portraits.
Today was the 21st Day in the 21 Day Meditation Challenge hosted by The Chopra Center.
One of the main questions given to ponder was "Who Am I?"
Who Am I?
Who Am I?
I am many things. Today, well, looks like I was a camera!
The Jeweler with a Yogi on her back.
September/02/2011 08:27 PM Filed in: yoga
I recently had the pleasure of working with Barbara King again and two of her friends. The above image is from that shoot.