Buttermilk Falls with Amanda and Bridgid

Amanda was my model for the afternoon and her friend Bridgid was my 1st assistant. We shot at Buttermilk Falls just north of Beaver Falls PA.

Another look

I was sifting through some pictures of my Basement Fashion shoot with Tiffany and Amanda and I came across this image that happened to escape my original editing. Both girls were actually sitting waiting for me to adjust lights so they were just sitting there pondering life. Which is probably why it of slipped through. But when I looked at it again, I saw something more....two images in this one.


Tiffany Stare (B&W & cropped)


Amanda/Ball (B&W & cropped)


Original (color, cropped w/light editing)

Wednesday night shoot

I HAD TO EDIT THIS FOR GRAMMAR: Still not sure if it's right.

After some patience testing (i.e. my patience was tested), we finally got to shoot last night. I had put down in my calendar a 2pm shoot. But on our public chalkboard (a wall painted with chalkboard paint) in the kitchen I put down 1pm. I am pretty sure I put 1pm so I knew when to leave for the studio in order to get set up....well, I got there about noon....thinking the shoot was at 1pm. Then sometime after 1pm, I was wondering where she was so I sent a text to my model inquiring. She said she was gathering stuff and on her way. Well......me being short sighted (or ignorant) I thought she was late...like over an hour late.

Well....if you followed my Twitter feed, I sent another text like 2:15, thinking she was 1:15 late and I was ready to bug out. She said she's :20 from the studio. I waited....she got there and apologized for being late. I said she was supposed to be there at 1:00....she said 2:00.

(insert tension joke here)

She was RIGHT!

Dammit!

So she really wasn't all that late...I was just uber early and impatient. Bad time management on my part. WAAAYYYY bad.

Well, I think in my rush to get her to the studio...she had forgotten a bag with all her shoes. Back to her house she went, in the crappy slushy, snowy weather. What a trooper.

The first frame was fired off at 4:45. Ugh, WAAYYY late. She was preparred for an all nighter....what ever it took to get some shots. I was game too, but I knew I would catch hell from the home front, had I shot all night.

Weeeelllllll.........

We didn't fire the last shot until 11:49pm. Five hours of shooting w/a high key (white) background, black background, chairs, bean bag, dresses, shirts, lingerie, off camera wireless flash (Vivitar 285HV), white foam board reflectors, my DIY diffusion panel a whip and mud boots in the staircase as well as in the basement grubby dirty floor. After all was said and done we ended up with over 700 images. That much time on a shoot was fine with me, but my wife was pissed. She's still not talking to me. UGH!!

Well, I promised a shot (or three), here it is (they are). More will come when the model approves some blog and web versions. Maybe late next week. (edit: they are already up)

I wrote the above post then received permission. So here are three images form last night. The rest of the dozen are in the Tabetha web site gallery.

Loving the boots


My take on American Gothic


Wall flower

Quick Model Session

I got to work with Becca again this weekend with a couple of models. We were supposed to have two hours of shooting, but Pittsburgh traffic and a few other snafu's came up. I even cut two locations out because I wasn't able to fit them in. One thing I learned...I need to clear EVERYTHING out of the studio to work. Right now, there are still some boxes in the way and they need to GO! (I was also told I need music.....)

Still, we pulled a few shots out of the shortened session. Here they are.

Leave a comment, let me know what you think!

Massive change in direction

In a short 6 weeks from now, I will be making a short term change in direction.

Because of the current state of affairs.....economically speaking, I will be taking on a different role. I am putting photography on pause until July. Sure I will shoot causally, and as a hobby. But the photo profession is getting put on H-O-L-D !

The "second" studio, which would have been my primary studio just isn't happening. The current building lease holder took three weeks to call me back to let me know it's a good time for her for me to come in and do some more work. I wanted to be in the space at the end of January. TWO months ago. Things just don't seem to be working out. So next week I will stop in and let her know I won't need the space.

On top of that, I have been trying to work with models and other industry professionals to build a team of people. The reality of working with other people that want things for free, makes for unreliable people. I have had so many just not show up or reply to an offer to meet for work. It's frustrating. I'm not giving up on the Modeling/Fashion industry, but I am not charging ahead in that area right now. I guess it's more like a pause, retreat, gather then forge ahead in a different direction.

I will have even more details in a few days.

Always changing

Well, I had today mapped out to be very productive. I was to go to the dentist at 10, then pick up some printouts from Staples. Then make the 35 min drive to Robinson to pick up the photos for Kaela (last weeks shoot). After the pick up, I had a 1pm appointment with Nautika. She is a MUA that has the skill and ability to do some really great looks. She specializes in alt/goth and that is an area that I want to be able to do. The poses and clothing are very different than what a normal high school senior will wear, but I can learn and bring those concepts to the senior market and create something that isn't currently being offered in my market.

Anyway, after my 1 meeting I had a 4pm meeting with another MUA. Both meeting are to get to know them as people and see if they would be a fit for the team I am building. I guess you could call it a pseudo interview.

Alas, I was getting ready to go to the dentist and my wife told me my appointment wasn't until tomorrow. Hmmm. Then, Nautika's car bit the big one last week so if I was to meet her I had to head to her place. To top it all off, my 4pm appt got sick over the weekend and had to cancel.

So my Monday kind of hit the crapper very early. No biggie. I headed to Pittsburgh to pick up Nautika and we spent some time at Panera Bread and discussed several things photography. Miami. Concept shoots. Etc. I think the two of us have decided to pencil in two shoots for February. One is a private shoot and confidential. The other is a concept shoot that will be a bit of a production to pull together. The concept shoot will be cool if we can pull it all off. I can share that at a later date.

Why can't I just be happy

I should be pretty excited right now! But I am actually very bummed.

I was going to go to a gallery show of a local photographer, but it didn't start until 7:30 tonight. I didn't have the option to stick around for 3 1/2 hours for it to start, so I headed back home. I don't know if I want to make the 35 minute drive back to the Creative TreeHouse or not......it starts in an hour.

I also got a call from Melissa this afternoon. She already has 3 people interested in the Valentines day shoot. I should be PUMPED, JAZZED, HAPPY...but I am not.

Becca has also done some marketing for me and has 4 people lined up from her side for a shoot. Well, they are probably going to be individual shoots, but at least they are willing participants.

The bummer is, the models Becca has lined up are TFP. That means Time For Prints. I don't get money and they don't get money. I do get experience and they do too, the model will also get a CD or a few prints of the resulting images. It's pretty standard practice for new models and new photographers in the fashion/modeling realm. But once you get to a certain point, you can begin to get paid. It's usually models that get paid and the photographer or their client that pays the models. Not many models pay photographers unless they need a certain LOOK for their portfolio.

Back to Melissa. I will start working on the second floor of her building on Tuesday. Once the insulation and ceiling tiles are in place, I can use it for a studio. THAT, makes me happy. Then I can get a few signs made. New business cards etc and start shooting some high school seniors, family portraits, other portraits and such.

This weekend I have to come up with a few variations of an advertisement for the Valentines day shoot. Nothing too major, but it has to be done by Tuesday.

Be careful what you wish for

I got to speak to a Western PA ex-pat and current Los Angeleno. What she told me wasn't mind blowing or heaven opening and doves descending. But it was illuminating. I briefly discussed my vision and goals. She pretty much said photographers in Pittsburgh suck. But that is a GENERAL statement in comparison to LA photogs. I most definitely didn't take offense to that. She has the ability and experience to compare the two since she has worked in both zip codes. I know my stuff has years to go before I can say I am accomplished. NOTE: For any of you Pittsburgh based photographers, she wasn't commenting on YOU per se. Just the overall quality of work compared to LA based photogs. I mean hello, do we have a SMASHBOX Studios here. Um...NO! Sure that's just a facility. But do you really know who works in those facilities? Yeah, I was impressed to.

Moving on.....

She offered a few tips. Some I had already thought about. Many not. Some of my ideas probably made her stand up and notice. Mostly because I even thought about them at all. Especially in this area. She has contacts. I do not. One of my ultimate goals is to be able to discover someone. I know I won't get any residual or even credit. But knowing as a personal achievement that I was part of that persons career, would be pretty satisfying.

But along this journey I have begun, it appears to be fraught with danger, disappointment and dangerous enemies. Fashion photography is very demanding. Full of turn downs and difficult people. Most of all, I will not succeed nor achieve the highest level living in or near Pittsburgh. SO with that in mind, have I set my sights on an unachievable dream. Or do I really want to ascend to that level quality and experience.

Well, yes....and no.

I want to be able to provide an image that is like no other. I have been sizing up my local competition. Most are very talented. A few are uber talented. I mean WHOA! They are that good. Some are...pretty bad. I think I fall into the good category. I can produce some dang nice shots. But the areas that I need to learn in are lighting setups and posing.

Well, if that's it, I should be good to go. Um......NO! That's about 98% of the image. You can look at an image and tell if the person is properly posed. Some images just jump out and say "remember me" others are little more than a snapshot with expensive lights.

Show and tell time:
Here is what I feel are great fashion images:
Lauren Loza
Wendell Levi Teodoro

And these are good too, but not the same level:
JLP
CEM

I think there is a difference between the above photographers. One photographer she did mention was on the sucky side when he first started has gone on to do great things after he moved to LA. You can find Scott Miller here. Scott's inspiration is Sante D'Orazio

This will be a long and hard journey.