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.

Web Gallery updates

I guess I've been neglecting the web gallery....I hadn't posted any soccer pics or the latest fashion shoot(s). So check out the ABE U12 Soccer pics for the season (2 more games to go) and the Basement Fashion shoot with Tiffany and Amanda as well as the small gallery of my daughter and her friend in their dresses.

Main Site or right to the Gallery Page (The gallery links for Paige & Alaysha and Tiff & Amanda are under Model/Muse and ABE Soccer is under Sports....Soccer 2009.

Tiffany and Amanda Basement Fashion

I had the pleasure of working with Tiffany and Amanda this week. We did a short 1 hour concept development session. I had an idea of tutu's a long time ago...as time goes on, I added to it and made a few changes in my mind. This is just a small iteration of what's in my brain.

Phase 1 of a concept is usually brainstorming and the idea.
Phase 2 is the gathering and maybe execution of that idea and critique.
Phase 3 comes changes.
Phase 4 maybe the everything coming together and the final shot.

I would say that in nearly all cases, this is all done in a one day photo session. Because of my limited time during this shoot, we are breaking it down to several shooting sessions. Next will come the critique of these images. Adding and taking away elements, modifying poses and expressions. Figuring out the necessary makeup and lighting style. Then we will add props and then do the final shoot.

For this shoot....I forgot to get a set up picture...AGAIN...UGH! I used two Vivitar 285 manual flashes on light stands (left light is about 45 degrees to camera left and 6-7 feet up, right light is mostly frontal but slightly off to the right of the camera, 6 feet up). Both are bare at 1/16th power. The space is pretty small and eliminating shadows was near impossible. I might add my diffusion wall the next time and possibly use an umbrella to help soften those shadows. I do like the hard light look, but not too sure on the shadows in this series.

Tiffany C ptII

I will be shooting with Tiff quite a bit so the post titles might get a bit redundant, hopefully the pictures will not.

Yesterday we just did a really fast session of head shots. But I got her walking down the street and can't pass up an opportunity to take pictures.

(Forgive me for not having setup photos, I keep forgetting to do that stuff).

For the head shots, I had Tiff sit in a wing back chair. I put a bare flash over her left shoulder and a bare flash front/right about 4 feet above her sitting height. Both flashes are Vivitar 285 with poverty wizards (16 channel wireless from eBay). The output was 1/16 on both and looking back, I should have used an umbrella to soften them a bit. Next time I will play with that AND take set up pictures.

The "Main Street" pic was cloudy/available light shot w/ my 300 @ f/2.8.
Headshot was probably my 85mm or 50mm both shot with my original 1D.

We are planning an Alice in Wonderland type shoot soon....not sure where that one will go...LOL

All photos edited in Adobe Lightroom 2.2, sharpness, clarity and black levels adjusted.

Strolling down Main Street


Headshot

Tiffany C

I finally got to shoot with Tiffany today. We did about an hour of "lesson" type pictures, where I applied camera settings to what we talked about on Tuesday. I would set the camera, make some changes, adjust lighting etc and we would review the images. It's one thing to say and show someone, but it's all together another to have them do it. Today I did the settings. Hopefully we can round up a model and Tiffany can take all the pictures next time....I just haven't told her that yet...LOL

Here are just three from our session today. She is only the second person I have ever met that has what I call a "light switch smile". When you turn it on, it lights up a room.

Lots of updates

I know I haven't posted in many days...but your patience is rewarded. I have had 5 or 6 sessions in the New Brighton studio, all with Valentine's Day in mind. Without further adieu I give you Tabetha, Wendy, Kelly, Jenn and Cait (not in that order though).

All of them have full gallery pages of you want to see more. A few have posed in lingerie, but noting more than what you can see in a Sears or Victoria Secret catalog.

Web Gallery updates

Okay, I have two gallery pages uploaded.
Head to the Gallery page...
or
Clicking the links directly won't give you a way to navigate back. Work from the main gallery page and the individual pages will open in a new tab or window.

"J"
and
Tabetha

Pt. II Valentines Day session

Here are two pictures from the final session this week. We shot in the basement for about 25 minutes and did only two wardrobe changes with a couple of prop changes. Last Wednesday, we had more time so we (I mean "me") kind of strayed from the initial goal of an advertisement shot. Well, today I already had something sketched out so it allowed me to focus purely on getting that specific shot. We would pick a pose, then do several slight modifications to change it. Modifications to the pose would be a head turn, smile, no smile, hands on hip, rotate hips, etc. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I was shooting in the basement of the studio. I have to give big kudos to my model. She was standing nearly naked in a very cold room, on concrete covered with in dirt, rocks and various nuts bolts or other items.

I have a meeting scheduled with another model tomorrow and a follow up shoot next Wednesday. I also contacted two others for a session yet to be determined. I should know about all three by tomorrow evening.

It's really nice to be behind the camera again. Gives me purpose.

Two-fer ptII (Brandi & Alex)

I have posted some pictures of Brandi and Alex in the gallery.

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!

Creative release

I got the opportunity to work with Jenn again this afternoon. We spoke about doing another shoot together in the past. Last week I just picked a day and today was it. We shot our session during her lunch hour in a cemetery in our town.

She takes direction well and poses very naturally. We bounce ideas off each other and I really enjoy working with her.

Here are some shots that we got a few hours ago. Some people drink, some gamble, I take pictures.

One down, many to go

I have v.01 of the poster done. I would love a little critique on it. Good, bad, ideas, something that isn't quite right????? Let me know.

The locations it will display are: high school, coffee shop, burger joint, ice cream joint, drug store, concession stand.

The two rows on the bottom are smaller versions of my business card. They will be scored and perforated so interested parties can tear off a mini card and take it with them. I can somewhat gauge interest by the number of cards missing.

It's not designed to be a high school senior poster. It's more like a a blanket photo poster. A little of everything. I know I don't have any guy picture in it, and I am working on that. Like I said, it's v.01. (v.02 is being worked on and will have sports and wedding pictures on it).

Trash the Dress

Not sure if any of you have heard of it, but a not so new phenomenon called Trash The Dress has been sweeping the nation (of photographers). Not sure who or where it started, but it's so much damn fun. The basics are, get a nice dress (usually a wedding gown, but prom or homecoming will work too). Put the model in a dirty situation and take pictures.

Many people frown on damaging such beautiful pieces of clothing. Others, love it for the sake of art and creativity. Me, I will sacrifice for the sake of art.

I was invited by a fellow photographer, Chris Perry of http://www.christopherperryphotography.com. Our model for the day was Devan, a SERIOUS trooper. She acquired three gowns and we proceeded to get dirty in a barn, wet in a pool, straddle a bridge, wade in the creek and spill some ice cream. All on purpose.


A leap of faith


Gowns look good wet too


Flower petal


Corner


Back lit arc

Art deco?


Dead, like me


Sitting pretty


Drip, drip, blue


Not done yet

Environmental Portraits

Up here in the valley, there are only a few places to gather.....two restaurants and/or bars. Both different enough that you usually go to both.

I am working on getting portraits done at both locations. I have started at one, and in a few weeks will get a few done at the other.

Here is one image of the bartender at Gold Creek Saloon.

Trying to focus

Working essentially 9-5 away from the Internet and phones makes it tough to line up talent to work with during the off hours. So right now I am developing a concept for a new book project. This will allow me to shoot portraits at what would normally be inopportune times.

Yeah, I have done this before (a book project) and it failed miserably. This might too for all I know. The toughest thing about a book is getting started and following through LONG TERM. The concept is good, in my mind anyway. I hope I can sell the idea to others and then it will take care if itself. Besides, a photo a day is a book in a year.

Until the concept plays out a bit, I won't divulge much more....to jeep you all coming back and to keep form embarrassing myself.

Ohhh, it feels so good (to be shooting again)

When I decided to step into the realm of fashion photography, one of the things I knew I needed was a makeup artist.

Why?

Because they can sometimes make the model look better than the photographer. As a minimum, it's an enhancement of each others talents. I was astounded of the difference some professionally applied makeup can make. Now, I am a true believer of their talents. The first makeup artist that I met and got to know is Becca Bullet. Real first name, moniker second. Over the last several months, we have chatted and worked together. Last Saturday, I got the pleasure of meeting her boyfriend Dyer who is a painter/artist/poet in his own right. We scheduled a portrait shoot at the Creative TreeHouse in Bellevue PA.

It was a fun and challenging evening. Initially we were only going to shoot for about 2 hours. But since the TreeHouse was empty, we kept shooting until exhaustion set in. Well, Dyer was hungry too.

I had been so busy with the yard sale and working on the bathroom, I had ZERO time to put any thought into the shoot. So I went in with a blank mind. Becca didn't have any idea of what she wanted either, so we just went with what ever happened. This time at CTH I shot with two different background colors. We used white and red. Ironically, one of the walls of the studio is red, but it's more brick red (richer color) than pure red of background paper. I also tried my hand at a concept shot. The story line is a man wanting to be on the computer and the woman wanting more. She (Becca) uses the mouse to entice her man to her, rather than the computer. It looks a bit cheesy, but I had very little time and limited equipment to work with.

Of course, my ultimate goal was to get images of them interacting with each other. Their care and love for one another as well as any passion that might spill on to the scene. I think I was able to do that.

Here are quite a few images of the session (16 actually). We shot over 300 images in 4 hours.