Folk rock band Starnes & Shah are certainly no strangers around these parts, but typically I’m just shooting concert photos. I was a little surprised, then, when Zilpha (far right in the above photo) asked me post-show if I wouldn’t mind taking a few posed shots for some of their upcoming promo materials. And I was happy to!
Zilpha really liked the idea of shooting in a bodega near the concert venue, and the people working there were surprisingly amenable to letting us basically take over the shop for about half an hour and doing most anything we liked. They also wanted to sort of accentuate the notoriously poor light of fluorescent bulbs, so I turned it up to 11 in post.
We started a little tame (above), but check out the gallery for some pretty fun stuff. I might have also snuck in a few concert photos that I was particularly pleased with. Oh, and if you’re NYC local, they’ve got a pretty big show coming up on May 14, so go if you can!
In unrelated news, my beloved 28mm lens has been resurrected! I had previously bemoaned its loss, since it suffered a long, drawn-out death after getting a little too knocked around, but the brilliant guys at Photo Tech repaired the thing really fast, for a reasonable price, and know how to deliver good customer service too.
And a good thing! I’ll be using it tonight for another shoot.
Finally, a face on this blog who’s not me, for a change! I’m back to business as usual with this post. Pictured above is Sarah Linton (née Nurbhai), whom I know from shooting her wedding last September. I was thrilled when she asked if I’d be willing to take photos for some upcoming EPs she’ll be releasing showcasing her vocal talent.
From a technical angle, this was a difficult shoot, since I had to pull it off in a pretty brightly lit room. The studio unexpectedly had windows, and Saturday was a pretty sunny day here in New York.1 Sarah, however, made the process easy and fun. She acted very naturally in front of the camera, and we had some good opportunities to improvise during the shoot. For instance, the piano shot was one I snapped just because she hopped up onto it while I was setting up another shot, and I loved the pose she found herself in. (I like them better at a bigger size, which you can see by clicking the images.)
It was also the biggest shoot I’ve ended up directing so far, since I had an assistant, and there was also a makeup artist in attendance, and Sarah’s husband Jermaine came along to offer moral support.2 All of them ended up being assistants, holding reflectors, backdrops, and flags. (Hey, if you’re not in the shot, you’re fair game.)
It was a short session, but we got a lot of material out of it. And it was my favorite kind, too: a collaborative process. Obviously that’s not appropriate for every shoot, but for this one it definitely was, and it ended up being a lot of fun because of it.
1To overcome this, I just looked for the darkest corners of the room, shot at ISO 100 with an aperture in the neighborhood of f/8, and cranked up the lights to full blast.
2He also came with a small bottle of Patrón, which I’m now thinking should be standard on every set.
This post is entirely about photographs in which I am on the wrong side of the lens. As you might have noticed, I’ve recently gotten engaged. Photography is one of the most important aspects of a wedding, even for those who aren’t knee-deep in the craft. The first strike of this gantlet* for most people — including us, now — seems to be engagement photos.
Happily, I’m good friends with Aaron Eisenhauer, a talented photojournalist who, also happily, recently moved with his wife from Wichita to upstate New York. Unfortunately, a last-minute conflict meant he couldn’t take our engagement photos, despite his willingness and talent.
Meanwhile, Meena and I knew that we were enjoying what would probably be the only pleasant weekend until next April. The sun was shining and the temperature was pinned at a balmy 60 degrees. If we wanted our photos, we would need to think of something rather quickly.
I remembered that we have another good friend who’s even more local: Josh Crowley. (He actually runs about three dozen websites, but that’s the “original,” as fas as I know.) Aside from being a talented web/software developer, artist, and humorist, I remembered he had recently purchased an SLR and was more than capable with it. He was extremely accommodating, filled in at the absolute last minute, and took some great photos.
Meena brought along some red balloons (or luftballons?) as something to distract us from the fact that we were being photographed. I think it helped — at least, it did for me — but Josh was also very good about maintaining a casual atmosphere. Usually, and somewhat hypocritically, I’m anxious when having my photograph taken. He managed to capture some intimate photos that are also entirely natural.
Alas, I’ve rambled too much. If you’d like to see the rest of these photos, they’re available here. I will re-emphasize, however, that he took them all! The next update, however, will include nuptial photographs of a different variety — and I did take those.
*Yes,
gantlet.
It has certainly been far, far too long since I’ve updated this blog. Suffice it to say, a few other things have happened. (In case you are unaware, I am the person on the right in the above photograph.) Thankfully, life is now at a point where I can get back to regular updates. But enough excuses. This is a Legitimate Photograph (note the capital letters) and thus I should talk about how I made it, rather than puff up my chest regarding the subject matter.
For this, I was both a subject and the photographer. This is the real, authentic photograph of how I proposed to my girlfriend (now fiancée), Meena. I had been planning it for a while, and was blessed with good weather in New York on October 2. (I had thought it was unseasonably warm then; I remain surprised that it was just about as nice last weekend!) I had spent most of the previous Saturday scouting locations in Central Park. I found several candidates, but none of them were quite right. I was looking for some nice greenery to show off the park, but I wanted to capture some flavor of New York City in the background, so that there was a distinct sense of place. Additionally, I wanted it to be at least a little solitary — I didn’t want to deal with passers-by hooting and hollering when I was trying to propose. And I wanted as few people in the background as possible.
It took quite a bit of searching, but I eventually found this spot, overlooking Harlem Meer. It was perfect. Coincidentally near my apartment, and it allowed us to enjoy a pleasant walk through the Conservatory Gardens, beautiful in their own right, as a prelude to “The Event.”
As far as the technical stuff goes, I had my camera set up on a tripod with a 580EX II slapped onto the hotshoe just for fill. It was set on ETTL for simplicity’s sake, probably underexposing by about a stop. I purchase a Vivitar wireless shutter remote for this express purpose, as well. It was around $40, which is honestly just about as cheap as it gets, and it obviously got the job done quite nicely. I’m sure I’ll use it in the future for nighttime exposures or anything else requiring an absurdly long shutter speed. After that, it was just a matter of setting up the shot, getting her in it, and getting me in it in a way that wasn’t terribly obvious. (I held another flash as though I would also be lighting her from the side, even though that wouldn’t make a lot of sense in direct sunlight. It’s the best I could come up with.) You may notice the back-focus, which is unfortunate, but I feel it is forgiveable.
She knew this was coming sooner or later, but this particular moment took her by surprise. It was exactly what I was going for, and we were able to celebrate the rest of the day with friends.
Now, of course, we are both in wedding planning mode. But photography is necessarily a part of any wedding! The next several posts will probably be dealing with that process, as we just had some fantastic engagement photos taken, and I recently shot a wedding as well. Stay tuned…
I’ve had this photo bouncing around my head for months, perhaps longer. Every time I would glance over at my iron, I wanted to use its mirrorlike surface in a photograph. I finally decided to do it, and fabulous stage actor Melinda Stewart was kind enough to model for me. Kyle Levenick (who you can see in a few UCB videos, as well as NYC improv team Swartzlander) was gracious enough to offer up his apartment to shoot in after a desperate plea on Facebook. (My apartment just isn’t laid out correctly for the shot — or at least, the shot I had in mind.)
The shot that I had had in mind involved a sink full of dirty dishes, and while that’s still present in the shot, it’s not so highly visible. There were some other items around the apartment that didn’t make their way into the shot, but in the end, this simple square crop was what I was happiest with.
I’m happy that I’ve finally made this image. It’s time to update the portfolio with this and a couple others I haven’t put in there yet. I’m also planning on entering the Lux awards with this and maybe two or three other images, just for kicks.
Thankfully, I now have another image bouncing around in my head that won’t go away. Looking to find an optometrist…
I was graciously invited to a renewing of vows ceremony on Saturday, which afforded me the opportunity to shoot this photo. I knew it would be one I liked the moment I took it.
It was a bit hard to shoot the ceremony, since it was very, very brightly backlit. Had I brought a flash, I would’ve been just fine, but since it was a casual shoot and I wanted to travel lightly, I foolishly left all my strobes at home. Lesson learned!
That’s all for today. Nice and relaxed start to the week!
Historically, I haven’t done many (or perhaps any) shoots like this one. I was asked to shoot some outdoor portraits before a prom, and I thought it would be good practice in case I want to get in to doing these more frequently.
I was really happy with how the shoot went. Technically, it was really all very simple: Underexpose the scene by a stop, stop and a half, toss up an umbrella or two, and that’s it. (I had, however, forgotten about what happens when you combine wind with umbrellas. Luckily, there were enough people around that I could usually wrangle a couple of them to act as sandbags.)
The challenge this time around, albeit not so much of a challenge, was getting people to act naturally in front of the camera in two discrete locations on a fairly strict time limit. I had about 20 minutes in each location for setup, the shoot, and breakdown, which is pretty snappy, all things considered. It wasn’t terribly difficult, though. The kids were talking and overall far more concerned about prom than these photos, which worked in my favor.
I also got to shoot one of the girls as she got her makeup done, which was pretty fun as well. It turns out that the proper light in which to apply makeup is also pretty flattering light — who’d have thought? There were also some pretty interesting lines of action throughout. One thing I struggle a bit with in a situation like this is how to handle the white balance. I would like to keep it a little orange, because that’s honestly how the scene looked, to an extent, but the way it looks right out of the camera is a little “tan-in-a-can” for my tastes. I think I toned them well, though.
You can see a gallery of more of these photos here.
[PS -- Today's update is going up a bit later than usual because I've been experiencing some fairly crippling computer issues. Something will have to change soon, I suppose, but I'm still keeping on schedule.]
This is a photo that I felt lucky to shoot.
I received a box of Omaha steaks on Wednesday night (thanks Mom!), and that, of course, meant dry ice. Now, I’m not a man to let dry ice go to waste, so when my friend Josh stopped by to watch Lost and shoot the breeze, I pressed him in to service as a model, as well. (Something I’ve done before with the good man.)
I had had the shot running through my head for an hour before he arrived, and with a little arts and crafts time while watching TV, it didn’t take an awful lot of time to get him in front of the camera and snap away.
The thing was, I had convinced myself that it would be a great idea to light the highly reflective metal bowl. This would’ve been possible, but I was rushing myself and didn’t really dedicate the time or the thought to doing it properly. (It would’ve required something really large, really white, and bendable enough that I could light and have reflected in the bowl — I just didn’t have anything that fit the bill on such short notice.)
Thankfully, I got a few without that bottom light, and I think it’s better for it anyway. A “happy accident,” as Bob Ross would’ve said. I’m pleased with the image; the only thing that truly irks me about it is the really hot highlight on the top of his head. If I were to take this shot again, I might throw a really small purple background light up behind his head, or if I had a beauty dish, I might have even kept that rimlight in the shot to make it look a little more like a lab.
Oh — and then there’s the perhaps more obvious issue that there’s quite visibly a bowl that contains not insignificant amounts of water, a block of solid carbon dioxide that’s at about -100º Fahrenheit, and a rather pricey flash. All I’ll say on that one is that a plastic bag and a lot of hope were involved.
No setup shot for this one, since it was all a bit quick-and-dirty, from conception to cleanup. All in all, prep work took about an hour, and we were only shooting and fiddling with lights for 15 or 20 minutes.
