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.

A while ago, I mentioned that I’d be shooting an apartment designed by Tina Ramchandani, and this weekend I finally had that shoot. It was my first time shooting interiors in a sort of Architectural Digest style, and it was a lot of fun. I quickly learned that it was, for the most part, about two things: Even, soft lighting; and an eye for tiny details. (Obviously the tiny details that existed were all the work of the talented designer — I just had to make sure they were in good places in the frame.) I’m happy with how much I managed to spot for a first time out. Hopefully I’ll get to work with her again soon!

There are a few more images below, and be sure to check out her blog for some great posts about interior design!

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.

#16: Gotham

One of the fun things about this entire project has been a freedom from that which usually confines me: Even though I really never work as a photojournalist anymore, I find a lot of value from the training and experience I have as one. I try to bring it into my current work, as well. However, seeing as how this is really a personal project, I’ve been trying to cut that a little loose and really just have fun with the assignments.

I mentioned in a previous post that I’d rather post a crappy photo than no photo at all. That’s precisely what happened today, but I’m not feeling too guilty about it. I was stymied about the assignment to begin with, but with a tiny time budget and an exhausted mind, I went the Batman route, more or less. (Astute fans might note that the quote in the above “panel” doesn’t strictly come from a Batman comic.)

I do loathe the fact that today’s image lacks a strong subject — I’m firmly of the belief that you can’t post-produce an image into interesting territory.* Alas, today being another incredibly busy day, I did that which I could, and I had fun with it.

Finally! The photos are ready.

Back in September(!), I was a second shooter for a wedding. As I’ve mentioned, this was the first time I was shooting a wedding — I was predictably nervous. There were some unforeseen difficulties, but overall, it was simpler — and more enjoyable — than I was expecting.

I spent most of the day tailing the groom. He was a bit fidgety, as one might expect. He spent a lot of time glancing at his mobile phone. However, life seemed a good bit easier for him than his bride. He was all prepared well in advance of the ceremony, so he spent a good bit of time enjoying a few drinks (but not too many) with his groomsmen.

I rode in the classy car with Jermaine from the hotel to the ceremony/reception hall, and on the way over was one of my favorite things to happen to me yet in my photo career: As we passed a grassy field, he told the driver to pull over. Apparently, Jermaine was an avid soccer player, and he wanted a few photos of him kicking around a soccer ball. He petitioned a team of middle schoolers for their ball — and they gladly obliged for the man clad in the nice suit — and kicked it around. Sync cables and straps flapped behind me as I ran to keep up. Happily, I had the presence of mind to keep the bright, harsh September sun behind his head and used my 580EX II to frontlight his visible half. I ended up with several shots that I quite liked!

He and Sarah (the bride) met up a bit before the ceremony for a few pictures, eschewing tradition in favor of practicality. (And I’m certainly not judging them there!) I took a few, and then there was a good bit of downtime to download photos and things, see how I was progressing, and set up for the ceremony.

The ceremony itself was quite difficult to shoot, for reasons that I don’t think are typical of a wedding ceremony: The couple was getting married outside, on a terrace that faces westward, at sunset. That meant shooting directly into the sun, and trying to compete with its light. Absent a strong enough light, this meant, for the most part, hoping my handheld flash could save the day again. To its great credit, it did the job admirably. After the sun had set, it meant shooting at a ridiculously high ISO and also using the flash in the hopes of saving a few images in post, which also worked pretty well. In the future, however, I would much prefer to use a setup of twin monoblocs on radio slaves.

I ended up pretty happy with this set. The full gallery is available right over here.

I had mentioned that I will soon be posting some wedding photos. And I still will! I offer the attached image as proof that I have anything at all in the first place. But, as I’m sure you could sympathize, December tends to be a busy month. I’ve been slowly chipping away at these photos: I have my selects chosen and have begun some basic toning. However, I like to spend a little extra time with my photos in post, so I’m not quite ready to post them yet. Especially since my work on this assignment was long done (I wasn’t doing the editing on the delivered product), I’m not exactly in a rush.

I’ll have them done this week, though. By Saturday morning, I’ll have a lovely gallery posted.

In other news, I’m looking for a more robust WordPress theme for a photoblog. (And if ever a sentence were spambait, I think that one is it.) I’m currently using Ocular Professor, and it’s quite nice, but not exactly what I’m looking for. If you’ve any suggestions, please do let me know in the comments, or on Twitter or Facebook.

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.

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 spotted this at a recent event I was shooting. I had been perched on a high balcony to take some photos, and the guy in blue appeared next to me. After the event, outside, I ended up next to him again, and snapped this shot. I’m intrigued that there’s still anyone out there still shooting C-41, since it’s a bit trickier to develop than black and white. Lately, I’ve been thinking of doing the same thing, though, with a bit of a twist. (That’s there to entice you to check back at a later date to see what I’ve done!)

I like to capture a few detail shots like this whenever I shoot an event, big or small. It’s just one of those things you need to get if you’re publishing more than one photo: An overall scene-setting shot, interaction, and details, at least. I’ve also noticed, looking at these and the prom photos I shot a while ago, that I enjoy shooting photos of people without including their eyes in the frame on occasion. It’s deliberate when I do, and I usually do it to bring emphasis on the action, rather than the person. Eyes are an incredibly strong visual element in any medium, so to remove it from a shot makes sure that what I intend to give focus is what receives that focus.

In unrelated news, WordPress 3.0 has dropped, and I’m really excited. I haven’t installed it yet, because I want to play around with a test installation first. But just looking at that intro video has me salivating for both this blog and a project unrelated to photography.

Last week was a bit lax — this week should be a bit more vibrant around here!