Week 11 Boc: Self Portrait

This week the photo challenge was to create a self portrait with full creative range. I quickly realized that while I take well over 2000 photographs a month and have no problem being creative I have no creative examples of me as the model. The next thing that I realized is I truly enjoy photographing models and not being the model myself. I enjoy retouching images for my clients, fixing blemishes things like that but when I have to retouch my own image it’s different. I decided to stay simple headshot in black and white for no other reason than it’s my favorite type of self -portrait. I used one Paul C Buff Einstein Strobe with a 36 inch soft box six inches from the side of my face, placed my Nikon D700 with a 70-200 lens at 200mm on a tripod set to the timer and got in position. Actually I lied first I placed my son in as a test subject to test lighting and focus then I got in position. Once everything was set I started shooting, it took a few shots to get the framing and expression the way I wanted it but I got there. The next step was processing the photo in Adobe lightroom and Nik Silver Effex to make it black and white and finally in Photoshop to retouch and sharpen. I think the end result was a success and I definitely learned that my place is behind the camera and not in front of it, being behind the camera I have a level of security and comfort where in front of the camera even when I’m setting the timer and taking the shot I feel a certain level of vulnerability that I don’t like. 

Week 10 EOC: The List

The list of the things that I need to do by week 11 in Business of photography is fairly extensive and stressful. I have been fairly busy with business and have fallen a little behind on the business plan as far as having it organized. Most of the work is done and different folders all over the place so the real trick is getting it together and presentable.  I will list everything out in bullet points so I can later go down the list to make sure they are complete.

·      Organize all documents related to the business plan on my computer and get them ready to print.

·      Review all section of the business plan making sure it is double spaced and all grammar is correct

·      Review all sections of the business plan and check for quotes from the book

·      Review all sections ensuring they are 800 words each

·      Create business stationary

·      Create business card

·      Print out tweets

·      Print out blog posts

·      Print all photo challenges in color

·      Print 20 magazine articles

·      Reprint all sections

·      Purchase page protectors to put pages in

·      Put all elements together into binder to present to class

Week 9 Boc: Fashion

Week 9 Boc: Conflict

The weekly photo challenge this week was a conflict Photo and was left to our creative interpretation. Conflict photography can be many different types the most common being documenting wars. Living in Las Vegas there isn’t a lot of wars going on so I decided to use a piece that I did a few months ago called Till Death. In this series I had a bride and groom that wanted Zombie inspired engagement photos, the session was shot at The Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles California. The overall feel of the Zombie Engagement photos was romantic with a dark side, with the exception of a few that were just dark. When I couldn’t find any conflicts in Las Vegas to shoot, the cemetery photos were the first photos that popped in my mind. The photo I chose has the bride and groom laying in front of two headstones as if they had past and are still together. The couple has branches covering them with a vulture sitting on their legs as if it is stalking them. In this shot I used a 24-70 lens at 24mm to get nice and wide from right behind them to make it look like you are on the grave with them. In post-production I aged the photo a little to give it a little more of a scary look and that’s it. I have never photographed any thing related to conflicts and this was the closest thing to a dead body that I have ever photographed, and even though I knew they just had their eyes closed it was still creepy. If the opportunity ever came about for me to photograph in a conflict area I would do it, I think it would be a great to help out the world with my photographs.

View Complete Zombie inspired Engagement Session

Week 8 EOC: Bang-Bang Club

The Bang -Bang was a great movie that I’m for sure going to watch again. The movie did a great job of showing the life and the job of a conflict photographer as well as how the job and the awards affected the photographers. The photographers faced extreme danger not only physically but emotionally too photographing these conflicts. The men in the Bang -Bang club took the stress differently but they all had some type of reaction. The scene when the man that want to be in the club gets shot really shows the danger they face on the job. Some of the photographers won the Pulitzer prize which you would think is a great thing but for them there was negative reaction to the prize, some said Greg was lucky, others said it was for whit man’s purposes and others said Kevin was evil for not helping the little girl in Sudan. The Pulitzer prize is a great award, the problem that it makes for photographers like the Bang-Bang club is the attention that it attracts for people to be negative.

Week 8 BOC:Gentlemens Relish

The photo challenge for this week is inspired by the movie Gentlemen’s relish, the photo is a artistic black and white nude. People have many opinions on nude photography in my opinion as long as it is done tastefully it is a beautiful art form. I chose to use an image that I had taken at a Boudoir workshop in 2010 for the challenge. This image was my first experience doing nudes and it changed my path as a photographer it made me view nudes as a art form and made me much more comfortable booking boudoir and maternity sessions. Many aspects must go into a nude session to make it look good and to make the model comfortable such as lighting, posing and overall mood. I like to talk to the model or client before the session to find out how comfortable they are with nudity and how they want the session to go. This dialogue makes the model or client comfortable and they know how the session will play out. Lighting is another big element in nude photography depending the body type of the model the lighting can make them look beautiful or not so beautiful. Editing over everything is my secret weapon for nudes, boudoir and maternity I can make most imperfection on a woman’s body disappear, this is a technique that isn’t discussed with the model before the session but always blows them away when they see what they look like as if I have a magic lens on my camera. This image was taken in a hotel room with a black backdrop using a single strobe with a strip bank attached. The single strip bank created very nice directional light while still keeping it soft to make her skin look soft. I used a Nikon D700 camera with a 24-70 lens and edited in Adobe Lightroom to make it black and white, then uploaded to Photoshop to add the frame. 

Week 7 Eoc: Adult Content

I own a company named The Pin Up Bride Photography specializing in Wedding, Boudoir and Pin Up Photography. Needless to say I am very comfortable with adult content and think if done in good taste it is a beautiful art. I enjoyed The Gentlemen’s Relish and it’s different views on nude art and how people treat it and react to it. I was inspired by Kingdom’s remakes of the classic nude art and may try to replicate some old paintings myself. A couple different types of adult content I do are boudoir and maternity photography. I truly enjoy taking boudoir photo’s most of the time the woman are a little out of shape and want to look sexy for their man, by working the pose, lighting and some magical editing to make them stunning is amazing. A big part of shooting nude images is being able to make someone comfortable by you being a comfortable and being a professional. Maternity photos I also love doing, a lot of the time people don’t realize the beauty of a woman’s body while pregnant. To create tastefull beautiful art of a pregnant woman that she can hang in her home and be proud of is what makes me love this type of work. Pin Up is another form of photography that I do that would sometimes fit into adult content when it takes a burlesque route, Pin Up art is a passion of mine, I love everything about that era of art. I haven’t worked any erotic or pornography but that’s not saying I wouldn’t if the chance ever came about. I like to be very open minded and very comfortable with my work as long as it’s artistic and tastefull.