Photographic Inspiration

Interesting couple of weeks have passed since I have written anything. It is not without having done any photography. I have written a lot, ideas in my book, etc. It is tough to find the time to put together the kinds of shoots I would like to. I am kind of past the whole shooting pretty things phase, though I still work with models quite a bit. I just don't get as much satisfaction from headshots and such. I feel like I have been there and done that.

It is time for some more environmental work. I have several ideas for people and their environments as well as several other ideas for projects. I just don't have the time. Heck, I am taking a few days off and have not even updated my portfolio site, www.adamphotographic.com, with any of my recent work. Need to get on that.

Anyway, I am printing some photos for my wall at home, including some of the shots that were in Bend Living. It was interesting to see what other people picked. Most were the same I picked, but there are a couple that I would have rather seen included. However, I understand that the photo is not the reason for the shoot so much as the fashion. I am still happy for that opportunity and hope to shoot some more.

Anyway, I have to get back to printing, but I thought I would post this latest shot of Mary that I liked. It is intentionally cheesy, but I am from Las Vegas and used to have a pair of shorts with the same pattern as the dress that she is wearing. Even more so, I think the environment, lighting, clothes, etc. work. Maybe it is the warped Las Vegan in me.

Family photographer

I shoot pictures of families more than you might think. I really enjoy the commercial and editorial work, but there is something about taking pictures of children that is refreshing - not to mention the look on peoples' faces when they see a really nice picture of their child.

One of the first things that really made me want to be a professional photographer was a mom who cried when she saw her daughter's senior pictures. The daughter cried because she had never seen a picture of herself that she liked (she was a cute girl too), which then made her mom cry.

That made me think that this is something I want to do more of.

Don't get me wrong, I love the kudos from other artists on a cool shot that is executed well and is visually compelling. That is awesome too. That said, there is nothing like simple pictures sometimes to best reflect the subject -



- or even the unposed photos that reflect the context of a typical day -

Color photography

I have been listening to the lenswork podcast lately, and I have to highly recommend it to anyone out there interested in photography or art generally. Some very insightful podcasts made me try some new stuff, and it worked out well. I went out light, brought only a tripod and reflector with a couple of prime lenses (50mm 1.4 and 100mm 2.8) and my 24-105L on my 5D.

I don't usually shoot photos with strong color elements, and I really dislike ubersaturation, but this one worked for me. It was really cold, so Mary and I had coffee afterward. I took the opportunity to shoot some off the cuff lifestyle-ish stuff.

Man, Mary commands attention. Men and women stop (or honk, screech or rev) in their tracks when she is dressed up and we go somewhere. Some woman almost got rear ended while we walked down the street with Mary in a nice (but not that revealing) black dress. It was funny at first, but it would get old after a while. That said, there are worse problems than being six foot, blond and slender (and I would add for Mary's sake - smart and really nice to boot). It was just odd to me, being a middle of the road looks kind of person, to see people act like such dufuses (dufii maybe?) when a pretty woman is around.

Here are a couple of photos from today's shoot:

Salem fashion photo

I find myself wondering what makes a good photo on flickr.

Explore, flickr's automated cool photo chooser, tends to pick trite crap, like kittens and uninspiring flowers (there are great flower pictures, but 99% of them are really bad). I have only had a couple picked for explore, one of which I don't what it was. I had deleted it before I found out it was chosen (you can look up which of your photos were chosen).

I did post one of Mary today that got four comments within 30 seconds of posting, so I thought I would blog it as well. Here is Mary, on a cloudy day, using exposure to create a high key look. Please feel free to comment here or on flickr. I moderate the comments here just to cut out spam, but I do appreciate hearing feedback.

Amy's pin up shoot

OK, now that it is over, I can say that I recommend folks take the class and shoot when Amy comes back in May. All of the women seemed like they had fun, and all but one loved their make up and look. The person who did make up used to be my hairstylist, and now he has his own place. It was probably the least I have had to touch up anyone, though he is not as good as the Amy I usually use for make up at eyeshadow. That said, his under-eye circle make up was top notch. Clothes were solid, from Cherry Redd, and they definitely served to accentuate the girls' figures.

All said, good so far. I did screw up tracking who was who, but I will just print a contact sheet and go into Cherry Redd, to get Derek or Nina's help in identifying everyone. Photos are all edited and will go up on flickr soon. I don't know that any were good enough for my port, but one that I like is below. We went with a white seamless, one of my least favorite ways to shoot, because of the volume of people. With 20 minutes or so each, there was not time to tool much with lights and such.

I definitely want to rent a hotel or something next time so that the bigger girls are not shot super-contrasty against white. We need to get an environment that takes away from the bold figure contrast of the white seamless.

All said, it went really well, and I had a lot of fun. www.adamphotographic.com for my official site.

Pin-up photography

I did a shoot with a bunch of people taking a class by Amy on pin-up modeling. I had a good time, and it was interesting to shoot with such a wide variety of people both age and body styles. I will edit some of the photos and post some on my flickr account this evening. I went generic at Amy's suggestion because of how many people we shot in the day - no time for my usual on-the-fly setup.

Thanks to Cherry Redd (come on Derek and Nina, get that site built so I can link to ya) for putting the event together. I hope we can do more in the future.

Anyone interested, give me a shout, and I will email you when the next class comes around. I think Amy does this here and in Seattle. From what I could tell all of the women really liked the class. One woman didn't like her make up, but everyone photographed as well as they could (photography make up is a little heavier than typical make up) regardless.

Probably the thing I enjoy most about photography is working with people who are surprised at how good they look when a make up artist and decent photographer get done with them. Anyway, fun was had for all. I will post again when some photos are done.