Mindy on the rocks
February 23rd, 2007
Here’s another of Mindy at Lake Cumberland. That was a great two-day shoot last summer. Hot days, hot rocks…great model…We just cruised around the lake in a pontoon boat and tossed Mindy overboard every once in a while and took photos of what she did. She did great things, climbing and posing on the beautiful rocks that surround that lake.
Spent another great day at the beach in Florida today. I actually don’t care much for just sitting on the beach, but I do love walking along a beach and I enjoy just sitting in a comfortable room watching the sun set over the water. And I love being in a place where the temperature is in the 70sF while it is still way below freezing back home.
Downside is that we have to leave tomorrow and drive back to all the cold and snow. But at least we had a break from it for a week. Next week I have one magazine shoot to edit and get shipped to the magazine and another new assignment to shoot, so I’ll be busy for a few days.
Right now we are waiting for an old friend to arrive to go out to dinner with us. I’ll try to post one more Mindy photo tomorrow before we take off for the drive home. I’m also starting to work on an extended post about the need for skill and understanding of photography. The question I’ve been contemplating…brought on by a recent post on my friend, D. Brian Nelson’s Hotel Room Nudes blog…is just how important it is for an art photographer to understand the technical aspects of the medium? I have more thinking and writing to do before that post is ready to go here…but click on the Hotel Room Nudes link to the right and read what Don wrote about zoom lenses vs fixed focus lenses and the comment I made to that post if you want a preview.
Strong Mindy
February 22nd, 2007
I posted that last photo this morning. I don’t know why blogger put yesterday’s date on it.
We are in Destin now. It was in the low 80s here today. We have a nice room on the beach. Just for the record, I hate Destin. I can’t believe they built all these hotels out in the ocean on a sandbar in hurricane country. And the way they let these high-rise buildings block access to the beach for everyone not staying in the building is just wrong, and ought to be criminal. I’m only here because it’s a freebee and my daughter loves the beach, so I’m giving her a cheap treat.
Forgot to bring a hat, so we just drove up and down the “strip” looking for a cheap hat for me to keep my head from sunburning tomorrow. Settled on a cheapo white panama. Looks ok for with the beard. I’ll be signing autographs as Z Z Top tomorrow.
This is a shot of Mindy looking all strong and beautiful on the rocks at Lake Cumberland. Another shoot with temps in the 90s. And Mindy had to climb up those rocks from the boat to get into position. Mindy not only looks strong…she is one strong woman.
Mission Accomplished
February 21st, 2007
Well the trip to Florida is a success. My daughter has found the college she wants to attend. She loves it and so do I.
Today we drive to Destin for a couple days of relaxation, then we drive back home over the weekend. I don’t know how much access to the internet I’ll have during this time, but I’ll post more Mindy photos when I can.
Today’s Mindy photo is from the shoot we did in an empty house that a friend of mine was fixing up. It was a very hot August day and there were no utilities hooked up in the house when we were there…no water and certainly no air conditioning. It was a very hot shoot…and not in the good way…But Mindy worked hard and you can barely tell the temperature was approaching 100F.
Just wait, Iris…you’ll get your chance to sweat…
Mindy in the pond
February 21st, 2007
I’ve decided to declare this Mindy week on my blog, in celebration of her appearance in French PHOTO. Mindy is one of the best models I’ve ever worked with. Lots of fun and always willing to do what it took to get a photo.
This photo is a good example of just how far Mindy is willing to go. Many of the models I’ve worked with can testify that I like photos taken with the model in uncomfortable or dirty spots. It just works for the photos I’m after. I always warn models that if they work with me they will get cold and wet and dirty. Many models say no when I suggest something like this pose, and that’s always ok. But Mindy is up for just about anything that will make a photo. Thanks Mindy. Here’s just one of the many photos that Mindy made possible.
Mindy through a pinhole
February 20th, 2007
Here’s another photo of Mindy taken in my studio using a pinhole on my Nikon D100. This is one of those fancy, laser-drilled pinholes, not my homemade one. I have several versions of this set up. One is the “factory-made” job mounted on a body cap. I’ve also made my own version, mounting one of the laser pinholes on a T-mount adapter. That lets me put the pinhole at the back of the mount and get a wider angle view. You can’t see through the “lens” with these pinholes, but with a digital camera you get an instant view of what you’ve shot so you can adjust exposure and composition. I usually jack up the ISO and just hand hold the camera. I’ve never liked tripods. They seem to violate the nature of a hand camera…35mm or digital. I have a half dozen different tripods and often even carry one with me when I’m backpacking, but seldom use them, unless a specific photo absolutely requires it. With my new 18-200 VR the tripod comes out even less often.
Still in Florida. It got up to 77F today. Nice change from the foot of snow we left behind in Ohio.
More Mindy
February 19th, 2007
Down in sunny Miami now. They are having a cold spell. It’s only in the mid-70s. I’m loving it.
Here’s another shot of Mindy at the farm. It’s all green like that down here. Have to wait a few months to see this again in Ohio.
Mindy
February 18th, 2007
On the way to Florida. Stopped for the night south of Atlanta. We’ll be in Gainesville Sunday afternoon.
Here’s another photo of Mindy at the farm, taken the same day as the one that is in French PHOTO now. That was a great day of shooting. I haven’t posted any of the photos from that shoot before posting the one from the magazine. I’ll share more of them soon.
Tamara
February 17th, 2007
I’m out the door in a few minutes for the drive to Florida. Don’t know when I’ll have time to post again, but I will when I can. To hold you over here’s a shot of Tamara in the woods in western New York state.
Tamara is a great model and a fine person. I hope to be able to work with her again this year when it gets just a bit warmer.
More Infrared
February 16th, 2007
Just for kicks here’s another infrared photo. This was shot normally with my D100, then converted to black and white infrared in PhotoShop. As I said, the D100 has a fair amount of IR sensitivity and that information is recorded in every image. It’s very easy in PhotoShop to remove all but the IR information. This is what you get. Not exactly the same as working with IR film…and remember, this was shot without any filtration…just using the IR that gets through the camera’s built-in filter intended to remove IR.
The model is Beth. The scene is just some grass along the road in the desert southwest. Photos are everywhere if you look.
I hit the road for Florida in the morning. Will be gone for a week. I should be able to post from time to time while I’m on the road. This is a family trip, not a photo expedition, so there won’t be any shooting of new work on this trip. I’ll get back to that when I return, starting with another magazine assignment that has to get shot as soon as I get back.
Tomorrow is the last day for the Dirty Show. Go see it if you can and haven’t already. I’ll get around to writing more about it one of these days.
Uninspired
February 15th, 2007
I’m not really feeling like writing today. It probably has something to do with spending the day getting things ready for the dreaded annual trip to the accountant. So I’ll put off writing more about the Dirty Show and Detroit until I’m more in the mood.
But here’s a photo for you to wonder about. This shot of Amber was done in my studio with daylight using an infrared filter on my D100. The D100 has a pretty good sensitivity to IR and I’ve played around with it a bit. I’m not all that sure that there is any “artistic” reason to ever use IR…but I do enjoy playing with photos now and then…after all, I do this for fun…so sometimes I put on the IR filters and play. Sometimes I convert to black and white…sometimes I stay in color. Sometimes I just shoot without the filter and remove everything but the IR in photoshop (the IR gets recorded whether there’s a filter on the lens or not, so it’s always there for the taking if you know how). Sometimes I use some plugins to put in fake IR color like film provides. I like the color on this one, so I left it.
By the way, in the old days you used to have to use the IR focus marks on the lens to adjust focus for IR. New lenses don’t have those marks, but it doesn’t matter because the autofocus sees the IR light and focuses with it.
