When Things Go Wrong Right
September 8th, 2014
I love it when things fail in an interesting way. That’s what happened here while I was shooting with Brooke and Romahni. The situation was a difficult one. It was dark in the cave and a lot lighter outside. But it was still, overall, pretty dark, so the exposure was long. The exposure for this shot was 1/5 of a second at f/3.5. The ISO was at 1600. Like I said, dark.
But my lens has Nikon’s Vibration Reduction which is usually good for 3 or 4 stops of steadiness. So that gets us to somewhere around 1/60 of a second in terms of controlling camera shake. But, obviously, the VR just wasn’t up to the task for this particular shot. But I like the result. I’ve found that VR tends to produce a very different sort of blur when it fails. It seems that parts of the photo are sort of sharp while other parts are blurred in weird ways. There can even be two sharp images, almost like a multiple exposure. And sometimes that makes something fun.
Anyway, I like this photo. And that’s all I really care about.
I’ve noticed this happening before and look for success in failure when it does happen. Here’s another photo with the same sort of things going on that I shot years ago with a fantastic model, Virginia Red. The shutter speed for this one was 1/4 second. I think I may be starting to identify a sweet spot for making this happen. More failures like these may be in my future.
Another Great Shoot
September 6th, 2014
I have to take a break from trying to catch up on my editing and posting things I shot a year ago. I just had the chance to work with my favorite model, Brooke Lynne, who I don’t get to shoot nearly often enough. I keep trying to get her to move closer, but don’t seem to be able to persuade her to leave Minnesota. And she brought with her another marvelous model, Romahni Rose. Romahni’s home is Australia and she is touring the US and the world. I’m so happy that I got to meet her and work with her while she was passing through.
So, with two of the best figure models in the world ready to pose for me, I decided to take them to the most beautiful place in Ohio, the Hocking Hills. We hit a couple of my long-time favorite spots and I’ll get to those photos in good time. But today I’m posting a few shots from a hidden, private spot that I’d never visited before. The place was beautiful and the models were fantastic. It was a great shoot and a great time. Thank you so much, Brooke and Romahni. You are the greatest.
The shoot went very well, despite the weather doing a throw-back to mid-summer. Temperatures in the 90s and clear sunny skies were not the ideal conditions for our work. And today, the day after we finished shooting, the high will be 72 and it’s cloudy…perfect light all day long and a temperature that wouldn’t have melted us. So it goes. I think we still managed to pull it off despite the weather.
The End of a Great Day
September 3rd, 2014
I can’t remember a day of shooting that was more fun or more productive than the day when these photos and the ones on the earlier posts from this day were taken. It was an amazing day of shooting with a crew of great models. Kelsey wasn’t the only one to brave the waters to reach this last location. Claudine is always game to do whatever it takes to get a photo and she waded right in and joined Kelsey in this spot.
And, of course, I did some work with just Claudine as well.
When we finished we, of course, had to wade back out. Here’s Kelsey walking along a submerged log that kept us from having to go waist deep in the water. And you can see the rest of the crew being kept busy by my friend and fellow photographer, Dave Swanson.
The sad news is that this is the end of my posts from this day of shooting. The good news is that we did more shooting on the following day. The photos from the second day of shooting will be appearing here soon. Stay tuned.
A Walk In The Park
September 1st, 2014
Actually I should say, A Wade In The Park. That’s what we had to do to get to this great spot. It was a lot of effort, but it was worth it. I’m so lucky to work with such great models, like Kelsey Dylan, who are willing to go to the lengths needed to get the best photos.
It’s also great to work with wonderful models who are not only willing to go to great effort to get into a great location, but are also talented and able to do a great job of posing and relating their bodies to the particular spot where we are working. Thanks, Kelsey, for the fantastic job you always do.
Often it’s only the model who has to do the hard work while I just stand around and take photos of them while they do it. But, in this case I had to wade into a spot where I could train my camera on this scene. So I got to get wet too. Next time I’m bringing my Tevas to protect my feet when I have to wade.
More to come from this spot in the next post.
So Many Models…
August 28th, 2014
What do you do when you are in an amazingly beautiful location with five lovely nude models? Well, lots of things come to mind, but one of them is certainly to try to get a photo with all five of them at the same time. Pulling that off is a real challenge. Just so many variables to try to make work together. I think I did pretty well with this one, though.
But most of the time I worked with just one model at a time. Sometimes two. That’s a lot easier to manage.
With so many great ladies there to help make photos, most of the time I just had them take turns so everyone got into the act.
This really was a dream shoot. Thanks to the fantastic ladies who made it possible: Ayn, Claudine, Kelsey and our two anonymous amateur models.
Oh That Light
August 23rd, 2014
Ayn is the star of today’s post from Starved Rock. The light at this particular time and place in one of the canyons was just breathtaking. But it required some brave model to get into a difficult spot and be beautiful for the composition to work.
Ayn volunteered for this difficult and dangerous assignment and, as you can see, she did a fantastic job.
Thanks Ayn. You are fantastic. And that sunbeam…wow!
Shadows and Reflections
August 21st, 2014
Some more from the amazing shoot at Starved Rock. This time with models Ayn, Claudine and one who shall remain nameless.
The many little caves and openings in the rock, combined with many little pools of water…and some large pools as well…that you find on a good day when there has been some recent rain, provide great opportunities to play with reflections and the contrast of the dark caves.
When you have a bunch of great models who are willing to do whatever it takes to get the photos…well, the possibilities are practically endless.
Much more to come from this shoot. It was a great day. Stay tuned…
The Wilds Of Illinois
August 19th, 2014
After the closing of my show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago I had the immense good fortune to be able to go to Starved Rock State Park, not that far out of the city, to work with a bunch of wonderful models.
Several of my favorite models, Ayn, Claudine and Kelsey, made the trip. There were also a couple ladies who aren’t really models most of the time, but decided to join in the fun.
With so many models available there were all sorts of possible compositions for every one of the many amazing locations in that park. I did the best I could to take advantage of the opportunity.
There’s lots more to come over the next few posts from the two days of this shoot.
And Indoor Pair
August 15th, 2014
After all those outdoor photos, today I’ll post some taken inside. Last September I went to Chicago for the closing reception for the show I had there at Gallery Provocateur. While I was there I did some shooting with several models, including two of my favorites in these photos, Ayn and Kelsey.
After the reception we all, along with several other models and a great photographer, went to one of the best locations on the planet for a couple days of shooting. Those photos will be coming in the next few posts.
Zooming Sugar
August 12th, 2014
I’m a big fan of modern zoom lenses. They are great. I remember years ago when there wasn’t a zoom lens being made that didn’t suck so much that no one who cared about their photos would use them. But, thankfully that has changed. I still use a number of prime lenses from time to time when they are appropriate to what I’m trying to do, but for the most part my zoom stays on my camera and does it all.
Back in the bad old days when I was doing photojournalism I carried four cameras all day while I was working. A Nikon F with a 24mm, a Leica M2 with a 35, a Leica M3 with a 90, and a Nikkormat Ftn with a 200. That was my work uniform. I had a few other lenses in the bag for specific problems, but almost everything was shot with those lenses. Of course, using 4 cameras meant that I had at least 4 rolls of film to develop every day. Most days it was more like 10 rolls by the end of the day. And, since this was newspaper work, those all had to be developed, edited, printed and captioned the same day. I don’t miss that work…and I don’t miss the wet darkroom after years of doing that every day.
These days I take advantage of the zoom lens on my camera to compose a variety of compositions when a scene lends itself to that. Here I’m showing you three different versions of exactly the same location, model and pose. Thanks to my 18-200 lens I can shoot all of these and sort them out later. Or sometimes, like this, am just unable to chose only one version. I’ve not been able to pick a favorite from these three photos. I like them all for different reasons. Maybe you have a favorite…if you do, let me know and please tell me why you chose the one you do.
Or, just enjoy them all, like I do.
