She’s All Wet
July 6th, 2011
Here’s another of Artistic Physique out in my new favorite shooting location near where I grew up. No, I didn’t oil her up out in the woods. That’s just water. It rained while we were out there hiking. Rain, as far as I’m concerned, is a great thing when I’m doing a shoot in the woods. The light is often beautiful. There are far fewer people out on the trails. Many photographers and models think rain is a reason to stay indoors, so they miss the great light and opportunities found during rain. And, hey, doesn’t she look nice all slick and wet?
I often say, “If you want to take photos that don’t look like everyone else’s photos, wait until everyone says the weather is too bad to take photos outdoors and go outdoors and take photos.
It didn’t actually rain all that hard during this shoot. We knew it was a possibility and were well prepared for it. And I’m very happy with the resulting photos.
Of course, this is another way that you can see just how wonderful my models are. Thanks AP!
Happy July 4
July 3rd, 2011
It’s the holiday weekend when we in the US celebrate the beginning of our country, the greatest, most successful experiment in government in the history of the world. Our country is certainly not without flaws, yet I must maintain that it is, nevertheless, the best country with the best form of government on the planet today. I’m proud to be an American. If this country isn’t wonderful, why do people from all over the world want so desperately to come here?
But, that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to work on improving our flaws. And it doesn’t mean that we couldn’t lose our freedom and democracy to the forces that are always present trying to destroy any system that allows the people to influence and control the direction of the country. Those forces are stronger today than at any time in my life. I fear for the future of America. But I’m always hopeful. This country is filled with good people. But there are powerful people who want to control the country and the people and who will use any means to reach their ends. This is nothing new and there is little chance that it will change in the future. We must simply remain vigilant and challenge the lies that are being presented as truths these days.
I believe Lincoln was right. “You can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Don’t get fooled.
I’m away from home for the holiday, getting together with in-laws in Vermont. This evening we will go to a big party thrown by a relative who is a big deal in Republican politics up this way. In past years the governor would attend this party. That won’t be happening this year since the current governor is a Democrat. I do my best to avoid talking politics at this event, but can’t resist an occasional barb or pointed joke…I’m not a member of any political party, never have been, but I am thoroughly disgusted by the actions of the Republicans in recent months. I hope it backfires on them as it should. Who do they think they are fooling?
OK, enough of that. That’s an old photo up above. I shot it a long time ago. Almost 10 years ago. It was my reaction to 9/11. I saw lots of really bad flag photos after that attack and decided I wanted to do a photo that captured how I felt and how I thought the country felt at that time. I think I succeeded. I hadn’t posted anything special for this holiday for several years, so I thought it was about time.
I’ll get back to posting recent stuff with the next post. Hope you have a happy 4th, those of you who are my countrymen and countrywomen.
More Gorge
July 1st, 2011
One of the great things about working with Artistic Physique is that she really loves a challenge. Of course, you can say that about all of my favorite models…that’s the kind of thing that makes them favorites. But AP is particularly up for things that present a physical challenge. That was the case with this shot. We hiked along…farther down the trail than I went with Brooke Lynne when she did my first shoot in this location, and saw this fissure in the rocks that just cried out for a beautiful nude figure. But getting there was no small ordeal for AP. But she was not going to give up, no matter what it took.
Well, she got to where she needed to be and, of course, posed beautifully for this photo. I work with the best models in the world and Artistic Physique is one of them. Thanks, AP. I couldn’t do it without you.
More to come from this shoot.
For those of you out on the left coast, specifically in LA, my friendDave Rudin has three of his photos in an upcoming show there. There’s more information on his blog: http://figuresofgrace.wordpress.com/ And here is the direct link to the show info on the gallery’s site: http://www.1650gallery.com/exposed2011_show.php
I also entered this juried show, but none of my work was selected for the exhibit, although they decided to include two of my entries in the “also ran” gallery of work they would have included if they had more space. You can see an on-line exhibit of the also-rans here: http://www.1650gallery.com/exposed2011-annex/index.html They are both photos of Brooke Lynne.
Back to the old home area
June 29th, 2011
When Brooke and I were shooting at the location near where I grew up it was chilly and we ran out of time before we got to all the possible locations there. So, of course, I’ve gone back. In fact, the place is so rich in photo opportunities and constantly changing with the seasons that I’m sure I’ll be returning many times in the future. I should have been working there for years. Don’t know why it took me so long to get around to it.
And, of course, each different model brings something new to each location. So there will be a variety of my favorite models visiting this place over the next few months and years. Next up was the delightful and lovely Artistic Physique.
More from this shoot coming over the next few posts. And I have done two other shoots since this one that I still have to edit and post for you. Got to get busy.
Waterfall
June 26th, 2011
Yes, Kentucky, there is a waterfall. And it’s a beautiful one. But, our visit there was not without a few complications.
First, when we finally had made our way down the trail and arrived at the waterfall that was our destination, we found it was not free of other people. In fact, we were pretty sure that was going to be the case since the church summer camp group of 8-year-olds and their teachers had passed us along the trail. They were all over the place enjoying the water and the rocks. Now this is not the most visited waterfall in Kentucky by any means. It’s quite possible we and this class were the only visitors there that day, maybe that week. But, of course, we were there at the same time. So we just made ourselves comfortable and waited. Eventually the kids left and headed back up the trail. Don’t know if they saw the rattlesnake on their way out, but I kind of doubt it since I think we might have heard the screams.
The second problem was the sun. As you can see, this waterfall has quite a deep overhang and that overhang was in deep shadow. For most of the time we were there, and for most of the photos I took, the sun was out and the contrast range between the sunny foreground and the shadows under the cliff was just too much for the camera. I thought about doing some blended exposures and took some bracketed exposures to try that, but I’m just not that happy with those photos anyway. The sun was just too harsh, and the light was still not all that nice, even with the contrast issues dealt with.
But, right before we headed back up the trail for our encounter with the rattlesnake, the sun went behind a cloud for a few minutes and I was able to get this shot. I still had to work on it in photoshop for a while, but the info was there in the file, and the light was pleasant at least for a brief moment. We probably would have worked on some other angles and poses, but the cloud passed and it was getting later than we had planned anyway because of the delay while we waited to have the place to ourselves. So, I guess a return visit to this spot will be on the agenda for the future. Maybe I’ll find a day that isn’t quite 100 degrees too.
Thanks, Ikaros Ex, for a great adventure and shoot. We’ll do it again before too long.
The Root of Everything
June 24th, 2011
This trail to the waterfall in Kentucky was a really fine trail. Lots of places to shoot before we even got to the waterfall. I really liked these roots beside the trail. This was taken right before we encountered the giant bug on the trail.
We’ll get to some photos of the waterfall soon, I promise.
I’ve been very busy shooting in the past few days. I did a shoot this morning and did one yesterday morning. Both with favorite models at favorite locations. You’ll be seeing the results here in good time. But first there are more photos from my shoot with Ikaros Ex, and then there’s another shoot that produced a lot of fine photos from last week. So, there’s plenty more and different stuff to come, but first I have to find time to edit the shoots.
All in good time, my friends. Until then, just keep enjoying my work with Ikaros.
Something Fishy
June 20th, 2011
Would you know this photo was taken with my fisheye lens if I didn’t tell you? Maybe if you look very closely, but I don’t think most viewers would notice. I like that. I’m pretty pleased with that lens because the fisheye effect is not overwhelming and I can often put together a photo that works and doesn’t scream “fisheye.” I always prefer if the methods don’t intrude on the image. I think I’m going to keep having fun with this lens and I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do with it in some slot canyons out in the southwest the next time I make it out there.
This is, of course, old friend and model Ikaros Ex on our hot hike in Kentucky a couple weeks ago. This was before we got to the waterfall that was our destination and shortly before we encountered that giant bug on the trail.
Back To The Woods
June 17th, 2011
Here is Ikaros Ex again. This was taken on the second day of my Kentucky trip as we were hiking to a waterfall. This was on the trail where we later encountered the rattlesnake. It was about this time when we saw that huge bug on the trail. It was still way too hot, approaching 100 degrees, but hiking in the woods wasn’t awful, just hot. Of course the sun was out bright and hot and making every photo a challenge because of the extreme contrast. So it goes.
Hiding From The Kentucky Sun
June 13th, 2011
As I mentioned earlier, I spent a couple days last week down in Kentucky shooting with an old friend, Ikaros Ex. This was the first time we have been able to do a real outdoor shoot together, though we have done a few photos in the past. We started the first day at her place in the country where this photo was taken.
Looking outside today, this would have been a great day for the Kentucky shoot. Unfortunately, the days I was in Kentucky were far from ideal. The sun was out in full force, making lighting a challenge. Add to that oppressive heat and high humidity and it made our shoot real work on both days. But I think we still managed to get a few worthwhile photos…in addition to the shots of the creatures that I already posted.
There will be more coming, but I’m going to make this short today because I’m actually procrastinating on working on the mess that I’ve hauled out of my garage and now have sitting in the yard and driveway. I’ve been making slow progress on sorting it into “keep” and “toss” piles, but I need to get it all out of the yard today so I can mow the grass. And, since the heat has gone away and left us with very pleasant temperatures I think I better try to get this done before the blazing heat returns.
More from this and other shoots soon.
Kata D-3N1-30; 3 in 1 Sling Backpack Review
June 9th, 2011
Reviewing equipment is not something I do a lot on this blog, but my new Kata D-3N1-30 has inspired me to write about it. I bought this backpack because I wanted something with a little more non-photo space than the Lowepro Fastpack 250
that I’ve been using for several years. I also thought it would save some weight by not having a laptop compartment, which I don’t use when I go out into the woods.
I put my gear into the Kata D-3N1-30 and headed out into the woods for a day of shooting. The new backpack failed to be a useful pack in every way possible.
First, it actually has less non-photo storage than my old pack. That’s not a design failure, of course, but it would have been helpful to have measurements in the description to help know the actual size of the pack.
But here are the design problems I encountered with this pack:
1. No water bottle holder. Anyone going for a hike with photo equipment is going to need to take something to drink. Not providing a way to carry that bottle on the pack is a problem. There are two small zipped pockets at the top sides of this pack. They seemed to be large enough to hold bottles, so I used them to carry my drinks. But when my last bottle of Gatorade tumbled over a cliff while I was trying to get the pack on my back I decided that those pockets really will not work for that purpose.
2. The harness tries to do too many things and as a result does none of them well. It’s supposed to be possible to use the pack with the straps in a variety of configurations: Normal, with a strap on each shoulder, as a sling pack with just one strap diagonally across the chest, and with both straps criss-crossed from the shoulder to the opposite hip. None of these configurations are comfortable enough to use for an all-day hike. The straps are not wide enough to be comfortable. They are attached too far apart at the top. A normal arrangement with the straps like most packs results in the straps wanting to slide off the shoulders. The crossed arrangement with one strap is uncomfortable for any distance and allows the pack to flop around too much when doing things like scrambling across rocks or up and down cliffs. The idea of crossing both straps across the chest…well, that’s just not going to work, is extremely uncomfortable and nearly impossible to get in and out of.
3. The zippers don’t work. I like the idea of being able to swing the pack around to the side and access my camera. That works just fine with my Lowepro pack. It doesn’t work at all with the Kata because the zippers are nearly impossible to open. The padding around the gear isn’t stiff enough, allowing the zippers to fold and jam…I could never get access to the camera without taking the pack off. Total design fail. Another problem caused by the weak padding is that once the camera was out of the pack the lenses on either side of the camera would move their padded partitions into the camera’s space…so then it was nearly impossible to get the camera back into the pack. It required way more force than I like to exert on my camera to shove those lenses aside and push the camera back into its spot in the bag.
This bag looks great on paper, but does not even begin to perform in the field. Mine will never go into the woods again on my back. It will live in the studio and be used for storage of gear that I don’t use often. I guess I’ll go look again at the Lowepro Fastpack 350
and see if it might do what I want. It seems to be bigger than my model 250. What I really need is more non-photo equipment space so I can get my rain gear, first aid kit, trail mix, lunch, wet wipes to clean up the models…all that sort of stuff that I like to carry, in the pack where it belongs. I wish they made a “300” model without the laptop pocket.
