Snapshot
June 10th, 2010
Here’s just a little snapshot of the harbor at Grand Marais shot this morning with my S90.
Brooke On The Rocks And A Bird In The Bush
June 10th, 2010
The weather was good to us yesterday, i.e., cloudy pretty much all day, so we got a lot of work done. We spent some time out on the shore, as you can see above, and we went to Illgen Falls and also did a short drive back up the Gunflint Trail to take a hike in the woods.
But, despite the favorable light, I didn’t really get what I was after at the falls or on the hike. When we got to the falls everything was perfect, there was no one around and it looked like we would have a good shoot. But, as we tried to get down to the water below the falls we quickly found that the rocks all the way down were wet and very slippery and there was what we call in rock climbing, “lots of exposure.” In other words, one slip on those slippery rocks and you were going all the way down the cliff into the river below. Neither Brooke nor I thought it was worth the risk. So we changed direction and found a more safe place to shoot above the waterfall. It’s a good shot that may show up here soon.
The hike along the Gunflint trail was slightly eventful in that we encountered what I think was a momma pheasant who had a nest full of chicks right at the edge of the trail. She was pretty upset that we were there and made it quite clear that she was not planning to let us pass on the trail. We didn’t get close enough to see the chicks…I think momma might have plucked our eyes out if we had tried…but eventually we managed to get past her and go on down the trail. That’s her giving us the what for. Unfortunately I had my camera in the backpack when she tried to attack us with her tail feathers spread, coming right down the trail at us. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually seen a pheasant in the wild and I don’t have any guide books with me, so if I’m wrong about what kind of bird this is, please let me know. (EDIT: Miles says the bird is a grouse. I believe he may be correct…any other votes?)
I saw a couple shots along the way that we were able to get, but not the one I was looking for. We may try again today.
But the sun is not cooperating today. It’s a bright, sunny, beautiful day. It’s even fairly warm for this location. But the light is not giving us what we want, at least so far. There seems to be some possibility that clouds will move in this afternoon, so we are waiting to see. But we’ve had so much success already that it doesn’t really matter.
Tomorrow morning we will be up early. I’ll return Brooke to Minneapolis and hope to have lunch with my friend, Stephen, there before I start the long drive back to Ohio. Don’t know if I’ll make it all the way tomorrow, or if I’ll stop along the way and spend the night. I’ll just see how that goes.
On The Gunflint Trail
June 9th, 2010
Yesterday Brooke and I drove north up the Gunflint Trail looking for places to shoot. We found a bunch of them. This is one example of the kind of locations we found to photograph. It is beautiful country up here. As I said in the last post, rain moved in after lunch and ended our work for the day, but we have been back at it today and I’ll have more new things for you soon.
North Shore Weather Report
June 8th, 2010
Brooke and I are exploring the north shore of Lake Superior and doing some photos. This is a beautiful place, though not quite as wild as I had imagined it would be. But there are still plenty of places to get away from the signs of civilization, which are really not all that intrusive on the natural beauty of the place.
Weather has turned out to be our biggest issue. Yesterday we spent the day trying to hide from the sun on a bright, blue-sky day. Despite that we were able to find plenty of places and times when the light was working. Like in the photo above on the shore.
Today started out pretty good with clouds, and we spent the morning exploring the Gunflint Trail north of the lake, but by the time we had stopped for lunch it was starting to rain and the rain picked up to a fairly heavy level…I don’t mind shooting in the rain, but this was enough water falling from the sky to have a negative impact on the kind of photos I am trying to make here, so we called it a day and are hoping the rain will stop by the morning.
I don’t do all that many portraits when I’m out on one of my photo trips with a model, but Brooke was looking so fine in this photo below that I couldn’t resist taking it and sharing it here. I think she was letting just a little bit of her soul show.
Field Work
June 8th, 2010
On Saturday Ken, who knows his way around the restored natural areas of Chicago, took Natalya and me out to a wetland where we could do some shooting. I think Natalya had a good time. And we got some fine photos.
Then we cleaned up and made our way to the gallery for the second opening of the show in the evening. That’s Ken and Natalya below in front of Ken’s photos at the show. The second opening was a lot quieter than the first, which was a good thing in that it was a lot better environment for actually viewing the art on display. I saw a number of people there on the second night who I remembered seeing the week before at the first opening. So I’m guessing they came back because they liked the show and wanted to get a closer look.
I left the gallery a bit early because I got up at 4 a.m. Sunday morning and drove to Minnesota where I picked up my favorite model, Brooke Lynne, and we headed off to the north shore of Lake Superior. That’s where I am now, after a day of shooting in this beautiful place with Brooke. We have a few more days of shooting ahead of us. It’s already a great trip. You’ll be seeing some of the results here, I hope. The wifi connection at the motel has been a bit weird. I couldn’t get on line yesterday afternoon, but it seems to be working fine now. So as long as I’m able to connect I’ll update the blog with our latest photos.
Starved Rock
June 4th, 2010
I had today set aside to work with Claudine. She is a great model and a great person. I try to get together with her whenever I’m in Chicago. We’ve shot several times, including last weekend, of course. Today we looked at several options and decided to head down to Starved Rock State Park. This park, of course, is one of my friend Dave Swanson’s favorite places to shoot. I’ve seen his photos, and now I’ve see the place and made a few photos of my own. It is indeed a great place.
Tomorrow I’ll be getting together with Ken and one of his model friends for a shoot in the morning. Then the second opening of the gallery show is tomorrow night. Hope to see you there.
Old Iron
June 2nd, 2010
After our opening of the show at Gallery Provocateur on Saturday night some of us got up early Sunday morning to do a shoot. I met Ken, Iona Lynn and Claudine at 8 a.m. and we headed to an old abandoned iron works that Ken knew about for a day of shooting.
It was a very hot, sunny day, which presented a bit of a challenge for making the light work. And there were lots of other folks around, it being a holiday weekend. But we managed to get a few worthwhile shots.
Tomorrow it’s back to Chicago. I’ll be shooting Claudine again on Friday and doing another shoot with Ken and several models on Saturday before we head to the opening.
And then I’ll be taking off for what promises to be a great little trip to a great out-of-the-way location with my favorite model, Brooke Lynne. More on that after it happens.
Gallery Provocateur
May 30th, 2010
Last night was the opening of my show at Gallery Provocateur. It was a great night with the gallery packed with people all evening. I’m so used to openings where a dozen or so people wander in throughout the evening that the crowds that Veronika always seems to be able to draw for her gallery shows are always a pleasant surprise.
Among the folks who were at the opening were my friend Dave Swanson and the lovely model Sarah, seen beside my part of the show in the photo above.
The opening was also a launch party for f-eleven, Volume 2, a book with some of my photos along with a bunch of really fine photographers. In the photo above is Roman, one of the other photographers in Vol. 2, Mariah who is in Vol. 2 and was also in the show at the gallery, a model who was hanging out at the gallery…can’t remember her name…, and Ken who is also in Vol. 2 and the gallery show. Note that the gallery encourages “creative attire” which Mariah took to a lovely extreme.
Another feature of the evening was a beautiful slide show of photos from f-eleven, Volume 2. I also took my copies of both Vol. 1 and 2 and put them out for folks to look through. That’s Roman’s self-portrait from Vol. 2 on the screen.
Up Close With Angie
May 25th, 2010
Here’s a shot of Angie in my studio where I continue to play around with lighting in the new setting. Angie wanted some more classic figure photos for her portfolio, so, of course, I shot some for her. I’m usually not too enthusiastic about those pretty standard studio nudes, but every once in a while, with a great model like Angie, it’s possible to do something that I like. That’s what happened here.
Don’t forget about the show opening this Saturday at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago. I hope to see a lot of friends there.
And bring your copies of the f-eleven books, both volume 1 and volume 2, and get them signed by several of the photographers in the book, including me.
My first test post
May 24th, 2010
This is my first attempt to make a post on my new blog. It doesn’t look like it will be too much of an adjustment to this new blogging system. I’m looking forward to having the blog out from under the tyranny of blogspot and google. I’ll gradually transfer my blogging over to this new location over the next few weeks and eventually stop using the old blog, once everyone has had time to change their links.
This is a photo of one of my favorite models, lovely April. I don’t get to shoot her much anymore since she moved away, but we stay in touch and get together when we can, usually working a shoot into the time together. She’s awesome.
