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A little
while after we had set up our sitting, Keira called me.
A non-local photographer, Greg from
GM
Photography, was interested in making the three-hour
drive to come to Portland to work with Keira. The
only problem -- he had no location that he could use.
Keira asked me if she & Greg could work here at my house.
I'm a big believer in building an artistic community, and
loaning out my house as a setting is a pretty easy thing
for me to do, so I agreed. At my request, Keira &
Greg agreed to let me make a few "behind the scene"
snapshots, and Greg agreed to allow me to post a few of
his images here on my web site.
A little
while later, I get another request -- Jay & Jadzia from
from their
Grace And Beauty web site also wanted to work with Keira,
and the only time slot she had left was immediately before
Greg's arrival. So, they asked if they also could
work here on the morning before Greg's visit, and I agreed.
Jay & Jadzia agreed to terms similar to the ones Greg
agreed to.
It is very
instructive to watch other photographers work. They
give me ideas. I'm also glad that I worked with Keira
on a different day than these visiting photographers --
usually I'm fairly exhausted after a sitting. When
I work here on my own, I admit that I usually don't clean
up the house until the day after. I've tried making
my house available on the same day as I use it as a studio
-- that's just too much.
For the
most part, I hang out with the photographer & model
a little bit when they set up each setting, helping them
out & giving them some tips based on my experience with
the house. But then, I just leave them alone to do
their work -- I work on my computer here in my office or
I read a book in my bedroom, or whatever. I figure
that direct one-on-one contact between the model & the
photographer is key to producing the best images, and neither
the model or the photographer need me to hang around.
The "Behind The Scenes" images I made were fun &
interesting, but >80% of the time, I was not present
when the photographers made the images shown in the following
pages.
But don't
miss the images at the bottom of this page -- these photos
are giving me ideas.
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The visiting
photographers all brought their own lights; all were using
strobes, and any room lights were on simply to assist their
cameras' auto-focus. On the other hand, I was using
my dinky little point & shoot camera, and the images
I made were lit by a combination of room lights, window
lights, and modeling lights from the photographer's strobes.
The day was overcast. As a result, I was handholding
a camera (with my shaky hands) and using long exposures
of about a half second or so. As a result, the lighting
of my "Behind The Scenes" images were not exactly
finely crafted.
Unrepentantly,
I really like these blurry images. They are action
packed, casual, abstract, and energetic. They give
me ideas for future settings.
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This image,
from my first setup from my session with Keira, is pretty
typically of my "style" nowadays.
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I love the tonality -- nothing is too dark or too light.
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The lighting is carefully crafted.
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The composition is carefully chosen.
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Everything in the image is sharply defined & focused.
Don't
get me wrong -- I love images like this, and I am quite
proud of my "style". It takes some skill &
experience to obtain results like this, and I have no plans
to drift too far away from this path.
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Here are
the "different" images.
There
was a moment, when Keira was just beginning to work with
Greg, where he had her pose against the living room wall.
She was standing just under one of the ceiling flood lights,
which we had on so that Greg's camera could auto-focus on
Keira. The images made by Greg are totally different
in appearance than this -- he was using strobes which overpowered
the weak room lights.
As they
were just getting started, I was hanging around to see if
they needed anything. I sat on the far side of the
room, in the big comfy chair, and used a slight telephoto
setting on my camera to sneak a few exposures of Keira as
she was beginning to work & pose for Greg. Since
the room light was somewhat dim, I was using long exposures
(up to a half second or so) on a handheld camera with a
telephoto lens.
Spooky.
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There is something
very appealing to me about these images:
Over
the past few years, I've been having vision problems, and
blurry vision is not stranger to me. Here, you can
get a feel about what I see nowadays.
I also
like these images because they represent the complete opposite
of my "style", yet there is some beauty here.
These
images are definitely giving me ideas for future experiments.
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Maybe this
is a subtle thing that only I can see, but I also like these
images because I feel that these images are mostly Keira
and only a little bit me. What I mean is that when
I sit Keira down in a carefully crafted lighting setup,
I am imposing my will, and that feeling is reinforced by
the restrictions I place on her movements & poses.
Here,
I've literally taken a big step back, and I am not crafting
the lighting in any way. What remains is Keira, her
body, and her movement.
Each
photographer and each model pairing creates its own chemistry,
and I believe that Keira & Greg have established excellent
chemistry. Greg encourages Keira to move, and Keira
makes big gestures. In fact, Keira had studied Greg's
online portfolio prior to this meeting, and she tries to
give Greg big gestures like the ones he shows in his portfolio.
And throughout,
I am just a fly on the wall.
I do
feel a little guilty about snapping images of Keira on Greg's
dime, as it were, so I soon put the camera down & find
somewhere else to be -- meanwhile, Keira & Greg find
all sorts of nooks in which to make pictures.
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These images
are so different from my usual fare that I think they represent
the beginnings of a new style for me. I certainly
can develop these concepts in a future sitting.
These images
have also gotten me thinking about what it takes to be a
fine art photographer:
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How To Be A Fine Art Photographer:
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Be there.
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Be ready.
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Be prepared.
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Be organized.
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Be enthusiastic.
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Be open.
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Be surprised.
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Be prepared to fail.
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Be bold.
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(Note: There are no "Out Takes"
for the "Behind The Scenes" images.)
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