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What I do in my Black and White Portrait work is not "Glamour Shots." It is down to the skin reality and sometimes it's hard to handle the truth. These old friends reluctantly subjected themselves to that possibility. Without getting too wordy, I will say, I love this work, it's what keeps me in the game. They can sometime be striking or even riveting. The bigger I print them the better they get.
This image illustrates the scheme for stitching the images together. Taken just a few yards away from the Arch shot and turning to the right, is very long levee wall stretching, they tell me, for miles, which is dedicated to public art. You can see how the separate images are shot to be blended or stitched in the photo editing software. Unfortunately, this view lacked the appeal of the earlier Arch composition.
The Saint Louis Arch is one of the most photographed scenes in the world and in a relatively recent exercise whereby several images are stitched together, I shot this unusual vantage point. It is actually three vertical captures stitched together. It is certainly one of my favorite recent images. It is also one of the most requested of all my recent work
One day I grabbed the camera and headed down Lindell one block. I was out to do my neighborhood thing and I decided to check out the interior of SLU's Church. It is quite impressive and is the center for many a celebrations.
Traditional and striking, it's a landmark here in the city and rightly so.
http://www.slu.edu/departments/church/
Any of you that maybe familiar with my portrait work will know that I am fixated on hands and eyes and of course, spirit. In a recent photo shoot for a local company's web-site, I encountered this young woman who had been on the job for over 30 years and her hands have the resultant character to verify that. If I didn't know better I could squint my eyes and conjure up images from one of thousands of National Geographic images. The color and tone of the skin and the stressed knuckles and abused nails had caught my attention since first editing for the original project.
In keeping with the theme of my neighborhood and on the way to the studio, I had an opportunity to grab, literally, a couple of frames of the new Saint Louis University Medical Building just down the road a piece. I'm bad for this. I'll see something and rather than get out the tripod or take any time at all, I'll roll down the window and shoot as many angles as permitted from the car. I always promise myself that I'll go back later and do it right. My bad. I do however like this one and I think the Marketing folks at SLU will want access to it as it features the new building and in the back right is the old hospital facility.
While the entire blog has gotten rave reviews, I get more and more inquiries about the black and white portraits. When I do my portraits I really strive to capture the character or the essence of the person. Hands, eyes and spirit are vital to the style all captured with the hint of the old Masters of Portraiture. In this case anyone who has ever met this man immediately says, "Hey that's Kip." No matter how long ago it might have been. He has that kind of persona.I call this image "Cyclops" but it doesn't matter because his captivating eye(s) and renown wit will always be known as "Hey, that's Kip."
So, Sunday was Fathers day and by default, Grandfathers Day. Both boys came over and brought our granddaughters. It was a beautiful day, one that I'll remember for some time. Everything a grandpa could want or need. BTW, yes it does say "Spoiled" on the back of the Gator. Hmmm, whoda thunk?
What I do in my Black and White Portrait work is not "Glamour Shots." It is down to the skin reality and sometimes it's hard to handle the truth. These old friends reluctantly subjected themselves to that possibility. Without getting too wordy, I will say, I love this work, it's what keeps me in the game. They can sometime be striking or even riveting. The bigger I print them the better they get.
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