I know, I know...

I know, my blog has slowed over the last month but that's one of the byproducts  of being busy.  This morning I had a wonderful meeting about some exciting opportunities and on the way back I drew my trusty iPhone and started recording the season. The Hipstamatic didn't exactly fullfil my visions but I certainly like the results of this overly systemed shot.

Easter, Easter Eggs, Japanese, Wallpaper, Upholstery, Lingerie and a few other key word search titles come to mind.

The Man with the Amber Eyes

I'll have to remember to thank the HR person at Nadoz, the restaurant I frequent here in my building.


This be Floyd, and he is the second Chef from there to grace the walls of this blog. His story is long and fascinating.  A veteran of the Military service and cancer survivor, Floyd has a very impressive resume that started by steering away from the food industry. That because his father was a Gourmet Chef and Floyd wanted nothing to do with that.


Unfortunately we had a very short session and I really didn't get to digest all of his history, maybe I'll update this page at a later date when I've have more time to spend with Floyd.

It was good to get back into the mode of shooting character based black and white portraits. I tend to get sidetracked and that's not always a bad thing.

Page One

Some years ago I did an exhibit of my work that was Italian Design as Art.  In that assemblage were some figure studies in color using a Red leather chair as the centerpiece of the image.  I have thought for sometime that I'd like to do a reprise of sorts, in Black and White, using a different chair.

Recently I began an exploration of light and style for this new work. I really didn't have any expectation of getting to a formula right off the bat.  I did have a basic idea and wanted the figures to have this sheen to emphasize the the highlights that would basically trace the contour of the shapes.

Well, I'm surprised and delighted that I was able to get right into the feel I was hoping for.
Next, I'll need to see if I can keep the continuity for the remainder of the images.  Maybe the continuity isn't as important as I originally thought.  We'll see.
I'm scouting for additional models of differing genders and body types.  Rubenesque and lithe are key to this project.

Perhaps "very old" would work but I wouldn't want to intrude on Joyce Tennesen's style.

I'm open to thoughtful suggestions as to models.

Getting in My Exercize

 

Without a lot of verbiage, I shot these today on the way back from lunch.  I think from time to time I need to try a make something interesting from relatively nothing. We have an old Masonic Temple that was converted into a Theater and Bowling Alley and as I left the grill within the Bowling Alley, I spent 10 minutes, doing this exercise.  Me and my iPhone.

This is how I got there.   Got it figured it out.

I shot this into the gold chrome lid of a trash can sitting inside the door. You can see the black iPhone and my hands reflected in the dome of the trash can.

One more thing, I am certainly not the first person to shoot up into a winding stair case.  As I think about it, as a freshmen in Photography 101, I shot up into a Forrest Range's observation tower and that was in 1964. I think maybe Charley Sheen recently shot up in a stairway.

Friends beget Friends beget...

Regular followers of this blog will remember not too long ago I had a post of a friend of the family, Emily, and Emily allowed herself to be my temporary muse in an effort to build a small portfolio for a new project I had begun.  Afterwords, Emily's friend expressed her unbiased opinion in favor of our efforts.  When Em told me of her positive delight, I suggested we invite her to follow suit. Well, Maggie didn't consider herself material for the cause and she wasn't going to have any of it. I went back to Emily and while discussing my options and she happened to mention that Maggie possessed a full head of curly, very curly, red hair. I'm a sucker for redheads.

Now challenged by her resistance I doubled my effort and enlisted Emily to help. Sufficed to say, we won.

A couple of evenings ago Maggie came over to see if I could indeed do what I had claimed.

Now, I guess you're thinking, if you love red hair so much, why the Black and White image.  Well, dangit, because I like it. 

I would have never thought to do anything but glorify her amazing hair color but in this case I think it works well. Do not despair because we have many captures of her tresses in full living color.  

I guess at this time I must say that we spent a good deal of time shooting with her hair down and fluffing it and shaking it and pretty much abusing it and when it was all said and done, my favorite image turned out to be this one, with her hair up.

 

Here's another thing.  I got so caught up with the whole curly red hair theme, I hadn't even considered she also possess these amazing eyes and a very pleasant smile.

Thanks Maggie and Emily, it was fun.

All right, by popular demand, I'm adding a third image with her locks in full glory.

Rock Goddess

The First Sign of Spring

Ah yes, it's the one thing that lets you know that Spring is just around the corner.

No, it's not a Robin.

And it's certainly not the Ground Hog.

It is that infamous call from Florida and Arizona...Pitchers and Catchers Report.

Yes, when Major League Baseball declares that spring training is to begin, my mind relaxes from it's winter's clinch 
and I start the anticipation of warmer weather to come.  Life is Good.

I Think You Can See Clearly Now

OK, the response to the previous post was very entertaining.  The vast majority of the comments were positive and complimentary.  There were however, a few purist that chastised me for the extreme softness of the image and their inability to imagine what my friend might look like otherwise.  I did, if you remember explain why I took the direction that I took.


So, in an effort to make everyone happy, here is the "Bets" in her more natural form. Sure, someone is gonna say, you still added a blur to this image.  Aha, wrong.  I used a tool that controls tonal contrast and it's amazing.


Enough of the tech talk.  Please enjoy.

BTW, if any of you aficionados' of blogspot know this answer, please let me know. That last post has shifted colors considerably since I first posted it and I've noticed this before.  Cause and fix?

Place your Bets

I know not where to begin. Nearly 30 years ago, I somehow came across this beauty but I don't remember the circumstance. Then Betsy Bircher, she was a very tall, strikingly beautiful woman with a voice of an instrument that promised stardom. I won't try to elaborate on her career path but as fate would have it, Bets never really liked performing. I guess it was kinda like a young basketball player I was close to, that panicked at the thought of playing in front of arenas of sport fans. Maybe not.


Betsy and I recently had a reunion that was long over due. At 53, she is as striking as ever and her pipes are clear and true and used mainly these days to wow Christian listeners wherever she sings.


We talked a lot of late and I think she is in a mode to be likened to a Dianna Krawll, soothing sweet jazz tones accompanied by her fingers dancing on the keys of her piano.  She feels the call but hesitates to revert to the late night hours and of being out of sync with her family which includes 2 young men and a husband and parents tip toeing toward the autumn of their life.


This image was an interesting miss hit.  We were shooting very quickly and the focus didn't quite ring true but the expression of happiness and the heartwarming smile convinced me to try to make something worthwhile from what I had.  I love it and like Molly in the previous post, it lifts my spirits and warms my heart.

Oh So Molly

 

My buddy here in my studio building is an accountant and his name is Steve.  One day recently I walked in and interpreted him, as I have a want to do, and for the first time, noticed an 8X10 framed portrait of this cute little 18 year old girl hanging on his wall.  It was Steve's daughter, Molly. Steve had talked about her on occasion but I didn't realize she was so cute.  Well, I jumped on the opportunity to appeal to his fatherly pride and asked if she would want to come in someday and bemuse me for a while.(that's not dirty, is it?)  I had motive in that she would fit nicely into a project that I have been working on and I just love shooting beautiful faces.

Molly was a joy, part ham, part actress, she had no problem settling in to the groove of posing.  We shot many many frames that day but this one got to the father in me. When I sent Steve a copy by eMail, I reminded him that as a parent nothing makes us happier than seeing our children laugh.  Sure the toddler giggle is all but gone but the delight and joy in their expression is priceless.

This picture makes me happy.  It makes me smile.  I feel lighter just looking at it.

Thanks Molly.

Emily

 

I have been photographing Emily for some time now and we both had some time available because of the Christmas/New Years holiday. This time I initiated the session.  Usually I'm harassed into it by her mother who insist the I photograph her children on a regular basis.  Usually I'm able to act disinterested until she promises enumerable rewards for doing it.  I'll eventually concede if she promises to feed us dinner.  She (Em's mother) is an amazing cook who is driven by the details of the meal. We used to alternate dining invitations until it became a contest and we finally decided to surrender to her superiority.

So, where was I?  Oh yeah, I asked Emily to help me with a project I've been preparing to market and she readily agreed. The results took on a direction that I hadn't originally intended but it was quite gratifying nonetheless.  Here, I was able to drive a 60's looking pose even further by contriving an old color slide look.  

Just to give you a range, here is a shot from the same session with Emily as her more mature self.

90 Minus 5

The Tribute to my dad's passing has been removed in an effort to keep a lighter feeling to the blog

Sometimes I get too sentimental and depressing.  Thank you for your kind comments.

Just Josh'in

Many years ago when I started my Portrait quest, I quickly settled into a comfortable niche for style but in a rare moment of lucidity, I had the foresight to see that maybe I shouldn't get pigeon holed into being a one style pony.  I decide to try to cultivate an alternate style just in case some art director or client had his fancy caught by the Old Masters look but needed something more contemporary. So, off in a hard and unfocused area I ventured.  This willing subject is Josh Sanseri, at the time, was a rising star from my old Alma Mater. Now, he is probably the best shooter that I have seen in a while, at shooting environmental or location portraits while keeping an incredible lighting balance between the existing and added light.

Last I heard from Josh, he was well on his way to being a huge success in Los Angeles, CA.

http://www.sanseri.com/   

The tone is a synthetic Ambrotype.  While it takes me away from my purist black and white mode, it just feels right for this.

The Big Push

There have been times, I have read somewhere, that people were killed by being crushed in a crowd and wondered just how that could have happened.  This image I shot in a dimly lit subway moving toward the street, heading toward the Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity. Somehow, the sanity seems a bit lost here. It was a long subway ride from the suburbs where every platform was overflowing with prospective riders and at every stop 4, 5 or 6 more people would force themselves into every opening of the train. It got to the point where holding onto the handrails was barely necessary.  We were so tightly packed we had become self supporting.

I can now understand the possibility of being trampled in a crowd.  Had there been any sense of urgency or panic, many here could have been severely trod upon.

This was shot into one of those convex mirrors and tightly cropped. The old expression, head for the light at the tunnel, is so very well illustrated here.

For those who might be interested, the enthusiasm at the Rally was monumental.  The Rally itself was a bit of a disappointment. Unless you got there at five in the morning, it was virtually impossible to see or hear anything.   Am I sorry I went?  Absolutely not.

clicking on the image helps

What Will They Think of Next

Last week or maybe it was 2 weeks ago, I posted an iPhone shot that I really liked. A couple of days later, someone, it turns out to be a friend of mine, suggested I look into a phone App that he had seen.  I didn't rush out to get it but while riding back from Virginia, I had some time to kill, so I downloaded it just for grins. I haven't totally explored its possibilities but the first few times I tried it, it made me happy.  Nothing  sensational will ever come of it but the odd, old film, feel, stirs something creative in me.  I need to figure out a way to extract it from my iPhone, full size.  The way it is now, it's a very small file.  Maybe that's the best it will ever be.  We'll see.  Thanks Mike.

Why Wait

I just looked at my "to do" list and none of it seemed like any fun, so what the heck, more Ashley. I think I may have captured the warmth and playfulness of this St Louis University student. If I could only make a living doing this.  Maybe someday when I grow up.

Change Up

Well, last week I made some time to do some lighting test and my friend Ashley, whose eyes you have seen in the past, agreed to be my subject. Yea, spared you the self portraits. I think I'll post more later but this one really caught my fancy. I don't know exactly what it is that stops me in my tracks but I love this image.

Youth, great skin, amazing eyes and a willingness to be patient with my dallying with lights.  Thanks, Ashley.

Just in the NIK of Time

I'm about to do something I said I would never do. I've avoided ads and commercial comment, until now, but looking at the last post, I think it only fair that I say out loud or in this case in bold letters how important a tool can be. Without this software I more than likely would have lost interest in a boat load of images I have captured.  There is hardly an image that I have developed (mentally and digitally) that I haven't used a least one of the Suite of software produce by NIK. In my mind it is the second most significant software product a photographer can use short of Photoshop. 

I was introduced to the young man who is the brains behind NIK software maybe 10 to 12 years ago when I was still working for Kodak. Amazingly he still remembers that day and has been very courteous whenever we talk, though I'm sure he knows 10 thousand more important and influential people than I.

There are 5 variation that I used and they have just rolled out the new HDR software that is so very impressive.  

As usual I have gotten away from the point.  

When I look back at the iPhone image, recently posted, I just marvel how that was not much of an image until I kicked it in the head with the NIK software. Sure, the composition was pretty darn nice but the other properties were nothing of which to speak. 

I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to sharing my little secrets or techniques. I say I love teaching young people the trade but there a few things that I feel a bit possessive about.  For the longest time I used a very proprietary system for converting images to Black and White.  I didn't share it with many people because it was unique to me.  Then one day I began to enlighten others and surprisingly as hard as most tried, few were successful at getting the results that I got. I think there is an intuitiveness about it that others didn't have and I couldn't iliterate.

Then along comes NIK and its suite of software tools and at the very least I would tell anyone listening, if you're sharpening your images in Photoshop,  stop now.

Download the free trial version of NIK Sharpening Pro. I'll give you back your investment if you don't love it.

http://www.niksoftware.com/site/

May your love of the trade, blossom beyond your greatest expectations.

Thanks Michael.

Everybody's Doing It... plus one more

 plus one....


















Ever since Apple came out with the iPhone, maybe even before, photographers have taken to using it for some niche art opportunities. I, for one, have not taken to it as yet. It is not for the shaky of hand. The shutter release is in a very inconvenient location and add the relatively low resolution and less than stellar lens and I'm pretty much out of luck. Undaunted by my ineptitudes, I keep trying.  Today I found, that if I dink around long enough on the computer I can eventually produce something of interest. This is the recently renovated Continental Building in the Grand Arts Center, just down from my studio. As I look at it, I see maybe, an Orson Wells vintage property or maybe Superman or even Buck Rogers or as a friend suggested, maybe even early Gotham, Batman. Whatever I'm seeing, I like it.  I had this friend who's motto was, "If you shoot enough, you'll eventually come up with something." Got it.

Let me add this quote from Elliot Erwitt.

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."

Since the original post, I've come around to the western view of the Continental Building and added a different perspective, both in angle and style.  Somebody stop me.

Whatizit #5

So, I'm wondering if anyone else has seen one of these?  I found it permanently affixed to the street on my way to the City Diner here in the neighborhood. It appears to be made out of the striping paint for the roads. Thick and rubbery. I tried to peel it up but it ain't moving. Is it a one of a kind or part of some protest or political Logo. Got any ideas?  If so please to comment.

For Lunch

This image makes me sorta happy.  Simple yet graphic, it's the kind of thing I want to be able to do when the opportunity arises.

For years I've been looking for the perfect everyday camera.  One that I can keep with me all the time. Something compact but close to DSLR quality.

I recently bought a G11, which on paper, seems to fit that bill. Frankly, while it's not everything I'd hoped for, I'm getting a little more warm and fuzzy with it.

I had lunch today on a little plaza not for from the studio.  It was a gorgeous day and I had my new camera along.

The search continues but this ain't bad. 

*Still don't know why the quality in the original blog image seems to pale in comparison to the "click on" version.