Posts tagged: tip
My good friend and expert creative at Wieden + Kennedy in Tokyo, Oyl, was home for the holiday season and had a project that needed photographing. While in Japan he had created a cool little fashion accessory and he wanted to market it as “a slice of Portland” in the Tokyo fashion world. A craigslist and Facebook post later got some great responses and we chose two to shoot - Catherine and Mandi. Catherine was first, representing the fun, cute side of the product. The every-Portland-girl feel.
I got an email the day before the shoot from Catherine. Basically, she was having second thoughts. Not an experienced model, she was worried about how she would do. Though I had worked with some inexperienced models already, I had never had one say she didn’t want to do it. So I gave her a call and thankfully was able to talk her back into it.
The day of the shoot came and Oyl and I (and Oyl’s cousin who was tagging along) met Catherine, where else, under the Morrison Bridge. After all, nothing gets more Portland than that area in my mind. Real quick, you may be saying, “woah, Joe, you don’t like working with extra people on set and you brought two?” Indeed. But there’s a major difference between having Oyl and his cousin hanging out on set and a boyfriend or “bodyguard” type. Of course, Oyl is the client (even though he’s a friend) and his cousin understands “the business” as well. That and I was able to talk them both about how I work and what to do if things were getting distracting. That made their presence, much like when a makeup artist or wardrobe stylist is on set, a great help, rather than a hinderance.
TIP: If you are shooting for a client and they are going to be there with you, be sure to explain to them your working style. If you have a thing about shooting alone, make sure they understand that. Obviously, you’ll have to make exceptions when someone is paying you, but it’s always a good idea for everyone involved in a creative project to know where you’re coming from.
The concept for the shoot was much more of a lifestyle-inspired project, rather than a “feature my product” style. We were looking for interesting takes on what the grunge look and feel of Portland is about.
^ Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge, facing the financial district of southwest Portland. You really can’t get much more Portland/Northwest Grunge than this. Ripped tights, jean shorts, plaid, shades, all hanging out on a tiny blonde, chilling on a bridge. Perfect.
^ Of course, it’s always good to get some product shots in. The leather straps have a Sharpied silhouette of the Tokyo skyline on one side and Michael Jackson on the other. Simple and fun and from what I hear, all the rage in Tokyo.
^ Part of our shoot ended up in northwest Portland at a great little coffee shop called Anna Banana’s. It is essentially a house with the room structure still in place that was made into a coffee shop. In the basement there is an eclectic mix of busted furniture, graffiti, and random chess boards with “Nazi Punks, Fuck Off!” written on the side. Yes, Portland. Also, they have amazing coffee and scones there, especially if you’ve been shooting on bridges all morning and can’t feel your hands.
^ After coffee we headed up to Washington Park and the famous Rose Garden (the one with roses, not NBA basketball players). To our surprise (and delight) it started snowing. This, by the way, is a rare event in Portland. Most winters only see a day or two of snow (with the exception of last year’s crazy blizzard). In fact, this was the only day it snowed this winter (assuming we won’t see any temperatures that cold again). The whole scene was so cool, I couldn’t really stop taking pictures of it.
^ Pretty much exactly what our day ended up being. I love this shot.
Shortly after we finished shooting in the snow, we dropped Catherine off. I asked her if she was glad she ended up doing the shoot. A resounding, “Yes,” was a reassuring answer.
This day, though, was not over, as I was bound to have quite a legendary adventure. I had picked Oyl and his cousin up in the morning, so I was tasked with dropping them off (some twenty minutes outside of downtown). Of course, it had started snowing and due to the rarity of this sort of thing (and the no salt law in Oregon) the roads were quickly filled with panicky drivers and increasingly accumulated snow layers. We got as far as Lake Oswego when we were faced with a snow-covered hill as our only option to get to our destination. This hill, however, had already claimed several cars attempting to forge ahead. I declined the challenge and we pulled off the road, watching continued failed attempts to climb the hill and hoping to see a snow plow clear the way.
After a couple hours of waiting and watching the snow completely cover everything, we decided that we wouldn’t be able to make it any time soon. We decided walking the remaining three or four miles (we weren’t really sure how far it actually was) would be a good idea. Especially because half way there we’d run into a McDonald’s (and of course we were getting hungry).
So off we trod. It was quite the spectacle as cars slid their way around, trying to get to their destinations without spinning out of control. Soon after we began our trek, I informed the gang that McDonald’s was currently offering the McDouble (a double cheeseburger with only one slice of cheese) for just a dollar. The quest for the McDouble began. Our strides lengthened and our pace quickened. When we finally made it to the McDonald’s about 45 minutes later, the McDoubles (three each for Oyl and I with fries) were ordered, made, and consumed in about 10 minutes. Probably a record.
Oyl’s family was actually able to pick us up from the McDonald’s and we spent the evening at his house, waiting for the snow to clear and regretting our splurge on McDoubles. Some late evening rain cleared the roads enough for me to be dropped off at my car and have a safe drive home. And yet, the best part of the day was still all the great shots we got with Catherine.
Well, the slideshow from this shoot has been up for a little while, but I suppose I should tell you more about it. This shoot was pretty cool for a number of reasons, but the most important one was that I had a makeup artist “on set” for the first time. Now, I mentioned shooting with significant others or friends (or bodyguards?) on set and how that can be very distracting and ultimately negatively impact the results.
By contrast, having a makeup artist on set is pretty much the opposite. The first thing, and the most obvious, is that the models look absolutely stunning. And that’s not to say they don’t anyway, but a makeup artist (a good one at least) understands the way light works and how colors and shades affect the look. Amy, my MUA (industry abbreviation), was definitely in this category. She did an incredible job with Saron, setting an overall mood and making my job in the editing room absolutely painless.
So the concept here was to first shoot a sort of classic look (above), and then move into something with a little more punk/grunge feel. Again, the usefulness of having Amy around was immeasurable. Throughout the shoot she hung out and kept an eye on things like stray hairs (called fly-aways apparently) and things like being sure the makeup stayed even. With her eye on that, it left me free to just shoot away.
TIP: If you can get a makeup artist to help you with your shoot, do it. Much like the work of models and photographers, makeup artists need to have a great portfolio too. That means you can work for trade with some great talent. That being said, they are bringing product into it, which means their costs are much more than simply time. For this reason, if you’re shooting for trade with a makeup artist, be sure to get plenty of shots that feature the work they do (even if you don’t want them for your own portfolio). And, of course, be prompt in getting them images.
This shoot also gave me some pretty cool perspective about location. I ended up shooting under the Morrison Bridge in Southeast Portland, a location I had previously shot a couple times. What I found at this point was that no matter how many times you shoot at one place, you can always find a way to make it look different. That may sounds obvious to some, or dumb to others, but the point is, keep looking at the same place in different ways and you’ll find yourself making amazingly interesting photographs. In fact, it sort of forces you to. No one wants to have the same shot as someone else, do they?
The meth edition. That should be the subtitle of this shoot. But actually, it was much more than that. Sibyl is an actress here in Portland that I met on the set of Bank Run, an interactive iPhone movie and game by friends SilkTricky. By pure happenstance, I actually had met Sibyl (and her kids) a couple weeks prior while walking my dog by her kids’ school but we made the connection on set. She was in need of some head shots and also wanted to do something a little darker.
Though I am not much in favor of typical head shot shooting, I was interested in working with Sibyl (who had also gotten the fantastic makeup artist, Amber Arpin, on board). Though the initial idea was pretty straight forward, I did end getting some good lessons from the shoot.
TIP: Set up a time that works for your talent, but also for you. In trying to figure out a time for our shoot we ended up having to adjust several times, finally making a Sunday afternoon the call time. Now, in the winter in Portland, playing in the afternoon is playing with fire. There isn’t a lot of light most of the day and starting anytime past noon can be tricky. So we met around one to start makeup at Amber’s place (not our location). Once makeup was done we headed out, getting to our location in downtown Portland a little after two. We had three costume and makeup changes to capture. You can see where this is going. In short, make sure you have enough time to get what you need. If you don’t, rescheduling is better than trying to fit it in.
So the first set was to get some “lovely” head shots. Sibyl has a great “Penelope Cruz” type look which makes photographing her fairly easy in this setup. The next look was more edgy—little black dress, Prada shoes, attitude. Between the time lost in from the first set, the makeup change, and the outfit change, we were really running low on light. The overcast day was turning into an impending stormy night minute by minute. Add to that the freezing cold and a concept we hadn’t quite flushed out and the shots just didn’t come out as planned. Sensing this a short way into the second set, I called it a wrap, opting for a look that would be better suited to transport inside should we encounter rain.
And thats when we got some really cool stuff. It is much darker than anything I had done previously (or since really), but I think came out with a cool effect. Amber really coated Sibyl with a heroin-chic palette—a sort of prom date gone horribly wrong feel.
^ This was one of the first few shots of this set. I’m not sure if it was the direction I gave at the outset or Sibyl’s true discomfort with the freezing cold temperatures, but the resulting photograph has an amazing, “I f**king hate you” vibe.
^ Heroin-chic at its finest. I decided to go with the greenish tint to accentuate the cold feeling that parking garage fluorescents inspire when dinged with a flash. (No, dinged is not a technical word. But, I will probably use it, or “hit” or “tagged” to talk about using the flash for accents instead of exposure.)
^ One of the great quotes (and one that Amber and I still joke about when we work together), occurred just before this shot. It was me, and it went something like, “Sibyl, normally I would never say this, but… go ahead and get on your knees.” Now, I talked in an earlier post about the importance of building a rapport with your models. This is a clear example of just that. In no way should you ever, ever, ever feel that you can be demeaning to your subjects, especially females, in any way. There’s no excuse for it. Simply stated.
I did, however, really love the effect of this shot. You can see what the flash does to the concrete and her fair skin when contrasted with the darkening night. I had the camera all the way on the ground, so framing was a bit on the lucky side, capturing the building on the right to stay out from behind Sibyl’s head.
It turned out to be a pretty good shoot in the end, though I would have loved to have started about two hours earlier (and 20 degrees warmer). I didn’t post any shots from the first two sets and I don’t really have a good excuse as to why. I just like the darker stuff better (since that’s what I really wanted to shoot). There will be plenty more from Sibyl coming up later. This was also the first shoot where I was paid for my time, something that I initially did not expect, but was more than happy to receive. I suppose this was my “professional debut” in a way. Very cool.
The shoot with Rebeca was of the quick, easy, fun variety. I posted an ad on Craigslist Friday night because it just felt like Saturday morning was going to have amazing light. And if there is amazing light, you should shoot in it. Rebeca responded first and we planned to meet up in Northwest Portland, grab some coffee, and shoot something fun.
As expected, the light was amazing, but it was freezing cold. And we decided to shoot on top of a parking garage, so that didn’t help. But, it was totally worth it.
TIP: Stuck for a location? No problem, get to the roof of a parking garage (especially if you’re in a metropolitan location). You generally get some nice grungy textures and a cool view of the city. It also provides a non-descript backdrop that is perfect for edgy head shots.
^ I got really great response from this image when I posted it to Criminal Minima and on Facebook. There are a lot of reasons why I think this image really works for people, but my favorite is how real it is. It is accessible. This is not a photograph of a stick figure magazine model wearing a bikini in Bora Bora bent over backwards on a beach at sunset. It’s a photograph of a beautiful woman wearing an outfit that describes her personality on a freezing cold morning in downtown Portland. It is something people can relate to. As one commenter described, the image is soft yet so powerful. I couldn’t agree more. From the soft focus (caused by the hazy air) to the subtle blues I added to the shadows, this image really has a lot of depth and tells a great personal story for Rebeca.
Here are a few more from that morning. Enjoy:
This post could also be titled, “Working for the Man.” But not because it was some sort of sellout thing. It was just a “client” operation. For my part, I did not have much creative control beyond getting the lens in the right place. The models were picked, the wardrobe was decided upon, and the coffee came from Starbucks. (I have nothing against Starbucks per se, but if you are in Portland, maybe get some Stumptown?)
The shoot was for a t-shirt company that focuses on yoga lifestyle designs, but also has some other random graphics. The owner/designer Gabriel is totally a great dude and our meeting about the shoot went really well. Obviously for a “commercial shoot” like this, you will definitely want to meet with your client beforehand to be sure that you’re thinking along the same lines for style and possible shot setups.
As I mentioned, I hadn’t seen the models before I showed up at our location (under the Morrison Bridge again), so I had no idea what to expect. And it was probably better that way. Our model break down went like this:
We had the “I’m a male model” guy.
We had the “I have one look” guy.
We had the “petite chick that got stuck with the men’s medium” chick.
All three were super nice (and good sports), but it felt just a little random. And honestly, I felt bad for the gal, Dusty, she tried really hard to get some good stuff, but she’s a tiny little thing, and a men’s medium absolutely absorbs her. As for the two dudes, “male model” guy really got into it and was super helpful keeping the energy up. And that was good, cause “one look” guy was pretty mellow (and not like yellow, nor like the NBA’s leading scorer).
All-in-all though, we had a good time. It was freezing cold and Gabriel hooked us up with piping hot coffee and some delicious pastries. And as it turned out, shooting Gabriel ended up providing the best shots of the day. At that point I put together something that really made sense to me.
TIP: When your model really buys in to the concept, you are the winner. That’s right, winner. Because Gabriel was emotionally and financially invested in the project, he was willing to really get going on the shoot. The others, though compensated with some coffee and donuts, didn’t really have the same motivation. I have noticed this since this shoot—believing in the concept really shows through. Oh, and by the way, don’t discount the idea that you, as the photographer, should be bought in as well. If you fail to find a fire for the shoot, your photographs will show it (another lesson I have had to remember since).
Here are a few more shots from the Identity:Me shoot. If you dig the shirts, check them out online!
The afternoon brought Karri. And an unfortunate circumstance. Rebecca had been on vacation and took a dive head-first into the ground, leaving her with scratches not suitable to shoot. So, it was up to Karri to make my Vegas trip awesome. No pressure.
Despite a rough patch of communication to start (we were supposed to meet at 1, but ended up meeting at 3), Karri finally made her way to my hotel and we got started. She had secured an amazing location just outside of the city with a great view of the famous Strip. It was a huge construction project that had run out of money and was just sitting there, basically in the middle of the desert, next to the highway. We had free run of the place and decided to trek up the thirteen flights of stairs to the top of the main condominium building. The top two floors were completely open-air and gutted—just a bunch of concrete and steel beams.
I would be remiss if I did not mention just how cool of a chick Karri is. As soon as I jumped in her car she asked me about the football games (it was Sunday) and their outcomes. She is a mom of four and of course drop dead gorgeous and incredibly sweet. We also talked about opening an Irish Pub and a breakfast restaurant.
^ This shot is great because of the twenty-or-so minutes leading up to it. As we were shooting in this space, stepping around all these metal studs laying on the ground, I was basically thinking one thing, “I want her to lay across these.” So I brought it up… Casually. “You know what would look cool,” I said in my most charming tone, “if you were laying across these.” Obviously, she agreed.
TIP: If there is something you need a model to do that may be a little outside what you think their comfort zone may be, it’s time to turn on the charm. Hopefully, you’re at a point already where you have some rapport. If not, don’t ask. The key to all of it is being empathetic to their situation. Modeling, as I have come to be keenly aware of, is not just about a pretty face with T&A. The incredible situations that models have to put their bodies in to get great shots is completely understated. So, the more you can be aware of that, the better.
^ I absolutely love this shot. And for many reasons. First, it is a great product of a completely off-the-cuff experiment. To get this shot I stabilized the camera on a venting pipe, set the exposure to make the city lights pop, then adjusted down the flash compensation on the built-in flash. Snap. Second, you can see the moon. Third, you can see the strip (if you look closely). Basically, this shot encompasses my entire trip. Very cool.
Since my shoot the next day with Rebecca had been cancelled, I decided to hop in on a poker tournament that started at 2am. I ended up taking third and leaving Vegas up $100 for the trip. A win for sure.
After a crazy first night in L.V., I woke up early to get ready for my shoot with Elizabeth. Actually, let me rephrase that slightly. After taking a two-hour nap, I rolled out of bed to get coffee and a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonald’s.
With new found (albeit caffeine-induced) energy, I sat in our lobby waiting for Elizabeth to show. I had no clue where we were going to shoot, so the best plan I had was for her to either know of a place, or just walk around until something interesting popped out. I got a text just as our meeting time came up saying she was valeting her car. And that’s when I realized something important about the way I work and how I want to control my photo shoots in the future…
I realized this because, unexpectedly, she showed up with her boyfriend. Okay, now I strongly recommend any models out there, especially if you are meeting a photographer from another city, especially if you’re in Las Vegas, to have an escort. That being said…
TIP: Having an escort “on set” can severely disrupt your chi. Yeah, chi (and not Chi McBride). At least, it can be disruptive if you work the way I do. To get the shots that I get, I depend heavily on my ability to connect with the model I am shooting and create an emotional tie between her, myself, and my camera. I know, it sounds a little… whatever… but, I seriously believe it. What happened with Elizabeth was that she was completely unfocused, and I could feel it the entire time.
Clarification time! Her boyfriend, whose name was Joe as well (so he gets automatic points), was a really cool dude. They were both super friendly (and East Coast transplants, as am I). Also to (other) Joe’s credit, he was cool about wandering off as we shot. That being said, Elizabeth spent most of the shoot looking past me (and by extension my camera) to see where (other) Joe was. And she is a terrific model (judging by the rest of her portfolio), so it made me wonder if (other) Joe had accompanied her on shoots before. Now, that’s not to say I didn’t get any good shots. I did. But, I definitely hit a point where I thought to myself “the faster I shoot, the quicker this ends.” That’s not a thought someone with my type of creative process needs to have. Nonetheless, here are a couple of the cool shots that came from Elizabeth (and other Joe):
So one of my very best friends (since fourth grade)—really my fourth brother—Rick, had just gotten back stateside from serving in the Army in Iraq right around Thanksgiving. And what else do you do when your friend comes back from war? You go to Vegas. The plan was to play a whole lot of poker … and not talk about anything else that happened (of course).
But, I also saw an opportunity. Though I totally love a good night of poker, the stakes in a poker room in Vegas are a little more intimidating than the $10 buy-in tournaments at friend’s houses while watching the Blazers games. So, I knew I’d have some extra time—especially while Rick was sleeping off the previous night’s poker session.
Now, remember the tip I tossed out about Craigslist? You should. That tip applies even more when you’re a foreigner looking to get some shoots in on vacation. Armed with a growing portfolio (note the previous posts on this blog…duh) I posted an ad on Craigslist: Las Vegas. Again, I wasn’t sure the type of responses I would be getting, though after my first experience with posting, I was more prepared. I already had a folder in my email setup to handle all the Vegas correspondences and a contact definition to keep the Vegas models separate from my local ones.
So, if you thought setting up a shoot in your own town on your own time was tricky at times. Try doing it in a city you’re nowhere near familiar with while on a vacation that has no discernible agenda (other than to win tons of money playing cards). But, even that went over without much trouble.
I got great responses and narrowed down my choices to six (assuming I wouldn’t be getting some of the girls to actually write back). Oh, I should mention at this point, I was trying to set all this up in about two weeks. I would definitely recommend taking more time and having a better plan of how you’ll be spending the rest of your vacation time. Anyway, I was right to assume I would only hear back from a couple of the girls. Three in fact. But, they all accepted times that fit, so it was all good. Elizabeth in the morning, Karri in the afternoon, and Rebecca the next morning.
My good friend Lindsae was kind enough to help me out with my project as well. She also needed some cool photographs for her website (oh, by the way, I designed it). It was also cool just to hang out with someone fun and creative. Lindsae is an incredibly talented actress here in Portland (and that’s not just a bias, check out her reel on her site).
I would say there was not much of a story to the shoot, though some of the pictures that came out of it are still high on the list of favorites. Lindsae’s ability to convey emotion on camera was truly fun to work with, especially in post.
^ Need I say more?
What was really great about how these shots turned out was how we came to the style that we were going to shoot. Lindsae was worried about her wardrobe, look, etc. Here is where I made a somewhat cool discovery.
TIP: If you are not shooting a trained or experienced model, you will probably have to deal with at least some level of personal discomfort on the part of your subject. Your best bet in this case is to make them as comfortable as possible. This usually starts with wardrobe—have them wear their favorite outfit, or the one that suits their own concept of their personality the best. In Lindsae’s case, she picked out some of her favorite coats and we went from there. The result is a set of photographs that are very emotionally in tune with her personality and my project.
Lindsae and I also collaborated on a shoot out at Oregon’s Wachella Falls (just east of the more famous Multnomah Falls) on Interstate 84 about 30 minutes outside Portland. This shoot was largely experimental for the both of us, but the hike was absolutely incredible and we came up with a lot of shoots we could do out there once the weather becomes a little kinder.
^ You see what I mean. Crazy nature. Crazy.
Getting started with this whole photography thing, to this point, had been pretty great. Sure, there were some bumps along the way, but all-in-all, very positive. One of the particularly uplifting things was finding a great way to get my photographs published without having to drop a ton of cash.
One of the true wonders in this world is the ability of the Internet to find exactly what one needs for nearly anything. My need at this point was to get my stuff printed in a sharable format for not much money. The Internet provided MagCloud.
Simply, MagCloud allows you to create a PDF, upload it, and they print it. And the best part? Every issue you produce, you get a free proof. All you pay is shipping (about $1.50). My first three issues were about 25 pages each. Try getting that many 8.5 X 11 prints for $1.50 anywhere else. And the quality is pretty good.
All I had to do was enter the margin settings in a new Pages document and drop in my photographs. I added some text to some and made a nice little cover page and presto. I had a great tool to show off my work in person. For any photographer looking to get started, definitely get a printed version of your work in your hands as soon as possible. If you need a hand getting started in Pages, let me know and I’d be happy to assist.
+Joe+
This shoot was the result of some karmatic goodness. At least, that’s how I’m choosing to think of it. Just after shooting Lindsey I was feeling pretty good about where my project (Dialogues) was going. I was even starting to flush out ideas for future projects. I was contacted by a model, Tyler, and we set up a time to meet.
Let me start the story of meeting Tyler by saying that she is a totally awesome chick. Our meeting was interesting though. After some schedule adjusting we found a time in the evening that worked for both of us and met at Peet’s. We sat down to chat about the shoot and figure out what we would be doing. And that’s when things got funny. Poor Tyler. She had ordered hot tea and took a big gulp as she checked out a magazine I had produced for my portfolio (more on that in the next article). Needless to say, the tea was hotter than she expected and her reaction was nothing shy of comedic. It was a full-fledged spray, covering the table, my magazines, and my face. Ten minutes after meeting her. Hot tea to the face. Ah.
TIP: When meeting with potential models (or any business partner for that matter), always be sure to test the temperature of your drink. Obviously it’s better for you to get spit on then them. Also, to protect yourself from a similar fate as mine, you may want to suggest cold drinks or wear a raincoat. Ah, hindsight. So 20-20.
Nonetheless, the rest of our meeting was actually really cool and we figured out a time to shoot the following weekend. Part way through the week, Tyler contacted me and let me know she was just too busy and wouldn’t be able to make it. She felt bad and actually recommended her friend, who had said she was available to fill in. And that’s how I met Jade.
We met under the Morrison Bridge in southeast Portland (again at Tyler’s suggestion—and it’s now one of my favorite places to shoot in Portland). She came super prepared and with the most bad ass mohawk I’ve seen in recent memory.
The whole shoot was incredible and Jade is an absolute rock star. She has a great natural look and feel for the camera. The shot above is a great example of that and is still one of my favorite shots I’ve taken. In fact, this shot pulled together my concept for shooting in a very definable way.
From this shot (and really the entire shoot), I found my range and style—capturing these very natural moments, finding connections with my models and bringing them to life in each frame. I found some great staples of my editing style while working on these photographs as well. This was also the point where I made a mental decision to pursue photography as a possible career route.
Check out the slideshow below for more from my shoot with Jade.
After the inauspicious start to my photography career, I was able to set up another shoot with Crysta for the following weekend. She was super apologetic and right on time for our next rendezvous.
This time around, while waiting, I didn’t have near the apprehension I had the previous week. I figured at this point, I just needed to get something done. Once Crysta showed up, we got to work. She wasn’t “experienced” as a model and since I was not used to being a director while photographing, we started off a little rough. She wasn’t sure what to do or how to pose and I wasn’t sure what to say.
So, I just started talking. I kept verbalizing the story around the project I was creating, talking about how emotion comes across on camera (much more on that later) and how to move within one’s space. After a little while, I could feel the connection between Crysta and my camera coming into it’s own and the photographs definitely reflected that.
About an hour or so later, I had maxed out my 1GB SD card and called a wrap on my first shoot. I pulled out my MacBook Pro and loaded the photos from the camera. Crysta and I talked about what was working from shot to shot and how things would look after I edited them.
And that brings us to Aperture.
At this point I had not developed a discernible style for editing my photographs, nor had I worked much with the editing capabilities of Aperture. For Crysta’s shoot, this would be entirely experimental.
TIP: Experiment. Try everything you think might look cool. Try everything you think might totally suck. You will undoubtedly come up with lots of solutions that don’t quite look right. But that’s exactly what you want. That’s how you learn. That’s how you find your own style.
TIP: Another important point to consider that relates to the tip above, is to not force a look or style on a photograph. I have found that each set of photographs has a look that will come into itself (through experimentation generally). By allowing the photograph to dictate the finished look, the result stays true to the frame, the timing, the emotion, and the story of the project. Of course, if you are creating a moody, dreary project, try not to shoot on a sunny day. You just won’t get the right mood.
So, I was looking to get a moody feel and I shot on a sunny day. Brilliant. But, I did find that I was able to get usable finished products by experimenting with all sorts of settings in Aperture. As I progress through different shoots, I’ll post some screenshots and tips for how to do what I do. For now, my process was to crush vibrancy and saturation, while maintaining only reds.
Not a bad result given my lack of foresight on shooting conditions. Needless to say at this point these were some of the coolest pictures I had in my portfolio. I was definitely excited, but I knew better things were to come.
Before we get to the actual shoot, some interesting things happened that were very important for me to learn and I am glad they happened at the beginning of all this. The first was with Genna.
Genna was the first to respond to my ad and I decided pretty quickly that she would be perfect. Her look was exactly what I had in mind for the project and her email to me relayed the fact that she was very excited about the project and the concept. Good, good, good. Well, after setting up a date, carving out time on a weekend day and getting myself mentally prepared to shoot someone “for real” I got an email from Genna asking if there would be pay involved.
Here’s the thing with pay. If I could, I would pay every model I ever shoot top dollar. Obviously I cannot. Not now at least. So, in the photographer/model business, we work for trade. I get to take pictures of them, they get the pictures I take and we both add great work to our portfolios. I have since talked to many models (and makeup artists) about the trade culture in the photography space. It’s tough to overcome—especially in Portland. There are a lot of great talents out there and not a lot of paid work. So…
TIP: Be up front and clear about the expectations of compensation when posting your ad. Remember you’re already providing potential talent with plenty of avenues to research your background, but you’ll want to be sure they understand what they can expect in terms of payment. To my own credit, I did put in the ad that I would provide all the photographs taken and a copy of the project (a magazine) when it was completed.
Perhaps Genna missed that, or just misunderstood. Either way, it was a bummer to have her bail a couple days before my first shoot.
So, that brings us to Crysta. We had set up our shoot for a Saturday morning in northwest Portland (an industrial area just outside of the trendy Pearl District). So, I was up early and to the site about twenty minutes ahead of time, coffee in hand.
As I sat there waiting, I wondered in my head all the typical things. “I hope she shows. I hope this goes well. I hope I charged my battery. I hope…” After checking the time on my iPhone every five minutes, and watching our meeting time slowly pass, I finally sent her a text message. The reply of “oops, sorry,” was not what I was hoping for.
So, weekend one, shoot attempt one, total bust.
If you haven’t read my first post, do that real quick right now. That will catch you up on some basic information that you may want to know before reading anything else. It’s kind of like the beginning of LOST—“Previously on fotografique…”
Alright, now that you’re caught up, let’s go back to the beginning. My decision to start getting into photography stems largely with a growing frustration I was having in my other artistic endeavors toward the end of this past summer. I have conversational knowledge and skills in Photoshop and Illustrator and was attempting to figure out a way to market myself as a conceptual Creative. My portfolio took many, many (many) forms, none of which struck me as viable. It was at this point that I began looking at my Nikon D40 and wondering why I had purchased it a year ago.
I started looking through the photographs I had taken with the thing and loaded into Aperture and noticed that some of them were actually pretty good. Photography for me at that point was more of a hobbyist/fun thing. But, being stuck in a creative rut, I decided that I could use some photography in my artwork which would be incredibly helpful in producing better images.
The concept I decided I wanted to shoot was “Dialogues with an Ex-Girlfriend”—a magazine-style production exploring internal conversations that people deal with when breaking up. For the shoot I wanted an emotion-filled array of images that I could overlay with these discussion points I had come up with. Armed with my new concept, I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for models.
Throughout my articles I will highlight things that I find important when you are considering being a photographer. You’ll know when I have one cause I’ll do something like this:
TIP: When posting an ad for models on Craigslist, it is essential that you give potential collaborators the ability to do some research about you and your work. Always post a link to a portfolio that models can check out. Remember, the great majority of models are young, beautiful women. The more information you give them about yourself before they even contact you, the better. (More reasons why in a later post.) There are too many questionable people buzzing around the Internet to leave things like this to chance. You should also do your best in explaining your project and exactly the type of model you are looking for. This will save you a lot of time on the back end when you have to sort through all the responses.
So, with my ad posted, I waited for some responses. My portfolio at that point was a collection of behind-the-scenes photographs I had taken for a couple film productions around Portland. I’ll be talking about shooting set stills in upcoming posts. I also had some random shots that I thought were cool. To be honest, I had no idea if I would get any responses, let alone any from models I could use.
Well, three days later I had about twenty responses—fifteen of which I felt like would be great for my project. My quick experiment had turned into a full-fledged project. Not expecting that kind of response, I had to do some quick project management overhauls to my process. I created a dedicated folder in my Mail account for Models and a dedicated contact list in Address Book. (For those of you following along, these are Apple programs—I will definitely be touting the importance of using Apple if you are wanting to become a photographer. Disclosure: I worked for Apple for two years. Much of the software I use on my computer, I received as part of my employee benefits. That being said, I have been out of Apple for over a year and still love their stuff.)
After filtering through the emails, sending out various replies, I settled on four models I wanted to shoot for my project. For more on those shoots (or lack of shoots) keep reading…
+Joe+
