Jenna Senior Session

The idea of taking portraits, particularly senior photos, has both intrigued and scared me for a while, ever since picking up a camera years ago. Taking the photos that people will look back on for years to come as a symbol of their youth, and a reminder of "the good 'ol days" can be a very scary proposition. The only thing more stressful for a photographer in my eyes would be a wedding photographer. That is a one-shot deal.

Over the past couple of years, I have been working on bits and pieces of the realm such as lighting thanks to David Hobby, posing (blogs, books, practice with the family), post processing, and location scouting. Flickr has been a great resource for learning some of these things, and getting ideas.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to dive into this realm and let everything come together. I had the great fortune to work with Jenna for this assignment. She was very relaxed, provided great feedback, and made many suggestions that ended up making for some great images! Working with someone I knew made me all the more comfortable, so I could concentrate on the photography and lighting.



We started out at Steinman Park in Downtown Lancaster around 7:15 AM. This is a great place any time of day as it's a an open air court yard. This puts the entire park in open shade, allowing for total control over your lighting. There is a 20 foot waterfall in the back of the park, as well as brick walls and iron bars making for great backgrounds. We spent about an hour there, working with the waterfall/fountain and the iron bars. One of my favorite shots came from this location, pictured at left. The way the light highlights her, and falls off quickly below her knees is great.

Our next stop was The Garden of the Five Senses at County Park south of the city. This place afforded us many shooting locations with a variety of backdrops from water, to flowers, to grass and a great wooden fence. This is another place that is in open shade during the morning hours (we got there around 8:30) and as the sun creeps higher, provides for some great back-light along the fence. My favorite shots of the day were made along the fence with the sun as a back-light/rim-light.

We wrapped up our shoot at the Lake at Millersville University. Jenna plays basketball, and we wanted to include some basketball shots in the shoot. The iconic lake where she plays made a great backdrop for these photos.

The entire shoot comprised of three outfits, three locations, and about four hours including travel. We made about 300 frames in that time, and I've since narrowed it down to about 25 to show to Jenna. Everything was shot with one SB-800 in a medium softbox at varying powers from full to 1/8 depending on the ambient light. The simple setup allowed me to work fast, yet get the light I wanted, where I wanted it.

I could not have asked for a better first experience. Jenna was a breeze to work with, the locations we picked were great, and the photos turned out better than I had hoped. I look forward to future shoots, and your comments and critiques on the images posted. The complete set can be seen on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoutstudios/sets/72157621932429837/

.

Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk

This past Saturday (July 18th, 2009), I participated in what has become an annual event, namely the Baltimore MD group for the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk. This was my first experience with this group, but not my first photo walk. I've been participating in these types of events for a little over a year now with a couple of local groups, and find that I get a lot out of them. It's an excuse to get out and shoot, a great way to meet new photographers, and a great learning experience. My favorite part of my involvement has been the collaboration afterward. Seeing the photographs from everyone else, taken in the same place, at roughly the same time, yet they all look so different. It's amazing what some people see, and more amazing what I miss. It's a great learning opportunity.

The day started at 9:00 AM in front of the Rusty Scupper Seafood Restaurant at Inner Harbor with introductions, information, and a group shot. We then proceeded up to the top of Federal Hill, overlooking the harbor with a stop at the memorial to the Pride of Baltimore ship that sunk in 1986. The mast here provided great perspective shots while lying on my back, shooting up the length of the mast into what was a beautiful sky with modeled puffy clouds. The weather really could not have been better, and the photos show that. The sky was great, the temperate great and the humidity was tolerable.

The top of Federal Hill provides a wonderful vista overlooking the Harbor and the city. There is a statue of Major-General Samuel Smith, commander of the Baltimore defenses during the battle of Baltimore and Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Flying close to the statue is a replica of the US Flag as it looked at this time with 15 stars. I saw this convenient positioning, threw on my 70-200mm lens, and shot the statue with the flag serving as the backdrop. The long 200mm focal length allowed me to get exactly what I wanted in the frame, and made the two items appear to be close in proximity. This turned out to be one of my top favorites from the day with everything coming together well for me.

From Federal Hill, we continued around the West side of the Harbor, where the photographic opportunities were abundant. There is an old wooden carousel that made for interesting photos, as well as a Yoga class put on by Charm City Yoga in one of the grassy areas by the Baltimore Science Center. This is the area in which I came upon the group of tourists taking a break from their activities overlooking the Harbor. The layering in this shot works very well with the people, the tree, the water, the boats, and an office building in the background thrown out of focus. Another one of my favorites from the day.

One last image I'll talk about from the day is this one of a few people out on paddle boats. In the background you can see the Constellation, Harbor Place shopping center and the Hyatt. Again, the modeled clouds in the sky add to this shot, providing for another layer of interest.

I had a wonderful time with this great group of people. I had the opportunity to get out and shoot on a wonderful day, talk to other photographers, and try some new equipment that has since made its way to my wish-list at B&H. I await next years photo walk with much anticipation. The rest of my images from the walk are available on my
Flickr page. Look at them and feel free to leave comments, either here or on Flickr.

My Photography Top 10

The recent episode (#90) of The Image Doctors podcast from Nikonians featured a segment where Rick and Jason listed out their top 10 likes about photography in the 21st century. I was listening to this segment on the way home from a shoot, and began to run my own list through my head. Some of them match what they had, and some are different. Below is my top 10 things that I like about photography, counted down from 10 to 1. Not everything is tangible, but they are all reasons I love what I do, and why I come back day after day to this.

10. All the people I've met through photography. By being an active member of a few local groups, I've met some great people, and made some great friendships along the way, all because of the common bond of photography.

9. Longing for the latest and greatest piece of equipment on the market. I'm lucky enough to have some great equipment, but there is always that want for bigger and better, especially when it comes to lenses. I long for a 400 f/2.8, and knowing that at some point, I'll be able to justify the cost, keeps me going.

8. Sharing my passion and knowledge with others. I take part in a few photography groups, have done presentations on products and techniques, and even led a few small workshops. I don't like public speaking, but when I'm sharing photography, I'm at ease.

7. Knowing that I've changed other peoples lives by introducing them to photography as more than a "snapshot grabbing activity". Seeing my close friends grow in their photographic skills, and knowing I had a roll in that transformation is the best reward.

6. Seeing my work large and in print! Every technically correct photo will look good on the camera's LCD and even on a computer monitor. It's seeing it printed at 16x20 or larger where you really realize what you have. The first time I saw one of my images printed on 16x20 canvas, I was stunned. It's hanging above my computer now, and still looks great!

5. The challenges encountered with photography. There are always technical challenges associated with having limited equipment, but being forced to make do with what I have is like solving a puzzle. There is a solution, I just have to find it. Getting a shot in these circumstances makes it that much more rewarding.

4. Learning new things. Every time I shoot, I learn something new. Whether it's a new technique, a new feature of my equipment, or just something I learn about my subject of the day, I'm always learning.

3. The serenity I feel when I'm out shooting in nature. I love being outdoors, and I love being alone, immersed in nature. Nothing affords me this time like a day spent shooting in Great Smoky Mountains National Park or in DC at the Cherry Blossom Festival.

2. Seeing my clients face when I show them their photos. Nothing says "Thank you" or "I love them" quite like the ear-to-ear grin when a client sees that first image, strategically placed to illicit such a reaction. This is why I prefer to hand deliver proofs and final images to my clients rather than put them on a website gallery.

1. When everything comes together, and I get the shot I had visualized. The lighting, the framing, the timing, everything about the image is exactly how I imagined it. It's these moments that bring me back time and again to what I love.

These are my top 10 things I love about photography. You may or may not agree with them, but the important thing is that you have your own. Photography is a passion, and an outlet for me. Enjoying it is important, and leads to better photographs. What are your reasons?

Having fun - the most important part of what we do

Tonight was a good night shooting a high school girls basketball game for a local weekly paper. I was going through the motions of getting the photos that tell the story of the game, having my normal level of enjoyment, when I realized there is more to this than just fulfilling the assignment.. The game was a blowout, and I could have easily left after the third quarter with enough for the paper to use, including some good shots, but decided to stick around until the end and have some fun. I'm glad I did, as I came away with a few photos that will likely end up in my portfolio. The arrangement I have set up with my editor is that I drop the card off with him after a shoot, so I won't get to look through the photos until later this week, but I'm certain I got a few that will be strong portfolio candidates. Once I get a hold of those photos, I will post a few from the game.

We as photographers lose sight of this all too often, as we carry out our assignments day in and day out, shooting only what we need for a story in the paper. Another of my editors (as I shoot for multiple papers) brought this to my attention a couple of days ago, and I decided to make the most of his advice. He said my photos were too rigid, too predictable, and it was apparent that I was not comfortable in the assignment. My normal assignments for the papers deal with sports, but this assignment was to cover the 93rd annual Pennsylvania Farm Show, a first for me. (My photos of the even can be seen here). I was nervous, especially when it comes to getting names and permission to take/publish photos of kids, and it showed. There is no need to get permission or names (other than a roster) when shooting sports, but I was in a whole new world, a world in which I was not comfortable.

While I believe I did an admirable job covering the Farm Show, substantiated by comments from my editor, I know there is always room for improvement in my craft, and I had that opportunity tonight. With "enough" already on the memory card, I knew that the only way to improve was to continue to shoot, to "practice" if you will. Granted the situations were different, as I was not able to work on my issues of asking for permission, but I could work on relaxing, and trying to see the event from a different angle. I took advantage of this opportunity, stayed until the end of the game, and had some fun with my photography.

Take this advice, and relax, have fun with what you do. We all got into this for a love of photography, and that can get lost in the day to day work required to document the situation. Let's return to that love of photography, the love of being creative, and having control over what we do, and create some amazing images.