New Mexico

The Versatility of Delina

In the words of a great american poet “today was a good day.” At least that’s how yesterday felt. Afternoon class was canceled, I huge load of pressure was taken off of me and I got an impromptu opportunity to shoot with Delina Ellise. It’s hard not to be pleased with how yesterday turned out. Recently Delina had a recent change to her hair style that has resulted in her being able to change her look at a moments notice. It also gave me a chance to play with things in my studio space such as the giant window that acts as a big soft light source which is amazing things for portraits.It’s also just really fun to have a shoot where you and the model are just messing around and hoping that it works out as opposed to trying really hard to make the images come out a certain way. Shoots always turn out best when they are fun and don’t feel like work.

Jasmine on the Streets

Shoots can so many different directions and if you have decent sense of adventure you can find something. Me and my cousin Jasmine Jackson went around Down Town Albuquerque to see what we can find visually..

New Mexico Snow Leads to Photo Op With Emilie

New Mexico got hit with one of the more ridiculous snow storms in recent history and me and my girlfriend Emilie took that opportunity to show off some of her new winter clothes that she got over the holidays. We went to a small trail near our home and just did quick shoot and the images came out so beautiful. It goes to show that you don’t have to make shoots super complicated. A model a location and a camera are the ingredients and with some creativity you can create some gorgeous images.

Desert Darlings Belly Dance Take On Nightmare Before Christmas: Performance Shooting.

Shooting performances is one of the biggest challenges any photographer has to face. Low light, moving subjects, limited mobility to adjust your shooting angles. Everything is against you and it is probably the best opportunity to test your skills as a photographer. The stage is set for the viewing experience, not to be convenient for photography. Lights are dim and jelled heavily and you’re shooting from where ever you can be out ever you can be out of the performers and audiences way (if you’re a polite photographer.) Over coming these challenges takes know how, creativity and a little luck. All these things come together to put together wonderful images.

All of this was on display for the Desert Darlings Belly Dance performance of Nightmare Before Christmas. While the Performance was amazing the conditions for shooting were less than desirable. I would have to move between scenes, Bump my ISO, stay close to wide open on my aperture and just hope I can pull what I wanted out of the Raws. Over all I’m happy with the images that I got. and even more pleased with being able to capture a wonderful performance

Roundhouse Kick: Day at the New Mexico Legislative Session.

New Mexico is at the tail of end of the 60 day legislative session and for the most part it has just passed me by. I’ve wanted to go all semester for the show I work for (New Mexico in Focus) but regrettably I have class all week so it was impossible for me to get up to the Round House. However because it was spring break I requested to tag along as a production assistant, but I ended up doubling as a Behind the Scenes photographer because that’s what I like to do.

We went down the day after the controversial “Right-to-Work” bill was tabled in commodity before going to the Senate floor, so we went in to discuss the death of the bill considering that huge amount of attention that it had accumulated. Surprisingly we found many of the people we needed for these interviews, such as a sponsor of the bill and someone who as been avidly against the legislation, within a few minutes of getting there.

The thing I enjoyed most about going to Santa Fe was getting to watch my producer Sarah Guestavus, professor/Corespondent Gwyneth Doland, and graphics master/cameraman Antony Lostetter work in such a fast paced and stressful environment, something that they handled collaboratively and masterfully to the point where it could only be described as awe inspiring.

Like anything else in a production field there is a lot of time spent sitting around with nothing to do, and this trip was no different. At a lot of points it felt we were just waiting but it was an excellent opportunity to get to know some of the people I work with. I get to spend a lot of time with the other student employees who are some of the most talented people I have ever been around, but the upper level employees have so much more expertise and it was a treat to get to pick their brains.

Shooting at the Round House was an interesting experience. Dealing with people moving around and recording in rooms with heavy amounts of echo left a lot to deal with. However we managed very well in the conditions and some of these problematic conditions let the recordings feel more organic.

To cap off the day we got an interview with the New Mexico’s Secretary of Education, Hanna Skandera to discus the controversial PARCC testing that many students have protested taking.

I’m glad I finally got to go out to Santa Fe this semester and hopefully next time I’m out there I’ll be actually reporting on the legislative session and am not just going along for the ride.

Group Shoot in Down Town Albuquerque

This weekend I got together a couple of friends who aren’t that camera shy and made a big shindig in the downtown albuquerque area. This was one of the first planed theme shoots and it was the first time that I had any kind of vision going into a shoot…

and as a result I just ended up being one of those shoots where I just wung it as usual. I guess it’s just and old habit that I have but no matter how much pre plan and production in mind I always operate best when I’m just going with the flow and overcoming the challenges.

The big challenge was trying to handle all the different peopled what were present in the shoot and dealing with all their personalities meeting all at the same time. It’s not so much that they were difficult to deal with it’s just that “Too many cooks” problems you deal with when you try to get stuff done.

It was rather fun getting a bunch of people together for just an hour or so to just get together but the over all drawback of having to play a game of Model Carousel and getting everyone in enough.

When all is said and done we headed to bar, had a drink and just fucked around like normal human beings.

Taking Photos with Minimal Equipment.

As you dive deeply into the craft of photography and accumulate thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment, you start to over analyse your needs when you go out shooting. Often times you might end up packing your entire lens collection when you really only end up using one or two; you may pack a tripod even though you’re not sure if you’ll need it for any long exposures. This typically leads up with you carrying loads of equipment strapped to your back weighing you down when you really could have just gone with the bare essentials.

This Memorial Day, I went on a hike with my girlfriend up in the Sandia Mountains of Albuquerque, New Mexico and I decided to only take my D600 with the 28mm 1.8g lens attached along with a strap and a 32 gig card with me. What I wanted to accomplish with this was to work with what I was given on the trail and not get caught up in what lens I should have on the camera. It also made things much easier traveling light, considering how treacherous the terrain would turn the further up the trail we got.

Now it should be known that I’m not a landscape guy when it comes to photography. I often times prefer working with people as subjects, whether that be a model or a pedestrian that I happen to get a candid of, so I don’t always know what to look for in a nature situation. I knew I wanted to capture intricate details, so I knew I wasn’t going to be working with shallow depths of field. I kept my aperture set at f8 and change my shutter speed and ISO accordingly for what the situation was. It was a bright sunny day and around noon so I was able to keep my ISO below 400 and my shutter never dropped bellow 1/125 of second.

The biggest difference I noticed between shooting portraits and shooting nature is that background had become the foreground and how I composed images had changed from finding what angles work to to finding how all the elements in the frame worked together.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience only working with the basic materials of a body, lens and a memory card and the results were pleasing enough, even though I don’t have much experience in landscape photography. I encourage anyone that the next time you go on a leisurely shoot to leave the big bag of equipment at home and just go with a body and lens and see what you can do with just that, and not to worry so much about being prepared for every situation.

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