Photo shoot

Tara at Home

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Tara has a familiar face if you follow any of my photography work. Ever since we first met about a year ago for a costume contest she participated in, we’ve continually worked together. Whenever I have a new piece of gear I want to test out or if I just get the itch to shoot, Tara has always been willing to pick up the phone. This time around we got to do a style of photoshoot that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time- to photograph a model in their own home.

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Ever since I got a new set of studio lights I’ve been trying to get an excuse to use them. They come in handy whenever I have to do any kind of video work but not having a studio space makes it difficult to justify using them for shoots. Since Tara agreed to do a shoot at her place I wanted to take advantage of the resource.

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Another side benefit of shooting at a models own home was the ability to do wardrobe changes on the fly. In retrospect there was a lot more that we could have done in terms of wardrobe but time played a factor on top of trying to keep everything with in Tara’s comfort zone.

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We didn’t spend all of our time indoors. I don’t know who’s idea it was but at one point we all went about a quarter mile out to the Sandia Mountains to do some more out door photos as well… Because why not.

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You can really see what a difference controllable indoor studio lights make. When you’re out doors you don’t get nearly as much control and you have to work around what the daylight gives you both in how you’re shooting and in post processing.

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Now for a quick disclaimer for models (especially starting out.)  You shouldn’t just invite random photographers you barely know over to your place to do photoshoots. Tara and I have worked together many times before this and have developed a rapport together and has established a certain level of trust. On top of that both our significant others were present during this shoot not only to help out but to mingle with each other and have a good time. Photoshoots are always a fun thing to engage in but you should always be careful because unfortunately there are shady, and sometimes even dangerous people out there  posing as photographers.

Behind the Scenes of The Understudy

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A few months ago when I was in the middle of a portrait shoot I got a call from my lady friend saying that the short film she was doing makeup work for wanted a photographer to do production stills and of course I said I was game.

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Being put in a behind the scenes had me right in my element while at the same time brought it’s own set of challenges. The biggest of these challenges was that I had to avoid getting in the way. That seems like that would be fairly standard for shooting stills on set but when you what was so unique about The Understudy was that it was shot all on steadycam in one take following a central charter through the intricate inner workings of theater (and everything that can go wrong on opening night.) This meant I had to work quickly on the fly and well out of the way.

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After the first couple of runs I got a clear sense of where I could and couldn’t be for all of my shots, what were the best vantage points and where the most visually interesting element were going to take place. What turned out to be most special aspect of the set was just how much was going on that the video camera wasn’t capturing. Makeup, costuming, line rehersals, vocal warm up, set dressing and the built tension that you feel before curtain opens were all happening as the single camera was rolling for a straight 8 minutes.

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Great photos always come out of great challenges and shooting behind the scenes of the Understudy provided just that.

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Photo Shoot at the Bosque

To kick off this holiday weekend I ended up doing a photo shoot. This time it was with a friend of mine who goes buy the name of Kenya who I’ve done work with in the past, specifically on the cosplay side but this time we ended up doing a more casual kind of shoot at the bosque down in Albuquerque.

Kenya Chan on a log in the Albuquerque Bosque

Kenya Chan on a log in the Albuquerque Bosque

I’ve used the Bosque before on several occasions in the past specifically for the nature element of it which is a nice change of scenery from the often gritty city environments you find around albuquerque. Don’t get me wrong I like gritty but you got to change it up every once in a while. In fact there was an overpass bridge that went over the Rio Grande which gave a good urban piece with some juxtaposition next to nature. To add to that there was a bridge under that bridge which I really got a kick out of.

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One thing that I love about shooting outside of a studio environment is  the opportunity to capture something organic. I’ve done some studio photography in the past and though I did enjoy it, I felt limited in what I could capture in such a small place. Granted studios have their advantages such as being a controlled environment where you know what you can expect and they afford you the ability to get away from prying eyes for the more risque photo shoots. But being that I come from a more journalistic side of photography when I do the more commercial work I like to be able to move around and use scenery to my advantage.

Kenya by the Rio Grand

Kenya by the Rio Grand

Now shooting at a location as opposed to a studio does have it’s share of difficulties. Specifically with lighting. Sometimes there’s not enough, Sometimes it’s too harsh and sometimes something is casting some kind of shadow making the light uneven. There are several things can do about this, 1) is be aware of the light you have and where it’s coming from and 2) is editing the RAW Files in Lightroom. You shouldn’t rely on editing to fix your exposures but there is no harm in tweeking your files in post to get then to look the way you want. There are times where an image can look lost but some simple edits can bring it back. There are other things you can do with reflectors and supplemental lighting but that wasn’t readily available to me for this shoot (Once again a benefit to studio and haveing an assistant.).

Kenya and light through the trees.

Kenya and light through the trees.

Overall this was a really fun shoot and I’m looking forward to hopefully having some more over the holiday break since i will have more time on my hands than I will know what to do with.

If you want to see more of Kenya (Specifically in cosplay) You can like her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KenyaChanCosplay

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