portraiture

Shooting with New Models: Ashley Perry.

More often than not people always tell you that it’s all about networking when it comes to getting jobs and people finding your work and that’s exactly what happened this weekend when I helped Ashley Perry start her modeling portfolio.

Ashley was referred to me by someone I did a shoot with a month prior and since she just got into a modeling agency, she needed to get some portfolio images put together. All the photographers her agency refereed her to were very expensive so I cut her a deal.

Working with a new model is always an interesting experience and you never quite know what to expect. Sometimes they can be a bit timid or shy especially around the camera. However, Ashley didn’t have any of these problems; she was very comfortable around the camera, was able to give me different looks and took direction extremely well.

One of the biggest factors in any shoot is the weather during the shoot. The photography gods very gracious in giving light overcast, no wind and moderately warm temperatures giving me everything I needed to just do my thing and shoot. There was one point where the sun was piercing through that clouds but it was at golden hour making for some excellent light.

For this shoot I relied heavily on my 85mm 1.8g lens for most of the shots. I played around with using the 28mm and the 50mm but everything always comes back to my work horse lens. I shot exclusively at f2.8 making sure I got enough sharpness and detail out of Ashley while still getting nice Bokeh (blur) in the background.

As far as post processing goes I kept things very simple. I tried to bring in as much contrast and color as I could while still keeping things natural. I ran in to some issues with Ashley’s tan skin but I normally get around that by bringing in some vibrancy but pulling down the saturation. Other than that I did some spot correcting, but nothing super drastic. When I edit my portraits I try to keep things subtle while at the same time making things pop.

Over all it was an extremely fun shoot and I’m looking forward to working with Ashley in the future.

Snow in the 505

Snow might not be that uncommon in late February in certain parts of the northern hemisphere but in Albuquerque if it does snow it’s usually no more than a half inch sheet and will be gone by the afternoon. So when we get 8 inches over two days a portrait photographer like myself needs to take advantage.

Now getting a model to do a shoot at the last minute can be a hassle but lucky for me, my lovely girlfriend Emilie was more than willing to be my subject out in the bosque.

Normally in complex weather conditions you get an excellent side effect with overcast acting as a giant softbox in the sky. The problem was is that the sky was only partly cloudy so we didn’t get the soft light I wanted 100% of the time, making shooting a bit challenging. Lucky for me though, I was able to keep my ISO at 100 making for optimal image quality.

One thing you might be noticing from the images is that there is a lot of light being reflected upward. This was an added effect of the white snow on the ground reflecting the light back up at Emilie.

The snow allowed for some unique aesthetics that we don’t get a lot of where I’m from and I’m grateful for the opportunity. But to be completely honest I can live without the snow. It makes it hard to move around and the cold makes it limiting in terms of wardrobe. If it could just be in the upper 60s with constant overcast I’d be in my own photography heaven but we can’t always get what we want. But you know what we all have work with what we’re given and when you’re given something different you owe it to yourself to try it out.

TLE Records Promotional Shoot.

An upstart record label and recording group out here in Albuquerque, New Mexico recently approached me about getting professional photo shoots done to be part of a promotional package that they are putting together to shop around for interested parties. The photos were meant to be done in a stylized GQ fashion.

First Shoot of 2015 Tara Noir.

The first shoot of this year I wanted to do something that was super stylized and different from what I’m used to doing. I came up with the concept of a classic black and white portrait session in a sort of neo-noir setting.

Most of the shots that were done inside of my apartment using a 1k light with a soft box balanced for daylight as a key and a 60 watt lamp with a indoor balanced bulb as a back light creating some contrast. Now some of my images came out a little on the under exposed side, but by shooting in raw and making sure I was at least close enough to retain detail, it wasn’t hard to save files in Lightroom where I tone all my images.

A ballsy move on my part was trying to shoot at f:2 on my 85mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8 in an attempt to get the depth of field as shallow as I could so I could blow out the backgrounds in order to keep some of the things in the background from seeming out of place. The reason this is so ballsy is because you run the risk of not getting your photos in focus properly making images look soft. However I feel like I managed that problem well.

What I wanted to accomplish with this shoot was to actually have a solid concept and style for me to shoot for as opposed to doing what I normally do which is to just show up to a location with whatever the model is already wearing and just messing around until I find something that works. I believe that goal was reached and I hope to take this experience and try and apply that into future shoots by already having a concept in mind. One thing that I can improve on though is keeping a better attention to detail and making sure everything in the scene fits as so that way I don’t have to shoot at f2 to make the image look right.

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.

Photo-shoots Should be Fun.

Since I started shooting portraits I’ve started to notice how slight details effect the image. Backgrounds, location, time of day, present light, wardrobe, hair makeup, Space, Ect. But there’s one detail that really makes or breaks the success of a photo-shoot, and that would be how easy the model is to work with. This isn’t necessary to say that some models are awful drama inducing divas who are impossible to deal with but it’s a manner of personalities working well together. I’ve been with some models who have been very stone like doesn’t interact well and sometimes require some extra effort to get the photos out of them. There are others who are just the opposite and approach photo-shoots as play time and just like to be free and crazy which to a photographer who is looking for moments, like myself, is perfect.

This last week I did two photo-shoots with two people who really find themselves on the side of just having fun of shoots. Tara and Francesca are two people who I have worked with before in the past and they have been two of my favorite people to work with. Neither of them take themselves too seriously, they’re both incredibly humble and over all just fun people to be around. And as an added bonus they’re good looking.

The first shoot last week was with Tara who is not a model by trade but certainly has the talent and look of one. She’s tiny, adorable and her biggest strength she has no fear. We did our shoot in downtown Albuquerque and her adventurous spirit was beautifully on display throughout. Our goal was to just move around find interesting locations and goof around with the camera. This lead us on an adventure all around downtown, into a park and hijacking the Hyatt’s lobby.

Her willingness to move around, try something new, and even take risk during shoots makes her such a pleasure to work with. She has a lot of good stories she’s easy to talk which makes making a connection with your subject all the more easy. It makes shooting a much all more enjoyable of an experience.

Now onto the veteran, Francesca. She’s been doing modeling much longer than I’ve been shooting and has been a great asset to my photography. She’s always eager to go on a shoot she knows how to pose herself and give different looks and she takes direction very well.

Francesca is very fun loving, and playful and as result tries to pear pressure others into doing shoots with her (Which is fine by me.) She’s also not afraid to try something new and will take direction like a champ. We did our shoot down by Tingley Beach in Albuquerque and we wanted to get that “it’s now summer” feel. Out doors, Near the Rio Grand river, Trees all around and plenty of opportunities for something different.

What Francesca does so well is being confident. She know she looks good, she knows what she’s doing and when the camera is on her she is always active in front of it. Sometimes you need to bottle her up to get the shots of her but once you get on the same page as her the magic happens.

Both of these women are incredible people both in front of and away from the camera and I enjoy having them around. The truly represent what I enjoy about portrait photography. Their patient, daring, receptive, and most of all gorgeous. They’re amazing to work with and I can’t wait to get them in front of the camera again.

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