Plan accordingly




Here are a few more shots from a studio session me and a friend did earlier in the month. In this particular case my vision was mainly on the same path as the past few studio shots I have put up. Again it was for the sake of refining some of the aspects from the previous attempts as I have a bigger concept this is all pushing towards. I'd rather take the time to keep things simple and straight forward in order to work out the fine details than to stage a more complex shoot and come across those shortfalls there.

These things end up becoming bigger productions and you, as a photographer, put yourself in a position where you have to plan and manage a lot of people and resources while still spending the time to create your vision. I wouldn't say it's hard, it's just a big time investment and not for everyone. Nothing ever goes according to plan and you have to be able to adjust and work around it. You have to plan for redundancy and alternatives as these types of projects are a big team effort and if even one of the facets of that team has to cancel last minute the whole thing can fall through and you end up wasting a lot of peoples time.

Things come up and plans change. Roll with the punches. It's going to happen so plan for it.

(Although I must admit the latter part of this blog entry does not relate to the people involved in this shoot, everything went well)

A night out under the stars






This past week we got a chance to view a lunar eclipse on the night of the winter solstice. I had before that day not seen a lunar eclipse to begin with and aside from getting out of the city to get a glimpse of the celestial event I had brought along my camera for the sake of doing some photography of the night sky.

It was not something I had done before, a learning experience through and through and although it involved a lot of cold feet and frozen hands it was well worth the effort dealing with our Canadian winters to not only get a beautiful view of the eclipse itself but a lunar sea to gaze upon.

I will definitely be looking to make a few trips farther up north, away from the light pollution and city lights in the hopes of getting some truly clear and scenic shots of our countryside in the night sky.

Practice, Practice, Practice





It's been a while since I had a bit of an update. Times have been busy as of late and it's definitely not a bad thing. I have been driving myself a lot lately, especially when it comes to lighting and studio work. There's many facets in that respect to a good photo, it's not of course just the lighting and composition but that's been the driving force as of late. On a positive note it's definitely helped to bring those other facets more into a conscious frame of mind as well as inspire some extra confidence and forward thinking when planning a photo shoot.

There's a lot to keep in mind, more so now do I realize that a lot of the steps you take towards putting together a bigger project do the small details really shine through. It becomes really important to have a strong vision and concept, an idea that you have considered on several different levels. Make up makes a huge factor, as does hair. It all has to work with the outfit, the model and the environment in which you shoot to create a strong composition. As mentioned earlier the lighting and other technicals are just as big a factor and when all is said and done you put in a huge amount of effort for a single shot or two.

It's one thing to have an endless amount of images in your portfolio, in the end though I want something that makes me stand out and shine. It's important to practice shooting and refine your fundamentals but it's also important to push yourself to a new level every chance you get.