Quick Reaction

Have you ever found yourself as a photographer being put on the spot? You know, you're doing something and suddenly that is interrupted and you find yourself taking a photo with entirely differnt settings and not a lot of time to get the shot perfect? I suppose these are the times when I wished I was good as the old timers, you know the guys who can spit in the air and know exactly what aperature, shutterspeed and where they need to be with ISO, from how that spit hits the ground. Well truth be known, I am a huge fan of metering my light. I like to be in the ballpark and go from there. But there are those times when I just don't have the time to grab my light meter, so I try to start from a generic f-stop of f4 to f8 depending on the amount of light available, and a shutter speed of 125 with ISO at about 320. Then I will bracket from there if I have time. A perfect example of this situation was during a night shoot for a client. A gentleman in a pretty clean car kept cruising by and slowing down everytime he reached the area we were shooting. His lucky moment came as the model was having makeup freshened up. He jumped out of the car and bee lined straight towards me asking if I could please shoot the model standing next to his car. He was sitting dead in the middle of the road with cars approaching from the distance. The model was okay with it, and the client was okay with it as long as it was quick. I'm just not sure if the approaching traffic was going to be okay with it. Quickly, I posed the model next to the car and had my keygrip #2 guy grab my SB-900 flash and an umbrella. Which one, he replied, referring to the umbrella; the shoot through or the reflective? Any of the two I replied. By now the approaching traffic was only about a block away, and held by only a redlight (which I am more than sure was going to change super fast simply because I needed it not to). I quickly made a few setting adjustments and took the shot just as the light turned green. I told the gentleman to pull over and give his email to my keygrip guy and I'll email him the photo. I didn't really view the photo too much after shooting it, as I set my camera back to the settings needed for the shoot I was doing. When I finally did edit the photo the next day, I noticed that the flash had created some blowout in the photo but not too much to be distracting. However, the finished photo is amazing even if I must say. And the gentleman loved it and asked me for a quote to shoot more photos of his fast car. The photo made me look very professional in his eyes, but in the back of my mind I was patting myself on the back for having "quick reaction capability".

Team building

How often have you found yourself "stuck" for lack of a better word, on creativity when trying to collaborate a theme for a shoot? In this blog about a young teenage girl who had expressed so much admiration of my work, she was about to learn just what it takes to get across the finish line. Personally, I sometimes wonder what the people I surround myself with really think of me? I know my best friend and fellow photographer; Belles Lumieres who is a technical guru, always compliment me on my ability to make business decisions. But what he doesn't realize is that it is the input I get from him, and his views, along with everyone else in the crew that formulates the business model I pitch to potential clients. It is all the things they like and dislike about me that I go through the door with; playing up this and being mindful not to show this particular trait.

Having receieved a note from a young teenaged girl expressing her aspiration to do at least one photoshoot with me. After reading her the riot act of parental/guardianship permission, she had her mom contact me, and soon they were driving across the mountain pass and through the snow to meet Bluestill Photography. Upon their arrival to Western Washington, I immediately took them to my studio and gave them a tour so that they could understand what it takes to make a good photograph. Each and every person involved were very genuine and very sincere with wanting to give young Te'a a photoshoot she will always rememeber. Just as a business have internal customers as well as external customers, I called on my clients whom I also refer to as my best friends for assistance, and as always ALTOM's (http://www.alittletouchofmagick.com/) owner; Julia Jones, never fail me. From the time I walk through her door she starts my thought process to spinning, by throwing idea after idea, after idea at me. And did I mention that she throws a lot of ideas at me? Because Te'a is only a teenager I wanted to be very cautious about how she looked, posed and came across in the photographs. ALTOM's line allowed me to find clothing and accessories that would make a statement, while allowing a teenager to express herself without being too overboard with it. On the day of the shoot, Te'a and her mom showed up a bit late; and I could tell my hairstylist was getting restless about it. But alas they arrived, and things got underway. I had orginally spoken with Te'a's mom about just doing headshots because I thought that would be "safe". But by the time Te'a left my studio I knew she wanted much more than just headshots by the excitement that showed in her bright eyes, and she was about to get it. After hair was done, she climbed in the seat of Morina, my MUA. Morina had exchanged a few notes with Te'a, so they were both excited to do some things together. The makeup was beyond words, and Kevin; my key-grip had lighting on point by the time Te'a got into her first wardrobe. It shoot began with headshots and Justin Bieber music ( I had to ask what music she was feeling right now didn't I?), but Te'a's mom had already been blown away from viewing the photos of the makeup being applied. I showed her one of the headshots and I could see how proud she were of her daughter. After headshots, my key-grip set up lighting for the next shoot, the full body shots. Te'a loved the shots and she maintained her innocent 16 years while making photos that would have her friends in Eastern Washington full of envy. Now the moment had arrived. Te'a was sent back to the hair dresser for her most dramatic look, and again to makeup. This was a look that she had expressed she wanted to create, and I put a little "Bluestill" on it, so it would belong only to Te'a. The wardrobe was out of this world and totally a signature of ALTOM. The headshot was a four light setup, the full body, was a 3 light setup, and the finale would be a single ring flash shoot. I took Te'a her mom, and key-grip down into the basement of the studio and had Te'a do a series of poses which the ring flash lit just perfectly giving the photo a very, dark, sort of high fashion appeal. Finally the shoot was over, and Te'a was overwhelmed with excitement because she had met Bluestill, but most importantly she had learned that Bluestill is only not a person but a team of artist that create beautiful photos.

" I would like to dedicate this blog and express my deepest condolences and sorrow to my business partner Belles Lumieres, who during the preparations for this shoot, and another shoot to follow right afterwards, was informed that his sister had just passed away. I know it was very hard on you my friend, and we as a crew want you to know that we did our best to make Te'a and you proud of what we come together to do. Your smiling face never left our minds."

Bluestill

After every trauma; there is a ray of sunshine that meets the eye

Last night, everything was pointing to "just stay in the bed tomorrow". I did a quick prep of the lights to make sure that the shoot tomorrow would go a bit smoother than the last shoot. Once I had my strobes set up just as I wanted them, I test fired and got a pretty nice picture. A few minor adjustments and I fired another one; Bullseye!!! One more just for shits and grins, and as I began to shut off the power to the strobes, one of the background strobes started screeching and then without warning the capacitor blew, sending white smoke bellowing into the air and a smell that told me immediately to get this thing unplugged from the wall. Dead at the scene. Nothing to explain why this happened?? Frustrated, I began my drive home, and I called my "keygrip" person to make sure I would have some help with the lighting, and he confirmed that he would not be available for the shoot. "No problem I thought", as I was expecting a male model who wouldn't mind giving me a hand. Got home, got showered, got to bed. Got up the next day, and something told me this isn't going to be like any other day, but I wasn't trying to hear it. I called the model to let her know that I had arrived to the meetup location. Got her voicemail. "Don't panic" is what my conscience told me. Sent her a text message. Waited a while, called again, still got voicemail. Then I got a text from her. She thought the meetup was at 9:00 A.M. I reminded her that makeup was at 9:00 a.m. She was out the door and on the road in no time. However being a new transplant from another state, she had not yet met Seattle morning traffic on a friday. Concerned about the makeup artist (MUA) arriving to a locked studio, I called her, and got her voicemail (this is not happening). I called the male model (the husband of the MUA) and got his voicemail (can I panic NOW?). Text message comes to my phone from the model: "traffic is moving verrrrrryyyyyy slooowwwwllyyyyy" I laughed so hard I cried to camoflauge the real tears of panic that was starting t0 swell up. I texted the model back and asked her current location. She was only a few miles away at this point, and I sighed. 15 minutes later she tells me she took an exit to try and find a back road. Right at that time the male model calls me, and I smile a little because this had to be good news. He informed me that he would not be there today with his wife, but she was on her way. This was bittersweet news because I can live without a male model/keygrip but I cannot survive without an MUA. If you don't believe that, then just ask the gods and they'll tell you not to try it without a MUA. But wait, my model was still lost in Seattle, and time was ticking. My hairstylist is a bit touchy when the clock strikes twelve and his client isn't in the chair at said time. "I NEED MY MODEL NOW". I wanted to drive off and see if I could find her but I thought that would be a very bad idea so I waited it out. My phone rang, and it was my MUA, she had arrived. I briefed her on the current status and she decided to go have a latte (that's fancy for coffee here in Seattle people). 15 minutes later I get a message that she is still waiting on her latte to be served from a place I had recommended. Suddenly, my model have me in her eye sight and is racing across the parking lot. We arrived to the studio in a reasonable amount of time. The hair stylist was still working on the hair of another one of his clients, so nothing was ruffled in his corner. The MUA had her latte and was smiling, and I had the model safe and secure. Within minutes my very best friend and business partner came walking through the door after deciding to take the day off and attend the shoot rather than work his normal job. Things went from bad to better, instead of bad to worst. At the end of the shoot the model was exhausted and starving. Funny thing is that I took her to the same place the MUA had complained about bad service with lattes, and the model had a HUGE cheese burger, fries and FRY SAUCE (People please, this is Seattle. Fry sauce is not ketchup; it's fry sauce and it's pinkish in color and taste better). So at the end of the day, our team had pulled it together, and pulled it off beautifully!!!! The photos speak for themselves, and these will be hard to disagree with. No misfires, no real fires, no one missing in action. One thing for sure "this day wasn't like any other day. It was so much better".

BLACK OUT

Expanding on my blog about blowouts, there will be times when you might wish you had more light. During the same shoot, I had a pocketwizard glitch, resulting in my strobe not firing at all. It resulted in an underexposed photo that was too dark. DO NOT DELETE! You won't be able to save everything, but sometimes what you find in the dark, can be enlightening. I have posted the underexposed photo which I again, in LightRoom 3, increased the exposure, which will result in quite of digital noise ( a compilation of dark spots that resemble droplets or spots all over the photo). This situation is also corrected in LightRoom 3, by reducing the noise, increasing the luminance and tweeking the detail until you have it pleases you. Remember that photography is subjective so as long as you are pleased with your results, there is no right or wrong as to how much or too little you need to do. The main thing is that a photo that you may have deleted could have resulted in beautiful useable photographs used in various ways as I did with this one. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and keep on clicking. Now that is Bluestilling 101.

Creative Advertising

Boy oh boy, this is Valentine night. A night when most people are spending it with someone they love. I'm wierd, I am spending it doing things that I love, so I am posting two blogs instead of my normal one entry. Today I read a blog that was sent to me about being "creative, caring and time to vision to beat a budget". This is my interpretation of that blog. Tonight I recreated my wheel on how I want to advertise. My studio have huge windows on both sides of the building. One of those sides face the freeways running through and pass Downtown Tacoma. I was thinking about the best way I could display my work that will get it a lot of attention and keeping it cost effective. Then it hit me. I decided that I will hook up a laptop to a projector and project my images in a slideshow off those huge windows facing the freeways. After setting it all up and turning on the projector, the view was amazing and breathtaking from the interior side. So I grabbed my umbrella and went out to the backside of the studio to see how it would look if I were driving up that highway "HELLO SWEETHEART', it is totally amazing, secure and cost effective advertising. I wanted to include one of the photos from the backside also but due to the really heavy rainfall, I decided I just didn't want to haul the equipment out into the rain since I have done that already once this weekend. I'm Bluestill, and this is my expression of love on this Valentine night :) Happy V Day everybody driving up or down the I-705 freeway in Tacoma. I still have to tweek a few things and I'll improve it as I go with powerpoint advertisements and short videos and such, but for now. I am loving my budget :)

I had a Blow Out

A blowout on the highway while driving could be a bad thing. However, a blowout anywhere else involving a camera, a light source and a subject, can be quite interesting. I recall listenting to Chase Jarvis during an interview, and he stated that he never deletes anything. The first thing that came to mind was blowouts and underexposed photos. During a photoshoot this weekend, my first click resulted in a very bright picture due to my forgetting to adjust my ISO setting and shutter speed, after shooting some night photography. I opened the photo in Lightroom and brought the exposure down quite a bit. What I saw before my eyes really did not cause me any discomfort. The low shutter speed had aided by giving the photo a bit of motion blur. The over exposure had exaggerated the off white frilly sweater to look like anything but a sweater and blended it with the blown out background which consumed most of the photo except for the darkest of shadow areas. What more, is that the photo now even appears to be taken overlooking a cliffside rather than the rocky edge of the Puget Sound, where it was taken. I would be willing to bet that if I had to use the photo to sell something, the skirt would have definitely made the fashion statement in this shot. I think back to that comment from Mr. Jarvis and only wonder had I not heard it, would I have immediately hit the delete button on my camera right there on the scene and never found out why accidental blowouts are sometimes a good thing.

Another kind of design

A well known photographer whom I greatly admire advised an up and coming fashion photographer that he should not shoot everything and stick to his trade "fashion". What I mean by everything, is portraiture, club events, glamorous, landscapes, and all the other types of things we label under photography. Suddenly, I found myself at a cross road because I admire this well known photographer quite a bit. However, becoming a photographer for me meant being an ace with my camera no matter the situation. I am passionate about shooting fashion, but I eat, sleep, drink, think photography around the clock. The large variety of what, how, where and when I can put it to use is just too much to abandon, to buckle down to one style. Yet I was hearing it from someone who I really admire. My conclusion; be yourself, and do it how it pleases you first.

With that being said, a couple of days ago I got a phone call from designer Erica Plank; owner/designer of Unseen Hands (http://www.unseenhands.net/), a custom quilt making company. Our story is interesting because this was a second time around for us. I had gone out to take a photo of her work to be used on her website in her early days of going into business. It was also my early days as well and I don't think I made a lasting impression because I was probably at the time still finding my way through the fog. But I mention this because it had such a huge impact on how bad I wanted to be a professional photographer, and in reality I was still in my crawling stages. Everything I had learned in business school was on the line here and I walked away feeling like I had failed. On the inside, this angered me and made me hungry. On the outside it made me become one of the most determined shooters walking around the Seattle area. As I read about photography I kept my camera close at hand and practiced what the source was preaching. But I went further than that, because I tweeked everything in the settings, looking for better results. In my unortahdox approach I was reinventing my own wheel; and it showed. I soon had an impressive enough portfolio and it eventually brought me a bit of noteriety. Back onto to the subject, I get this phone call and Erica; immediately stating that she needed my help badly. I was flattered because I knew that my first impression wasn't a good one, so I knew she had to have seen some of my recent work thanks to a really good friend of mine who constantly talk about my work to everyone and he and Erica know each other well. I could hardly sleep from anticipating this shoot because I knew the second time around will be so much better than the first time. I climbed out of bed and drove to the studio at about 4:00 A.M. that morning. When I got to the studio, I handled my planning and staging for her product shoot, and Erica showed up at the appointed time of 9:00 A.M. This time the results ended with an agreement to shoot all her products. Now that is Bluestilling 101. Be sure to check out her website http://www.unseenhands.net/ and let her know that you found out about her products through Bluestill Photography.