Notes from the Studio
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11202009
The sketch that started it
Every year Macworld Magazine has an Editors’ Choice Awards issue. This year the concept for the article’s photo is paparazzi and the red carpet. Below is the sketch that I made while I was on the phone with the art director—I realize the sketch doesn’t convey my art school education. Today I photographed various parts that will be compiled for the photo. Here are some photos from the process:
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11172009
Weekly photos
As much as I’d love to share the behind-the-scenes details of every project, sometimes the clients don’t want to be written about. I’ve started a new series of images taken while working, but not showing sensitive content. Most days I’m in the studio shooting, and I have the curtains drawn for 10 hours. That really limits the subject matter of the images! It’s kind of a fun challenge. I’ll post my favorites at the end of each week.
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11152009
Apple email
I had a nice surprise in my inbox Friday when i received an email from Apple full of familiar faces. I was hired to photograph my family’s vacation in Tahoe so that Apple could use the images on various materials and in demos, etc. Apple must have sent this to lots of people based on how many friends and family have written to me saying they’ve spotted us as well.
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11052009
Halloween
Photographing my kids for Halloween is fun, but isn’t without challenges. One of the biggest issues is that it is so dark that the camera can’t focus. Another challenge is that the kids move so fast—running from door to door—that it’s hard to get them in focus! In the past I’ve used manual focus with a higher aperture which worked okay. I’ve also used the flash pulse to light up the scene so the camera can focus. This also worked okay, but overall I wasn’t that happy with it.
This year I used my Surefire flashlight to light up a scene so the camera could focus and it worked great. What I like about the Surefire flashlight is that the light only stays on while the button on the back is pressed. When I let go of the button the light turns off instantly. This makes it easy and fast to turn the light on just long enough for the camera to focus. It is no surprise that this precision flashlight is what police officers carry.
It was convenient to be able to hold the light just under the lens and point it where I needed focus rather then have it mounted on the camera. Without the flashlight the photo above would have been completely out of focus. And for the record, I chose the photo above as an example simply because no faces are visible. I have more interesting shots, but not with usage permission of all the trick or treaters.
