Roadside Stops

Last week my good friend Mike and I went down to Clear Lake to help teach at a journalism workshop for high school students who are on the yearbook staff. This was their first year having a photography class and the kids seemed to love it. The first day was spent going through the basics of operating a camera and composing a photograph, but on the second and third day we got to get a bit more advanced and showed them some basic lighting techniques.
Here is a photo that Mike did of me teaching them the basics of lighting:


Clear Lake was beautiful and Mike and I took the opportunity to walk around and talk to some locals and, of course, to photograph them.

Here is one of my favorite photos from a town called "Kemah".



You wouldn't be able to tell from looking at him, but he is a nurse! He has the softest hands of any Harley rider I've ever met. haha

All in all it was a very fun trip and it yielded some great portraits.
More to come I'm sure!

60 Second Head Shot

I was shooting downtown today when my client asked if I could do a quick head shot of her.
Naturally, I agreed.

My favorite place to do head shots is outdoors in the shade. My favorite backdrop is trees, bushes, or anything nature looking. The green just really complements people's skin. The shade allows me to use my own light, which gives me much more control over how the subject is lit.

The building I was shooting in has a nice park next door and my first thought was to get her over to the park. But once I stepped out on the porch I realized I didn't have to take her more than 5 feet from her front door.

I quickly set up a light stand, used an SB-28 speedlight, and a shoot through umbrella.
I posed her with her back to the park and fired 2 quick light tests.
Fired of 10 more frames once the light was right, and we were done.
From the time the first light test was shot to the time the last frame was shot was exactly 59 seconds!
What took the longest was setting up the light stand and flash, and I decided to change lenses after seeing what it looked like. (I started with a 5omm F/1.4, but opted to go with my 70-200mm F/2.8 instead.

And here is the result of my one minute of shooting:

The Chemistry of a Photoshoot (Part 3)

I wanted to discuss the aspect of controlling a photoshoot.
Some of this overlaps with the previous 2 posts.
In order to really be in control you must have prepared everything properly in advance. This will not only give you a good understanding of what's going but will show your client that you know what you're doing. If the client has to do a bunch of last minute running around &
detail finalization for you it will have them questioning your organizational skills in no time.

Also, you must be able to control the energy of your shoot. Obviously there are some things that will always be out of your control, but if you can't keep your subjects interested you will quickly lose control of your shoot.

Having briefly touched on those points, let's move on to some things to keep in mind while you're at a shoot.

Authority.
It is important to establish yourself as the person in charge of the shoot as soon as possible. The only time you wouldn't do this is if you are working with a creative director or another type of director who is organizing everything. However, most of the time, you, as the photographer, will be the one calling the shots.

If you don't establish your leadership over the shoot you will quickly lose control of what is going on. One of the first shoots I ever set up was with a local car club. My initial thought was to get in touch with 3 or so of the vehicle owners & have them let me photograph their cars. I was mostly going for location shots and detail shots.

I got in touch with the person listed on the club's website and he emailed me back sounding enthusiastic about the idea. But then somehow he took my idea and turned it into a huge meeting with 30+ vehicles attending!! I stood by & didn't say anything to discourage him.
The appointed day came and I walked into the shoot so discouraged that I didn't even bother to make a game plan for the people that showed up. I ended up taking group photos and some individual shots of owners & their cars. Pretty much people were telling me what they wanted photos of & I was taking them. Nothing even close to what I had originally envisioned. I shot until my memory card was full & ended the shoot.

I was originally mad at the guy who organized the event, but after considering everything I had to shift the blame back to myself. If I had truly been in control I would have insisted that only 3 or 4 cars come or I wouldn't do the shoot. That was one of several hard lessons learned that day!

I have come a long way since then! The last shoot I was on I sent a whole family to their rooms to change their clothes because the outfits were not working at all in the photos! It ate about 10 minutes of the shoot time but the photos we got after the wardrobe change were infinitely better than the ones before. The family was happy with the end product and that is really what counts.

That leads me into the next thing you, as the photographer, should be getting better at: Direction.

Once you have established the fact that you are the one in charge of the shoot, you have to be able to give direction & communicate your ideas clearly. You can do this by having a go-by image to show the subjects, or by verbally/physically placing them. A go-by image is helpful to have because the subjects can see exactly what they are expected to do. Keep the image handy and visible to your subjects. Whenever possible, have an assistant ready to move the subjects or refresh their memories of the go-by image. If you must physically move your subjects it means leaving your post and having to come back & reset yourself every time an adjustment is required.

You must be able to tell people what to do without being timid about it, or abrasive. If you walk into a room to shoot someone and there is furniture everywhere you must be able to tell whoever is working with you that the shot would look better without it.

If your client is choosing a location for you, you must be able to go to the location and make an assessment as to whether it will work for the shot. If it wont work for the shot then, in the name of making a winning photo, exercise your authority and explain to them why it will not work and offer other suggestions. If the location they picked works then that's great. Marketing/PR people often don't have the same eye for photography as you do though, so its important that if you are given lemons you quickly right the situation and go find some grapes. Don't force yourself to make lemonade unless you absolutely have no other option.

Starting a shoot in a bad location can throw a hitch in your creativity because, in your mind, you will have given up on making a good image as soon as you determined that the location was bad. Your energy will suffer and from there it is all down hill. If you look around and can't find anything better then at least you will have the satisfaction of knowing that this location was the best YOU could find. Then and only then should you start to make your lemonade. But my guess is that if you have control of things, and you have the right attitude, you will make the best lemonade the client has ever had!

Follow-through with what you have said you will do for your client. For example, if you say you will have the images in 3 days, make sure you have the images in 2 1/2! This shows them you are in control of things on your end and that will instill them with confidence, ultimately leading to more work for you. If you can't deliver the images on time, for whatever reason, be sure and call the client with plenty of time and make them aware of the situation. Don't just deliver the images late without letting the client know. It always looks better if you own up to your mistakes than if you try to hide from them.

Finally, follow up. Call the client, make a time when you can go meet with them and go over the images you have shot together. This will give you immediate feedback and you can discuss the shots you picked and why you thought they were worth picking.
Also, if the person you are delivering the images to was not with you while you were shooting, the meeting will give you a chance to explain to them why furniture was moved or why wardrobe/locations were changed. If they just look at the images by themselves they may misinterpret your intentions and be upset that you did not deliver the images they requested.

That's it for this time.
Hope this will be helpful to you as you start to take on more and more shoots.

Kicking Off a Personal Project

In a previous post, I mentioned how I covered a reunion of Neonatal ICU children.
This was truly an eye-opening experience for me as well as a moment of inspiration.
I met so many kids that day who had lived through unbeatable odds, or through incredibly difficult conditions and situations. It was really like standing in a room full of walking miracles. Some of the kids were probably barely out of the ICU while some were well on their way to having a normal childhood by now.

After editing some of the images from that day, I came upon the idea to do a personal project on some of the kids who have been through the NICU. The goal was to find out the story behind these kids and to take their photograph. Last week my idea became reality as I had my first shoot for the project. Now I was planning on saving these images until I had shot a few more, but the more I look at the images and the more I think about the story behind it - I just can't wait any longer. I know it is a lot to read but I want to share it with you.

I would like for you to meet Ryan Holliday.

Ryan is 2 years old. His parents noticed something different about him when he was born. His father thought his head was shaped a little differently than normal. They thought it may have just been their imagination but their fears were confirmed. They discovered something was wrong with him when he turned blue while the nurses were giving him his first bath.

They soon found out that Ryan had been born with Pfeiffer Syndrome. This is a genetic mutation which results in a fusion of the skull bones. This meant that Ryan would have to undergo surgery to open up his skull, allowing his brain to grow. This is a pretty rare mutation, occurring in only one out of every 100,000 children born.

Fortunately one of the nation's top specialists for this surgery is located here in Dallas and Ryan was able to get the surgery he needed and be on his way home after just a few days.
When Ryan was about 15 months old the tiny bones in his nose were so squished together that his nose quit functioning and he was forced to get a tracheostomy tube to help him with breathing normally.

Fast forward to today and Ryan has had 7 surgeries already. Every 6 months he has to go back to the hospital for an MRI of his skull. If it reveals that the brain needs more room he has to stay and get his skull cut open, an 8-10 hour surgery. This will continue until he is 18 years old and the brain stops growing.

When he is 5 or 6 years old he will go in for a midface surgery. The goals of this surgery are to move the midface out more helping him with breathing; to move the jaws out to help chew; to alleviate any teeth crowding; and to help his speech. After he has had his first midface surgery his nose should be open enough to support the consumption of oxygen and he can have the tracheostomy tube removed. When he is 14 or 15 he will have another midface surgery. After this second midface surgery his eyes should look more normal as well.

For every surgery Ryan has, it sets him about one month behind the development of other children his age. As you can imagine, after having 7 surgeries in 22 months Ryan is a little behind on the average toddler. However his parents have taught him to sign a few things so that he can communicate with them. He is also starting to say his first words which is a huge encouragement.

His parents have tapped into the amazing resources provided by the internet and have met other parents with children who have pfeiffer's as well as children who are dealing with this syndrome. One of which was a 19-year old college student. There is every reason to believe that Ryan will develop into a handsom young man with normal intelligence and normal life expentancy. All of this has helped to encourage the family quite a bit in their journey.

Despite the difficulties that he faces and the challenges that come with Pfeiffer's syndrome, his mother remains very optimistic. Ryan is as playful and full of life as any kid I have been around in my life, which is amazing when you think about all he has had to go through.

These photographs do two things to me every time I see them. First and foremost they make me want to go over to Ryan's house and give him a huge hug.
The second thing they do is challenge me to not take the little things for granted in life.

Thank you Ryan

Traveling Circus

What a day today turned out to be. It started at 6:30am and is still going strong.
I participated in 4 photoshoots today. 2 of which I assisted, and 2 of which I was shooting.
I visited 7 cities total today.



I started out at the "L" position, then drove to the "I" position. Then to "C", to "I" again, then on to "E" and "F", then back to "I". Then over to "H" and back to "I". Got back on the road up to "J", then "K" and finally back to the starting point of "L". All told that is over 220 miles driven today!!!

Needless to say I'm pretty beat down after all the shooting, planning, traveling, and all the in between stuff. It was a good day though, as it reminded me of how lucky I am to be doing what I love and to be able to have the freedom to move around so much during the day. I definitely would prefer a day like to day to a 10 hour day at a desk in some office building.

I tried new things today, which included gaffer taping a flash and pocket wizard to a ceiling and riding in the back seat of a cop car (there is absolutely NO space back there, no wonder people always look so miserable when they are back there!).
I am shooting some more tomorrow but for personal projects only so there isn't much pressure. The last shoot of today was for personal stuff but we only had about a 30 minute window to shoot in and my equipment was not functioning properly for some reason.

Anyway, I'll quit boring you with text and jump to an image or two :-)



PUMA EC 225
Auto Pilot & Aircraft Condition Monitoring System
I've also been having some fun playing around in HDR a bit... I thought this was a prime candidate to try that out with:



These were from a ribbon cutting ceremony I had the privilege of shooting in Grand Prairie.

I am usually not one for kids - I mean I am pretty afraid of them in general. I'm sure that will change but for now I don't know what to do to make them stop crying so I live in fear of that moment when they start. But today I saw some of the most adorable babies I have seen in a long time and I actually enjoyed the experience.


Canon EF 50mm F/1.4 | 1/80s | F/1.4 | ISO 100


This girl's eyes just grabbed me as I was working the room and I had to go back and get my 50mm f/1.4 to shoot some more "up close" portraits.
She, along with most of the other people in the room, was an Nicu baby - which means she spent some time in intensive care after being born either prematurely or with complications. Those eyes are so huge and untainted! There is just something amazing about a baby's eyes.

I think that's it for now. I'm pretty tired from the day but I did want to share some images with you!

More to come!