Woodland Fairy Shoot

After nearly a year and a half of not being able to shoot anything on my Fae Project, I have been lucky enough to shoot two sets of photos this week. I've already written about shooting Garden Fairy with London Andrews, and then on Friday evening I got to shoot Woodland Fairy with Lilly.

I did a test shoot with Lilly at the beginning of the month. I showed her the wings, the costume design and the shoot materials during our test shoot and we agreed that we would shoot during the next good weather day. That day took nearly two weeks to arrive.

Lilly had never modeled before, but was excited to experience her first shoot. We did the make-up (ferns stenciled on the legs and body jewelry around the eyes) at my home before we headed out to the rural location where we were planning to shoot.

We had wonderful weather and the drive out to the shoot location was through a wonderfully scenic part of rural Oregon. Lilly and I chatted on the way out and I learned she was planning to run a half-marathon the next day. As you can see from the image, she's a fit and lovely model and a great choice for a woodland fairy. Her dark hair, eyes and golden skin gave her a look that was both exotic and a natural fit for the forested environs where we were shooting.

Though it was her first shoot as a model, she did quite well. We kept the costume changes and adjustments to a minimum and concentrated on integrating the poses and facial expression with the scenery on the hillside where we were shooting. Lilly was game to try most poses and was willing to pose among the ferns, tree stumps and various other vegetation. She did get cold toward the end of the shoot when the sun got lower and the breeze picked up a bit, but we shot just about everything I had planned and I was very pleased with our first shoot together. I have lots of images to work with and the one you see above was a very rough and quick edit of a random shot.

Garden Fairy

I got to shoot with the most amazing model yesterday. London Andrews was everything I had hoped for and more. She was extremely professional. She could self-pose with exceptional proficiency. She even did her own makeup and hair. And to top it all off, she was intelligent, fun to talk to, and a lady in all respects.
I wished she lived in Portland so I could use her as a model more often.

She was orignially scheduled to be my Summer Fairy and I was going to shoot her out in the woods in Gaston. But the weather was just too chancey, so we wound up shooting in my backyard, which is small but quite photogenic.

We went through several costume changes (and three sets of wings), and she was game for just about anything I asked of her. She's definitely a lady in all regards, and I'd recommend her to any photographer who wants a classy model for a photo shoot. Even the test shots for exposure came out great (see the image above and to the right).

I'm more than willing to shoot with her again, bu alas, she tells me that she's retiring form modeling at the end of this year. What a loss for us those of us with an interest in glamour photography!

Test Shoot with Lilly

I did a test shoot with a new model on Friday. Lilly is a lovely, slender girl with long dark hair and beautiful brown eyes. She has agreed to be one of the models for my fairy project and I think she's going to make the perfect woodland fairy.

We did our test shoot in Cathedral Park under the St. John's bridge. It's one of my favorite places to shoot, and I've shot several models there including Sierra, Autumn and Gabriell. If offers a great variety of settings which include a small beach along the river, several wooded areas, park benches, a dock, willow trees, an open fields, a concrete pavilion, and the bridge struts itself.

Since Lilly was test shooting for a woodland fairy, we stuck to the wooded areas and primarily concentrated on how she self-posed, how well she took directions, and how her skin and hair tones stood up against the wooded background. I have to say that everything was excellent. She also got into character and worked at showing me some fairy moods (curious, reflective, frightened, etc.). Her skin and hair tones stood out quite well against the green backdrops and complemented the dark brown of the tree trunks and limbs. She has a natural ability to pose, and can get into character quite easily provide a variety of expressions. She also has the ability to express emotions with her body language, which will help a great deal as we get into the actual shoot.

I brought all the costume materials to show to her, explained how we would proceed through the project, i.e. how the materials would be used, what kind of makeup would be involved, how we would progress from the fully covered shots to the final artistic nudes and got her opinions on the make-up and costume materials. She told me that after seeing the materials I had accumulated for the project, she was quite excited about moving forward with the shoot. Now it's just a matter of location, weather and timing.

My daughter's boyfriend has offered the use of his mom's property for my projects. His mom, a very lovely and nice lady name Shannon, has a lovely home on property out in Gaston. On the hill behind her home is a trail that leads through a heavily wooded areal with old trees, stumps, ferns and everything else one would need for such a shoot. Additionally, she has a large cleared area on her property that would work well for some other projects I have in mind.

There are other options too. There is a large wooded plot of land across from my house that might work well too, though not was well I think as the property in Gaston. Additionally, I have a friend, Mark, who lives up on Bald Peak, and I have permission from him to use his property for several shoots as well. In fact, the first fairy shoot (Autumn Fairy) was shot on his property. Another friend of mine, Dave, has offered me the use of his land as well, and I'm sure there are a couple more friends who would be willing to allow me the use of their property for a photo shoot. So, I'm lucky in that regard.

My only problem right now is a location for my water fairy shoot. I need a shallow steam of water that's fairly isolated. I have a spot in mind, but it's a distance away and is near a state campground, so it's not as isolated as I would like, though I have shot there in the past. You can see an example image from that location directly above. During the shoot where this shot was taken, the model and I were undisturbed and the closest people were three fly fishermen several hundred yards downstream. They didn't notice us at all during the shoot, or if they did, they sure didn't seem to mind. So, I'll probably go for a drive, despite the high gas prices, and make sure the area is still suitable before actually shooting there, but it would still be nice to find someplace closer, if possible.

Project Software

I've been using a couple of new software programs to help manage my projects - both my photography projects as well as my personal projects. The two programs are well integrated into Apple's OSX Leopard operating system and allow integration between a number of programs including the Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, iTunes and other Apple System Applications.

The first program is a simplified data based named Bento. It's published by the same company that makes the well known Mac database Filemaker Pro, an Apple subsidiary company. I've used Filemaker Pro for many years, though to make it work well I've had to purchase or find shareware templates that came close to my needs and then modify them to work for me. Filemaker Pro is the program I use to manage my photography business assets (track equipment, calculate depreciation, record new purchases, etc.). Bento is more user friendly and the interface is designed to not intimidate the casual database user. The program integrates well will Apples Address Book and as you can see from the example above, I'm using it to track the models who have worked with me or who will potentially work with me in the future. While I could do this directly in the address book, Bento gives me a more robust interface and allows me to customize the look of the data, add more media fields as establish a table of links that I can use to manage other related files in the data base. In the example above, I have a link to file where I track a specific photography project. If I use this particular (fictional in this case) model for more than one project, and I have a link on her record page to each of the project tracking sheets that I'm using. These sheets are files from another program that I'll be telling you about in a moment, but first I'd like to tell you a little more about Bento.

First of all, what do I like about Bento:

1. It's simple and intuitive to use. It can create an elegant looking data base using a number of themes and allows you to easily design a custom form.
2. It allows multiple forms for a record and gives you a Table View, an Overview and a Detail View as defaults. Of course, can delete or add views as you desire.
3. The integration with the Address Book and iCal is quite good.
4. The provided templates and themes are useful. The templates provide good starting points for a number of databases you can manage.

What I don't like:

1. Everything (all data) is kept in one data set. Over time this seems like it would create a bloated data base that would slow down and increase the chances of a crash.
2. Once you modify a project file (library) to your liking, you can't save it as a template and use it as a starting point for another library that would use similar fields.
3. You're restricted to using the themes provided and as far as I can tell, you only have limited ability to modify the colors/graphics within the themes.

Bento will probably improve quite a bit as it evolves as this is only the first release. It's not everything I would like it to be, but it's a nice start.

Numbers is the other program that I've been using quite a bit recently. It's part of Apple's iWork suite of programs, Keynote and Pages are the other programs in the suite. Numbers is essentially an intuitive and simple to use spreadsheet program. It's quite versatile, easy to manage, and fun to use. As you can see from the image to the right, I'm using it to track expenditure, contacts, and tasks for my summer photo projects.

It, too, integrates well with Apple's Address Book and iCal programs. For example, I can drag and drop contact data from my Address Book into the table for Model Contact data and the fields will be automatically populated with the information. There is less integration with iCal, or perhaps I just haven't figured it out quite yet.

What I like about numbers:

1. Simple, elegantly intuitive and easy to use. You can easily manage, create and maintain data.
2. You can save any file as a template and be able to use the same form for any number of projects. That's a big advantage over Bento.
3. Good integration with other Apple applications. You can browse media files right within the application itself or you can insert files directly with drag and drop from the Finder application.

What I don't like:

Well, I wish I could open an Address Book Record or create and iCal Event (with reminder) directly within a worksheet. This would be great for tracking key tasks and contacts within the project file. Maybe it can be done and I just haven't figured it out yet, but if so, it's not as intuitive a function as the rest of the program.

Numbers is obviously a more mature program than Bento, but I like the way I'm able to use them together to created a unified system for managing my projects. Now, if I could only find a way to export my Filemaker Pro Database over without having major reformat issues.

Project Planning

I've been diligently working on acquiring the materials for my summer fairy projects. Right now, I have the materials for Woodland Fairy, Spring Fairy, Summer Fairy, Water Fairy and Winter Fairy. I have most of the materials for Fire Fairy, and I have the concepts in place for Field, Flower, and Dosmestic Fairy.

Most of the models have been found, and I'm working on locations this week. With any luck and with cooperative weather, I'll begin shooting around mid-June. Whether I'll be able to complete shooting all the planned images before the weather goes sour for the winter remains to be seen, but I'll give it my best shot.

On a personal note, I've been having quite a bit of insomnia lately. I'm not sure what's up with that as I don't feel bad, but it's very difficult to go to sleep at night, and I've been waking well in advance of the alarm. That's made me very slow today and multiple meetings throughout the day didn't help. I do have several e-mails I need to answer this evening, but I'm not sure I'm going to last long enough to pen a decent response. I do enjoy writing to people, but I also want to write a coherent letter when I write, so I may need to pass tonight.

Photography and Correspondence

I've recently begun corresponding with penpals again. Except for Barb, a teacher in Southern California, with whom I've been corresponding for many years, I haven't really been writing much. Lately I had been missing the fun of getting to know more about different people from around the world. I've always enjoyed corresponding with different people; learning about their lives, their interests and their cultures. In recent years, though, it seems that I just haven't had, or haven't taken the time, to write to people. Oh, I've attempted it a few times, but after a few bad experiences it just didn't seem like it was worth the effort. Also, when you place a penpal ad, you subject yourself to so much spam mail and so many African Scammers, Russian Love Brides, and other intrepid opportunists that it makes filtering through the e-mails quite difficult. Of course, as a man (and an older man), I certainly have it a lot easier than any women that might post an ad.

In any case, I've had a couple of very interesting responses and fun e-mail exchanges so far. With any luck, my new friends will find me intriguing enough to continue write to me and I'll be able to make a couple of new friends.

Senior Portraits

A couple of weekends ago, I had the delightful opportunity to shoot some senior portraits for a young friend of mine. I have no idea why she chose me as her photographer, but I certainly tried to give her some great images for her final year of high school. She had to travel up to Portland from Florence to do the shoot, but fortunately, her step-dad was already attending a conference in the area, so her mom was able to drive her up the night before and we had almost a full day in which to shoot.

The shoot was quite enjoyable. She seems to be a natural at modeling and she obviously was having fun throughout the shoot, even though the weather was not very cooperative and she did get quite cool during certain portions of the shoots.

I was able to take her to several locations that I've used for my photography in the past; the PCC Rock Creek Campus, which has lots of interesting statues and structures that make great backdrops and props; an old railroad trestle with huge wooden beams; and Cathedral Park, underneath the St. John's Bridge. All the locations provided us with wonderful backdrops and she was able to have several outfit changes at each setting.

Here are some other images from our shoot:

This was taken under the St. John's Bridge

This was her "princess" shot for her mom.

Repairs, Models and Hot Tubs

After several months and several hundred dollars, the hot tub is now repaired, filled, and full of clean, hot water. The acrylic shell developed a small fatigue crack along the left edge of the captain's seat where the steps entered the tub. This occurred last June, and I repaired the tub myself with marine sealant as I wasn't so much worried about the cosmetics of the repair, and I figured that if it was good enough for the hull of a boat below the waterline, it would probably be fine for the static forces on a hot tub.

Unfortunately, I didn't take into account the possibility that someone might slip and fall into the captain's seat and cause a catastrophic failure of the repair. Which is exactly what happened. And since this happened in late November, I just drained the tub, covered, and let it sit through the winter rains.

With the recent good weather, though, it was time to get the tub back in service, so I got the Miracle Surface repair folks to come out and repair the acrylic surface in the tub.

They did a very nice job and managed to get the color and texture very close to the original. It's not perfect, but it's a much better match than the marine patch that I used. It also appears to be much stronger. The patch required 7-14 days of cure time, so I took that time to research how to best reinforce the patch from the underside. The surface patch made the tub water tight, but I needed to add structural strength underneath to keep the tub from cracking again.

From my research, I determined two things: 1) Hot tub shells don't normally crack to the point where they leak and 2) Most people don't want to fix them. I learned an additional bit of information as well - I had to use a fiberglass repair kit such as those used on cars and boat hulls. This meant using a resin and hardener and fiberglass matting or cloth in order to get the structural strength required. The fun part was that I would be working inside the hot tub shell and applying the patch to a horizontal overhead surface.

The interior repair actually wasn't so bad. I should have used fiberglass cloth instead of fiberglass mat, and I should have mixed my resin and hardener is smaller batches (the first large batch hardened before I could apply all of it), but all in all the repair went quickly and time will tell if the structural reinforcement will prevent a recurrence of the crack.

Once the structural repairs were complete it was a simple matter to fill the tanks, turn on the system, ensure the recirculation pump hadn't been damaged by the loss of water during the previous failure, and leak check the repairs. Once the water had been in the tub for 24 hours with no leakage, I added the chemicals and made the tub available for use.

As you can see from the photos, I like to use the tub for various photo projects. It makes a natural setting for swimsuit and figure shots, and provides privacy for the shoot. With any luck, I 'll get to use the tub for both sore muscles and photography during the rest of the spring, summer and early fall.

New Models, Projects, and Frustration

I'm a member of several photography sites and forums. I have a portfolio on One Model Place, another portfolio on Model Mayhem, a Flikr account, as well as an account on Photo.net. I'm pretty well established as a photographer on several forums and in some print media as well. So, you would think that I would have too much trouble finding new models to work with as I develop new projects. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I recently put out a casting call for a series of projects that I plan to work on over the summer months. The casting call was for ethnic models, specifically black, asian and latino models, but of the 14 response I've gotten to the casting calls, only three models have actually taken the time to meet with me. Of those, one is actually moving away from Oregon in the next couple of weeks, so I'll be unable to use her in my projects anyway. The other two are in Salem, which is much more difficult, logistically, for the shoots, but because both models have acted professionally and have significant interest in shooting with me, I'm planning to use them for the project.

What I don't understand is why some models will respond to a casting all, indicate interest, and then refuse to meet with me to discuss the projects to determine if they would be a good fit for what I have in mind. I made it very clear in the casting call that I would work within the limits the models set for the images I wanted to shoot, but it seems every time I call or write the models that indicated interest, I get no response from the majority of those who replied.

It's really a shame because I would like to find two or three models I could use on a regular basis to explore different aspects of photography (Muses so to say). Sierra is probably the closest model to that right now. At least she's dependable. I think these other two models will work out quite well too, but I really do need another model with an African background to add to my portfolio as well. So, if you're a black female model in the Portland, Oregon area and you'd like to work with me, drop me a line please. :)

Will Spring Ever Arrive??

This has been the coldest, wettest April I can remember since moving to Oregon in 1996. The ivy that covers the wooden fence around my house should be covered in fresh green leaves, but is instead only just now budding. The Japanese maple should full of color, but is bare and covered with moss.

Although this weekend has been nice with dry weather and relatively warm temperatures, it has been nothing like our normal April. We're all hoping that May will be better and we'll actually get more than two days of nice weather in a row.

The long term forecast calls for a hot dry summer. One can only hope, and I certainly do, as I have a number of outdoor photographic projects I plan to shoot with various models this summer. I'm giving up some of my normal faire and festival events to concentrate on expanding my portfolio to complete at least three more shoots in my fairly project. I've lined up at least three models already, including a lovely Asian girl, a Latino beauty, and blond-haired, blue-eyed lovely who will be my Winter Fairy (you've seen her in my portfolio already as I've done a couple of shoots with her).

So, although the weather has been less than conducive to photography, I've been working on planning for these projects (gather costume material, visualizing the images in my head, and getting the locations planned out for the shoot). I do need to find someone interested in being my photographer's assistant for the shoots, but I don't think that will be too difficult.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to post-process the images from my last few shoots. The model above, Lisa, has a very natural look, is very fun to work with, and when we finished our shoot, left me with over a 1000 images to sort through. Of course, not every image will be used or processed, but they still need to be reviewed and the best poses tagged for use. That should keep me busy until the weather gets better.

Post Processing is fun? (NSFW)

Shoots are fun, but there is still lots of work to be done once the model goes home.

I haven't posted many new images here lately, primarily due to the amount of post-processing that I need to do on the images before I consider them ready for publication. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it's the photographer's responsibility to get lighting, exposure and composition right in the camera so that minimal post processing is required, but in the digital age, some post processing is required for almost all images, especially when working with human models.

In all cases, due to the anti-aliasing filter used in most Digital SLR cameras, some sharpening must be done post processing, especially if you're like me and shoot RAW. Even if I shoot JPG I have sharpening set to minimum so I can use the more powerful algorithms in my computer to sharpen the images instead of the smaller, less powerful CPU's in my cameras.

In addition, the best white balance can be set and fine tuned with the computer and, of course, the histogram and image curves can be adjusted to give the best details in the highlights and shadows.

Finally, models do not have flawless skin or hair. Often times a blemish, or even several blemishes will need to be retouched away. Small wrinkles will need to be de-emphasized or obscured, while wisps of hair will need to be removed from the face. Small threads have to disappear from the edges of clothing and fabric, and the overall look of the image will required some sort of treatment: B&W, a subtle color shift, selective coloring, additional vignetting.

Post-processing an image is what moves photography further along the scale toward art rather than merely the craft of recording a scene. After all, Ansel Adams did his best work in the dark room.

Shooting with Sierra

I had just an amazing shoot with Sierra yesterday. This is the third time I've shot with her (including her test shoot), and I have to say she just keeps getting better. She doesn't do nude shots, but she's quite creative when working with the photographer to produce images that are fun, sensual and even provocative. She has a great attitude and really enjoys collaborating in the shoot. And, as you can see from the photo to the right, she's quite beautiful.

When she arrived yesterday, she was ready to get to work and we managed to get through about 9 costume changes in the 3 hours that we shot. It's a real pleasure to work with her and she has great potential as she gains more experience. We're already discussing some projects we can work on this summer, so I'm really looking forward to completing more shoots with her.

Lisa

I had the distinct pleasure of working with a new model today. Lisa was prompt, professional, and very classy. She takes direction easily, self-poses and understands the photographic process. She understands hot to quickly accommodates the photographer's needs. She collaborated completely in the creative process and provided excellent suggestions on how to make the shoot better. Her enthusiasm was invigorating and contagious and made the shoot one of the best I've done in a very long time.

We were able to get through several scenarios in about 2 1/2 hours of shooting and it was definitely enjoyable for both of us. Lisa is very photogenic, curvy and has great legs. We were able to have a great conversation throughout the shoot which made it even more enjoyable for us both. I certainly look forward to shooting with her again.

Post-processing (NSFW)

Post-processing is the modern term for what photographers used to do in the darkroom. Some photographers disdain the idea of post processing and use the philosophy that if you didn't get it right in the camera you didn't do the job.

Other photographers obsessively post-process everything they capture to the point that the image is no longly truly a photograph but becomes, instead, a piece of graphic art. These folks use all the tricks of the computer trade -- saturation, sharpening, Gaussian blur, three or four filters, and so much more that they spend more time working on the computer than they do taking photographs.

There is another set of photographers that take a more lackadaisical approach to photography and use the philosophy that "it can be fixed in post processing." By this, I mean they don't excessively post process, but they're not particular careful with their original image so that they have to post process in order to correct obvious flaws with the image. Typically these go beyond difficult exposure and are in the realm or poor composition and extraneous objects in the field of view.

My philosophy lies somewhere off to the side of all this. I strive to get the image as close to the final product as possible as part of the initial in-camera exposure. In general, however, almost every image I publish will have some degree of post processing applied, though it's typically pretty minor. Usually it's a touch of sharpening and saturation, and if it's a high ISO image, some noise reduction. I try to shoot RAW image formats as much as possible so that I have as much data as possible to manipulate. I am not, however, against extensive post processing to produce a more graphical art type of image. In fact, I think that it's fun and I enjoy playing around with different techniques to produce those types of images.

Usually though, I take a minimalist approach and limit my manipulations to that necessary to subtlety improve the image and I try to make the post-processing indiscernible. Too much processing can render unnatural looking skin and make the model look like a plastic Barbie doll, or it can introduce easily noticed artifacts that detract from the overall look of the image.

The purist will tell you that the best images require no post-processing at all. I'm not sure Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and the other great photographers known for their film and darkroom skills would agree. I imagine that if they were alive and shooting digital today (and I'm sure they would be), they would embrace the computer as their new darkroom and would find the ability to appropriately manipulate their images without smelly and dangerous darkroom chemicals a great leap of technology and in creativity.

Tastes Vary

People vary and that's a good thing.

So, I've only been on Deviant Art a few days, but I've uploaded quite a bit of my work there. It's been interesting to note which images get the most views, which ones get the most comments, and the ones that are collected the most. It's even more interesting to visit the pages of the collectors to see what it is that they enjoy adding to their favorites.

Some people like landscapes, some like flowers, and many, many people like nudes. I suppose that's to be expected, but I was surprised at how many ladies also collected images of the female form. I suppose I shouldn't be as I've been a photographer for many years and I've met lots of women who have enjoyed my more erotic images.

So, I'll keep uploading a variety of work as it seems it does get looked at and enjoyed. That site is certainly helping my enthusiasm for photography, but I think it's more of an ego thing than anything else. I guess everyone needs their ego stroked from time to time.

Themed Photography

I've been working on a series of photos with a unifying theme for a while. I've completed the first set of the series, and it seems that I have models lined up for at least the next half-dozen or so sets. The problem is that I can't seem to get the coordination of models, costumes and weather to cooperate to make much progress on the series. With any luck, though, I'll make better progress this year.

Although, I have no set deadline for any of the sets and the series is open-ended, it would be good to get at least a couple of more sets done this year, possibly even more. Last year there was just so much happening in my personal life that my photographic projects took a backseat to everything else. This year should be better.

I have several photographic expeditions planned and a couple of new and interesting models to work with so I'm looking forward to a fun spring, summer and fall. I already have three locations scoped out for my projects and ideas for what to shoot for each of the sets. So wish me luck.

Deviant Art

My friend, Mark, who lives up on the mountain, got me interested in the deviantART website. It's an interesting site where people can share their art and creativity. It's more than just a photography site as there is a wide variety of artistic endeavors showcased on the site. People share sketches, writings, poetry, computer graphics, and even lyrics to songs they've written. I find that it's quite refreshing to read more about the creative aspects of art than the technical aspects that I find on most photography forums.

I've uploaded a number of my photos and graphic art experiments there, and have received a fairly enthusiastic response, so I'm quite likely to keep posting and contributing there, and I hope to make a few new online friends as well. Some of the people that post there are just beyond talented, and I'm sure I can learn quite a lot from them.

The photo above seems to be a favorite of many on that site and has been "collected" by several folks who seem to think it's a good example of pinup photography which is an area of photographic interest I'm currently pursuing.

If you are an artist in any media, you should probably check the site out if you haven't already done so. You may find something there you like as well as a new outlet for your creativity.

Weekend Trips

We spent the last weekend in the lovely little coastal town of Florence. We had a wonderful time visiting with our friends Mark and Bridgett and their children, Gabriel (Gabby) and Morgan. It was good to get away for the weekend to spend some time with our friends and do some photography in a different part of the state.

Florence is a relatively small town located on the Siuslaw River. Fishing and logging used to be the primary industries, but these days tourism is the major contributor to the area's economy due to the Three Feathers Casino that opened there in 2004 as well as the 40 miles of sand dunes that stretch through the area. The Old Town area is very picturesque with several small and friendly restaurants, bars, shops, and a delectable coffee shop. We had a couple of very nice meals there, and managed to get in a little shopping as well, especially when Wanda found a shop with fairy figurines.

Mark and Bridgett are among our very best friends and we always have a great time when we see them. We met them several years ago at a social event we were hosting at our favorite watering hole. They were brought along by some other friends of ours, and we just seem to hit it off and found that we had many common interests. Since then we attended many events together including the Oregon Country Fair and the Shrewsbury Faire. At the Oregon Country Fair, Bridgett and Wanda make quite the eye-turning pair as they wander around the fair in the sarongs, jewelry and body paint. At the Ren Faires they turn eyes with their lovely costumes and happy smiles.

Since they both enjoy photography, it's always fun to attend events with them. Mark has an excellent eye for composition and seems to enjoy shooting from the odd angle just as much as I do. Bridgett has been known to pick up the camera and shoot from time to time too and I think she looks pretty good holding my big lenses. :) In any case, just about anytime we hang out with these guys, there are cameras and lenses to be found.

Unfortunately, since we all live busy lives and Florence is about 180 miles from Portland, we don't get to see this folks as often as we'd like. Fortunately, in the days of e-mail, instant messaging and cell phones, we do manage to stay in touch and can arrange to meet at various events. And, on occasion, we just meet somewhere along the coast and spend the weekend away from all of our kids. Of course, in the days of e-mail, instant messages, and especially cell phones, we can't get completely away from the kids, but we can get far enough away to have relatively uninterrupted conversations.

But sometimes, it's fun to do things with the family as well. Gabby and Morgan both enjoy the fairs as much as their parents do, especially when they get to play dress up and their parents dress up too. Our kids aren't so much into the fairs anymore, since they're quite a bit older than Gabby and Morgan, so it's fun for us to see them at the various events.

Family and friends are the two most important aspects of life, and we're lucky to have both. Our children and our grandchildren give us the joy of family love, and friends like Mark and Bridgett helps us maintain our sanity by providing the friendship, conversations, and adult companionship that everyone needs to have balance in their life.

Of course, these guys aren't our only friends, but they're the subject of this entry because we just visited them, and I teased Bridgett that I would blog about her. She seemed to think that I couldn't find anything to write about, so I just had to prove her wrong.

Mortality Redeux

My Aunt Joyce died last week. Though she was not in the greatest of health, her death caught me by surprise. When my mother died last summer, I knew that Aunt Joyce wouldn't last too many years longer. After all, she and my mom had lived together in the same small house for more than twenty years, taking care of each other, and sometimes fussing like an old married couple. But Aunt Joyce (actually Great-Aunt Joyce) had always looked after my mother, treated me and my brothers and sister as though we were her own children--all the more so since she did not and could not have any children of her own.

I called her every Sunday to check on her, and sometimes more often if I felt that she wasn't feeling well. She sometimes called me too when she was scared or lonely. When her doctor found a spot on her lung last November, she called me right away and I did my best to reassure her and to calm her down until the doctor could do more test. She told me at the end of the conversation that she was so glad that I was there for her to talk to when she she needed me. I could tell, however, that she was not only scared, but lonely and sad as well, but she seemed to be getting along.

At the end of January though, I called her one weekend and did not get an answer. I tried again the next day, and still didn't get answer. When I called other members of the family, I was told she had been taken to the hospital for a stomach infection. I spoke to her several times while she was there, hoping to reassure her and to remind her she was loved. Then one day, I called her room and there was no answer. Three days later she was gone.

The reason I write this today is that I have an automatic reminder in my calendar that pops up to remind me of her birthday. It popped up to day to let me know it was time to get her a card and small gift in the mail so it would arrive by her birthday. My mom died only four days after her 69th birthday. Aunt Joyce died only 13 days before her 78th birthday and almost 6 months to the day after my mom died. They always needed each other.

Shots from Tonight's Lunar Eclipse

Canon 50mm f/1.4 Article

I just finished writing another article for my personal website. In this case, I wrote a review of the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens. You can read it here: Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens review.

I do enjoy reviewing and writing about equipment, and I've received a few kudos for posting my reviews. Often when I'm shooting, I'll consider whether a particular shot will make a good example for review article. For my less frequently used lenses, I have to dig back through an archive of images to find example photographs. Fortunately, the Adobe Lightroom program allows me to filter the images by the specific lenses that were used to produce them. Lightroom has made it much easier to organize and find my photos. It's not only great for reviews, with the judicious use of keywords, it allows me to find almost any image in my extensive library in a very short amount of time.

The photo to the left is an example photo from the 50 f/1.4 and shows this lenses great low-light capability. The image was taken completely by the available light of a little bar in St. Helens, Oregon.

New Article: Composition - Leading Lines, Diagonals and Curves

I just finished writing a new composition lesson on the use of Leading Lines, Diagonals and Curves. The article can be found here on my personal website. It's the 4th in a series of articles or lessons about basic photographic composition.

The lesson discusses the use of lines to add a sense of movement to your images and to guide the eye to various elements within the photograph. It also discusses the use of other geometric entities such as triangles, arcs and curves and elements that can be used within an image to provide spatial separation, to frame and to direct the viewer's eye. I hope it's useful to anyone who has the interest and the time to read it. As always, feedback is welcome.

Misty Morning

When I was in the Submarine Service, my favorite time of day, when in port, was the hour right around dawn. That was the time that I would go up on deck with a cup of hot coffee and watch the sunrise. If it was cloudy, I'd watch the mist rise off the water.

Dawn is a peaceful time of the day. The water is usually calm, the harbor is quiet, and everyone seems to me minding their own business. Since life is pretty hectic on a sub, and very crowded, a few moment of peace and solitude were necessary components to continued sanity.

I captured this image of Mount Vesuvious wrapped in the clouds from the deck of the USS Springfield on a misty day in 1994 when we were moored in Naples, Italy. It was a few days before Christmas, and we had only been in port for a day and a night after several weeks at sea.

Salt Creek

Salt Creek is an area of Death Valley that is both beautiful and intriguing. As you can see in the photo to the left, there is a long wooden boardwalk that stretches into the distance from the parking area. The boardwalk provides a path above the waters of Salt Creek. In the summer, the creek bed is mostly dry and the boardwalk rises over cracked mud and vegetation for most of its length, though there is at least a small amount of water year round.

In the spring, however, the water flows and the streams can be several feet deep and the boardwalk is quite necessary. It's at this time, the Salt Creek Pupfish population explodes and the clear waters of the stream allow clear viewing of these small creatures.

Salt Creek is a beautiful and, in the summer, empty spot. We wandered there shooting photos, even some outdoor glamour stuff, for well over an hour without seeing another soul. It would be a wonderful place to visit again.

Sarongs

I really love the look of sarongs on a model. There's something so sexy, and a bit exotic, about them. The sarong is very versatile too. It can be wrapped in so many different ways and used to hide flaws or to accentuate the form. The fact that sarongs come is so many different sizes, styles and colors is a great benefit as well.

A few years ago, a gentleman in India saw some of my Oregon Country Fair photos. In the images, many of the fair goers were wearing sarongs of one sort or another, including several of the ladies in my party. He really enjoyed the photos and was kind enough to send me a huge box of sarongs from his factory in India for use to use at the next fair. Both of the sarongs seen in this posting came from the supply that he sent to us and I still use them for the fair and for use in photo sets.

Whenever I travel, especially to any place tropical, I always look for new sarongs to pick up for my photography sessions. In 2006, on a trip to Hawaii, we picked up several new sarongs, and even bought some for souvenirs to bring home to the family. These were very well received. they came is especially useful when we had our Luau Party in 2007.

Clothing certainly helps to determine a mood, and sometimes a sense of location, in photography and the sarong suggests an exotic tropical locale, especially used with water and direct sunlight. Add a bit of sandy beach and a model shoot done is Alaska can be made to look as though it was shot on a tropical island.

I used a sarong for this model shoot with Sierra in September of 2007. Even though we were shooting along the Willamette River in Oregon, the sarong and the framing makes it appear as if we were shooting in some exotic tropical location.

So, if you enjoy shooting glamour, or enjoy just want a different look for portraits or other shots, pick up a few inexpensive sarongs and experiment with them. I think you'll find they're a lot of fun for both you and your model.

New Photography Article

Just added a new article about the Columbia River Gorge, one of my favorite places to visit for photography. You can read it here.

You can read about it here.

Feedback is always welcome.

Not much else is happening photographically recently. I did help a friend last night with the flooring in the studio he's putting together over his garage. He has a great space for it, and I've got some gear he can use once the space it all put together. It will be fun working with him and show him how to set up and use studio strobes once we get everything going.

I also ordered a couple of new backdrops from B&H photo. These will come in useful when shooting in limited space as they are the Botero Collapsible units. I'm hoping they'll be just the right size for location shooting and for a smaller studio space.

I had been saving for a couple of new lenses, but unfortunately, the furnace went out on Tuesday, and had to be replaced today to the tune of a little over $2400. That, along with the new garage door openers and the repairs my truck is going to need, will set back my plans for a while. Fortunately, the money for the repairs is available, but it would sure have been nice to hang on to it for a while longer.

I'm getting a bit of the winter photographic blues, so I've been trying to work around them by writing more articles for my website. That's been fun and interesting and it allows me to put my photos to good use by helping others, I hope, learn more about photography, equipment and places to shoot. Still, I'd rather be shooting. Having a read day job puts a crimp in that during the wintertime, since by the time I get home, it's already too dark for outdoor shooting and I don't have any new models to work with right now. But, soon, I hope, there will be more shooting for fun and profit.

Working with MacJournal 5.0

I’ve been trying to find a good journaling interface that will work well with the Blogspot site. I had hopes for MacJournal, so I bought version 3.5 and tried it out. It was fine for uploading text, but it simply couldn’t deal with the photos. That is, to say, it would not let me insert the photos into the entry on the computer and then upload both the text and the photos to Blogspot.com. So, I used the Blogspot online interface, and that’s one of the reasons my entries for the first couple of years were so sparse. It was simply too cumbersome a process to pick out the photos, resize them for the web, upload them to a file sharing site, write the blogger post using their interface, then insert the photos in the right spot. And with the old Blogspot interface is was a major pain.

When the Blogspot interface improved, it became a bit easier, as I could use my own web server where I host my portfolio photos, but I still wanted a one step solution. So, I tried upgrading to MacJournal 4.0.

Despite the upgrade, there was no significant improvement. The Blogspot interface still gave me a better solution for putting the photos and text together - and especially for aligning photos the way I wanted them to be (left, right or center). But, at least with MacJournal 4.0, I had the option of downloading the photos from my online journal into the MacJournal interface so they would show up in the local entries. That was at least an improvement, and I was satisfied to use the improved online interface for Blogspot for the time being.

Then today, I got a notice from Mariner Software that MacJournal 5.0 was available and I could upgrade for a mere $19.95. The press release touted an improved interface with the ability add video and audio to the journal. So, I though, “what the hell” for twenty bucks, I’ll try it out. Maybe it will finally give me the working interface I’ve been looking for this time.

It didn’t. First of all, I’ve lost my ability to download the photos from the entries posted using the Blogspot interface. I don’t know why, as this seemed to work quite well with MacJournal 4.0.

Then, after I downloaded the initial entries from Blogspot, any attempt to download additional entries, caused the program to crash hard. I tried resetting the preferences, deleting the preference, and even removing and reloading the application, but nothing helped.

And, although this version of MacJournal is supposed to let me upload my photos, videos, and audio to an ftp server (preferably my own), it simply doesn’t work. By that, I mean, if I put in the ftp address, provide the correct username and password and the desired path, the files simply don’t upload. Interestingly enough, though, if I use .Mac, the photos do upload and MacJournal correctly links to the images (though without any alignment parameters). That’s what I’m doing with this entry.

You might have noticed that the images associated with this entry are somewhat aligned (left and right), but that’s simply because I’m using a work around of putting tables into the MacJournal entry and aligning the photos into the individual table cells. Edit: The table alignment didn’t work. I had to actually go add the photos later via the blogger interface, so this sucks even worse than I thought it did before.

So, I guess I’m only out $20 for this experiment, and although it does give me a one step option for uploading both photos and text in a simple unaligned format using a non-centralized location for the photos, it’s still a downgrade since I can no longer use the Blogspot interface and then download the entries with photos into MacJournal. I also don’t like having to put the photos into .Mac vs. putting them with the rest of my photos on my own server. Geez, why can’t someone just create a nice elegant user interface that works well across the board?

BTW, the photos are supposed to represent my willingness to experiment. :)

Test with photo

Test with photo and ftp to mac-photo.net

Exxageration (NSFW)

Back a few years ago, a Harley Davidson Drag Racing team came to me with the idea of creating a t-shirt they could sell at their drag meets. They lined up the girls, the graphic artist that would convert the photos into the final t-shirt graphic, as well as the t-shirt printing company. So early one Saturday morning in July, a big trailer pulled up in front of my house, and this very interesting bike was rolled out of the back and into my garage where I had set up a back drop and some studio lights.

The backdrop didn't matter a great deal since it was going to be cut from the final photos when the images were turned into the t-shirt graphics. The interesting part was that the bike, with it's extended front rails was much, much longer than I had anticipated, and though I thought that I had more than enough room in my garage studio, the front end of the bike stuck out of the garage and into the driveway a bit - which prevented closing the garage door.

This really wasn't a problem until the models showed up, and I realized that what the team had envisioned was a couple of nude girls on the bike with their "bits" to be covered by the team banners when the graphic artist did the final work later. To top it off, my 13 year old niece and my 65 year old mother were visiting from their small hometown in Georgia. I wasn't too worried about my mom and my niece, though they were quite curious about what was going on in the garage, but I didn't think it was the best idea to be shooting nudes in my wide open garage on a Saturday morning in the summer.

So, I got the bike team to help me rig another set of backdrops over the garage door to add some privacy and we started shooting. The team had several ideas, and we tried a number of variations, which did include some bikini shots. The rider had to dress up in full leathers and a helmet, and this meant we had to take several breaks to let him cool off (both physically and mentally).

At one point, my niece eluded my wife and manged to get out to the garage to get a drink from the beverage refrigerator, and her eyes got quite wide when she saw the shooting activity. She just had to run back inside to tell my mother that "Uncle Mark has a bunch of naked women and a biker gang in the garage."

Of course, that meant Mom had to come out for a look herself. She just chuckled at the site, and then she started chatting up one of the bike team members. Soon enough the shoot was over, the models hung around to get a few shots for their own portfolios, and the bike team loaded up the equipment in the trailer and got ready to leave. While I was burning the raw images to a disk for the team, the girls got dressed, the team finished their loading and my mom invited them all out to the back deck for a cold beer. She must have kept them out there talking for the better part of an hour, and when she got back to Georgia she bragged about how she had beers out on my deck with a biker gang and a bunch of naked women.

Great News!

On Christmas Eve our son gave us a call to let us know we were to be grandparents again. That's right, he and his wife have a baby due sometime in August. Then, a few days later, our youngest daughter called to let us know she is pregnant with her second child and is due in September. So, we're now in great spirits and looking forward to some new babies to spoil.

Babies do grow up so quickly though. Our first grandchild is now 18 months old and walking. Although she still loves to be held, especially at nap time, she's plenty active and prefers to be chased and needs constant amusement. Here she is when she was just one day old and fit easily into the crook of her grandpapa's arm. It will be fun to have a couple more at this age. I guess I'll be able to put one in each arm this time.

Of course, they'll grow up quickly too, but that's all part of the fun.

An Old Favorite (NSFW)

I don't know what it exactly it is with this photo that makes me love it so - well, besides the beautifully obvious - but it's always been one of my favorites, despite being shot with a simple point and shoot camera. I took this over eight years ago during a shoot with a very close and lovely friend of mine. We spent a day at a riverside park shooting all different kinds of photos. Her husband brought his motorcycle along, and we decided to do a lingerie and leather shoot utilizing the bike as the main prop. I also shot the images in medium format film, but actually the digital photos were much better. I can't say why, exactly, but it may simply be the way the film was scanned. This shot, however, just captured the whole set quite nicely. It's sexy and erotic without being over the top, and it shows off the models best (and favorite) asset. As I recall, she was quite pleased with the shot as well. Sometimes, everything just comes together and we get the one picture that exemplifies the whole shoot.

That isn't to say that the shot wasn't planned. In fact, the light was metered using a handheld incident light meter, the camera was set to those readings, and the model was posed specifically for this shot. But everything just seemed to coalesce to provide an excellent result.

There are a few things I would do differently if I could recapture the image, but given the limitations of the camera I was using, it was the best, I think, that could be done. I wish there was a bit more background blur, but with the very small sensor of a digital point and shoot camera, that wasn't really an option. I'd also have the model lift her chin a bit more to provide more separation between her face and her shoulder. I'd probably lower the visor on the helmet to remove the distracting reflections, and I might (but I'm not sure) have the model twist her body just a little less, but only if I could keep her hips in the same position.

By the way, the model is a wonderful lady, beautiful in body, face and personality, and loads of fun to work with, and  she is willing to try just about any pose suggested. I think we both had a great time shooting that day. I certainly know that I did.