guy with camera

More with just the sun.

2012-01-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

I'm really starting to like this sunlight thing...

Model: Pamela Bell

Snapshots

2012-01-24T06:21:00.000-05:00

Model: Ashley Laderer

A little bit of everything

2012-01-19T06:27:00.001-05:00

More from my shoot with Pam...tried to get as many different looks out of the sunlight as I could without using any type of modifier. Also tried out a bunch of new editing techniques, so there is a lot of variety in the pictures...here is a random sample!

Can't tell if I like this one, or the next one more...

Model: Pamela Bell

New Headshots

2012-01-11T06:09:00.000-05:00

Canon 135 mm lens at f/2.2=lots of bokeh!

Model: Ashley Laderer

Time is never on your side.

2012-01-06T09:22:00.000-05:00

I really wanted to shoot this vintage dress before the weather got too cold...we were about two months too late because it was freezing out last weekend, but we managed to get in a few frames in under ten minutes.

There are always too many things to do and there is never enough time. Do what you can, when you can, before it's too late!

I have to give credit to my wife for freezing her ass off for me! Sorry about the goosebumps :)

I need a fix.

2012-01-04T20:00:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but if I don't have something to shoot every week or two I start to get a wee bit crazy and feel a little twitchy inside. Sure, it would be great to get my fix from paid jobs every week...paid jobs that are creative, fun, and exciting where I shoot interesting people in unique locations and the sunlight always looks like the golden hour! Well, that's not reality (for anyone) so if I want to shoot I have to make it happen!

So I think up some interesting themes and plan out the lighting I want to use, and contact some models and think to myself "cool, this is going to work out nicely!" And about half of the time it does. But then there are the times where the wind is blowing like a hurricane, or it's raining, or 20 degrees out, or the model cancels, or...you get the drift. Sometimes all the planning in the world just doesn't work out for these trade shoots. So another week goes by without picking up the camera and the voice in the back of my head saying "shoot something will ya!" gets louder and louder and louder!

And that's when I remember that interesting concepts and lighting are great and all, but sometimes there's nothing wrong with just making some nice pictures for the hell of it! No specific wardrobe, make-up, or theme...just seeing what we can do with the available light on a (cold) sunny day.

All you need is a camera, a "get off your ass" mentality, and a trusting subject. I say trusting, because the subject really needs to trust that you're not just wasting their time, and that you're going to take some good pictures, especially since the theme of the shoot is so undefined. Trust is the most important thing.

On a side note, I'm really starting to develop an interest in black and white. It reminds me of the days of shooting Tri-X and Plus-X and brings back good memories of clunky metal cameras and darkrooms. I have been trying to get that look back in photoshop, and although I don't think I will ever be able to really replicate the dynamic range and that certain quality of black and white film, I like the way these turned out. I made my own photoshop action of the process, and I used it for all of these shots. If anyone wants me to send them a copy of the action just do the following: "like" my page on facebook, and send me an email titled "black and white action" and I will send it over for your photoshopping enjoyment!

Model: Pamela Bell

Bend over backwards...no one will even notice. Set yourself on fire...they'll ask "who was that?"

2012-01-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Model: Alissa Laderer

Behind the scenes of the Christmas card

2011-12-30T23:30:00.002-05:00

Wanted to show a little of what went into making the Christmas card this year. I started by setting the camera on a tripod and getting the angle first. Then I arranged the village in a way that looked good from the camera perspective, with a foreground, middle, and background area. I used a black king-sized bed sheet as the background.

Then I put up a softbox with a CTO-gel as the main light, and a bare speedlight in the back for the "moonlight." By gelling the main light warm, and shooting in tungsten white balance, the back light goes blue and looks like moonlight.

I kept the light in the back bare (no grid) because I wanted to get that glowing flare effect in the camera.

Here is the scene straight out of the camera...I also used a little flashlight for some minor light painting to brighten up the people in the front and the sleds. The exposure was f/16, 3.2 seconds, ISO 100. Why 3.2 seconds you might ask? Well that is precisely the amount of time for the lights inside the little shops to have a proper exposure at f/16. And f/16 was chosen for depth-of-field. I was lighting everything else with flash, but those 2 parameters were dictated by the incandescent bulbs in the village buildings and the need for a large DOF.

The lamps are lit, but I needed to drag the shutter (4 minute exposure) to get the tiny LED lights to register. I messed up here and should have also fired the flashes as it would have made the compositing easier later...lesson learned!

Next, I shot the star ornament which would later be put in where the flash is in the back of the scene. In photoshop I fixed the top of the star where the string was to make it look symmetrical.

Then I shot some regular old Christmas lights against the black sheet at f/22, 70 seconds to get them to look like stars. Later I cloned them and moved them all over the place to make the starry background of the card. Keeping the background pure black made this part easy.

After all of this, I was pretty done and wanted to pack it in. However, the Missus convinced me that Santa was definitely a necessary part of the card, so I set up the same lighting as I used for the village scene and shot Santa and all his reindeer!

That was enough for one day, so I packed it in. A week later we rearranged some furniture to shoot ourselves...

I used a 60" umbrella with a CTO gel on camera left, and the same bare flash up behind the black sheet background, so that the light would be similar to that used to light the village scene. This helps bring things together and keep the consistency in the final composite. We also used the same cotton fake snow stuff on the ground to make blending us in to the scene easier later...

Above is the final shot we chose. I added the "GWC" writing on the bag and then slapped it all together in photoshop. I did some minor dodge and burn, and made fake shadows at our feet, trying to simulate the same angle as the shadows of the figures to the left of the frame. Here is the final version:

The second error I made with the card is one of focal point...when I originally pictured the scene I wanted to place us further into the scene, about half way between the benches and the guys with the gifts. So that's where I set the focus. However, once everything was shot I thought we were just too small back there and decided to move us to the front of the scene. Of course, now we are in focus, where the rest of the scene was out of focus. Well there was no way I was re-shooting the scene again, so I made us a little blurry in photoshop and that was good enough for me. I mean, let's not get crazy here :)

Hope you enjoyed the card, and all the madness that went into making it!

Have a great new year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

Walking in a winter wonderland!

Here is the Christmas card for this year! I can't take credit for the idea...Mrs. GWC thought that it would be cool if we could shrink down and go for a walk in her Christmas village. The rest was easy...just 10 hours of shooting every single object in the scene separately and another few hours mashing it all together in Photoshop! :)

Hope everyone has a great holiday, and a Happy New Year! I hear 2012 will be great, so GET EXCITED!

In case you wanted to see the old ones...
2009 card
2010 card

Your excuses are weak and nobody's listening anyway.

2011-12-18T21:54:00.000-05:00

Model: Alissa Laderer

Headshots with Pamela Bell

2011-12-14T19:41:00.000-05:00

Testing out the new 135 mm lens...check out that bokeh!

Pamela Bell

These tank tops are NOT for sale!

2011-12-10T23:19:00.001-05:00

Seriously, you can't buy them! It's a long story...

I originally started out with a different company for the T-shirts, but things didn't work out, as they seemed to consistently mess up the shirts. Usually the graphics were printed about 4 inches away from where they were supposed to be, or they were printed crooked, stuff like that. So I eventually got fed up with the nonsense and dumped them for spreadshirt! And they have been just great!

However, they require that I design a special type of file for certain apparel, like these tank tops. This special something is called a vector design, and I don't have the time or energy or the right program at this point to make a vector easily! So I had this tank top from the old company, and figured I should at least shoot it. Eventually I will figure out vectors and try to make some tanks available for the summer-time!

Alissa is wearing an *agency represented tank top in size small. Hopefully one day you can buy one too!

GWC T-shirt store

Don't let them get you too.

2011-12-03T00:19:00.000-05:00

Never let them see how deep the fire inside of you burns. Their weak culture and shallow minds will destroy everything that you give them. Offer them nothing as you push their bloated bodies out of your way. They could never understand you anyway.

Model: Ashley Laderer

GUYWITHCAMERA.NET Logo T-shirt

2011-11-27T10:01:00.001-05:00

If you really want to show your guy with camera pride, this is the shirt for you! Don't leave any room for interpretation...let people know exactly where you go to get your photo nerd on! It comes in both Men's and Women's styles and in a few different colors!

Added bonus: the chocolate brown color pictured here looks great with your aviators! My lovely model is wearing the fitted Bella T-shirt in size medium. It runs a size small, so make sure you order a size UP from what you normally wear if you don't want a skin-tight fit! It also comes in a standard-cut regular tee if that's what you're into! Visit the shop to check them out: GWC T-shirt Store!

Headshots with Alissa and the new 135L!

2011-11-26T08:33:00.001-05:00

Some new headshots with my new lens! It's the Canon 135 mm f/2L lens and I absolutely love it! People have already been asking "Why would you get a 135 mm prime lens? What does it do?" Well, the reasons I have been eying this amazing hunk of glass for the last year-plus are as follows:

1) I prefer shooting most things with prime lenses. Don't get me wrong, I still use my trusty zoom for lots of things, but when it comes to shooting in a controlled environment (portraits, etc) I reach for the prime lens most of the time. I like that I have to frame the shot by moving my feet and changing my angle, not just by zooming the ring on the lens. I find that I always have better composition with my prime lenses...with the added bonus that if I pick up a prime and really get into the shoot, I know that when I am looking over my shots later I won't find that I took a bunch of portraits at 30 mm because I got sloppy with the zoom lens. Using a prime locks in your focal length and gives you that perspective every time.

2) I knew I needed a lens with a longer focal length than what I already had. Before the 135, I had a 35, 50, 85, and 24-105. The 85 was my go-to lens for most serious work, but I remember back to the days of shooting with my old Rebel (crop-sensor) and I liked my 85 mm lens even better on that camera. Why was that? Because with the 1.6 crop factor it acted just like a 135 mm prime (85 x 1.6=136)...I just really like that length!

3) I was between the 70-200 zoom and the 135 prime. Since I planned on using the lens for a fair amount of low light work and wanted to really emphasize the creamy bokeh of a fast telephoto lens, I'd need the 70-200 in the f/2.8 model. Well, that's a >$2,000 lens, so that was definitely part of my decision. I also knew that I'd end up shooting most things between 100 and 150 mm anyway, so it was kind of overkill, and it's huge and white and weighs a ton! If I shot weddings for a living it would be a must-have because of the zoom and length, but for me these things were not needed. Especially after reading reviews for the 135 mm f/2L. People tend to describe this lens with terms usually reserved for a romantic partner, like "amazing, fallen in love, mind-blowing, best choice I ever made" you get the point!

Well, after using the lens for a few shoots, I can agree with the terms of endearment used above. I love this lens, and I'm so happy I just went for it! The focal length is my favorite. The colors and contrast just pop off the screen. It's razor-sharp wide open at f/2, which is simply amazing at that focal length. It focuses insanely fast and is built like a tank. It RULES!

Model: Alissa Laderer

INKED: Shani

2011-11-20T00:00:00.001-05:00

Shani, 22, professional baller

At what age did you get your first tattoo? Have you gotten your last one yet?

I got my first tattoo at the tender age of 16. Hope to never get my last one!

What’s the significance of your largest tattoo?

The term "largest" is actually pretty debatable, but I'm gonna say the pieces on the backs of my thighs. They say "Fiat Lux", which means "Let there be light" in Latin. Hopefully I'll at least have the light inside me whenever all others go out. Sounds cheesy, but really. And God said...you know.

What does your ink say about you?

It says that I am a huge nerd, basically. And I mean "nerd" in the coolest sense. :)

Do people see you differently now? How?

I think people think I'm "tough" or "cool" or something...go figure.

What do you want to say to the world?

Don't cry over spilled milk. There are people dying of thirst in Africa. Save your tears, and make a sculpture out of the milk-dampened earth. Then sell that shit on Ebay. PROFIT!

You can (and should) find Shani on facebook here: Shani Whitfield

*Agency Represented T-shirt

2011-11-15T22:01:00.002-05:00

Why is there always an asterisk in *agency represented?

Ashley is wearing the *agency represented tee in size small. It also comes in black btw...

If you're agency represented, you need one of these to show the world...otherwise NO ONE will know that you're, you know, *agency represented! The T-shirt is American Apparel, so it has to be cool, and it also comes in a men's version. Check them out in the GWC T-shirt store.

Neon City

2011-11-11T08:09:00.000-05:00

Available light from some blue neons reflecting off a dark metal garage door in crowded Times Square. 5DII, f/2.5, 1/100th sec, ISO 1000, 85 mm lens.

Model: Usherka
MUA: Airah Morena

Internet Model T-shirt

2011-11-05T23:18:00.002-04:00

"OMG, this is going to look so hot on myspace, LOLZ!"

If you know what an internet model is, then you know this shirt is supposed to be funny. In fact, I laugh every time I see it, it's that funny! Hahahaha! See? If you don't know what an internet model is, don't worry...you're probably better off.

This shirt is a fitted style and runs small, so order a size up if you want a less snug fit. If you're an internet model, you will probably want the shirt to fit as tight as possible though. Did I mention that it also comes in blue, and is incredibly soft?

Disclaimer: Pam is not actually an internet model. However, she is wearing the internet model T-shirt in size small!

Bloody Halloween picture behind-the-scenes!

2011-11-04T23:35:00.001-04:00

Here they are...all my secrets revealed! This is the step-by-step process I used for the Halloween picture I posted last week. The first step was carrying a bunch of photography gear with me when I escaped from the city to a nice serene cabin on a lake in upstate NY for the weekend with my wife. The second step was figuring out what to do with it when I got there. I knew that I wanted to take a few minutes to set up a creepy horror-inspired shot when we were there...I mean what better place than an isolated cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere? Once we saw the place first-hand (and killed some large spiders that called the cabin home before we got there), I knew I wanted to work the fireplace and the mantle above somehow into the shot. The TV didn't get anything but static and was just for watching DVDs, so that seemed cool too...kind of reminded me of the movie "The Ring." Lastly, I knew that those windows with the curtains would look positively un-horrifying without a little moonlight shining through them to give that nightmare feel to the shot, so moonlight would have to be manufactured.

Above is how I made the moonlight. It's just a bare flash on a light stand outside the cabin in some tree, and pointed at the two windows. It looks so blue because the white balance for the entire shot is very warm, like the tungsten setting on your camera. That shifts regular white light to blue, just like moonlight would look in a dream.

Here is the room from inside with just the moonlight flash firing. For this shot, I chose an aperture of f/7.1 for a good depth-of-field. Without any additional light, and before lighting the fire in the fireplace, the room is pretty much completely dark.

So to fix the general lack of photons in the room, I used a small softbox just out of the frame to camera right, across from the fireplace. I forgot to get a picture of the softbox placement, but it was pointing generally towards where my beautiful and talented model would be sitting in front of the TV. The goal here was to boost the level of light in the room enough to make an exposure, but I also wanted it to look like the fireplace was the main light source. To do that I needed my softbox to be even more warm in color than regular tungsten light, so the flash in the softbox got a double-CTO warming gel on it. A regular CTO gel would balance the flash with regular tungsten light temperature, and when I white balanced the picture to tungsten (to make the flash outdoors look like blue moonlight) the CTO'd flash would just look like plain old white light. So to make the light look like firelight when using a tungsten white balance, I had to go with double-CTO!

Something was missing in the above shot though. It didn't have that surreal dream-like quality to it. For that I had to slow down the shutter speed to 1 second (a tripod was essential) and let that firelight and the eerie light from the TV really soak in to the exposure. The flashes all fire off in about 1/10,000th of a second, so their contribution to the exposure didn't change. An added bonus of shooting with a slow shutter speed is the slight motion blur on the model from the ambient light, with the image of her staring into the camera frozen by the flash firing. I really liked the way it looked straight out of the camera!

Straight out of the camera (1 second, f/7.1, ISO 640)

To get the final image like you see below, I did a few things in photoshop. Most notable is that I used curves and a blue filter with layer masks to selectively enhance the blue tones on the model and make the light from the TV look more apparent. I also had to overlay the TV screen from a shot done at a fast shutter speed to capture the "snow" which all blends to whiteness at a 1 second shutter speed. Then I added a texture and the image was basically done. Oh, almost forgot...I painted in a lot of BLOOD! On the floor, the walls, handprints and footprints...that was fun! Maybe I was a little too subtle with the blood though, since only about half the people that saw the picture even noticed it! (Speaking of things no one noticed, can anyone find the other hidden Halloween thingy in the final picture???) When it all came together, it looked like this:

Lastly, I can't say I did this alone...I had lots of help from my wonderful model/wife...she nailed the look of the murderous spouse in the cabin deep in the woods...just the right amount of crazy and creepy in the look she's giving back to the camera to be kind of scary to me as her real-life husband. I think I will let her watch whatever she wants on TV from now on, even if it's just static...

Let her watch.

2011-10-29T23:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Halloween!

Guy With Camera T-shirts!

2011-10-28T21:59:00.001-04:00

Just when you couldn't get enough GWC, now you can wear GWC stuff too! I mean, it was about time right?

Seriously though, I have been looking for a way to support the site for a while now, and I wanted to stay away from ads and anything that would come off as annoying. I also like a good ironic T-shirt. So it was a no-brainer...and now guy with camera T-shirts are here! Every T-shirt I sell supports the site and the bottomless money-pit that is photography.

There are a few other designs already up on the GWC T-shirt site. And don't worry guys, there are more designs coming soon, especially for all the photographers out there!

Above, Pamela Bell is sporting the I heart GWC Tee in size small!

Enough blah blah blah about the lighting already!

2011-10-24T22:01:00.000-04:00

I don't always have to write all this stuff about lighting and other nonsense. Sometimes I just want to put up some pictures and be done with it. Don't believe me? How's this...

See, told you I could do it!

(cough)...on-camera flash...(ahem)

dammit!

Model: Usherka
MUA: Airah Morena

Goldilocks

2011-10-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

I found her sleeping in my bed...and to top it off, all of the porridge was gone!

I think my 5DII is messed up and has a light leak?

The answer to the lighting challenge!

2011-10-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

Last week I posted this picture on facebook and another one here on the blog, and wanted to see who could reverse engineer the lighting. It's a good exercise to try when you see a picture you like, since it helps you think about the way light behaves, and can allow you to figure out and learn from other people's work...how to recreate the lighting and so forth. Hey, it's not like most pictures you see in magazines or on billboards come with behind-the-scenes info in them! Plus it's fun when you get the answer right!

I only got a few responses on the facebook page, and both people came pretty close. I wasn’t surprised that no one got the exact setup…it was somewhat of an unusual one!

Here is another shot, taken with the same setup:

So where to begin? Let's start with the main light...first thing that you notice is that it's very big, which you can tell from the very soft shadows where her arm bends and on the skin by the shirt seams etc. Big light relative to the subject yields softness. Another clue is the background...which is one of those blue wood barriers around construction sites (the ones that usually say "POST NO BILLS")...which is lit uniformly as a result of a huge light source far away from the wall. You can also guess that it is on-axis (with the camera lens) since there really are no shadows on her face at all.

The next clue is in the eyes, which are the place to look if you're trying to reverse engineer lighting! In Kendra's eyes there are actually two clues. The first is a dead giveaway: you can actually see the giant light source itself as a catch light and you can again tell it is on-axis since the reflection is right in the middle of the eye. The second way to tell it is on- axis just by looking at the eyes is that you can see my reflection right in the middle of her eye, as a slit-like area where there is no catch light, since I am standing in between the light source and the model!

So we have established that the main light is a single huge light source on camera axis. What could be that big as to also illuminate the wall behind her? You can tell it's not the 60-inch umbrella I own since you can't see spokes in the catch lights. An 8-foot octabox could do it, but c'mon, I have a budget to adhere to and that is just not something you carry around outdoors! Likewise, it could probably be a softlighter or something similar, but I don't have one of those either! A big translucent scrim or a white sheet or shower curtain with some strobes blasting through it would work too, and can be done on the cheap, but that's not what I used here.

OK, OK, enough already...I'll show you what it was!

We turned a corner and were probably going to end the shoot at that point, but instead we randomly found these big light cubes and just had to do something with them! It turns out that the other sides were open and they apparently sell clothes and stuff inside the cube thingy, but one of them also doubled as a pretty neat huge softbox. And they meet the definition of "available light" being that they were available for me to shoot in front of :)

As for the hair/rim light that you see off to camera right, that was just a bare strobe on a V.A.L. about ten feet back to camera right, held by my pal Frank.

Wasn't that fun? I think I will do little contests like these once and a while and totally at random, only next time there will be a prize! Maybe a custom photoshop action made by yours truly, or something else cool that I have on the way (ooo! mystery prizes!) The only catch is that I will announce these contests on my facebook page first, so facebook fans will get a several-day head start! And the first correct response wins it! So go over and become a fan on facebook won't cha?

Model: Kendra Richards
MUA: Tatyana @ Visage Allure
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

GWC the book?

2011-10-14T15:32:00.001-04:00

Well not exactly...it's not like it's in the library or anything. But for my real birthday (which happens to be today), my very thoughtful wife compiled my first year of blog posts and published them as a book! She did this secretly, at nights or when I wasn't home..so needless to say I was very surprised!

It was really neat to see one year of posts all in one place, and it made me realize a few things. I write more than I thought I did! Some of the entries were a few typed pages without pictures, which is funny because as of late I have been trying to make the blog more about the pictures and less about the verbiage. I also realized that I don't print stuff as often as I should. There is just something tangible and satisfying about holding a book in your hands and not reading everything off a computer screen. Same goes for prints of photos...all this fancy technique so I can look at a picture on the computer screen...what's up with that? Also, if the internet ever goes kaput, GWC will be safely preserved in paper format for future generations to enjoy! But in all seriousness, seeing the blog printed and bound made it feel more significant for some reason...more of a cohesive thing and less like my random ramblings.

So needless to say, GWC: Volume II is going to be next. If I am lucky it will have another intro written by Mrs. GWC. Oh, I didn't mention the intro already? Well she wrote a super-loving and supportive little dedication in the beginning and that made me a little sappy when I read it. Whatever, it's my birthday and I can get sappy if I want to, especially in my old age...

Thanks babe :)

Just do what you know

2011-10-13T17:00:00.004-04:00

From the time you notice that the sky looks pretty, you have about 2 minutes to catch it and then the light is gone. Speed light into a white umbrella on a light stand held up high...no time to think about getting fancy.

Speaking of lighting stuff:

How was this lit? Hint, it was shot outdoors after the sun was completely down (as in, it was dark outside.) All the clues you need to figure it out are in the picture itself and you can reverse engineer the lighting that way!

I posted another example on my facebook page taken with the same setup...so go over there and be my friend and take a guess! Winner gets mad props on my blog, but in the future I will have fun little contests like these with actual cool giveaways, and facebook fans will get first dibs! You know what to do :) GWC facebook page

Model: Kendra Richards
MUA: Tatyana @ Visage Allure
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Color is still my favorite...

2011-10-08T00:01:00.003-04:00

Model: Kendra Richards
MUA: Tatyana @ Visage Allure
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Sometimes black and white is better.

2011-10-04T21:40:00.001-04:00

Model: Kendra Richards
MUA: Tatyana @ Visage Allure
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

INKED: Andrea Lee Duncan

2011-09-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

Andrea Lee Duncan, 25, agency-represented actress

At what age did you get your first tattoo? Have you gotten your last one yet?

I got my first ink when I was 18, many piercings before that. I “design” all of my tats to represent a significance in my life...whether it be a person, event, saying, etc. Out of my nineteen tattoos, 3/4 are in a different language, mainly Sanskrit or Korean. I’ve never looked at a tattoo in a parlor and pointed at it and chose it. I graphically design or draw all of my tattoos. My 19th is not my last....I am working on a quarter sleeve and have no intention of stopping additions to it.

What’s the significance of your largest tattoo?

My largest tattoo is a color monet of the late jazz singer Amy Winehouse. She is one of my biggest artistic influences. I got that one alone with a song lyric by her in October of last year.

Do people see you differently now? How?

People stop and look at them and ask questions frequently....everyone has some opinion to offer or some judgment. I just listen and nod. I see people as being more judgmental than a human has the right to be. People see me differently in many, many ways....it just depends who you ask.

I'm two!

2011-09-14T06:23:00.001-04:00

The blog turns two years old today! I feel so grown up...two years in blog years is like 10 years in human years;)

This last year has been a good one too! I had some more time in the studio earlier in the year. I did that 50/50 project thing (so glad it was only 50 days!) I started documenting some of the places from my childhood. And there were a bunch of shoots that I was really happy with the outcome of!

I learned that it's always better to shoot with an assistant outdoors...so now I am always on the lookout for some willing hands! Same goes for a make-up artist. I never fully appreciated how important a good MUA is to a shoot until I started getting into photoshop more and saw the difference in the final outcome! I've also learned that if you have your camera with you a lot, you will get better pictures and have interesting opportunities present themselves to you more than if you leave the camera at home. I've become far less shy in just taking out the huge SLR and taking pictures in all kinds of situations. Why not right?

I also finally got a real domain name for the blog this year, which seems trivial but to me was a big step! So now you can tell your friends (please do) that WWW.GUYWITHCAMERA.NET is the place to be! Blog traffic has been up also. So "thank you" new fans! And "thank you" old fans times two for sticking around!

So where is this guy with camera going in the next year? Lots of places! I have some new projects on the horizon to keep the next year interesting. If you call yourself a photographer, I think it's important to give yourself projects to do that will help you grow. Otherwise, unless you're so busy from getting paid work, the natural tendency is to read more about photography than to actually do photography: Before you know it you're lucky if you get your camera out of the bag once a month to shoot snapshots at family parties, and you're bored out of your mind! So projects serve to make sure that photography remains an action, something I do, not just something I read about or consume online!

I started a project called INKED which should be long-term...and I will look to continue this as the weather gets colder. I am thinking about trying out a new genre called 'street photography' which will really force me to do a lot of things that I am uncomfortable with, and consequently grow as a photographer. I am also getting into stock photography, and will be looking to do much more of that in the coming year. When I have time, I am also going to make some photoshop tutorials for everyone. And I have one last project that is different from all of the above, but I can't unveil that one until I'm ready...so you will have to stay tuned for details...

Lastly, I would just like to thank my beautiful wife for all the support on the photography thing over the past several years. I know that sometimes it can be annoying to be married to a GWC, but your encouragement really keeps me going. I love you!

All-in-all, I am very happy with where this blog has taken me, and I hope to continue for a long, long time. Lots of things will change over time, but I will always be guy with camera (dot net baby, yeah!!!)

Ten years after 9/11/01

2011-09-11T09:01:00.000-04:00

I was in the right place at the right time last week, and had a chance random opportunity to go to the top of the newly-constructed 7 World Trade Center building. I tried to get a few good pictures, window-glare aside.

Ground Zero

Inside 7 World Trade Center.

1 World Trade Center (aka Freedom Tower) under construction.

Ten years later, and I think the September 11th attacks make me angrier now than they did at the time. Watching all the recycled news footage of the planes going into the buildings instantly brings back all those feelings I had 10 years ago...a 20 year-old college kid who could smell the smoke from his apartment in the Bronx, who was angry, frustrated, and saddened. At that time, I was hoping that we'd nuke the shit out of whatever country supported the people behind the attacks, and anywhere else that shared the same fundamentalist mentality. If your society has willingly failed to make progress since the middle-ages, it was time for us to help you along with some of the advanced technology that capitalism has helped create. Did we really need to pinpoint the offending individuals, or could we just figure out their location within 500 miles and annihilate with a wide margin?

Ten years later and I'm glad that cooler heads prevailed. There is a reason that our country isn't led by pissed-off 20 year-old guys. And although it seems like we have made some progress in the world, we have also had some misadventures. Overall, I don't feel much safer, and think another attack of some sort is bound to happen eventually. It's just the nature of a free society; someone will take advantage, and something will eventually get through.

FDNY Engine 343

If it happens again, will we continue to hold back and show our humanity? Should we?

Never forgive, never forget.

INKED: J. Michael Kent

2011-09-07T21:48:00.000-04:00

I have always been fascinated with tattoos. Especially the big colorful ones in conspicuous places that people can't hide. Something about just going for it and permanently altering your image in a way that people notice within two seconds of meeting you seems both scary and exciting.

INKED is my new portrait series focusing on people with significant tattoos. The kind of tattoos that can't be hidden with a T-shirt. The kind of tattoos that can affect job opportunities and social interactions. The kind of tattoos that can also look really damn cool! Those are the people I am looking for! So without further delay, here is the first subject, and a mini-interview:

J. Michael Kent, 29, Transporter

At what age did you get your first tattoo? Have you gotten your last one yet?

Sixteen. There will be many more tattoos to come!

What’s the significance of your largest tattoo?

I have two half-sleeves on my left arm and to be honest they don't hold much significance. I'm attracted to vivid colors and artwork and was lucky enough to work with an artist who understood that.

What does your ink say about you?

Some of it represents my interests for sci-fi and horror. Definitely leaning more towards sci-fi. My interest for horror-themed tattoos is growing more and more and I can't wait to get started. My other tattoos represent my views toward artwork.

Do people see you differently now? How?

I don't focus my attention on anyone who would view my tattoos in a negative way. It's awesome that tattoos are now more socially accepted because it allows me not to be viewed differently.

Last few from Ireland

2011-09-05T12:21:00.004-04:00

The Burren

In no particular order, here are the last few pics worth posting from our trip to Ireland...enjoy!

JUMP!

Cliffs of Moher

The Mrs. and some birds

Looking out to sea

Guy W. O'Camera

Of course, the photo credit of the pictures of yours truly goes to Mrs. GWC!

I would do it all again if I had the chance.

2011-08-30T22:23:00.000-04:00

Wandering for hours, I was weary when I found her. A goddess from the sea, she said she had been waiting a lifetime for me. I fell unconscious after we made love on the rocks, and she dragged my body into the water and drowned me. The strong tail of a fish where legs once were. Just before my lungs filled with the cold blue water, I opened my eyes to look at her one last time. The smile on my face surprised her! I only pretended to be sleeping.

WWW.GUYWITHCAMERA.NET

2011-08-25T19:48:00.000-04:00

Big news here! I finally bought a legitimate website name! I've been putting this off since the beginning almost 2 years ago because guywithcamera(dot)com was already bought in 2005 by some jackass hoping to make money off the URL in the future...so I tried waiting him out, but I couldn't wait any longer for that name to become available. So I took out a big loan, and spent the entire $10 on www.guywithcamera.net! Yes, that's right, ten American dollars which is about the price of lunch in the city if you get a Snapple too, and I like my Snapples!

Anyway, now you can tell your friends that www.guywithcamera.net is just the coolest blog, and the name is so easy to remember! Besides, dot-com is overrated...it's so late-1990s...

On an unrelated note, here are some more pictures from Ireland!

There were these neat broken-down stone cottages all over the place, usually in fields filled with cows and sheep.

This is the (ironic) heel-click jump, usually reserved for beautiful sunny days...however at the time it was only getting colder, windier, and when it finally started to rain yet again, Noreen busted this move!

Beware the pub-gnome.

As soon as the rain stopped and the sun came out...we wasted no time pulling the car over and doing this...other tourists who were just pulling over to look at the scenery were half-amazed, half-appalled...what, have they never seen a tripod?

This stone circle is apparently from earlier than 500 B.C. and is in the town of Kenmare, about a 2 minute walk from the center of town down a small path. The boulder in the middle is about 7 tons, and obviously we had to jump on it and conjure creepy old birds from the sky! No tripod here, just rested the camera on one of the stones, set the 10 second self-timer and ran like hell :)

Has everyone had enough of the Ireland pics? No? OK, that's good because there are more to come...

There will always be a way

2011-08-20T08:20:00.001-04:00

There were few left after the bombs fell. She rose from the sea, immune to the radiation, a new species. Post-apocalyptic woman. The birds grew in numbers, feasting on the carcasses of the dead, but they paid her no mind.

The Burren, County Clare, Ireland

Siren Song

2011-08-16T06:09:00.002-04:00

For a split-second, you're not completely certain that a hidden part of you won't take you over the edge...just to see what it would feel like.

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Ireland

2011-08-07T10:10:00.000-04:00

Dublin at night

Here are a few of my faves from our recent vacation in Ireland, from the first three days of the trip when it rained almost every day. The sun sets around 10:30 at night, and in Dublin, the night sky was this amazing turquoise blue color right after sunset. That color ain't photoshop! It was so cool.

Glendalough

There are a lot of ancient graveyards in Ireland. Glendalough was a 6th century monastery until the English destroyed it in 1398, which is a common theme in Ireland. Everywhere you look there is a monument or sign about something the English did, or someone that was brutally flogged or hanged or tortured etc. Oh those silly English troops...

Blarney Castle grounds

Most amazing tree ever in the Blarney Castle gardens

This tree was crazy...growing sideways off the ground and huge! With a little help, I was able to boost Neen into the tree, and she is sitting on her jacket since the tree was all wet from the rain. When it was my turn, I kind of just took a running start and jumped on it like it was a huge horse, almost splitting my pants in the process...and yes she got a picture of it.

Ancient burial ground on Valentia Island

Valentia Island is this tiny island off the western coast of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. There is a five minute ferry ride to the island, and it is the westernmost settlement in Europe. We went to the westernmost coast of the island and yelled as loud as we could over to Montauk Point on Long Island, but I was disappointed to find out after we returned from our trip that no one heard us. Maybe they didn't have the windows open in the lighthouse, or maybe they were playing really loud music? I don't know what the problem was, cause we yelled reaaaally loud!

The sun came out for the second half of the trip, and the pictures are just so much better when it's not raining. Stay tuned...

Meet people. Do things. You only live once.

2011-07-30T12:22:00.000-04:00

You cross paths with a lot of people in life, often for a short period of time, and then never see them again. This happens often in my line of work; a place where people are constantly rotating in and out, and you will work with someone closely for a few weeks and then they're gone forever.

Mirabell was visiting NYC from Munich and like many other Europeans, she has racked up quite a list of countries that she has visited or lived in over the past several years. She already had her PhD and was in NYC to finish up getting her MD. A few weeks after leaving NY, she was off to live in Rome for a while! It's the kind of thing that we just don't often see people do here in the US, so it's kinda interesting. Well, more than that...I'm kinda jealous! I feel like lots of people here in the US, especially those who want to work in a competitive field (and I am definitely talking about myself here) get so focused on the long term goal that we forget to take opportunities to do interesting things along the way, like travel the world. I could have probably done some away time in Europe or somewhere else in college or beyond, but I never did because I had blinders on and could only see the straight path to the end, and getting there as fast as possible.

And then you meet someone like Mirabell who has done all of these thing and still finished some serious schooling on-time, and you find out that it can be accomplished. Then you just feel lazy!

She knew that I had this blog, so on a whim on her last day in NY I asked her to take a few portraits. This was not some planned-out photoshoot, the wardrobe was whatever she wore to work that day, and the camera equipment was what I had on me to take a few pictures at a party later that day. She said yes (obviously since you're looking at the pictures!) and we spent a few minutes outside shooting. It just finished raining and the combination of bright sunlight and fast-moving clouds made it hard to find reliable shade to shoot in, but we managed. She told me that she had no experience in front of the camera, but she was a natural!

So don't be afraid to just ask someone you know (or just met) to pose for a few pictures...it's a fun way to spend some time getting to know someone, and the pictures you make together only exist because you asked! What do you have to lose?

I made an amateur mistake here and cut off her left arm with the framing...whoops! Shot these extra quickly since it was on this red-carpeted entrance to this fancy apartment building and we had to wait for the doorman to turn his back then run and shoot guerrilla-style!

Rose petals and cupcakes...

2011-07-23T09:59:00.001-04:00

that's what she's made of!

I dated this babe in college...

2011-07-17T09:32:00.001-04:00

She thinks that she is just a regular girl, but she is wrong. I know that she is a hardworking Ph.D., an amazing wife, skilled baker, thoughtful friend, and pretty awesome person overall. I'd also use the words beautiful, funny, and sweet if I had to construct a sentence about her.

But for as perceptive as she is in everyday life, what she doesn't know is that I am secretly turning her into a model! Ta-da! Well actually that's not entirely true...I guess she did know something was up when I dragged her into a studio and shot pictures of her for a few hours! I'm not as slick as I thought...

It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while with her. She had no choice but to say yes, since I told her it was for her birthday. What the hell kind of sick joke gift is that? (I will probably find out when I get 6 months of advanced Tango lessons for my next birthday...yayyyy!) Well, we did do other stuff for her birthday, and it did turn out to be a lot of fun (yes for both of us) so there! And now my wife can say that she has the obligatory random jumping shot of herself!

And who wouldn't want that?

More to come...

MUA: Danielle Klatsky

Back home

2011-07-14T09:21:00.000-04:00

We're back from a very fun week in Ireland! I'm going through all the pictures now and will have some updates coming soon, so stay tuned!

Bright white sunlight

2011-06-25T18:24:00.002-04:00

One of the techniques I wanted to try with Pam was that strongly backlit, sunny lens-flare look. However, the weather just didn't cooperate with us! It was late in the day and the sun was low in the sky, but it was hidden behind a thick white cloudy mist. You know what I'm talking about-the kind of day that is biting cold, damp, windy...the type of cold weather that cuts right through your clothes and gets into your bones, but weirdly enough it was still bright as anything!

Anyway, I need to stop rambling about the weather. I'm losing your interest fast...let's move on to photo stuff.

So I shot these pics with the 50 mm f/1.4 lens. I chose this lens because I wanted to shoot at really wide apertures--like around f/2-ish to get that dreamy blur effect going on. However, trying to focus on a person using a fast lens in a strongly backlit situation is pretty much setting your auto-focus system up for failure...which is exactly what my AF system did. It just doesn't work well in backlit scenes. I already knew this, since I've tried to shoot in this kind of light before and failed to get even half the shots in focus using AF.

Now I am no stranger to manual focusing...it was the only kind of focusing available for the old film camera that I first started messing around with in high school. That camera had a really nice big bright focusing screen inside, so that when you looked through the eyepiece you could actually turn the focus ring on the lens and see what was in focus! Amazing concept right? It just worked--so that when something was in-focus, it jumped out at you; and when something was out-of-focus, it looked blurry...you could just tell. Not so with most DSLRs now, where the difference between "almost-in-focus" and "in-focus" are very subtle and almost impossible to appreciate if not in an ideal lighting situation.

So I went and bought a new focusing screen. It's the little piece of polished glass that your camera's mirror reflects what you point the lens at (the image), and is actually what you're looking at when you stick your eye in the viewfinder of your SLR. The one I got is called the "precision" focusing screen because it allegedly allows you to better appreciate the subtle differences between perfectly in-focus and not so perfectly in-focus (aka out-of-focus). It's a 2-second procedure to swap out the screens, and pretty easy to do.

And it works! I shot all of these using manual focus, and although there were still a bunch of blurry ones, I still got more than 50% of the shots in-focus, and this is as difficult of a focusing situation as there is...it's like trying to read the writing on a 200-Watt light bulb that is turned on! If I'd used the AF, I bet about 10% would be in focus, but even more annoying is that the camera won't let me press the shutter without the AF locking on something...which sometimes never happens when shooting into the sun. So in conclusion, the precision focusing screen is a winner!

In the end, I will have to try another day for the sun drenched look I originally was going for. But I am pretty happy with the look of these too...I like the contrast of the almost all-white background with the bright red and blue colors of the model and the dreamy look of the fast primes...the poses are pretty neat too! By the way, Andy was holding a silver reflector off to camera right if you were wondering.

Thanks to:
Model/MUA: Miss Pam
Assistants: Tom C and Andy B

Hey you! Don't be a stranger! If you're reading, don't be afraid to leave me a comment below once and a while! It makes me smile :)

Take me home

2011-06-19T08:37:00.000-04:00

We were literally packing it up for the day, everyone was cold from being outside; Alissa was freezing and put on her coat and wrapped her head in that shawl thingy for warmth. There was this subway station in the sunlight that I thought looked like a cool place to shoot, so I threw on the ol'85 mm and asked for five more minutes. Well it turned into about 15 minutes of shooting, with Alissa changing poses without any direction from me at all (always a plus!) and Frank holding a reflector off to camera right to fill in some shadows. We were in a high-traffic place and the hardest thing was timing the shots to avoid all the people using the subway!

I guess what I am trying to say is that when you have a great team and the shoot is going well, look for those little opportunities before you put your camera away for good...sure, it's an extra few minutes invested, but I just love the picture all the way up top with the taxi in the background. It's so NYC:) Totally worth it!

Thanks again to:
Model: Alissa Laderer
MUA: Danielle Klatsky
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Nowhere to hide...

2011-06-16T06:45:00.000-04:00

when you're dancing in the late-afternoon sunlight.

Model/MUA: Miss Pam
Assistants: Tom C and Andy B

Winter Nights

2011-06-10T05:27:00.000-04:00

From a recent shoot with the NYC metal band Winter Nights. They were a cool bunch of guys and fun to shoot with!

alternate version of the first shot...which one is better?

Winter Nights is the band's site.

Black and White

2011-06-07T06:12:00.000-04:00

The last few pictures with Sheri...another great outfit change later and we found this little pedestrian bridge thingy and it looked like a good place to shoot. Had to work hard to frame the shots to keep distracting background elements and people out of the frame. Didn't get a set-up shot, but Olga was just behind Sheri (off to the left of the frame) and holding the reflector up overhead to block hard sunlight from hitting her hair and face. Over-exposing a stop or so gets the face just right, at the risk of blowing out the highlights in other places...such is life!

When working in tight spaces, small changes in the photographer's angles can make totally different pictures...move around your subject a little and see what you can do!

Model, wardrobe, hair: Sheri Mallin
Make-up artist, assistant: Olga Albova

Miss Pam!

2011-06-02T18:54:00.005-04:00

A shoot with my friend Miss Pam. We've kinda known each other for a long time: we went to high school together! We reconnected on facebook a while back when I saw she did make-up, and she did the make-up for this shoot. Anyway, one thing led to another, and we planned a shoot in NYC. She's a dancer, dance instructor, make-up artist, model, and all around talent!

Shot the whole thing with a 50 mm and 85 mm prime, which isn't totally unusual for me. However, what was unusual is that I left my trusty 24-105 mm zoom at home on purpose. I know that lens rocks and wanted to work without having it available to rely on. Almost everything was natural light with one reflector hand-held by my awesome assistants Tom and Andy, who volunteered their time to help out (much appreciated guys!) Used a strobe in an umbrella for the shots with the green background that look "lit" just to mix it up.

More to come from this shoot soon...

Model/MUA: Miss Pam
Assistants: Tom C and Andy B

Miss Alissa

2011-05-26T05:39:00.000-04:00

More from the last shoot with Alissa...after a quick outfit change we were looking around for cool backgrounds that also happened to be in the sun, since it was cold out! Found this great place with an overhanging awning that made cool shadows on the wall. Sun was behind Alissa to her left (camera right) which you can tell by looking at her shadow on the ground. Lighting for all of these were two reflectors hand held by Frank and Danielle: one big white one just to camera left for fill, and the shiny gold/silver side of the California Sunbounce reflector slightly more to the left. The shiny reflector was acting as a key light since it was reflecting back direct sunlight. When you use a reflector like this it can be really bright, and you can see the giant beam of light it gives off and often the model can't look in that direction because it's almost the same as trying to look into the sun!

With an experienced model who knows how to pose without any instruction needed, shooting in natural light like this is great. There is no recycle time to worry about like when shooting with strobes, and you are not limited by sync speed. Alissa dances around and changes her pose every 2 seconds and I click the shutter and get all these pic in under five minutes...how great is that?!

Model: Alissa Laderer
MUA: Danielle Klatsky
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Sometimes you just need less sun...

2011-05-20T22:37:00.000-04:00

Shooting people in the open shade usually leads to nice soft flattering light...but what can you do when you are faced with bright noon sunlight that's pretty much right overhead creating ugly shadows everywhere?

Block it! (I think "flagging" is the technical term for that...) By putting something opaque between your model and the sun, you have eliminated the hard sunlight and are left with nice diffuse lighting. In this case, I had the California Sunbounce Micro Mini reflector on hand, so we used that as a flag. With Olga holding it for us, we were able to move around and make sure the flag was just where it was needed.

The key when shooting like this is to expose properly for the skin, and let the background blow out to almost white. Usually this requires an over exposure of the scene by about a stop or so. It's a really simple technique that's portable and great for shooting out in busy places where light stands etc are not an option, provided you have an assistant to help out!

Model, wardrobe, hair: Sheri Mallin
Make-up artist, assistant: Olga Albova

Behind the scenes...simple dramatic lighting on location!

2011-05-18T06:07:00.000-04:00

The lighting here was pretty simple...just one speedlight through a white umbrella, with a 1/4 CTO warming gel. The background was underexposed by a stop. Frank held the light overhead and instead of the typical 45-degree angle to the ground, he feathered the light so that the umbrella was more like 20-degrees from parallel to the ground, and only the edge of the beam was used to light the face. The result is more subtle light with some more character...not the typical "expose everything" that happens when you point the umbrella straight at a person!

the setup for the full-body shots: for the actual pictures, he lifted the umbrella up higher and tilted it down more

For the closer shots, Danielle helped out by holding a reflector below the umbrella, effectively creating clamshell lighting on location! Easy as that to get flattering fill and nice shadows and depth all with one speedlight!

here is our makeshift clamshell lighting...you can tell it was cold out when the hoods are up

Thanks to:
Model: Alissa Laderer
MUA: Danielle Klatsky
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Polka Dots

2011-05-18T06:02:00.001-04:00

More with Sheri,out in full daytime sun. The strategy for these shots was just to have her keep her back to the bright overhead sun as much as possible. Olga helped out by holding a small white reflector off to the side to bounce in some fill light. By exposing for the skin, which is mostly in the shade (since her back is to the sun), we got a nice airy feel to these. The cost is some blown highlights in certain places where the full sun got her, but that's OK by me!

I like the hairlight provided by the overhead sun!

An in-between shot...a tiny stolen moment between poses...I like when I catch these.

More to come...

Model, wardrobe, hair: Sheri Mallin
Make-up artist, assistant: Olga Albova

Nautilus

2011-05-14T09:02:00.000-04:00

This is the Nautilus Diner in Massapequa on Long Island. Growing up nearby it was the go-to diner, and a staple in the rotation of places to go and eat. I went there as a kid with my parents at least twice a month. I'd walk there with friends when we were too young to drive. In high school, we'd go there all the time late at night...driven by a mix of hunger and boredom and just not wanting to go home yet.

I could say that I "met" my wife at the Nautilus Diner. I was around 16 years old, it was my cousin's birthday and he reserved the big room that seats like 25 people for the party. We thought we were pretty cool, hanging out in a diner in the middle of the day :) I thought I knew most of his friends already, but then this cute blond girl walked in wearing a brown sweater, and I remember just watching her from the other end of the table. Not in a creepy way (yeah right!), but more of a "I want to get to know you" way. She had to leave early and we never spoke, so I guess you can say that "met her" wouldn't be 100-percent accurate! The next time I saw her was freshman year of college, and at first she didn't believe me when I told her that I remembered her from the Nautilus Diner two years back...until I told her what she was wearing that day and that she left early in a rush. Then she remembered: her dad broke his ankle that day and had to get surgery and her mom came to pick her up early! Fast-forward to present day: her dad is fine, and we have been married for almost 7 years!

I have so many other Nautilus stories...the one where I threw a stinkbomb and caused calamity among diner-goers, or when my friend broke their payphone and the manager remembered me a year later and tried to make some sort of citizens-arrest at the table, causing me to grab my girlfriend at the time and run out the door, not to return until about 5 years later (also known as the age of the Massapequa Diner)! My dad called the place "The Nauseous" and others knew it simply as "Nautili" (pronounced like Nautil-eye, as in the pleural of Nautilus.)

Here is the place today:

Another part of my youth on Long Island, now just a memory...

The Walk of Shame

2011-05-07T17:41:00.001-04:00

The Walk of Shame

A concept I've been wanting to shoot for a while...Danielle did some great "morning after" makeup, Alissa worked it, and Frank helped out with the lighting. I am really happy with the way these came out!

Lots more of this shoot to come, and some lighting behind the scenes too!

Model: Alissa Laderer
MUA: Danielle Klatsky
Assistant: Franklin Abreu

Downtown Pin-Up

2011-05-02T23:07:00.001-04:00

I've always been a fan of the pin-up genre...but really, who isn't? It's iconic, and you are downright Un-American if you don't like this style! Here is a lightly pin-up inspired shoot that was a true collaboration between me, Sheri, and Olga. We all pitched in to make it happen!

Natural light and a reflector was the name of the game all day.

More to come...

Model, wardrobe, hair, posing expert: Sheri Mallin
Make-up artist, assistant/reflector ninja: Olga Albova

The Beach Club

2011-04-25T22:53:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking about this project for a long time now. "Project" is probably the wrong word for it...random diversion is more accurate. Whatever I end up calling it, here is the idea: I want to go back to places that I remember vividly from childhood and photograph them. Nothing too fancy and definitely no strict timeline in getting it done--but whenever I find myself on Long Island with my camera and a few minutes to kill, I have a growing list of places that I want to grab some pictures of.

I'm not exactly sure what my motivation for doing this is. I have had a lot of nostalgic feelings since moving out of my hometown on Long Island thirteen years ago to go to college. While I was back on Long Island four years later for grad school, I didn't live anywhere near Massapequa, which is where I grew up. For the past five years I have been living in NYC, and while it's only an hour away, I feel like I might as well be on another planet. I'm not trying to say that one is better or worse, they're just very different places. I have a lot of great memories of growing up on Long Island, and wouldn't trade my childhood there for anything! But now I love living in the city, so there!

Going back to Long Island now to visit family or friends, I often feel like a tourist on some strange voyage to a foreign country that is about 50 years past it's prime and in a state of despair. Most of the places I remember from childhood are gone...closed down or have been taken over by big retail chains and turned into strip-malls--cleaned up of their individuality. If I didn't know that I was only 10 minutes from where I grew up, you could have told me that I was driving through Nowhere, Middle America. Who could tell? Kohls, Target, McDonald's...it all looks the same. Gone was my family's favorite pizza place; gone is the comic book store that my friends and I used to ride our bikes to in the summer; gone is the father and son used-car place that I bought my 1986 Chevy Blazer from.

One day I just realized that everything I knew was disappearing...and hell, I should take some pictures of these places before they were all gone! So that's the plan. I hope that I find that some of the places are exactly the same as I remember them, but it will also be interesting to see what everything looks like nowadays too. Well it will be interesting to me at least!

The "Beach Club" was what we called the dead-end bayfront park near the house where I grew up. As a kid, I think it's one of the places that I remember the most.

where we'd chain our bikes

This was the spot...under this little pier thing is where we'd hang out when the tide was low enough and you could sit on the rocks. I learned some of the dirtier and funnier secrets of life by reading the graffiti written on the underside of this thing!

I was disappointed to see that all the stuff I carved into this pier was gone 20 years later!

I probably should have used a blue marker like this guy!

My friends and I thought standing on these wood beams was risky and cool and made us hardcore. WE WERE RIGHT. hahahaha!

the result of thousands of kids, picking and pulling at these with their hands over time...

The beach club used to be the go-to place throughout elementary school. It seemed really huge, and throwing those big rocks into the water, making little bonfires, and killing hours hanging out in the tall beach-grass (now all cut down) never seemed to get old. That was so long ago, and it felt really weird to go back there, alone, on a cold dreary day...

Fading light

2011-04-21T06:32:00.000-04:00

The sun was getting low enough in the sky at this point, making it easier to tame the harsh shadows with some careful positioning of the model and a reflector. I really like the one with the fence...both for the cool light, and because who puts a mail slot in a fence? And at eye-level too...what's that all about?

Model: Olia Ann

More with the 50...

2011-04-16T10:15:00.001-04:00

I like the look of the 50 mm lens used at fast apertures. These were all shot at f/2 or 2.8, which gives a nice dreamy bokeh. The trade off is the very thin depth-of-field, which can make keeping focus on the eyes a little difficult. Especially when you're also trying to hold a reflector in one hand!

Model: Olia Ann

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Thanks!

Save a strobe: use a reflector!

2011-04-13T19:53:00.002-04:00

With reflector (f/4, 1/160, ISO 100)

Without reflector (same settings)

Recently, I have been using reflectors much more than I used to...and I must say that they're quickly becoming my new favorite way to light! I guess I am the last to figure this out. I mean, reflectors are pretty much the most basic lighting tool you can use (besides nothing at all). You can use the white side of a reflector to add soft gentle light and fill in shadows, or the shiny side with direct sun to give a main light that is indistinguishable from a strobe. I have also been using them to block direct light and prevent harsh shadows when shooting in mid-day sunlight.

Here's the rundown on reflectors...

Pros: they're cheap, very portable and lightweight, and only require sunlight. You can shoot at any shutter speed (unlike strobes, which are limited by a sync speed). You can't really overpower your main light with a reflector-so it's hard to overdo it.

Cons: you need someone to hold your reflector (unless you want to carry a heavy reflector stand and still have it sail away in the slightest breeze). You are limited somewhat by where the sun is in terms of what angle you can use the reflector.

In the example above, you can see the huge difference that a white reflector adds to the lighting. The exposure settings are exactly the same...the only difference is a small reflector held a few feet away. These are straight out of camera. Cool huh?

BTW, you don't need to go out and buy a reflector. Anything that is flat and white or reflective will work...a big piece of white cardboard, some foam core (used for art projects), those shiny things that people put in their cars windshield to block the sun, a white wall, a big sheet, look around and be resourceful!

Model: Olia Ann

Travelling Light

2011-04-10T22:49:00.000-04:00

Shot a quick set on a bright sunny afternoon with only one reflector. The make-up artist had to cancel at the last minute, and she was the designated reflector holder...but we made due! Not as easy at it sounds...it's hard to hold a reflector and keep the camera steady!

More to come...

Model: Olia Ann

Back to the woods

2011-04-01T07:57:00.001-04:00

I really like shooting in the woods in Central Park. It's one of the few places in the city that doesn't feel like you're in a city. It's relatively quiet, and there are less people around getting in the backgrounds of the shots, or coming over and giving me uninvited commentary. (There are still some strange vagrants and sociopathic-looking birdwatchers wandering around in the woods...but that's why I make sure my make-up artist knows karate!)

Anyway, I keep revisiting this concept in my head of the girl in the woods, only it's more of a dream-like forest, a little surreal and weird, but also bright and airy and fun--like a good childhood memory relived in a daydream. It's something that I keep wanting to recreate until I get it just right.

Now if only the weather would cooperate with us! It was coooold in the woods, and I was wearing a full-on winter coat! Maybe this is a concept best revisited when it's not unseasonably frigid outside. The model was freezing! We stopped the shoot early, but I still got a few shots that I like.

Model: Kaitlin Kasey
MUA: Danielle Klatsky

Somewhere in Brooklyn

2011-02-27T23:12:00.003-05:00

Got to check out this cool abandoned old nun's convent in Brooklyn last weekend! Went to see my cousin's newest painting exhibit. The place was converted into a makeshift gallery of sorts-all the old nun's rooms were used to hang artwork...

This was written on one of the ceilings...scary!

Here is a picture of the creepy basement!

Here is the artist, and some cinnamon sticks.

There is the image, and then the galaxy of no image. They're relatively close for galaxies. I'm just sayin'...

Check him out here! James Vanderberg

white wall

2011-02-18T05:56:00.000-05:00

A new model and a white wall. No one reads the text anyway...

Model: Elena

MUA: Kim Y

More recent headshots

2011-02-05T09:41:00.000-05:00

glamorous

quirky

just me

Some recent headshots with actress Michaela Grant. I try to get a variety of different looks during the session to show off all the different sides of the subject. A square has four sides, a cube has six, but a person has infinity sides! That's a lot of shots to take :)

MUA Cassidy Renee Boch

Addicted to RSS

2011-01-27T19:33:00.000-05:00

This little symbol has been my newest obsession...it's called an "RSS feed" and it rules! What happens when you click on this icon is that it lets you follow updates on whatever page you clicked it on. So instead of randomly checking your favorite blogs and websites every so often (most of the time to see that nothing has been updated), you can log into whatever reader site you choose and everything that is updated is automatically there for you to see.

I use the google reader in gmail but most email providers have a reader, or there are all types of them that you can download. You can hook this up to your iPhone or iPad or whatever you have and read on the go too.

Above is a screen grab of part of my RSS list in google reader. I think I subscribe to about 50 photography blogs and sites by now, and the list keeps growing! I use the "reeder" app on the iPad to view them and it's like reading a magazine of only the stuff you're interested in.

This is by far the dorkiest post I think I have put up on here...but I am one-third dork, so there! So get clicking on some RSS icons today...there is one at the top of this page just to the right of the address bar to get you started!

Some recent work: headshots.

2011-01-17T21:57:00.001-05:00

Just some recent headshots here...some variations on a simple lighting setup.

This is the basic setup for the shot above...just one main light, and a light on the background for spray, and some reflectors in close.

Add a hairlight back on the left and you get this.

And to brighten it up a little, I moved the main light closer and more centered, and kept the hairlight and reflectors the same.

That's it, just some simple variations on a theme...

Model: Alex Sasha Reheylo

Clamshell lighting

2011-01-06T06:33:00.002-05:00

This is the last behind the scenes post from this shoot. I used what is referred to as "clamshell lighting" as the main light here. As you can imagine, a clamshell is basically 2 large light sources arranged from above and below like the open shell of a clam. The model stands in the middle, and you shoot from between the 2 lights. This sounds too complicated...so here is a picture of the setup to make things much clearer!

It makes it much easier to use this kind of lighting if you have a boom arm and can float the big main top light above without needing the stand directly underneath it...I, however did not have one of those yet, so I just had to carefully position myself so that I was right next to the light stand and it was just out of the frame. Incidentally, I just got a cool boom arm for Christmas...woohoo!

Clamshell lighting gives a nice flattering light that still manages to sculpt the face and cheeks and provide a good amount of wraparound lighting. The top light and the bottom light can be in different ratios: I made the top light 1 stop brighter than the bottom (2:1 ratio), but a 1:1 also works. You could even use a reflector as the bottom light, then the ratio would be more like 4:1 or 3:1 or so. Just make sure that the bottom light is never more powerful than the top light, unless you're going for that zombie look with reversed shadows under the eyes and all that...

The gradient on the background is provided by using a small speedlight directly on the background. This is sometimes called a "spray light." I just played with the power and position of the light until I got a subtle gradient going...not too much science here! Just wanted something to help separate her gray shirt from the gray-appearing background.

Well that is pretty much it from this shoot! Yay!

Credits:
Model: Mollie Komins
MUA: Cassidy Renee Boch
Wardrobe provided by CURE Thrift Shop
Styling: Lizzie Altman

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T22:45:00.001-05:00

Here is our Christmas card for this year...I would love to send it to you all, but that's not in the 2010 GWC budget :) We tried to make it more ridiculous than last year's card: hopefully we succeeded! It was really hard to hold the Mrs. over my head like that and balance on that comically-small ladder, but we nailed it on the first take. After all, we are seasoned professionals...

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Fashion time...BTS, part duex!

2010-12-17T19:37:00.002-05:00

Short and sweet...this is how it's done!

One big bare flash for some edgy popping light. Big crazy shadows on the ground give away the hard light and the angle and position of the light. This is a B800 with the 7" reflector-my new monolight!

A monolight is just a self-contained strobe that plugs into the wall. The advantage over small flashes is power and super-quick recycle time!

Make sure to get the exposure right by using a flash meter. Hard shadows can be cool!

Speaking of hard shadows...this was shot with just a bare speedlight handheld just above the camera lens and connected with a PC sync cord. At f/13, anything not in the path of the light goes almost black. If I shot this against a flat white wall, there would be almost no shadows anywhere (like you see with her shoulders above). But I already had the big seamless up, and one can only stand so close to the background since the paper at the bottom is sweeping up off the floor in an arc...and if you stand on the part that is off the floor the paper rips and/or comes crashing down! So by necessity, Mollie had to stand about a foot away from the seamless. Hence the big shadows behind her...Still looks pretty cool though!

to be continued!

Credits:
Model: Mollie Komins
MUA: Cassidy Renee Boch
Wardrobe provided by CURE Thrift Shop
Styling: Lizzie Altman

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2, part 3

Fashion time...part three!

2010-12-11T08:02:00.002-05:00

I was going to post more BTS lighting stuff today, but I figured I'd change it up and show the rest of the pictures first! So, without further verbiage, here they are...

Yup, she's a jumper!

Model: Krissy Bordas
MUA: Pamela Kalechofsky
Wardrobe provided by CURE Thrift Shop
Styling: Lizzie Altman

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2, part 3

Bounce video...closure.

2010-12-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

Last year I* made a cool video called "Bouncing Light in NYC" for a lighting-technique competition organized by the photography site LIME. Well the long-overdue results are finally being released...

I got fourth place.

The prize is a California Sunbounce Micro-Mini. Not as cool as a trip to Belgium, but it is a nice piece of gear and it will definitely get some good use shooting headshots and all sorts of stuff soon!

Here is the announcement on the new California Sunbounce blog too.

All in all, the video was a great experience. It was the first time I tried to do something instructional like that. It was a blast to make. It got about 13,700 hits on YouTube so far, and tons of wonderful comments from people all over the world. And now I have a fun new toy to play with!

*Thanks again to Carmine for filming/editing, Dave for assisting, and Valerie for modeling. Couldn't have made the video without you guys (and girls.) I am glad to have closure on this thing and can finally stop having to hear "so what ever happened to that contest you entered?"

Fashion time...Edginess!

2010-12-05T11:20:00.002-05:00

After we did the more commercial and straightforward shots, it was time to kick it up a little and do something more edgy. We had some cool outfits that we pulled from the thrift shop and Cassidy, our MUA (make up artist) did an amazing job on the make up...heavy smokey eyes, and striking red lips.

We started out with the huge sweater with some funky red shoes, and went from there. Used a few different lighting techniques, but that is for another post: for now just check out the pictures!

Yes, those are leather shorts with suspenders attached if you were wondering...

A change of outfits and some amazing posing make this shot one of my favorites!

Models that can fly are a plus too!

Having a great team to work with is essential to pulling off a shoot like this in a short time frame, and keeping the energy levels up the whole time. After the shoot, Mollie said how the make up made her feel like she was a different person...a character that could pull off all those dramatic poses and intense looks like it was a normal thing to do! Lizzie from CURE helped us pick all the outfits in the days before the shoot and then kept everything moving along seamlessly on the day of the shoot. We ended up shooting about 10+ looks on two models in a little under 5 hours. There is no way that would have been possible without a lot of help and organization courtesy of Lizzie! As far as my role in keeping things moving, I made the flow between the lighting setups as streamlined as possible, I planned out everything I wanted to do in the weeks before the shoot, and I picked out all the kickass music (yeah!).

There is more on the way in terms of lighting and behind the scenes...as well as another model and MUA, so stay tuned! As a matter of fact, the best way to keep updated is to join my facebook page (the link is at the top right of this page) or subscribe to the RSS feed (shameless plugs here).

Credits:
Model: Mollie Komins
MUA: Cassidy Renee Boch
Wardrobe provided by CURE Thrift Shop
Styling: Lizzie Altman

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2, part 3

Fashion time...BTS

2010-11-28T07:18:00.006-05:00

BTS of course meaning "behind the scenes." Here is the picture of the lighting setup used for most of the shots that look like the one above. One big light source on the left, and a big reflector on the right. That's it!

More specifically, the big light is an Alien Bees B800 monolight (320 Ws) and is fired into a photoflex 60" satin-white umbrella. Satin-white is halfway between real silver and real white...sort of a highly-reflective white. At half power it gave me f/8-ish at about 6 feet from the subject. It's about 6 feet off the ground and at an angle (as you can see!) Attached is a cyber sync radio trigger. Then there is the ginormous reflector over to camera right (thanks for lending it to me Manny!) When I was shooting I moved it closer towards me and in towards the model, but in the shot above it was moved out of the way. It gave a little fill from the main light, but I didn't meter it to know how much.

The backdrop is a 9-foot roll of white seamless paper that I lugged in to the studio. Good times...

The setup for the above shot, and most of the portrait shots was very similar to what I showed above. I wanted to use a lighting setup that I could "flow" into easily from the full length shots, so I could shoot some portraits with somewhat different lighting but not need 10 minutes to set everything up and break the momentum of the shoot. So, I just moved the umbrella in closer, and the reflector too, and added a smaller reflector just below the models waist, silver side up for more fill. So the one main light is really the only source used, but there is fill from the right and from below.

This is pretty much the setup, although there was an outfit change obviously!

And that's that...nice lighting from one huge source and some reflectors used a couple of different ways. Full-body and portraits with one light. The 60" umbrella is the real star here, since it is so big and can really give a soft light that covers a whole person at six or eight feet away. Can't do that with bare strobes or little umbrellas! Relative size of the light=softness. Would the light have been softer and better with something like a 7-foot octabox? Sure thing, but there is that budget thing I need to consider...damn!

Model: Mollie Komins
MUA: Cassidy Renee Boch
Wardrobe: Cure Thrift Shop
Stylist (and reflector holder!): Lizzie Altman

Bunch more to come soon!

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2, part 3

Fashion time.

2010-11-23T21:11:00.002-05:00

Here is the story in a nutshell. Guy likes camera. For his birthday present, Girl (loving wife) rents a studio for Guy for a full day to use said camera. Guy thinks this is an awesome gift but doesn't know what to do with a full day in a studio. Guy calls Cure Thrift Shop and asks if they have any fashionable things they want to lend him. They say "yes, lots!" Guy says "you are cool!" Guy finds some models, make-up artists, and Cure sends an awesome stylist over to the studio. Pictures happen.

Surprise ending! Guy finds out that the studio not a photo studio, but instead is a dance studio and he brings in all the equipment and everything else himself and sets it all up from scratch! And he took a bunch of setup shots of the place and the lighting and all that, and will share it with you soon!

Model: Mollie Komins
Make-up Artist: Cassidy Renee Boch
Wardrobe: Cure Thrift Shop
Stylist: Lizzie Altman

I shot a few more looks with Mollie, and then did a whole bunch more with another model, so there will be TONS on the way...stay tuned!

Fashion time part 1, part 2, part 3
Behind the scenes part 1, part 2, part 3

More headshots!

2010-11-17T20:49:00.002-05:00

Actor Adrian Winther

Guys need headshots too! These were shot outdoors back last month when the weather was nice. Lighting is diffused open-sky with a white reflector held in the subject's lap, filling in any shadows. That's pretty much it. It's easy when it's warm and sunny out! Guys are twice as easy: no need for make-up artists and all that jazz...just bring your face, I'll bring my camera, and that's that!

Nowadays, I'm taking to the studios where it's warm and I can make my own lighting. No need to wait for the sun to do it's thing...who has time for that? Plus, we can listen to our own music...really, really loud!

More to come...

NYC Musician Romy Elliott

2010-11-08T07:43:00.001-05:00

Here is some new work! I shot a few weeks ago with Romy Elliott again for some new promotional material for her music. Her site is coming together now and she needed some updated pictures! We choose to shoot out and about in her neighborhood, on her rooftop, in the surrounding streets, and in some cool spots that she knew.

breakin' the law, breakin' the law!

since Romy is originally from Amsterdam, we thought this would be fitting...

Food in Italy (It's Good!)

2010-11-01T21:09:00.002-04:00

In Italy, there was sooooo much great food to be eaten, and we ate tons of it! From the street food, to the restaurants-even the highway rest stops-the food was just amazing everywhere. The whole attitude towards food there was different too...people weren't rushing around with grease-soaked bags of fast food, running to work while drinking super-sized sodas. Food was for the most part prepared simply and with fresh ingredients.

Zucchini flowers, a rare find in the US, were all over the place and in all kinds of delicious dishes!

Simple fresh seasonal ingredients were the real stars of the dishes in Italy. We finally tasted things like olive oil and tomatoes like it was the first time ever. Maybe it was the clean air, or the fact that we were drinking (lots of) good wine on a daily basis, or that we were on vacation and had no real responsibilities...hey, let's not put labels on things!

These were the best mussels that we have ever had...we were starving after walking for hours, and found this place right on the water in Capri. BTW, mussels with garlic and white wine broth are best served with some good Italian beer and wine!

While in Ravello, which is a beautiful little town on the Amalfi Coast, we spent a day at Mamma Agata's Cooking School. This was definitely the food highlight of the trip! We spent the entire day there, starting out with delicious lemon cake and espresso while sitting on the outdoor terrace overlooking the coastline and the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Lemon cake, this time with some homemade limoncello!

Then we were introduced to the family and Mamma Agata's charming daughter Chiara, who was our excellent hostess for the day. Here's what we made:

Pasta of the Farmer

Pasta with sausage and peppers

Mamma Agata shows us how it's done!

We made this amazing chicken dish again the first week we got home. It was that good!

All the ingredients we used were grown on their farm, which extended all the way down to the sea! The importance of fresh ingredients cannot be overstated.

The cooking school was one of the highlights of the trip, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Italy. All of the food was amazing! The memories, views, smells, flavors, and the people we met there were totally worth the cost. Not to mention that we came hungry, and left stuffed (we made lots of other things that I didn't get pictures of) and didn't eat anything for the rest of the day! (Unless you count the late-night gelato run, but no one counts gelato!)

We miss the wonderful people from Mamma Agata's Cooking School...but the good news is that we are seeing them again very soon! And you can too!!! They're in NYC right now, and will be signing their new cookbook tomorrow, November 2nd at Rizzoli Bookstore so come check them out! You can bet that we'll be there!!!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-27T19:04:00.000-04:00

Just a quick fun shoot, testing out a new rental studio...figured a Halloween theme would be a good thing to try! Of course, I use the term "theme" very loosely: as you can see it's really just our model Maegan wielding a big knife from my kitchen, but I think it is pretty cool nonetheless!

Maegan's other name is Ms. Stabby

The background is white 9-foot wide seamless paper. It can look white, gray, or black depending on how you light it, how far the model is from the background, etc. This specific studio was a tad too small to make the white seamless go completely black: there was just not enough room between me and the background.

Creepy.

SCARY!!!!!

Psychokiller!

The studio passed the test (it existed, and all the stuff worked)...and bonus points to me for not getting randomly searched on the subway while carrying an eight-inch chef's knife and a mask in my gear bag!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Headshots!

2010-10-24T08:33:00.002-04:00

I am doing headshots now! For the past few months, while I was working on the 50/50 Project, I was also secretly learning and practicing my new headshot techniques. Well actually, that makes me sound like Batman...all I really did was study other photographers work that I like, and try to learn from it. I have also been systematically working on learning more photoshop, specifically skin retouching and color correction, etc. Got a good textbook on photoshop, and have been scouring internet photoshop forums and youtube videos for more info. It's really amazing what you can learn just from those two places! I should have went to "YouTube University" and saved my dad a lot of money!

Maybe one day I will talk about the photo techniques and photoshop how-to that goes into these images...but I have to leave something to blog about in the future :)

Thanks to Alissa Laderer (model) and Kim Y (make-up artist)

50/50 Project: Video!

2010-10-20T06:59:00.003-04:00

Here is a video slideshow of all of the pictures that I took during the project. Check it out and let me know if you like it! Don't forget to turn up the volume!

50/50 Project: It's Over!

2010-10-15T06:25:00.002-04:00

I took this picture on day 4 I think

So the 50/50 project is finally over. Fifty days of shooting something every day with the ol' 50 mm lens. Here are my thoughts...pros first, then the cons:

-I got a lot of pictures that I really like simply because I "had to" have my camera with me that day for the project...these pictures would have otherwise not existed.

-I feel much more comfortable with the 50 mm lens in terms of knowing what the frame will look like before I put the camera to my eye, I know where I will have to stand, what f/stop, etc to use, to get a certain look. Since I didn't crop any of the pictures for this project, it forced me to slow down and inspect the entire frame before pushing the shutter.

-It made me think about photography every day, and I started to miss setting up more organized shoots and having the freedom to choose whatever lens I want for the job!

-It helped me be less timid about just taking the camera out with me all the time, and I got better at not hesitating when I think I see a good potential photograph unfolding and just taking a few pictures.

-On certain days it was kinda fun looking for "the picture."

The cons:

-It was kind of a pain in the ass to have to force a picture on days when I wasn't feeling it, or was too busy to do something interesting. Those days were usually weekdays after work, around 9 PM when the sun is down and I was feeling too lazy to leave my apartment. Those are the days when I was even too lazy to set up something interesting in my apartment. Those were usually the days when I took a picture of food!

-It's hard to "force" creativity, and I often was just taking a picture to get it over with for the day.

-It wasn't really possible to take my camera with me everywhere. I couldn't take it to work because there is no secure place to put it. It's sometimes awkward to have a big camera with you when you're out to eat or doing simple things like running to the store.

When I thought of how this project would go, I had a different idea than how it turned out. I wanted to use it to break some of the barriers I had with street photography, and use it as an exercise in just taking pictures out in the general public, or approaching strangers and not being timid about my intentions to get a cool picture. I wanted to work on more lighting setups outside, and try lots of techniques that were new to me. That's not really what happened...and I realized a few things about myself. First, I am not a street shooter. Some people are good at it, but I still like having total control over the scene, the subject, the lighting, and the intentions. I am still not entirely comfortable with taking pictures of strangers in public without their consent. This may sound sketchy, but there are some great street photographers out there who can make an everyday scene like a city commute look artistic and have a message. Not me! As far as the lack of well thought-out lighting setups etc, it just came down to lack of time or energy at the end of the day!

Overall, I was happy with the project about half of the time. When I wanted to do it, it was fun...when I "had to" do it, it was a drag! Am I glad that I did it and was able to finish? Yes. Would I ever do it again, or even consider a longer project like a 365? Hell no!

Oh by the way, here is the last picture:

Day 50-Love

Since Day 50 happened to be my 30th birthday and all, Mrs. GWC came home from working all day, made a delicious three course meal from scratch (brie and cherry preserve toasts, stuffed mushrooms, and basil-tomato salmon with pasta with pesto sauce). I took this picture from right across the dinner table after we ate! She has supported me through all of this photography craziness, from buying gear that I probably shouldn't have, to photoshoots, to all the editing time, to all my babbling about photography, and has never complained during the last 50 days when I was out looking for a picture, or when I had to take my camera out with us to some social event. Sometimes, when I wouldn't want to take a picture that day, she would motivate me to get it done, and say it's just 49 more days, it's just 25 more days, etc...

Thanks baby, I love you!

Well that is it for the project. I plan on putting together all of the good pics taken in some type of youtube video slideshow, so check back soon!

50/50 Project: Week 7

2010-10-13T22:32:00.000-04:00

Day 43-shoot from the hip baby!

Day 44-getting in the Halloween mood!

Day 45-really getting in the Halloween mood!!!

Day 46-my cousin Pauly's head

Day 47-mutant flowers

Day 48-had some trouble lighting this knife in a recent Halloween shoot, so thought I'd learn how to do it right...

Day 49-the last day of my 20s!

Only one more day left!!!

Italy: Part Due!

2010-10-11T22:19:00.004-04:00

Capri was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen...not that I've traveled a lot, but regardless!

Here are some more pictures from Italy. No real message here, just some pics that remind me of good times. Now that summer is really over and work is back in full-swing, I miss the amazing weather and sun and carefree vacation mindset...you know, when the only goal for the day is to drink at least two bottles of wine and explore a cool city on foot, eating everything along the way!

Night in Rome. When you can shoot at high ISO with good glass at night, the colors are out of control!

Ravello again...I guess the townsfolk get used to this view eventually?

This is a town near and dear to my heart. So is the sexy lady walking down the street! Yeeeah baby! I can't say the name of the town here, but it starts with Castel, and the second word rhymes with "Andolfo" but starts with a "G"

How could I mention Italy and not show any pictures of food? Well I can't! The next Italy post will be all about food!!! You'll gain five pounds just reading it!

See some more Italy pics here!

50/50 Project: Week 6

2010-10-06T22:29:00.001-04:00

Day 36-bedtime place

Day 37-endless rain makes my windows gross...even though they were just cleaned!

Day 38-Been waiting for this movie to come out for years. Probably my all-time favorite TV show...I would define my tastes as classy, refined, and I enjoy subtle, understated humor!

Day 39-All-American, a Long Island classic! The best burger joint in the world! In fact, if you're from LI, especially Massapequa, it is your duty to comment on this post below and let everyone know what your favorite order is. Mine is a double-double, large fries, and vanilla shake, mmmmm! C'mon, leave a comment; don't let me and America down!

Day 40-the beginnings of home made chicken soup, perfect for this chilly weather and a scratchy throat

Day 41-the glass is half full! It is a metaphor for my life, silly!

Day 42-soldier boy wakes me up when no one else will

One more week and that's it! Yay!!!!

Shoot it? Keep it? Delete it?

2010-10-01T15:40:00.001-04:00

Just some quick thoughts here...since almost everyone shoots digital nowadays, and it's easy to snap, snap, snap away all the time like a little jackrabbit, let me ask you this: What do you do with all those pictures?

If you're like me, you probably just put them on the computer and look at them once, maybe send them out to friends in an online gallery or facebook, and that's it. Well I guess I should clarify...I used to do that--not anymore. The amount of files just became ridiculous to manage. Hundreds of pictures of otherwise mundane events clogging up my hard drive. When I wanted to look at a specific picture I could never find it amongst the sea of crappola.

I fixed the problem a few different ways. I shoot a little more selectively now. I try not to just take pictures for the sake of taking them, which thankfully leads to less pictures of nonsense, and less pictures of virtually the exact same scene taken in rapid succession. Part of this comes with time, and becoming comfortable that you nailed it and don't need to keep shooting more frames "just in case."

But what if you still want to shoot rapid-fire style AKA the "spray-and-pray" approach? Well, you have two more opportunities to cull out all the crappy pictures before they become a permanent part of your hard drive. Try to get into the habit of deleting obviously bad pictures right in the camera, before they ever make it to your computer. You know the shots...too dark, blurry, blinkers, etc. Just trash 'em! Five almost-identical pictures of your niece doing something really cute? Pick the best one and junk the rest!

Your last chance happens as soon as you put them on your computer. Delete all the junk as soon as you look at the pictures the first time. If you use any good photo management program it will let you select all the "rejects" and then delete them all in one keystroke (in Lightroom just hit the "X" key"). Do this ASAP. If you wait too long, that days shots will just get lost in the stream of constant digital pictures that keep coming and coming, and then you will soon ask yourself "where the hell did my 500 GB hard drive go?"

I took all the pictures in this post a few months ago one day in Riverside park...probably shot 50 pics, deleted maybe 15 in camera, and then deleted about 20 as soon as I saw them on the computer. Out of the rest, these are the best three. Well not really the best three, but the other pictures are of my wife, and I bet she is pretty tired of seeing herself on this blog ;)

50/50 Project: Week 5

2010-09-29T21:48:00.000-04:00

Day 29-I was really starting to miss my other lenses...

Day 30-Working on my headshot technique...mostly used the 85 mm lens, but slapped on the 50 for a few!

Day 31-Our two cute nieces came in to stay overnight in the city. While their parents partied it up, we took them out to Alice's Teacup and then for some really good ice cream, which they were thrilled to eat NYC style, out on the street!

Day 32-College friends came over for a big Sunday night dinner...good times!

Day 33-the aftermath of a busy weekend...editing a shoot I did on Saturday morning...eating leftover chicken fingers!

Day 34-"It's a cake!"

Day 35-wine, TV, couch, wife...another day ends.

It was a good, busy week! Only two more to go!

50/50 Project: Week 4

2010-09-22T18:42:00.000-04:00

Day 22-this will be a chocolate cake soon

Day 23-do you like to "do it" yourself?

Day 24-made by day 27!

Day 25-lil' sis visits NYC

Day 26-octa-fisting

Day 27-my girl with the green eyes

Day 28-where this project is going...

50/50 Project: Week 3

2010-09-16T00:03:00.000-04:00

Not much happening this week. Haven't had the opportunity to get to many new places so I am looking for new angles in the same ol' hood. Mostly just not having the time at night to do any crazy setups, and carrying around the camera during the day is not really a good idea since I have no where safe to put it at work. Oh well, the project is still rolling on!

Day 15-one foot away from a white wall, practicing control (with lights, not my facial expression!)

Day 16-too cold out to wait for the right light

Day 17-Empire State Building on 9/11/2010

Day 18-Grandpa

Day 19- I'm losing it!

Day 20-The blog turns 1 year old!

Day 21-my eyes are wide open

Until the next time!

Happy Birthday!

2010-09-14T22:24:00.001-04:00

The blog turns one year old today! Hooray!

According to Google Analytics, in the last year 2,610 unique people from 73 countries have visited the blog 5,442 times! While that is actually a pretty small amount of traffic compared to a lot of other blogs, I still think it's pretty cool! I have visitors from every state in the US (except for Alaska...obviously too cold for photography there) with NY in the lead, followed by Ohio, DC, California, and Montana. I remember back in the first few months when I got my first international visitor (from Australia I think) and was sooooo excited. I still get psyched when total strangers (and friends) comment on my posts...like "wow, people are actually reading my ramblings!"

So thanks everyone for sticking around and reading my random thoughts! I love to write about this stuff, so expect lots more to come!

(My wife got me this present for my GWC birthday! She also took this amazing picture. Thanks babe!)

Vacation Mode

2010-09-12T13:51:00.002-04:00

Here are some long-overdue pics from our trip to Italy this summer! Gives me a good opportunity to write about vacation photography, and what I realized on that trip.

Of course, I brought way too much gear on this trip. Camera and a few lenses (OK, all of my lenses!), a flash (OK, two flashes), a compact tripod, compact light stand with umbrella, batteries, cards, and a light meter. Ridiculous...I could have shot a wedding there and still had unused gear! What I actually used: camera, my one zoom lens (24-105 mm), and all the memory cards. Used the tripod about four times. Used the lighting gear exactly zero times!

I really wasn't thinking about photography the same way when I was there. I was not in "photoshoot" mode; I was in vacation mode. In vacation mode, there is less thought given to lighting and posing, and more thought given to wine, and food, and fun! My only real philosophy was to take my camera with me pretty much everywhere we went. Sure I looked like a tourist, but I was a tourist! Used that one lens for every shot. Took a picture of everything I thought looked good. Took the camera on motorboats, rowboats, trains, bikes, chairlifts. Took it everywhere we walked. Took it to restaurants, bars, beaches, late night gelato-eating missions. There was no pressure to make pictures look perfect; I just enjoyed shooting whatever I wanted.

I was never sorry for taking the camera with me. If it was in the way I would put it down under the table, or strap it over my shoulder for walks--I even let the guy driving our little tour boat hold it for a while when we jumped in the water off the coast of Capri to swim in one of the grottoes (that's a big step for me, the camera holding, not the swimming!) I didn't bring a crazy camera along to leave it in the hotel room, or so I could take it out and babysit it. It doesn't take pictures by itself when it's in a protective case with the lens cap on. And guess what...the camera made it back home unscathed, and now we have tons of great memories to look at again and again!

(The tripod did come in handy for this shot in our hotel!)

So lesson learned for the next vacation: bring less stuff! Camera with zoom lens, memory cards, battery charger...and maybe the little tripod too!

More to come from Italy...

50/50 Project: Week 2

2010-09-08T21:29:00.000-04:00

This week is already getting harder. I feel like I am taking pictures of the same old thing over and over again. Gonna have to start trying some new stuff...need to get out of my neighborhood and explore a little. All of these pics were taken within a two block radius of my place...

Day 8-lights!

Day 9-cool sky right out of my window

Day 10-a glass of wine and a new light fixture

Day 11-sunrise

Day 12-we're all just bricks in the wall

Day 13-did it right this time

Day 14-do I really have to do this for another 35 days?

My lovely grandma (who reads this blog btw!) suggested that I take a picture of some old people feeding the birds at the park...so I will have to keep that in mind :)

It's gonna to be a long month...

50/50 Project: Week 1

2010-09-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

Here are the results from the first week of shooting something every day. It has been a fun week and I am beginning to see how shooting daily and not repeating myself can get challenging very quickly. Some days I have trouble picking my favorite picture of the day because I shot 50+ frames, other days I just shoot three frames and call it quits. Whatever works!

Day 1-FDR drive (you've seen this one already)

Day 2-view from the Great Lawn in Central Park at night

Day 3-my try at the "Terry Richardson" style with a little help from my favorite model!

Day 4-view of Roosevelt Island across the East River at dusk

Day 5-amazing home-cooked goodness! mmmmmm...

Day 6-bus stop on Upper West Side

Day 7-a Vespa parked on the street on my walk home

An unforeseen benefit of shooting every day like this is that it motivates me to want to shoot even more! I take a picture of some random thing and before I know it I am thinking of three different ways to do it better next time. So I guess I'm learning stuff...let's just hope I am this motivated after doing this for another 6 weeks!

That's it until next week...whatcha' think so far?

50/50 Project

2010-08-26T23:08:00.001-04:00

I really want to do a 365 project…you know, take a picture every single day for a year and post it up the same day. I’m a little jealous of the people that can do that and do it well. Sure, I can take a picture of my socks every day for a year, but who wants to look at that? The whole point is to keep coming up with new and interesting pictures once I’ve exhausted my entire bag of tricks…which will probably happen around day six or so. Shooting every day will force me to develop a creative eye and look for “the picture” everywhere. It’s sounds like a lot of work…but like most hard work it probably will pay off in the end.

Busting out the camera and trying to make pictures every single day is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy; if I force myself to do it, I will create something that would have never existed otherwise. It will also teach me loads about my camera, light, and photography in general. Shooting every day will keep me in a creative mindset and since I will have my camera with me pretty much all the time I will be guaranteed to get lots of good pictures of all sorts of things not related to the “daily shot.”

So why isn’t this post the beginning of my 365 project? Well the truth is that I don’t know if I can handle it. I’ve seen too many people fail their 365, and if I’m not going to be able to complete it I’d rather not even start. I don’t want my 365 to turn into a 43, or a 147, or even the dreaded 264! I mean there are 365 support groups out there for godsakes!

So I am starting a 50/50 project instead. 50/50 refers to 50 straight days of making a picture using my camera and 50 mm lens. That’s it. Shoot it and post it the same day, for 50 days. Starting. Right. Now.

Why 50/50? Well it’s not really my idea…I first saw it on Bert Stephani’s blog and thought it was a great idea. The 50 mm lens is pretty much the standard prime lens and isn’t really wide angle or telephoto…it’s just like the natural human eye’s perspective. It’s typically a pretty cheap lens and there is a 50 mm lens made for all of the major camera brands out there. It’s small and not imposing and you can carry it all over. But most importantly, it will force me to think, to keep coming up with creative ways of using the same equipment to make different images.

I will upload the new pictures to my flickr page every day, but I will only update the blog here weekly so not to clog up the interwebs too much! So stay tuned on flickr if you want to…get there by clicking here.

Check out some of these cool 365 projects and be amazed:

Dustin Diaz’s amazing 365 manifesto…not only does he take great pictures but he shows the behind-the-scenes!

Els Vanopstal’s hypnotic and captivating self-portrait 365 series

Danny Ngan’s off camera lighting 365

Seb Huruguen’s great 365 project

Carmen Moreno’s surreal self-portrait 365 project

Taking an interesting picture every single day for 50 straight days shouldn’t be that hard, right? Right…?

Texture-ize me!

2010-08-19T23:05:00.001-04:00

Texture is another of the photoshop techniques that I am trying to learn. Adding in some gritty texture gives the image a whole new layer of color and depth, and really helps set the tone. Lots of the pictures that I like have some use of texture-and the best ones are usually very subtle. The one above is not very subtle, but whatever!

The first step is finding the texture, which is just another picture of something, um...well...textured! There are groups on flickr or you can just google around for some. You can even make your own texture images by taking a picture of something like a wall, or a concrete floor, or a piece of fabric or wood or plastic. Anything can be used as a texture.

For the pic above, I found a texture that I liked on flickr (click on the picture to get the link to the texture). Next you open your original picture in photoshop and do your basic editing. Then open the texture file in a new layer and drag and resize it so that it is on top of your original image. The last step is to change the blending mode (try them all out!) and the opacity and mask out whatever you don't want the texture to show on.

The whole process takes about two minutes to do after you've done it a few times, so go and try it out! Make your pictures crunchy!

Red Dress

2010-08-16T22:37:00.003-04:00

Red dress, natural light, 24-70 mm lens, woods, Justine.

Now that we've covered the technique, let's move on. A few months ago, I was testing out a few of the Canon zooms before eventually buying one. For this shoot, I rented the 24-70 mm f/2.8L, which is one of the more popular lenses in the L series. And I found out that it's popular for a reason...it's a really great lens! The range is pretty good for general-purpose shooting, getting nice and wide at 24 mm on a full-frame camera. The fast f/2.8 aperture is great too: it's nice and sharp wide open and allows tons of light in. But I knew all the good stuff about the lens before I rented it.

So what didn't I like about it? The deal breaker for me was the size. A little too heavy for me to use as a "walk around" lens. And a little too big. Not that I need to look too stealthy-I mean, I am carrying around a big SLR-but it was just obtrusively big. Which I don't care about if I'm doing a "shoot," but for vacations, family stuff, and just roaming around, this lens would have been an albatross around my neck! Well that's the trade-off for the wide aperture I guess. I kept wanting some more reach from the lens too...70 mm just was a little short for my liking. So while the 24-70 is a great lens, it just wasn't the greatest lens for me!

More to come...

Dress provided by www.curethriftshop.com

girl with camera

2010-08-11T06:33:00.000-04:00

Peach tones!

That will be all.

Everybody does it. No one talks about it.

2010-08-06T12:14:00.001-04:00

I love tones. There is so much creative potential in the tone of the image. After taking the shot, you can add a little more of what you were feeling at the time with the right tones. Happy, light, sad, lonely, nostalgic...it's amazing what one can convey with some photoshop!

I have been trying to learn some basics of photoshop by reading around the internet, trying to dissect what others have done, asking questions, and trial and error. What I have found is that the process that works on one photo may give entirely different results on another. The final image has more to do with the original picture that with the photoshop technique applied.

In the above image, I was going for a contemplative tone. We just had a great time sharing a bottle of wine while watching the sun set over Florence, and were just admiring the city and the beautiful sky. The shot was totally candid. I added some vintage curves, and then a dark blue and dark brown layer on top and blended them together and salted to taste. It was so much easier that I expected it to be, and I love the tone in the final picture.

So what made this picture so "tone-able?" I think it was the early evening sky and deep rich colors of the after-sunset light that did it. The original picture "straight out of camera" looked pretty close to the final image above. If I tried to do the same photoshop voodoo to a picture I took during bright noon sun it would probably look like a mess! So maybe the key is using photoshop to enhance where the picture naturally wants to go anyway...to complement the image, not change it.

It may have also helped that we were three days into the best vacation ever and enjoying every moment of it together...more to come soon!

Six years!

2010-06-27T12:40:00.003-04:00

Of marriage, that is! We woke up at 4:30 AM to make it to Central Park at 5:45. Wanted to catch the soft morning light as well as have the park empty. It was great...and the best thing is that it was her idea!

Funny story about the tiara...we couldn't find the original one from the wedding (which was really fine and elegant and pretty) but there was this other one we found with the wedding stuff so we used it. We finally remembered after the shoot that it was the one I bought her as a joke from Cinderella's Castle in Disney World years ago! And of course we found the real tiara a week later at her parent's house! Oh well...when we do a ten year anniversary shoot I will wear a tux and she can wear the nice tiara!

I found the perfect match

2010-06-10T05:34:00.001-04:00

Borrowed the Canon 24-105 mm f/4L from a friend to test out. I figured that after testing all the other L-series "walk around" zooms (tried the 24-70 mm too, that's for another post), it was the only one left. Of course I loved it, and I think it's the best balance of image quality, range, size, weight, and price. So now I am kicking myself for not getting it bundled with the camera and saving some change! Oh well...

Found a pretty model in my apartment and went for a walk while the sun was setting with just the camera and the 24-105 lens. It's sharp wide open at f/4, and any fears about shooting at night with f/4 were laid to rest too. Sweet...I found my next lens!