Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Portrait Shooting Location
How exciting! I have a location to shoot portraits, both senior and personal. It is located on 20 acres in Malvern Township, and boasts of a cabin, trusses, 2 streams, 2 bridges, rarely used railroad tracks, and total privacy. Can't wait to start snapping! If you would like to schedule a shoot, please call or text me @ 330.906.7118!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Audience Awareness and Viewer Consideration
I got some sage advice from a trusted writer today that arrested me in my tracks. He caused me to reflect on my own photography. This gentleman wisely told me that people are depressed and they don't want to look at depressing photos. While the captions were appropriate and well written, the viewers may feel worse after viewing them, not something I want to happen since I want this business to be profitable.
I am taking more photos to try to tell a story in one frame. That will require me to think as a writer does when he addresses his readers. Audience awareness should be paramount in the writing process, yet it never dawned on me that I am writing with pictures. Therefore, it becomes incumbent upon me to exercise the same audience consideration when I publish my photos.
When viewing photos, we bring our past experiences to the theater of our minds eye as we interpret them. The environment we live in also influences the way we interpret some photos. For example, in my Gloom series, the lonely stuffed Teddy bear below brought different interpretations. How can that be? It's simple and straightforward! Just look at the picture...right?
When viewing photos, we bring our past experiences to the theater of our minds eye as we interpret them. The environment we live in also influences the way we interpret some photos. For example, in my Gloom series, the lonely stuffed Teddy bear below brought different interpretations. How can that be? It's simple and straightforward! Just look at the picture...right?
Wrong. I see that Teddy bear as a symbol that someone has passed on. That theme is underscored by the title I gave it which I later removed - "One Chance." Someone came over to my house today and I asked this person for their interpretation of that photo: she told me it reminded her of a baby that had been deserted and was all alone. Yet another stated that they felt that it represented abandonment. One photo, 3 interpretations.
My point is this, photographs can carry meaning. I want to reshape my strategy to illicit positive reaction and response from my viewers. That may be seen as week kneed, however I am largely a guy that has always encouraged people to press on, and that is my true personality. Can that be done with photos that depict dire circumstances? I believe it can. It is my job to find the words to achieve that. This will leave my viewers feeling better after they look at my work, which ought to be my goal in the first place. Perhaps this can be my small way of making the world a better place to live...one viewer at a time.
Gloom
Here several shots in my series of gloomy, story telling photos. To answer your questions...NO, things are not this bad in my life, but the opportunity existed to tell a story! Therefore, I have set out to try to express some stories with photos. Snapshot photography is good for creating family memories, vacations, picnics, and such. I enjoy shooting photos that trigger emotion and cause my viewer to look again...and again...and again. Thanks for taking a look! Please share your thoughts!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Empty Words
"Marriage life stinks!" These are words I heard a few months back from some middle-aged gal; "my marriage ended and I cannot tell you why" is another comment I heard later from a gentleman I know. How shocking it is that people can look so happy and yet, they are far from it. Based on photos I have seen of them in on Facebook or other sites, it appears they're living a fairy-tale life. However, being a photographer, I know that pictures can lie.
So, as I am walking through my house, I see these tattered shoes my daughter owns. Not tattered from use, they are a super hot style of shoe you buy. When I was a kid, we threw shoes that look like these away! Imagine that. To me, they are a big waste of money, but to a 16 year old, they are a symbol of coolness.
For some reason, those shoes just kept getting my attention. Finally, I had some free time so I grabbed them and began to think about ways I could use them to tell a story in a photograph. The shoes alone were not enough, so I kept looking around for something else that would compliment them. Then I see this little balloon that has the caption "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever," printed on it right below the heart that says "I love you."
From my own experience of talking to countless people, those are merely words that come with expiration dates. Am I wrong? Is the photo over dramatic? You will have to decide. I actually feel that this type of balloon sets people up for a fall. So, when I was out taking my photos to create stories, I used both of these items in the photo. I feel that I got my point across. How sad it is that photo is so accurate.
So, as I am walking through my house, I see these tattered shoes my daughter owns. Not tattered from use, they are a super hot style of shoe you buy. When I was a kid, we threw shoes that look like these away! Imagine that. To me, they are a big waste of money, but to a 16 year old, they are a symbol of coolness.
For some reason, those shoes just kept getting my attention. Finally, I had some free time so I grabbed them and began to think about ways I could use them to tell a story in a photograph. The shoes alone were not enough, so I kept looking around for something else that would compliment them. Then I see this little balloon that has the caption "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever," printed on it right below the heart that says "I love you."
From my own experience of talking to countless people, those are merely words that come with expiration dates. Am I wrong? Is the photo over dramatic? You will have to decide. I actually feel that this type of balloon sets people up for a fall. So, when I was out taking my photos to create stories, I used both of these items in the photo. I feel that I got my point across. How sad it is that photo is so accurate.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Practice Photo Shoot with Erika
BRRR. The icicles are everywhere, and the ladybug temperature says 24 degrees. It was a cold March day to be sure. However, I still got out with my daughters to shoot some photos. They shivered a bit, but for that brief time we were out, they did very well for me. My emphasis was on eyes. Sharply focused eyes are paramount to good portraits. I shot with a wide open aperture to throw the backgrounds out of focus while keeping their face and eyes in sharp focus.
In the top 2 photos, I use a technique to lighten her face and darken the rest of the photo. I use the circle marquee, set it to blend by 200 pixels. First I circle her entire facial area. Then I hit Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse the selection. This actually makes the rest of the photo editable while leaving her facial area alone. I then darken that portion of the photo. Then I use that same Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse back into her facial area and adjust that to be a tad lighter if necessary. Now the rest of the photo is not affected. The 200 pixel fade prevents the formation of any hard lines and creates a smooth transition. Thus, I have made her face the focal point of the photo.
The bottom photo is simply adjusted with the levels control and left alone. You can see the difference between the top two and that bottom photo. I would not do this everytime, but it doesn't hurt to do that to a few photos!
I use Photoshop 7. If you are using a newer version of Photoshop or using Photoshop elements, you should be able to do the same thing with that software.
In the top 2 photos, I use a technique to lighten her face and darken the rest of the photo. I use the circle marquee, set it to blend by 200 pixels. First I circle her entire facial area. Then I hit Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse the selection. This actually makes the rest of the photo editable while leaving her facial area alone. I then darken that portion of the photo. Then I use that same Ctrl+Shift+I to reverse back into her facial area and adjust that to be a tad lighter if necessary. Now the rest of the photo is not affected. The 200 pixel fade prevents the formation of any hard lines and creates a smooth transition. Thus, I have made her face the focal point of the photo.
The bottom photo is simply adjusted with the levels control and left alone. You can see the difference between the top two and that bottom photo. I would not do this everytime, but it doesn't hurt to do that to a few photos!
I use Photoshop 7. If you are using a newer version of Photoshop or using Photoshop elements, you should be able to do the same thing with that software.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
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