In the blink of an eye ...

This year so far has been a bit of a mixed bag for business. I've done some corporate, a lot of photojournalism, sports of course, some portraits...which I swore I wouldn't do any more, and a fair amount of non-profit stuff. Lets discuss portrait for a bit.

One of the things most recently invented for the photo industry is Photoshop, and by recently I'm meaning in the last 20 years. I would love to extoll the virtues of Photoshop but I find it is taken to the extreme more often than not. If you're tryning to create an original work of art from a photograph this does not apply. The creativity is boundless with this software and koodos to those that can manipulate the program to make it bend and sway with the breeze.

I personally love the program to touch up my lighting when I do photojournalism style work, or do the work that burning and dodging would have done in the good old days of darkrooms and chemicals. After that, I leave it to the graphic artists to make magic. I do my magic with my camera on site. As I said before, good lighting can make or break your images.

My only reason for not doing portraiture as a steady income, is about photoshop. I could make a fortune with the requests I get, but how far will I go to destroy my 28 years of honing my craft. The skill is in the lighting and the camera operation, not in the photoshop. If you have to spend more than a few minutes editing each picture, you need to head back to photography school. It's a wonderful program for touching up a blemish, dark circles, and brightening the eyes. I've been asked to 'make me look 20 pounds thinner, can you straighten my nose a bit, my husband forgot to shave today, could you edit out his 5 o'clock shadow, I can't get my son to sit still can you take him out of that picture and edit him in to a different one..." etc etc etc. You get what I'm saying. Last I checked, I did not go to medical school or graduate with a degree in reconstructive surgery, barber school, or nanny college. If you require these services, hire the professionals who did graduate with those designations because I have to say... they are the people I call when I need those things taken care of.

My kind of photography is the kind that tells a story. I love to capture a moment, sometimes they are so fleeting, that one second of timing, is the difference between an amazing photo that will sell 200,000 more newspapers and one that gets deleted.

I once did a photosession for a large family. A Mom and Dad, 4 children. The 2nd youngest was not quite 5 and very shy. She spent the hour or so, hiding behind her parents, or her siblings. My staff and I tried all kinds of tricks to coax her out of her shell during traditional poses, and then I asked the family if they minded just playing games with her and their other children on the floor in front of the backdrop.  She relaxed and played and still her expression did not change. The last game was the one that stuck. I made it so in the end they all had to look up at me at the same time during the game, even though she was hiding behind her next older sibling, she peaked out and smiled just the barest of smiles.

When the Mom and Dad returned a week later to look at the proofs, they cried when they saw that photo. Their little girl had never smiled in a photo, or ever for that matter. She was born with a rare disease where it was not possible to smile. She had become so self concious of this fact in her very young life that when she saw a camera, she hid. We had her relaxed and playing, laughing so much that her laugh and the light in her eyes looked like a smile. The picture was natural and untouched by photoshop. The Mom had said she had given up on family portraits because it upset their little girl so much, and when other photographer's tried to make her smile with photoshop, it didn't look like her face it was always so distorted. This one I did for them was a moment every mother in her situation could dream of, and we made that moment happen for them.

I do my best to get a natural picture. Some of the best images I have ever taken was when no-one was looking at me and my camera, they were looking at each other or simply enjoying the moment. This is why I love photography so much. It's about the moments remembered that make you smile, cry, or laugh. If you string all those moments together for a lifetime, you have stories to tell, giggling to do, or maybe a few tears to remember a loved one who has passed on. I want to see the real you in a photo. Not the image of what you wished you looked like or the fantasy. I want to be able to see the wrinkles, baby fat, big feet, school kids with missing front teeth, and Grandma wearing a purple turban cause she thinks it makes her look like Betty Davis. These are things that I see as character. Being able to look at a photo and say " I can't believe I wore that." may seem like a bad thing to others, but I see it as who you were then.

My advice ... be who you are in your photos, so in 50 years, when you have time on your hands and your grandkids or other little people are visiting, you have stories to tell about that moment. Not a fantasy of who you thought you were back then.

Just sayin.... Lol! Don't forget to check your Compass!

Cole

Cafe Day!

Not sure what the deal is with my Internet, but haven't been able to get access for a week. We recently had some road construction in my neighborhood... again, so maybe they shook something loose in the cable box outside. I've been trying, in vain really, to reach my cable company for a solution or discussion on the issue. It's not that big of a deal right now, I only have work during the day that keeps me quite busy, and trying to reach anyone after six at their office is a minimum two hour wait... yeah ... not happening. Instead of waiting on the problem to fix itself, which it seldom ever does, I did the next best thing. Dragged out my old wrecked PC laptop and headed to the local Cafe to work for the afternoon. Now, I always use a Mac for my photography, my PC just doesn't have the power to keep up and it only works when it feels like it. (I think it's a little jealous of the sweet little Mac I bought.)

Today however, it seems to be doing okay, as long as I keep one leg propped on the chair, my phone on the table beside me, and my beverage must be at a perfect 45 degree angle to the screen. Any slight variation and the battery shuts the whole operation down... ( considered asking the guy beside me to hold his empty coffee cup up over his head just as a backup but he didn't seem to be the type to think that was funny.)

As I build my contracts and my new tender for bid on a job, people come and go. If I had been thinking, I'd have brought my camera today. I am seldom without it, but today I needed to focus on the paperwork. At my little table in the front of the cafe, eyes on the screen, every so often I see someone come in and take a seat at the table beside me, or the one across. They sit alone and sip a beverage, or a couple have quiet conversation, a family of well dressed Italians came in and occupied the nest of tables to my left. They were laughing and loud. I enjoyed their witty conversation, although I only understood half of it. (note to self... must drag out old Italian school books to brush up a bit) The woman alone came in after they departed for their dinner reservation and read the paper, fully engrossed in it, she only looked up once. A smaller stocky man asked to share the chairs next to her and she briefly indicated it was free without saying a word and only nodding the briefest of inclination.

Observation is the greatest gift to a photographer. We may notice things that other's would overlook. Expression is the first thing I see. We are usually well adept at defining the mood of another with a glance.

Natural lighting is the next thing I see. I spend a few moments assessing whether I would leave it as is or add a fill light in a spot or two, or maybe just a reflector to add a little warmth if the lighting is a little cold and moody looking. Never underestimate the skill it takes to make you look amazing. Good lighting can really make a photograph say many things. Poorly done lighting can make you look 10 years older, heavier, morose, or cold. My favorite piece of advice came from a very famous actress who has since passed. She advised us all that she could care less about her directors, her make-up, her sound, but her lighting must be just perfect. She stated she always made friends with her lighting techs first as they could make her look as she wished to appear, not as she really was. (I actually had a very well respected concert sound tech say much the same thing about some of the famous singers we had both had the privilege to work with. Make friends with your sound guys or the mix that comes out of the board will sound a lot different than what you were hoping for!)

I have been very privileged to work with some amazing clients. They know exactly what they want and I have made their requests materialize with what looks to be a complicated process but is actually something I can do with my eyes closed. If you know what your equipment is capable of, this is not unusual.

Back here at the cafe, I watch the coffee crowd ebb and flow and think of my amazing camera, all alone on my editing desk. Still full of life from my last experimental outing, and I wish I had brought it along. The crowd is definitely a mixed bag of types and stop time images from my table with a wide angle to grab the whole scene would have been an amazing photo study. The early evening light is streaming in through the floor to ceiling windows, warming the already chocolate brown wood shelving units, stocked and stacked with coffee products. The staff is tidying the tables and restocking their bank of mini coolers for the next wave of caffination.

Time to get back to work on the Race Team stuff. Deadlines are looming and I have limited power with this questionable old PC...

Until next time... don't forget to check your Compass!

Cole

Photographing love and other stuff....

The weather is beautiful today and here I am, sitting in front of my computer, editing and prepping some promo material for the race team. I went for a walk just to clear my head in the wee hours of the morning. Skirting the main roads and keeping to the river mostly. I ended up all the way down by Memorial Park after I left the muddy banks for a bit. The grass was still dewy and soft. There was a homeless guy sleeping on the bench, a guy walking his dog, a woman riding her cadillac of a town bike looking like she was late and had to be somewhere, and a couple, maybe in their mid twenties. They were dressed in whatever clothes they had on from the night before. Her make-up faded and smudged, his hair a little disheveled and suit clearly rumpled.

As much as they were all out of sorts, they glowed. There was no maidenly shyness or tough guy trying to hide his feelings. As they talked quietly and whispered secrets to each other, they showed no censure or shame in their emotional state. It was like watching the happy ending of a fairy tale.

I watched them from the distance for a bit and just as I was about to turn away and head for home, the homeless guy on the bench came up behind me and sat down beside me. He was watching them too, most of the night since the bars closed(2 am?). He said at first he was tempted to tell them to shove off so he could get some sleep. He said he couldn't explain it, but hearing them laugh and coo at each other like little birds made him remember a time in his own life where that was still possible. So he left them be. His eyes teared up and he said "...it's beautiful isn't it? To love like that...?" I smiled at his question and said "Yes it must be."  When I stood up to leave he stood up and bowed to me like a member of the Queen's court and said "Good day My Lady." I giggled and gave him my best mocking curtsey and we went in opposite directions.

He asked that I not photograph him because you never know when "They" are watching. I didn't ask who "They" were and wasn't sure he even knew but the whole scene was just cute as it was so I didn't see the sense in lessening the romance of it. I did photograph the couple from the back. Her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, the sun coming up beside them. From the front I didn't want to intrude. They looked as if they were fighting to stay awake and not miss a second of time with each other. It looked as if they were reluctant to end such a perfect date. That maybe if they just stayed there, the perfect date would never end. Thank goodness for a zoom lens.

My question for all of you is this ... do you still love this way? With true abandon? Can you throw your whole being into it and give another pure unconditional love without suspicion, judgement, or reserve...?

Don't forget to check your Compass!
Cole