Leave Them Alone!

I probably wouldn't like this picture as much without the story. I mean, it is just pigeons. For me, it brings to life a picture of this woman screaming at me. If I was quick enough, I'd have a picture of her too, but alas, all I have is this picture and the story.

I was in New York City taking some streets shots when somebody starts screaming at me. "Leave them alone. Hey you, leave them alone." I didn't realize she was talking to me until she was right in my face. "You wouldn't have a picture if I didn't just feed them, so why don't you just leave them alone? JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

I immediately stopped taking pictures of them. I left them alone. I didn't want her to get any angrier. No matter what I said to her, it didn't calm her down. And when I was walking away, she was yelling something at me in a foreign language, I think. I had stopped taking the pictures and she still wasn't happy. As it turns out, these were my last shots while I was in New York. I guess I left everybody alone after that.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

I wish I knew where creativity comes from. People ask me how I come up with my ideas and I really don't know. I wish I did. I wish I could tap into it whenever I wanted to, but I am a slave to my ideas. They control me and sometimes they come weeks before a shoot and sometimes the night before (like this one). But they are very dependent on me seeing the person. I'm not the type of photographer who envisions the model and then goes searching for them. My shoots are very much geared towards the person I am shooting. People spark ideas in me. This shoot, LiiLii wanted to work with her bunny. Fantastic! I've been looking at her pictures for the last two days. I study them to get a feel for her and what she will be comfortable with.

This shoot was lined up for weeks. I was suppose to drive to Baltimore to shoot there, but right before the shoot we decided LiiLii would drive to Alexandria instead. Well, that put a little more control in my court. And I wasn't prepared. So I ask my coworkers, "What kind of setting should I put a model and her bunny in?" Hey, I'm not too proud to take the ideas of others! Someone suggests bunny ears for the model. I think that could be interesting. So I'm off to the party store right before Halloween. Yippee. It so happens that my party store is right next to my grocery store. So I'm driving and singing some goofy old Elvis song when I think about the grocery store and then carrots pop into my head. Bunnies, carrots - it seems logical. And since I love to make jewelry out of food, I think jewelry necklace and she'll be holding the bunny. Wouldn't it be cool if the bunny was eating the necklace? But you can't count on the cooperation of animals; so I'll just put that idea out in the universe and see what the universe gives me back.

I see the bright lighting very clearly in my head. I want to see everything very clearly, very little shadow. I usually don't envision lighting in my head. I feel it when I get to the studio. No kidding. It's kinda zen. But I can almost see this image in my head. White background, orange necklace, super cool LiiLii and bunny lit evenly and perhaps a bit too brightly. Then I wonder if an orange background would be too much. I love a color theme, but I know I take it too far sometimes. I run that around in my head a bit, white seems to be winning.

While I am making the necklace, I start thinking about her hair color. It's black now. Then I remember that I have an orange wig and an orange hat. Orange carrots, orange wig - might be cool. Luckily I have a studio full of crap to pull from. I say luckily, but I collect crap on purpose. It all sits in the back of my head waiting for the right moment to pull it out. I reuse and repurpose a lot of my stuff. I truly believe my inspiration lies in a lot of that crap.

As an aside, I get my jewelry making bug from my Mom. She used to make tons of beaded jewelry so I get tons of supplies and inspiration from her.

So there you have it, my convoluted process of coming up with a shoot idea. Most of the time I'm lucky that the other team members involved will play along with me and take my ideas to the next level. I'm often surprised they don't stare at me and say, "What the heck?"

Lonely Road: Weenie Beenie

The Lonely Road goes to the Weenie Beenie. Surprisingly it wasn't that busy at lunchtime but we did have a lot of day workers as on-lookers. And a few honks and whistles made it all the more fun. Nori is holding an actual Weenie Beenie weenie, but we were all too afraid to eat it. I drive by the Weenie Beenie almost every day but I've never eaten there!

I love that Nori came with her broken hand. And I love that she dressed it down since most of the models want to dress it up. Since I do so much beauty work, I think people have a hard time seeing me as anything other than a beauty photographer. I'd like to change that perception.

I've run out of location ideas (so quickly!) I'll have to drive around and get some ideas for more local landmarks. Being so close to DC, I have the obvious landmarks, but I think I'd like to stick to landmarks that locals would know. I've always loved the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, maybe I'll put that one on the list.

Lonely Road

In my series, The Lonely Road, I usually picture people alone with the red suitcase. I decided to add other people in the photos to express a loneliness that you feel with people around. I'm not sure if it works. Does this look better with the uninterested people in the background or without them? I'm just not sure.

I'm also going back to adding local interest in the series. I want it to be strongly metro area based. Plus it gives me a chance to use my wide angle lens, which I love but can't use in too many portraits.

I love how this series changes and evolves. Giving the participants free reign to add what they want works really well. It fascinates me to see what people bring and add to the series. All I do is suggest some locations and bring a suitcase, they do the rest.

Here's the entire series. Lonely Road

Audrey Hepburn

My inspiration for this photo is a classic Audrey Hepburn photograph. It's a little different from the original which has sharp, straight on lighting; a large yellow basket-type hat; and Audrey Hepburn, of course. I changed it up a bit with the back lighting; a smaller, whiter hat; and Zaya as the model. I originally shot it with straight on lighting and those look more like the original, but it came to me to try back lighting with a reflector in front of Zaya. I like this version much better. It has a softness that appeals to me.