Shooting Models Again

I'm happy to be shooting models again. Chelsea organized a shoot to capture her pink hair before she dyed it another color and I'm glad she did. It's been a while since I've done full-on model shoots with hair and makeup and clothes styling. It can be overwhelming because there are many people to organize just to do a shoot. And on the day of the shoot, hair and makeup can take hours (which means I'm trying to entertain myself for that time). But when it all comes together, it really can be a lot of fun.

This shot of Jasper, who was incredibly well behaved in the studio, is really my style. I even did my old texture edit to it. It speaks to me. And I finally got to shoot the pink wall I painted. Everybody else has shot it but me. I prefer wall textures to seamless paper, it just feels more natural to me. So when I get bored of a wall color, I just paint it. Reject paint from the Lowe's is a great, cheap way to keep my pictures fresh. And the color doesn't put any color cast on the seamless because the seamless is in front of this wall.

This shot in the window is really different from my style. It screams more fashion than portrait to me. It's shot with a ring flash and edited to have some punch in the colors. I like that Chelsea fits into the small space of the window. It makes a nice frame. And the lanterns? Well, I found those while I was cleaning out the studio closet (did I mention that hair and makeup takes hours?) and I thought they would be a fun addition.

Arlington National Cemetery

It took me years to go there, but now it's one of my favorite places to go for a walk in DC. And today was a perfect fall day. We've been lucky in DC this fall with warm weather and vibrant blue skies.

Somebody left hero rocks on several of the head stones in one section. I'm guessing they all served and died together in Vietnam. I know they were heroes even without the stones to tell me, but I wonder what made somebody leave the hero stones behind.

And it seems that I'm big into photographing reflections lately. This is outside of the Women's Memorial.

This is taken from the top of that building looking towards JFK's grave.

Blue Water

Today I had to meet a model down by the Smithsonian so I got there early to take some landscape pictures. I was completely surprised by how blue the Tidal Basin was photographing. It's always a hideous shade of brown/green. Here's what it looks like when you shoot it straight on:

And here is how it photographed when I took in the whole scene. Honestly, I didn't have a polarizing filter on my camera, and I didn't edit the sky or water in photoshop. It was really shooting that blue. I guess the water was reflecting the perfectly blue sky. I just kept taking pictures because I couldn't believe how blue everything was! I thought it was a fluke.

And those trees are the Cherry Blossom trees. They look amazing in the spring and also in the fall.

Caught in the Act: Dodging the Question

I managed to get another photo in this series. We shot in the men's room at the train station. It was harder than I thought it would be, especially since it was rush hour. Perhaps my timing was not the best. But it was a little funny to see the looks on the men's faces as they came rushing into the bathroom to find me in there with a camera. I'm sure if it was a man in the ladies room with a camera, security would have been called. I sometimes think I'm very lucky to look like a short, harmless woman.

I like this shot. I'm liking the on-board flash look. It was a fluke that my first shot was taken in the dark, but I think it's working for the series.

I still think my images are a bit composed, but I can't let go of that.

Caught in the Act: New Series

Caught in the Act is my new series that I'm shooting, all based around a pink briefcase. I want it to be an action-oriented series that asks the question, what's in that pink briefcase?

I'm debating whether I'm in over my head on this series. My last series, The Lonely Road, was very personal to me so it was easy to do. This series is way out of my league as I know very little about mystery and intrigue besides what I see on TV. But I wanted to push myself to shoot outside my comfort zone. And it does that both stylistically and technically. I'm trying not to be so composed in my images, creating more of a snapshot feel, and I'm using on-camera flash with no modifier! Talk about a challenge.

People seem really interested in shooting this series. I have had a good response to my casting call. Too good really. I'm running out of ideas to shoot since the underworld is not my world!

Here are my first two shots.

I thank the models who are willing to go along with my crazy ideas. I couldn't do it without them.

Teddy Roosevelt Island

Theodore Roosevelt Island is one of my favorite places in the DC area and it's on one of my favorite roads, the George Washington Parkway. It's a beautiful place to go any time of year, but autumn is especially beautiful.

The main reason I love the island is that it's flat. No kidding. I'm lazy. I'll walk if it's an easy walk, but the minute there's a hill, I get a little grouchy. The other reasons include that DC is so close that you can see it through all the trees and you can get macros of nature while at the same time get landscape images of the DC area.

Here's a picture of Rossyln.

Here's the Key Bridge going to Georgetown.

Here's some ducks that let me sit with them for a while. 

Here's part of the swamp path. They put in a boardwalk so you don't have to get your shoes all swampy. But I did anyway, because I walked a little off the beaten path.

And here's a macro of a couple leaves. I love the textures out in nature. 

Go to the island if you can, but get there early, parking is very limited.

World is Still Gray, but in a Good Way

 I guess the white on white series was a way to explore the gray that is my world, but in a positive way. And since digital black and white always feels kinda fake to me, it was a strange challenge for me. And definitely doing all white images in black and white was a tonal challenge for sure. I'm not sure I always got it right, but it was fun trying. I enjoyed it so much I completed 26 shots in 8 days.

My favorite shot is this one:

Because, it's a self portrait of sorts. I'm wearing those men's underwear, inside out (at the time that was unbeknownst to me). And I even added a bulge for some reality. I have never felt so goofy, but I just couldn't NOT do it.

All of the shots were taken with one light and a lot of white paper used for fill light.

Lighting wise this is my favorite:

First, it took forever to find an all white toothbrush (Whole Foods to the rescue and I was only there because of a fluke). Second, that is taken in my bathroom with the toothbrush on the lid of my toilet. That doesn't sound amazing until you realize my bathroom is 5x8. I barely fit in there, much less me, a light, and a tripod. I'm surprised nothing caught on fire. And now that I think about it, I could have taken the lid off that darn toilet and put it somewhere bigger! But how authentic would that be? It's just one brolly box pointed straight down at the toothbrush. Well, as straight down as it could be before hitting all the walls!

And what's odd is, while I really like that picture, I think it has more to do with the design of the toothbrush then my skills as a photographer.