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It's Movember !
... and Matt was home to visit his mother for her birthday with a furry addition. Since I've been wanting to work on my portrait lighting skills, I couldn't let him get away without grabbing a quick "one-light" portrait while he was here.
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| Mo Bro' Matt |
He had a running start with the moustache for Movember and everyone who's seen the image says he looks like a throwback to the '70's. Me too ... I think I can remember the 70`s ;-)
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| Mo Bro' Me - day 7 |
Since I was happy with the results of Matt`s portrait and the lighting gear was still out, I decided to document my Movember moustache progress as of day 7. The goal is to get to the end of the month without trimming any of the length. We'll see how I do .... scratch, scratch, scratch.
For the lighting setup, I used one light 45* off subject and slightly above eye level, feathered across the face with slight reflector fill from opposite side. Lighting styles can be the subject of much discussion and critique. A few years back I posted a self portrait made with one light and I received a number of suggestions for fill light, hair light, background light etc, etc, etc. All of which were valid, had I been looking for a different result.
Conventional
wisdom says you should know the rules and be proficient with them before
you decide to knowingly break them but I'm pleased with the results
here. And I'm becoming fond of this style of lighting for headshots.
I'm always open to suggestions and help to improve my images, but I still find it interesting that most unsolicited "help" is offered without knowing what I was trying to accomplish. More often than not the suggestions are aligned with creating image according to some formula with little if any consideration for individual creativity or a different look.
DJE
Holding on to memories ...
... it can be a challenge for the elderly. Mom was always sharp mentally, that is until the last couple of years when her diabetes became too much for her to manage by herself. For more than 30 years, with help from Dad, she had managed her blood sugar level by strictly following diet guidelines, testing her blood and giving herself four insulin injections per day. Just over a year ago, living on her own in a seniors residence, things changed.
Her "brittle diabetic" condition got away from her and she was hospitalized with DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), on three occasions. On the last, I just about lost her. She was in ICU for over a week and unresponsive for the first several days as medical staff helped her fight to stay alive. Her body chemistry was way out of whack and more than once I questioned what impact it would have when and if she recovered.
She did recover but it would no longer be possible for her to live on her own and she moved to a long term care facility. Sadly, she had lost some of that mental edge she always had. Now, when I visit, we do crossword puzzles together to help keep her mind active. We also talk a lot about what is going on with her grandsons and of things past.
On Mother's Day, I took some of my photos to look at so she could see what I've been up to. We talked about them and a reprint I had made of a portrait my Dad took of her a long time ago.
We talked about how much Dad enjoyed photography and taking her picture whenever she got dressed up. Mom said she remembered having her photograph taken wearing the blouse she has on in the the photograph she is holding. I posted that image and a blog post for Mother's Day yesterday. I also planned to make an image of her with that photo that would capture the mood as she relived the memories.
All visits with mom are special, but on Mother's Day this past Sunday, it was extra special.
DJE
Where do all the photos go?
Thanks to attending a 50th Anniversary Celebration where there were
boards filled with photos of family moments, family snapshots if you
will, that have resided in albums, shoe boxes, photo lab envelopes and
lord knows what else for ... well decades, I have been stirred to make a committment to print one such snapshot from my digital libraries each week as a
4x6. Although I print my more "artistic" work often and even frame and hang a lot
for personal display, I have not printed the more family related images
with any regularity.
Today I started with an image of my
youngest son, Jordan, taken while we were visiting my mother on her
birthday recently. He was just sitting there listening to the
conversation and I said " ... just sit there like that, now look at me
... ".
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| "J" 2012-08-06 |
Click! And there you have it. A little more than a snapshot, but
family moment for the archives, printed and now I need to find a
shoebox ...
DJE
Acoustic J
My son Jordan took a break from studying this weekend to play a bit of guitar and I grabbed the opportunity to set up a single light and make some portraits . It was good chance to try out my small octagonal softbox for speedlites.
I need to do this type of thing more often.
DJE
... almost done.
I had a portrait session with Murphy recently to try work on my studio shooing some more. He was a cooperative subject for quite a while. Lynn helped me by wrangling him onto the backdrop and keeping him interested.
Murphy is quite responsive to my direction as far as sitting and lying down but it's quite different working with a subject that has no interest in being photographed what so ever. I managed to make several decent images and even managed to get the more traditional image below.
... the best by far in my opinion, is the one opening this blog entry, a more candid shot as the session was ending where the expression says it all.
DJE
Mr. C turns 65
Jerry Cea (aka Mr. C) has been cutting my hair for the past 15 years. When I was sitting in the chair last month, Jerry mentioned that he was going to celebrate his 65th Birthday on Feb 11.
I thought it would be a good idea to make a portrait of Jerry, print it and frame it so he could put it up in the shop. I arrived in time to catch Mr. C working on his first client just after 7:30 am. There was the usual banter and joking around. Those in Jerry's profession are a social lot. There's always a conversation underway, sport, politics, weather ... Over the years I've talked to Jerry about his love of sailing, his trailer (now gone), fishing, his trips to Cuba and so much else.
My challenge as photographer was to create an environmental portrait that captured the personality all of his clients would recognize as Mr. C. I set up with a 580 EXII on lightstand with 20x20 softbox to the right of his chair, dialed in the power of the flash to overpower the mainly fluorescent ambient light and adjused the exposure. I worked around Jerry as he worked around his client and made a number of images not really getting what I had envisioned. I moved the light to the left of the station and continued shooting.
After not too long, Jerry had finished with his first 2 clients and had no appointment scheduled next. I took the opportunity to ask Jerry to pose in the chair holding the "tools of the trade". I repositioned the light, reset the exposure to 125 s @ f/6.7 with the 580 on manual at 1/2 power, asked Jerry to give me something and ... click!
I had my portrait.
Here's to many more successful years my friend !
... a few others from the shoot.
DJE
