Photography Thinks
Phase II Final Assignment called for a revealing self-portrait. One of my classmates who drinks milk and says the white liquid defines her will submit an image of her in front of a milk locker in a grocery store. Me! On the wall hangs a portrait done by Gregory Heisler during orientation in January. Making people see more in themselves as he does defines my quest at Hallmark.
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Phase II finals at Hallmark Institute of Photography. Just about half way through the program. Only recently did I think I was getting it.
Environmental still life. Flowers from Sigda in Greenfield. Potatoes from Fosters in Greenfield. Beer stein from the Salvation Army in Greenfield. Contact paper and drawer lining from the $ store in Greenfield. Blue blotter paper from some stationary store. Total expenditures around $15, not including gas.
My potato head came up with the idea. A kid accompanying his sister on a tour of the commercial studio, turned to his mother and inquired, “isn’t that Mr. Potato Head?” Frenchy replied, “who does it look like, you idiot?” “What’s he doing here,” the kid asked? “I am a photographer.”
But the real problem was that I couldn’d find furniture to scale. Seems like they don’t make furniture for real size dolls anymore. Wanted a TV or a computer to throw light. Settled for strobes. Gels colored the set too strongly, so I post processed in Lightroom3.
Never did anything like this before.
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So, your urine smells. They can be bland or bold. And sometimes, they have a life of their own. I built the set. Played with the lens, lights and modifiers. Then they decided to escape.
We went to an abandoned bank in Greenfield, MA; now there is an oxymoron for an on location shoot. Heisler had previously shown a home-video of making the SI cover shot featuring Sportsman of the Year Derek Jeter. He shoots real people, has a lot of support and uses a combination of great technical skill and creative genius. He can also teach.
Our assignment included using a Pro Photo 10 lighting kit in a different way, illuminating the background with the strobe and ambient light from a window facing the street for the foreground to produce a cover shot and an inside piece. Greg and DT did a test shoot, adding some fake smoke. Then, it was up to us to create a narrative and shoot.
I need to recharge my batteries.
I didn’t think I would feel comfortable in the commercial studio. But I do. The subjects talk back, but not like people. Arthur Tress had the same experience and the same discovery.
So Pastor Lloyd Parrill didn’t enter the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Northfield MA on a donkey. But his message for this Palm Sunday, as he welcomed the beginning of Holy Week, was no different from that delivered by Jesus as he entered Jerusalem, “live in peace and miss no opportunity to help others.” As he left the church, this last time he will celebrate Easter before his retirement, Lloyd gave love to his congregants, and they gave it back to him and his wife, Dottie.
President Obama’s official portrait marked the first time a digital image was used to document his taking office. I want to have the opportunity, at some point in my photographer life to improve the image. The image, done right, should make him look Presidential, highlighting the Washingtonian smile, hiding his flapping ears. Not very imaginative.
Here is another, taken recently, of Mayor Bloomberg. A hand sticks out behind his head. His mouth is skewed. The upper left barks a texture, wasting space within which some useful information could have been included. He has red-eye, what looks like a razor nick and its broad lit. I just cannot believe that this is the best shot the shooter could have captured.
So, the story goes that Heisler’s luggage lost its way on some unnamed airline on the way North Carolina via Atlanta to photograph some big ticket exec. Knowing the complications of rescheduling, he and his assistant stopped at a Home Depot and bought a flourescent fixture, two daylight tubes and a shower curtain. They did the shot with a kit that cost less than a C note. Now he teaches lighting, using the same setup, albeit one attached to a light stand by a knuckle and a grill painted black.
Just in case you be wondering, I didn’t submit this, but I should have.
My product piece. Trashed at the final, because the instructor didn’t know where it was taken or what it was. He said it looked like the beginning of a story that ends in a “dui.” I shouldda stuck with Frenchy and Chopin Vodka.