Head-shots(#7)

This last week has been a productive one for me.  I was able to get a lot of yard work done, complete a minor repair on my car and take some head-shots for a local hair stylist.  Of course I had the most fun doing the photography stuff.  It was nice to bust out the lighting gear and get some decent results.

I tend to be the kind of guy that likes to have all the high-quality tools, gadgets and sometimes unnecessary equipment.  So I have been trying to challenge myself to get good results with simple stuff.  Part of the reason for the challenge is that photo-gear cost bucks and if I spent the kind of bucks I would like, I probably would be adding alimony to that list of expenses... Love you honey!

This last week is the first time I feel like I got some of my best one-light head-shots to date.  Michelle wanted to try out some make-up techniques and see how they photographed and I wanted to practice some more one-light stuff.  I busted out the Vivitar strobe light, stand, shoot through umbrella, ebay cactus wizards that I am borrowing and some white foam core board for reflectors.  Michelle acted as a model and a VAR(Voice Activated Reflector) stand all in one!  One of our trusty pub chairs acted as a second reflector holder and away we went.

Please forgive my photo-editing errors, my computer runs like a VW Bus trying to climb a mountain pass over the Sierras when running Photoshop.  It makes for really long editing sessions then I get frustrated and stop.  I need to work on that.  Anyway, this is one of my favorite photos I have taken to date.  It's hard to tell in this blog, but you can jump over here to check out a large version on flickr and see some more detail.  I was really pleased with the overall sharpness.  It seems like it has been a long road to sharp photos.

After this session, Michelle told me that our hair stylist, the awesome Ms. Joanna Montemayor at Razors Edge Salon, needed head-shots for their website.  Joanna wanted Michelle to do her make-up for the shoot and Michelle figured I could take the photos.  At first I was a little apprehensive, but decided to give it a go.  You don't know what you can and can't do until you try.

So Joanna came over and brought her friend Zac.  Little did he know he would be put to work as a VAR holder.  Michelle rocked the make-up, then I put her and Zac to work and we came up with this.

I feel like it came out pretty well for one-light and a couple reflectors.  I'm anxious to see how it looks on the website.

Next lighting mission, high-speed syncing with a medium format camera...

-dg

Film, BMX, and Sacramento(#5)

Phew, this has been a busy last few days!  Sunday I attended a really cool event at the local BMX track and got a couple good photos.  Then Michelle and I jumped into the car and headed south to Sacramento for two nights of alone time.  While down there I got flipped off once and mean-mugged by a gangsta wannabe in his 300M with chrome fool!  Good times.  We also spent a few hours at Ikea and brought some organizational items home.  Upon our return to Redding, I immediately began assembling shelving units and hunting screws that little Daniel wandered off with.  After much grunting, sweating and hammering the Swedish furniture was completed and it was already time for a birthday party for Lyn.  I'm worn out just from writing all that! It was a lot of fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat, bad Sacramento drivers and all.

On the photography side, I didn't take as many photos in Sac town as I should have.  I was thinking about bringing a Mamiya down, but didn't really want to lug around a 6 pound camera plus tripod, plus the Canon for metering with out a clear idea of what I wanted to shoot.

In short, it stayed home.

Since receiving the two medium format cameras I have run a roll of film through each, but only developed a roll from one.  The results are fantastic, meaning no light leaks or major problems with negatives.  As for actual artistic value of the negatives, well, there is room for improvement!

It was a lot of fun to process film again.  Once the chemicals were mixed and in storage containers it was really simple to knock it out at home.  In fact, I may process another couple rolls today.

The duties of father-hood and husband-hood our calling so I must be off.  I'll leave you with this picture of Kevin Suttmoeller, 43 years young and still rocking BMX!

Don't let the lens distortion fool you, that gap was 20+ feet!  There are few more pics of BMX over at flickr.com/ihatecrashing and I will be posting more up as I get them edited.

-dg

Crossroads... (#3)

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to things I'm interested in.  Cars, boats, motorcycles, biking, skating, surfing, sailing, radio controlled airplanes, photography, backpacking, shooting...  It is a long list, really long.  Unfortunately my time and money isn't as long as my list.  Maybe someday I'll create something that becomes wildly popular and produces enough income to be a full-time adventurer.  But for now I have to create a hierarchy of importance.  Decision time.

BMX (Bicycle Motocross) used to be on top of that hierarchy, it had a long reign in fact.  I rode BMX bikes from the age of 5 until 22.  Really getting serious around my sophomore year in high school.  The JV soccer team cut me and I pretty much swore off team sports and jumped on my bike.  That same week I completed a four foot tall launch ramp and landing, shoved it into the street and started jumping.

Working all summer for my dad, I was able to save up the $575 it cost me to build my "dirt jumper".  A beautiful chrome GT Fueler with Profile three-piece cranks, 48 spoked double walled rims.  It was a beast. When we moved to northern California it was all about racing.  My Fueler was cannibalized for the cranks and a very expensive 20" racing machine was built.  It's pretty amazing how much money I spent on BMXing.

Now, as I'm sure you have gathered if you have read the past blogs, photography is right up there in importance to me.  When I think about it, I was always the one trying to get pictures and video of my  friends when we were riding.  Maybe photography has always been that important to me but I just didn't recognize it.

Here is where the decision comes in.  I have a limited amount of fundage to spend at will.  So if I buy a bike, I have to wait to get camera gear.  What makes this decision difficult is that the emotional satisfaction of creating images is nearly identical to the satisfaction of riding.  The riding requires more physical work, but when you manual through a rhythm section, flow through a skatepark, or float a simple table-top over a smooth double, there is a feeling that you just created something pleasing.  It is art.  People enjoying watching it, you enjoy making it.  Just like photography.

So last night,  I was telling Michelle about my dilemma and she said I should go after photography.  Initially I resisted and stuck to my guns about buying a BMX bike.  But last night I couldn't sleep.  Sad, I know.  Seriously every time I woke up, which was often, I was thinking, "BMX or Photography".  Part of what I am afraid of is that if I don't get a bike now, the opportunity will never come again.  Talk about an irrational fear!  So after that sleepless night.  And this blog.  I think I am going to stick to photography.

Maybe I can do some stuff for the local BMX track with my photography.  Plus I have a son I can live vicariously through...

-dg