Finished the McNally

As predicted I plowed through McNally's Hot Shoe Diaries like a farm hand at dinner. All important bits highlighted, every ounce of knowledge absorbed. It was a great read, but like I said yesterday, I'm a bit disappointed that I had already read most of the chapters before the book was even printed! The vast majority of chapters were blog fodder over the last five months and not just "oh the pictures and anecdotes are the same," it was VERBATIM. I know I know...I shouldn't be that hung up on it, I just was looking forward to new material that I hadn't already read. This would be true for anyone who's not a regular reader of his blog, but I am, and therein lies the problem.

I still highly recommend it for anyone in love with photography and lighting and looking for tips, info and clues as to how to become a better photographer. Although it's not like McNally says "THIS WILL MAKE YOU A PHOTOGRAPHY GOD" anywhere in his book, it's more like: "here's some things I've learned in the school of hard knocks photography that I think will make your life easier."

It's about building a knowledge base. If you're just starting out, you don't have 30+ years of photography shoot knowledge database to pull from when you go up to a situation and the weather is crap and the light is awful and you only have three minutes to get a well lit shot. I'm a big fan of learning things from those older and wiser than you, cuz if you listen you don't have to repeat their mistakes; you already know that a+b+donkey dodo = awful photo and unhappy client.

Now thankfully I get to make use of some of this photographic knowledge/inspiration. I did notice in all of McNally's stories that he uses tungsten white balance (which turns the world blue) a lot, and I've never really found the need for this. However, on Saturday night I'm scheduled to a do a shoot that I'm entitling "Locked in the Comic Bookstore" and I think it will be the perfect place to try out some tungsten white balance and some theatrical gels ala Joe McNally.

I'm looking forward to it!

More soon...

March Shoot - Sarah and Jim

Had the good fortune of driving out to Brantford yesterday and shooting pictures of Sarah and Jim who quickly volunteered for my photo-shoot-a-month project when I announced it back in December.

I know Sarah from my teenage years at camp, she was our crazy, lovable, hilarious Sarah C. It was great to see that she has not changed at all...she now corrals much younger children who do many more stupid things than I think anyone in our counseling group ever did... but her youthful, vibrance is the same as ever.

On the same branch of thought, it was awesome to meet Jim, the mister Sarah picked from the pack! He knows exactly how to get Sarah to crack a smile (not that's a difficult feat); lots and lots of tickles :D

Anyways, enough! Here are some of their photos:

February Fotoshoot

So the shoot-a-month project continues this month with shots for Jen ...





...and then some for Robin!!



I'm loving my new backdrop, and really loving the results from this shoot!!

More soon...

What Cuties!

Had the opportunity to take pictures of two amazing people this afternoon, and thought I'd share one of the cutest pics of the two of them!


Thanks Jenn; thanks Robin!

It was cute watching the two of you spending time together. Hopefully one day you'll find yourselves in the same town for a while.

Individual pictures to come!

More soon...

January Photo Shoot

Thanks...

To everyone for the overwhelming response to the project and yesterday's shoot results!!

As of an hour ago I already have shoots for this project lined up for January and October 2009. That means there are only 10 months of shoots left to fill!

More soon...

December's Shoot

So here it is...

The first few pictures of my Photoshoot a month project. Thanks to the beautiful and wonderfully gifted Ellen for enthusiastically agreeing to come play with me and my camera.



More soon...

Unveiling the Plan!

So for the last few weeks I've been hinting at a special project that I'm going to be working on, and well today is the day to unleash those plans on an unsuspecting world.

First, the reasoning.

Today is my 27th birthday. I'm now three years away from my goal of being a profitable photographer and for the last month I've been trying to figure out how I can improve both my portfolio and my skills. The barrier to this being a lack of actual commissioned work.

I've been doing a lot of running around shooting things as they happen in the community taking the photojournalist route of learning this craft, but it's time for me to work on my studio work. That's a little scary to state, but having tried a bunch of different things out this year, and having conversations with fellow photographers, I've come to the conclusion that: 1.) Wedding photography is not for me 2.) I don't want to be locked into a pure portrait based business either 3.) Although I love the concept of photojournalism and becoming this transient being that roams the world shooting in the face of danger...that's not me...I love some stability. 4.) Commercial photography (what you see in magazines etc) is really where I want to do my work...whether that's in fashion or commercial portraiture... ideally I want to shoot people, but I want to see my pictures in Vogue, in the fashion spreads of Vanity Fair...you know...that sort of work.

So working backwards from my goal...how do I work to achieve that.... Many people do a photo a day project where they work hard to take and post a picture each and every day for a year. Yeah I tried that in the spring...didn't go so well.... Okay so there needed to be both a timeline and something that would allow me to not get caught up in the intense daily process.

Okay okay...so the plan....

Starting today and ending in 2009 on this day I'm going to do a photoshoot a month for FREE...haha NOW you see it all coming together don't you. The ideas can be suggested by people, I welcome volunteers to be my subjects, but for the most part the shoots will be my doing from concept, sourcing, planning, execution to completion and posting to this blog, my flickr account and my website that I'm working on building.

So here are the rules I'm setting out for myself:

1. One shoot a month.
2. Shoot must involve a lighting setup of some kind.
3. Shoot must be FREE and for the building of my portfolio.
4. Shoots must involve people...not necessarily "models" but
5. I must still shoot for myself a minimum of once a week.
6. I must share my successes, failures and photos with you.

There you have it! Feel free to suggest ideas for shoot themes, volunteer yourself to be in the shoot, suggest locations for shoots to happen!! Really I'm open to any possibilities that this project may present.

Next year at this time I hope to have 12 amazing shoots to look back on and yes, the project starts tomorrow. I have a shoot at 5:30 tomorrow night that is mine all mine.. I'll share pictures when they're ready!

More soon...