The Battle

When we go into a portrait session, we let every client know we want to try and accomplish 3 things, that we're after 3 types of pictures for them. We want the picture for Grandma so she can hang it on the wall and admire her grandbaby. We want the photo for them personally...the shot that makes them appear how "they" want to appear to the rest of the world. Then we want the image that is their true, real, genuine, 100% unique self.

That's where the battle begins. Sometimes that's where the battle ends, too.

It's very hard to be your "real" self when there are a couple (or more) people staring at you with what looks like telescopes on the front of their cameras. Throw in a mom, a dad, a sibling, a make-up artist, a costume designer, a boyfriend, etc., etc., etc....all throwing in their 2 cents or if not that, at least "looking" at them...oh my, how could anyone be themselves in that kind of an environment?

The Corny, Ridicules, Artificial and Phony smile and facial expression (we'll say C.R.A.P. for short) problem begins as soon as you're born. We're brainwashed as soon as we plop out of mom. Clean the little gooey thing up, put a little cute hat of pink or blue on us, tickle or pinch us to get a cute little reaction...and our start to putting a mask on the real us, our C.R.A.P. face, has begun! We say "cheese" the whole, entire rest of our lives, it seems. Let's not even get started on our 12-13 years of school photos.

Now don't get me wrong, we absolutely HAVE to get some C.R.A.P. shots. I want them of my kids, I hang them on my walls, I tell everyone who sits in front of my camera to give me at least one! We have to have C.R.A.P.!!! But at the same time, we all have to be aware and freely admit that those photos are not going to be the ones that last the test of time. Just think of all the famous portraits out there...Karsh's photo of Churchill, McCurry's Afghan Girl, or even DaVinci's Mona Lisa. Real expressions, real emotions...Real Good!!! Not a cheesy smile in the bunch.

So if you see me look down at my camera screen and say "man, that looks like crap", don't be alarmed. It probably is a pretty good photo of you. But be prepared, I might be just about ready to ask you to do a couple of frames minus the smile...

Jeffrey

Katie and Tom

This shoot almost never happened. But we're oh so glad it did!

We received an email saying pretty much this : "I'm a Lieutenant in the Air Force stationed in Alabama and am looking for a photographer in the Athens, OH area to take some photos of me and my boyfriend. I've seen your stuff and liked it and wondered if you'd be available Sept. 18-19 as I have a 30 hour window of time to see him then."

You would be surprised at the amount of weird emails and requests you receive once you put yourself out there on the World Wide Web as professional photographers. We get requests from India, Britain, Ethiopia...you name it, saying that they love our stuff, want to hire us for whatever price we say, and will send a cashier's check right away. We are usually real nice to everyone (just in case someday a legit person wants to fly us to Ireland for a shoot) but usually after we ask a few questions and tell them we like to meet in person and go over ideas and logistics, well, they just seem to disappear.

Katie responded to our "nice" return email with a photo and a phone number so that we could talk in person. The photo was of her an Tom being goofy at Ash Cave in the Hocking Hills so all of a sudden we knew this was a real request. Cool beans.

Heather gave her a call the next day to see if we could possibly get it to work out for the both of us. Katie turned out to be great to talk to, just a sweet, kind, "real" person. The whole story turned out to be this...Tom and Katie met here at Ohio University a couple of years ago. He's still here studying meteorology and in the Air Force ROTC while she is in Alabama finishing her training and expecting to be deployed to who knows where in the near future. They have several friends in relationships in the military and have seen first hand the life changing trauma that can happen to those who choose this life...not just death but limbs lost...scars emotionally as well as physically...sometimes years of separation. They wanted to capture this moment in time to look back on no matter what happens in the future...this moment of love and health and youth.

Yeah, pretty heavy stuff. In fact it makes me a little teary-eyed just writing it! Wow.

We decided that we would meet them at Ash Cave to do the photo shoot early on the Sunday morning a couple of hours before she had to zoom to Columbus to catch her flight back to Alabama. Ash Cave was on her way to the airport, they loved it there, so it just seemed to make sense. Now if the weather would cooperate!

Luckily, it was beautiful out. 70ish degrees, feeling like fall, a little misty. We met them at 9 a.m. so there was no direct sunlight into the Ash Cave canyon...just soft, pretty, indirect sunlight. A perfect morning. They were soooo fun to shoot! With them knowing it was going to be awhile before they would be seeing each other again, they just couldn't keep their hands and lips off of each other. They were cute...passionate...sensual...and so in love. What a pleasurable way for me and Heather to spend a Sunday morning. Capturing moments in time. Recording love.

Good luck Tom and Katie!

Jeffrey

Beautiful People, Beautiful Day

What happens when you have a 75 degree and sunny day, a cool farm with chickens and barns and cows and pitchforks, and throw into that environment a gorgeous couple saying I do? You get two wedding photographers smiling from ear to ear, that's EXACTLY what you get!

Daniel and Ashley were sooo fun to work with. We had met with them at Casa Cantina a few months ago, just before they were heading to Hawaii for work, to discuss the possibility of us shooting their wedding. Heather and I both immediately loved their bubbly personalities and kept hoping we would be the lucky ones chosen to photograph their special day. They weren't sure if coming back to Ohio made the most sense, where exactly the wedding should be...just a lot of things to work out logistically with moving AND getting married.

A few months later we got the email saying it WAS going to be here in Athens and, yes, we WERE going to be their photographers...and we went whoo hooo! Well, maybe not out loud but we were mighty excited on the inside ;) They had decided it would be at Daniel's family farm a couple miles outside of town...red barns, hay fields, ponds with fountains, apple trees...well, you get the picture, just about perfect!

Outside weddings are always nerve racking for photographers. What's best for the "feel" of the wedding (sunny skies with not a cloud in view) is not necessarily the best light for photos...and rain is even worse. I guess what we are always hoping for, and never have gotten yet, is a nice, cloudy day with no chance of rain and that beautiful soft light blanketing everything in sight for 8 hours straight. Our 2nd choice would be a bright sunny day. We got our second choice.

So we were going to be dealing with some squinting, some harsh shadows, and it being at 4:30 and in the middle of a field we would be fighting with certain angles looking directly into the sun. No problem, just part of the job.

It was an awesome day. The families...friendly and warm. Ashley and Daniel...breathtaking and handsome. Yep, we had to fight the sun and there were times that there was nothing you could do but take pictures with squinty eyes and splotchy patterns of light filtering through the trees on faces...but it all worked out. They were in love...they were happy...and our cameras as well as everyone else there was able to see it, capture it.

Thanks for choosing us Mr. and Mrs. Brown...

Jeffrey

Loving Shadows and Mood...

Sometimes there is just way too much concern over things being well lit.

Sometimes there is just way to much hoopla over smiles.

Sometimes Black and White is the ONLY correct choice.

IMHO

Maybe I'll think of some other stupid statements to add by the end of this blog that can totally be torn apart by other photogs, or possibly even me in a day or two, but for now, at this point in time, this is exactly how I'm feeling.

BTW - We're in the middle of our wedding season.

Shooting weddings is a very tiring, stressful job...but can also be extremely fun and exciting. Stressful because of the time frames and schedules and the 1-chance-to-get-the-1-shot-of-the-kiss, the cake-smashing-in-the-face, the garter-flying-through-the-air, etc., etc., etc., but fun and exciting because of the joy and laughter and happy tears that you get to see and experience over and over, reminiscing each time about your very own wedding and all the crazy emotions that you felt. Terror and Excitement all rolled into one.

So back to the well lit, shadows, B/W rant part of the blog. Weddings are a combo of all that's boring, exciting and interesting about photography. The formals are the boring, though very, very important part. They need to be well lit, smiling faces with light in their eyes. Yeah, you can do all sorts of jumping and running and face making group shots but you STILL have to have some of the all-standing-in-a-line-saying-cheese pics. The ones that the bride and groom gives to grandma and that stays on the wall or the dresser until the end of time.

The important but boring ones.

But invariably, the ones that the bride and groom usually choose as their favs are the ones that we also think are the coolest...the ones that are showing the true feelings...the chance looks, the real emotions, the shadows, the mood. What's truly amazing is that even if you set-up a shot with certain poses or in a certain venue, if you give it a little time, those true emotions and looks and feelings start coming out on their own...because they really ARE in love, they can't help it. Tell them to quit smiling and saying cheese and put them close together and BAM, there is twitterpation (to quote The Wise Old Owl from Bambi) in the air and it, wow, photographs extremely well!

The same is true with the bride and her bridesmaids and with the groom and his groomsman. They all like/love each other...they KNOW how to be crazy friends with each other, and if you just give them enough time, they'll forget you're there and give you the right photo ops completely on their own.

This last wedding with Luke and Mellisa was a prime example. When we first met a few months ago, Luke had said he really liked the whole gang of guys, "Brat Pack" type of vibe...the group of friends just hanging out in tuxes and looking cool in Black and White type of photos. So I decided that we should just meet uptown Athens at the courthouse with his 6 other guys...and just walk. Wander around town for 30 minutes or so. Just let them be friends and do what friends do.

The top shot and this one are from that little bit of time together. Them being them. True emotions with real faces, real shadows, and real mood.

Just the way I like it.

Jeffrey

The Story of Ava

The first time we met her was on a collaboration for a pin-up shoot at our studio.

Kirstian is a local model who was interested in some different looks for her portfolio and we were wanting to just play with some different lighting/posing techniques, so one thing led to another and we set up an evening to get together and do a little photographic/modeling experimentation. When she first came in the door she informed us that she had JUST found out she was pregnant!

Heather and I looked at each other and said, "Oh really", while rubbing our hands together with hungry looks in our eyes...we may have even had an evil laugh or two - lol

Luckily, that didn't scare Kirstie and her new little belly bump off and she immediately was on board with the idea of a monthly documentation of her and her changing body. What a wonderful 9 months it turned out to be and we will forever be indebted to Kirstie and Ava for the amazing experience and excellent learning opportunity it gave me and Heather...and we learned a ton!

First thing we learned...don't assume.

When Kirstie came for her first session she also brought the father of her soon-to-be little one. We snapped a couple of solo shots of Kirstie but then our main focus was some real cool shots of them together...him with his hand on her belly, both of them looking down at the growing bump, the lighting really dramatic and cool. They came out just perfect. We drew diagrams of the lighting with power settings and all distances written down...all camera settings noted and saved.

They broke up 2 weeks later.

Sooooo, with all of the chaos going on in her life, it was understandably a couple of months until we could get her back to our studio...and then, we only had 2 or 3 solo photos to choose from that we could base the rest of her pregnancy shots on.

Lessons #1 to #10 : Take several solo shots of mama, even if dad shows up and is suppose to be in the pics. Ya' just never know...

But really, other than that, the only other things we messed up on was that the White Balance was set different a time or two, but that was easily corrected in post, and we also wasn't able to get Kirstie and Ava back in for the final shot within 2 weeks of her birth, so by the time she came, Ava was a month old squirming, peeing, pooping, puking, down-right gorgeous little girl. Seriously, try and do newborn shots within 2 weeks of birth...a lot less drama!

The actual trickiest thing of all, though, is getting the body position of your model perfect. What really helped was having a print of the very first shoot sitting right there on the floor in front of us as we took all the next months photos. That way you could make sure the light looked close, the head was tilted close, that you were sitting at the same height...just all those little things that would make them flow a little better when you started linking them all side by side. The consistency in the photos in our opinion is what really sets the series off. Next time, we'll even do better!

So again, thanks to the lovely Kirstie and beautiful Ava for such a wonderful few months! What an amazingly special time that we feel honored to have gotten a chance to share with you!

(Lighting was 2 Alien Bee B800's behind Kirstie at 45 degree's on each side at 1/4 power and 1 - B800 through an 47" Octabox above and in front of Kirstie at 1/4 power)

Jeffrey

7 Day Projects

A friend of ours recently started a photography group on Facebook, the "Photo Fun Group", and since this is still the slow season for photographers in wintery Ohio, Heather and I jumped at the chance to join.

If you have a camera, no matter what your level of photographic skill, I definitely suggest you join!

No matter what you do...play guitar...juggle...take pictures...just whatever, you eventually run into these "funks of sameness". Times where you just feel like you're taking the same photo, playing the same note, juggling the same 3 balls...you need a shot of inspiration before you're driven to a shot to the temple.

Especially when it feels like it's been snowing and 15 degrees outside for somewhere around 5 years!!!

Other times you don't even know you're in the "Funk of Sameness" (until maybe you look at some Avedon portraits and realize how much you suck!) Especially when things get really nutso busy, it's easy to just take the same photo, the same angle, use the same lens over and over and not even realize it until you look at someone else's stuff and compare it to your own.

The group is new and evolving but the thing Mark, it's originator, decided to start with as member challenges are 7 Day Projects. 7 days of taking and posting one photo a day, taken on that day, relating to a certain theme. The first theme was "Your Backyard"...every day you had to post a new photo taken in your backyard. This weeks challenge is "Knee Level or Lower"...all photos have to be taken from a height no higher than you knees.

Let me warn you, it's fun AND a big pain in the butt! It forces you to think, plan, experiment, cuss, struggle...and who the heck wants to do that!

And it keeps your camera in your hands at least a few minutes every day. It may be 11:59pm and you're just getting your picture loaded online after having to take some crappy on-camera flash shot of a domino...

But it makes you take a photo...
It makes you look around through the day like a photographer...
It makes you not embarrassed to lay on the floor in front of people...
It makes you look at other peoples takes on the same theme...
It makes you grow...

So join us on Facebook if you can and if you're too shy or just hate us for some reason, do some projects of your own. You'll be surprised how much it can do for you.

Jeffrey

Morristowne in 2010

Wow, has it really been since October that I updated this Blog?

Yikes!!!

NYR (new years resolution) #1 - Keep up with the blog at LEAST once a month!

The good news is that most of the blogger slacking has been caused by lots of photography, both for clients and just for us as a family. Several Weddings ending the year as well as some Senior and Newborn portrait sessions with even a few Product sessions thrown into the mix...great people met and lots of fun, interesting images captured. Since the next couple of months are generally a slow period, hopefully I'll be able to share a few photos and stories that captures at least a little of the things we've learned and experienced since October, before the onslaught of Spring Wedding fever overtakes us.

One quick review I would like to throw in is for the new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens that Heather and I purchased a couple of months ago (which the above image of Talon was taken with). We had owned a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 for probably 6 months and though I did like the images and bokeh it produced, it was just so slow to focus after being use to our Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 and our Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 (which grabbed focus so quick they were almost scary) I just hated using the thing. I ended up just giving it away with our old D80 when I sold it.

I still wanted a good 50mm prime that would give us that creamy background that all of us photographers crave, so after reading a few reviews and comparisons between the Sigma and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4's, we chose the Sigma...and absolutely couldn't be happier.

First off, it grabs focus almost instantly! Even in the lowest light, it can find and lock in focus better than any other lens we have...period! The bokeh is creamy and soft as butter...a blur to die for. The only negative to some would be it's size...it's a pretty big lens compared to the 1.8's and other 1.4's (mostly because of the HSM motor that gives it it's focusing speed) but if you're already use to the 2.8's it is absolutely no issue.

Can you tell I love it? It is actually on my camera most of the time now. If it's something very serious and I am under the gun to get a good photo in varying conditions and distances I still will put the 17-55mm f/2.8 on first...but if I have the time and no distance constraints to keep me from moving around, the 50mm is probably going to be my "go to" lens. Just too much fun...

Well, here's hoping this coming year is good for all of us, both photographically and personally. Keep your sensors clean and your imaginations free and hopefully we'll talk again very soon...

Jeffrey