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January 15, 2012
Instagram
My friend Chuck Arlund mentioned Instagram to me earlier on last year. Instagram is an iPhone app which allows instant sharing of images, but with a unique way of doing so. I briefly had a look at it then, and uploaded a photo of Chuck … and then promptly forgot about it again. That’s just how it goes with dozens of photo apps on the iPhone, nevermind the zillion things clamoring for our attention every day.
Then over the weekend another friend nudged me again to check Instagram out again, and this time I more carefully looked into it. I then realized it wasn’t just a stand-alone photo app, but rather a photo-sharing social media cosmos based on the iPhone. Interesting. Of course, you can share photos on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.
You may well say that I’m late to this game, but here I am if you’d like to follow random images that I will post on Instagram in future. I should be easy to find – neilvn
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November 24, 2011
finding that photo opportunity
We stumbled upon this opportunity for this portrait of Jessica, my infamous assistant with an attitude. The reception room for a wedding we were photographing had several large boxes of lights against the walls as a kind of light mural, with baubles inside that were lit up. And the back of each of these displays was a mirror …
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April 11, 2011
personal work – Manhattan cityscapes
It’s been a long cold winter without much chance to roam around and explore with a camera. The past weekend it seemed like the weather was finally relenting and becoming warmer. Taking to the streets to shoot for myself a bit with no purpose in mind, I ended up with three images that I liked – all deserted New York city scenes. Or in the case of the image above, nearly deserted.
It felt good to let my thoughts roam for a while, getting some exercise and listening to music … looking for anything that visually appealed to me in the camera’s viewfinder.
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April 8, 2011
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January 23, 2011
Film Noir style portrait using video light
Last week I attended the Digital Wedding Forum convention in San Antonio, where I also did a presentation. Great fun meeting up with old friends and making new ones. Since this was the 7th DWF Convention, there are a few traditions that have been established by now. One of these regular unofficial events at the Convention is the Avatar Shoot. Stephanie Zettl, who has featured on a few guest posts here on Tangents, arranges this shoot at the convention. The idea is to shoot new portraits to be used as avatars.
The theme this year was Film Noir. Using just one (or sometimes two) video lights, she created moody portraits of every innocent bystander attendee hanging out at the hotel bar the one evening. The video light is perfect for lighting for a Film Noir look to the photos. With the dramatic drop-off in light to the edges, the area around your subject will usually fall into darkness rapidly. This creates a kind of a spotlight effect. Perfect lighting for this!
The photo at the top is my portrait. I just pulled up my collar and sank back against the wall. Working so close to the wall was useful in allowing a shadow to appear … and Stephanie very effectively used the negative space there to add more drama. Just to keep the momentum of the photography process a little off-balance here .. the moment she took the first shot, I stepped away and told her we are done. Just the one shot. And it worked. It had to.
A little more about the specific video light used here:
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November 15, 2010
portrait using a gridded softbox
It’s been about a year since I last took a more formal portrait of my daughter Janine. Last year it was her with the steam-punk goggles, when I used a beauty dish (with a sock) as lighting. During a restaurant dinner last night I noticed Janine had ‘LOVE’ scribbled on both her forearms with a felt marker. I asked her about it, and she explained the idea behind ‘To Write Love On Her Arms‘. So I decided to include this tonight in the portrait of her.
Lighting her and the words on her arms was a slight challenge. I wanted a moody portrait, instead of just flooding it with even light from something like bounced flash …
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October 10, 2010
favorite image from the weekend – trampoline jump
Another photograph from the PDF event this weekend where I photographed the fire performer, is this one from earlier in the afternoon. I noticed some event-goers taking turns at a trampoline. I decided to shoot into the sun for dramatic effect .. but also to make the image more anonymous and therefore more about the feel of the day. More about the mood than a recognizable portrait. Shooting at high shutter speeds, I was able to freeze the action completely, and caught this guy in mid-tumble … as if mysteriously floating by. Slightly surreal.
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October 8, 2010
After I was so thrilled with watching and photographing the fire performers at their wedding, Katie and Nathan managed to get me a ticket to the PDF event this weekend. Due to work commitments this weekend, I was only able to visit tonight (Friday), and take in the activities and spirit of the event, and chat to random people. Magical.
Of the fire performers (and other participants) I photographed, I really liked the few images I got of Nichole .. and thought I’d show them here as a small glimpse of the event.
Shot with the Nikon D3, using the Nikon 85mm f1.4D lens
1/125 @ f1.4 @ 3200 ISO
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July 9, 2010
A quick informal portrait of a photographer friend of mine, Sarah Smith.
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July 8, 2010
In 1998 I had the great opportunity to visit Madagascar to photograph stock images for a travel agent. This guitar player in one of the markets in Antananarivo caught my eye, especially with the bold colors. This photo from the archives is this week’s entry for the Alive for 365 project.
Antananarivo, Madagascar // Jan ’98
Nikon F90; Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-D
81A warming filter; Fuji Sensia 100
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