Is It a Lens Barrel or a Gun Barrel?

Some will say that when 1994 Pulitzer Prize photographer Kevin Carter, 33, claimed his own life from what many believed taking one too many heartbreaking photos (particularly an image of a vulture sitting on the left of a starving Sudanese child, waiting for the child to collapse), that photography is dangerous—is it a lens barrel a gun barrel?

It all depends whom you ask. I myself have almost 30-years experience as a photographer, many of those years photographing women in my “private glamour” group for what I like to call Photographic Therapy—so I can tell you from my own experiences, photography and war, photography is deadly if not executed properly.

What I mean by that, simply put, many photographic therapy clients come from my private shoots. They are usually women with almost 15-years of marriage under their belt, many unhappy with their belt size that age and child bearing years have brought them. Most are looking for a spark or sizzle as an insurance policy to sustain their marriage, through sexy photos. [Read more]

Working with Big Egos

On some occasions, you might wind up with a great looking subject who knows she’s gorgeous and blatantly displays her ego, making sure everyone knows she’s hot. These are the types who will also tell you how the light and shadows are supposed to fall on her body—insisting that she knows the right light, the right look, the right poses, etc.

Fortunately, I only get these types of subjects once in a blue moon. When this happens, I let the client do her thing—but I’ll also purposely ask her questions to send her mind off in a different direction. This works best when you ask open-ended questions that require more than a simple yes or no in response. For example, instead of asking her if she likes being photographed, ask her what motivated her to get in front of the camera. Ask her what she studied in college, not if she went to college. [Read more]

Back at OMP

Almost 8 years ago I joined “One Model Place” and watched it grow from a small modeling community to a rather large one. At some point in the beginning, I was some how deleted and finally at the recent Glamourcon in Chicago, the CEO of OMP, Brett Cramer, invited me back to join the community that he and Stewart helped to create.

I’ve seen many improvements at OMP over the years and I’m happy what I now see and intrigued by Cramer’s positive attitude and the future of OMP based on some ideas we discussed recently—we’re even considering possibilities to work together with our own Glamour1.com site—stay tuned, the possibilities are unlimited! [Read more]

Calumet & California Sunbounce European Tour Comes to an End…

Well I’m finally back in the good ole U, S of A! While I love Europe, the people, food, culture and the countryside, unfortunately I have family and obligations to return to like everyone else and they reside on this side of the globe.

Words cannot begin to express my gratitude for the folks at Calumet Photographic and California Sunbounce for the opportunity they have given me to share my American photographic style with my European colleagues—whom in return have shared their style with me, a true marriage of the minds.

The European people and photo industry truly greeted me with open arms and impeccable hospitality. The response was tremendous, with press and almost 400 people in attendance. Not to mention the great food, drink and culture they shared with me—I still remember in Belgium where we sat at the table enjoying great beer and words of wisdom as the photographers practiced photographing one another with my camera. From there, some of my new friends from Holland spilled over to the dinner table—now we’re looking at three “Dutch” female photographers all volunteering to be assistants for the next one on one Virgin Islands trip! [Read more]

The Calumet Tour Continues–Germany, Netherlands, & Belgium

What a week, after Berlin and Hamburg, we drove a few hours down to Düsseldorf then high-tailed it to Amsterdam as the Calumet/California Sunbounce tour continued on through Europe. Out of the nine photography magazines Calumet advertised in, so far I’ve collected three, Photographie, fotoMagazine and the latest, PROFIFOTO, which leaves me one German and five BeNeLux area magazines to find as we continued our travels and the tour begins to wind down. (I’ll be posting photos soon!)

I’m not real worried as yesterday I met the head of Calumet Europe marketing, “Wim,” and he promised he’d get me copies of any magazines I couldn’t find. Yesterday I also picked up a poster from the Calumet store in Antwerp, Belgium, again, Calumet has done some incredible advertising to help promote the workshop series and my name in Europe and I’m very thankful as this was not something I expected—I’m guessing that 18 total full-page ads (2 pages per magazine) costs the company somewhere between $50,000 on up plus with the additional costs of their own in-store posters, fliers, web promotions and even the lunches, chairs, sound system, studio rentals, etc., Calumet seriously went out of their way to may this tour a great success, and so far it’s been fantastic! [Read more]

Black Reflectors (Flags)—Subtractive Lighting

When photographers discuss reflectors, most folks think of silver, white, gold and zebra colored reflectors, rarely do you hear of black reflectors, though you might hear of gobo’s, cutters, and black cards, which are usually black in color, and named more from the concept that they block light, rarely that they subtract and reflect light. While most photographers will call these black panels “flags,” I still like to think of the them as reflectors too.

These black flags normally reflect about 10-percent of the light that hits them, thus absorbing 90-percent of the light that falls on it. This imbalance in percentages is why it’s often referred to as a flag, more than a reflector. It’s the absorption quality we often call, the subtraction of light. While this is true, the black material is also reflecting black-toned-light back onto the subject, which is a technique I like to use in my photography, especially when working with blonde hair, in addition to the natural subtraction of light that occurs with these flags. [Read more]

While in Garlstorf, Germany

Today in Garlstorf, Germany, while on my Calumet Europe and California Sunbounce tour in Europe, we took the day off and attended the Erntefest in Scharmbeck. While in America we tend to think of a fest as a big party, this fest is more of a Thanksgiving festival for the local community of Scharmbeck celebrating the successful harvesting of crops for the year. Apparently they had a great crop as demonstrated from the farm tractors that pulled decorative trailers, trailers with themes of farming and harvesting often made of the plants and grains.

There were also carnival type rides for the children with food and drink booths too, though not as commercialized as we often see in the United States—these booths and attractions centered more around the locals than trying to draw people from other communities, a small and quaint atmosphere. [Read more]