Inspiration – Page 4 – JWNPhoto.com

Category: Inspiration

Fog

This past weekend, my family traveled up to the border of SC and NC to do some work on the in-law’s home and to celebrate her birthday. Since her home was going to be a work zone, we opted not to sleep at my mother-in-law’s house and rented a home in Landrum, SC for the duration.

On Sunday morning, after a long weekend of peeling wallpaper, spackling, laying tile, grouting, masking, priming, and painting, I woke up to a wonderfully thick fog. I decided to throw on my sweatshirt and shoes and take a walk down the road with my camera.

Fog makes for some fantastic landscape opportunities. It’s almost too good, because it eliminates so much and allows you to focus on your subjects clearly, which is ironic because nothing is optically clear in the fog.

I guess the best word to explain what I mean is isolation. You can focus your mind’s eye on an object when everything else is out of focus and easily isolate it.

It’s kind of like nature’s bokeh. I also found it very stimulating. I hadn’t even had my morning coffee yet, but I was full of life by the time I walked to the end of the dirt road leading up to the main road. At that point, the creative juices were flowing and the most ordinary things became extraordinary.

The processing on the photos above were all done in Snapseed on the Mac. It’s a great program for making gritty photos, which adds to the mood of my early morning adventure.

After breakfast, the kids & I did some exploring on the property of the rental home. My daughter found a little guest house that was very much geared for youngsters. It had a loft with a bunch of mattresses that were screaming for kids to play on.

My son found a tree swing, which he made quick use of…

And in the garage that was converted into a workshop, I found this:

A fully equipped darkroom! It was truly awesome – the owner of this house has everything you need to develop film. He also has studio space, which was more like storage space while I was there. Regardless, I took the opportunity to shoot some of the elements, including this:

The next time I complain about the cost of a lens, I’ll look at the pictures of this setup and realize just how expensive photography used to be monetarily as well as time-wise. It makes you think about how different the developing process is now for photos. Before, you would lock yourself away in a room for hours just dodging and burning away, completely in the creative zone – much like my walk in the fog, but with chemicals! I have a lot of respect for the dedication and work that went into this craft before this industrial age of digital.

In other news, I received my new lens and I can’t wait to try it out in a few professional scenarios – so far, it’s only been used to shoot my pets, which is never a bad thing really 😉

Keeping Up With Morgan

One of the joys in participating in our Help-Portrait MUSC Kids group is learning about some of your subjects afterwards. Morgan Porter was the first girl we shot during our most recent event, and she’s been making the news due to her recent heart transplant. The courage and strength of Morgan & her family is unlike anything I could ever imagine. Please take 5 minutes to watch this video below.

You can also read and watch more about Morgan here.

I know I gush about the doctors and staff at MUSC Children’s hospital, but this is no miracle – it’s raw skill and talent that can pull this kind of operation off. The miracle to me is the will of such a small girl to fight against all of the odds.

Keep fighting Morgan, we’re all rooting for your success!

Getting Ready For Gabriel

In my exploration of different types of photography, one of my many goals was to try maternity photography. I was all set to shoot Crystal, who was also the subject of my first wedding shoot (I thought it would be fitting to shoot her again), but as I explained in this post, life took an unexpected turn and that opportunity passed. Back to the drawing board. I asked my wife if she knew anyone and she presented me with one of her clients, Tamara.

The challenge was to explore the different popular poses, lighting methods, and themes in maternity photography while looking to create something new. I started off by searching through popular photo sites like Flickr and 500px for the work of other photographers to see what they are doing. I also wanted to prepare Tamara for what I expected from her, so my wife and I picked our favorite photos and shared them with Tamara. I was hoping that by attempting the tried and true in maternity photography, but applying my style and lighting techniques, I’d get inspired to expand on what’s been done before and find something new. Get inspired, build on that inspiration, and then veer off into a new direction with what you’ve learned. That’s been a pretty good road map for me creatively.

This shot above has been done a million times before. The old “heart hands” as I like to call it. It’s cute, it’s got hands (which are always interesting photographically), and it’s got a touch of sentiment behind it. If you search the internet for maternity photos, you’ll find hundreds of the same type of photo. Still, I set up the shot and do it almost as if it’s an exercise. While I’ve got Tamara and her husband in front of my camera, I’m able to work with what I see, and because I’m liking the hands, I setup another tried & true photo of dad kissing mom’s belly. This time, I want to see their hands. This photo is all about the hands graphically.

Another shot I see usually taken from the mother’s perspective is the shot of the belly with their feet up against a wall and crossed. I decided to try a variation of that and had Tamara look back at me while lying on her back with her feet up and legs crossed. Since I was using a backdrop, I had no wall! This was a situation where help is 100% necessary and my wife Amy was playing the part of photo assistant. I had Amy hold up her legs and on the count of three she let go and I quickly snapped the photo. As you can expect, this position is anything but easy for a girl just weeks away from giving birth to pull off!

Building off that shot, I grabbed the blue bed sheet that we later used in the photo at the top of this post as well as baby blocks. This time I let her keep her feet down as the blocks were now a major element in the photo.

Since we had the blocks out and the mother on her back, I got her 1st born involved. He had just taken a bath and didn’t finish getting dressed yet, but I though it would be cool if he left the shirt off, just like mommy! We spelled out his new brother’s name and had him play with the blocks. His smile is genuine, because what kid doesn’t want to play with blocks?

I also have him pose with his brother in this shot as he listens for little Gabriel’s heartbeat. I love the contrast of his hand with his Tamara’s as well as the catchlight in his eyes.

Another shot I really love is the low-key rim-lit shot of a (seemingly) naked maternal figure. The photo up top is one example using two lights, and the one just below is shot using one light source to create a dramatic image with shadows. The beautiful curves of an expectant mother is one of the most stunning subjects one can photograph. I say seemingly because she’s got her bottoms on as well as being fully taped up on top. The illusion is always more interesting as it leaves more to the imagination! Sorry to spoil that for ya…

The rest of the shoot was done using natural lighting. I set up this scene in her front window with the theme of waiting. At this point in her pregnancy, it’s about all she can think about – the waiting.

The sun was getting low in the sky, so we took advantage of the golden hour and hurried outside for a family shot. As I was shooting the family together, we got one magical moment where the dogs stopped, looked at the camera, and posed. It was amazing!

Tamara was spent. She was such a trooper as we tried different poses, set-ups, and wardrobe changes. After hours of shooting, she was ready for one last setup – the bubble bath.

This leads me to what I think is my most successful shot of the day. This photo screams maternity. An exhausted mom relaxing in the tub, feet up, candles lit, and a grin on her face that glows with the anticipation of the chaos that will be upon her and her family in the coming weeks. Right at this moment she takes a minute to enjoy the best part about being a woman, the gift of life.

G. Love & Special Sauce

Last night I was faced with a terrible decision. It was the end of a long day spent working on a project and I was wiped out – I needed to relax for another long day working on the same project. I also knew that G. Love & Special Sauce were playing at the Music Farm in Charleston, SC just at the time I was finishing for the day. Well, you’re reading this now because I made the rock n’ roll choice to go down in flames. You only live once here on earth, best make the most of it.

Opening the show was the Alabama native Kristy Lee.

She dresses like 90’s era Ice Cube, talks like an old southern maid, and sings like it’s her last day on earth and she wants the world to remember exactly who she is. She was amazing – I couldn’t believe just how talented she was live. She got the place going better than most full bands could. She’s like a gospel singer who sings about whiskey instead of God. I loved it.

G. Love & Special Sauce hit the stage like freight train. Timo Shanko was on bass and the Houseman Jeffrey Clemens was on drums as the stripped down trio rocked the Holy City.

It quickly became apparent that God has returned to the earth and has taken the form of G. Love’s bass player. Timo was on fire. The guy is unbelievable.

On Stage right was the Houseman slapping the skins like it’s New Orleans in February and he’s got all the beads. The old school voodoo rhythm keeper kept the funkiness turned to 11.

If Timo’s the God, and Houseman’s the Devil, then G. Love’s the prophet telling us all how it is in the D-Cell slinging streets of Philadelphia. He’s not going back to Jersey ’cause he knows he’s fixin’ to die. He’s taking I76 and his baby’s got sauce, so you better holla.

The last time I saw G. Love, it was about 15 years ago at Tramps in NYC. I always remembered how this guy brought the ladies in – It was about a 10 to 1 ratio of girls to guys then, and they were all smokin’. 15 years later, and the man still has it. The crowd was a great example of Charleston’s reputation of being home to some of the world’s prettiest ladies.

Kristy Lee came back out to sing with the boys:

The band did not waver, and the crowd was bumpin’ and grinding all night long…

I took a lot of shots of the show, so make sure to browse through this set on Flickr. I had a fantastic time, but all things must come to an end, so I leave you with a crowd shot I took before I headed back home to my lady:

Miracles at MUSC

Aurora Kuck 1/8/2012

When you see a baby that’s just under 2 lbs and is alive, animated, & looking up at you with big beautiful eyes, you can’t help but be amazed at the wonders of life. The folks at MUSC Children’s Hospital are miracle workers for being able to do things like this every single day.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I was talking to Aurora’s mother Crystal about shooting maternity pictures. She was worried that it was too soon and she wasn’t really showing much. Life happens in it’s funny ways and Aurora decided it was time to come out (way ahead of schedule). Lo and behold, I ended up shooting baby pictures!

Walking through the NICU is kind of intimidating – it’s looks like a scene from the X-FIles with all of these blue glowing pods and walls lined with medical equipment and monitors. I was expecting to see some alien being floating in a tube of liquid, but instead I saw little miracles of medical science as babies were being cared for with the greatest of expertise and love.

Crystal wanted to make sure we got a picture of Sarah, who’s one of many Sarah’s that have been attending to little Aurora. The new mom said that Sarah was her favorite nurse, but she never said which Sarah…

Welcome to the world little girl, you’ve got two loving parents and a big family just waiting to spoil you. What more could you ask for?

Sunrise With Snapseed

One of my favorite iPhone/iPad photo editing apps is now available on the Mac App Store, and it’s called Snapseed. It’s more than just an effects application, but it’s strength is that it’s a quick and fun way to add some textures and styles to your images. The people at Nik software are really setting the bar pretty high with their image editing effects, and this mobile app crossover is no exception.

I was up at an ungodly hour this morning (for a Sunday) and managed to catch the sunrise from my back porch. I decided to make lemonade out of the lemony situation and play around with the photo in Snapseed to see what I could make with it. The image above was made using their “Grunge” effects as a starting point. The following is the same photo was using Snapseed’s “Vintage” effects as the starting point:

It also has a mean black & white converter. This version of the image used the “Film” preset as a starting point as well as a green filter effect:

And for the purists out there, it also does some very subtle basic adjustments, such as saturation, cropping & straightening, sharpening, etc. The interface is very simplified compared to more professional editing software such as Adobe Lightroom, which to some might be a selling point. Here’s the same photo straight out of Lightroom as a reference point:

For $20, this application is a steal.

Up All Night

My kids tried to wait up for my wife Amy last night. Kegan didn’t quite make it past the floor. Luckily, Lola was there to keep him company. I still had my camera setup from this post, so I cranked up the ISO to 1600 and got down on the floor to shoot this. I did play with the colors and saturation a bit to get that desaturated look.

In unrelated news, I got the email today that every person in their mid-thirties who attended college waits many years to receive. My student loans are all officially paid off. I think I need a drink! It’s a happy Sunday indeed.

Natural Light Portrait

Here’s one of my clients who today became an unknowing portrait subject of mine. I received a really cool book for Christmas by Chris Orwig called “People Pictures: 30 Exercises for Creating Authentic Photographs“. The title of the book really spoke to me, and the cover of it screamed “BUY ME!” so I had to add it to the wish list 😉

I just started reading it this morning, and I was happy to see that the forward was written by one of my favorite photo authors David duChemin, who’s latest book, “Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images” I’ve also received for Christmas and have been reading.

So the first exercise is to take a very quick portrait with minimal equipment. I was working with Bobby at his office replacing some computer equipment when I saw that the clouds had covered the sun at one point enough to get an environmental portrait outside in front of his doorway. This was the initial shot I made:

I framed him just outside of the entranceway to his office with his sign hanging overhead so that it looks almost like it was put there in post. He’s in the light and the background is in the shadow. The short-lived cloud acted as my light diffuser and I chose the slight angle to keep all of those elements together while avoiding as much of the reflections in the windows as possible. I positioned Bobby dead center to balance the sign in the shot. The shadows of the entranceway formed a natural vignette, although I did add a little more vignetting in post even it out on the bottom half of the frame. I shot this with a 35mm prime lens at f/1.8 & ISO 200. I was in Aperture Priority with a +1/3 EV and it chose 1/1250 of a second for the shutter speed. I shot a few frames to nail the composition and a few more to adjust the exposure, and got my shot within a minute. It was that easy, and that was the point – don’t worry about lenses, lights, or filters. Just grab the camera and take a simple portrait of a person without forcing it.

The problem is that once I get the bug, it’s hard to squish it. Inside, I shot a few more shots, including the one at the top of this post which I really ended up liking. He’s sitting between two windows, which made for really cool rim lights. I shot it in manual mode at f/1.8, 1/40th of a second, and ISO 200. I got in close to throw everything past his eyes into a slight blur. I also removed a few blemishes and smoothed the skin slightly in Photoshop (a backlit natural light portrait can be a little unforgiving on anyone over the age of 25) and that’s it. The book is really not about flattery though, it’s about connecting with people, which I believe was a successful attempt here.

There’s also a Flickr group based around the exorcises in the book, and so far there are some really talented photographers participating.

Merry Christmas 2011

I’m a lucky man. Look at that photo up there – my family is just an awesome group of people. We’re truly grateful for our health and happiness. I setup my portable studio in our living room this evening and we each posed individually. I put this composite together for my personal Facebook Timeline poster, but it turned out so cool that I wanted to share it with y’all.

It has been a great year for me. I’ve accomplished a lot of my goals despite a physically rough start. I’ve grown a lot as a photographer, and with the help of events like Help-Portrait and Angel Walk, I’ve grown as a person. Speaking of Help-Portrait, If you were watching ABC World News on Christmas Eve, you might have caught a spectacular piece about it. It was especially awesome for our MUSC Kids Help-Portrait team because photos from our event were featured in the piece, including this photo of Jesse who inspired my wife and I to start our group:

What’s that you say? You didn’t catch it? Well it is almost 2012 – we have the internet to save the day! Check out the piece here.

That brings me to my next point. Jesse was saved by a bone marrow donor. An anonymous awesome person was matched to Jesse and was able to save this sweet boy’s life. Giving service in the form of photography is a fantastic gesture to celebrate our humanity, but I think we can do more in a different way. Today I signed up as a bone marrow donor and I want everyone who reads this to think about doing the same. It’s easy, but I won’t say it’s painless. What’s a couple of days of discomfort compared to a human life? Besides, you have a very slim chance of actually being matched – but you are increasing the odds that a potential recipient will find a match by registering. If you do get matched, all of your expenses are paid (except time off from work) and you’re fully covered medically for the procedure. Furthermore, you will officially become the most amazing person in the world to someone who’s life you’ll potentially save!

Here’s the skinny, go to this website to get all of the details. Sign up here to get your swab kit. That’s it. I also put a widget to the right of my blog in case you forget. If anything, you’ll get that shiny happy feeling when you hit submit on the sign-up form like you just gave a loved one the present they’ve been begging for all year.

If you have the means and are lucky enough to be healthy enough to be able to do so, I encourage you to just do it. I hope you have a fantastic holiday this season no matter what your beliefs are, because we are all here now and all we truly have is each other. Merry Christmas!

Help-Portrait Charleston 2011

I had the pleasure of not only organizing a Help-Portrait event at MUSC Children’s Hospital again this year, but also of volunteering as a shooter for the Charleston Help-Portrait group at the Convoy of Hope event on James Island. I want to share some of my favorite shots from the day.

This was a lot different from the event I organized. I was one of three shooters, we had 2 editors, registration volunteers, and a makeup artist all in one tent!

Here are a couple of shots from my phone of the other two shooters at the event:

Doug DeLong

Hansje Gold-Krueck

I also got to shoot some other event volunteers, such as these mimes who were performing:

As well as the local fire department:

Help-Portrait CHS James Island Fire Department

I shot a lot of families. It can be challenging to get a group to fit within the borders of a portable collapsible background. There was a lot of convincing on my part to get people as close as possible to each other. Luckily, that also usually got people laughing right away.

When shooting kids, I tried to get them to also pose without their parents so they could let their personalities show. Something about taking a picture with adults makes kids squirm, but when they’re with other kids they really seem to open up.

I also shot a little differently than I did with the MUSC event. I shot in JPEG normal to make the file sizes smaller and also let the camera handle the JPEG conversions to speed up the processing. I shot over 54 different subjects – and I was one of 3 photogs! Needless to say the editors were very busy.

The other change I made was to slightly bump up my ISO to 250 to make my flashes work a little less. I worked 7 hours and never had to change the batteries!

I have to say, it’s nice to let someone else worry about leading every once and a while. Being a professional means a lot more than just taking pictures! For this event though, I just had to worry about setting up and making people smile. I still love leading, but it was nice to have a break from the “business” end of things for a change.

All in all it was a really successful event. I had a blast, and the subjects I interacted with were all unique and interesting people from all walks of life. I didn’t get a chance to check out the rest of the event, although we had a stage right next to our tent so we were jamming to lots of gospel music, which I was enjoying to the point of ridiculousness (although that could have been the exhaustion kicking in). Everybody was in such high spirits though that it was hard not to have a sore face from smiling all day long. You can view the rest of my portraits from the event here.

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