Week 11 BOC: Self Portrait

 

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My self-portrait depicts how I feel from time to time about myself and how life is going for me at the moment. One point of view of myself is calm, life in black and white, nothing out of the ordinary and everything in its place. This is the persona I present to the world, a false face so nobody can see the turmoil and the chaotic mess that is my inner self. The inner me, the hidden side of my life is like a described. Chaotic and in turmoil, I am bathed in the blood of my youth and possibly the blood of my future. I am on uncertain ground with no heading or direction. Blood is the only companion I have to keep me company, its all I can recall rom my youth. Without it I would be even more lost and directionless because the pain of the past is what makes me the individual I am today. I am creative and visual oriented because it was my only way to escape the harsh reality of a troubled youth. I would imagine scenes and act like I was taking pictures until I was able to buy a camera and then I actually took the pictures.

The first half of this photograph was taken in studio with me sitting in a chair and the camera positioned over me shoulder while I am looking into a stand up mirror. The second half was taken on some railroad tracks, with me on my knees and the camera facing me as an assistant poured fake blood over my head to show my inner trauma.  Only an on camera flash was used for the railroad shot and a single strobe key light with a 24” softbox was used to get the low key lighting of the studio.

 

Week 10 EOC: Things I have yet to do

For my final project for Business of Photography class, I still need to do the following to be certain it is complete and turned in on time.
 Here goes, I need to:

• Need to make a Fax Page
• Need to make a Letter Head
• Need to make an entire page of business cards, not just my single ones I use
• Need to make sure all my tweets and up to date, currently they are
• Need to make sure I got all my quotes in place
• Buy more paper holders to display work
• Print all blog photo challenges in color
• Make sure all my blogs are approximately 300 words each
• Make sure I show up to class that day 
• Make sure I bring my portfolio for review and grading

This is pretty much the remainder of what I have to do to finish my project. As long as I keep at it, it is still manageable and I wont fall behind but if I goof off any, I might be in the hurt box for sure. Just need to do a little bit each day before next Monday and it should be easy.

BOC Photo Challenge: Fashion

I took this image of a model I use on a regular basis. I lovingly refer to her as my Muse and count her as a friend. Her name is Vynnie C. and she is a very smart woman, who originally made to our Country from Cuba on a raft as a child. I took this image in studio using a seamless backdrop of grey. I used two strobe lights, one key light from the left and the fill from the right. I was going for a darker moody look but not to dark. I asked that she do her makeup dark and bring dark outfits to wear. Vynnie is a Cheerleader and knows how to move and twist her body to make herself look more desirable than I have found most models are able to do, as demonstrated in this image. Vynnie is always willing to help me out and hasn't told me "no" yet to a crazy idea for a shoot or when to shoot. She has gone beyond the call of duty to help me and I think because of that, we have never had a "bad shoot" where neither of us walked away with nothing we like. Its usually the opposite, where we have to much to choose from.

Week 8 EOC: Bang Bang Club

“There was lots of outgoing fire,” he said. “No one tells you how dramatic massive amounts of machine gun fire is. In photos you just see the puff from the barrel. But when you are there, it’s incredibly shocking and dramatic. I realized that, as someone who was very green, I could not handle the outgoing, much less the incoming. So I decided it was best to leave it to the guys who know what they are doing. I thought, ‘I should leave this to someone with insurance and a guarantee to publish the pics.’ As a freelancer, I just could not do it.” (http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/young-in-libya/, Ty Cacek)

I found the movie “The Bang Bang Club” to be exceptionally well done. The being based on a true story, made it even better for me. The movie was able to portray the true-life experiences of four combat photographers capturing the final days of apartheid in South Africa. From the highs of winning three Pulitzer Prizes to the lows of a suicide and a murder amongst the group. The movie stays on focus showing you how harrowing the life of a Conflict Photographer could be.

"It's a very intimate thing," said Lyon. "What we're talking about here, in essence, is a relationship — a relationship with danger, a relationship with death, in some cases. A relationship with adrenaline. A relationship with intensity of experience. (http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/05/09/136053477/the-perilous-job-of-conflict-photography, Santiago Lyon is director of photography for The Associated Press)

Being that I have been in situations where I have shot at and experiences from growing, I think I could actually work as a Conflict Photographer. In fact it actually has stirred an interest and I will investigate the possibilities in the near future with my graduation coming up. I would do it for the sake of bring the news and conflict to the people, you can keep the awards, well maybe not the award money.

"Breaking News Photography, previously called Spot News Photography – for a distinguished example of breaking news photography in black and white or color, which may consist of a photograph or photographs, a sequence, or an album." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulitzer_Prize)

Week 8 Photo Challenge: Conflict Photo

 My interpretation for this weeks photo challenge was going to look at lot like this photograph actually. I was going to take a photo of my profile shooting with my camera and wearing a baseball cap with the bill forward. I was then going to merge it with a photograph of some sort of conflict so I would give the impression that I was actually in the middle of the action on assignment for some News Agency.          

Week 7 Photo Challenge: Gentlemen's Relish

I took this photograph in studio. I used approximately (1) key light for this picture. I put the key light on 1200w and placed it the right of the model and had her face in that direction. I was going for a low key, moody feeling with this picture so I made it dark on purpose. I had the model place her hand under her chin as if in thought or possibly day dreaming of another as she slowly start to remove the dress she was wearing, uncovering a single breast in the process. Besides the dark moody light, the pose was supposed to help show an intimate moment in her life.

Week 7 EOC: Adult Content

I have never really had much of an opinion of adult content in art other than what I view as being artistic (appropriate) and the other just being pornographic (inappropriate) in nature. I know one view of adult content by most people is that it is content, such as pornography or violence, which is not generally thought to be appropriate for viewing by children. This would include such things as Hustler magazine, XXX videos, and anything else that shows gratuities sex scenes or gratuities amounts of male or female genitals. Think Playboy vs. Hustler magazine. Playboy would be considered, in my opinion, more artistic in nature due to the way the images are taken. The composition, the lighting and how the images are edited in post all suggest art, an appreciation for the female form and its body. Where you take something like Hustler and explicit imaging of models genitals and acts of an intimate nature between a man and woman just for the sake of it, with no artistic approach or value to it. This I consider inappropriate for art and don’t see value to it. To each their own I guess but some things should just be left for ones private life and the other to be celebrated and appreciated like true art should be.

Now when it comes to my work, I will do nudes but I do them with a purpose or a theme. Not just to do a nude, without rhyme or reason other than to see a pair of breasts. We are all adults and should behave and act as such while working. As a habit, also generally do not take full nudes, usually just implied nudes and topless, since I feel it is easier to justify why I want such poses from my models. Models I work with are made aware of this and I usually receive more respect and cooperation from models after they find out my view on adult content and that I am not  just being another pervert with a camera.

Week 6 Photo Challange: Photo Collage

I chose the pictures for this collage mainly for a few reasons. First, the background image is that of a desert landscape at sunset. I really enjoy the desert at sunset, its my second favorite scenery to gaze at on this planet, the first being the ocean. I like the feeling of isolation, the emptiness of nothing around you for miles upon miles. Pure unadulterated solitude. I also love how the colors in the sky seem to become more vibrant and explode with color, not quit the same way that sunrise does. It's almost like an orchestra of color blaring out its last notes of the evening before retiring for the night.

Second, the pictures I included in the collage are all models I have worked with in the past and have a certain fondness for. The top left in the swim suit is Vynnie. Vynnie is my muse, my inspiration. More often than not, when I come up with a new shoot theme or idea, Vynnie is the woman I want to shot it with her. I have never had a bad shoot when I have shot with her. Top right is Stephanie, we have only shot together for a  couple of shots but she has a lot of potential as a model. Bottom left is Shannyn, she has more potential in her left pink than any other model I have worked with. Bottom right is Melissa,a friend of mine that will do just about anything to help me with a photography assignment. She is a real trooper and I appreciate everything she has done for me. Without these ladies my work might be a series of misadventures and failed shoots.

Week 06 EOC: How has art changed you

For me, Photography and Art have changed my life mainly in two aspects. First, it has taught me how to appreciate time. Second, it has taught me how to focus myself and to notice things. Coming from a family where I was the only child and often times mentally and physically abuse for just being alive. Photography helped me escape one reality and exchange it for a far better one.

First, time used to be a measurement of getting from one place to another. For most people, it’s about always being “on the move,” striving to get ahead of the pack, just trying to stay alive. For me, now, time is spent much differently. I spend my time trying to take in my surroundings with a more discerning consciousness, and attempting to look and see everything that I can at any given moment. Time is more than time passing me by, or a clock ticking from one hour to the next, time is a place and fact that I use to merge into my ability to see and look in advance, in why I would approach my subject matters, and how I would use that time to my advantage to capture the image that I’ve visualize.

For sure, every photographer worth his or her salt, needs to know about and how to use proper focus; but I’m also talking about focus in relationship to personal focus. Focus on your camera’s battery, focus on your camera settings, focus on your subject, focus on your environment, and even focus on your time management. It’s not always about taking the picture, but as importantly the process of how you’re going to do so–the post processing, marketing, mounting, and all else that keeps us photographers concerned about and why we are passionate about taking pictures. This list is interminable, and goes on and on.

Week 5 Photo Challenge: You Editing a Photo

When the shoot is done and I find that its time to do my post production, I often then not set up shop at one of the local Starbucks stores. I basically take over a table and turn it into my mini office for however long I there, which has been known to be several hours. I set up my laptop, my memory card reader, place my cell on the table and order a very large cup of coffee and settle in for the long haul. I do this so often at one particular Starbucks that I have become a local and often find mysterious cups of coffee just appearing on my table, especial if looks like I am tired.

Once my mini office is set up, I sit down behind the laptop and open my editing software and access my images that need to be worked on. I plug my ear phones in and turn on Pandora Radio to listen to my personal playlist of music. I disappear into the music and start editing until I am either done or I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. Then I pack it all up, say my goodbye to those people I know who are working or visiting that particular Starbucks and proceed home to get some sleep and start it all over again the next day.

This system seems to work best for me. I can take breaks and look around and talk to people when I am getting tired or frustrated. I have food and the all beloved caffeine right at my finger tips when I so desire it. The only down fall to the whole system is, when the store is busy. I might have to wait almost an hour to get a table when I could have spent that hour working. I think it’s a fair trade off, so I continue to do my editing this way and have been doing so for about 3 years now.

Week 05 EOC: Best Part of My Business Plan

"Aperture Solutions will help our clients to look their up most best; will keep their head shots and portraits up-to-date and accessible.

All of our photos are created in a high-resolution digital format, from which our prints are made. Since the Internet and commonly used printers typically use the lower-resolution 300 dpi format, 300 dpi digital files are available to clients for a nominal charge. Higher-quality digital photos and prints carry full pricing. We will retain the high-resolution data and clients can order more prints from us if they wish.

Our photo studio includes quality props for portraits and fashion/glamour, and head shot photography. The physical environment of the studio is fun, accessible, clean and modern, making it a perfect choice to rent by non-studio owners and freelance photographers. We also go periodically to people’s homes and on location shoots, bringing cameras and lights that are out of the budget of non-professionals.

Our products include: Head Shots, Model’s Portfolio and Glamour Shots, and Individual Portraits.
Our specialty is head shots. We have a unique combination of props and style for head shots. All of our Photos are suitable for magazine publication.Individual portraits are commonly needed for individual and business websites, business cards, brochures, High School Senior Year Book and annual reports.

The competition for portrait photography is divided into several categories: First, Award-winning photographers are those who routinely deliver magazine-quality photographs. Their work is highly creative and spontaneous instead of routinely posing shots. They are rare and highly expensive. Second, these are professional-quality photographers, like us, who use a lot of posed shots. Most of the competition falls into this category. Third, are Amateur Photographers who use low quality products to charge low prices."

Week 04 Photo Challenge-You In a Camera Store

In this picture, I am pretending to be shopping for a Light Meter in a local Camera Store. The picture was taken using the 5mp camera on my trusty HTC MyTouch cell phone. I took the picture so you could both see the product and packaging in my hands and me looking at the product at the same time to help with the illusion of me shopping for the light meter. The cell phone was propped at the edge of the counter with a couple of books and I just had someone walk help me out by pushing the center button which triggers the phone to take a photograph.

I originally wanted to go to Casey’s Camera on Tropicana in Las Vegas, NV. I was going to go in and ask the owner, Wayne, who is there Tuesday thru Thursday, if I could take a photo in his store for an assignment for school. I wanted to take the camera and attach it to a table top tripod and angle the camera in an upward position so it would catch my visage peering into the display case and examining some product that has caught my attention as a possible purchase. I felt this would be a unique way of experiencing the other aspect of the sale, from the point of view of the product.

Week 04 EOC: Peering into the Future

When I am 50 years old, I will be an established Travel and Glamour Photographer based out of Los Angeles, Ca. Living somewhere on or around Main Street in Huntington Beach, just a block or two from the ocean.

I will be working as a staff photographer for Maxim Magazine or an equivalent periodical and also working as a local freelance photographer, catering to Zed Cards and doing head shots for the entertainment industry and doing glamour and fashion photography for local model’s portfolios. I will work both of these jobs for about 10 to 11 months out of the year and then I will be go abroad to work as a freelance travel photographer for the other 1 to 2 months of the year. When I return from my travels I can host an exhibition showcasing my work and then sell the images to travel magazines, newspapers and to stock photo companies such as Getty Photos.

I want to have the ability to come and go, to work on travel projects as I see fit and as I can afford to fund them until I sell the images to the appropriate companies to turn a profit for my time and energy. Basically my career would be complete if I could just work ten months out of the year for someone else or myself and then traveling for the rest of the year. Making just enough money to pay all the bills and be comfortable. I did need tons of money; just enough to be comfortable and to build a retirement portfolio I can actually survive on when it’s time for me to retire and just run a small freelance studio out of my home until the day I can’t pick up a camera any longer. Course that will probably be the day I die.  

Week 03 Photo Challenge: You Incredible

Here I am in Santorini, Greece. One of the few places in the world I can actually say I am in love with. I plan to move there if I can once I retire and start to think about settling down. I took this photo of myself the last time I was there. I placed the camera on a table top tripod and placed on a ledge that was on an elevated position from me. This was tricky sense I had to get low and spot where the camera was pointed, so I could go and stand in the correct position on the path leading down from where the camera was perched. I set the timer for the maximum amount of time I could set it for and moved into position as fast as I could. I think it only took 4 attempts before I got one to come out. I made sure the sun was behind the camera to provide ample light to illuminate me, the only draw back is that it cause some squinting since I didn't want to wear my sunglasses and block my face. In the picture, I was trying to capture the slopes of Santorini behind me with all the elegant white adobe homes with light blue domes roofs, the color of the Greek Orthodox Church.
I love this particular view of the island since most of the island is made up of only slopes and hills, with most of the shops and tourist destinations at the apex of the island where it flattens out into a hilly vista of open ground. From the highest point on the island looking down at sea and docks, you can truly feel like a “King of the World” surveying all that lays before you. 

Week 03 EOC: National Geographic Photo Critique

 

I chose this National Geographic Photograph as a personal favorite for various reasons. First, the contrast throughout the image is superb. The lights and shadows really make this picture stand out to me. Second, the colors are vivid and make the photograph jump off the page in conjunction with the contrast. The image may show cave explorers repelling down into a large cavern in the ground, receding into virtual darkness but the way the light is captured in this image, you don't appear to notice that aspect. You mainly concentrate your attention on the flora, the rocks, and the mist raining down from a nearby stream/river/ or waterfall. All the water coming in forms its own cascading waterfall falling even deeper into the unknown. You can tell that the shot was taken with just available light, a wide aperture (probably f1.4 or f1.2) and a slow shutter speed. You can tell it’s a slow shutter speed do to the misting/blurring affect of the water in the waterfall. The depth of field is shallow, with slight blurring of the surroundings and background starting just a few meters from the camera lens. It isn’t blatantly apparent since most of your field of view is located in the dark crevice extending downward.

Week 02 Photo Challenge: Paparazzi

 

Week 02 EOC: La Dolce Vita

Federico Fellini's internationally popular film La Dolce Vita, Italian for "The Sweet Life,” made in 1960, coined the name “paparazzi” for the pesky freelance photographers shown in the movie. I believe the movie justly named the photographers for what they were, oversize mosquitos or parasites if you prefer. I think the movie adequately predicted how the paparazzi would evolve into the nuisance they are today for the rich and famous alike. The paparazzi antagonize and manipulate people into doing things in front of the camera that they normally wouldn’t do, all in the name of getting the shot. They will chase celebrities in cars and act recklessly trying to photograph the celebrity. Look at what happened to Princess Dianna. If it weren’t for the paparazzi, she would quit possibly still be alive today continuing to do good things around the world. The paparazzi have no shame and no ethics as far as I am concerned and I would rather never take another photograph again then act like them and jeopardize my integrity.

As for the photo assignment this week, to photograph our self as a paparazzo in the field, I plan to keep it simple. I plan to try doing it two different ways. First I want to find a party or events were paparazzi might be and photograph the scene. Then I plan to take a self portrait wearing all black and carrying a camera bag and camera and edit myself into the picture as if I was there the whole time harassing whatever celebrities that may have been there. The second shot I might try is to actually join the paparazzi on whatever red carpet event they are on and photograph myself in the crowd with them or have another photographer help me by taking a picture of me in the paparazzi crowd acting like one of them.

Week 01 Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

I chose the famous photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as my artist of choice, to share a self-portrait with. He created this image, "Robert Mapplethorpe Self-Portrait 1988" just before he died of an AIDS related disease. 
 In 1986, he was diagnosed with AIDS. Despite his illness, he increased his creative efforts, broadened the scope of his photographic inquiry, and accepted increasingly challenging commissions. The Whitney Museum of American Art mounted his first major American museum retrospective in 1988, one year before his death in 1989.
 I respect Mapplethorpe’s perseverance and determination to continue to do his art and shoot what he wanted even though he was dying.  Don’t let a little thing like death hold you back from doing what you love. I also appreciate how he would shoot what he wanted and when he wanted to shot. Mapplethorpe would shoot stylized compositions of male and female nudes, delicate flower still lifes, and studio portraits of artists and celebrities just to name a few of the styles of photography that would interest him at any given time.
I shot my self-portrait in the studio using three strobe lights and approximately five flags to direct the light from the strobes to exact locations on my body with the help of an assistant.  I attempted to use depth of field to make it appear as if I was standing behind Mapplethorpe and slightly above, so as not to take away from the main importance of the subject, Mapplethorpe himself. I purposefully allowed more shadows on my face to help show I was behind the subject in the photo. I also wore all black and used a cobra headed cane instead of a skull headed cane in the shot.

Week 1 EOC: Stallions not Unicorns

The photography career that I want to do most is actually a two-part career. For most of the year, say ten months, I would like to work for a magazine company doing Glamour Photography, something along the lines of Maxim or FHM would be perfect for my style of photography. The rest of the year I want to be able to make enough money from the job at Maxim to be a Travel Photographer working freelance or for the Marriot Corporation or Travel and Leisure Magazine. Traveling around the world photographing the Marriot’s various resorts for travel guides and company brochures. I have a strong grasp of composition and style when it comes to taking both Glamour and Travel style photographs. I have the experience and eye needed for Glamour Photography and I work well with models in a studio environment and location shooting.

For Travel Photography, I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture the perfect shot with just natural lighting and/or just using a flash as your only source of additional illumination. Sometimes finding that perfect shot is all about luck and other times, its all about understanding your environment and knowing to look for the signs of a promising shot versus that of a regular person just pointing and clicking with their camera. 

I would consider working both of these jobs as my one unicorn job. It would be a great accomplishment for myself to be able to do these and make a living at doing them. I would be able to express my creative side and travel the world, as I have always wanted to do. I couldn’t think of a more perfect union of jobs to make the one perfect job.

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

My name is Joaquin Lares and photography is something that instills great passion in me. I describe myself as essentially a travel photographer with a strong interest in portraiture. I am currently based in the Las Vegas, Nevada area.

My interest in this addicting medium began in my early teens when I was able to buy my first Canon SLR camera and I have had a love affair with photography ever since. Photography is my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass. I use photography as a means of self-expression – I make pictures for myself, to identify with the hidden qualities of my character, to better understand my reality, and to express my interpretation of the world around me. A clearer understanding of myself and of my world allows me to explore fragments of life as an abstract form, and also to interact with people I would otherwise not be able to engage with. My goal is to use my camera like Alice’s rabbit hole, to open an unexplored world, a place of curious self-expression, but also a world of new relationships, new chances, new beginnings, and most importantly new stories.

My choice of subject comes from a place of intuition and is fueled by an insatiable desire to partake in the stories that unfold around me. Being able to travel and experience new places and people, satisfy my wanderlust and furthers my understanding of my reality. I know that I can be colorful and I know that I can be gray in my interpretation of the world but to experience life as those indigenous people I visited and shared their culture with, without bias, can and has been truly rewarding. I have traveled abroad and have seen and experienced many things in the name of photography and adventure. From walking the streets of lost Pompeii to watching the sunset over a sunken volcano in Santorini, Greece. You can truly appreciate how fleeting and persistently life is, but with my camera I am able to capture these special moments in time so that others can experience them visually.

During my studies to broaden and deepen my understanding of photography, I have developed skills and an appreciation for portrait photography with an emphasis on Fashion and Glamor styles. Just like with any other looking glass, there are always other angles and directions one can look. Keeping my focus straight-ahead and narrowed doesn’t allow me to better understand my reality but makes it stagnate and it chokes the creative process. Portrait photography lets me tap my inner child, the creative side of me. It lets me be bold and expressive, limited only by physics and my own imagination. If that isn’t living and exploring your own reality, then I missed a turn somewhere. Before this show, this life is over and the storybook closes, I plan to walk among giants in this field.