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.

 

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 Her name is Vynnie C. and she is a very smart woman, who originally made to our Country from Cuba on a raft as a child.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 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 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 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 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 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 02 Photo Challenge: Paparazzi

 

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.