Wearable Softbox
This is my idea of the correct use of a softbox. For you non-photographers, a soft box is a lighting modifier that is often met with frustration by photographers in putting it together. I think Amber Flowers wearing one is a much better use! Anyone interested in my ideas for me doing a lighting workshop!
The actual lighting here on the left is a Broncolor Para 133 reflector powered by a Broncolor Move 1200L pack and head. I use a Hasselblad digital camera system. Only the best!
When Is A Model Not Just A Model
When is a model not just a model? When the model is so very creative! Amber Flowers is not only gorgeous and knows how to work in front of the camera but also a wizard of wardrobe. She totally made my day with this!
Amber Flowers photographed by me here in Palm Springs. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
The Only Thing I Fake Is My Leather…
“The only thing I fake is my leather” – Maria Bertrand. Makeup and Hair Styling by Blanche LeBeau. Photographer here in Palm Springs by me. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
“The only thing I fake is my leather” – Maria Bertrand
Just Add A Hat
Sometimes for wardrobe you just need to add a hat to make it all work. Tiana Joy in our photo shoot poolside here in Palm Springs. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Beauty Dish – A Photo Lesson
To the right is a beauty. To the left is a beauty dish. That works! The beautiful of Maria Bertrand in our photo shoot with the wonderful makeup and hair styling by the superb Blanche LeBeau. Lighting by Broncolor and photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system. Only the best all the way around here!
What To Wear… Or Not
Wardrobe is always a big issue in photo shoots. Sometimes it is about the clothes, other times it is about what the clothes do for the shoot theme such as sports or dining or being a tourist. I like wardrobe decisions on how I imagine the photographs I want to shoot with a model. Sometimes it is more and sometimes less is even more. One of my favorite models, Aristodeme. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Gabriella
When I saw this gorgeous woman at the Palm Springs Photo Festival late night event party there was no question in my mind that she was a professional model. The way she carried herself, her presence, dress and makeup and hair, tall and slender. When we did meet and she told me her name was Gabriella, I thought how perfect is that. Such a romantic name that takes one away to beautiful places in Europe that so very much fits her. Then much to my surprise, I find that she is an extraordinary photographer herself. I am wondering now if I should hang out with more photographers. Just kidding, they mostly all just look like me. But that is how I came to be graced with Gabriella Muttone in front of my camera.
Gabriella Muttone in our photo shoot at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Photographed by Ian L. Sitren. Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting. Only the best.
Rise Above It
The inescapable presence of model Tiana Joy in our photo shoot. Made even more so by the just the right water level in the pool. Such a candid feeling and view that would not be the same with modesty. Such a wonderful model! Thank You Tiana!
Tiana Joy photographed in Palm Springs by Ian L. Sitren. Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting. Only the best.
Fashion Model Flight Demo
During our photo shoot at the Palm Springs Air Museum, Gabriella Muttone did her best to do a flight demonstration. Limited by lack of flight clearance from the tower, she never the less looked really great in her liftoff.
I must tell you about Gabriella. Stunningly beautiful, a professional model who has worked around the world, been the face of Avon, and has graced such brands as American Express, Sony, CocaCola, Diet 7-UP, WonderBra, Sears, Faberge and Appolinaris. Gabriella is represented by the prestigious Spot 6 Management in Toronto, one of the most sought after modeling agencies in Canada.
There is yet more! Gabriella herself is a superb photographer. Incredibly talented and creative, you must check out her work at GabriellaMuttone.com. I truly admire what she does behind the camera!
How flattered am I to have this accomplished professional model and an extraordinary photographer stand in front of my camera. I would otherwise be without words but I had to say Thank You Gabriella Muttone. You are just wonderful!
I must also say that I am so happy I use the best gear possible, Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting. Anything less would have been just that. Thanks!
So Much Joy!
The first joy being my model, Tiana Joy. What an incredible, gorgeous, fun model to work with! Tall, long legs, sexy turn to her and made my job so easy by being able to move and take direction. Had a hard time stopping and not going on for hours more. And wait until you see the photos to follow. I promise you will want to see them and much more of Joy! Just Wow!
The next joy is my pool construction is finished! Completely tore out the old pool and all the decks, patios. All that was left was the shell, dirt and rubble. Now all done and it is wonderful! What a great shoot location and it is in my backyard.
More joy from my great camera and lighting equipment. Over and over I am so impressed with my Hasselblad digital camera gear and Broncolor lighting. Each time I do a photo shoot I am so very happy with getting the results I really expect and that I expect to produce for my clients, whether it is magazines, advertisers or models of all genres looking to be a cut above. Only the best!
So please, keep watching here and coming back for more and Thanks!
So Much Fun With Gabriella
Sharing a laugh with an incredibly beautiful, gorgeous, talented and fun Gabriella Muttone. Behind the scenes in our photo shoot at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Made all the better with my Hasselblad camera and Broncolor lighting. Thank You Gabriella! You are wonderful!
Hitchhiking to Muscle Beach
I imposed upon Maria Bertrand to demonstrate the proper form and universal sign for hitchhiking to Muscle Beach. We were on Mulholland Drive above Beverly Hills so the results for cars that stopped included 17 Ferraris, 14 Lamborghinis, 6 Bentley Coupes, 11 various Rolls Royces, 4 Lincoln Town Cars and one black Loach helicopter with no markings that dropped out of the sky. However last I saw of Maria for the day was as she rode off on the back of a bright red Vespa with a really cute blonde wearing a matching helmet who had really long legs. I went back to the hotel with my Hasselblad camera and my memories of the day, in my photographs. Sigh…
Everybody Makes Friends On My Shoots
One of the very fun things that happens on my photo shoots is that everybody makes friends with everyone else. Bella found a perfect companion! Photographed with my Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. I love this gear!
Bonnie Waiting
Bonnie waiting, but for who? Who is Bonnie? More of this story to come.
Emma Mesrobian is our Bonnie. Makeup and Hair Styling by Estee Lauder’s world traveling Blanche Le Beau. Broncolor lighting and Hasselblad digital cameras. At the Orange Empire Railway Museum. Thank You!
Net Proceeds
I am guessing I got my accounting confused with my photo shoot plans. However Nova did happen to have the right wardrobe for net proceeds anyway. I am looking forward to doing net revenue next. Who wants to help me out? Thanks!
Nova photographed with Broncolor lighting and digital camera by Hasselblad.
Train Robbery In Progress
Yesterday behind the scenes with Emma Mesrobian. Too much fun and photos soon! Makeup and Hair Styling by Blanche LeBeau. At the Orange Empire Railway Museum. Broncolor lighting and Hasselblad digital camera for the actual photo shoot.
Some history for now… This is a Union Pacific Steam Engine built in 1921. It saw service in Idaho and Utah puling freight and passenger cars and retired in 1955. It weighs 300,000 pounds and the driving wheels are 63″ in diameter. It is a 2-8-2 “Mikado” type locomotive. 2 small pilot wheels, 8 large driving wheels and 2 small trailing wheels. And yes it is really big!
Nova With Nova
When I was getting ready to do a photo shoot with Nova, I was excited to find that she had been featured in one of my favorite publications, “Victor” by Hasselblad. A beautiful publication that began as a very large format magazine and progressed to a book format. It is partially responsible for my having selected Hasselblad as my camera system.
So I was excited to have Nova sign her photograph in my copy of Hasselblad Victor Photography Book One during our photo shoot. And I am in great admiration of the original photograph and the series “Personal Visitation” by photographer Damon Loble. Applause!
This photograph with my Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. Thanks!
Fashion Styling
I often think I should use a fashion stylist on my photo shoots. But then again sometimes I get by. This is the “Papier Doux” look. Okay maybe not. What do you think?
Photo shoot with a Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. Aristodeme, one of my very favorite models.
So Very Sexy, Fit And A Chocolatier
You can have your chocolate and look great too! Katie Madden at 56 years old in my pool on front of my Hasselblad camera. She is a Fitness Professional, a Corrective Exercise Practitioner, and to top it off, a Chocolatier specializing in artisan white chocolates. She is just so incredible and oh so very sexy and gorgeous. I am sure happy I shot photographs because I really don’t know what more to say! The superb day of Makeup and Hair Styling by the equally superb Natalie Lyle. Thank You!
Fine Art Nude?
A panel discussion at the Palm Springs Photo Festival last week raised the question of what is fine art photography. Personally I do not like definitions such as that. Is the difference between fine art and not fine art a really expensive frame perhaps. I guess this is my idea of a fine art nude. Aristodeme the model is nude and she is holding fine art. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. That equipment is fine art, and so is Aristodeme, of that I am sure!
Porno Chic
It is not just naked. It is called “Porno Chic”. A term created by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer in the 1970s to describe the work of fashion photographers Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Chris von Wangenheim. Editorial and advertising photography that uses nudity, eroticism… sexual and sultry to be more than pornography. I also refer to it as “edgy lifestyle” and think it is great fun. That is why you see it in my photography. It is not just being naked.
If you follow my Blog you saw an earlier post I did jokingly talking about this series selling chairs or furniture. Actually this photograph does work. Does it not get your attention about the chair? You can see very well how it is made, the details of it, and the model makes it look really comfortable. It is helped out by having a great model. And also works because it is photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera and lighting by Broncolor. Only the best all the way around. Thanks!
Lucky Tree
It crossed my mind to wonder what kind of tree it was that worked so perfectly for our photo shoot. Then I figured it out… a very lucky tree! Maria Bertrand, a very lucky tree, my Hasselblad camera and me. That is a good day in the park!
Sports Theme
I always admire my photographer friends who shoot sports. Some of them have shot the Olympics many times. They photograph at the Superbowl, the World Series, major sports league games and the biggest fights. So just to feel like I am part of things, I like to add a sports theme to my photo shoots now and then.
Photographed by me with a Hasselblad digital camera. Broncolor lighting with a Broncolor Para 133 reflector on a Scoro pack. I truly like the light out of that Para! Only the best!
The Tools Of My Work
I do get asked about my set ups for shooting, lighting and background and studio and such. Often it is somewhat simple. However I choose the tools for my work very carefully. Here you can see what has become my favorite lighting, the Broncolor Para 133. This photo shoot had it powered by a Broncolor Scoro E pack. The camera also my favorite, a Hasselblad digital. Yes my choice of gear is the very high end of equipment. But I think about the amazingly wonderful people who are in front of my cameras and in that lighting. Many prep for a very long time for these photo shoots and often it is their career. Thereby deserving of the best on my part. That is my commitment. If you have any questions or would be interested in shooting with me or have me photograph your advertising or features, please send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com. I would be more than excited to chat with you. And Thanks!
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