Torn Up
A little torn up but all good for sure! Amber Flowers, a tremendously talented and gorgeous woman. Her styling design made it such a great outstanding photo shoot! Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system (H4D-40) and Broncolor lighting (Para 133).
A Touch A Taste
Just a touch and a taste. Our model Sévérine with makeup and styling by Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Thanks!
A First Time For Xtine
Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea with model Xtine. Her first time around the Salton Sea, my assistant’s first time around the Salton Sea. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Actually a partially overcast day so we had sun and then no sun. To my left 45 degrees to the model was my assistant holding a Broncolor white Beauty Dish, only one light powered by a Broncolor 1200L Move pack. He carried that in it’s shoulder case. Winds at Bombay Beach can be very significant, so that was a factor in my light modifier decision and to not try using a stand. By the way, Xtine the model here, is 6ft-1 in her bare feet.
Posing Interlude
A few moments of posing interlude with Kajira during our photo shoot. The photo shoot itself done with Broncolor lighting and a Hasselblad digital camera system. The video with a Fujifilm X-T1 camera.
Space Travel Not Required
Found a new photo shoot location on a recent photo excursion. And no space travel required. I can see you posing in front of that landscape now! The question is… Who is you? Send me an e-mail to Ian@SecondFocus.com. Thanks!
Winter Wonderland
“Winter Wonderland” is the first thing that crosses my mind. Which is an example of why I do not typically title my photographs. However I can correctly title Maria Bertrand… Beautiful! From our photo shoot at Venice Beach.
Mystery Posing Fun
Some behind the scenes posing fun during a photo shoot with Kajira. She is truly a gorgeous and fun model!
Yes We’re Open
If I had a storefront business, in the morning I would come to work and put my roll down open sign in the front window. I think it would really be a big improvement in most downtown business areas.
One of my absolute favorite models, Aristodeme. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Good stuff!
Don’t Mess Up
If I am giving first credit to the success of any of my photographs, I owe it to the extraordinary men and women I have had in front of my cameras. There is little question I have had some of the most amazing people as models. And here the most breathtaking elegant ballet dancer Viktoria in this behind the scenes photograph from our photo shoot.
Yes I am lucky to have so much space available to realize most of what I want to do, from studio shooting to my outdoor pool and gardens. Close by I have even larger studio space available, the great outdoors, the Salton Sea and even vintage aircraft.
Next is what I and many others consider the finest equipment available. Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting.
What is left for me is to stage the photographs I have in the back of my mind, and more important than anything else, each and every time, don’t mess up. Thanks!
Voting
Would you vote for this photograph of Kajira full-length or closer up? The dilemmas I face when editing from a photo shoot. My vote… Must have both!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. Thanks!
Just Love It
I love the people I photograph! I love the creation, the wardrobe or lack of wardrobe, the makeup, the process, the cameras, the lighting equipment, even the light stands, all of it. And I am a true lover of photography, not just my photographs but the world of photographs.
My photo shoot with the beautiful Amber Flowers. The camera is Hasselblad digital. The lighting is Broncolor with the so unique Broncolor Para 133 reflector. I love it all, I truly do!
Noel Pre Paris And Greece
She just returned from photo shoots in Greece and Paris. My buddy Noel VanBrocklin in her photo shoot with me before she left. Now that she is back I will have to see if she has changed any. Become more European perhaps? What would that be I wonder?
Photo shoot notes… Wonderful Makeup and Hair Styling by the world traveling, Estee Lauder featured Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system. Lighting by Broncolor. Surrounding myself with the best people and the best gear!
Looking At Me?
Yes we are looking at you! It would be a tragedy not to! Amber Flowers in our photo shoot. Superbly wardrobe styled and makeup and hair by Amber. Hasselblad digital camera system and lighting by Broncolor. I am sure happy I shot some photos to remember all this!
Dance In Motion
Motion captured in a photograph with professional ballet, dance model Viktoria VikTory Hofstaedter. One movement that becomes a story all by itself.
Photo shoot notes… The beautiful makeup and hair styling by Natalie Lyle. Hasselblad digital camera system. Lighting by Broncolor with the Move 1200L Pack and Para 133 reflector. Only the best.
Another Look
So many people have commented to me about the looks of model Kajira. Here yet is another look, the look with that red hair that so greatly intrigued me. This woman is just so gorgeous and what a fun model!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. Only the best!
Back Of The Closet
I always suggest to models that they should bring along the things they bought but have stuck in a closet or in a drawer because they never found the opportunity to wear those things. It can be so fun! in our photo shoot, Kajira had a few of those kinds of things.
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting.
Actually Simple
Behind the scenes with a stunning model, Kajira. Much of the time my setups are pretty simple. Although I usually have an assistant on hand for at least setup and tear down, most everything else is pretty much easy for me to do by myself if needed.
My surroundings obviously are very comfortable and roomy. I can reverse this room and have even higher ceilings. I also have tilt up sets that can create entire rooms outdoors in complete privacy. A very beautiful pool and spa with stamped concrete patios and decks recently all redone just before Summer. New landscaping going in now that will allow for garden and tree scenery. Plenty of room on hand for full makeup and hair styling as well and wardrobe changing.
I do depend on the best equipment to make sure I have not only great results but also no failures or problems. From heavy duty Matthews stands to Broncolor lighting and a Hasselblad digital camera system. I make no excuses for wanting to make sure that each photo shoot works every time. Only the best!
Kajira Behind The Scenes In Our Photo Shoot
Add A Vintage Turban
Photo shoot with model Kajira was just so very fun! Tall, slender and so very well poised! I cannot even begin to tell you, but I have the photos and some great video! But for now I loved her look with such a simple wardrobe addition as this vintage turban. Made my day!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
“I’m Not Going To Move…”
“I’m not going to move until I get your attention” says Maria Bertrand. You got it Maria!
Photo shoot notes… Superb makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Close Enough?
Famed war photographer Robert Capa said “If your photographs are not good enough, you’re not close enough”. Probably not applicable here but I thought it was a good excuse to get closer to the gorgeous Sherry Goggin in our photo shoot. Click on this photo to see the photograph that was the result. One of my all time favorites and on my website at http://bit.ly/1Ik2Rgy
Looking At You
Model Amber Flowers looking back at you in our photo shoot. Shoot notes… Hasselblad camera system. Broncolor Para 133 reflector on one strobe head with a Broncolor Move 1200L pack. All so very exceptional! Thanks!
My Relationship With Keira Knightly
Well other than thinking that she is just gorgeous and I very much enjoy seeing her in movies and photographs, I do not have a relationship with Keira Knightly. Except for perhaps in agreement with some of her views about photography. She was recently photographed by famous fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier for Interview Magazine. And she also was the interviewer of Demarchelier for the feature. More below…
Keira Knightley by Patrick Demarchelier For Interview Magazine
In the interview Keira brings up a few points and asks questions of Demarchelier about shooting film versus shooting digital as she sees a difference in how photographers relate to the subject or model. Here are a few of those questions…
KNIGHTLEY: I’ve noticed that the people who started on film still have the ability to see the person in front of them. Whereas for a lot of photographers who have only ever worked in digital, the relationship between the photographer and the person who they’re taking a picture of sort of doesn’t exist anymore. They’re looking at a computer screen as opposed to the person.
DEMARCHELIER: Exactly. I love digital, but the only problem is less intimacy. People look at the screen right away. Before, nobody saw the picture before you saw the final picture. There was more privacy in a way.
KNIGHTLEY: Do you miss any of the physicality of it? I think I’m a horrific kind of romantic about film. There’s something about that single shot that was one moment in time, and something about the physical process of the light hitting the lens and the dark room. I find it difficult to see the romance in digital.
DEMARCHELIER: It can do that too, actually. I do a Polaroid before shooting. A Polaroid you do one picture, three pictures, it’s really a moment. Capturing that moment with those pictures is interesting.
I want to say that I really understand what Keira Knightly is saying. By example when I am shooting on location in bright sun and shooting digital, you can’t see the screen on the back of the camera anyway. So I do find myself shooting more like when I do shoot film. Less as an observer and more working directly with the model. There is more of a connection, kind of an eye to eye thing. I have caught myself lately making that digital mistake. I see other photographers, younger photographers who have not shot film. being totally detached like they are watching selfies on an Instagram feed. As a consequence their photos are truly uninspired.
So what have I done to stay connected? Simple things that make me slow down. You might see me shoot with the camera on a tripod. Let’s me pay more attention to the model and details. I do shoot way fewer photos than other photographers. I hear models tell me that they shot with some photographer and they shot thousands of photos in a photo shoot. That usually only means you have a whole bunch of mediocre photos to look through and the photographer is just being a button pusher and watching.
To paraphrase a story about the great photographer Helmut Newton; it is said that for the cover assignment for a very prominent fashion magazine he only shot three photographs as the selections. When confronted by the very famous editor that he only sent in three, Newton responded “Well you only need one”. That “one” was always a work of art and not just one of many photographs.
And from time to time you might see me shoot film. When you only have 12, 16 or 36 frames before you have to reload the camera that will slow you down. Especially when you consider that each roll of film will cost $35 – $50 each to be developed and scanned. Every now and then some of you may have even seen me bring out the Polaroid cameras. I intend to do that more as well. For many of you it will be a new experience. No screen to look at not he back of the camera. One model I worked with was very confused by it and she said “Is that like movies?”. Don’t worry I won’t make fun of you. It’s all fun!
Well I hope Keira Knightly sees this and stops by to do a shoot on film with me. Maybe she or Interview Magazine did call me about this feature and I was at the gym or something. I will just keep telling myself that. Thanks!
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