Last night I had the guys from Stuyvesant over for some Band shots. Brian told me they wanted an “Unforgiving Look” while Ralph pointed to Television’s “Marquee Moon” album. I personally looked for inspiration from some of my favorite SST and Dischord Records. In less than an hour we knocked out what they were looking for. I offered them more time and ideas but they were very happy with what they got and were gone before knew I it. Brian, Ralph, Sean and Pete were very easy going and fun to work with. 
Category: Studio Lighting
Keep it Sexy.
As of late I’ve been getting a lot of requests for boudoir, nudes and work that leads towards the sexier side of portraiture. One of the key elements I’ve worked on is lighting. I’ve played around with window light and on board flash with varied results. However, bringing my Studio lights into the bedroom has given me the best results. I love shooting nudes and such but I want to keep it as artistic as possible. Anyone can photograph a naked woman. Doing it artistically and tastefully is another thing all-together. Chemistry and the trust of and with the model are essential. Lighting is extremely important. I love that people feel comfortable enough with me to be natural and not hyper aware of the fact that there’s someone with a camera in the room. I see a lot of raunchy and sex driven photography on sites like Model Mayhem, which is fine and well. Just not where I want to be. For me I want to keep it more artistic. It can be sexy but it doesn’t have to get raunchy. I’m all about the sexy.
Girl From Ukraine
Picture of the Day.
Todays image came at the very end of my last shoot. Roksolana came to the shoot wearing a pair of Doc Marten boots. As a teenager I owned a pair of ox blood Docs that I cherished. They really stood out from the standard blacks everyone wore. Towards the very end I had her put them on with her dress. As she began to lace them up I stopped her. “Leave them just as they are. They look great.” I’ll be posting more later of her and my other shoots. For now “Rox in Docs.”
The Beauty of Tanu.
I don’t get to work on many morning sessions these days due to conflicting schedules and the fact that most of the models I’ve met are not exactly morning people. This was not the case with Tanu . When we first exchanged schedules for the week, she suggested 9:00 AM. “Whoa, I said. Perhaps a bit too early for me to be at my best. We settled on 10:00 Am agreeing it would still give us plenty of time to get things done. When I met her at the PATH my first impression was her pictures didn’t even come close to conveying her beauty or personality. Tanu was awesome and our session conveyed it. Her expressive eyes and lips had me pausing to catch my breath. An absolute professional and a pleasure to work with. We stopped here and there but for the most part, we never really got off course. Tanu was born and raised in New Delhi India and lived in Brooklyn, NY before moving to Long Island City.
I hope to be doing a lot more morning sessions in the future. We’ll certainly see. I can’t think of many better ways to start the day.
Happy Halloween Freaks!!!
Me, I Love B&W.
I just love shooting B&W. I love the mood and the contrast. I’ve been getting a lot of headshot work lately which calls for color. I find myself switching to monochrome in between shots. Later, when I show them the results. They often agree that the monochromes are the best shots and portray them in the best light.
Extras from my Shoot with Tara.
Once we were done with getting the head shots she needed. Tara asked me if I could take a few of her in her leather jacket. I could immediately tell that the clothes she had brought fro the shots didn’t fit her or her personality. Once the jacket went on the real Tara came out. It was a pleasure to see. Such an amazing personality and fun person to work with. We were literally rolling on the floor with laughter.
Tara’s Head Shot session.
Early this afternoon Tara stopped by to have some head shots taken. After a failed start in the oppressive heat we moved inside to the cool, air consitioned studio and thing really began to click. Tara is the whole package. Fun, smart, talented and have to ever seen a set of eyes that were more expressive? We chatted about acting and movies over L7, Soul Coughing and Mazzy Star. What had started out as a hot and uncomfortable sesssion ended up with us rolling on the floor laughing.
Over the past year I’ve noticed so much improvement in my ability to take bad or difficult situations and flip them to a positive. Something I deem just as important if not more than actual photography skills.
Tara is one of the actors to be featured in the upcoming presentation of the Pulitzer Prize winning, Rabbit Hole. Which opens Friday October 1st at the Chatham Playhouse in Chatham, NJ.
Box Office Information – Online Ticketing
Performance dates are October 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 at 8PM and October 10 at 3PM. All performances are at the Chatham Playhouse, 23 North Passaic Avenue, in Chatham. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for youth/senior.
To access the theater’s online ticketing service, simply go to http://www.chathamplayers.org/tickets.htm and click on the “TicketLeap” logo. The service is available 24 hours a day, and tickets can be purchased online up until three hours prior to curtain on the day of a performance.
The box office will begin accepting phone reservations on September 21 at (973) 635-7363. For information regarding box office hours, please call the box office number listed above.
The Russians are Coming!!! The Russians are Coming!!!
Sometimes people take you out of your comfort zone. Challenge you and maybe even scare you a little bit. But when you think about it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thus was the case with Iya. A beautiful woman just recently immigrated from Russia and looking to break into modeling. The day we met at the gallery I have to admit beings a bit intimidated. She had this vibe that straight out of a cold war espionage novel. Cold, direct and to the point. That initial day we hardly spoke. The language barrier and very “down to business demeanor: set the tone. We got some great images that day and both left very happy. It made me think. Imagine if we all lived in that safe comfort zone. Life wouldn’t be much fun now, would it?
Photogeek Blog 
