All posts filed under: Photography

Leia Heider – Portfolio Shoot (Part 1)

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Spent yesterday photographing a new portfolio for model Leia Heider. I always start these shoots with a simple natural look. It’s something agencies and potential clients want to see, and should be updated regularly. Throw on a jacket and you have a classic look, that wouldn’t be out of place in an advertisement for The Gap. The image is toned slightly to give it a different feel to the white T-shirt image. Model – Leia Heider MUA – Summer Johnson-Makeup Artist Pentax 645D HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mmF2.8ED AW S

F.A.Q.s – What camera bag did you use in India?

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I usually use a Lowepro DryZone 200 bag for hiking, and a Pelican 1510 for studio shoots. However, while in India I used a Lowepro S&F belt and harness system. Attached was a Lowepro Toploader Zoom 55 bag for my 645D, a utility pouch for the other lens, batteries, etc, and a water bottle holder. The above pic clearly shows the system although it’s much less conspicuous if you wear a black t-shirt. Even better is to then put on a loose fitting shirt which covers all the straps. You now have easy access to the equipment, but are not drawing attention to all your expensive gear. Both bags have zippers so your gear isn’t going to bounce out. The shoulder straps make carrying the 645D far more comfortable than using a single strap. They also prevent your gear from crashing to the floor if the waist buckle pops open, or from disappearing if someone tries to grab the belt, pop the clasp, and run. I first tried this setup in Istanbul a couple of …

Hair Stylist – Aiasha Orick-Fleurantin

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A few shots from a  shoot last year to highlight the work of hair stylist  Aiasha Orick-Fleurant. Aiasha is available for weddings, balls and photo shoots. She will be on Okinawa until June 2015.  You can contact her via email at hairverbage@yahoo.com or her visit her website  A. LaQuin. Model – Desiree Snyder Makeup – Summer Johnson Hair Stylist – Aiasha Orick-Fleurantin

Baba Jee, Boatman on the River Ganges – Varanasi, India

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The image above is almost the exact shot I ‘d envisaged when I started planning my trip to Varanasi. Luckily everything fell into place when I found  Baba Jee a photogenic boatman, warm golden light at dusk, and the three dimensional quality you get when shooting with a wide angle lens up close. Pentax 645D   Pentax FA 645 35mm f/3.5 AL IF Of course I didn’t just take one photo, but dozens. I switched between the 90mm and 35mm lenses, used both landscape and portrait orientations, and also shot  with and into the light. These images were taken at the end of my second day in India, but I knew straight away I’d probably just captured the best shots of the trip.

In the Studio – Rie

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A simple headshot of Rie. This type of straight on shots tends to work only with models with very symmetrical faces. The brown hues in the image give it a warm feel, but it would have been very simple to use a bluer tone, a white background, and a little more light to give the bright high key look you see in adverts for cosmetics. Model – Rie Tanaka,  MUA – Summer Johnson Pentax 645D with HD PENTAX-D FA645 MACRO 90mmF2.8ED AW S

Scrubs

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A doctor friend of mine lent me some medical scrubs. So, at the end of a couple of recent  shoots, I asked  the model if they wouldn’t mind wearing something a little more clinical.  Models: Amanda with makeup by Summer Johnson (above) and, Talisa with makeup by Mallika Sharma (below).

Ads on a WordPress Blog

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A friend recently asked me if I was making a lot of money from the advertising on my blog. He mentioned the fact that there were ads for a variety of products from toothpaste to flights appearing at the bottom of my posts. He  sent me a screen grab of the blog, and there were all these commercial ads. I was surprised, and more than a little troubled. It was particularly confusing, because when I looked at my blog on my computer, I couldn’t see the ads. It took a check of the small print to find out what was going on. At WordPress.com, we sometimes display advertisements on your blog to help pay the bills. This keeps free features free! We only run them in limited places, and we do not show ads to logged-in readers, which means only a very small percentage of your page views will actually contain ads. As I was logged into WordPress it never showed me the ads, and I was unaware anyone else could see them. I don’t want …