I am a Master in the Arcanum.

“Arcanum? What the heck is that Bob??”

It’s a new learning platform put together by photographer Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs fame and a few others. You apply to be an apprentice in the Arcanum and a Master will ask you to join his or her group called a Cohort. You have challenges to meet and along with the rest of the group’s support and feedback you increase your photography skills at your own pace. You can find out more by clicking on the link.

And now to the rest of the story for today. As a side event within the Arcanum a team of masters and a team of apprentices are facing off in a Survivor type environment of photography challenges and teamwork. Images are scored each for each challenge and the highest scoring team gains immunity and the losing team sends a member home. It’s a fun little exercise and is pushing people to be creative. We were given the challenge to create an image based on a swimsuit. Being at a loss to find a model I created something quite different from the expected with a self portrait.

Here are the comments of the judge, Luke Ballard…

Video of my critique by Luke (BTW highest score is three)As my wife said, “It pays to not take yourself too seriously!” She got quite a laugh out of this when she discovered me putting this together in my studio. She even had a hand in helping with the styling as she remembered a hat I bought on vacation in Cedar Key, Florida. Here are some of the outtakes from putting this together.

I used the Lumix GH4 and the 35-100mm f2.8 lens with a single Paul C Buff flash head bounced off the wall camera left. I used the Wifi connected to my IPhone to see what the camera was seeing and operated the camera remotely. Then, since my wife was there laughing, I put her to work triggering the shutter with the phone so I wouldn’t have to remove the phone in post production.

Hope you get a laugh too!

Yours in creative Photography,      Bob