by successfulbob | fine art photography, fine art portrait, graphic design, people photography, photography, photography education
Self assignments.
Love ’em!
Tlaquepaque our local Sedona Mexican Shopping Village and gathering center, put on a very colorful event in honor of the Day of the Dead AKA Dia de Muertos.
Here’s the first line of explanation from Wikipedia… “Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday observed throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.”
It’s a very colorful event. People dress in costume, actors perform, musicians play, sky dancers fly and artisans display. In short a photographer’s paradise. I met a lovely lady who was costumed as a Catrina which is one of the most popular figures from the celebration. She entranced me so I gave myself the assignment of making her the centerpiece of art based on some of the images I made during my visit.
Pash Galbavy, dressed as a Catrina, as the focus of one of my Dia de Muertos art images…
When I asked Pash if she would mind my making her image she said, “No problem!” then began to move like a model… With good reason! She is an artist in her own right. (learn more about Pash at unmaskit.com and artofpash.com)
Using multiple images from the day and some of my texture files I worked with Adobe Photoshop creating layer after layer utilizing blend modes and masks to combine images in many ways to get to the result you see above.
Look for more ‘self-assignments’ from this ‘busman’s holiday’ at Tlaquepaque in future posts here at Successful Photographer.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – What are you working on to stretch your photography skills??
by successfulbob | people photography, photography
Got a call from Benji about doing a bit of a model shoot for him about 2 weeks ago and today was the day… I just have a quick image of the set-up and will show you some finished images a bit later in the week.
Getting prepped for body builder model shoot. Actually moved the lights in to get a square format for Instagram.
Benji was great to work with and know what he wants… By the way the chain? That’s about thirty pounds. Better him than me! Benji works at Snap Fitness Center in Sedona, Arizona.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art portrait, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
As I was having lunch in Durango, Colorado I noticed the animation of our bartender. I explained that I was a photographer on a busman’s holiday and would she mind posing and giving me a few different expressions? She agreed. I had an image pop into my head that is like something below.
This is in process. Thoughts??
Adding some clouds…
Black and white version.
Feedback invited. Working title is ‘Three faces of Libby’.
Image captured with the Lumix GX7 and the 35-100mm f2.8 Vario lens. It’s a very compact camera that is not intimidating to those who you wish to be subjects on the fly…
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, people photography, photography, photography education
I was working with a new lens the Lumix G Leica DG NOCTICRON 42.5mm/F1.2 Lens and is it sweet and fast. In this play session after a couple days of judging and presenting at the Tennessee Professional Photographers Association convention thought I’d try some fun stuff with Sarah Wykhuis. She was a great subject. It started in the hall when she was standing near a light. I set the camera for a high contrast black and white look.
Sarah in the hall. Kind of a Julia Roberts look don’t you think?
Then we went outside to shoot in the dark to see what we could see. It was pitch dark so we used the building lighting and fellow photographer and presenter Pierre Stephenson used his IPhone to add a bit of fill light.
I shot in RAW plus jpeg so I could get to all the info presented to the camera and was surprised at how much detail I was able to pull form the file. Camera was Lumix GH4.
I always advocate getting out to play. You learn the limits of your equipment, sharpen your skills and discover new ways of doing creative imagery.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography
As you probably know I enjoy the challenge of capturing live stage music. In order to keep my skills in top form even when I’m not hired I keep photographing performances even when I’m out to dinner. Sometimes after sharing the images with the artist it leads to the musician becoming a paying client for creating marketing images or CD cover art.
I’ve found the Lumix GX7 micro 4/3rds format has lots of things going for it when working (playing!) this way. It’s got a very low profile, weighs less than 2 pounds with the 35-100mm 2.8 lens vs the over 5 pounds for my dslr with equivalent lens combo. I’m also finding that the camera is a picking up a pretty wide dynamic range which is really helpful as many small clubs are now using LED stage lighting which doesn’t have the full spectrum of color not to mention the range of light to dark.
Here are a couple images from Sound Bites Grill in Sedona….
Susannah Martin Jazz Trio on stage in Sedona, Arizona. This image was double processed from the same
RAW file with the stage lighting the concern on one process and the outdoor image in another
and stripped in using a mask in Photoshop.
Vocal stylist Susannah Martin live at Sound Bites’ Show Lounge.
Ralf Illenberger Live at the Sound Bites Grill Show Lounge in Sedona, Arizona.
