Posing Children

Shooting costumes for a local church pageant would be a boring session if all that was needed was this: a beautiful child/actor standing still waiting for me to click the shutter.  The catalog, requested by the youth director, would also be really boring!  

I decided to try for some personality and character by asking the models who they were.  When I did ask I realized my mistake: “I’m Sue.  That’s my brother Billy over there.” 

I changed my question to “Who do you play?” or “What is your character?” and the results were much better. 

It was easy to ask the angels “And what does an angel do….?”.   That question revealed interesting triangles when this angel showed me how she would fly. 

DRUM MAJORS

The subject of a recent senior portrait is Alex, a musician. From the start I was enthusiastic about this job because there was a good chance we would shoot a performance. When I found out he was also one of three drum majors in the marching band I knew we had a great story to tell.













His family wanted picture choices, and we began with Alex in orchestra mode, posed alone on campus with his main instrument.  Later in that session he changed into his drum major get-up and we used the football stadium as a backdrop.  It was October and this is where he “lives” in the fall.

Hummingbirds

Recently I had the good fortune to sit near a busy Hummingbird feeder that attracted up to 5 individuals at a time.  I took an hour away from chatting with relatives to make the pictures you see here (all are Ruby Throats). This guy probably was recently fledged, and his type constantly blusters and chirps to take a sip.  Females are usually less aggressive, have no markings or color on their cheeks or throat, and their tails are rounded instead of notched.

Lots of hungry birds gave me an opportunity to practice making bird portraits.  One note of disclosure:  the real birders would not dream of hanging out at a plastic feeder.

Audrey’s Baby Doll

After many years of hard play time, neglect, and storage, Mary unpacked her mother’s old doll and decided to have it restored.  It was originally a gift to Audrey on her 4th birthday in 1924.  What you see here is the new version after Judith Dommergue, aka Doll Doctor On Call, worked her healing magic. 

When I took her into the studio for a few pictures I was immediately struck by the way her expression changed as I changed her pose.  I used to play with dolls (GI JOE, of course!) but I don’t remember this flexibility.

Baby Jackson

I met Nikki and Baby Jackson when he was around 5months old.  Nikki and her husband Eric take a lot ofpictures of this beautiful child, and they wanted to supplement their collection with an occasional formal picture session.  I was hooked after our first outing, when I was able to see the reflections in his eyes.  

If you explore either iris in this enlargement, you can detect the red bricks and tan garage door of his house (right side), the broken white lines of the sidewalks (just under the pupil), and blue sky and green foliage (above the pupil).  This fuzzy blowup won’t sell, but it still intrigues me today.  

Kayaks in the mist

Early last Saturday morning I met three friends at Rogers Bridge boat landing for a sports/adventure picture session.

John, Annette, Jeff, and little Russell are experienced Kayakers.  They put in around 7am to take advantage of the mist before the sun burned it off the Chattahoochee.  I put on waders and carefully walked my camera and tripod to mid stream (inset).

Holiday Portrait Themes

Whether you send Christmas Cards or an annual letter update, family pictures help you tell your story to friends and relatives.  Here are two different approaches I helped produce this year. 

Eric, Linda and daughter Sydney wanted to send a printed picture card greeting that told friends and relatives “this is what we look like and how we are doing today”.  We met in nearby McDaniel Farm Park for a photo session.  gwinnettparklife.com/parks/mcdaniel-farm-park/       

Fashion/Fantasy

I cobbled together smaller crew for a second location shoot of the fashion assignment.  Katie Dehlinger and Mary assisted.  By this time I had installed Lightroom 3 and we were able to shoot tethered: big difference in viewing the results.  I again used mounting board and speed lights to illuminate Katie C as she waltzed by a huge steam engine and Katie D monitored the shots on the PC.  I wish I had realized I was selling a fur coat and lost the stupid hat box.

Fashion/Fantasy

Friday after Thanksgiving we went to the SE Train Museum in Duluth to shoot the Fashion/Fantasy assignment. 

It turned out to be a training session: good thing there is some time to shoot again this week. 

The two speed lights worked well, when I wasn’t blocking the IR signal, and the fog machine worked well when it wanted to, and the model did a good job as along as I was alert

enough to shoot her…..there are a lot of balls in the air on location, mostly as a result of making something simple difficult and over thought. 

Holiday Portraits

That little assignment is done, at least as far as the shooting goes.  There are the small matters of Studio B clean up and printing an 8x10.  I feel like most of my poor clients were tortured in that red sleigh, but I have a great kids’ pose with Santa.  I retrieved my tree this morning.  That snow is difficult to shake off.

Fashion/Fantasy

Today I worked on the mood boards, basically cut & paste paper pictures from magazines and digital images from the net that suggest some features I want to portray.  I cut out a lot of fashion ads to get a feel for where to place hands for example.  Not plagiarism but more a reminder to consider a mood or pose when we shoot.  Nearby is a page with images and room to sketch a few thumb-nails.  I am leaning towards two possible themes to shoot at the Duluth Train Museum on Friday mroning: A SAD FAREWELL, and HELLO FANS, I’M YOUR FAVORITE  MOVIE STAR.

The crew also met at my house this evening to discuss job duties and themes.  Hope is on the left (continuity), daughter Sara (the model, makeup & hair), Emily (light technician)  and Erica (gofer and possibly dog handler).  Mary, below, tries to make train steam out of hot water and dry ice.  She will handle the wardrobe.

Fashion/Fantasy

Maybe something to do with trains?  Artificial and sky lights make this place hard to shoot.  Many of the doorways are restricted or 5 feet off the ground.  A step ladder is an option if you don’t mind climbing.  There is lots of detail in this old equipment and that is attractive, and some pieces are just too rusty .  This place is accessible only 3 days a week.  On to the next bright idea.

Environmental Portrait

Today we had two critiques in photojo, fill flash and the environmental portrait.  My big take-away was with the environmental, below.  I wanted to show Molly in a position of power (on the right) and now I see I got a bit carried away with that idea.  She looks like she is taking an oath, or maybe ready to pull a gun on some Medicare cheat: way overboard and presumptuous.  I have to say she is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. 

The majority verdict in class was “Put some files in her hand!”, and so there they are on the left. That pose is sort of the equivalent of the policeman’s arms folded across his chest.  I thought that was a cliché, but dang if it isn’t the better looking of the two.  (Mary said the smile was the obvious choice....duhh.)  Poor Molly, I’ll apologize to her.  My big take-away: I’m so glad I shot both frames.

Holiday Portraits

Monday night started  leisurely at the Holiday portrait Studio.  Lower Quarter students Romina, Gabe, and Tara sold raffle tickets, but the Upper Quarter shooters had a slow shift. 

Trent, Lee, and Chris take a break from the heavy lifting required to transition in the second shift.

Second shifters Christine and Kristiana were busy processing four families through 6 poses.

Holiday Portraits

So, yeah, I “borrowed” this frame from Trent to see the sleigh in a relatively empty set.  It was bigger and fatter in his wide angle view so I attempted a perspective correction to make it look a little more normal.  I was concerned about the big fat sleigh ever since Lee and I first saw it.  How was this red thing going to fit into the set?  Studio B is large, 24’ x 36’, but this focal point is just plain overgrown.  From the start Ms. Finch said it would be fine, and it is.  Just look at all the recent posts: we filled or surrounded it with 26 people in some poses.  It’s nice to work with that level of confidence.

Environmental Portrait

I finally settled on this for my submission, “Molly Dongieux”, the office manager of my dentist. Molly always dresses in a suit and has a friendly but commanding air about her.  I don’t spend a lot of time here, in her office, but I feel like we are friends.  I asked her to pose this way in the hope it would suggest the serious attitude she projects in her domain.  Molly is also the mother of Dr. Matthew Dongieux, DDS.  I am looking forward to the critique.

Holiday Portraits

How many photo students does it take to fill a large Santa Sleigh?  Lots, apparently.  It was unfortunate 3 classmates were absent because we certainly had room for them.  This setting took about an hour to compose because we started first with a “Mom and Dad”, then added siblings, then cousins, aunts, foster children, disowned relatives, illegitimate children, debtors, a congressperson and a pizza delivery guy.  We need to cut down some light from the left side faces and trees.

High Key

Nicole was a big help to me in completing this assignment.  My initial effort at high key was a complete mistake and a total bust, and Nicole was nice enough to volunteer as a model in the last available time slot. We used three Photogenics with two large soft boxes on the seamless background and an umbrella reflector for the subject.  I was surprised how well her lacey sleeves printed.  These were my first experiences in high key.

Environmental Portrait

My last environmental was at the physical therapist’s office, where I shot Dianne Wright.  She had lots of exercise gear, but including those bikes and tables would have made it look like a very small gym.  Instead I tried to show how she and her patients use their hands in exercises to counteract tendonitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, and other condition that cause pain and disability. 

That said, I was facing a situation that would display the subject with a prop that amounted to a disembodied hand and arm.  How to show that without distraction? 

Including a shirt sleeve seemed to help, and perhaps this frame would work by cropping out the patient to that point.

Environmental Portrait

I went out on another environmental portrait, this time to shoot the owner and head Chef of Café Efendi, Suheyl Buran.  The location is old town Alpharetta and the menu features Mediterranean cuisine.  My friend Suheyl is a Turkish immigrant. 

As you probably expected, restaurant kitchens are incredibly cluttered.  We looked at a few different areas inside the restaurant hoping for a ready-made scene.  I thought this was the best shot, and if it is accepted I will probably darken the background.  Unfortunately the subject is gesturing.  Some alternative frames are on the read more page.