The perfect location for a photograph
Some of the best portraits you will ever see more than likely could be a great photo without the subject sitting, running, walking or doing some damn thing. Its about the dream, your photograph. When taking portraits for clients it becomes even more important to have that backdrop be something spectacular. So today I was looking around for something that might make some great lines for some wholesome portraits.
As you may or may not know, the setting is as much a part of the photograph as the subject. You can have a beautiful woman or man sitting for a photograph, but if the background is a power plant, well, those photos aren’t going to impress anyone much.
A few decent lines and I can have them stand in front of the caution signs, might be good. Rule of Thirds will work great here.
Some of the best portraits you will ever see, more than likely, would be a great photo without the subject sitting, running, walking or doing some damn thing. It's all about the dream, your photograph. When taking portraits of my clients, it becomes even more critical to have that backdrop be something spectacular. So today I was looking around for something that might make some great lines for some wholesome portraits.
Every now and again, I go out looking for easily accessible spots in town that aren't too secluded. I used to try and take clients to the craziest places I could think of. Why? Because of the background! I would find the best environments I could. With my tastes, it meant that no one else would ever get that same photograph and probably hasn't yet either. The problem is, I may find that pleasing but the regular Joe doesn't or even worse, it scares them to death.
I once had a couple that needed engagement photos for their wedding. I love water being in all my shots, and I know of a place that's easy to get to and secluded enough that it would be a one of a kind. The path is level with the water. Leaving nothing but a clean horizon line full of a lake, BEAUTIFUL.
I took them out there, we navigated the little path made by the local deer population and got right up to the water's edge just as the sun started to hover above the glistening western horizon. It was going to be perfect. I was so excited that I didn't notice the bride-to-be getting more and more nervous. That is until she let out a little shriek.
“SNAKES! SNAKES EVERYWHERE!”
I didn't see them, the fiance didn't see them but SHE SAW THEM, and that was it. We were off to take the engagement photos in my front yard. Lacking anywhere else to take them other than the local museum turn of the century barn and homestead house, I was out of luck and out of scenery.
After that day, I began hunting for that great backdrop that would allow the client to feel like they are getting something beautiful and I didn't feel cheap shooting it.
This is one of my earliest HDR Photographs of the Shiloh Museum Barn
Yeah, I said it, I don't want to feel cheap. However, I get a few drinks in me, and I stop caring for about four hours, but I always hate myself in the morning. Cheap to me are the obligatory barn photos or the hay bale in a field. Put everyone in plaid and pile them against the hay, not my ideal photograph. YUCK! Ok, if you pay me enough and I'll do it, but I ain't gotta like it. Besides, old barns can be an excellent backup plan. Shoot them right, and you get to keep some self-respect.
That's where I went today, to make sure that the backup plan still existed. To my utter horror, my backup plan is completely destroyed. Well, not completely, but close. Sometimes I like to use the Shiloh Museum to shoot the "homespun" clients in front of. They love it because it feels like the world they wish they could return to. You know, the better days when family cared for each other and ate around the dinner table together. (Secret, those weren't the better days. You worked 12 hour days in the field and momma had to do the laundry outside by hand). It used to be a safe bet and friendly enough place for the majority of the folks but now the only thing left is the barn, and it looks like it's going to fall down. Now what do I do?!
I know what I am going to have to do, find another backup “wholesome” backdrop. Yay me…
Pretty Little Pink Flowers are here today, but they might not be here in June.
That’s when I saw this little gem. It isn’t much, but the flowers seem to be nice, there’s a micro-brewery nearby (two of them actually) so it might do in a pinch. Plus, it’s literally less than one hundred yards from the Police Station. Can’t get much safer than that!
But, there is a downside. Once the spring is over, those little pink flowers will be gone, and the contrast of the background will fade ever so slightly when there is nothing but green. I guess I am going to keep on looking. I wonder if those snakes are still there?
If you would like to purchase any of the mages in this blog, please visit the store or just click on the photo. I have many different types of prints that can fit in and with almost any decor or color scheme.
Work, Work Work...
Working for a job I’m not supposed to have?
Today was exciting, to say the least. Many of you don’t know, but I was laid off from my job as the Video Production Manager at a national orthodontic firm about three weeks ago. Usually being laid off means that you don’t work for that company anymore, strangely, this time that’s not what’s happening.
It seems that the company may have been a little premature with my departure from the company. Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t want to leave after all. Last week I spent all week up there and nine hours today making videos for them. I don’t mind, since it’s too cold anyway, and it gives me something to do. But good grief...
The good news though is that I seem to have stumbled upon another opportunity. It seems the State has a program that will allow me to go back to school for Graphics Design. That’s pretty cool!
I already know a hell of a lot about color, composition, Photoshop and more but to get free training in all the other stuff, well that’s cool. Once I’m into the program, I actually may be able to qualify for a few grants as well. Maybe that will allow me to travel even more and get the really great shots I am looking for.
Quick journey through the fresh snow.
It snowed in North West Arkansas today so I went out into the cold with my camera and found some pretty interesting colors amidst all the white.
It is brutally cold here in the south. I know, I know… folks in Minnesota are used to being cryogenically-frozen until spring, but this is the south, my dear. We have brutally hot summers where the humidity is so high we sometimes have to wear scuba gear to breath, but our winters only get into the teens and twenties for a few days, and you know, we just ain't used to it. LOL. The good news for us, here in North West Arkansas, is that it snowed a little. Not a vast snow, just a good dusting that made everyone think it snowed.
Since there was a layer of white stuff on top of everything today, I figured I better get out and take a photograph or two. I enlisted my father (who is in his seventies) because my Mustang GT might just get stuck and his giant Dodge Ram probably won't. He and I bundled up and headed out.
The first place I stopped was Lake Fayetteville. It is easy to get to and just deserted enough to test the roads for ice. The calmness of the lake seemed the best place to start.
The cold touch of winter
While this photo is good, it isn't what I expected I would get, and I wanted to do better. When taking a photograph, its all about contrast. Not the contrast slider in your phone's photo editing app that can be taken too far and usually is, but about the contrast of the subjects. Being that winter in Arkansas is typically cold and grey with brown dominating all the scenes where green is overabundant in the summer. Things need to stand out when you take a photograph and not dominate.
I kept looking for something better, something that may spark my interest. I wasn't hitting on all cylinders by my eye caught the wavy vanishing point just to my right.
Wavy lines of man
But really, that wasn't what I was looking for, and it really isn't up to the standards I have set for myself.
Telling this to my father, he started the truck and headed south to the Boston Mountains. I was worried about this trek into the pretend mountains (they are really just very rugged and steep hills) as it is challenging to find the right viewpoint without traveling across private property. He assured me that there has to be something worth taking a photo of. So, off we went, but first, we visited Mount Sequoya in Fayetteville.
Usually, you can get a great photograph of the entire downtown of Fayetteville Arkansas from way up on top of the hill, but just not today. It seems that the upkeep of this particular spot has fallen short this winter, add to that the other sightseers and a persistent haze, it really didn't look all that great. NEXT TIME!
Old main was obscured by overgrown trees and a persistent haze.
I did get this cute photo of the guest house, though. It makes me want to go watch "Its a Wonderful Life" for some reason.
But then we decided to go south. Visit the river and follow it as far as we could stand. It was worth it. While not all my efforts were print worthy, for this blog, I think most of them will do.
Even better was that the cold of the day caused the water in the river to turn emerald green and turquoise. FUN!
But the best one, as it always is, was Devil’s Den State Park waterfall. It never lets you down.
Always running, this waterfall is great, any time of year.
After that, though, I was just too cold. We headed home and had some stew and got warmed up.