Moonset

9/26/2007 10:30:00 AM

I woke up at 6am this morning with the moon shining brightly in my eyes. As I looked through my blurry vision, I knew a beautiful image was awaiting me on the ridge up the street. So I jumped up and headed out the door. Ahhhhh! my tripod is in the other car and my keys are with Alex. Hmmm, I see a stool that looks good enough... I run out the door and up to the spot. In minutes, I have the stool setup and the camera nice 'n steady. Bam! Here it is... and wow, what a GORGEOUS day it is already :)

Labels: images, moon, photography, pictures, San Francisco

AK07

9/25/2007 09:08:00 PM

Ahhhhhhh yes. Finally, the movie is ready from the heli trip to Points North in Cordova Alaska last March. You won't believe the Northern Lights show about a third of the way in. Press play.

Love Fest!!!!!

9/25/2007 06:09:00 PM

I was just digging through my archives and found this video of last year's Love Fest. It's happening again this weekend in San Francisco! Too bad I'll miss it. I've got Anne and Dan's wedding to cover. It's a big wedding, so I'm flying Melissa Schwartz of Organic Photographs up from Santa Monica to cover it with me! I can't wait. Anyway, here's the video...

Labels: Love Fest, Melissa Schwartz, photography, San Francisco, video, weddings

Diffusion and Flash

9/23/2007 06:14:00 PM

Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing some "pre-wedding" shots with Anne and Dan, the couple whose wedding I'll be shooting next weekend. When I woke up, it was raining and within half and hour Anne was calling me to cancel the shoot. We had planned to shoot outside and she was concerned about getting her dress dirty. I told her not to worry, that we could shoot inside and have a ball; which we did.

I arrived at 2:00pm, just after the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy, creating a great diffuser for the sunlight. Big tip here - when shooting pictures of people and their faces, if it's sunny, go to a shaded area - no flash necessary. If you must shoot in bright sunlight, you should try manually turning on your flash and seeing how it changes the shot. For all you people who say "but my camera knows when to flash..." not here it doesn't. It's bright as can be outside and your camera sees no reason for extra light. This is what we call "fill flash", because it fills in the shadows on people's faces.

Hats are the worst. Ever get pictures back and you can't see anyone's face due to the shadow of their hat? Try using the flash next time and you'll see, it's like magic. For many of you, seeing this in your own camera for the first time; it's exciting. You might think, "Wow, now I see how this lighting thing works!"

So... with my gear set, I helped Anne hang some sheer drapes on their living room windows and asked her to jump up on the cabinet that runs the whole length of the room. I already had my remote wireless flash on a tripod, off to camera left and that let me make a beautiful fashion shot.

My favorite image was actually without a flash. I just boosted my exposure compensation up 2 stops for a spontaneous vision I had in my mind and we put it together very well(the one of him standing and her sitting, looking up at him)

Another favorite is the one of Anne's necklace that she got from her friend. Take a look at the photos for yourself and you decide.

Labels: faces, fill flash, flash, lighting, photography, pictures, pre-nuptials, shooting, sunlight, weddings

Sweet Smell of Success

9/22/2007 02:18:00 PM

Suzzanne's POV:
Let me just say, I am a big fan of perfumes, a big big fan. There isn't much I haven't tried and my all-time favorite is Child by Susan Dowens. I ordered Child the other day and in the package was a beautiful bookmark. Now, you might be asking right now what in the world does perfume and bookmarks have to do with Colin's photography. Bear with me, I'm getting there....

The bookmark was made out of a very interesting material. It had this cool kind of rubbery, velvety feel to it. Just plain sexy. Well I decided I wanted that material for the new business cards I'm designing for Colin. But, without knowing what it was, I really didn't know how to outsource for these cards. So I emailed Susan Dowens directly. I didn't really expect a response from her directly, but why not give it a shot? And guess what? She personally responded to me and offered to see what she could do. I couldn't believe it. We begin to chit chat via email and of course, I shamelessly promoted Colin's work. Later that day she emails me to say she went to Colin's website and that she "loved, absolutely loved" the "Shipwrecked" image (see below) and that it moved her. Now that's the sweet smell of success....

Labels: business cards, child, design, marketing, networking, perfume, pictures

Networking Fun

9/17/2007 11:51:00 AM

I just poured myself a tall glass of milk and added some Strawberry Quik. Terrible, I know, but sooo good. Mmmm. I keep stirring it to get all the goodness up to the top as is settles a bit.

Awesome things that are happening around the growth of my photography business. Watching the sun go down outside my bedroom window, I just took a picture of it and am including it here for your enjoyment.

Today's blog is about an experience I had at the Dwell on Design Conference in San Francisco last Sunday. As I passed by Concrete Works , I noticed their striking cement pieces and the large format photographs up on the display wall. Something prompted me to ask an important-looking guy about their photography. He winced and said it's an area in which they are lacking. I made the connection and look forward to sharing some of that work with you in the near future.

Then I went outside to catch up with my friend Adam Wise, and he's talking to the owner of the Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite . It's a secret that now appears to be out of the bag: the place was booked solid all summer. Turns out he used to lead backpacking trips and still does on occasion, so I told him to contact me if he ever wants to do a backpack photography workshop. He responded by asking me if I'd like to lead workshops at the lodge!

Then I went over to the Picture Wall booth and met the owner, Erik. I inquired about getting into his image bank, and he said "Maybe in 6 months, but what kind of work do you do?" I pulled out my iphone and showed him some examples of my work. As he slid through the images, he asked, “Do you know Deborah Ayerst ?” When I said No, he said, “You should.” Turns out she's an artist rep located in San Francisco.

Once I connect with her, that will be an awesome 4 contacts in just 1 hour. Not bad for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Labels: artists, backpacking, design, iphone, marketing, networking, pictures, yosemite