I had a photo session in my studio set-up last night. I did three things new.
First, I worked with Erin (aka e-string), a model who I had not worked with before. She had been recommended to me by some other photographers, and our setting something up was something rather spontaneous.
I was on Facebook one morning a few weeks ago and I saw that she was online, too. I decided to try opening a chat room, as all previous attempts to chat with people on Facebook yielded no responses. I had never spoken with or really corresponded with Erin before, but we knew of each other, so I figured, why not give it a try.
It turned out she did reply, and we went on to have a nice keyboard conversation. Erin is American but lives in London now, so when I asked her when she’d next be in New York, she said in a just a few weeks! So, we set up something right then and there. Unfortunately, the only free time she had was last night, and while doing a studio session on a weeknight after putting in a day at work is not my fav
orite thing, I went ahead anyway for the chance to work with Erin – and I’m glad I did. She's a good model and a genuinely nice person, too.
Second, I worked with a new light. A couple of weeks ago I bought a 250 watt quartz light with barn doors. All of my other lights use reflectors, which spread the light out well but which don’t permit me to direct it and limit where it goes.
The quartz light was to be my remedy for that, and while I still need to work with it to learn how to use it, overall it worked well as my main ligh
t to illuminate the model. I used one of the tungsten lights to light the background and tried to get it more even than in my last studio session back in February.
Third, I used some of the papier mache masks that I bought in Venice last month. Studio work can be pretty boring without (or even with!) some good props, so when I saw some masks, I thought that they might be interesting to take home to use for photos.
I’ll
need to see the developed film, of course, to judge how well the combination of model, lighting and props worked, and given my big backlog of film, that will not happen any time soon. Still, from what I saw with my eyes and judging by the digital snapshots seen here, I’m reasonably satisfied with the results.
First, I worked with Erin (aka e-string), a model who I had not worked with before. She had been recommended to me by some other photographers, and our setting something up was something rather spontaneous.I was on Facebook one morning a few weeks ago and I saw that she was online, too. I decided to try opening a chat room, as all previous attempts to chat with people on Facebook yielded no responses. I had never spoken with or really corresponded with Erin before, but we knew of each other, so I figured, why not give it a try.
It turned out she did reply, and we went on to have a nice keyboard conversation. Erin is American but lives in London now, so when I asked her when she’d next be in New York, she said in a just a few weeks! So, we set up something right then and there. Unfortunately, the only free time she had was last night, and while doing a studio session on a weeknight after putting in a day at work is not my fav
orite thing, I went ahead anyway for the chance to work with Erin – and I’m glad I did. She's a good model and a genuinely nice person, too.Second, I worked with a new light. A couple of weeks ago I bought a 250 watt quartz light with barn doors. All of my other lights use reflectors, which spread the light out well but which don’t permit me to direct it and limit where it goes.
The quartz light was to be my remedy for that, and while I still need to work with it to learn how to use it, overall it worked well as my main ligh
t to illuminate the model. I used one of the tungsten lights to light the background and tried to get it more even than in my last studio session back in February.Third, I used some of the papier mache masks that I bought in Venice last month. Studio work can be pretty boring without (or even with!) some good props, so when I saw some masks, I thought that they might be interesting to take home to use for photos.
I’ll
need to see the developed film, of course, to judge how well the combination of model, lighting and props worked, and given my big backlog of film, that will not happen any time soon. Still, from what I saw with my eyes and judging by the digital snapshots seen here, I’m reasonably satisfied with the results.******************************************************************************
Otherwise, my friend Dave Levingston will be coming to New York tomorrow for a visit of several days. He'll be staying at my place. It should be interesting.
Otherwise, my friend Dave Levingston will be coming to New York tomorrow for a visit of several days. He'll be staying at my place. It should be interesting.
