There are times when my best photographs of people don't include their faces. It seems quite antithetical to not include the most identifying quality of a subject, their face, but there have been times when it is their hands that reveal something unique. When I photographed this painter in Mexico, I initially took an overall portrait of him, but I wasn't completely happy with the result. I was drawn by the quality of light on him, but the resulting image was not particularly inspiring. I moved in a little tighter and filled the frame with his face, but that image was still lackluster.

I don't have an iPhone account, nor do I use AT&T. I am happy as hell with my Android phone. But I do love the camera and the way that it can be used quickly and easily to create some really nice images. We are all familiar with Chase Jarvis' "Best Camera is the One That is With You" book and the attending iPhone APP. I love it. And I have a few other APPS that I love a lot, and make shooting with the iPhone a lot of fun.

On a couple of recent portrait sessions I wanted to shake things up a bit, have a little fun and create a game to challenge myself photographically. I decided to only use two simple lenses for the entire session. Were these the industry standard 70-200 and 24-70?? Nope, instead they were the relatively small, relatively low profile and but super sharp 50mm lens and 135mm lens. The result were sessions that I really loved and the clients  loved the images too.  

When it comes to photographing people, I like getting up close and personal. Though I first started making images of people from a distance with a telephoto lens, I quickly found that getting close with a moderate to wide-angle lens provided me images, which were both impactful and intimate. However, getting past the fear of approaching someone with little more than a 35mm lens between us was intimidating.

Ahh... the great American roadtrip. Almost a thing of the past for many. The convenience of modern air travel is astounding. Breakfast in Nashville, lunch in Phoenix and dinner in Vegas. It is still amazing to me, even after doing it so many times. It is how so many of us do business.

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from photo students, recent grads, and new assistants about what they need to do to be a good assistant. What do photographers specifically expect from their help and what can they do, as an assistant, to be best prepared. This is the million-dollar question!

I noticed that when many wedding photographers place the bride and groom into a simple safe pose they ask them to smile and look at the camera. I do these poses also for a quick safe shot or two.  Yet clients hire me for my ‘unsafe’ imagery style and artistic captures: fashion posing, walking away shots, lots of wide-angle composition and Beckstead-style imagery.

Following on from last month’s article on choosing locations for your portraits, I’m going to run through some more that I have used recently.  Not having a studio location doesn’t need to be a hindrance, you just need a little imagination!

When you think about having some portraits taken ... whether it be a family shoot, boudoir, headshots or just some photos of yourself ... your mind immediately thinks “studio”, “white background” or “mottled backdrop”.  It’s natural to assume that this is the norm for portraiture, probably stemming back to those school photos we had to endure for years on end !

When thinking outside the box, it’s important to look beyond the basics of lighting, posing and composition, and extend one’s frugal-thinking mind to any other factor that could influence the final look of your images.  Let’s take a look at just a few options we have for backgrounds, one aspect of shooting that’s frequently overlooked.  After all, you probably have a roll of white, gray and black seamless, maybe even a painted muslin or two.  What else could you need?

I photograph a lot of people that I don’t know. My choice to be a street photographer is often about the people I have the opportunity to meet as well as the images that I can make. I never know what to expect when I take to the street, camera in-hand, and this is especially the case when it comes to the people I may meet.

With the coming wedding season I’m looking forward to trying a few new lighting tools and I wanted to share these with you.  In order to keep things fresh, I’ll often try new tools or even impose restrictions (like using a single lens, for exmaple)