I can't believe it is that time of year again...winter is already creeping in. It is the start of a new winter, and with it comes my year in review. I take the time to go through my hard drives and clean up imagery. I spend late nights in my studio separating the failures from the keepers. I am my own harshest critic...
Over the last several years I have welcomed the winter months and consider the late nights alone as a crucial element in becoming better as both a photographer and innovator. I study each of my images and sometimes I get stuck pondering the exif data, composition, post process, and overall experience from the relating shoot. Often I write down little notes about things I like, sometimes I file images away that have potential. New ideas of shooting various scenes or people come to me. And I make notes. My progression as a photographer is measured by my own personal successes and the imagery. It is very easy to see where I improved and areas I have interest to approach differently. I have no doubts that as the year begins to wind down, the new year approaching will be one with many new challenges that I will embrace. I welcome new opportunities to capture something more than just a moment.
I will do my best over the next couple of months to share some of the imagery not previously seen, favorites, and answer some of the questions you have sent through emails, comments, etc. I thank you for the feedback, both positive and also the opposite. It is all relevant in some ways. I know where I am, where I want to go, and what is possible! Thanks for being a part of my photographic journey.
This evening I spent some time on the shoot I did with Colby Crossland. I shot these photos back in March of this year. For any of you who are not familiar with Colby, he has been a great critic of mine. Brutally honest, and with a photographers perspective. Colby's imagery is top notch and I have always looked up to him as a portrait photographer. We have shared some great conversations.
At the beginning of the year I had several photography ideas involving smoke and beer. Colb was the first person that came to mind. I have to admit I was a little intimidated with the shoot because I knew I wanted it lit a certain way and I had a particular style and setting in mind. After spending some time at Colby's place and getting it dialed in, I was excited about the results. We caused quite the paparazzi scene in a tiny pub located in Heber Valley, Utah. Colby was pretty good about it.
These three images were shot in a small bedroom. Lighting included one strobe stand from behind and a SB-900 flash strobe, diffused. Nikon D700 shot on a Nikor 17-35mm 2.8vr. My goals going into this shoot were to provide a few darker images, high contrast with the end results being in black and white. I got the BW shots desired but was rather pleased with the images in color. A photo or two from the shoot ended up featured in CATCH Magazine. However, my favorites never were submitted and not previously seen.
