Cloud Collecting
This morning I looked out the window and thought, wow, pretty sky! Someone is missing out on beautiful portraits!
Yes, I really do think like that. I say the same thing when I see a beautiful sunset too, if I don’t happen to be shooting that evening. My wife thinks I’m a twit, but that’s how I think. Wow, nice sunset, now put some people in front of it!
So I ran outside with my camera, as I sometimes do, and ‘collect clouds’.
Why? Because sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate on a client’s portrait shoot. So it’s always nice to have some pretty skies on file, that can be blended in if necessary. I put them in what I like to call my ‘cloud bank’. It’s a subtle art, and it’s easy to overdo it and make it look fake. The key is to have lots of types of sky available, at different times of day, different angles to the sun, and different weather conditions. That way it’s easier to find something that resembles what you’re replacing. Just…well, nicer. Basically I blend in the new sky with the existing one, to give it more texture. Without just slapping on a new one, which usually looks fake and awful.
If you look through my portraits on my website, most of the skies are real. But there are a couple that have had help. And it isn’t the ones you think!
My two year old came out this morning to help, in his pajamas. Since the sun had just risen, and the light was nice, I snapped this picture. Just a snapshot, but it’s cute. And he’s bringing in the newspaper for mommy.
Quick Links: Other Photographers
A short list of other photographers you should check out.
Apertura: These two guys really know how to nail a wedding. I’ve never met them, but they’re in the LA area, and their images just rock. If I were getting married all over again, I’d hire them in a flash. (Har har, photo pun there.)
I’m a member and on the board of directors of the Channel Islands Professional Photographers Association (CIPPA). We have some really great members. If you’re looking for a great studio portrait, check out Tony Maddox (Simi Valley). And two wonderful wedding shooters: CIPPA president Leanne Reis, and CIPPA director Linda Jordan.
Also, soon-to-be CIPPA member Jennifer Wilson is an excellent ‘lifestyle’ children’s photographer. She just gave a seminar at the last CIPPA meeting, and she had some really great ideas. Very different style and product line-up from what I offer (otherwise I wouldn’t have mentioned her!). Beautiful images, and she’s goofy. Just like me.
(I mean that in a good way, Jen.)
About Me
I like taking people’s pictures.
Which is weird, sort of. Because when photography was merely a hobby for me, I hardly ever made portraits. I took pictures of things: landscapes, found objects, abstracts, whatever. I think I might have been a little timid. But then I “discovered” lighting. I say “discovered” because I’ve been using lighting all along: you can’t take a picture in absolute darkness, after all! But it was all ‘found light’. Whatever light that happened to be laying around, I used. When I first started using my newfound knowledge of flash and natural light, it was easiest to try out on the local guinea pigs (my family). And turns out I enjoyed it. Immensely! And fortunately I seem to be pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.
And I have a natural affinity with children, which is something I’ve come to discover as I’ve made a second career out of portrait photography. I can be pretty goofy and silly, which kids - oddly enough - seem to like. But so idiotic that parents and grownups are put off. Heck, I even seem to get along with most difficult of breeds: teenagers.
Like, weird.
I like taking pictures of people so much, that when I’m contemplating taking pictures for my own work (as opposed to a client), I think about who I’m going to photograph, rather than what. Mind you, I do still take photos of landscapes and shadows and things lying in the road (as long as they’re not people lying in the road). But I do enjoy people.
In my former life, I was in the music business. In fact, I went to school for it. I play the piano, sort of. I play the guitar and bass, barely. But mostly, I played the computer. I have a degree in Music Production and Engineering, if you can believe such exists. I studied how to record people, basically. I had a few different jobs in the music business, and even had a long, if not stellar, career as a recording artist and record company mogul. I made techno and electronic dance music under the name ‘The Rip Off Artist’, among other pseudonyms, and got to tour Europe, Japan and other places. I’ve had ten albums out, none of which you’ve heard, and something like over 100 tracks released. None of which you’ve heard.
Then one day, I ran out of music. Well maybe not all in one day, but it feels like that now, looking back. It just dissipated into thin air. I tried holding on, tried breaking into the pop and hip hop markets. Tried recording other artists, tried writing pop songs…to no avail.
And meanwhile, I discovered photography. One day soon, I’ll describe the process of how I went from tuneless musician to portrait photographer. But not now. Remind me though.
That Dreaded First Entry
I’ve been putting off writing a blog, for several reasons. But I’ve finally decided it was time.
Why dread it? Well…first off, I’ve done it before. My first blog was thingsthatmakememad.com. Turns out that I wasn’t the angry young man I thought I was. Not quite as angry, and certainly not as young as I thought I was. It soon ran out of steam.
But also, blogs are soooooooo trendy. Boringly so. “Oh, if you’ve got a business, you simply MUST have a blog! Your sales will go through the roof!”
Seems unlikely somehow.
And finally, how to balance writing about what my clients want to read about, vs. what my friends and fellow photographers would like to read. Great portraits vs. nerdy camera-gear talk.
But my portrait photography business is growing and growing. And I do realize that clients want to know who their photographer is. They want to get a sense of who they’ll be working with. Portrait photography can be a big investment, and one wants to pick the right photographer.
Will this blog solve that problem? Of course!
Er…ok, no. But it’s got to help, surely. If I seem like a nice guy on paper, so to speak, I might be a nice guy in person. Worth meeting for coffee, anyway, to discuss a future portrait session.
