My New Camera Strap
I don’t usually talk about photo products, because that’s not the point of my blog (and no one sends me stuff to review!). But I just got something cool for Christmas and I wanted to share it with other photographers out there. I have no affiliation with this company, and my mother-in-law paid full price for the strap.
Ok so first off: a camera strap? I’m excited about a camera strap? Yeah sounds a bit stupid. I needed a camera strap for a little-used camera, and decided to put it on my Christmas list. I’d heard about the “R-Strap” from Black Rapid, and figured hey since I’m not paying for it, might as well ask for something a little nicer than a basic strap.
I had a camera with me when I opened my gifts at the in-laws, and as soon as put it on, I knew. I knew this was The Strap For Me. It was a real “oh yeah!” moment.
The strap slings over one shoulder like you might carry a courier bag, and the camera hangs down at your side when not in use. This is much easier on your neck over long periods of time. Yes you can do that with a regular camera strap, but you don’t normally because it’s inconvenient to actually shoot that way.
But there are two main advantages compared to slinging a regular camera strap over your shoulder: one, the camera attaches to the strap via the tripod thread on the bottom of the camera, so it hangs upside down at your side, with your lens usually pointing backward. This keeps the camera out of the way. Also, since it connects to the tripod socket, you can swap cameras out relatively quickly, and might only need one strap in your camera bag.
And two, the camera attaches to the main strap by means of a loop that slides up and down the strap. So to bring the camera up to your face, you don’t have to slide the whole strap around your body. The strap stays in place, and the camera, tethered by a loop, slides freely up and down. There is a clasp at the bottom that acts as a “stop” for the camera, so it doesn’t swing too far backward. The action is almost like picking your camera off a table, it’s that frictionless. But when you set it down again, it’s still attached to your body.
I was really surprised at how much lighter my camera felt when using this strap, because the weight is distributed differently. This was really my ’surprise gift’ of the season, even though I had requested it!
Bianca (Ford Models)
This shoot almost didn’t happen, for want of a wardrobe stylist. I haven’t stressed over a shoot this much in ages. But wow am I pleased with the result!
I pitched the test-shoot idea to the Ford modeling agency a couple of months ago, and after much wrangling (they’re picky…they’re Ford!) we agreed on a look and a style, went through the model selection process, and found a model who was available. I literally had this set up a month in advance, because I knew there was going to be some scheduling complexities. I needed hair and makeup artists of course, but I also needed a wardrobe stylist, so we could have some proper couture rather than just whatever was in the model’s closet (I’m sure Bianca might have a nicely appointed closet…but why risk it?) I also had to find a studio to do this all in, since my usual haunts were out of commission or too far out of the city to be practical.
Picking hair and makeup were easy: one of my favorite teams consists of Kris Young doing hair, and Naz Madaen doing makeup. They were both available and excited to do the shoot. Brooks Ayola, a amazing portrait photographer, agreed to let me use his studio in Chatsworth, California. So all I needed was a wardrobe stylist.
And that was almost my undoing.
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Mason Rae (model test shoot)
A few months ago I worked with Mason Rae, the model you see here. I had seen some images of Lara Stone in a magazine that I wanted to loosely emulate. It was more of a starting point really, but I wanted to work with the umbrella as a prop, and go for something light and airy. I didn’t want an underlit look though, and also didn’t want to go the whole faux-polaroid route either. So like I said, a loosely-based starting point!
I wanted a local model because I had arranged hair and makeup to be done at a salon here in Ventura. The location was simple, just the beach on a (fortunately) cloudy day. We spent two or three hours in the salon, trying not pace around nervously while the team (Naz Madaen with makeup, and Joey Villegas on hair) prepped the model, and then off to the beach for an hour’s worth of shooting. This was a one-look shoot! And we got a nice bonus: sailboats in the background.
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Four Girls at Home (again)
I don’t know if this speaks to my complete lack of creativity or not, but I managed to come up with the exact same title for this blog post as I did a year ago! I made this family’s portraits last year and called the post “Four Girls at Home“. Brilliant writer that I am, I came up with the amazingly unoriginal title again for my second session with this family. But hey, I’ve added the “(again)”, so all is redeemed.
I love working with families over time, as I mentioned in a recent post about another family. It’s a comfortable way to shoot, and I get to see the kids grow up, and I get to see old friends again. And so it was again, with this family of four girls.
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