Update and Inspiration

I've been shooting quite a bit lately, faster than I can edit. I find it is kind of wonderful when this happens.  I only have three more shoots till I wrap up on my Capstone project.  But, of course even though the class will come to completion soon, the drive and quality of imagery that I have been working on this semester will not.

One of the best things about this semester is the amount of visual research I've been making time for. I thought I'd share work from some of my favorite photographers, at the moment.

Tim Walker

Lara Jade

Zhang Jingna

Capstone #3

I'm back in the studio with my third Capstone session. This time I focused on playing with different props, that I found at my local craft store, to enhance this "Dark Mother Nature" shoot. This shoot was really about using simple props and techniques to enhance my usual workflow. Sometimes, just adding a few extra elements could be the big difference in making a great image that much better.

With the help of my make-up artist we got a little wind action, something so simple can add so much. The slight movements in the models hair really add to the mood of this shot.

And trying out different textures in photoshop can turn a simple portrait into something dark and dramatic.

Behind the Scenes

As much as I love being in the studio, I love watching other photographers work too. I really enjoy when photographers take the time to film a behind the scenes video of them working. Every photographer has there own workflow and it's cool to see how they create, especially when it's a photographer who's work I really appreciate. Sometimes the behind the scenes footage is just as beautiful as the resulting images.

About a year ago, a friend of mine, Matt VanGronigen, did some filming while I was working. And as much as I prefer to be behind the camera it was cool to see the photoshoot from a different perspective. He post the video on his Vimeo Page.

I think doing more behind the scenes is definitely in my future.

Ruth Elizabeth Photography from Matt VanGronigen on Vimeo.

Capstone #2 and Planning

 Last week I shot the second shot for my absurd and surreal fashion series, I am shooting for Capstone.  Besides the trying to be more creative, another aspect of this project is to get myself to be more on top of planning the initial concept. Normally, when planning a shoot I tend to be a bit vague and leave more of the shoot up to the energy that is on set.  Now I do a lot more visual research and plan out my lighting diagrams before I even cast a model. I have also taken up drawing out a reference sketch so that I have a starting point.  It definitely makes the process run a lot smoother and I  believe it allows me to get better results from a session.

For this shoot I was influenced by ads for designer sunglasses. These are some examples I was really drawn to.

I've found it really helpful to sketch out an image to work from, even though 80 percent of the time it turns out completely different.

A sketch from the first steps of planning my smokey sunglass shoot.

I'm still in the process of editing my final image. 

Screen shot of my favorite image.