Photo of the Week - Week 11

One of the hardest things in portrait photography (for me) is to get natural expressions. As I've mentioned before, portrait photography, particularly in the studio, is one of the most UNnatural things people can do. This means that it's hard to get people to relax and be natural; one of the reasons I like environmental portraits better - easier to get people to relax and be natural.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to get people to relax is to get them to laugh. This helps lighten the atmosphere and people will naturally relax. Easier with kids than adults and much easier said than done ...

Clara is just a natural - she's grown up with me chasing her with a camera stuck to my face and she does great in front of the camera.

I've shot a few engagement sessions, but this is one of my favorites. Engaged couples are great to shoot because after a bit they just forget you're there and are oblivious to anyone but each other. Makes life easy for a photographer!

Even adults will relax and you can get some good natural portraits. When I do my portrait sessions I block aside at least an hour. The first bit is mainly for us to get used to me having a camera stuck to my face, we'll shoot some test shots, we do a lot of interactive, I'll show them the pictures after each shot, let the kids take a picture of mom and dad, etc. This helps build rapport between me and the people I'm photographing and everyone relaxes, enjoys the photo shoot more, and we get better images.

Photo of the Week - Week 10

I'm running a bit behind in my postings, but wanted to catch up this week with one of my all-time favorite photos.

Just before leaving Greece after having lived there for three years, we spent a week at a villa on the island of Kea. I spent three days dealing with packers and boxes while the rest of the family went ahead with my in-laws. Needless to say, when I got there, I was ready to do as little as possible and just enjoy the water, the beach, and the spectacular sunsets in the evening.

For me, this shot captures all of that. The lines made by the tiles draw me to the chair, the sunset, and I can almost feel myself relaxing, remembering what it was like to sit there and watch the sun set across the ocean.

Can I go back yet?

Photo of the Week - Week 9

So the theme for this week and next is "use the camera you've got." For different reasons I do not always carry my camera gear around with me, but my iPod Touch is much more portable. This post and the next will be on a couple of experiences using my iPod to take pictures.

While I won't be doing any portrait sessions or getting big prints from any of the images it is convenient and can help (partially) satisfy the photo itch.

This is a photo I would have liked to have had my "real" camera for. There is a great hacienda on the outskirts of Quito - Hacienda Rumiloma - which we have escaped to a couple of times. This was one of the times when you could actually see the mountains on the (very) far side of the other valley.

Both of these images would be difficult because of the high dynamic range - darker shadows, such as the arch and the fountain statue, and an evening sky that is relatively light. Despite the limitations in the sensor for exposure, there is no limitation on composition - just because I'm using my iPod doesn't mean I can't compose my images the way I would like.

Living some place means we can have the opportunity to revisit the same places at different times. I looked at this opportunity as a sort of test run - I could look for compositions I liked so that at some future point I can go back with my full kit to take a higher quality image.

When we lived in Greece, I got to know an artist who lived there in Athens. She got a cell phone with a pretty good quality camera (this is before the advent of the iPhone) so that she always had something with her to take a photo of an inspiring scene that she would later use to paint from. Kind of the same idea for me, but to return to the location to photograph it later.