Morning Light
Most days I am not up before 7-7:30. I have no reason to get up at 5 am. I do not like going to the gym first thing in the morning. In fact I despise going to the gym early in the morning. If I happen to wake up early and I am bored at 6am and there isn’t a scheduled shoot for a couple hours, I might go to the gym. But out of pure boredom. I will get up at 3 am to travel anywhere in the world. That to me is exciting. I will wake up at the crack of dawn if there is an early call time. I have just never really been much of a morning person. When I was in college I had an 8am class after getting out of a third shift at 7:15 am. That was an awful semester. Full time overnight gave me a lot of early mornings.
When my career as a photographer started and I discovered what the golden hour was capable of providing, the evening light became my favorite. Every so often, maybe a handful of times throughout the year I will find myself up early enough for a shoot. On the rare occasion that I am up early enough to capture the first light of the day, I will do so. In the north east when the winter winds down and spring starts approaching, the temperature changes in the morning can cause some fog on the water and the lower parts of our city, especially with the canals. It becomes very cinematic.
Saturday morning was one of those mornings where I was up early. I crashed hard Friday night, very early. It was a gnarly week and I was exhausted. I woke as the sun cracked the horizon. I went down stairs and grabbed my Fuji X-Pro2 and snapped away. I finished up inside the house and wanting a coffee, I took my camera and left the house. Below are a few photos.
One of the motivators for making photos inside the house has been the times when I get up and see the light pouring in and illuminating objects and parts of the house. I wanted to capture that light.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to everyone! Here we are at the start of a new year with new possibilities, new jobs, new ventures in life and work. For me the start of the new year is always a bit stressful. I look back over the previous year, sometimes the year prior as well and compare where I have gone in both work and my personal life. I then think about the upcoming year and where I want to go and do, both in my work and personal life. For me, my work life is my personal life. When I set goals it is based on the work that I am going to do that will affectively enhance my personal life, enriching it with new experiences and new ventures or projects.
In 2015 I will have some major life changes. Getting married will be one of them. Following that will be the launch of a "to-be-announced" project that I have been working on over the last few months. I will be traveling more this year, no doubt about that. And, the new work I will be doing. I am taking my career down newer and much greater path.
In 2014 I worked with some great clients. I worked for some new clients as well as clients I have retained over the years. 2014 was a great year. I was able to integrate new technology into my work that has afforded me the possibilities of creating more dynamic work. I am very thankful for the clients that I worked with, both new and old. I met some great people over the last 12 months and look forward to working with them in the upcoming months.
I plan to feature more shoots on this blog and discuss the work that I will be doing as well as possibly going back to my blogging roots of adding feature content that discusses things I learn, pick up, or implement in my work. On one of my former blogs I used to write tutorials and such and those were always well received.
Have a Happy and Safe New Year!
Prep: Before the {PhotoShoot}
Do happy accidents exist? Yes. Do people base their entire careers off of them, sure. But when it comes down to it, you need to plan things out. Of course, sometimes plans change, things evolve, or they just simply do not work according to the plan. Case in point is the story of the above shown car. The client, car owner, and I have been working on a specific shoot, specific location/s, specific model, etc. After nearly a year of yes, no's, approvals, ideas, it has all circumvented into a, "hold the breaks," PUN intended, lets take a different approach. During the course of things being planned out and organically changing again, a new prospect for the shoot to be featured beyond its original destination has again been a game changer. What does one do when so many changes occur? Roll with the punches as some would say.
Truth be told, I am looking forward to this shoot and with a fresh set of plans in place, nothing will allow for this shoot to go unscheduled, un-produced, and un-done. Bottom line, we have set the plan in place and with a few hanging details, we have an end date. Sometimes things take time to plan, sometimes they do not. The above featured shot was made this afternoon. I did so on a whim because an updated shot of the car was needed. By chance and a few on site ideas, the resulting image is more than desired. To be redundant, the bottom line is, plan. Plan your location, your ideas, plan for the unexpected, as there is always something that comes up, and plan for success. If you approach things with the haphazard, "it'll all work out," chances are it will not.