Picture a Week Project - Week 10

Metro

I find myself saying for the second time that it has been far too long since I posted to the project. Dustin Diaz and his Daily Picture Project are putting me to shame. May I be worthy. :-)

Regardless...

Above is a shot I took while on vacation with the family last month. Was standing in the metro station in DC playing with settings and got the above. My objective was to capture the movement of the train and bring out some drama in the lighting, etc. What does everyone think? This is not an award winning photo by any means but does it stir anything up in you?

Love to hear your feedback.

Week 9: Eyes Have It

Picture a Week Project - Week 9

Eyes Have It

Had an opportunity this past weekend to hook up with my best friend and his family. Why is this special? He has been living in Europe for the past 4 years and I have not had the opportunity to meet either of his children. So when we got together at the park I of course brought my camera.

The shot above is his oldest son. The shot is far from perfect and is not nearly as sharp as it should be if I were on my game, had the camera in One Shot which does not allow for moving children. Grrr. :-) Anyway, this little boy's eyes just jump out at me. The are large bright and expressive. So this weeks post is dedicated to this little lad with the big expressive eyes.

I will have to make the time to photograph him again some time. There are stories to be told in the eyes.

Week 8: Baseball Fun

Week 10: Metro

Picture a Week Project - Week 8

Baseball Fun

So my wife walked up to me and said that she needed a quick portrait of our son in his Little League uniform. No pressure....

Furthermore, we had to do the shoot in our back yard in bright sunlight and no shade. Oh, and there was no time to setup lightstands, etc. so there was no chance of overpowering the sun with one speedlight. My goose was cooked.

Anyway, the pictures turned out okay even though I wasn't able to eliminate shadows completely. I was even able to get over my frustrations to take a couple fun pics, the above being my favorite. So what did I learn, to get past myself and my need to do things certain ways and just enjoy the moment. When with family that is the most important thing after all.

Week 7: Confidence

Week 9: Eyes Have It

Picture a Week Project - Week 7

Confidence:

I'm so happy!

This past weekend was my son's first communion which gave me the opportunity to hold a portrait session in front of the church at a gazebo at the local park. I was excited I would be shooting on a sunny day but in a shaded area, how would I approach this? Hmmmm, let me think...photographic geek-type excitement.

I ended up using two speedlights. One was camera right at full power shooting into a silver lined umbrella and the second was camera left gobo'ed to prevent lens glare and shooting at 1/16th. Both were gelled with a 1/4 CTO to match the sun and give the subjects some warmth.

In general, I'm very pleased with how these turned out. There are a few rookie mistakes, my son was moving around not keeping the church in a consistent postion and I managed to cut off part of his foot in the shot above, but again, given how hard it is to keep an 8 year-old still I'm very pleased. On a side note, this was the first shoot I've done with him where he didn't use the standard all teeth smile which anyone with kids knows is phony and reveals nothing about the subject. This time we were able to get an expression which reveals a bit of his nature. I think I'm starting to get over the hump on this issue. The title for this post comes from his expression, he just has an air of confidence...it seemed to just work.

Let me know what you think, and please share your experience as well.

Week 6: Pride
Week 8: Baseball Fun

Picture a Week Project - Week 6

Pride:

Alright, it has been far too long since I posted to this project, I've been bad, I'm very sorry. However, this past week I was finally able to get out and do some shooting and was able to capture the below. Woohoo, I finally held a camera again.

The above is a shot of my son at a friend's 1st communion party. I call this shot 'Pride' as it reminds me of one of those shots of a restaurant owner in front of his life's work. Now, my son is not a restaurant owner, he is only 8, but the expression on his face is a break from the normal teeth grin he usually provides and the smirk or half smile is as if he knows something I don't - which by the way is probably true.

The shot was executed simply with an flash and flash bracket set to vertical mode. I was playing around with him getting him to the point where he was about to poke me or toss something at me, those things an 8 year-old does, everyone with children know what I'm talking about. It was at the point he thought I wouldn't take the picture that I did. The processing was minimal just a bit of color boost.

As usual, take a look and let me know your thoughts.

Week 5: Victory is Mine
Week 7: Confidence

Picture a Week Project - Week 5

Victory is Mine!

Well, I've been bad. I didn't get a picture last week to post. Work has been insane and well, that is how I pay the mortgage.

I decided to dig into my archives and see what I could find. The above is a picture taken at the Bristol Renaissance Fair outside of Chicago in August of 2008. I've always liked how this turned out just do to the bit of drama picked up. Not a lot to say, this week I'm merely sharing a picture I've always enjoyed.

As always let me know what you think. I will be better next week, I promise.

Week 4: Tired
Weel 6: Pride

Picture a Week Project - Week 4

Tired:

It has been quite a week. Work is killing me but I don't want to lose focus of my project commitment. So when I saw this picture after shooting some pictures of my son's Track-A-Thon (a fund raiser for his school) where he gets pledges to run around a track, racking up the dollars, I knew I had my picture for the week.

The above was taken at lap 68 with a minute and a half to go. My son committed to running 70 laps. Ya know what, in the remaining minute and a half he did it, he completed 70 laps exactly. He taught me a lesson, no matter how tired more can always be done. (I acknowledge this sounds a bit like a sports gear add.) Relating this to myself, no matter how much I'm working I can always shoot and find pictures which make me reflective, which teach me something, which force me to grow in something I love.

So while this weeks post is short, take a look and reflect about your passion, do you have the time, do you make the time, will you hit your 70 laps no matter how tired you are?

Week 3: Reading
Week 5: Victory is Mine!

Picture a Week Project - Week 3

Reading:

Wanted to look at things a bit differently this week. Having started shooting back in the film days I was taught to always try and solve all issues in camera, to have the picture as taken represent what I want it to be. As a result it has always been a bit of a struggle for me to see an existing image differently as the result of post processing. This is due to my taking it as I want it to be and why you often see me saying that a picture required very little post processing.

When my wife and son were reading this past weekend I took the opportunity to take a quick shot as I thought it was cute how they were laying on the bed. Below is the picture I intended it to be, a nice traditional snap shot.

It is what I meant, clean and simple with a little bit of a knowing look coming from my son. Its that look where he is telling me to leave him alone and stop taking pictures already. :-) Yes, he is my favorite subject.

It was the look that made me consider another take on this picture. Looking at pictures processed at the dawn of color film and the styles of the 70's street photographers I thought that a LOMO based look with higher contrast and muted colors would be interesting. Below is what I came up with, a LOMO version of the same picture.

I'm not sure I'm in love the the above, but it is different and demonstrates as with last week's picture, that I'm seeing more than I initially would, this makes me very happy. Anyway, let me know which rendition you prefer, I'd love to hear the feedback.

Week 2: Transformer
Week 4: Tired

Picture a Week Project - Week 2

Transformer:

Okay, I'm not a guy that is excited by cars. They are nice to have, but I don't spend much money on them nor am I usually impressed by them. When I buy a car I buy it for utility, not because it is fast, or cool. Strange as this is to my family, I come from a family of car mechanics, a profession to which my Father and Brother both belong. So when my wife and I went to the Chicago Auto Show this year it was to research a new car purchase, not to just look around. As my wife will attest, I'm very task oriented at this type of event going with a list of cars to look at and as usual I wanted to review those and then leave. Nothing surprising, its my MO.

Then something unusual happened. I was walking by the GM display and came across the new Stingray concept car. It caught my attention, but not why you might think. I kept thinking how much like a Transformer (yes the Hasbro toy) the car looked...so I started taking some pictures. It didn't disappoint as the tail light reminds me of the eye, as if the Transformer is looking at me. I had a vision of the environment being dark with light showing the contours of the car. All of the above was done with available light and the only post processing I did was to boost the blacks a bit to darken the non-car areas of the shot.

What I like is that this showed that I was seeing something for more than it appears to be at first glance...seeing what something could be. To me this demonstrates that I'm using a new part of my brain, being less rigid than I normally am. So thanks to a car, something I'm normally not excited by, I've expanded and grown. Thanks GM. ;-)

As usual, take a look and let me know what you think. You can find the full gallery of Transformer shots on Flickr by clicking here.

Week 1: Three Friends
Week 3: Reading

Picture a Week Project - Week 1

Three Friends:

This is a picture that revealed quite a bit about the subjects to me. The shot is of my son Gustavo (center) and two of his best friends. The one on the right and my son are very close, they call each other best friend and how they are leaning into each other is typical. They have a genuine concern and caring for each other, typical of an 8 year-old friendship.

However, its the boy on the left that brings the story to the picture. He is a best friend of my son as well, but is a very independent spirit. He's a great kid, but you often see in his affect that he is independent and does not need anyone, that he is here by choice and could leave at anytime. He adds the character to the picture. The stark contrast of the two that cannot be separated juxtaposed to the one that is fiercely independent is fascinating to me.

I kept the processing simple, just doing some high contrast black and white. It allows the picture to remain simple while naturally placing the two close subjects brighter than the one off to the side. It just seemed to inherently exemplify the contrast (no pun intended) between the two themes.

Anyway, let me know what you think, the shot is far from perfect, but the story it tells is compelling to me.

Week 2: Transformer

Picture a Week Project - Introduction

Work has is very busy lately and I find my shooting has decreased to the point where I find it concerning. Thus the Picture a Week Project is born. The projects objective is simple and while I intend for this to the first of many projects, it is the first so I need to make my goal achievable.

The idea is not to force myself to try new things as ideas are not the issue, but to force myself to take pictures. That is what I need right now, I need to take pictures plain and simple. This does not mean there are no parameters or controls to the project. The pictures have to meet two criteria.

1. It got me out to take the picture.
2. An either or...

• That it tells a story about the subjects. or...
• That there is a story as to how the picture came to be.

To me photographs are about stories so that is the purpose, that there be a story and I get off my duff and take some pictures.

So sit back and enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Also, don't be shy about letting me know when I'm late getting up submissions. I'll need your encouragement to make this happen. I look at this like a weight loss program but in this case I want to lose spare time not weight.

Click Here to see the Flickr pool of images.