Sunday musings

So, it's Sunday and I have a massive headache. I've laid in bed a good chunk of the day.

That's not what this post is about. Actually, I have been thinking a little bit more about some more experimenting I'd like to try. I was looking at a shoot I did in college. It was a studio shoot (and by studio I mean we did it at my martial arts school, isn't great owning your own business?) that I did and we used stage lighting (I didn't own any lighting equipment at the time), a fog machine, and black felt. It turned out to be pretty cool. Anyway, I really want to jump into that again because I feel that the fog machine if used properly with the lighting can generate a very dramatic affect that I'm partial to as an artist. Here is a snippet of what we did on that shoot

This was a timed exposure, we went 30 seconds in the position that is most clear, then experimented in different time increments as to what made the best image. I think we spent at least an hour shooting and reshooting this particular image. The end result ended up being 15 seconds, 10 second, then 5 seconds. We did not use fog for this one. This is probably my favorite (can I say that? Is that too conceited?).

This was an experiment with the white wrinkly backdrop. In retrospect, I probably would have had her in a bold colored shirt, in front of a solid white, super flat backdrop (it was college, and  it was
like midnight, don't judge me). Yes, this needs A LOT of work, and would be well worth the reshoot.

Dramatized side lighting, see, this is why I must come back to this idea. I enjoy the concept.

We had two stage lights clamped to the doors of the workout floor. The fog is pretty awesome when the light magnifies it like this.









Yes, I'm looking at older shoots. However, when you're in college working on a project, you really don't get enough time on just one project. While I was shooting this project for my digital photo class, I was also working on my senior thesis project, which was an entirely different shoot with a black and white film camera as well as print manipulations in the dark room. Plus the other classes I was taking at the time. I feel like I never really got a chance to expand on this particular idea and want to play around with it more. With District Championships, my cousin's wedding, a trip to Lake Geneva, plus summer camps coming up, I'm hoping to have this worked on within the next month. Oh yeah, plus all the usual "Hey I'm running a business" thing too, that may take up a good portion of my time.

Rambling over.

Playing with lighting

This last shoot was super fun. Its nice not having parameters on shoots. It was pretty liberating, just going out an experimenting with my home made reflector. And, you know, having your best friend as the subject also makes the experience that much more enjoyable. So why am I so late with these? Well, things happened and long story short, Photoshop has left my desktop. I have Photoshop Elements on my laptop, but my laptop is really stoopid (yes, with two Os). I've been working on a few techniques I picked up in college and have not worked with in a while, to work on brightening/darkening etc. Anyway, here they are.

 

This one is actually the one I had a system for, after playing with the others shown below. My biggest issue with it right now is the hotspot merging her face and the sky. But like I said, my laptop is stoopid.

 Playing around with different levels on these three. I like the lighting of the last, however the color is a bit too vibrant. Once I have Photoshop back on my desktop and am no longer confined to the ridiculousness that is my laptop, I hope to be able to edit some more of these. In the mean time, I hope to head out and shoot some more. My summer goal is to photograph something (literally anything) with some form of a technique once a week, and maybe do a larger shoot once a month. So, here it is...ta da! Draft 1 of playing with reflectors!

-blg

Frugle (phrugle?) Photography

So, as promised there are some images. Are they the images that were expected? No, but it's been rainy and cold all week (which is really stupid because it was 85 degrees a week ago and this morning it snowed, WTF Mother Nature?).

However, I have not been without shooting. I did a favor for a friend and took some pre-prom pics, however, I really wanted to experiment with a gold reflector. I realized, though, that I don't own one.

And here's where that broke college student breaks free yet again to save the day. I thought about it, what is a reflector?

So I went to Michaels today and bought the following:

A hula hoop

                                                                  A gold poster board

 

                                                             Gold Mylar




First, place the hula hoop on top of the gold poster board (the opposite side is silver, so 2 in 1 booyeah). Make sure to cut around the edges to make the taping process easier.

. 

 Tape the poster board to the hula hoop, I used duct tape, simply because it can't be a ghetto object without it. And, you know, it's reflective and stuff. Whatever, you never see it anyway. Don't judge me.

                                                       

Place the mylar between the taped hoop and the poster board. Tuck it under, than use clear tape to secure it into place.

Cut around the edges of the mylar, and make some gold confetti because you're done.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Voila!

 You're ready to use your reflector!


Here I am without the reflector

 And here I am with the reflector.

How much did this cost you may ask?
I bought everything at Michaels, including 2 hula hoops (they were on sale), one pack of gold mylar, and 2 poster boards. The poster boards were $2.99 each, the mylar $3.99, and each hula hoop was $2.99. I also pulled up on the Michaels website a weekly ad coupon that took 25% off my entire purchase which brought my total to a whopping $9.77.

And there you have it, the broke photographer's way of getting away with not spending too much money on equipment!

Until the weather is nicer,

blg

Spring showers

I know I said I would come back with some first draft pics of the new idea, but the weather has been really crappy (in that its raining, I'm okay with it, the camera not so much).

However, don't fret! I do have a sort of photo, with a new (super old) side project.

It's been rather rainy out, and I love it when the poofy white cottony looking flowers (you know, the ones with all the pollen you blow on to make a wish) get wet. They make such funky, interesting shapes. The raindrops don't always knock all of the white puffs, and it makes for some aesthetically (college word usage!) pleasing images.

What is this post all about other than my procrastination due to rainy days?

 Well, here is the photo I took with my phone. I know, I know, it's not a super fantastic photo, it's not profound, it's definitely not award winning, so why is it here? Well, it's something. And a little bit of something, can turn into a much bigger something. It's an idea I've been toying with for a few years, and somehow come winter, I've lost my opportunity. This is my way of forcing myself to just photograph this f@*#er. And now on to what the plan is, since my phone isn't my best tool.
Her name, Diana, and she looks like this.

If you're not sure what the Diana F+ shoots like, check out this link. All photos are done with the Diana as a companion.
http://www.lomography.com/photos/cameras/3314900-lomography-diana-f-plus

Anyway, back to my griping. I absolutely love this camera for many reasons. There are several color filters you can add to it, not to mention the super awesomeness that is the pinhole lens. You can use this camera to nearly the same affect as a Holga, or remove the lens and shoot some pretty trippy dream-like shots with the pinhole.

Oh yes, the plan. Its pretty simple, I want to shoot the poof balls after it rains with my Diana. I really don't understand why I haven't bought more film for it (Did she say FILM?? Yes, I did), nor why I don't carry it around more often. So, that's my little side project I've been thinking about for oh, since I got Diana for Christmas 3 years ago. Good grief. So, next time you will be in for a visual treat!

-blg

The original intention of this blog was to post my work and show it off to the world. However, as a business owner, I haven't exactly had the time to jump out into the world and create. So I thought about it, what is a blog without, well, blogging? I've decided to use this as not only a means of sharing my photos with the audience of one (which is usually just me) but also as my way of working out what it is I want to shoot. And in three...two...one...shoot!


Ehem. For the past few days I've been thinking about what it is that I'm interested in, what concepts speak to me the most. What is it that crosses my mind on a daily basis that maybe I just haven't been paying attention to?

I came to the conclusion of the passage of time and death.

Then I thought, "Wow, that's depressing."

I guess the way I've been thinking about death, dying, and time hasn't really burst my happy bubble. I'm still me, happy, sarcastic me. Then it hit me, I'm more interested in the old phrase "Memento mori", which translates to "Remember we all will die". It's not so much the fear of time moving too fast, or meeting our demise. It's more about coming to terms with our death do not fearing it, not looming too much on it and embracing that knowledge. All things must come to an end, and that is not to be feared, just understood. The lapse of time comes in by understanding that as we leave this earth, the world keeps turning.

Now, just to translate these thoughts into a visual. When I post next, the plan is to have some concept photos up and work from there. If there is anyone taking the time to read this, thank you.
Lucy

Backgrounds!

 

More Martial Arts photography

As I've been dabbling some more with green screen technology etc., I've been working also on making some of my own backgrounds. Also, I'm working on photo collages. Enjoy =)

 

 

 

There are more backgrounds I've been playing with, just need to convert them to web form and I will post them later on today