A little late with this new post, but I have had a busy couple of weeks. I just finished up working three straight weeks at Studio N and I am still working on school and my own photo shoots. The month of May has been the busiest I have been in months. With that said, the most important thing I have come to realize in the last couple of weeks has been time management.
It really comes into play when juggling between school, family, work, and personal achievements. On any given day I would work, shoot, work on school work and watch my son. It gets very hectic, but it will pay off in the long run. I have been so busy attempting to accomplish everything that I have had little to no time to just enjoy life. Tomorrow that all changes. For my wife and I's seven year anniversary I decided to surprise her with a trip to San Diego. It will give us both a chance to relax and get away from reality for a couple of days. I leave you with a couple images from the two photo shoots I did last weekend.

A couple weeks ago I shared my idea for my thesis. It was going to be a series with paint on lips. After trying to figure out what paints to use and how to go about it, I realized that it was going to be very expensive to get the write mediums to produce what I had in mind. It was definitely a great learning experience and I still intend to complete the series, but it will not be my thesis for school. I also came to the realization that it would not fit with the rest of my work and I want to shoot something that will stand on its own, but still be able to be shown side by side with the rest of my work.
With the help of some instructors and a fellow classmate I came up with a better thesis idea. I proposed my idea to the instructors in charge and they accepted it. The thesis will be a narrative documentary on the North West surf culture. Plainly put I will be photographing the surfer lifestyle in Washington and Oregon. I have been in contact with multiple surfers and surfboard shapers that I will be photographing. I will document the making of a surfboard from a blank sheet of foam to the finished product. I will also be shooting surfers in the water riding the waves and what they do out of the water.
There are more surfers in the Pacific North West than people realize. Most don't even know that there are surfers in these two states. I want to show how people make time to surf outside of their daily lives and everything that goes into being able to catch the waves. I hope that my thesis will shed some light on the sport and culture that is surfing. I want to entertain viewers with my images and maybe some will want to try surfing for themselves.
Along with the thesis and school I have also been working at Studio N and as I said before with Walter Hodges and his Jetta Productions. I have been slowly getting more and more hours at Studio N and finally I am at the point I was scheduled for two weeks in a row. Now without giving to much away, it is a great job with great pay. I have the chance to work with multiple professional photographers and see how they function. It is a great opportunity to get my name out there and for people to see what I have to offer. After being out of work for a very long time, it is also a good feeling to be able to actually go to a job.
It has become interesting trying properly schedule everything so I do not fall behind on school work or miss out on jobs. I am enjoying being busy and I am very confident in what is to come in the coming months and years after I graduate. If you have read this far I commend you. Here is an image from my archives for your viewing pleasure.

With a new week came new experiences. For the past couple of months I have been assisting Walter Hodges and David Atkinson on photo shoots. Their company, Jetta Productions specializes in stock photography. They shoot everything from people working at the office to commercial trucks on the road. It has been a great experience working alongside them and I have learned so much in my short time with them.
Unlike the average photo class assignment or even paid client photo job, Jetta Productions produces and funds its own photo shoots. From there they market their images through out major stock photography providers such as Getty Images. This as you might guess changes the rules quite a bit. Instead of having a shot list or a client telling you what to shoot, there is no clear cut specific image(s) to shoot. This is where creativity, quick thinking and motivation come in handy. Every shoot will have a broad theme to which the shooters will adhere to, but each shooter will be left to their own devices. This really set people apart, you really have to have the ability to think on your feet and capture images that will sell in the stock market.
As I said earlier, the new week brought new experiences. It was let known early on that there was a possibility of that one day I could become a shooter for Jetta. Some had eluded to it and some questioned if I would consider or would want to do it. I love a new challenge and was interested in the possibility. Of course though, as I normally do I constantly psyched myself out, because I really do not know much about stock photography. I have learned a lot about it through out my time assisting, but I know that there are always aspects of something that are based on experience and practice.
This past Friday I was scheduled to assist Walter and David on a photo shoot. When I arrived I was handed a 5d mark ii and was asked what I knew about it. I was definitely caught off guard, and returned with, "I own and shoot with this same model, it is awesome." I know, not very intelligent sounding, I just said the first thing that came to mind. The plan for me to assist was quickly changed to me being left to shoot on my own. I was given a model and told to go shoot. That was it, no rules, no set plan, just go and shoot. This was exciting, but scary as well. I was given a chance to see how and what I could shoot and if it could be used for stock photography.
As I still do not have a competent feel for what images will sell, I am unsure of how I did. I do believe that I put together some nice imagery and I am confident when it comes to my technical skills behind the camera. They will be going through the images from that they and be contacting me soon to meet in person to go over what I shot. We both agreed that it would be beneficial for me to see what shots worked and why they did and vice versa.  I can not wait to see if any of my images make the cut and if I will have the opportunity to become a regular shooter for Jetta Productions. I know leave you with some imagery from Jetta Productions.

This past week has been non stop work and fun. Starting the week off on a great note, I had the pleasure to assist none other than Dean Zulich on one of his photo shoots while he was in Seattle. He is an alumni of the Art Institute of Seattle and an amazing fashion photographer working out of the Los Angeles area. I knew he was in town and shooting so I decided to send him an email and let him know I was available if he needed an assistant. As luck would have it, he did need an assistant and was more than happy to have me help him on his shoot. It was a great learning experience working with a professional, and it gave me great insight into how he does his work and how to better myself. Below is an image from that day's shoot.

This was just the beginning of my week. After I was finished with my classes on Monday, I worked all week at Nordstrom's Studio N. This is where Nordstrom's does all of their online imagery and it is not only a great place to work at, but also a great place to meet with fellow photographers in the industry. You really get a good idea of how the industry really works and how the pros deal with day to day issues and deadlines. I headed into the weekend with a smile on my face with all that I have gotten to do during the week and was looking forward to my two planned shoots I had for Saturday. The first of which was somewhat of a last minute idea I had to just shoot some GQ inspired shots of a man in a suit. I used my Canon 5d Mark ii with a 70-200 2.8 and a 50 1.4. For lighting I used an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Head lighting kit. Below is a few examples from that shoot.

 

As soon as I was finishing up this shoot, I was already having my next model in hair and make up getting ready for my next shoot. With the second shoot I wanted to go with just a nice girl in the city theme. I think we accomplished just that with what we shot. Below are a few examples from that shoot as well. 

 All in all I had a great week and I hope to continue the trend going into the new week.

Last Sunday's shoot went wonderful. In total we had two models, the designer, a hair and make up artist, a videographer, one photographer (myself), and three assistants. The weather was not the best with drizzle for most of the morning, but we worked through it and by the end it was nice and sunny outside. With any photo shoot, especially one of this size with so many different people there needs to be a cohesion of the group. Everyone needs to know their job and be able to work together to make the shoot a success. If a photo shoot is seen as a watch, the people are the gears that make that watch work. Every person on our team had a job that helped another do their job. With out the models, the hair/MUA would not be able to do her job. With out the Hair/MUA, the models would not be ready to be photographer. The designer provided the clothing that the models would wear and I would shoot. The assistants made it so I could focus on shooting and not on moving gear around. I'm sure you get the idea. I am always wary before going into one of these shoots, because you never know who will work great together or on the other hand get on each others nerves. We were all lucky that everyone seemed to jump right in as though we had been long time friends.
When it setting up any kind of photo shoot, the most important thing is communication. Everyone needs to be in the loop and up to date with what is going on. Logistics can be a daunting task, as a photographer you have to be the "ring leader" and double even triple check with every part of the team to make sure everything and everyone will be there. The last thing you want is to show up and realize that you forgot to confirm with hair or a model has no transportation last minute. Keeping on top of the logistical portions of the photo shoot will make the actual shoot day much more enjoyable and have a higher chance of positive fruition. Below are some of the images I was able to capture with my wonderful team.

Last week I talked about my test shoot for my thesis idea for macro images of lips with paint. Well, it did not work out, but it was not a total loss. We definitely learned what will not work in getting the look we want. We are going back to the drawing board to figure out what paints and make up will work together better than our previous attempt.

On the bright side I have another photo shoot planned with a great designer I worked with a few months ago. Here is an image from our last photo shoot together.

It was a lot of fun that day and we got some great imagery with our team. Our photo shoot tomorrow will have more of a spring look and hopefully the weather will work with us.The last time around I did not have an assistant with me. This time I am going to be utilizing a location lighting kit and managed to get three assistants to help me out. I also have someone coming to do some behind the scenes video of the shoot which I am sure will be great. I hope to share some new images with you all after tomorrow.

The past week has been spent brain storming and scheduling for my thesis idea. After many failed attempts of coming up with an idea over the last couple months, I wound up going back to one of my original ideas. If approved in a couple of weeks, I will be spending the next year building on it and hopefully creating a beautiful series of images.

The basic idea of my thesis is to create a series of macro shots of lips with varying themes created with paint. Here is an example:

Note: this is not my image, I give full credit to the photographer, creative director, MUA and anyone else involved with creating this superb image.

Now I do not have a concrete path to which I will take this, as of yet. There is a possibility that there will also be an accompanying series of images of eyes as well to complete my idea. At this point, anything could happen. My initial thoughts are to create varying looks with influence from what is thought as beautiful in different parts of the world. I have brought together a great team to work with me including a model, assistant, and painter/MUA to help me bring my idea to life. We have a test shoot scheduled for this Sunday. I am very excited to see what comes of it and I will be eager to share the results with you all.