I spent the day out at the race track last weekend and wanted to share what I saw... enjoy!
Monday, July 12, 2010
A day at the races
Hey there followers -
I spent the day out at the race track last weekend and wanted to share what I saw... enjoy!
I spent the day out at the race track last weekend and wanted to share what I saw... enjoy!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Christophersonsalon.com and Vanilla Bean Cafe
As per normal, its been far too long since my last post (they all start out that way don't they?)
Earlier this year I came to know Kelley through a mutual friend and I learned he was starting his own salon here in Tacoma. His space is inside the Vanilla Bean Cafe on St. Helens and after getting to know each other, we quickly decided to get to work on a project together.
Kelly and his sister Tobe had purchased some advertising space and wanted a shot to use for the advertisement. We knew that we were going to be working with an open minded audience so we decided for an edgier look. We wanted to stand out and the goal was to leap off the page and look different than anything else in the magazine. We experimented with a few different things but in the end decided to go with the 'Cigarette Ad' as we came to call it.
Over the course of our shoot, we tried a number of different looks and towards the end of the night I spotted a pack of smokes on the counter and said, 'experiment with this'
Whats the lesson here? Even if you have a number of shots fully planed out in your mind and on paper, don't be afraid to deviate slightly and experiment. When you're in the middle of shooting and the creative mind is working at full speed, don't be afraid to try something different, it might just end up being your final image.
Before long the shot was in the bag and we were putting Tobe's Cafe back to the way we found it. Its true, 90% of photography really is moving furniture.
Here are a couple different shots from the night and what was eventually printed.
Big thanks to Kelley, Tobe and especially my girlfriend Liz for helping direct the shoot.
Our second favorite shot, ultimately unused
Earlier this year I came to know Kelley through a mutual friend and I learned he was starting his own salon here in Tacoma. His space is inside the Vanilla Bean Cafe on St. Helens and after getting to know each other, we quickly decided to get to work on a project together.
Kelly and his sister Tobe had purchased some advertising space and wanted a shot to use for the advertisement. We knew that we were going to be working with an open minded audience so we decided for an edgier look. We wanted to stand out and the goal was to leap off the page and look different than anything else in the magazine. We experimented with a few different things but in the end decided to go with the 'Cigarette Ad' as we came to call it.
Over the course of our shoot, we tried a number of different looks and towards the end of the night I spotted a pack of smokes on the counter and said, 'experiment with this'
Whats the lesson here? Even if you have a number of shots fully planed out in your mind and on paper, don't be afraid to deviate slightly and experiment. When you're in the middle of shooting and the creative mind is working at full speed, don't be afraid to try something different, it might just end up being your final image.
Before long the shot was in the bag and we were putting Tobe's Cafe back to the way we found it. Its true, 90% of photography really is moving furniture.
Here are a couple different shots from the night and what was eventually printed.
Big thanks to Kelley, Tobe and especially my girlfriend Liz for helping direct the shoot.
Our second favorite shot, ultimately unused
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Mickaiayla - MM#463673
Had an opportunity to work with Mickaiayla (model mayhem #463676) again last night and we had an awesome time together. Last summer we worked together on one of my first shoots and we had a great time straight away. It was more of the same this time around as I expected. Our time together went fast (as it always seems to), not helped by the good music we had filling the room.
I experimented with a couple different shooting modes and struck gold. My 'keeper' ratio increased significantly so that was a big win. I also stumbled onto a new trick in CS3 while editing tonight that really helped me to maintain consistency without saving an action.
All in all, a great shoot and I learned a ton that will serve me well in the future.
Enjoy!
Follow me on TWITTER
My Flickr Stream
__________________
COLOR TO START
BLACK AND WHITE
I experimented with a couple different shooting modes and struck gold. My 'keeper' ratio increased significantly so that was a big win. I also stumbled onto a new trick in CS3 while editing tonight that really helped me to maintain consistency without saving an action.
All in all, a great shoot and I learned a ton that will serve me well in the future.
Enjoy!
Follow me on TWITTER
My Flickr Stream
__________________
COLOR TO START
BLACK AND WHITE
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Pt. Defiance Park - Tacoma
Liz and I took full advantage of our awesome weather and headed down to Pt. Defiance Park here in Tacoma on Saturday. Here's a bit of what I saw.
Throughout our time at the park, I was teaching Liz to shoot in manual mode on my second camera body...she's going to be a fierce photog...more details on the shots below so have a scroll down and read!
_____________________
A young family were trying to take some pics together but the father was having a hard time with his camera so Liz, eager to try on some of her new camera skillz, offered to take a few shots of them. I handed the father my card (so we can email him our shots) and then took a few quick shots myself.
Taking pics of daffodils is so metal. Seriously. Ok not really. I hate taking pics of flowers but found myself doing it anyway...I dig sun flare too!
Liz disappeared for a bit and I found her under a tree on a path making friends.
Cliche' couples shot but whatevs - yes, her eyes are that blue. Srsly.
Throughout our time at the park, I was teaching Liz to shoot in manual mode on my second camera body...she's going to be a fierce photog...more details on the shots below so have a scroll down and read!
_____________________
A young family were trying to take some pics together but the father was having a hard time with his camera so Liz, eager to try on some of her new camera skillz, offered to take a few shots of them. I handed the father my card (so we can email him our shots) and then took a few quick shots myself.
Taking pics of daffodils is so metal. Seriously. Ok not really. I hate taking pics of flowers but found myself doing it anyway...I dig sun flare too!
Liz disappeared for a bit and I found her under a tree on a path making friends.
Cliche' couples shot but whatevs - yes, her eyes are that blue. Srsly.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Weekend Shots
Spent the weekend in Seattle - Here's some of what I saw
Follow me on TWITTER
My Flickr Stream
Seattle from Magnolia
Magnolia Sunset
Magnolia Sunset part deux
Why I was in Magnolia
Books I've not read
Follow me on TWITTER
My Flickr Stream
Seattle from Magnolia
Magnolia Sunset
Magnolia Sunset part deux
Why I was in Magnolia
Books I've not read
Monday, February 15, 2010
Project - F R I E N D S
First - Background
Last summer, I was in San Francisco and was able to see the Richard Avedon exhibit at the SF-MOMA. If you haven't seen it, it'll stop you in your tracks and you should keep an eye out to see if its coming to a city near you. The exhibit is comprised of the most amazing black and white portraits of essentially everyone who's played a significant part in 20th century. Writers, composers, artists, models, actors/actresses, politicians, musicians, heads of state...average Americans in their own back yard. I HIGHLY encourage you to spend a few minutes reviewing Avedon's work HERE.
Seeing his work, full size - I'm talking, the size of your front window - was hugely inspiring to me and got me thinking about how I would like to complete a project inspired by Avedon's work.
I'm not proclaiming to be an original with my approach but I'm confident that I'll be able to accomplish, and create something special. The project is inspired by Avedon and it is not my intention to copy his work. This is about more than just taking pictures; its about getting to know you and capturing our conversation.
So what is this about? How are you involved and how does this work? Whats the end result?
This is about you and me and a couple hours together, a conversation that covers the good, the bad and everything in between...maybe a drink or two. I plan to record our conversation while we talk and I snap away. The goal here is to draw out emotion, capture it and learn a bit more about each other in the process.
All you need to do is sit on a stool, and have a good time.
Once I have all the content, it will be time to sort through the shots, edit them and select a choice line from our conversation to companion the selected photo. The goal here is to add a little more depth and meaning to the image.
How will this be presented?
My vision is to ultimately create a book once I have everyone's photos. Each page will have a photo on one side, and the selected text on the other. Clean and simple. As the work evolves, I may elect to present the work in progress on my blog just to keep interested parties up to speed on the progress of the effort.
I've done a proof of concept for the look and feel that I'm targeting. You can view that HERE
So who's interested?
Drop me a line, let me know you want to be a part of this project with me. I'll be reaching out to folks individually HOWEVER DON"T HESITATE TO RAISE YOUR HAND! This is about getting to know people better than I already do and creating something together. I'm happy to work with anybody - so don't sit and wait to hear from me if you're itching to be a part of this.
We'll be in touch!
rick.donohue@gmail.com
Last summer, I was in San Francisco and was able to see the Richard Avedon exhibit at the SF-MOMA. If you haven't seen it, it'll stop you in your tracks and you should keep an eye out to see if its coming to a city near you. The exhibit is comprised of the most amazing black and white portraits of essentially everyone who's played a significant part in 20th century. Writers, composers, artists, models, actors/actresses, politicians, musicians, heads of state...average Americans in their own back yard. I HIGHLY encourage you to spend a few minutes reviewing Avedon's work HERE.
Seeing his work, full size - I'm talking, the size of your front window - was hugely inspiring to me and got me thinking about how I would like to complete a project inspired by Avedon's work.
I'm not proclaiming to be an original with my approach but I'm confident that I'll be able to accomplish, and create something special. The project is inspired by Avedon and it is not my intention to copy his work. This is about more than just taking pictures; its about getting to know you and capturing our conversation.
So what is this about? How are you involved and how does this work? Whats the end result?
This is about you and me and a couple hours together, a conversation that covers the good, the bad and everything in between...maybe a drink or two. I plan to record our conversation while we talk and I snap away. The goal here is to draw out emotion, capture it and learn a bit more about each other in the process.
All you need to do is sit on a stool, and have a good time.
Once I have all the content, it will be time to sort through the shots, edit them and select a choice line from our conversation to companion the selected photo. The goal here is to add a little more depth and meaning to the image.
How will this be presented?
My vision is to ultimately create a book once I have everyone's photos. Each page will have a photo on one side, and the selected text on the other. Clean and simple. As the work evolves, I may elect to present the work in progress on my blog just to keep interested parties up to speed on the progress of the effort.
I've done a proof of concept for the look and feel that I'm targeting. You can view that HERE
So who's interested?
Drop me a line, let me know you want to be a part of this project with me. I'll be reaching out to folks individually HOWEVER DON"T HESITATE TO RAISE YOUR HAND! This is about getting to know people better than I already do and creating something together. I'm happy to work with anybody - so don't sit and wait to hear from me if you're itching to be a part of this.
We'll be in touch!
rick.donohue@gmail.com
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