Rahael #Leica
I met Raphael on a walk through the very hip neighborhood of Willamsburg in Brooklyn. Well it’s hip now. It used to be a whole bunch of factories. Now there are art galleries, boutiques, antique stores and veggie eating spots. Reminds me a bit of how St. Marks place in the city used to be before the Subway sandwich franchise set up shop.
Raphael says he hasn’t bought anything in 8 years. He doesn’t work. He just walks around a lot. He gave me a 5 minute lecture about all the great things Nikola Tesla invented. I asked him if Tesla was responsible for that horrible 80’s band that shares his name. Raphael said he didn’t think so. When I asked him if I could take his portrait, he said yes, but insisted on closing his eyes. He said the only way to really see the essence of someone is to look at them with their eyes closed.
Christina #Leica
Another example of something I wrote about a few days ago. Shooting a Lookbook for a client, but taking a few seconds to create an image that I really like.
Fashion Week #Leica
Fashion Week is such a cool time in NYC. There are fashion shows and parties every night and even more celebs than normal are in town. I used to shoot the actual fashion shows back when the event was called, “7th on Sixth”. For the first time “real” models were in front of my camera, and there was so much going on in the photo pit -50 shooters jammed into a riser that could comfortably accomodate maybe 10. It was a lot of fun.
After a year or two the constant jockeying for position among all the photographers, and the difficulty I had selling the runway images as well as the difficulty I would have getting into the bigger shows -even with the proper credential, made it not so much fun after all.
These days I’d much rather shoot backstage. It’s exciting and hectic and the shot possibilities are plentiful. This past season I spent a few hours shooting outside the actual show capturing the fashion of the people attending shows. I shot the assignment on my M9, but I brought the Nikon, just in case. The Nikon came in handy when celebs like June Ambrose and Eva Pigford walked by and there was no time for composing and focusing before shooting.
The gentleman pictured here isn’t a celeb -just the typical colorful character you find walking around Lincoln Center during fashion week.
Audio Push #Leica
#KONY2012 #Leica
#KONY2012 #Leica
#KONY2012 #Leica
#KONY2012 #Leica
#KONY2012 #Leica
As I walked out the door for a doctor’s appointment today I was debating whether I should bring my iPad or my camera. I chose the camera…and regretted it for the 2 hours I sat in the waiting room with nothing to do.
As I was driving home past Avenue J in Brooklyn, I spotted some kids posting KONY2012 flyers and suddenly, I was glad I had chosen to bring my camera…
Christina the lookbook model. #Leica
Shooting a lookbook means we shoot about 40 outfits representing the current fashion collection from a single designer. We only do 4 or 5 shots per outfit and there isn’t much communication between myself and the model. She’s a pro and already knows her poses so I’m sitting on a chair pushing the shutter button a few times with each new outfit change, while thinking about a million things other than the shoot. It’s an easy paycheck and the kind of work that you’re grateful for at periodically.
On shoots like this is where I tend to get my best BTS (behind the scenes) images and because I’m not stressed or worried during the shoot and I can also devote time and energy into shooting something other than the “real” pics.
It helps to have a willing model who doesn’t mind doing a few shots outside of what she was hired to do. It also helps to have a tool like the Leica M9 that helps put me in a different frame of mind than when I’m using my Nikon. The Leica is ill suited to shoot the Lookbook images so once I pick it up, I have no choice but to shoot something a bit different. This shot is right out of the camera with no post processing. I intentionally overexposed this image in camera because I felt the somewhat washed out skin tones enhanced the smooth feel I was going for in the image.
