It's Not the Equipment

I was going through my business emails this morning and have noticed over the past several weeks, that there is a HUGE concentration of subjects regarding all the expensive equipment I use to produce my imagery. I have been lecturing for many years on this subject, and the results are always the same- it doesn't matter what you use to create the final image. You can make beautiful, well lit and properly exposed images with an iPhone. Understanding the techniques necessary to control the light on your subject(s), whether it's one model or a whole group of friends or a wedding party, is about controlling the light. If you start outdoors and use reflectors (which can be the cheapest way to start your creative inspirations) allows you to see what the light is doing to your subject. If you use large silver or gold reflectors and you take the picture and the subject is too bright or dark relative to the background, simply move closer or back up to increase or reduce the light falling on your subject.

Pye at slrlounge.com recently posted a great tutorial perfectly explaining and demonstrating this technique. Be sure to check the video below:

Off and Running

After a long time contemplating starting a  full blown website, blog, forum and general web presence after all these years of not needing to stay connected to my peers I have decided to jump in to the murky waters of the the web with ocean diver's flippers. this will hopefully be a continuing and rewarding blog post for many of my followers of my past twenty five plus years as a commercial photographer. I also  hope to be able to share my experiences with all of you so we all can learn and grow. Don't ever feel intimidated or shy about asking questions. I have taught at many art schools across the country from Hallmark Institute, Brooks Institute, and many private and community colleges the art of photography both in the studio (food, fashion, glamour, jewelry, and more) and landscape and nature as well. I hope to be able to keep this blog up to date as often as possible in the hopes that it can grow into a web meeting place for great ideas.

I started my career many years ago while attending summer school when I was in middle school. I enrolled in a photography class that taught me the basics of black and white photography. I was instantly hooked after seeing what I had taken with a simple pinhole camera and was able to borrow my dad's Nikkormat FTN. I signed up for the yearbook staff my first year of high school and quickly was able to become the head yearbook photographer and graphics designer. I even had my own private darkroom at school. Needless to say I spent A LOT of time in the dark!! 

I went to college to study Mechanical Engineering and minored in Photography. Although I never finished the Engineering Degree I furthered my passion for photography all through school. After I left college, I decided that in order to grow both creatively and be commercially successful, I MUST upgrade my equipment. At the time I weighed all the options from medium format (Hasselblad, Pentax, Bronica and Mamiya) needless to say after using (renting- when the budget allowed) a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II for many of my assignments.

I decided to attend a camera convention (back then in 1989 or so, here in San Francisco, they had the west coast edition of the PhotoEast show. Obviously called PhotoWest.) At this trade show I talked the ears off any factory rep that would answer my questions. But after stopping by the Mamiya America booth and talking to a tall, heavy man about my favorite camera, he gave me the best advice of all (more about that later). After many years helping each other at trade shows and lighting seminars, John Woodward and I grew a great friendship. I learned a lot in the beginning and was able to apply that experience and knowledge. Mamiya was the biggest help of all, many thanks have to go to Jan Lederman, the President of MAC Group the incredible team of service reps, sales reps and marketing reps. Without them I would not be where I am today.

I'm starting to ramble, but will post more as I get to it. Stay tuned...