Jessica Von Wolf
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Another new beginning for me. A unique creative opportunity to simply relax, play with camera gear, do fitness stuff and teach has begun. Not only do I get to learn more about yoga, pilates and mobility training from Jessica Baak, but I also get to play with my lighting techniques. Not only that but I am also teaching her how to create promotional imagery for herself. Explaining how I light a scene was a lot of fun for me. Basically it's the mythical "Win-Win" situation. I get to learn more fitness stuff, get a model to practice lighting techniques with and get to teach techniques for something I love to do. She gets to learn a useful promotional skill and gets some fun photos. By happenstance one of the places she trains folks at is a short walk from where I work! So expect some fun imagery to be posted soon.
The first time I went to Jessica's studio was a couple of years ago. As I stood on her deck and admired the garden I knew I just had to take a photo there someday. I could picture her in the lovely setting posing on the wooden gazebo/lounge. Recently we got together on a comfortable spring day for a relaxing session. She's been busy setting up a new website to promote her business and needed a new cover image. Her hope was that I could create a photo that'd represent her belief that through yoga and meditation one could not only connect to oneself, but also to nature itself. I hope I did just that. What do you think? Did I nail it?
It's been three solid months of hard labor. I did not do enough, if any, "maintenance" fitness routines during that time frame. While not totally "wrecked" I most certainly feel my age. My middle back and hamstrings are as taught as a bow string. Being that it's my day off today I decided to go have fun creatively. Thankfully Jessica was able to meet and we set up a photo shoot using both of us in the scene. She guided me through a variety of yoga and pilates routines, all designed to counter my tightness. As my breathing and posture changed so did my state of mind. It felt so good to actually train physically in some way. I have a lot to do in order to get myself all limber again. It's going to hurt.
Without Flashes - No Use of Ambient Lighting
This is how I set my camera to not capture the ambient lighting for certain situations. I wanted to control all of the "light" in my scene. The natural ambiance, while nice to the human eye, wasn't suitable. Basically I set my exposure settings to what I know I can create using my remote flashes. Without my flashes going off, this is how dark the photo appears. Very little ambient light is present.
Another new beginning for me. A unique creative opportunity to simply relax, play with camera gear, do fitness stuff and teach has begun. Not only do I get to learn more about yoga, pilates and mobility training from Jessica Baak, but I also get to play with my lighting techniques. Not only that but I am also teaching her how to create promotional imagery for herself. Explaining how I light a scene was a lot of fun for me. Basically it's the mythical "Win-Win" situation. I get to learn more fitness stuff, get a model to practice lighting techniques with and get to teach techniques for something I love to do. She gets to learn a useful promotional skill and gets some fun photos. By happenstance one of the places she trains folks at is a short walk from where I work! So expect some fun imagery to be posted soon.
It's been three solid months of hard labor. I did not do enough, if any, "maintenance" fitness routines during that time frame. While not totally "wrecked" I most certainly feel my age. My middle back and hamstrings are as taught as a bow string. Being that it's my day off today I decided to go have fun creatively. Thankfully Jessica was able to meet and we set up a photo shoot using both of us in the scene. She guided me through a variety of yoga and pilates routines, all designed to counter my tightness. As my breathing and posture changed so did my state of mind. It felt so good to actually train physically in some way. I have a lot to do in order to get myself all limber again. It's going to hurt.
Using Off-Camera Flashes - Control All Light
Using carefully placed, and adjusted, remote flash units in strategic locations I can control all the light that falls onto my model. I use "flash modifiers" which either soften, aim, or reflect the light in ways I want. I love designing the way light falls into a scene and onto a subject. By eliminating all ambient lighting I now have complete control over what the scene looks like. Being that it looks nearly identical to what the human eye sees in the ambient lighting many folks never even notice I can do this.
It's been three solid months of hard labor. I did not do enough, if any, "maintenance" fitness routines during that time frame. While not totally "wrecked" I most certainly feel my age. My middle back and hamstrings are as taught as a bow string. Being that it's my day off today I decided to go have fun creatively. Thankfully Jessica was able to meet and we set up a photo shoot using both of us in the scene. She guided me through a variety of yoga and pilates routines, all designed to counter my tightness. As my breathing and posture changed so did my state of mind. It felt so good to actually train physically in some way. I have a lot to do in order to get myself all limber again. It's going to hurt.
