Needed a USB A-B cable and couldn't find it at the Apple Store in the Carrousel du Louvre, but found it in the Virgin Records store across the hall. Want to go back and spend some more time with The Awakening Kiss sculpture of Cupid and Psyche, a 1796 work done by Italian Antonio CANOVA.
I won an ASMP/Hasselblad themed photo contest which gave me a Hasselblad H4D40 camera kit (40 megapixel medium format) for a month so put it on my insurance policy and took it to Paris. This grizzly little oldtimer cowboy mannequin was in the window of a sidewalk cafe. I added a flower to his lapel and tried a few variations of lighting. Liked this one best.
BodyArt dancer Allison Ploor under/over at Leeward Beach, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands.
BodyArt Dancer Brett Garfinkel curled in one of his unusual costumes Tuesday at Malcolm's Beach, Northwest Point near the Amanyara Resort, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands. We couldn't shoot on the Aman resort property proper because, according to Aman's NY PR Agency, a "high-profile celebrity was at the resort and would be very nervous about the cameras."
I don't enter many contests; seems like there isn't time. However, I did want to enter the Hasselblad/ASMP contest themed "Sun." I arrived in Palau, Micronesia to shoot a catalog for a division of S.C. Johnson (Johnson Outdoor/SCUBAPRO) on the last day of the month deadline. So, jet-lagged from 27 travel hours, I wandered out onto the beach at the Palau Pacific Resort looking for an image. I saw the rinse shower at the edge of the beach leading to the pool, turned on the water and found the sun flare and backlit shower stream. It looked like a picture, but I'm a people guy, so went out to the beach looking for a human element.
Saw an attractive 20-something blond in a black bikini and asked her if she would help me make a picture. She looked at me like I was homeless and asking for $5. Hey, I know I'm no Brad Pitt, but gimme a break. I'm not ffen homeless, so discounted the bikini chick and asked the pool attendant. No problem.
Shot the picture, went to my room, edited the few frames, picked one and transmitted it to Contest Central. It won, so I got the use of a new Hasselblad H4D40 (40-megapixel medium format) with an 80mm f2.8 for a month.
The crew shot on a beach in the Palau Rock Islands. We'd just finished shooting gear sets between rains and it was as good a time as any to get the crew shot.
Yes, there are young mermaids. They're just harder to find. This is 10-year-old Jenna Crumley and she can do most anything the older ones can do. She just has to be in bed earlier.
It's a 40-minute run to the boatyard for a bottom cleaning session; time for more experimenting with the Singh-Ray 8-stop Variable ND filter.
The variable ND was dialed in to produce a 1-second shutter speed to capture the motion, but I had to hand-hold the camera and that introduced the shake on top of the motion blur. I'm part-way to the effect I want. Next session, the camera gets mounted on the FilmTools suction mount to reduce/eliminate the shake. Will also get the scene on video in both horizontal and vertical formats.
If I'm having lunch by myself, I'll frequently read a manual or experiment with some camera feature. So, today I have the Canon EOS 5D MkII with the Singh-Ray Variable 8-stop ND on the lens. With ISO 800 and f2.8 and some significant window light, I can still get down to 1/20 second shutter and create some motion blur.
That takes the hot dogs out of a literal sense into the abstract. Hey, probably as it should be. And, I love the "grain structure" of ISO 800.
P.S. My apologies to non-photogeeks; ND = Neutral Density (a filter that cuts light; this one also retains color fidelity)
Like Spam in the digital world, photographers are being invited to participate in Scam Photo Contests. They aren't really contests to recognize artistic abilities, they're schemes to acquire cheap or free photos for business use and their prey is the uneducated amateur photographer or one who will ignore all logic for a chance to be "published." The "rules" say all entries become the property of the organizers to use as they please. What absurdity.
One of the latest of the photo contest scammers is the organization I chose to be my scuba-certifiying agency, NAUI. My card goes back to them in tomorrow's mail.
Brooke is one of those people who have an amazing underwater grace and elegance.
This is a little geeky; I apologize to the non-geeks.
There are times when I want to shoot slow shutter speeds on a bright day with an open aperture. I've stacked a bunch of Polarizer or ND (Neutral Density) filters, but it was inconvenient and gave a major vignette. Now, Bob Singh at Singh-Ray has a Variable ND filter that lets me dial in up to 8 stops of ND and still preserves color fidelity.
In this picture, I was able to use ISO 3200 at f4.5 to record the bright sunny outdoor and still get a slow 1/20 second shutter speed to blur the car. Good stuff.
The variable ND is also handy for shooting motion footage.
Catherine "Cat" Doss was here Monday and we made some pictures. First, there was some underwater tail-time; then, in a few pieces from James Coviello's NY collection. Danna Cullen styled both sessions.
Cat, an actress, lives in Los Angeles. She was on the right coast visiting. We were introduced by Scott Hensen, an independent filmaker based here.
Kristi's hair all crazy and wild reminds me of a lion's mane.
Photographed young dancer Courtney Callaway yesterday in James Coviello dresses in various outdoor settings. Danna Cullen was the fashion stylist and borrowed the dresses from James when she was in New York recently.