My DSLR Anniversary Post

April marks my one year anniversary as a DSLR photographer. This post is both a celebration and a thank you card.

I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the many talented members of The Café who have given me an unbelievable amount of encouragement and support. I'm both proud and honored to be a contributing member here. Regardless of comments about natural ability or having "the eye" I know, without a doubt, that I wouldn't be taking photo's that please me nearly as much if I had never found this community and made friends with folks who have guided me, offered constructive criticism, let me in on PP tips and tricks and generally offered selfless help whenever possible.

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of collaborating with, not one, but two very talented Café members. Once again Woody (Czechman01) opened up his home and studio and was ringmaster for the main event.

Laura Johnston joined the forum as a contributing photographer after learning about the site while modeling for Woody. She is equally talented on both sides of the lens and brought an invaluable amount of artistic input to our shoot.

Laura also brought along her friend Tara. Like Laura, Tara is an incredibly beautiful and talented young women; she turned out to be a natural in front of the camera and was a large part of the creativity that flowed during this shoot. Great "find" Laura!

The energy and immense talent that these two brought to the shoot combined with the fact that this was my first shoot this year that wasn't constrained by a certain set of self-prescribed rules (The Hollywood shoots) resulted in photo's that are, for me, my best ever.

Thanks to Woody "learn to see the light" Vondracek my friend and mentor....as always........the beautiful Tara Sova (talk about a great industry name!) and the incredibly talented and stunning Laura Johnston. And last, but not least we worked with an MUA/Stylist that we had not used before, but whose creative input impressed me greatly.....Elaine Harrison.

NIKON D2Xs    ---    70mm    f/6.3    1/250s    ISO 100

NIKON D2Xs    ---    180mm    f/6.3    1/250s    ISO 100

NIKON D2Xs    ---    28mm    f/5.6    1/250s    ISO 100

NIKON D2Xs    ---    70mm    f/8.0    1/250s    ISO 100

 

Thank you Eric. Support and encouragement from friends like you have made all the difference!

Thanks Frits. The perspective on #4 flipped me out when it popped up in Aperture. I really didn't even remember taking that shot. It has a kind of animalistic quality to it that I really dig.
I'd like to be able to say that all of this stuff is carefully planned and expertly executed, but that just isn't the case. More like a lucky accident.

Brian.....whether shooting natural light of studio light I think "seeing the light" is absolutely *the* key to getting the right feel for an image. This is something Woody has been preaching from day one and I've kept it in mind when shooting, but this was the first shoot where it was like a light bulb went off. I saw a certain lighting scenario and thought......"man.....that's *it".
For the Hollywood shoots I knew exactly what I wanted, but seemed to struggle to actually make it happen in the studio. Even though I am happy at the way those sessions turned out overall I have to say that forcing something doesn't seem to work as well for me!:smile:
Thanks!

SJ,
That is very kind of you to say. It truly is supportive comments like yours that make such a difference in my energy and enthusiasm and one of the main reasons that I invest so much time in to trying to improve and continue to take it to the next level.
Thanks!

 

Gordon,
Both Laura and Tara and just wonderful people and are a joy to work with. It's amazing what a difference that makes in terms of, not only the overall quality of the work, but also the fun factor!

Thanks!

Keith......man, I really appreciate that, but keep in mind that I'm an amateur too.:smile: I've been fortunate to have had a lot of help and to have been able to work with a lot of folks that really help me look good.

Laura, Tara and Eileen are classic examples of surrounding yourself with talented people who ultimately make you, the photographer, look good.

Having Woody in the room never hurts either!:smile:

Thanks Keith!

Hey Jason! Thanks for the kind comments. I greatly appreciate them. It's always encouraging to know someone likes my photo's enough to seek them out!!

:biggrin: Thanks Anthony!

I've been interested in photography for many years. I started shooting a Pentax ME Super film camera that I got for Christmas when I was 15. I did some PJ work for my high school yearbook and took a class my senior year to learn to develop and print my own film, but basically lost interest when I entered college and other things took priority. I really got the bug again about a year ago and started doing research in to DSLR cameras. I'm glad I went with Nikon....otherwise I may have never found this place!
Thanks Daniel.

 

Hey Graeme......well you have certainly been an encouraging element and a huge inspiration with your wonderful NL portraits. Nice to have friends like you!
Glad you liked the photo's!:smile:

Thank you Paul!