Red Queen

187 photos to edit before I get to fully commit my eyeballs and stylus to editing the wedding photos I took 1.5 weeks ago. I am for ever playing catch up with my edits. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland's Red Queen Quote: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place."

It is not as simple as working through photos in chronological order, though that's generally how it happens. Every now and then I get an urgent request - photos to meet a publication deadline for instance, and so I prioritize those photos. Other times people only want a few photos (as opposed to a full set of 75-100 per hour), say for a head shot. I move those up in my priority list as I can get them out of the way quickly, and feel the great satisfaction of crossing them off my to do list. Often photos that I take that are not for work will fall through the cracks. If I don't edit them as soon as I get home, months will past and the photo that seemed so revolutionary at the time (like, say, the photo wherein I'd carefully placed the camera face up on the floor, leaned over it in a huddle with five friends, one of whom delicately pressed the shutter button with a dexterous socked big toe) will have been forgotten. (It didn't help that the photo was extremely unflattering - and I was the shortest - think about it.)

Anyways. There are photos that I look forward to editing. When this above scene was set up, my brain was immediately buzzing with the artistic possibilities. Compositional eye was So Happy. A brief description: in Indian wedding ceremony, the bride is separated from the groom by a barely opaque sheet. After some chants, the sheet is dropped: Surprise!

The sheet provided a great backdrop. Had the sheet not been there, the background would be a mottle of colors, from the audience and greenery. The sheet also provided a fantastic diffuse light, the most flattering kind of light. The focus is on her face, but then you notice the fine detail of her head accessory, and sleeve. Then you wonder what is written on the sheet. I have no idea. But more on the Indian wedding later.

Big Silly Dog

The mom warned me. She hoped that I didn't mind big dogs, because they have a big dog and many people are overwhelmed. Big dogs? I love big dogs!

Eighty pounds (at least?) of chocolate lab love threw himself at me as soon as I entered the house. On his hind legs he managed to nose me on the nose. I was there to photograph the four year old kid, but this 9 year old pup begged for attention, going so far as to roll on his back at my feet and flail his long legs around as I crouched near the floor to photograph his young master.

Here, he ducked into a tent (not his doghouse or anything) and peeked out. I'm trying to be a good boy. I won't bother you. I'll just wait in here.

When I began to pack up and gather my shoes, chocolab placed himself between me and the door to the front patio. When that didn't work and I made my way to the patio door, he protested loudly at my leaving, throwing a vocal tantrum NO! NO! DON'T! GO!

Review Time

They said they'd write me a glowing yelp review, so I ought to take them up on it! It is rather scary to jump onto the online review boat, but if I want to grow my business, it's something I have to take a deep breath and just do. I'll need to set up my business listing, and then I suppose I can invite old clients to also review. I don't believe I've left anyone disgruntled, and if I had, I wish they would tell me!

I use Yelp all the time. I found/checked out Charlotte's vet clinic, my hair stylist, many restaurants, new photo shoot venues, my favorite camera equipment rental place, downtown parking lots and pet supply place on Yelp. If possible, I don't go to a new (to me) restaurant without reading Yelp reviews first. Certainly if I were curious about a photographer, I'd try to find reviews about him/her on Yelp. The thing with craigslist is that it's unfortunately laced with scams and posts by unscrupulous people. Most of CL is fine, but there's a tiny nagging worry: Who IS this random person I'm dealing with? Of course, CG is self-regulated by CG users, who will warn others of Bad People, and will flag (remove) posts that are suspect. When clients first contact me, a portion of them tread very cautiously, checking and rechecking my policy and rates. A set of good Yelp reviews would certainly alleviate fears.

And if there are negative reviews - well, I ought to learn from them. I didn't go through 3 years of art grad school without critique! I can take it.

Momentous, part II

I'd passed the time socializing with curious dogs. One little roly poly pit bull mix scampered over while I was smoothing out the sand and danced delightedly, trampling the stone text in front of me. No No No You Naughty Puppy! I exclaimed, and scooped up the happy wiggling dog and held him in my lap until the owner showed up to call him away. Some people wandered over while I was on guard duty, and I explained what was soon to unfold. A man with 2 jack russels took photos of the stones while I photographed the dogs. Two women hoped to witness the proposal; they assured me they'd respectable a good distance away. I watched three other photographers show up and leave with couples for engagement sessions. I took note of lenses used and poses suggested.

The sun had set. I was starting to worry about lighting. The beach had emptied out, and I was getting chilly - glad that I'd grabbed a sweatshirt on the way out. Then way way down the beach, I saw a couple appear. I figured it had to be them, as they were dressed so nicely. They made their way down the beach, parallel to the water and made a 90 degree turn inland 20 ft past my beach blanket. He'd placed a hand over her eyes and led her to the stone message. It takes a little while to read text written in stones that are almost the same color as the sand, so I think she must have just managed to make out the words when he turned her around and went down on one knee (in the positioning I'd recommended for the best profile shot with the GG Bridge in the background; he'd practiced earlier).

It is really breathtaking, to live witness something as emotional as a marriage proposal. How often does one get to watch some one get proposed to, much less document it? I saw her face melt into happy tears. He was beaming the entire time.

She said Yes.

We squeezed in a few couple photograph afterwards, though the dim light was a huge struggle for my camera. Thank the 50mm f/1.4 for the top photo! That and somehow my hands had managed to steady after being cold from the onset of the evening. Wow, the things I get to do as a photographer.

A Momentous Event In The Making

Can you read this? If not, click on the image and look at the bigger version. Then come back here.

Months advance, he contacted me from Philly, requesting photography services but also advice: Where in San Francisco is an ideal to propose a marriage? Baker Beach at sunset, hands down. If you are an avid reader, I'm sure you are already fretting: But What About the Nudists? Indeed, this is a valid concern. Also other things to worry about: are there plentiful stones with which to spell out "MARRY ME LAUREN"? Will hooligans try to move stones around? Will tourists stand around gawking? Can we light candles? Will the sun be out?

We met in the afternoon. He'd sent his girlfriend off to a few hours at the spa, telling her he was doing a tour of the ballpark. What a perfect little lie. What woman's going to say "Wait, I'd so much rather tour the ballpark with you than to relax at the spa. Take me with you." We scouted out a empty patch of beach, and began gathering stones. I am quite fond of looking for stuff in sand, so scouring the beach for nice large pebbles wasn't out of the ordinary behavior for me, but certainly a first as a photographer. We worked on the letters together (though once he ran off to taxi back to downtown to fetch his freshly-spa-ed girlfriend, I adjusted stones for a better center alignment) and I added the flowers. And waited. (to be continued....)

Opposite Sibs

This young man did not smile on command, and thus it was a matter of doing things to make him smile (swinging in the air, racing in the grass, yelling "HOT CHOCOLATE") and then taking opportunistic candids.

His sister was the exact opposite, happy to pose and smile, at all times. A delight to photograph her!

On the North End of Baker Beach

Connection Session. The term was new to me, though I am familiar with the concept. Unlike an engagement session, which happens before getting married, the CS is a post-marriage photo session, usually to commemorate a wedding anniversary. Every year, this couple will travel to a new destination for their anniversary, and hire a local photographer for a Connection Session. A great idea! They arrived just in time for San Francisco's Winter during Summer. They were lucky; the sun partially peeked out over Baker Beach for a brief moment here and there.

If you walk far enough north on Baker Beach you'll come to a lovely wave-washed boulder-strewn area. It's the closest one can get to the bridge at water level from the west side. There are secluded mini-beaches, with great photographic potential. However. The less photogenic aspect is that the north end of Baker Beach is clothing optional, and you never know... you might climb over a rock and suddenly encounter a man with no pants (but yet wearing T-shirt - Why??) basking or swaying behind the boulders. It makes for quite a startle.

As harmless and friendly (my dog once ran up to say hello a pantsless man on Baker Beach and he was very nice to her, as I mortifiedly and ineffectively begged Charlotte come Here!!) as these men are, this possibility turns off many of my clients, and we stick to the middle/southern end of the beach despite the allure of the rocks. But this day was on the cooler side (nudists prefer warm days) and this couple was not easily fazed (and I've done enough life drawing not to bothered either), so we climbed over the rocks for the more dramatic views and rugged landscape.

(a) Tricky Relationships and (b) Henna

My relationship as a photographer with brides and grooms is a tricky one. It requires a careful striking of balance. First off, and obviously, its good to get along on friendly terms. No-one wants to hire someone that they don't like, least of all for their wedding. Maybe brides/grooms would want someone they might be friends with, outside of wedding context. After all, not even everyone a couple knows is invited to a wedding, and here I am, a stranger, who gets to intimates watch and document every single move on wedding day. There's a huge amount of trust put in my hands when a couple hires me. Trust that I'll show up, and capture every moment. It's a big responsibility.

While I am afforded access to things like bridal/groom changing rooms, handing rings and other valuable items, asked to zip up dresses - things usually only permitted the closest friends and relatives of the B&G, I still must leave a wide berth of personal space. For example. I've recently taken on a trainee photographer for weddings, and she in attempt to capture a more natural photograph, she asked the bride to Relax. The look the bride gave my assistant clearly told her she'd stepped out of place in making such a suggestion.

So on the other hand, we do have a status akin to hired help. I once photographed a baby birthday party, the adult invitees of whom were mostly Asian American, and the same age as I. I recall guests coming in and greeting everyone. One turned to me and introduced himself, I shook his hand and said: I'm Jennifer, the Photographer, and he immediately dropped my hand and turned elsewhere, as if it were a faux pas to socialize with the hired person. Of course, other times, people are very friendly and chat with me like a normal human being.

Perhaps I am on par with the wedding DJ. The DJ is respected and liked, cool to associate with but not for too long. In fact, one of the first things I do at weddings is to befriend the DJ, because (1) the DJ booth is a great place to stash stuff, (2) the DJ knows the itinerary best, so it's nice to have the inside story and (3) to have someone to empathize with. I am in an upper echelon relative to catering staff, whom people take for granted (like restaurant staff, really). But in any case, I have to find a happy medium between customer service and being a friend.
















Henna comes out of a little squeezey tube, much like a mini icing bag. It has the consistency of puffy fabric paint. The henna artist follows an illustrated pattern, but it seems that there is room for personal touches. The henna sits on the skin for 3 -4 hours, during which the bride holds her arms out to either side so that they don't touch anything (Afterwards she washes and the henna pattern has been dyed on her skin.) As she took a break to go to the bathroom, the bride commented to me: This is what sisters are for!

Traditionally, the groom's name is incorporated into the detailed design. It serves as an icebreaker to the bride and groom (in an arranged marriage, when alone for the first time) - the groom is asked to find his name.

Everyone should have a JUMP! photo of themselves

I don't know where to start. Since we last talked, I've taken at least 2,500 photos. How about I start with this: One Weekend, Two Weddings. I have a lot of pics to go through, and will eventually post them. But for now, you will have to be happy with these JUMP! photos. The bride and groom requested that all guests have a JUMP! photo taken... a fabulous and fun idea! Everyone loved doing it. To help jumpers achieve height, I lay in the grass and pointed the lens upwards. Ideally, the jumpers would launch off a bench or trampoline, and the background would be uncluttered (a flat horizon with lots of sky). But even with park background, one gets the movement of clothing and hair.

I will go into details of weddings at a later post. But now my current state is one of soreness and exhaustion, so I will elaborate on how I became so sore and exhausted. For wedding photography, I am on my feet for 95% of the 6 or so hours that I am there. And not only on my feet, but moving for different angles continuously, running from here to there, stretching over heads or squatting out of sight, contorting around corners, laying on the ground, climbing on chairs or rocks. While holding a camera and bag of alternative lenses (all big lenses of course).

The prospect of going through all the wedding photos is daunting. It may be late this week at the very least, as I have many other photos to edit from prior sessions. Oh yes, I should mention, for the first time I have enough photography work to be a full time photographer, at least for these 2-3 weeks!

Always a Joy To Photograph Charlotte

This is very possibly the most elegant photo of Charlotte that I've ever taken.

I've rented a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS (which basically means, big zoom, good in low light, best quality glass possible, Image Stabilization - thingy inside lens that compensates for my slight jiggling of lens). IS is quite necessary for zoom lenses. Holding a camera steady in low light for a clear picture is hard enough. But if you're zooming way far away, then the slightest movement will make a bigger blur, than if you were taking a pic of something not so far away.

We took a special trip to Golden Gate Park just so that I could try the lens out on Charlotte.

I am amazed at the clarity of the portrait. When I look at the image up close in photoshop, I can see every little hair. She had a big glob of eye gunk that I didn't need to examine closely to see so.. easy! I photoshopped it out. And made the colors look even better.

Next - action shots! I enticed Charlotte to fetch a stick, and she did so with a peppy prance. Not as clear, but then this is a fast moving target. The first picture is better lit - even on cloudy days, when the light seems to be even all over, it's better if the subject faces where the sun would be in the sky. The first is front lit, and the second, back lit.

I should point out that the full length of my camera with this lens and lens hood on it 3/4 the length of my arm. It's also very heavy. But it's so much fun!

On the Unifying of Twelve Diverse Objects in One T-shirt Design

The challenge of including a Squirrel, Frog, Scorpion, Bird, 3 flowers, 2 mules and 3 scientists in the same illustration is that as much as I'd like to put them in context, ie - with trees, pond, rocks etc, I'd then have to take scale into consideration. That would add a whole other complicated dimension to an already rather subject-cluttered back-of-T-shirt design.

In attempt to unify everyone, I slid some rectangles into the background, and spent a few hours shuffling things around. Vertical rectangles, to reflect the forest in the background of the original Scientist/Mule photograph. At first, each animal sat at the top of its opaque, non-overlapping, equal-widthed rectangle. It seemed too... regimented. So, I reduced opacity of all the rectangles and stretched them out so they overlapped. But it looked rectangle-y. I sloppily carved off the edges.

The result is perhaps an unexpected combination of organic brush and ink drawing with a graphic background. It might need some more tweaking. But it's interesting at the very least, and consider also all the other Science Research themed t-shirts you've ever seen in your life. Usually it's a boring logo, or a re-purposed scientific illustration. This has got much more personality.

Meet the Expedition Team

Here's the biological expedition team, in their turn of the last century fashion. When drawing and coloring these characters, I started attributing personalities to them based on, well, nothing but my own whims.

I figured the man to the left, apart from the group at the front of the mule line carrying a rifle in a laid back stance, was leader of the lot. He gets to carry the gun after all. What did biologists need firearms for? Specimen collection? Food collection? Anyways, he's wearing green, should he need to camouflage himself in the bushes.

Gentleman in the middle - he's mostly hidden behind mules, yet he's wearing the nicest outfit. Maybe he was excited about the photo op, and consulted his wife beforehand about which tie would best complement his jacket and hat. But then upon arrival at the shoot and seeing the casual attire of his fellow scientists, felt self-conscious and hid behind the mules. I've had those days where I suddenly realize that I hate my outfit, and can't do anything about it until I get home. I understand.

To the far right - he has no need for hats, like the sun shunning others. And thus he is the most tan. He's giving us a sideways look and is awkwardly holding rope attached to nothing, but he didn't know what else to do with his hands. He Obviously didn't really want his picture taken, but the guy in the green made him. He would much prefer to be following small mammal tracks at this very moment.

The Left Mule is pleased to have more contrasting coloring than her companion. She is particularly proud of her charcoal socks, and is happy to be carrying the canvas tent. The Right Mule likes his washed out colors just fine, thank you very much, but can't wait until the week is over and he trades packs with Other Mule, so he doesn't have to carry the wood box of microscopes, the corners of which keep poking into his haunches.

Greyhound on a Gray Day

I don't get to photograph dogs often enough! And a delight to photograph as elegant a dog as this greyhound Zola. She's a 9 year old retired rescue greyhound. When we arrived at the beach, she went straight for the shallow water and then lay down, looking perfectly content.

The water was pretty reflective already, but I pushed all the lights to as white as possible, for that stark contrast. I'm quite fond of this set of portraits. I think they're complementary; in the left photo, an open one-on-one interaction, nothing hidden; and the other a distanced, abstract, private portrait.

Zola's mom, Vanitha Sankaran, is about to have her first book published! The first part of this photo shoot was dedicated to getting an author head shot for the book jacket. It'll be published next year, so stay tuned until next April when I take a photo of the photo of Vanitha on her book! www.vanithasankaran.com

Color Me In

One hundred years ago, this mule trekked across southern California, toting essentials for a team of biological researchers. Captured in a grainy B&W photo with his/her fellow mule and 3 scientists, I was to ready the image for t-shirt printing. I could already tell that the original photo, with its low contrast and detailed background of shrubbery, that it would look like a gray rectangle printed on a T-shirt.

Thus I resolved to redraw the five characters, in my own illustration style; pen & brush. And then to photoshop-color it in. It was fun to guess what colors their packing gear might be, knowing no-one could say it was the wrong color. I figure things were dull colored back then at the turn of the last century. Surely the power of dyes had not been extended to enhancing the looks of scientific and camping gear. I mean, even in the 90s I remember choosing from a relatively small selection of colors for a LLBean duffel bag.

To these characters I will add the drawings of Flying Squirrel, Scorpion, Vireo and Frog. I'm not quite sure how this will work yet; I was merely instructed to design a t-shirt that included this pic and those four animals, plus a selection of plants. A motley crew for sure, but somehow it will come together!

Emerge.

The ceremony is the hardest part of a wedding to photograph. I only get one chance, and things tend to happen quickly and at quite a distance away.

The bride emerged from a side door, walked some 15 steps and then made a 90 degree left (her left) turn to proceed up the aisle in a seating area covered by a canopy. The best lighting was between the door and the canopy, a mere six or so steps away. The first few photos were without flash with one camera setting, and then once under the canopy, I changed to a different pre-set setting and turned the flash on. All while zooming, framing and clicking. Requires much concentration!

Marvel.

The sole purpose of this post is to marvel at the fine clarity of the canon 50mm f/1.4 lens.

Glasses On! Glasses Off!

I am pleased with my bit of photoshop finagling. There is the problem of glasses glare - we were well aware of this during the shoot. Having achieved the Elimination of Blinking trick (as described in a previous post) I thought I'd try the photo merging technique on glare elimination.

The two original photos, to the right: Glasses On and Glasses Off, were taken in rapid succession. Stay absolutely still and take glasses off, I instructed. As it turned out, she moved slightly, but no problem. I cut out each eye separately from the Glasses Off pic (Using rectangular selection tool, I grabbed each eye along with enough face to fill in each lens).

I layered the Glasses On pic Over each of these Glasses Off eye layers. Reduced the opacity of Glasses On layer to 70%, and moved the individual Glasses Off eyes around so tear ducts/ eye corner lined up with what I could see of the Glasses On photo. Turned Glasses On opacity back to 100%, then used eraser (with fuzzy edges) to remove the Glasses On lens area suffering from glare, revealing beneath, the Glasses Off, Glare Free eyes.

It's way simpler than it sounds.

Those Troublesome Dresses

Above is the bride, assembling bouquets hours before her wedding. I like taking prep photos, because it means people are occupied, doing something. There's a story to the photos; much more interesting than posed pics. People are preoccupied, and are less self conscious.

I warm up to wedding photography by photographing stills. Flowers are an easy subject matter. Portable, no designated front or back, they look good without trying from any angle. But one can only needs so many flower pictures. Like cake pictures. My own wedding photographer took about 30 cake pictures. I think I spent about 5 seconds viewing all of them. Anyways, other still life subjects include shoes, rings, dresses.




















I have trouble with dresses. The dresses I've so far photographed have been long and slinky, fabric cut on the bias. On a hanger, they are rather formless and look like long pieces of fabric. Plus, I am inevitably too short to transport them with one hand without dragging the skirt around, and of course there's no hope that I could reach a hook or ledge high enough to hang the dress. Which means dangling the camera from my neck, dress (always in a disagreeably slippery fabric, like satin) draped over two arms and maybe a shoulder, and kicking a chair into place or easing onto windowsills and still extending my arm at full length and tiptoeing to hook the dress hanger somewhere. Straps (usually tiny scraps of material, that yet somehow manage to hold up pounds of fabric that comprise the dress) slip off the hanger, and those little fabric loops that supposedly hold the dress in place don't do anything useful. They emerge tauntingly from the dress armpits, just out of reach. As I said, I have trouble with dresses.

Monday Monday

The great thing about cloudy days - the lighting! 9am, Monday morning shoot, waiting for my DayQuil to kick in. It's not the first time I've had to psychologically smother my symptoms for a photo shoot. I did forget about my cold once I started photographing - I was running around a kids' park with a cheery family after all. My focus (brain, not lens) was slightly off - I'd some how instructed my camera to save files as Large jpegs and RAW files. I didn't notice until I suddenly ran out of memory space - on a 4GB memory card. Argh. RAW files are gigantic - they apparently save every little tidbit of information about the image. But for my purposes (and my clients' purposes), I don't need more than Large jpegs. I had to go through my images and delete old pics on the go.

The End People

Four generations of family members! And I photographed groups consisting of every possible combination of mini-groups too. The X family, the Y family, the ladies, the gentlemen, the 2nd generation, 3rd generation, first generation with 4th generation, oldest generations, cousins... It had been years since they'd all gotten together, so they were a good spirited lot.

There was limited shade in the back yard. I posed small groups in the shade. Larger groups I moved out of the shade, but dealt then with constantly changing partly cloudy skies. This means unfortunately, that there will be a lot of white balancing to fix in this set of photos.

As always with large groups of people standing in a row, there is a tendency to make an arc shape; ie, the people at the ends of the row are closer to the camera than those in the middle. Why does this happen? Do rows of people subconsciously tend towards a circular positioning? Do end people feel too far away from the camera/ central action?

I have to get the End People to "flatten out" and face forward (instead of being sideways) so that everyone is on the same plane. Sometimes it's easiest to lightly grab people's arms and direct them into position. If the row is not flattened out, the people on the ends look bigger than everyone else, and their faces are lit differently or they cast shade on adjacent people. Plus if the end person in a curved row is sleeveless, their arms will look huge, no matter the physique. Keep that in mind if you're ever an End Person. If you find yourself in such a situation and it seems awkward to suggest flattening, the best thing to do is to keep your arm away from your body - hand on hip perhaps.