Friday, May 18, 2012

Shooting on the street of NYC

Yes these are old photos that might seem familiar to you, they are from Purim when I walked down the street taking peoples pictures of their costumes on the joyous day of Purim. 

With my regular camera I carried the Holga 120n (special green edition)

It took me awhile to find a lab that would develop it so I had to finally get the time to go and drop it off and have them sent to me. 

Its so interesting for me as like the most of you, we are all familiar with digital and we know the results of the photo that we are taking cause it shows on the screen but with film you really dont know and the Holga makes it harder! It doesnt have a real view finder to see how you are framing your shot.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. The film has got "the look" - like they say...



Have a wonderful Shabbat shalom! 


















Thursday, May 17, 2012

Brit Milah in Manhattan NYC

I've never really done a photography job for someone i've never met, I got a email that a form was submitted on my website and I got this nice message from Tulin asking if I would be available to join for her sons bris!

This job was a first and it was a total pleasure. They were the nicest and that made it more creative for me.  I find that when people respect you for your space and your creativity its much easier to concentrate on what im looking to take pictures of and not worry about everyone looking at me.

I decided to photograph this Bris as if it was in black and white, and fully document the silent moments that you would otherwise never see.  

This means im using high ISO settings together with a wide aperture equaling a shallow depth of field. The trick is to hold careful and still while hold your breath to take the picture so its perfectly in focus and sharp as a needle, and also trying to predict the moments ahead and make sure you are in the right place at the right time.

I hope you enjoy and to all my spanish friends, "Adios" till next time! 


















Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Creative Design - My take

So before I start I just want to say that I am no designer, and I dont know any rules or tips on creating a design, this is all from my humble common sense that I will make up as we go along, I think its my take on how I would do it "if I were a designer." 

The story goes along these lines: I was in contact with this company to take photographs of their products. I followed through with what ever they told me to do, listening like a good boy. 

 Figuring it would be a relatively quick "work and go" type of a job, in the end I ended up spending over 3 hours to complete the project.

I was thinking, how did this come about? What went wrong that we couldn't collaborate on this and finish it quickly all while doing it efficiently?

My answer after thoughtfully thinking this through is this: 

WORKFLOW. One word.

I think I can say that if you have a clear vision of what you want it to look like then the design really shouldn't take too long unless its a technical editing skills that you are using. You should not be designing your concept in photoshop or any adobe program. 

I believe that it should work like this: 1. Message. ask your self the following questions. Why am I making an advert? To whom am I advertising? What is your message to them? 
2. Concept. Have a clear concept of how you want to get the above message to the people using memorable images or thoughtful text.
3. layout: think of what you need to do this, let it be photographs or font types of color themes and logo placement etc.
4. Photograph - spend a few minutes getting the photographs that you will need. 
5. Design: Make a few drafts of what you had planned with a few different tweaks that might be different for others when they see it. 
6. Eyes: let a fresh pair of eyes see it. Preferably someone who isn't involved in this project. 
7. Draft: send it to boss and let them choose one of your 3. 
8. Go get yourself a cold beer.

All I can show you are the ones I made for fun. 

    
The photo straight out of the camera. Used to make the next advert

I dont know why but calling a cliche a cliche. Still doesnt work!

Keep it simple. Make it easy. They will remember you. -Mock ad







(These little ads are supposed to be 1/6 of a page. They are such a small space to work with 


Sunday, May 6, 2012

Behind the scenes - Ariella in NYC



Here is a short film I put together while photographing Ariella.

Feel free to like it and share it, this way I know you guys enjoy it and I will put more effort to making more and better video captures to show you.

Its a stunning day out today, go out and enjoy!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Areilla on Eastern Parkway Brooklyn






Here is the lovely Ariella, you guys might recognize her from a previous shoot that we did a few months back. You can see them here Ariellas photo shoot in Prospect park, NYC

The idea was to go on Eastern parkway and just get what we can without going too far in the shortest amount of time.

The images that we got were of this little girl with an small chuckle of attitude, she did not smile without the help of her favorite gummy bear treats which im sure you can tell from seeing the photos which ones she has her eye on her mother standing behind me.

I cannot explain why I like these, they show a great deal of personality in each photo, she has the eyes that mean something.

If I haven't said this before my goal, the one thing I will fight for, the one thing that I wont say "we're done" till I get to capture the individuals personality and I almost never fight for smiles, and I try my best to have as many images as I can to capture that.

I believe that a successful childrens photo shoot must have these few things. (obviously rules are broken, imagine this as a guidelist)

1. Eyes must be at the camera.
 If the kids isnt looking then your headed to "Candid portraiture" but that is a very different style, mostly using the "setting" or the "location" as a story to tell.

2. Neatly Posed.
Most children wont sit still, and because its so hard if you are good with kids then you will be able to get the pose you want.  Personally this is why I dont use a zoom lens when im taking kids pictures rather I will "blur the back ground" by using a wide aperture instead of using the distance to blur.


I guess that it for today, hope you have a good night and all the best!