OK, they aren’t young and they aren’t sexy, and likely don’t fit in with any of the Marketing-machine driven Valentine’s Day stereotypes. But they are a couple, together, friends as much as anything. Isn’t that enough?
Category: Available Light
By the Window
This image is from a log cabin in Troy Historic Village in Troy, Michigan. I had a great shoot with amazing model/actress Nicole Guibord. Even with a fire going in the fireplace, and a space heater, it was a chilly room, but the natural light from the windows was amazing. The only issue was that it got a bit smoky towards the end, so I had to boost the contrast in post. For this image, I used my “Baby” Speed Graphic, with a roll film adapter, on a tripod.
Accidental Backgrounds
In my subway Hipstamatic series, composition is a very quick, furtive process, with not a lot of time to pay too much attention to the background. This fact makes it interesting when background elements such as words add an additional element of meaning to the image. Here are two examples of images where I lucked out with some great accidental backgrounds.
In this image, I likeΒ the fact that to the left of the rider’s eyes the words “Soar there” can be seen.
In this image, seeing the words “Crisis link” in the background made it really interesting for me.
Real Character
Let’s face it; the man in today’s image is not likely to be featured on the cover of GQ any time soon. But what a fascinating face! Textures, interesting lines, the sense of biography and the living of a hard working life are all present. He is no Ken Doll: he is much more interesting. I have worked in the past with a lot of models, but this year I need to expand my horizons and capture more images of people who are not conventionally attractive. (They are my tribe, after all: I am not likely to make GQ anytime soon!) In an age where so much visual imagery is used merely to capture pretty people for shallow marketing purposes, it is important to capture this aspect of humanity.
He may not be pretty. But he is real.










