JIMON Magazine

About a year ago, I found an email in my inbox from Jimon Aframian saying that he was starting a magazine here in Los Angeles and he’d like to feature some of my work from my Boys Collection. I have a soft spot for that body of work and am always eager and pleased that it continues to be highlighted and shown. I’m very proud of the body of work as it depicts to me a time in my life where I was dedicated to a certain project and it also is when I met my husband, David.

I wrote back and told Jimon, “sure, which images did he want”? At that point he had found my Blog and read where a certain editorial I had shot for another magazine didn’t run in the proper way and he asked if he could run that story. I was more than happy to find a good home for that shoot. So I told him yes! And the story came out in December in the  launch issue of the magazine aptly named JIMON.

I recently sat down to lunch with the owner and publisher of JIMON, Jimon Aframian. I was really moved by his story and want to share it with all of you. His passion for starting this magazine and the hard work he has put into it shows in spades. The magazine is large, the printing is beautiful and the work in it exceptional. He has now just launched the second issue in which features an editorial shot by myself.

Jimon’s life story reads like a fast paced novel. He escaped Tehran in 1984 and ended up in Los Angeles. He got his degree in Engineering from Cal State Northride in 1991 and took a job as a jet engineer. He went through a few engineering jobs, never really feeling that passionate about it. In 1995 he bought a film camera and like many of us, found his passion in photography! He threw himself into film making, even doing a commercial for Snapple! He took a class in AVID and explored as much as he could on the subject of film making. He veered away from engineering but still needed to eat so he took a job as a film engineer, working with the Quantel machine and living in London. April of 1999 marks a significant moment for him as he decided to quit working for other people and took up photography and film making full time.

A friend gave him a Hasselblad 500 CM as a gift which he turned around and sold so he could buy a Leica, a Contax 6.45 and a Canon. He shot non-stop, which led to his images being published in European Playboy and in high end nude books, one of which was Maxim’s “Erotica”.

In mid 2005 he took some classes at my Alma Mater, Art Center College of Design. He was still shooting, still honing his skills, exploring his vision and in 2008 made the decision to start his own magazine. He explained to me that the vision wasn’t exactly there in the beginning. At first he thought that he would use the magazine as a vehicle to get his own work published. I’m sure a few of you reading this have had the same thought. I know I have. But he worked on his vision for the magazine over the next one and a half years, contacting other photographers who’s work he admired and put the magazine together. He interviewed the illustrious David Rothschild and launched JIMON Magazine in December 2009.

The magazine has grown FAST. Every move he makes with the magazine is a success. Finding distributors was easier than he ever imagined. He made a mock up and he found a distributor that also distributes Numero, Vogue Paris and Purple. For Jimon, finding a printer proved to be the most difficult because he wanted it to be printed perfectly! He explains that JIMON is not a “7-11 Magazine”. But he did find one and I have to say the magazine is gorgeous! Every one I speak to about it who has seen my spread and complimented on it has exclaimed how impressed they are with the first issue. And of course, how impressed they are with it’s owner, Jimon.

For Jimon, his dream has finally come true. He told me how he gets goose bumps when he walks into a newsstand and sees JIMON Magazine sitting on the shelf next to Purple, Ten, Numero and Vogue Paris! I have to tell you, it makes me pretty proud myself that I am published in the magazine!

These images featured in this post were shot exclusively for JIMON Magazine. I worked with Yuliya from LA Models who gracefully danced in the late afternoon sun on my friend and occasional assistant Alex Vazquez’s property.  Iris Moreau did a fantastic job with hair and make up. And I pulled the clothes from Church, with Rodney Burns helping me with the looks. I used only natural, available, late afternoon magic hour light with the occasional bump from a white/gold reflector. ; ) Shot on my Nikon and using the 50mm and 85mm lenses. That’s simply it on the tech side. Tyler Mitchell was my 1st assistant on this shoot who can now add rattlesnake searching to his resume.He went out into the field in front of us all, carrying the camera bag and a long stick, pounding on the ground to scare off any sleeping, sunbathing rattlers.

The magazine is on the newsstands nationwide now and soon to be available throughout the world!  Once again I’ll just say that I’m glad I answered that first email a year ago and that I am now featured twice in this fabulous magazine! Try to find a copy so you can check out the quality of the paper and printing. One thing, though: You won’t find it at your local 7-11.

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The Final Image + Video

Someone asked me an important question at my last LA Workshop and I thought I would share the answer with my readers here. The question was: when I have an assignment, do I know what I want the finished image to look like before I go to the shoot or do I just wing it the day of the shoot? I’m going to use this recent swimsuit editorial as a perfect example on how most of the time I know exactly how I want the final image to look before I ever pick up a camera to shoot it.

For this swimsuit editorial, I didn’t want to do another pool or beach story that is usually depicted in swimsuit stories. I wanted to do something more interesting and thought about the idea of marrying swimsuits with jackets or skirts, making it not about using the suit in the water but using the suit as a fashion accessory or a one of the pieces in the whole outfit. For instance, putting a one-piece swimsuit with a cropped jacket or skirt, or using a bikini top with a skirt or a pair of bathing suit shorts as boy shorts to wear out with a jacket. I also knew I wanted to shoot the story in a studio where I would use strobes. And I wanted to shoot the story in black and white which isn’t a “typical” swimsuit story either, however I’m not the first photographer to do this. But it’s certainly not the “norm”. I pitched this idea to the creative director of the magazine, Stephen Kamifuji, and he told me to go for it. So the first thing I did was to start putting the story together with the stylist. For this editorial I worked with Shiffy from AIM Artists. I had some trepidation in the beginning because I hadn’t worked with Shiffy and I had a very specific concept in mind. The styling had to be spot on! But Charnelle Smith who owns AIM Artists and represents Shiffy reassured me that I would be happy with Shiffy and her work and I’m really glad I listened to her!  She just nailed the styling! I have recently begun working with Charnelle at AIM Artists and one thing I can say  is that her discerning choices in the talent she decides to represent really shows: she has a very strong roster of very talented artists who also are genuinely very nice to work with. I’ve worked with probably 10 of her artists and every single one of them is not only very skilled, they’re very nice people, good team players and don’t have a shred of attitude!  Shiffy and I had several phone conversations about the looks and the designers that I wanted to work with. She also had a conversation with the magazine on what advertisers needed to be in the magazine, etc. I sent her mood boards depicting the lighting I wanted to use and the contrast of the black and white images that I wanted to end up with. After Shiffy was set and doing her pulls during the days before the shoot,  I worked out my lighting with my 1st assistant Tyler. He placed our equipment order with Smashbox the day before the shoot when I was certain of how I wanted the editorial lit and what light modifiers I was going to need to create the lighting I wanted.

So now you can see how I knew exactly how I wanted the shoot to look like before we ever arrived at the studio!  Generally I’m given an assignment and there are parameters I have to stay within. I can then form the story inside those parameters. I can interpret the story with either my lighting or the set or location, etc. But more often than not, I have the final images in mind before every single shoot takes place. That way, I shoot the story according to the final image. There are times, I’ll admit, where I go in to a shooting situation with one story in mind and somehow the process takes on a life of it’s own and we end up going in an entirely different direction than what I had pre-determined. Shoots sometimes take on this organic process and form as they go, being influenced by outside things such as the model or the make up and hair stylist’s interpretation. Those shoots sometimes are really magical for me but no less exhilirating than nailing a shoot that I had visualized for days, weeks or even months ahead.

I shot this editorial at Smashbox Studios in Culver City. Robert Mefford did a fantastic job on the hair and Camille Clark did the make up, which I have to say was also amazing!  Eugenia, our smokin’ model, is represented by Photogenics Models. I love Eugenia. I’ve worked with her a bunch of times and she is a blast to work with! We used a beauty dish and a strip bank and we lit the background with two heads angled 45 degrees toward the cyc. We flagged off those background lights with two V Flats. Nothing utterly mind blowing again, just some simple lighting. Eugenia really knows how to move which is a true joy for a photographer! I basically did very little directing and let her feel her way with the light and the clothing. We had a great day, another successful shoot for Genlux Magazine! And I just shot for the fall issue last Friday so there will be more editorials to share with you coming soon!

In other news, I’ve decided to focus on NYC after a recent trip there. So we’re going to doing our workshops in NYC first before we head over to London. I know this is probably bumming out some of my UK readers but I was feeling a little overwhelmed after I got home from NYC because I have a ton of assignments in NYC over the next couple of months and will need to be out there more often, eventually probably moving out there. London will come sooner than you think but right now we’re going to focus on NYC. Right now we’re looking for the perfect studio and then once we book it we’ll have the information here on the blog for you to read about! In the meantime, keep shooting! See you soon! xoxo

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Print Portfolios

Word on the Tweet is that I don’t blog often enough. So I have a question: Would you rather read a blog by a photographer who doesn’t work but who blogs all the time or would you rather read a blog from a working fashion photographer who’s too busy to write that often, but at least when you read the blog posts, you know that the person writing them is actually working in the industry?

I thought so. ; ) Look, I’m up at 5 or 6 AM most days. Today, I was up at quarter to 6. Had a skype meeting with Vincent De Vries who is producing my London Seminar. Put out a casting call for an editorial shoot I’m shooting next Wednesday. Booked my ticket to New York with Delta. Put together the call sheet for Saturday’s seminar. Wrote out an estimate for a potential client’s Look Book. Locked down hair and make up for next Wednesday’s shoot. Spoke to my agent about the flow of my book. Spoke with Debra Weiss about the flow of my book. Spoke to my printer about the paper stock he’ll be using for my book. Saw a new Russian girl, who was exquisite by the way, at my house at noon. Re-negotiated the usage terms on the estimate for the potential client. Looked at hotels in New York. Wrote some friends that I’ll be coming soon. So, I’m busy but I always have that nagging voice in the back of my head…..”need to write a blog post soon!” So just trust me that it isn’t because I don’t love to write for this blog it’s just that I don’t have enough time in my day to update it that often!

I have to say the most important task on my hands at this exact moment is the printing of my new book. The new million dollar question us photographers are faced with today is Do we STILL need a print portfolio. Some say no, while others insist that we do. I have to say that I haven’t been asked for a print book in ages. BUT. There are still instances where the book could be requested and I need to have a current one. And I just signed with a new agent and she feels like she needs to have at least two on hand “just in case”. I also need one as well, to travel with. So I’m putting together three portfolios. I’m still using the standard 11 x 14 House of Portfolio black leather bound portfolios. I still feel comfortable using this type of portfolio because it still is an industry standard, although recently I’ve been longing to see how my images would look in a horizontal book (13 x 19) with a different type of cover. This also gives you the option of putting two 8.5 x 11in Images on the same page which is great for fashion. Maybe someday!

Figuring out what goes in my book is a fairly simple task. Obviously, the newer work goes in, replacing the older work. Fashion is always moving forward and staying current is really important. But what about the flow of the pictures in the book?  This is something that I am not entirely self confident with.  When I say “The Flow”, I mean, the sequence that the photographs are laid out in the portfolio. Which shot do I open with, or which story should I start my book with. And then what story should follow and in what order. It’s very important to have a good flow. It keeps the viewer, which in our case is the potential client, interested and keeps them wanting to turn the page to see the next image. And since I don’t feel this is my strong suit, I hire a professional. That’s where Debra Weiss comes in. Debra has been in the industry for over 30 years. I trust someone who has dealt with art directors and industry creative’s for this long. I sent Debra a zip folder of all my images and she laid them out in the sequence she believes will keep my audience interested.

What might be of interest to those of you living near or in Los Angeles are these two upcoming events presented by Debra Weiss. The first is a seminar entitled HOW TO GET WORK FROM AD AGENCIES on June 10th and ONE ON ONE PORTFOLIO REVIEWS on June 12th.  All reviewers are ad agency creatives and art producers and although most are versed in seeing advertising books rather than fashion books, they are creative and their feedback is valuable. And Debra has a great group coming to this event. You never know who they know and where they may be someday, And you can never get enough experience showing your book to the people who can actually hire you. This review is geared specifically for those who work in advertising and those experienced enough to seek work in that market. For more info contact Debra at event@1on1portfolioreviews.com  And just a heads up: Early registration deadline for HOW TO GET WORK SEMINAR is Monday, June 7th.

Okay, I’m going back to answering emails and finding that perfect guy for my shoot next week. Stay tuned…I’ll have about 4 editorials to show you in the coming weeks ahead!

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Approaching the Modeling Agencies

One of my blog readers, Troy Copes, wrote to me recently and suggested I write a post about how to approach modeling agencies. In truth, I have gotten a fair amount of emails asking the same question. So I thought I’d try to answer the question and post some of my early work from my first portfolio, the very same portfolio that I used to get my own foot in the door of the modeling agencies. Keep in mind, I first approached modeling agencies back in the late ’80?s and early ’90?s. Also keep in mind that this is just from my personal experience. I can only write about what I have experienced myself. And it’s been a few years since I first started out…….but hopefully you’ll find some useful information in the post!

I remember it was a pretty daunting experience to approach an agency like Ford or Wilhelmina. You’re at the point where you NEED good models for your book and while you’re not exactly booking big money jobs, your portfolio is at a place where pro models are the next step in furthering your work and your career. I am not sure why agencies can be intimidating and trust me, I’m trying to remember my early fears of them and why I was so shy. Maybe it’s from the stand point of the agency having something you need and you know that you don’t have a lot of money to offer or jobs on the table to make it worth their while to send good models your way. But you have to start somewhere so making those initial calls HAS to be done. First of all, remember, not everyone out there is going to fall all over themselves to help you. And not everyone out there is going to think your work is utterly amazing. There will be some agencies that really like you and your work and will want to help you, while others may not show that much interest. That’s okay. Obviously, stick with the agencies that show interest in having you test with some of their new faces and start to develop relationships with those bookers.

Before you approach any agency you have to have a website to refer the bookers to. You would call the agency and ask to speak to the booker in charge of new faces. After introducing yourself, ask him or her if you can get their email so you can send them your website. In the email to them, keep it short and sweet. Don’t send them paragraphs of personal information about your life and your vision. They don’t care. All they care about is if your work is good enough for them to take a chance with you by sending you some of their girls that need to test for their books. So in your email, introduce yourself, give them the link to your site, offer to come in and show them your print portfolio, thank them for their time and consideration and wish them a good day. That’s all you need to do in the beginning. If they’re interested in working with you, they’ll email you back or call you. It’s that simple, really.

In the early days, I clicked immediately with some bookers and was able to really start testing with some very good, professional models right away. And then again, there were some agencies that just simply weren’t that interested in working with me. Even today, I click with some bookers and approach them first when I have a job or even if I feel like testing. And then I send out the casting call to the others. Some bookers I’ve met and I’ve known for 20 years. Some bookers I’ve never met in person but we have a strong on-line relationship. I make an effort to go out and meet the bookers at some point because I think it’s still important to introduce myself to people in the industry. It’s not a daunting experience for me anymore but I’ve developed a thicker skin at this point and I know deep down that some people are going to love my work and some people aren’t going to “get it”. That’s okay nowadays. But when I was younger and more insecure, it was really intimidating. All I can say is that after time you will become aware of this fact and it will get easier to approach the agencies.

I still think it’s important to have a print portfolio. I was recently in New York and took my print book to all the agencies when I went to introduce myself. I recently bought an iPad ( I know….I’m such an apple groupie ) and I will probably start carrying that around with me on appointments from now on. But I will continue to keep my print book updated and carry that with me as well on most appointments. The one thing I think the iPad will be great for is presentations for clients and editors. I’m not sure about Fed Ex’ing an iPad to a potential client yet. I’ve been reading about it on other blogs but I don’t feel comfortable with the idea at this point. But it’s definitely something I will use in meetings when discussing upcoming projects.

Most fears are conquered by just facing them down. I have found through experience that overplaying a scenario that intimidates me in my mind over and over again is far worse in my head than the actual situation ends up turning out. Find the best local modeling agencies in your area and then start calling them one by one. You can always ask the receptionist for the email of the booker you wish to contact, sometimes they will give it to you. Or you can ask the receptionist what the agency’s protocol is for potential photographers that want to test. Some agencies have an open call day where you go in during certain times to show your book. It just can’t hurt to ask. And you’re not the first photographer who has called asking to test their models. One thing that goes without saying, and again, this is just my humble opinion but I wouldn’t try to get my foot in the door of an agency you wish to test with by asking to do paid tests. A paid test is where the model pays the photographer for pictures for her book. Start out by offering to test for free and after time, when you’ve built a good relationship with the agency, THEN you can start asking for payment. Again, all of this is just my own opinion and advice. Other photographers might tell you differently!

(All Images © Melissa Rodwell Photography 2010)

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Photography College

When young photographers are starting out and beginning to learn the technical craft of photography, there  seems to be a lot of confusion on whether or not photography college is the right choice. I get a ton of emails asking me whether or not I think it’s important to go to college and/or to get a degree in photography. And honestly it’s one of those questions only you can answer. Everybody is different and everyone learns in their own way. For some people, college is an important, integral part of their growing process and really want to participate in that kind of schooling process. Others are more self-motivated and learn better by doing. Experience is their best teacher and they flourish without the restraints of a school environment, all aspects of it including peer pressure and social mine fields. I can tell you about my experience and you can use that insight to help determine your own destiny but I, in no means whatsoever, would ever assume I know what’s best for you.  So while I’m eager and happy to share my story, I suggest asking a lot of different people their opinion and do your research. One person’s perspective is not enough when you’re really on the fence about something this important and life changing.

I was 17 when I decided to become a professional fashion photographer. While I had the inspiration and the vision and the ideas, I had a very tough time mastering the technical aspect of photography. So in other words, I had the concepts, I just didn’t know how to execute them technically to see the results. And I was probably weakest in lighting. Composition and angles, I was pretty good at as well exposure and depth of field. I got that stuff fairly easily on my own by reading books and experimenting. But lighting!! That was a killer.

I put together a portfolio in high school and got accepted into Otis/Parsons in Los Angeles for my first year of college. I was really eager to learn how to light and then I was pretty much going to go out and conquer the world, or so I thought. I had a father that was willing to pay for Art College. If you don’t have financial help and you’re going to have to take out loans or work part time to put yourself through school, that’s something to consider. Because the work load is going to be tough and holding down a job that can support you is going to be even tougher. And student loans are a bitch to pay off. So that’s one thing to really take into consideration when considering photography college.  In my family, education and college were very important. My father went to USC and he was very proud of his Alma Mater. So he was willing to pay for me to get a college education and a diploma. In saying this, let me assure you, that these things have never held importance to me. ( I told you, I was always the rebel kid). But I knew for myself, that the discipline of school and the fact that I HAD to show up and I HAD to participate was going to be the catalyst to me learning the craft. I am not a very disciplined person. I needed the pressure of keeping a GPA and I needed the stimulation and competition from my peers to improve and challenge myself to work harder and thus proving results by doing good work.  So after my first year at Otis/Parsons, I got accepted into The Art Center College of Design. Now this was back in 1984 when the school was tough to get into and even tougher to stay in. It was not only very expensive, even back then, but it had a grueling work load. I mean, the school opened at 7 AM and closed its gates at 11PM, I think, and I honestly was in school that many hours, 6 days a week, during my first year there. I had no social life, I had to break up with a boyfriend about half way through my first term, I never saw or hung out with friends outside of my classmates, I was busy!! But I’ll tell you something: I learned. And I learned a lot. Especially about lighting.

Art Center Campus

But I can also tell you, that first year of lighting classes were not about lighting beautiful models. I was lighting toasters and wine glasses and shiny metal objects and occasionally my classmates. I carried 7 classes my first term and we had an assignment due every week from every class. If the assignment was rejected on the critique wall then we had to re-do that assignment, plus get the new assignment in by the following week. It was daunting. We worked hard at Art Center back in those days. I’m not sure how difficult it is now. I’ve heard that they aren’t as tough in the admissions process. Back then, it took me 3 tries to get in. My work was deemed too “avant-garde” and they wanted me to take some night classes in lighting to get accepted. I did what it took to get in there because I knew that I lacked the technical skills to master my concepts and I would learn those skills at Art Center. I also have to say that back in those days, there were only a handful of good photography colleges to choose from. There was Brooks Institute, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), Pratt and Parsons. Nowadays, with the digital explosion and everyone including half of their family wanting to be a photographer, there are photography colleges everywhere! I mean, I’m blown away at how many photography colleges and schools there are out there. I mean, how do you choose? Do you want a degree? Do you just want some basic classes to hone your skills? Do you need a degree? Is it important to actually go to school?

Okay, so here’s the low down. While Art Center is a very prestigious school and I’m grateful to my father for footing that extravagant bill (he spent around $100K and that was between 1984-1987). Yeah, a truckload of money. You got that right. But no one has ever asked me to produce that diploma that made my father so proud! I’ve been asked if I went to school, but no one has asked for proof of my diploma.

Did I become a better photographer because I went to school? Well, yes. I did.

Did Art Center prepare me for the “Real World” out here? No, it didn’t. Nothing does but cold, hard experience.

If I had it to do over again, would I go? My first question would be, who’s paying? If I had to pay that kind of money to put myself through photography school, I couldn’t go. In my early twenties, which is when I attended, I didn’t have that kind of money and with the workload, it would’ve been impossible to work and go to school.

So my short answer to anyone asking whether or not they should go to college is:

Can you afford it?Can you live and eat while going to school?Are you going to be taking out massive loans to put yourself through college?My last question would be, How important is getting a diploma?

Like I said earlier, my father wanted me to get a diploma because education was important to him. But if you’re serious about becoming a professional photographer, having a diploma doesn’t amount to much. At the end of the day, your images in your portfolio are what get you the job, not your diploma.

If you need the discipline of school to learn, then school would be a good option. If you’re motivated to go out and experiment and learn on your own, you don’t need school. I would recommend to anyone who’s just starting out to assist a pro photographer and learn from them. You can pick up lighting set ups and learn technical skills right there on the job AND you’re earning money instead of paying someone to teach you. At the very least, intern for someone and work part time so you can learn from a pro and then your part time job can support you while you’re learning. Another great way to learn where you don’t have to spend the money for a degree is workshops. It’s a small investment and you can learn from the pros. It doesn’t have to necessarily be fashion oriented either. You can learn lighting and exposure through a lot of the weekend or even week-long workshops being offered world wide these days. DVD’s and tutorials are another great way to learn. Blogs, the internet, websites, there are literally thousands of them out there giving great tips and advice on lighting and technical knowledge.

It’s really up to you and your financial situation. My personal story is that I’m glad I was fortunate enough to have a father who paid for me to go to college. But I kept learning out of school and nothing beats learning through experience. And school ultimately did not prepare me for the real world of commercial/fashion photography. School can’t even begin to teach one how to deal with the politics and the marketing and the ins and outs of developing relationships with clients. That education is learned through the school of hard knocks. And I will say that I have met plenty of professional photographers who did not go to college. They are self-taught and have done absolutely great in their careers. So do your homework, research the schools you’re thinking of attending, figure out how much money it’s going to take to get through school and live at the same time and then make a sound decision based on all of the above to decide if college is indeed something you need or if you can learn through assisting, workshops, DVD’s and experience! And best of luck to all of you out there trying to make this important decision!

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On the Road Again

If you’re one of my Facebook friends then you must know by now that David and I are moving to New York City. We’re somewhat sad to be leaving LA because it is home to us. We were both born and raised here in LA. But we really want to be in New York now so we’re very excited for the new change. Since we’re going to be based in NY, we know that we’ll have to do the workshops there now.

After searching for the perfect studio we finally decided on Root Studios in Williamsburg. I met Aldanna from Root at the Le Book Productions event last month. Le Book is amazing and the Productions event is really a great opportunity for photographers to meet people in our industry. They had booths where modeling agencies, hair and make up agencies, production companies, retouch studios and studios were set up and we’re available to meet photographers and answer questions. I highly recommend you guys try to catch one of the next ones. You can find out more about Le Book and what they have to offer by going to their site. Any way, Root is on board to hold our workshops in one of their awesome studios and the first one we have on the calendar is September 18th and 19th. Once we’re settled in NYC we’re hoping to have our workshops every month. We’ll mostly focus on having them in NYC at Root Studio but one thought we have is possibly having a workshop in Miami in January and February. What a great excuse to get out of the cold and head down to the warm tropical beautiful city of Miami and meet some of you guys! That’s just a thought at this point but we’ll definitely be focusing on NYC for the next year! It’s going to be the same workshop that we held here in LA, just now it’s going to be in the great city of New York, our future new home!

Here’s the link to the New York Seminar for more information. And we’ll be having another LA workshop in August at Smashbox Studios. Smashbox has been amazing to work with. Dee and all of the Smashbox people deserve a big hearty thanks for all their help and love! So check out the schedule and I hope to meet and work with some of you very soon!

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Brooklyn's Got Magic

The bad news is that all the clocktower residences at One Hanson Place have been sold. The good news is that there are still a few residences left on the lower floors and they will not set you back the $3-6 million dollars that the tower residences would have.

The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower is the major visual icon and arguably the best known building in Brooklyn. At 512 feet, it towers over the low rise structures that dominate the borough and is visible from various locales throughout Brooklyn.

The 1929 landmarked structure is located at one Hanson Place, on the corner of Flatbush Avenue, a major artery. Formerly the home of Williamsburgh Bank, it was designed by the architectural firm Halsey, McCormack and Helmer in a Romanesque-Byzantine style.

The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower features a gilded copper dome and its signature four-faced clock 27 feet in diameter with colored hands designed to be visible 30 to 40 miles away. Carved lions, turtles and birds grace the exteriors granite surface. The major attraction here is the extraordinary marble banking hall on the ground floor with 63-foot vaulted ceilings, limestone and marble walls with elaborate mosaics and 40-foot windows containing silhouetted iron cutouts a thrift motif: beehives, squirrels storing nuts, wise owls, Mercury (the god of commerce), and lions whose paws protect the bank's lockbox. There are two abandoned public observation decks with signage describing the Battle of Brooklyn.

The building was converted to condominiums in 2006 in a partnership between Dermot Co. and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds - a joint venture between Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and basketball star Magic Johnson.

There's a lot of hype surrounding any real estate development in New York City. But, no borough resident needs to be sold, since they always knew, as everyone else now does, that Brooklyn's got Magic :)

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Low-light action photography

Low-light photography is something that often confuses the metric bejesus out of photographers: It’s very tricky to get right, and even if you do everything 100% correctly, often-time you’ll find that your photos still don’t come out as you dreamed of. Now, multiply that with the trickyness of photographing action, and you’ve got yourself a true cluster-copulation of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Everybody will sooner or later end up in a situation where you’re photographing moving things in the dark. To concert, event and dance photographers, it’s part and parcel of their chosen photography work.

I’ll be honest: I don’t consider myself a very good low-light photographer (with the exception, perhaps, of my concert photography portfolio, but in those circumstances you’ve got an entirely different set of challenges.

Today, though, I’ve got a wicked treat for yourselves: One of my colleagues and friends in Australia, David Wyatt, agreed to share some of his observations of low-light action photography with us. He’s a scholar, a gentleman, a legend, and a bloody great photographer… Take it away, David!

Dance and stage photography are two areas of photography that often intertwine with each other. They can be wonderful to watch: They’re full of dramatic moments that can include moving silhouetted outlines of dancers or actors performing while being back-lit by a single strobe light – which is a great effect from the viewpoint of the audience, but which can make life for you, the photographer, incredibly frustrating!

The following notes are simply intended as a guide only to ways of coping with low light photography, particularly for photographers just starting out in or thinking about trying dance or stage photography – practice is the only effective way to develop experience and increase your photography skills, and there are thousands of great sources out there providing methods of increasing your photography knowledge, depending on the area of photography that you enjoy.

My camera bag looks a bit like this: I use a Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm and a 17-55mm f2.8 Nikon lenses, and have recently upgraded from a Nikon D300. I also sometimes use an SB-800 flash unit for posed shots, and never use flash during dance or stage performances, unless I’ve previously received permission from the event or performance directors to do so.

I started taking photographs of dance and stage performances eighteen months ago, and love it. There’s nothing like capturing a shot of a dramatic moment on stage, or of a passionate glance between a couple dancing together, and knowing that the same moment captured within your camera will never occur ever again in precisely that same way.

Up, up, and and away: The more dynamic the photos, the better they tend to be! © David Wyatt

Dance and stage performances can often have scenes or components which are entirely under-lit or which have fluctuating lighting levels, and sometimes fast movement at the same time, which together can make it very difficult to balance between a shutter speed that will be slow enough to let sufficient light into the camera to illuminate the image, while using a shutter speed that will be fast enough to freeze the movement. On the other hand, slower shutter speeds can also be used to amazing artistic effect with tripods or monopods through blurring the movement of dancers to give an impression of high speed in the photograph. (If you’re confused about exposure, check out How Exposure Works).

One of the main aspects of low-light dance photography in particular is that having faster glass will always makes a large difference in the kinds of shots that can be achieved. With an f3.5-5.6 lens, you can try to compromise in low-lit venues by lowering the shutter speed and opening the aperture as widely as possible using manual control settings on the camera, but chances are that those setting may still not be enough to freeze motion without using flash if the action is fast-moving, particularly if you may be wishing to capture the background as well as nearby action through using a smaller aperture for greater depth of focus (i.e., f5.6 – f11).

It's difficult to get too much energy into a dance shot - but you can try, if you want! © David Wyatt

Increasing the ISO levels can help with taking shots at a fast enough shutter speed to try to freeze the motion, though depending on the kind of camera you use, grain in the images at higher ISO levels can tend to become a problem, especially between ISO 1600 to 3200. While the f2.8 lenses more suited to low-light work are quite expensive, some of the f1.8 prime lenses are much more affordable and fantastic quality lenses for low-light performances, especially for photographers on a budget. The downside with prime lenses is that they require footwork to move around to frame the image properly, and without footwork or mobility, can require extensive post-shoot cropping for composition requirements, which is the compromise that offsets the price of the f2.8 lenses with zoom capabilities.

There will always be a dance or stage performance in low-light where you may not be able to capture the action effectively purely because of the low lighting that may be involved, or because of the distance placed between yourself and the dancers/performers. If that happens, it may simply be a matter of needing to upgrade your equipment if that’s an option, trying to use a slower shutter speed with a tripod or monopod (shooting at 1/40 and 1/60 shutter speeds with a monopod can still capture stationary non-moving images very well, when there may be a pause in the action), or checking if you can use flash at those events, which may sometimes also be an option.

Colour, motion, passion; what more could you want from a photo? © David Wyatt

There is also some excellent free software out there for image editing (including brightness and light levels adjustment) and for noise reduction in images, including GIMP, Picasa, and Neat Image. Neat Image is a nifty piece of software great for reducing noise/grain in images that may have been taken using a high ISO, though using noise reduction can substantially decrease the quality of images it has been applied to. Images with a large amount of noise reduction applied may still be fine for website display at small-medium size, though trying to print those same images may be a different story entirely due to the loss of detail through the noise reduction process. The new Lightroom 3 has some pretty awesome noise reduction algorithms built in, as well – so if you’re using LR, don’t forget to give that a shot, too!

What I’ve written here is a snippet of my own experience of low-light photography through dance and stage work, and I’m still continually learning as I go along. I base my abilities to a higher degree on the quality of the photographs that I’m yet to take at future performances, and to a lesser degree on my previous work. A bit like the acting adage that actors are only ever as good as their next performance.

Dance and stage photography in low-light environments are both some of the most difficult kinds of photography to capture effectively, although both forms also have some of the most beautiful and dramatic human moments that can be captured on film, which make the hard work infinitely worth it!

David's website is worth a peek!

David Wyatt is a dance and stage photographer based in Melbourne, Australia, with a wicked eye for a good photo. Check out his website over on Capturing Images.

He loves a bit of feedback, and is available for assignments – contact details are on his site, so knock yourself out!

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The day I wish I had a fill flash…

it’s one thing to stick a camera into someone’s face… if the light is right is another matter!

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This Post is About Ice Cream Sandwiches. Sort Of.

Over the course of this blog (which I started in 2005!!), I've gone back and forth with regards to what, if any, personal things to post here. I've always shared some things of course, but I would like to start posting more about things going on in my life! I can't make any promises or guarantees about how much I'll be doing this, but suffice it to say, there will be more of it.

So welcome to my world, Internet!

This past weekend, I spent some time in Palm Springs for a wedding and to meet with/hang out with one of my favorite client families. The wedding was absolutely incredible, and I was quite impressed with the level of detail and though that they put into things. I know that it had a lot to do with the bride. At the rehearsal dinner, they had a vintage, custom ice-cream sandwich truck come (Coolhaus, I love you!), and I was informed that there were even edible wrappers! Since I'm responsible for shooting all details, it seemed necessary to order a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with dirty mint chip ice cream. You know, to shoot the wrapper:

Which brings me to what happened after: I took that ice cream sandwich and a box of cold fried chicken right back to the Ace Hotel where I was staying, and I got cozy in bed with them. Of course, I would have rather had Jeff with me, but the ice cream sandwich and fried chicken told me to hush up and move on. Since they were there with me and he wasn't, I had to oblige! Sorry Jeff, don't be jealous.

It occurred to me that eventually when Jeff and I have a real baby instead of our furry Acey Puppy, I might not be able to lounge uninterrupted in a hip hotel snacking on fried food and delicious treats on a whim. So I decided to not think of the immediate effects but of the potential future regrets I might have when I might long for the days when such things were possible.

Here's a photo of a really cute baby from the wedding on Saturday:

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