I’m fairly comfortable with a camera in my hands, my eye to the viewfinder, the shutter under my finger. But put me in front of the camera and I’m quite a bit less comfortable. Put me in front of the camera AND in charge of the outcome of the image and I’m downright terrified. Or at least I was.
I was less than thrilled when I found out that I would be required to shoot self-portraits for my portrait photography class, but slightly relieved when I found out we were not allowed to show our faces. The face is the hardest part for me; this assignment would give me a chance to get comfortable in front of the camera without having to worry about facial expression. I put the assignment off for two weeks, but I knew the sooner I went to work on it the happier I’d be. I planned out my location (the Minneapolis Photo Coop) and what I would wear, and I planned a handful of shots to shoot. But still, I put off the actual shoot. Finally I went in and got to work, and the more I worked the more comfortable I felt. Each shot I took gave me a better idea of what I wanted, and I started to see how a photographer would direct a model to get the right shot, or would change the lighting or camera angle for the desired look. For the first time since I started shooting, the self-portrait concept started to come together.
I’m fairly happy with the final images; happier than I thought I would be. This assignment really taught me a lot, much more than I thought it would. This is definitely something I’ll do again on my own, and I’d recommend it for anyone looking to learn portrait photography. Sometimes the hardest part is just getting comfortable, and this is a great way to do just that.
I’ve received my second set of moo cards this week and they look fantastic! I’m very pleased. If you’re not familiar with these cards, you should be! They’re made by a company called Moo, and run $20 for a set of 100 cards. If you have a Flickr account, you can link your Flickr account to your Moo account and bring over your Flickr photos automatically – no manual uploading required! Moo let’s you choose up to 100 images per set, so if you desire 100 unique cards, you can have them for no additional charge. Moo is located in the UK, but if you’re stateside you’ll still get your cards fairly quickly – it takes about a week for them to print, and then another week to ship.
As always, if you see a card you’d like, send me an email or a flickrmail. I’m up for trades :)
Here in Minnesota there is a huge cycling population and many of these cyclists continue to ride during the winter months, using their bikes as their primary form of transportation. We have nothing on Copenhagen though, that’s some serious bike culture!
Mikael Colville-Andersen is a freelance filmmaker and photographer and has two fantastic sites on Copenhagen cycling culture: Copenhagenize and Copenhagen Cycle Chic. I’ve really enjoyed the great photography at Copenhagen Cycle Chic; Copenhagenize is a new find for me and I love it already. These sites make me want to go to ditch my car and ride my bike everywhere, even when the roads are covered in snow.
The bright colors of these sodas were a great pick-me-up on a cloudy day. After a nice warm-up we’re heading into another cold spell here in Minnesota, so I can use all the bright colors I can get. I’m going to make a point of seeking out nice vivid, candy-like shots at least once a week for the rest of winter. It makes for a nice challenge and helps to keep my mood bright too.
Philip Bloom is a UK-based filmmaker that lately has been doing a lot of work with HD video and 35mm film adapters. He has a number of film shorts available online at both his site and on vimeo. I’ve chosen 3 Days in April to show you as I feel it showcases a lot of the great technique he uses in his work. He likes to play with time, speeding up and slowing down depending on the mood he’s looking to evoke, and he uses depth of field to paint in the focal points of the images he’s displaying in a way that is subtle yet powerful. I also love the contrast in the three days as they are each very different from each other. Philip Bloom is creating some really beautiful work, and he’s definitely a filmmaker I’ll be keeping an eye on.
February 27, 2009, at 5:35 pm
