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Andrea Bosio at Montrouge
Talented Genovese photographer and artist in residence Andrea Bosio presents a series of photographs tonight at Montrouge in Paris. Titled Living in Montrouge a month long project where the photographer distributed twenty 'disposable' camera's to local residents requesting them to photograph their lives, (his included). Hope you can join us tonight at 7.00pm
Theatre Dejazet Paris
I had the opportunity recently to shoot a portrait in a beautiful 18th century theatre in Paris. The first pic I used an umbrella with a Nikon SB 800 bounced into powered down to 1/4. The second shot I used two flashes with no diffusion. One to camera right and one at ninety degrees to the left directly at model.
Capri Magazine - In Love
One of the great things about working with Italian fashion magazines is there is always a connection to love. The fashion editor of the new Capri Magazine envisioned a story of a beautiful girl who came to Capri, feel in love and the morning after changed her mind. She ran through the streets of Capri, escaping love. Hence, our lovely model Roberta, ran and ran and ran some more. As we were about to shoot the last garment, a beautiful yellow Prada dress, I rounded the corner and saw the wall I had scouted the day before, and low and behold it had been graffitied with these words. Cosi tanto per farmi innamorami, cosi presto per dimenticarmi!. Loosely translated it means, it took so long for you to make me fall in love with you, yet so quickly you forgot me.. the perfect ending to our love story! You've got to love those Italians.
Capri Magazine First Issue
One of the great things about being a freelance photographer is waking up with a message in your inbox asking you if you would like to shoot some fashion on the isle of Capri - in Southern Italy!! That would be a yes, I think. We stayed in the heavenly JK Capri http://www.jkcapri.com/ and did two different fashion stories. This one was inspired by Esther Williams, the Berlin Olympics. The fashion editor Marta Innocenti Ciulli and Make-up Artist Karin Borromeo did beautiful work. And the lovely Lenka did the rest.....
My first Strobist Portrait
For the past couple of weeks I have been studying the http://strobist.blogspot.com/
for great information regarding using off camera flashes in lighting set-ups. I finally convinced my mate and writer/journalist Bryce Corbett to model for me. I emptied my lounge-room which was no small achievement, rented some props from Lanzani in the 11th in Paris and got to work. Iin the first photo of him lying on the floor I used an SB800 bounced into a silver umbrella to the left of camera and used the natural light from the window to the right of camera for some back light on his hair. I found an old bedside lamp to create a bit of moody Parisian atmosphere and Bryce did the rest!! In the second shot I closed the curtains and shot backwards into the room using the SB 800 into an umbrella position slightly to the right of camera. I had difficulty focusing and in the end turned on the room lights which also gave him a bit backlight on his hair and used a bedside lamp as a modelling light to help with focusing! Thanks Strobist
for great information regarding using off camera flashes in lighting set-ups. I finally convinced my mate and writer/journalist Bryce Corbett to model for me. I emptied my lounge-room which was no small achievement, rented some props from Lanzani in the 11th in Paris and got to work. Iin the first photo of him lying on the floor I used an SB800 bounced into a silver umbrella to the left of camera and used the natural light from the window to the right of camera for some back light on his hair. I found an old bedside lamp to create a bit of moody Parisian atmosphere and Bryce did the rest!! In the second shot I closed the curtains and shot backwards into the room using the SB 800 into an umbrella position slightly to the right of camera. I had difficulty focusing and in the end turned on the room lights which also gave him a bit backlight on his hair and used a bedside lamp as a modelling light to help with focusing! Thanks Strobist
Grace Kelly at the Hotel de Ville
A new exhibtion titled Les années Grace Kelly - Princesse de Monaco opens tomorrow the 10th June at the Hotel de Ville in the 4th arrondissement in Paris. The exhibtion includes photos of her life in Philadelphia, New York and in Monace. For Graceophiles some of her personal objects such as clothes (including her wedding dress), jewellery and the famous Hermès handbag named after her are included. Extracts from some of her films, many by Hitchcock, as well as home movies she made herself, and a 320-page catalogue with over 300 photos is available for 49 euros. A fitting tribute to this 'people's princess'.
Les années Grace Kelly - Princesse de Monaco
Hôtel de Ville,
Salle Saint-Jean,
5 rue Lobau,
Paris 4th arrondissement.
Métro Hôtel de Ville (lines 4 & 11)
Monday to Saturday 10am to 7pm, closed Sundays.
Free Entrance
Le 2e Parcours Parisien de la Photographie
The 2nd Parcours Parisien de la Photographie starts tomorrow in galleries all over Paris. Young art photographers and big name fashion photographers are exhibiting over the next twenty days in 53 different spaces. Oodles of inspiration from Steve Hiett, Karl Lagerfield, Lisa Roze and more...Strobist LightingTutorial
I am crazy about the Strobist blog http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/. David Hobby exclusively uses off camera flash to create moody and diverse lighting set ups without lugging around heavy studio flashes. There is a great tutorial that helps you create the lighting of this portrait at sundown of a man on his boat.
Here is how he does it..
Every now and then at The Sun, someone from features will come up to a photog and say, "We're looking for something... conceptual."Translation: We have thought and thought about this story, and we cannot come up with a single idea we can box you into.What I hear: Try anything you want. We're washing our hands of it.Which, of course, I like. On the one hand, you are getting very little direction, which can be iffy. But on the other hand, whatever you do they can't really complain. As long as it is conceptual.The story is on recently divorced (or separated) guys who have chosen to live on their boats in Baltimore. So I call three of them and schedule to shoot a portrait of each one.A heads-up from the writer tells me which one will be in the story's lede, so he's the guy that will need to carry the visual weight.I am gonna take you through the thought process a little on this one. As I said earlier in the "Taming Harsh Sunlight" entry, I like to stack the deck in my favor whenever I can. So I schedule my lede guy to be shot 30 minutes before sunset. If the light is good, I can use the golden light on him. If it is bad, I can use my small strobes easily because the ambient light level will be low.(Either way, I can strobe him after sunset for a different look.)Taking a little poetic license on this (hey, they wanted conceptual) I am going to do it in dark, cool tones. These guys have all been through (or are going through) the period of depression that normally follows the breakup of a marriage, so it fits.The photo at top is done with one Nikon SB-28 strobe, on a stand, with a cardboard snoot to control the beam of the light. The cool blue color is generated by setting the camera's white balance on tungsten, and putting a CTO gel on my flash to balance the light that hits the guy.Click on the photo up top to see it much bigger, and you will see how crisp the light is when you (a) hard-light from the side, and, (b) have built-in color contrast between your strobe and your ambient.
EDIT: Looking at the big version, it is very splotchy on the continuous tones. This is because I jpegged the heck out of it to save blog storage space on a big version. They do set a limit, and I try to keep the pix as thrifty as possible to allow more stuff to be posted. Sorry 'bout that, and I hope you get the idea anyway. For more moody portraits lighting ideas check out ...http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-assignment-guy-on-boat.html
EDIT: Looking at the big version, it is very splotchy on the continuous tones. This is because I jpegged the heck out of it to save blog storage space on a big version. They do set a limit, and I try to keep the pix as thrifty as possible to allow more stuff to be posted. Sorry 'bout that, and I hope you get the idea anyway. For more moody portraits lighting ideas check out ...http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-assignment-guy-on-boat.html
Rencontre des Arles - Paolo Roversi and Peter Lindbergh
Christian Lacroix is this year's guest of honor at the Rencontre des Arles in the south of France. The photo festival has a fashion slant and two of my favourite fashion photographers will be speaking on the evening of Thursday 10 July10.15 PM in the Théâtre Antique', the fabulous Roman arena. Paolo Roversi has been creating fashion magic for the best part of thirty years with his mystical Polaroid images of the world's top models. The antithesis of bright colours and flash, Paolo is a poet. Peter Lindberg's black and white are regularly featured in Italian Vogue and made with the enormous HMI lights used in film. Beautiful elegant images... I hope some of their magic wears off on me....
Rafal Milach World Press Photo
I have always loved the World Press Photo exhibition and often travelled from Florence to Rome to see it annually. This year I had the luxury of having it around the corner in the Azzedine Alaia Gallery and I went three times. I loved so many pictures but a stand out for me was the series of portraits by Rafal Milach who won First Prize in the stories - Arts and Entertainment section for his poignant beautifully lit series on Circus perfomers. Beautiful colours and faces .Check out his website whttp://www.rafalmilach.com and also the World Press Photo www.worldpressphoto.com.
Tim Walker I love Pictures
Yesterday I treated myself to the huge new volume of Tim Walker's work, I Love Pictures. I love this guy and I don't even know him. His photos are heaven, full of magic and fantasy and he must be charming to convince the Vogue editors to spend small fortunes on each shoot. This is a beautiful book, fabulous rich colours and an inspiration to every aspiring fashion photographer. Not bad if you are into interiors as well. Go Tim, love your work
