Gary Ochoa.

One of my last posts was about an artist I'd been introduced to, Gary Ochoa.  He lives in a great place called the Santa Fe Art Colony, a place where artists live and work together in this old brick warehouse-turned-artists'-lofts.  We spent quite a while talking, and I was able to shoot away as we went.  I love the active feeling of these images versus the standard stationary portraits.  I'm looking forward to shooting more this way and seeing what develops.

 

 

 

James

James is a guy I just shot for my senior LGBT series.  What I like about this process is the chance to spend time with new people and get a chance to get to know them a little.  I've heard over and over -- and I'm learning now -- is the important part of the shoots are the relationships you build with your subject.

So I was in my photography studio (garage) the other night.  I had a number of different lighting concepts I'd thought of that I wanted to try.  Of course, during these impromptu shoots, I tend to be the easiest model to work with; I know what I want the model to do, and I don't have to talk to myself to keep me entertained (though I always enjoying spending time with me).  Anyway, as I went through the different ideas I wanted to work with, I'd needed a mirror in order to see how the light was hitting my face.  During one of my change-ups on the lighting, I'd set this little vanity mirror down on the ladder to keep it out of the way.  Looking from where my camera was, I loved the starkness of the simple image of the mirror sitting on that ledge; that's when I decided to play around with the concept of putting myself in the image through the reflection of the mirror. 

I must say that sometimes shots that look simple and easy to carry off end up being the ones that are a real pain in the neck.  Between struggling with the placement of several different light sources along with making sure to get just the right amount of face in there that I was looking for, along with not wanting to blow out any portion of the lit areas with too much light -- well, I tweaked it enough to where I got this shot that I was finally pleased with. 

Someone who saw the image said it was a very telling self-portrait.  I knew he got it as it does tend to represent the way that I have difficulties dealing with the world directly, and how sometimes I have to look at the world through indirect means.

You know, there's moments that something catches my eye and I have to stop and see what it is that's capturing my attention.  Late this afternoon I was coming home passing the local Blue Line metrorail near where I live.  It was a drizzly afternoon and the light was almost gone, and this lone metro train was passing by this deserted area.  I saw it in a number of different ways, but first I had to rush back home to grab my camera (yes, I know that it should have been in the car already!).  Of course, that one magical moment that I'd seen had passed, the lighting was different by the time I got back.  But since I was out there in the cold and wet already, I decided just to play with the scene a little. 

Now, on a winter, late afternoon Sunday, the train doesn't run that often, so I did have time to thoroughly enjoy the chill in the air and the mist dampening everything that wasn't under my umbrella.  Before I left, I was able to get a couple shots. 

When I got home, I was looking at the image, and I got into a playful mood and decided to do this black&white-on-color image.  The holidays are putting me into a playful mood letting me enjoy my fascination with all things fantasy and magical.