Friday, March 25, 2005

Thus ends my run

Whew! Easter Egg Hunt saturday; photographed over a hundred youngsters. Sunday a 6.5 hour session. Monday cancelled due to no contact with model. Tuesday moved to Thursday. Wednesday a quick session. Thursday a slightly longer, more planned set of work. Here's a shot from last night's session.




Thanks for reading,

Kev

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Headshot in shadows

I shot this




tonight at the end of a quick photosession. The model needed some photos for a specific purpose and I just played with a single light and headshots for a little while. In retrospect I wish I'd tossed on the other Neutral Density (ND) filter and opened the lens up a little more to maintain the darkness but lessen the Depth of Field (DoF). I also wish I'd thought to remove the watch before this shot. We took it off afterwards but I like this expression and the angles in this shot best.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Terry Schiavo - a tragedy but appropriate decisions by judges

What matters. I can't argue the desire of someone I've never met to either choose to "die with dignity" or "fight for another day". Either presentation is a slanted one engineered to engender support and cast aspersions at its antithesis. I can't speak to why Michael Schiavo chooses to not simply divorce Terri Schiavo and let her parents work to sustain her life indefinitely with machines or whatever methodology might present itself until they've both died (whereupon the responsibility will presumably fall to her siblings and eventually the government). That's his choice. What I think I can speak to intelligently is that each state has custodial laws. Florida's laws allow for the closest living relation to make appropriate choices in the event that an individual becomes incapacitated and does not leave a living will. Fault Michael Schiavo for his choices is you want but don't fault the courts. The President's and Republican's manueverings to pass a law that would open up the proceedings to the Federal Courts system was a ploy to pander to their conservative constituents; being a conservative constituent I found it base and offensive. The one redeeming factor in this is that when the Federal judges had the case laid before them they adjudicated it not based on popular opinion nor on political pressure from the right but based on the merits of the case. They applied the same criteria to this case as to any other judgement or appeal. None of the federal judges said that the Schindlers (Terri Schiavo's parents) didn't have a case. They said that based on the case that the Schindlers laid forth they didn't have a winnable case. They didn't win based on the merit of the arguments that they chose. Terri Schiavo has been on a respirator for almost 15 years (at the time of this writing). There have been legal decisions for years that upheld the right of Terri Schiavo's closest, living relation to make decisions for her. To me its tragic that this person was struck with such an affliction that she has to live in this state. That's tragic. What isn't tragic is that her husband who took a vow and would have followed it to its conclusion years ago has been confounded by court case after court case, appeal after appeal and now even seen new legislation created solely to remove his right to choose for his spouse even when years of legal review have upheld his right. Now I'm not saying I would make the same decision he has; I just don't know how long I would stand by watching my wife not able to live without the aid of machines and knowing that in 15 years nothing . . . NOTHING has been developed that gives me a glimmer of hope that she would ever respond to me or anyone else who knows her and cares for her. Regardless of what I'd do in a hypothetical situation, Michael Schiavo is living in a real situation and every law that has been tested either in Florida courts or in Federal courts has upheld his right and responsibility to make decisions for his wife. I don't think any of the judges whose decisions I've read seem activistic; rather they seem to be making their decisions based on the same criteria that have been used for decades regarding life choices when an individual can't make choices for himself. These laws have been tested and appear to be well delineated.

Let me reiterate: this post isn't about supporting euthanasia nor "right to die." It is about recognizing that the fights that the family has fought and lost repeatedly over 15 years are centered on who has the right to make decisions for Terri Schiavo since she can't decide or declare her decisions for herself.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Creative Editing Attempt

Here's another from the photoshoot on Sunday. I tried to create a sensual, dreamy effect. The lighting was done with sets of layered gels to create a yellow hue from the front light and a purple hue from the background light.




Thanks for reading,

Kev

Monday, March 21, 2005

Long photoshoot - no comments

Wow. I worked on Easter Egg Hunt photos for at least half a day Saturday (none to show since they were of youngsters). Then I followed that up with a FULL afternoon of shooting on Sunday (1:30-8:00). We worked that session. I thought we got some good work so I posted several of them. As yet, I've gotten something like 3 comments. Oh well. Maybe they aren't to people's liking. The models seemed to like them and I know I enjoyed the shots from beginning to the final product. I've posted one here; you can click on it to be taken to the rest of the images from this session. Feel free to say what you like or don't like.



Thanks for reading,

Kev

Friday, March 18, 2005

Building a portfolio

I'm working with a young lady to build a portfolio for her. Here's a shot from last night's session.




Its taken several sessions to get many good images for her portfolio. I'm surprised at how many shots I still end up taking to get anything approaching outstanding work. We also tried to get a capture that I've been working on.




Lots of photography coming up: Easter Egg photos for kids with the Easter Bunny followed by modeling shoots on 3 consecutive days. I think I'll be so over photography by next Wednesday.

I did get another light today, though. Its an AlienBees B-400 and I'm using it for my fill light and have moved one of my B-800's to background/kicker status so that my accent lighting is evenly matched across the composition. This 4th light really has opened up another level of lighting.


I'm loathe to say much about work since apparently some people have gotten busted (though not where I work) for commenting on the careers in blogs. My work seems to be going outstandingly well right now. That's based on the exponential growth of responsibility and reliance placed upon me in a system that we're analyzing and designing. I'm LOVING this stage of the system. Query the users, interrogate their methods and map their work. Understand what they do so that I can help choose or develop something that enhances their workflow and makes their jobs more efficient and easier for them. Now this is great. Of course, as with just about anything that's good & good for you, its about triple the rest of my workload. Its very cerebral and I actually go home mentally tired but MAN is it enjoyable.

Thanks for reading,

Kev

Thursday, March 03, 2005

1Ds photoshoot

Just finished my first studio photoshoot with the Canon EOS 1Ds. Wow was it fun. I've printed an 8x10 and it looks outstanding. I'm ordering a print in 20x30 to see how it holds up. I can't believe how awesome this piece of equipment is.



Thanks for reading,

Kev

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

And here's what we got Mommy

This is the Yamaha P-120S keyboard. It's amazingly like a piano and a church organ. We were both surprised at the quality of the sound that comes out of it. It has the real touch (tm I suppose) keys that have resistance. When you play it, it feels like a real piano.





Thanks for reading,

Kev