Finding models to photograph is difficult. But asking strangers to be your model is a valid approach. Sure, you can hit up an agency I suppose, but for hobbyists like me it can be an expensive thing. You can also peruse sites like Model Mayhem. Technically using Model Mayhem is asking strangers to be your model, but that comes with it’s own hurdles. One of the biggest issues with finding models to photograph on Model Mayhem is that the majority of models on that site are just difficult to pin down. That’s a polite way of saying they are flaky. I mean real flaky, typically. Instagram can be sim ..read more

As a photographer of people it can be difficult to develop your own style. It’s one of the questions I see often on the various groups or forums that I visit. It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about and I’ve actually come up with a way that works for me and I’ve implemented it. Keep in mind that it’s simply just my opinion. Though I’m primarily a people photographer I don’t see why it wouldn’t work in some other genres. Though it’s something that I think has worked for me, your mileage may vary. Also keep in mind that I’m coming from the perspective of an artistic people photographer. Sur ..read more

Some time ago, during the waning days of summer, Inna and I spent a day wandering the mountains and taking photos. I had pretty much everything with me, including an off camera lighting setup, but was really hoping to not have to use it. Fortunately I had a good friend and an assistant who was able to come along and hold reflectors and scrims which helped immensely in this goal. Also the fact that it was raining off and on pretty much made it impossible to use the lights anyway. This is the mountain west of the United States; Utah to be exact. The old adage of “if you don’t like the weather, w ..read more

This lifestyle editorial features the amazing Vittoria Hiltbrunn. The theme of the whole shoot was “road trip to the desert.” We spent the better part of a day and a couple hundred miles driving from the city making our way through much of Utah’s West Desert and finally ended up at the Little Sahara Sand Dunes. I want to mention that it’s simply not possible to do a shoot like this and not be able to take photos in any lighting condition. You To hell with “golden hour!” I’ve always found it puzzling that people relegate themselves to be a slave to an hour or so at either end of the day to make ..read more

Without light, photography doesn’t exist. If you’re a photographer you have to learn to see the light. If you’re not seeing the light, then you’re severely handicapping yourself. Notice I didn’t say find the light. That goes without saying. But learning how to recognize it, you don’t have to find it. It comes to you. I can’t tell you many times I’ve gone into a session with a specific goal in mind and stumbling upon some light that just caught my eye and I couldn’t simply move on; I needed to take advantage of it. That’s called seeing the light. Earlier this summer I was doing an uptown shoot ..read more

Over the past few years of doing the photography thing I’ve really gravitated towards doing a lot of work with models because I’ve found that I love photographing people. From my admittedly limited experience I’ve come up with some tips for both models and photographers that I believe to be useful for me. The key thing here is that this is purely from my personal perspective, and it’s geared toward collaborative shoots for portfolio or personal project endeavors. Please keep in mind that following is my opinion and how I do things. If it’s not for you, rock on. MODELS Don’t practice posing in ..read more

A lot of people may think to convert color photos to black and white using Photoshop that it’s as simple as sucking away all of the saturation. But it’s not that simple. At least not for me and what I like. You may like something else, but for me, an effective black and white conversion needs to be stylized to some degree. After all, by simply going the black and white route we’ve comfortably eschewed the realistic. With few exceptions we all see the world in color. This photo originally began with the intention of it being color. That’s what I had in mind when I first set out to make it. Here ..read more

Watching some of the discussions over at the blithering pedantic nonsensical mess that is the DPReview forums is enough to make reasonable people’s heads explode regarding camera brands and their respective “color science” and how it affects photographers. Generally, how one brand handles its colors vs another is the last thing you should be thinking about. With few exceptions, camera brand color science doesn’t matter. First off, “color science” doesn’t mean squat to the average photographer. Color science is a real science and it’s mostly relevant only for engineers that are developing syste ..read more