Artificial Portrait

I think it's important for portrait photographers to occasionally remind themselves what it feels like to walk away from a shoot seeing doughnuts (from a ring flash).

So, as I was tooling around yesterday taking some self portraits I decided to make like Brad Trent and do what he calls an "artificial portrait" by pulling back to show the reality of the lighting being used to create the picture.

I usually find including your lights in the frame to be cliche, but Trent's portraits are about pulling back the curtain rather than than saying "Ooh, look at the cool gear that I have and you don't." He pulls it off.

As far as portraits go I've largely been influenced by the work of Dan Winters and Ben Baker, among others. I think my own style is somewhere in between the subtle but dramatic Winters and the high-contrast, almost surreal look of Trent, but for these pictures I went for the more contrasty look.

To do this right I should have pulled the camera back and included my ring flash in the shot too, but there was a wall right behind the camera position so I had to zoom out rather than back it up.

Also, I cut my feet off. Oops.

Below is the shot that I was originally going for (in my defense, I didn't have the best raw material to work with).

New Lights

I got a few new lights. A funky lamp for my living room and an ABR 800 ring flash. This is what happens when both arrive on the same day.

Farewell, Rocky Mount

A CSX train moves through downtown Rocky Mount on Friday as seen from the roof of the Davis Furniture building.  

It's been real, Rocky Mount. Just over a year ago, after being a stringer at The Gaston Gazette for a year, I moved to the little crossroads in Eastern North Carolina to be one of two staff photographers at the Rocky Mount Telegram.

It feels like that year has gone by in a flash.

But a lot has changed in that time. I've learned some hard lessons, I've won a few awards, I've enjoyed the freedom of having a nice apartment to myself, and I've continued to stretch my creativity.

All things considered, I am much better for the experience. The Telegram has been a great place to work, and I have nothing but kind words about the company and my former co-workers.

But I want to advance my career, make enough money to be independent and financial stable, and live in a place close to friends and the activities I enjoy.

Rocky Mount was not such a place, so when a staff job opened up a few weeks ago at The Gazette I looked into it. A few weeks later and I'm back in Gastonia and looking for a good apartment.

It's been a whirlwind of activity. I put in my two week notice at the Telegram, and our other photographer took a planned vacation while I was still there. Gobs of overtime and nary a day off before my last day on Monday, then packing and a drive on Tuesday before my first day at The Gazette today (Wednesday).

And I still have to find an apartment and actually move in the next week or two.

I'm busier than a one armed man trying to hang wallpaper!

In the long run, all the hassles of moving will be worth it, though. I'll be picking up mountain biking and hiking on a regular basis, and making trips to see friends in the Western part of the state now that I live much closer.

I also have a nifty new Canon ID Mark IV and a set of brand new lenses to use. I'm not one to obsess over gear, but this is probably--no, this is the first time I've been equipped with current state of the art gear that hasn't been abused by previous users.

In all honesty, though, a Mark IV isn't that much different than the Mark II bodies I've been using. It performs better in every possible way, especially in low light, but when the light is good there isn't much difference between the two--except for that video thing.

That's a game changer. Good bye crappy handicams, hello 1080p HD video. I'm sure I'll have fun with that.

I'm gonna' stop there and continue my apartment search online. Lots to do...

Evolution

This blog is changing.

I'm cutting the pork and streamlining everything in an effort to make it more about the pictures. This change will affect the type of content posted to some extent, but most of the changes will be to the design.

I've dimmed the lights (darker page background), made the pictures bigger (yay!) and changed the template. The goal is to make the picture stand out more and have this blog and my website look the same--you know, like they actually go together.

The process left some older posts looking like they didn't belong, so I have gone back and made updates to much of the archived content on this site to preserve continuity. Still, I can't go back and redo everything, so some older posts will still have the slightly smaller photos of before.

-Ben