This past weekend was very busy but a lot of fun. On Saturday, I had a full day of photo sessions starting with some test sessions from my model search. I had two very cute and polite boys come in for a test session and they were an absolute pleasure. You can read more about them on my other blog here: Shawn Grimes Photography.
Carla, a neighbor, came over with her kids after the test sessions for a mini session too. That was a lot of fun. Her children are all amazing, she has 5 of them and they are the most well behaved children I have ever known. They are so helpful and polite and just a pleasure to be around, it’s very impressive. I will post some of those pictures when I am finished editing them.
After Carla, Sami came over for a secret session. She wasn’t in a good mood when she got there but she did a great job during her session and her mood picked up. We did 6 scenes with her which is really a large number. But it was a lot of fun. After her session, Andy and Niki, Sami’s parents, hung out for dinner and chatting. It was a good finish to a busy day.
On Sunday, I met Evan down in Hampden for Honfest. It was really crowded but still a lot of fun. I couldn’t stay long because I was going to the No Doubt concert afterwards and had to leave at 3:30 but I had fun while I was there.
So after Honfest, Steph, Courtney and I headed down to Nissan Pavilion in Virginia to see No Doubt. It was a great concert. The Sounds opened for No Doubt and I got to meet them after their set. It was really cool. No Doubt was awesome, I’ve always liked their music but their live show is just full of energy. It was great.
Just wanted to put a blurb on here that there are photos and a video from my last portrait session with Kyan and Kady on my photography site: Shawn Grimes Photography
I love street art, all forms, and so I thought I would post this video of the making of a 3d Street Art piece by Edgar Mueller title “Crevasse”. It was made in Ireland for the “Festival of World Culture”. It took 5 days and 5 assistants to paint the 250 square meter piece.
My photography has been all over the place lately. Two weeks ago I was in my comfort zone shooting Liam’s 3 month infant pictures. Later that same day, I found myself very uncomfortable shooting a wedding reception for a friend. It’s the last place I ever thought I would find myself shooting but I learned a lot there and it was one of the coolest receptions, full of beautiful people and very laid back and chill. I really think it’s important to step out of your comfort zone from time to time. It helps you grow and get additional perspectives on things.
Last week I found myself at Taste Lounge in Curtis Bay, MD at the Acire’ and Mr. Ward spring fashion show. The show started about an hour late but it was a lot of fun. All of the models and the organizer, Erica, were really nice and the clothes were pretty neat. I’m not sure if it would be something that I would wear, but I can definitely see the urban youth of Baltimore sporting these clothes this summer. I found the gig on Model Mayhem, a website for people involved in modeling and fashion including hair designers, stylists, make up artists, photographers, directors, and models. It’s a social networking site where you can post jobs for different professions and chat to people in the same industry.
A funny observation about my latest adventures, despite being the only white guy in the entire place at the fashion show, I was more comfortable and more confident there than I was at the wedding reception. Wedding receptions depend a lot on “catching the moment”, catching the spontaneous moments of joy on the faces of the attendees. My friend Evan does a pretty good job of doing that. My style, however, is more of posed shots, I like my lights to be at particular angles, the models to be in specific positions and then make fine tuning adjustments. I’m not talking about stick in the mud shots, but more planned out sessions rather than impromptu shooting. If I had been a second shooter with a wedding photographer a few times, like Evan, I may feel more comfortable with that creative outlet but until then, I’ll stick with my portraits and models
Over on Shawn Grimes Photography, I posted an entry about my latest session with Little Liam. His Mom and him came by for a 3 month portrait session and we had a lot of fun. There is also a video of the session at the bottom of the post.
This was also a chance to use a new backdrop that Steph made. It’s basically decorative ceiling tiles glued onto a piece of foam insulation. It is 6 foot by 6 foot and looks great. The tiles were a little expensive ($20/pop x 9 tiles) but you could probably go with a 4×6 backdrop as well for infants.
I also used a new rug that I picked up at Target. It’s SUPER soft and is 4×6. Little Liam loved the rug, he was nuzzling in it when we had him on there bare bottom.
This week I photographed brothers, Alex and Ryan, aged 5 and 2 respectively. They were a blast. Read the full post about them here: Bel Air Children’s Photographer
Here is the photo that I selected for this weeks 52 project:
And finally, here is a video from the session. These are a lot of fun to make even if they are a bit cheesy.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since one of my closest friends past away, Sean Carabine. I met Sean when I was at college. We were in a basic computer class and our two groups had finished a lab early so we were killing time chatting and getting to know each other. I was surprised to hear that Sean had been retired from the USMC and he looked so young. I pressed the issue a little further and with some hesitation, Sean confided that he had been medically retired due to a brain tumor. He had been diagnosed that year and been told that he had 6 months to live.
Fast forward 9 years and Sean passes away in University of Maryland Hospital on April 13, 2007 surrounded by friends and family. Friends and family who had to be told countless times to quiet down because our shared laughter was echoing through the halls. While his passing was a somber moment, the moment was best captured by Courtney, Sean’s then 11 year old sister-in-law, when everyone had regained some sort of composure and were standing silently waiting for direction, she exclaimed “Come on, we have a life to celebrate!”.
Fast forward another year, and on a beach in East Hampton, NY, where Sean grew up, the people who loved him and were touched by him gather around a bench that bears his name and one of his favorite quotes, “Live Life or die trying.” The time was a mix of laughs and stories about the amazing life Sean lived. We all recounted our favorite “Sean story” and all shared that we always found it hard to believe the extravagant tales of life Sean told but then they would be reaffirmed by someone else and you eventually found that all the stories were true.
Another year has passed and I’m returning to East Hampton to gather with his friends and family. Even after he has passed, Sean has continued to affect my life in positive ways. I’ve tried to incorporate his examples of strong character and his appreciation of life into my life. It hasn’t always been the best of times for me over the past two years; I’ve had very trying times within myself. This year, however, I am in a much better place than ever before and no doubt his influence has helped me get where I am.
There is a quote from the Tibetan Book of the Dead that has really stood out to me ever since Sean passed away. I began reading the book when Sean entered the hospital to help me find answers to what I was feeling and what Sean was going through in his final days. I feel that Sean was one of the most virtuous people that I’ve ever met and I know that his spirit lives on in all the people that he touched:
“The glorious chariots of kings wear out, and the body wears out and grows old; but the virtue of the good never grows old…
So this is a combination post to share my 52 week photo from last week and to announce that I’ve resumed my Street Performer Photo Project after a winter hibernation.
My photo this week (Week # 14) is of performer Laura Ernst. She auditioned at the Harborplace Street Performer auditions over the weekend. You can read more about the street performer auditions over at Shutter On The Street.
The products are in from the Soccer Photo Session and I said I would share so here it is.
First off, the video from the session:
The first product is an acrylic statuette. They come in 5×7 and 8×10 and are cut outs of the most important parts of the photo. They look great on shelves or on top of the television.
The other product that I really liked was the Wall Cling. In it’s basic form, it’s a giant sticker that can be placed (and re-placed) on a wall to decorate a room. Wall Clings are printed on premium Photo-Tex material with ranges from 18″ to 72″ sizes in height, which means you could you have a life size wall cling. The subject(s) are traced around on the screen and then laser cut. The adhesive used on the print is very gentle on walls and paint and can be moved numerous times.
I wanted to get some sample wall clings for the studio to show to customers so I decided a mini photo shoot was in order to get some good samples. I thought some good action sport shots would make a good sample product so I enlisted the help of my two cousins and their soccer skills to build an image.
We arrived at the field around 5 and the sun was much brighter than I thought it would be so I struggled for a little while getting the strobes bright enough and close enough without being in danger of being kicked or knocked over.
My final setup was as follows:
580EXII – to camera right and behind model, bare, full power, Full CTO gel
580EXII – to camera left in front of model, bare, full power, Full CTO gel
580EXII – to camera right in front of model, umbrella, half power, Full CTO gel
1/250 @ f/22
As you can see, I had Full CTO gels on the lights so I shot in Tungsten to give the sky a more blue look. I also had the aperture squeezed down as far as it would go because I wanted to lower the ambient light and I couldn’t go any faster on the shutter speed. This meant I had to pump up my strobes to full power and get them in close.
When the samples arrive, I will post what they look like.
