MY PHOTOGRAPHIC VISION IN FLUX…
My photographic vision has changed immensely over the past eight years! Flashback to 2016, or thereabouts, when I did everything in my power to exclude any people from my seascape images! If someone walked into my scene, I’d remove them with Photoshop in post-production, plain & simple, no questions asked! Lol!
Fast-forward to 2024, and I’ve totally lost interest in photographing seascapes. The only time I’m up and at the location at 5 a.m. is when photographing my subject at sunrise! Setting up a creative photo session with someone gets the juices flowing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sci-fi lightsaber-themed shoot or a simple lifestyle session…I get excited!!! For me, it’s the act of creating something from nothing. This entails from the first contact with my subject, planning a theme, creating a mood board that leads up to the actual photoshoot & finally, the actual photo shoot itself.
Usually, the day before the photo session, my anxiety levels will slowly start to escalate & will continue to the day of the shoot. As soon as I dial in the correct exposure with my camera, hit the correct flash power with my lighting & finally have a visual confirmation of the exact look I need for the image. It’s like a wave of relief that overcomes all that anxiety. My assistants know when I’ve hit that frame & I stop bitching…I have a “thing” I do! LOL! From that point on, my creativity just kicks in like a tidal wave!
I’ve been in a small creative funk lately. It’s a different kind of funk that leaves me walking away from a shoot, feeling something is missing. At first, I couldn’t quite place what was wrong until this recent shoot with my friend Tiff. What it is is that I’ve come to the realization that my taste or style of the final look of an image is changing, and I’m fighting that change rather than embracing it. However, to get to the final image, I’ve also noticed how I’m using light, whether it’s natural ambient light, strobes, or a combination of both, at the time of capture. As I said earlier, my lighting taste is changing as well & I’m digging the more natural lighting with a kiss of flash as more fill light rather than using the strobe as my key or main light.
I love or used to love shooting highly dramatic sci-fi lightsaber imagery, but I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that my style is moving towards a more subtle lighting scenario. I really love lifestyle shoots with a touch of fashion.
“With change comes growth. I think I have finally realized that!”
Aloha & a hui ho y friends!
