You're capturing the better side of humanity. Thanks for sharing your wonderful work. It certainly helps balance out the terrible stuff we have to hear and see everyday.
Cuong
"She Was a Little Taste of Heaven – And a One-Way Ticket to Hell!" - Max Phillips
Jim, I'm going to be realllllly sorry when your project is over!!! This has been the greatest thread to watch. Another great set! My fav is probably the couple with all the books, but it's just so interesting to see the variety. I hope you'll find a new project to keep us entertained when you are through with this one!!!
Cuong – Thank you. Susan – Thanks so much, glad you’ve enjoyed it. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, but after processing all these color images, I might have to switch back to black & white for a while. Also I think it’s important for me to keep using and building upon what I learned, so it doesn’t all leak out, you know? So, we’re walking over to the Met Museum for a couple hours every Friday evening to stare at portraits to see how those old painters rendered people. For instance, we learned that Degas was influenced by photography, and his compositions were considered radical for the time because of that influence. Wait, I forgot where I was going with this.:D
Here are the final images from this project. We’ll have a print show in our basement sometime after Labor Day, and I’m still working on trying to put together a Blurb book. If that happens, I will post a link here as promised.
#30 Newlyweds who moved in to the building that day.
#31
#32
#33
#34
Here are a few things I learned with this environmental portrait project:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<!--[endif]--> I learned about solving lighting problems using portable flash, and the importance of gobos and snoots.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned something about gripology, using a magic arm, clips, different light stands, and all those little doohickeys you need to attach a flash to something.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned how to develop a plan. Then, I learned what to do when that plan goes out the window, as it often does. Example: The plan calls for dragging the shutter for a long exposure to burn in the room lights. Then my tripod breaks. Oops. Throw out the plan and come up with another one, while the subject is standing there staring at you waiting for you to shoot a picture. This is a good time to say “How about them Knicks?”
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned that many people will do what you ask so be prepared for yes.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- Through repetition and practice, I learned how to give better direction to the subjects.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I got some valuable practice at finding a composition and deciding on a lighting plan while carrying on a conversation with the subject. This was the single hardest thing for me, as I don’t multitask very well. But it’s important, because many people are nervous when they’re about to be photographed, and they want to talk when they’re nervous. I tried to get them to relax a little and I tried to get them to want the same thing I want, so we’d be working towards the same goal. In this kind of project, even if the lighting and exposure is perfect, it won’t matter unless the tenants are cool with what’s happening.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I got some experience at making lots of quick decisions about shooting portraits. How do you show something about a person and something of their personality in a picture? How do you best take advantage of the space you’re given? All the little technical decisions flow from the big decisions. I learned to make the big ones first. This way, the smaller decisions seem more obvious
<o:p> </o:p>
Finally, when I started this project, I wondered if the whole long experience with all the expected delays, re-scheduling, egos, disappointments and the like would sour me on photography, yet it was just the opposite. I was absolutely fascinated by photography when I started and am even more so now. Whenever I felt like I couldn’t possibly take one more picture, that I’d had it up to here and needed a break, I found that once I get my finger on the shutter for the next picture, all that stuff went away and the fire returned.
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
I got some valuable practice at finding a composition and deciding on a lighting plan while carrying on a conversation with the subject. This was the single hardest thing for me, as I don’t multitask very well. But it’s important, because many people are nervous when they’re about to be photographed, and they want to talk when they’re nervous. I tried to get them to relax a little and I tried to get them to want the same thing I want, so we’d be working towards the same goal. In this kind of project, even if the lighting and exposure is perfect, it won’t matter unless the tenants are cool with what’s happening.
Multi-tasking and communication! I can so relate to this! You've learned a lot and I'm sure you are going to put this to good use in the future. Your last 2 sets you haven't made commentary on the individual shots, which I miss. But, I will tell you that when I look at these shots I feel like I know who these people are. I would say that you have succeeded in conveying your message very, very well. I love the last 2 shots in particular. Well, maybe the last 3....oh heck, I just noticed the tv screen in the mirror on #2!!! Super!!! Okay...I love 'em all. I do yearn to drag #1 into PS and boost the contrast and warm it up a tiny bit. Seems too cool and doesn't have that "warm fuzzy feel" that goes along with the project. I'd sure love to be able to go to see them hanging on display. I look forward to your Blurb book!
Well, you sure did a fantastic job with these -- what a great project! I am impressed with the complex compositions you put together for many of these.
It has probably been asked above, but how long in general would you say you were in their apartment for each actual shoot (I'm assuming you scouted ahead of time)? I believe I read you used up to three portable flashes. Were they on stands, generally? Or more often creatively rigged?
If they were black & white I would say, submit those to Lenswork! A wonderful idea, and -- BIG AND! -- you followed through on it, not once, but twice!!
It has been a treat watching the progress of this project. I'm sure many of us have picked up some valuable tips in the process. Many thanks for sharing. clapclap
Susan, thanks for the excellent comments. I dropped the commentary because it didn’t seem necessary. It finally occurred to me that the pictures can stand on their own. (30,31 & 32 are all newlyweds, funny how that worked out. On 31, the guy is a Yankee fan and the woman roots for whoever is playing the Yankees, which sort of explains their expressions. )
Richard – Thank you very much.
Steve – Your comment regarding the compositions just made my day. Given the small rooms and time constraints, I am happy with the way the compositions came out. I spent a lot of time and effort on composition, practicing in my apartment and making sketches and studying photographers and painters who came before. As I carried my gear into each apartment for the shoot, composition was the foremost thing in my mind. I kept repeating it over and over in my head so I wouldn’t forget to pay attention to composition, trying different ones and always questioning whether the composition could be better somehow. Since I was using either a 14mm lens or a 17-55mm lens (always at 17mm), keeping vertical lines straight became very difficult. So, if I raised the camera angle (and point down) or lowered it (and point up), it really played havoc with the vertical lines, and there are lots of vertical lines in these pictures, so I really tried hard to keep them straight. Which means I had to try to keep the camera in the middle, not too low and not too high, which in turn limits the options, which makes composition all the more important. I did use lens correction in PS to straighten the vertical lines, but you can only go so far with that before you’ve cropped half your picture. Photo #26 was shot with the 14mm and I was handholding the camera on a ladder way up high near the ceiling, which totally ruined the vertical lines. I used a major amount of lens correction in PS on that one to straighten all those vertical lines, forcing a substantial crop, but I thought it was worth it to get their expressions in bed and the taxi at the corner of 107th and Broadway, both in the same shot.
Re <<< scouting ahead of time>>>, I asked for a “walk-through” a day or two in advance of the shoot, so I could come in and take a few snaps, see the space, and come up with an idea for a picture. However, I didn’t think to ask for this until the first 10 or 12 were done. And I didn’t always get it. In the end, I got a chance for a “walk-through” in advance on about half the shots (16). For the rest it was just a one time deal. It sure did help though when I was granted a walk through ahead of time. It definitely improved the results.
Lights (my flashes only, this does not include room lights) 2 shots had no lights at all (#11 and #19) 1 shot had 1 light (#21) 7 shots had 2 lights 15 shots had 3 lights 7 shots had 4 lights 1 shot had 7 lights (#12 and #13 – same setup)
The majority of the time the lights were on lightstands. But they were often on the little flat lightstand that comes with the Nikon flash when you buy it, so it can go on the floor or on top of a bookcase or on a counter. They were also often on a magic arm attached to my tripod, or a bookcase or cabinet. Once the flash was in a refrigerator leaning against a milk carton.
For the time per shot, it varied greatly between 20 minutes and three hours, average would be an hour and a half I guess. On #33, the voice teacher had a class that night. She allowed me a quick (5 minutes) walk-through the day before. Then she let me come in at 6 pm, before the class arrived, to set up my lights (10 minutes), then I returned at 7:30 during her class and was given 10 minutes to shoot. I spent 7 minutes setting up the shot and giving direction, then shot for about 3 minutes. (She thought it took a long time!) So I got the least amount of time for the shot with the most people in it. It figures. But, I was grateful that she let me shoot at all.
Thanks for the tip o’ the hat.
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
Jim,
Thank you for your detailed description of the preparation and the process for this fascinating project. Your project has certainly inspired me, and I hope others. All of your hard-learned advice about what worked best for you is very helpful and encouraging advice. You've given me some good ideas for helping me shape an upcoming major project idea of my own.
Again, great work, and thank you so much for sharing your behind-the-scenes thinking!
Jim,
Mere words cannot describe the work you've done here. I think that rather than a magazine article this project should become a book. You have truly captured the personalities of your fellow tennants. Your work is incredible.
"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
#3,5 AND 6 ARE MY FAVOURITES. Sry, caps. They all capture people "in the moment" and "in the life." Just relaxed, like I'm there sort of feel. I appreciate the setup of the table pic... ouch. Nice gear set up tho!
I like the use of colour #30-32. Each one has a different palatte and tells a different story. Nice shots!
Steve – Thanks and good luck with the project you have shaping up. Hope you have fun with it.
Lee & cmorgan– Thank you both very much.
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p>
</o:p>As promised, here is the link to my Blurb book:
As a retired New Yorker, living somewhere else, I can appreciate the time and effort that went into this book. Just to get people not to punch you in the face when you point the camera at them, is accomplishment enough. In my best DiNiro, paraphrased of course, "Yo... you photographin' me?" ()
Actually, the people in your building seem to be a real nice bunch. I think I mentioned in a previous post to this tread, you haven't really lived in New York until you have walked the halls of an apartment building at diner time. The cacophony of aromas will always haunt you. From Mrs. Mancini's macaroni sauce, to Mrs. Gertz's matzoh ball soup, to Mrs. Kraus's bratwurst and sauerkraut. Too bad you can't make a scratch and sniff book.
Your photography of these residents has really captured their essence. After repeatedly looking at the photos and the book preview, their personalities are coming through.
Comments
Cuong
Susan – Thanks so much, glad you’ve enjoyed it. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, but after processing all these color images, I might have to switch back to black & white for a while. Also I think it’s important for me to keep using and building upon what I learned, so it doesn’t all leak out, you know? So, we’re walking over to the Met Museum for a couple hours every Friday evening to stare at portraits to see how those old painters rendered people. For instance, we learned that Degas was influenced by photography, and his compositions were considered radical for the time because of that influence. Wait, I forgot where I was going with this.:D
Here are the final images from this project. We’ll have a print show in our basement sometime after Labor Day, and I’m still working on trying to put together a Blurb book. If that happens, I will post a link here as promised.
#30
Newlyweds who moved in to the building that day.
#31
#32
#33
#34
Here are a few things I learned with this environmental portrait project:
<!--[if !supportLists]-->-<!--[endif]--> I learned about solving lighting problems using portable flash, and the importance of gobos and snoots.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned something about gripology, using a magic arm, clips, different light stands, and all those little doohickeys you need to attach a flash to something.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned how to develop a plan. Then, I learned what to do when that plan goes out the window, as it often does.
Example: The plan calls for dragging the shutter for a long exposure to burn in the room lights. Then my tripod breaks. Oops. Throw out the plan and come up with another one, while the subject is standing there staring at you waiting for you to shoot a picture. This is a good time to say “How about them Knicks?”
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I learned that many people will do what you ask so be prepared for yes.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- Through repetition and practice, I learned how to give better direction to the subjects.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I got some valuable practice at finding a composition and deciding on a lighting plan while carrying on a conversation with the subject. This was the single hardest thing for me, as I don’t multitask very well. But it’s important, because many people are nervous when they’re about to be photographed, and they want to talk when they’re nervous. I tried to get them to relax a little and I tried to get them to want the same thing I want, so we’d be working towards the same goal. In this kind of project, even if the lighting and exposure is perfect, it won’t matter unless the tenants are cool with what’s happening.
<!--[if !supportLists]--><!--[endif]-->- I got some experience at making lots of quick decisions about shooting portraits. How do you show something about a person and something of their personality in a picture? How do you best take advantage of the space you’re given? All the little technical decisions flow from the big decisions. I learned to make the big ones first. This way, the smaller decisions seem more obvious
<o:p> </o:p>
Finally, when I started this project, I wondered if the whole long experience with all the expected delays, re-scheduling, egos, disappointments and the like would sour me on photography, yet it was just the opposite. I was absolutely fascinated by photography when I started and am even more so now. Whenever I felt like I couldn’t possibly take one more picture, that I’d had it up to here and needed a break, I found that once I get my finger on the shutter for the next picture, all that stuff went away and the fire returned.
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
It has probably been asked above, but how long in general would you say you were in their apartment for each actual shoot (I'm assuming you scouted ahead of time)? I believe I read you used up to three portable flashes. Were they on stands, generally? Or more often creatively rigged?
If they were black & white I would say, submit those to Lenswork! A wonderful idea, and -- BIG AND! -- you followed through on it, not once, but twice!!
I tip my hat...
www.steveboothphotography.com
Pool/Billiards specific...
www.poolinaction.com
It has been a treat watching the progress of this project. I'm sure many of us have picked up some valuable tips in the process. Many thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Richard – Thank you very much.
Steve – Your comment regarding the compositions just made my day. Given the small rooms and time constraints, I am happy with the way the compositions came out. I spent a lot of time and effort on composition, practicing in my apartment and making sketches and studying photographers and painters who came before. As I carried my gear into each apartment for the shoot, composition was the foremost thing in my mind. I kept repeating it over and over in my head so I wouldn’t forget to pay attention to composition, trying different ones and always questioning whether the composition could be better somehow. Since I was using either a 14mm lens or a 17-55mm lens (always at 17mm), keeping vertical lines straight became very difficult. So, if I raised the camera angle (and point down) or lowered it (and point up), it really played havoc with the vertical lines, and there are lots of vertical lines in these pictures, so I really tried hard to keep them straight. Which means I had to try to keep the camera in the middle, not too low and not too high, which in turn limits the options, which makes composition all the more important. I did use lens correction in PS to straighten the vertical lines, but you can only go so far with that before you’ve cropped half your picture. Photo #26 was shot with the 14mm and I was handholding the camera on a ladder way up high near the ceiling, which totally ruined the vertical lines. I used a major amount of lens correction in PS on that one to straighten all those vertical lines, forcing a substantial crop, but I thought it was worth it to get their expressions in bed and the taxi at the corner of 107th and Broadway, both in the same shot.
Re <<< scouting ahead of time>>>, I asked for a “walk-through” a day or two in advance of the shoot, so I could come in and take a few snaps, see the space, and come up with an idea for a picture. However, I didn’t think to ask for this until the first 10 or 12 were done. And I didn’t always get it. In the end, I got a chance for a “walk-through” in advance on about half the shots (16). For the rest it was just a one time deal. It sure did help though when I was granted a walk through ahead of time. It definitely improved the results.
Lights (my flashes only, this does not include room lights)
2 shots had no lights at all (#11 and #19)
1 shot had 1 light (#21)
7 shots had 2 lights
15 shots had 3 lights
7 shots had 4 lights
1 shot had 7 lights (#12 and #13 – same setup)
The majority of the time the lights were on lightstands. But they were often on the little flat lightstand that comes with the Nikon flash when you buy it, so it can go on the floor or on top of a bookcase or on a counter. They were also often on a magic arm attached to my tripod, or a bookcase or cabinet. Once the flash was in a refrigerator leaning against a milk carton.
For the time per shot, it varied greatly between 20 minutes and three hours, average would be an hour and a half I guess. On #33, the voice teacher had a class that night. She allowed me a quick (5 minutes) walk-through the day before. Then she let me come in at 6 pm, before the class arrived, to set up my lights (10 minutes), then I returned at 7:30 during her class and was given 10 minutes to shoot. I spent 7 minutes setting up the shot and giving direction, then shot for about 3 minutes. (She thought it took a long time!) So I got the least amount of time for the shot with the most people in it. It figures. But, I was grateful that she let me shoot at all.
Thanks for the tip o’ the hat.
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
Thank you for your detailed description of the preparation and the process for this fascinating project. Your project has certainly inspired me, and I hope others. All of your hard-learned advice about what worked best for you is very helpful and encouraging advice. You've given me some good ideas for helping me shape an upcoming major project idea of my own.
Again, great work, and thank you so much for sharing your behind-the-scenes thinking!
www.steveboothphotography.com
Pool/Billiards specific...
www.poolinaction.com
Mere words cannot describe the work you've done here. I think that rather than a magazine article this project should become a book. You have truly captured the personalities of your fellow tennants. Your work is incredible.
Thank you for sharing.
__________________
My SmugMug Gallery
My Facebook
"If you've found a magic that does something for you, honey, stick to it. Never change it." - Mae West, to Edith Head.
"Every guy has to have one weakness - and it might as well be a good one." - Shell Scott: Dance With the Dead by Richard S. Prather
I like the use of colour #30-32. Each one has a different palatte and tells a different story. Nice shots!
*
http://member.onemodelplace.com/member.cfm?P_ID=214042
Lee & cmorgan– Thank you both very much.
<o:p> </o:p>
<o:p>
</o:p>As promised, here is the link to my Blurb book:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/293860
Thanks for looking.
Jim
I don't want the cheese, I just want to get out of the trap.
http://www.jimwhitakerphotography.com/
great job
My Gallery
Actually, the people in your building seem to be a real nice bunch. I think I mentioned in a previous post to this tread, you haven't really lived in New York until you have walked the halls of an apartment building at diner time. The cacophony of aromas will always haunt you. From Mrs. Mancini's macaroni sauce, to Mrs. Gertz's matzoh ball soup, to Mrs. Kraus's bratwurst and sauerkraut. Too bad you can't make a scratch and sniff book.
Your photography of these residents has really captured their essence. After repeatedly looking at the photos and the book preview, their personalities are coming through.
Great Book. Good Luck.
"Never leave home without a camera"