Pre-Production: Change

I have been thinking that my portfolio will be environmental/editorial portraits. So my final photo will be an environmental portrait of a tattoo artist in his shop. The reason for picking a tattoo artist is because his line of work means causing permanent changes to peoples bodies/appearance/self-esteem/wallet. I did not necessarily want to display the change in the photograph. I did think of a before and after portrait of someone after a tattoo to reflect change but that is not the route I really wanted to go with this.

I contacted my old friend Manny and will be shooting at his shop while it is twilight hour outside, ideally his shop would have windows to reflect this. As a side I'm hoping to get him in the studio for a simple portrait in black and white.

Pre-Production: Up or Down

Since I seem to be sticking to people for my work in this class, I was thinking of shooting a person I know practicing jujitsu who is in an upside down position. I was hoping to catch her in a pose while her and a partner are sparing. I do not want to limit it to this straight on angle, I also want to photograph it from a downward and upward angle - not straight down/up- to see what would work better.

Straight down angles could work with this as well

I will go to the BJJ club on campus Wednesday to shoot in their actual environment and hope to recruit someone else for her to spar with and shoot them. I also will look into the room being available to bring in lights to shoot on the mats, because the original idea to shoot in the studio would not work without mats to roll around on. 

Hero Post: Culture

Being that we had a week to work on this project, for me that meant just the weekend. I had two images in mind both associated with coffee. Colombian and Kona. For Colombian I was hoping to associate the main colors with the flag and for the Kona a Hawaiian looking environment that had no grass skirts or coconuts.
So Saturday I luckily was meeting with friends in the morning and begged one who was running on 4 hours of sleep to model for me at a cafe in Sylmar. I stopped at michaels and grabbed a flower to hot glue to a clip and voila made hair clip. I also picked up some fake ferns to stick in the background.
Before heading from North Hollywood to Sylmar one of my friends did her make up a "natural" look that was well rested and off we went to the cafe.

Makeup by Bella Villeda

As we got there it was pouring rain, the sidewalks were flooded. not so Great so we went inside the walls were blue so I tried some photos inside with a speed light bouncing off the ceiling, but the cafe is so tiny and busy they were looking like candid snapshots.

Buffalo Bruce's cafe interior

So after a bit I went outside while it had picked up to a light rain and much better lighting. I set up the area and then had her sit on my jacket. while I snapped a few under a patio umbrella. She was cold so it did not last too long. A resident kitty decided to make a cameo, he really added to it.

Before edits

Before edits

For Sunday's Colombian Coffee theme I luckily asked my friend who is recovering from a bike accident if she had time to be my model. Fortunately for me she is limited in her activities right now. So we drove down to Boyle heights with a chair and small table. I painted the coke bottles that morning to add the other predominate flag colors of the Colombian flag. We found the sought out yellow wall of the Appetito restaurant and set up next to the musicians. There were these blue blocks where the musicians were seated we tried that but there was a white cloth hanging with a large crucifix and there was some tagging on it. I didn't want too much there to take away from the Colombian colors. We shot for a while the people walking by were walking by curiously. It was a nice change from the prior project where everything seemed to be a problem.

alternate

Pre Production: Culture

The two cultures I wanted to portray for my photographs in relation to my two favorite coffee blends. I was thinking Colombian and Kona coffee and respectively themed photographs.

For the Colombian coffee scene I would like to find a small bistro set and sit my model  with a mug of coffee. I am thinking of setting it up in front of a bright yellow wall. I know of one in Boyle heights if I can't find one closer sooner. I'm hoping to incorporate the colors of the flag by painting some bottles on the table red and blue.

Boyle Heights wall - Photo by: Michelle Moran

I'm hoping to recruit my Colombian friend to be my model she may have attire appropriate incorporate more to the style I was going for with the photograph.





For the alternate Kona Coffee scene I was hoping to have the environment look more Hawaiian I was thinking of finding a model with a flower behind her ear with long dark hair wearing a long flowy dress that she could wear and some island style jewelry to be used. I would like to shoot in an actual coffee shop, ideally Buffalo Bruces in Sylmar they have wonderful colorful settings inside and out. If I could bring a potted fern plant, I would like to incorporate that into the  background of the shot. I would craft a centerpiece for the table. 

Buffalo Bruces

Actual Cafe in Kauai

WIP Post: Time

1.3 sec F/20

For my Time Photo I headed to Union Station with a gorilla pod and some neutral density filters.

Upon my arrival I saw so many security guards and staff on the floor being watchdogs telling people they cant have such big carry on, walk don't run, can't sit there I instantly was to apprehensive to risk setting the gorillapod down. The moment I took my camera out a security guard came and walked by me twice before I took any photos. I went to check in with a guard who seemed in charge, rather than piss them off after the fact as advised by Anneka. They stated it was fine with the camera and lens I had and the fact that I was a student. They just reminded me no flash and no tripods. So I tried to make do with what I had to work with and braced myself along some columns. My shutter was set a random times between 1-2 seconds depending on the lighting. I was hoping for more crowds but some groups would come in waves. I imagine it was more active on Saturday than other days of the week with more weekend travelers.

Unedited

Upon looking at the shots, there were many shots with ghostly figures but the shot that stood out to me most was one with a man who stayed relatively still while there is movement all around him.  The other shots seemed too far from the action, a closer human element was the reason for the Hero pick.

Alternate shot

Alternate shot

WIP Post: Direction

Snow conditions turned into a blizzard and Long Boarder alternative flaked on me. So I then changed my own direction for a night shot hoping to capture the direction of a car with a long exposure. As I'm driving scouting locations I come to think of how that sort of shot would fit with a niche and I think since time was related to a Los Angeles landmark Union station, I could relate it Los Angeles travel or tourism that could be in an Instax ad about LA travel Probably.

Exposure test shot

So I tried to find an ideal angle showing the Griffith Observatory and the directional light trail of a car. In an effort to move away from the parking lot and its hideous lights I saw cars parked along the lower east end of the lot. I found a way to move my own car there to add some height to my short tripod. I messed around to find a suitable exposure between 2 and 2.5 minutes and then I waited for any car to turn on and drive down. After 20 minutes I saw lights and I opened the shutter for about 40 seconds come to find that it was just a golf cart type vehicle coming to the car in front of mine to grab some items from the trunk. I stopped the shutter. Then I waited 15 more minutes before another care came along. I opened the shutter for the remaining time to hit the 2minute 15 second mark I was aiming for. I found that the observatory was not as crisp, I swear it was the tiny earthquake I did feel my car shake a bit... So I would attempt one more shot hoping it would take just one car and no time in between exposures. I heard a car coming up the hill I opened my shutter and it turned out to be the park ranger pulling up next to me to tell me I could not be there it was an employee lot and I clearly bypassed the cones to get there. I asked if would ask if she was driving up the lot so I can just complete my shot and leave and then she told me she could give me a ticket and with that I thanked her and left.
For an Instax photo I think it is definitely worthy to be used.

Employee lot

Setup. Jacket blocking the street light