Scattered Thoughts . . .

W e did a photo shoot with Lukey and Kenzie at sunset last night.  At around 6:30 yesterday evening, we headed out for a nearby grassy field where I could put the setting sun behind them.  It worked out fairly well and the kids learned a little bit about the real difficulties of modeling.  The kids learned that good modeling is about knowing which angles and poses work well for you...  about knowing how to express a natural smile and not a forced plastic goofy smile...  about knowing which clothes make you look good...  it is about knowing what to do with your eyes, your hands, your feet, your chin, every part of your body.  What they learned is that modeling is not about simply being a beautiful, attractive person and just standing there but that modeling is actually a verb that requires a lot of knowledge, skills and abilities.   This was good practice for me too.  I haven't done any sort of photo shoot in about two years or more.  Shooting portraits with the sun behind your mode

Our visit earlier in the day to The Palace of Fine Arts was beautiful and, honestly, I could have spent another few hours there just shooting photos of the gardens, architecture and wildlife.  I am drawn to classic architecture and this architecture is classic, immense and not something you see often on this continent.  Additionally, there was plenty of wildlife to capture in images all day long as well.   The environment, as a whole, was peaceful and comfortable while the weather was sunny and beautiful especially since we were still mostly accustomed to the snowy, wintry weather we had departed just a week earlier.  Unfortunately, our time in San Francisco was very limited since this was just one city of many we visited during our long cross-country journey by rail.  We had a lot to fit into two short weeks so there was no lingering to be done during any of our sightseeing excursions.  Before long, we needed to get going.  We had one more thing planned for our day after walking a

On the rare occasions when I am asked by friends to shoot some studio photographs, Sheila becomes my default assistant. We often will need to reschedule these few shoots due to my health and then try to find a 'good' day in between bouts of poor health so scheduling a shoot is always a bit of a nightmare. I enjoy studio work though and wish I had better health to do this more often. (Actually, if I were healthy, I would probably own a photography studio... among a few other things... I've even sketched my own studio designs!)   Just a quick photo shoot requires a lot of prep work such as testing all gear, recharging batteries, creating a shooting plan, moving gear, setting up gear, etc.  The easiest part of a photo shoot is the actual shooting time with the model/client  but don't confuse this with being "easy" because a lot of things can go wrong, a lot of things can be done incorrectly and shooting photos requires technical, creative and artistic sk