On the sidewalk of Mission Street ...

... many people will walk in and out of your life ... only true friends will leave footprints in your heart ...

Wednesday May 14, 2009

Heather, make up Christal Saville

Primal scream

Worked with April and Lauren Warner yesterday ... Lauren came up with a fun make up concept for April and April lived her emotions ;-) ... this model doesn't act it ... she lives it ... raw

This series was pretty much shot on the street in San Francisco ... onlookers didn't believe their eyes ... ;-)

3 minute shoot, 3 primal expressions ... fear ... anger ... pain ... 

None of these images were posed ... they were lived ... the way I like it ... love photojournalism ;-)

April models fashion, fine art and she just starred her first leading role in an indie film.

Brussels - Philiadelphia - San Francisco

Yes ... on my way back home ... long travel ahead ...

It was good to see all the family pulling together ... it was also good to see my two sons on the occasion and spend some time with them talking about what's important in their lives at this point.

I have 4 sisters and I sure hope that the passing of mom doesn't mean we don't get to see each other together anymore ... everyone would get together out our mom's home of 40 years ... things will be different now ... we'll need to come up with a way to continue somehow this tradition of getting all together around the table once and a while

Brussels Airport lounges are high-way robbery when it comes to Internet access.  Just paid 20 Euro for 4 hours of wireless access ... need only an hour but this is the smallest package available ... corporate greed ?

Edited some pics on this trip ... need to send them out when I'm home ...

Time to go to the gate ...

Continued ...

Surface Miner

is what Speedy Bob aka Metal Man calls himself.

Speedy Bob scavenges the streets around the Civic Center in San Francisco.  I met him at the BART station when I was waiting on a ride on New Years Eve ...

Bob, long curly unkempt brown hair and beard, dressed in jeans and a pullover that had seen better times goes on and explains me in a very animated way that he's sick and tired of being called a homeless, bum, dumpster diver, recycler ... he simply prefers "surface miner" ... I never heard the term before so I found it funny and wrote it down

Bob mines the surface of San Francisco ...

We're both looking at an empty pack of cigarettes lying in the gutter ... Bob says ... "let me show you, I'm sure there's still a cigarette in there ..." 

Bob stoops down, scoops the pack up and opens it ... a big smile appears on his face and he yells ... "See I told you" and he holds the pack my way ... I take a peek and count 12 cigarettes and 2 joints ...

Bob pulls the joints out, sniffs them and says ... "There's good weed in here ... I get $10 for the two of them" ... we start laughing ... my ride shows up ... 

Happy New Year Bob, keep mining that surface ...

A beautiful day ...

... sightseeing with Ankha along the I 1 while babbling Dutch ... from Aptos over Half Moon Bay and Pacifica to San Francisco ... great weather and what a surf ... 

Catching the blimp over San Francisco from the Marin Headlands and waiting on sunset while pondering synchronicity  ... priceless ... 

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 was a different experience thanks to an invitation of NatLight Studios to participate in a city shoot ... and what it shoot it was !  Images below show me in action and are courtesy (c) of NatLight Studios. 

Model is Sarah Ellis, make-up by Lauren Warner.

It is inevitable to have a few funny things happening during a public shoot.  

First of all, our ad hoc "audience" was always very respectful and at no time were there any disturbances.

The shoot was always low key when children were in the neighborhood.

At times the crowd would applaud the model after the location session.

One young gentleman asked me if I would shoot him just when we were moving on to another spot.

I had given hem my business card and he called within 5 minutes to find out where the next shooting location was going to be ... ;-) ... we made a fan !

All had fun and we shot some top notch images.

No animals were harmed during this production ... (j/k)

No weekend fun !

Report writing on Saturday  ... it's that time of the year ...

More report writing on Sunday ... one break to go check out a potential new studio space ... fabulous location ... alas ... fabulous $$$ ... this is the SF Bay Area after all ...

My boom-box died ... replaced ... can listen to music again ...

No editing, no retouching

Continued ...

Tuesday, September 2, 2008.

Mildly sunburned from yesterday ... no surprise ... it always gets me ... fair complexion and always forget the sunscreen ... was a beautiful day though ...

Dealt with the insurance for my rear-end collision from yesterday ... wait and see what the adjuster comes up with ... my rear AMG bumper is totally shot and I don't trust the rattle in the car ... there could be more wrong than what the eye sees ...

Finally got to work on some more retouching.   

A continuation of my Betcee May series in the creek ... a gracious flow of movement ... it was a spur of the moment thing ... Betcee picked up effortless on my feedback to repeat a pose and the ensuing "dance" yielded a great series.  Betcee is always aware of  where the photographer is and how to move and position her body for maximum impact and elegance.  This model never ceases to amaze me.

The image below is from April, shot in London (ON) on a balcony.  I'll be posting more of these fashion styled images.  April needs little direction to come up with styled poses in a fluid movement.

Continue to work with Susie on plans for a San Francisco trip in mid to late October.

Maybe we can make Susie's and April's trip coincide and put both models together 

Talked to my mom on the phone also ... it was good to hear her voice ... we both needed this talk.

Hurricane in New Orleans ... terrible thought ...

Continued ...

Friday, August 22, 2008

Busy day at work and still dealing with the fall-out of a broken BlackBerry the other weekend.

Trip to Finland is cancelled.

Working on more pictures and a multi-shoot story-line.  Wardrobe selection in SF for my next LA shoot ... is going to be something different than what I normally do ... planning to shoot multiple models in the same space ... vintage alluring fashion ... meeting of the minds with N. ... more candid shots.

April sent me another pic from the previous weekend ... me ... as seen through the lens of my model ... lol ... no one ever takes pics of me.

Getting ready to shoot a wedding tomorrow, has been a while since I shot one but I love them ... challenging and rewarding at the same time.

Continued ...