Changes... they are a-coming

I’ve spent much most of the holiday time rethinking and reworking my web presence, such as it is, including this blog, my website portfolio, Flickr, and Twitter. They were a collective mess, really—no integration and, at least in presentation, little to separate them from the already crowed field. So, changes… they are a-coming.

For today, I’m unveiling the beta of my new blog. No, it’s not on Blogger: I wanted a platform and an interface that offered more flexibility than Blogger.

Among many other things, I wanted multiple pages, and I wanted to be able to make those pages look different from other pages on the same site. And I wanted an interface that afforded rapid prototyping as well as line-level coding changes. I also wanted to offer both public and limited-access content. And of course I wanted a robust, scalable platform that would allow me to import all my Blogger content and to backup that content to an industry-standard XML formatted file.

There are many great blogging platforms out there besides Blogger, including WordPress and Moveable Type as well as their hosted variations wordpress.com and typepad.com. But what I ended up not wanting was a self-hosted site. While we all promise to say our prayers and back up our data, the reality is that we don’t. So placing the safety of redundancy on someone else’s shoulders became a requirement for me.

So what did I choose? Squarespace. It met all of my requirements and then some. But as many of you may know, Squarespace is not free, and since we are all now addicted accustomed to free, that’s something many will find hard to swallow. But there is a benefit: They are in business to serve their customers and not to sell ads. That is a refreshing concept. And their service thus far has been stellar.

Finally, I wanted a site that would be fun to look at without compromising the readability of the post. Please visit my new blog site and leave a comment letting me know if my goals were achieved.

The new blog URL will change after I map my domain name, but for the time being, you can see it here.

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Today’s image: Danielle, lit with a small softbox at camera right, a small umbrella for fill just left of camera, and a shoe-mount strobe above and slightly behind her.

This and that...

Twitter. The problem with Twitter, of course, is the surface noise, much of which is peppered with phrases beginning and ending with the word like, like you know, like what you hear when you tune into most adolescent conversations these days. But below the surface, sometimes way below, you will find a current of emerging ideas—this is the cool part.

I opened a Twitter account during the last big fire and used it to let friends and family know what was going on. While it served that purpose well, I didn’t yet understand how I might use it for the Boudoir Photographer.

Now I do.

It became obvious after I read this scobleizer blog post and watched the interview of Guy Kawasaki, an influential Silicon Valley guy who some of you will remember as the original Apple Software Evangelist. I watched the video because I believe Guy has the long view: I knew him back in the mid eighties—yes, before the Internet, global email, and social networks such as Twitter—and since then have read many of his columns and interviews.

Anyway, since I’m pretty sure no one is interested in what I’m doing every hour of the day, I’ve decided to align my twittering with the blog and keep it oriented toward education and (some) marketing. I’ve added an RSS feed to the column on the right that will show my last three Twitter updates; click the follow me link at the bottom to see the rest of them. Let me know what you think.
Oh, and if you’re going to use Twitter, you need this. And if you want to see what others are reading and talking about, check this out.

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Teaching. I taught an all-day class at Calumet San Diego a few weeks ago entitled The Intimate Female Portrait. The focus of the class was the client-photographer interaction, that is, the relationship you establish for the photo shoot. Lucky for me that turned out to be what they most wanted to learn—what they most wanted to see, hear, and experience. So it was even luckier that I decided to bring a model and my hair & makeup artist. 

I’m delighted to report that attendee feedback was so good that I’ll be teaching it again on Saturday, March 7, 2009. If you’re in the area and interested in more information, check here.

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More teaching. I’m planning a boudoir photography workshop for mid-February. It will be limited to just nine photographers. I’ve got the location nailed down (a bed & breakfast in my area), and I’m working on a sponsorship for the lighting setups. When the date is set, I’ll post it here and on Twitter.

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Business. These are difficult times, and they’re about to get quite a bit worse. If you own a business, I recommend reading Fear Kills Businesses, Dead. And either way, I recommend reading the insightful Charles Hugh Smith.

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In the mail. I’ve received several emails asking whether I’m going to use the new remote triggers from Paul Buff. Yes, I am, but not until the entire system, including the Cyber Commander, is available. I’m using the older system now, which allows me to set individual lights remotely in 1/10 second increments, but I use it in conjunction with Pocket Wizards and a Sekonic L-358 (with Pocket Wizard triggering built-in). As a result I have to carry a light meter, the older Paul Buff transmitter, and a Pocket Wizard transmitter (attached to the camera). I’m hoping to pare that down to one Cyber Commander. Because they’ve done so in the past, I’m expecting a 30-day money back guarantee, leaving plenty of time for testing.

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On the blogsphere. Lot’s of interesting thoughts this week:

• Fluffytek: The Outsiders
• Pretty Girl Shooter: Photographers? We Don’t Need No Stinking Photographers
• Hotel Room Nudes: Electricity as we know it…
• Studiomarcotte: The Decline of Fashion Photography (read the comments)
• Rick Horowitz: A Darwinian Theory of Fashion Photography

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That’s it for now. Thank you so much for your readership. Merry Christmas to all.

Because Studios Are Not Sexy

Not long ago, someone asked me why I no longer use a studio. My answer: Because studios are not sexy. There are the occasional exceptions, of course, but the typical studio camera room is purpose built to satisfy the requirements of the person behind the camera, not the one in front of it. It’s a space where all the gear is right where the innately obsessive-compulsive photographer expects it to be. It’s a controlling controlled space where we believe we can guarantee the outcome.

When you’re shooting private clients for boudoir, that’s a recipe for what I call “the frozen look of intimidation.” Try this: Walk into a strange studio, turn on the modeling lights, and you walk in front of the camera wearing something particularly revealing. How do you feel? Believe me, she feels a hell of a lot worse.

So here’s what I do now. I rent a warm inviting bed and breakfast. It makes everyone smile: me, Patty, my hair and makeup artist, and most of all, our client. There’s real furniture, which we use not only for relaxing and planning the day’s work but also for props. There are windows for fresh air and light as well as for the occasional needed distraction. There’s a kitchen for lunch, and the shower, hot tub, and pool for the wet scenes. The client can even spend the night after the shoot. Perfect? For the client and the outcome, absolutely! But for the photographer accustomed to their studio, cutting that umbilical cord can be a painful experience.

In the beginning, I thought I could ease that pain by bringing it all with me, you know, sort of the hairshirt approach. I’d haul a trailer loaded with enough gear for two or three studio setups plus everything needed to shoot a Ms. Fitness World or Natural Olympia contest in Las Vegas (because that’s what I did back then). It was a real back breaker for a boudoir shoot, though, because invariably what I needed was in the middle or the back of the trailer, you know, behind a couple of 150 pound cases, or worse, behind a slew of weight bags.

And naturally, everything had to be set up just like the studio I left behind, which took hours and hours, leaving little time for the actual shoot. It was both exhausting and exasperating.

To save myself, I had to make drastic changes. I decided to pare down to what would fit into the back of our Passat wagon. For a self-proclaimed gear geek like I am this was an excruciating ordeal. I fretted about every tool, clamp, cable, stand, modifier, or widget left behind. But over time, I got there. These days, I’m down to one rolling case, a backdrop bag, and a couple of carry bags for stands and fabric frames. We’re in the door with two trips and ready to shoot in under two hours. For me, that’s a miracle.

And less gear dictates simpler setups. These days, my typical setup comprises three lights: a key light, generally a small or medium octobox; a fill light, usually an umbrella; and a back/hair light, either a small umbrella or a reflector with barn doors. This simple setup works out well for boudoir because it’s all about the woman in front of the camera. If the viewer notices my lighting before noticing her, then I screwed up.

In terms of brands, I use Paul Buff monolights (Alien Bees and White Lightnings) because I can adjust individual light output without leaving my shooting position; Pocket wizards because they always work; light modifiers from Photek USA because of their high quality and fair pricing; and light panels from Photoflex because they’re easy to set up.

The changes I’ve made have allowed everyone to have more fun at the photo shoots, but what’s most important—the really beautiful part of all this—is that the new environment encourages and enables the client to be the sexy, provocative woman she wants to see in the final pictures.

Today’s image: a recent client shot on location using the lighting setup described above. She’s leaning on a copper fireplace flue—something I haven’t seen in even the best equipped studios.

Do Your Pictures Have Answers?

Who knows what prompted it—an idle conversation, an article in Cosmo, or perhaps too many nights in front of the TV, who knows? Whatever it was, she’s thinking about pictures. Sexy pictures. Of herself. For her guy. So she jumps on her favorite search engine to look for a list of boudoir photographers based on location, cost, and references. Right?

Wrong. Those things are nowhere near her radar yet. All she wants now is to find pictures that make her feel a personal connection, that make her feel sexy, that make her believe she could be in that picture—for him. And if she doesn’t experience that vicarious thrill while looking at your pictures, she won’t give a damn about where you are, what you charge, or what others think about you.

So what kind of pictures make the boudoir bar? What’s different about them? And why do so many miss the mark?

Well, in short, they are intimate pictures with a sexual message. The kind of intimacy that comes from within. You can’t apply it with makeup, sculpt it with light, or add it with Photoshop. She must bring it to the party and allow you to see it. I’m talking about that glance… that gesture… or that look that tells her intended viewer, “Hey, I’m real, you can touch me.” Without this intimacy her sexual message won’t be heard; but with it, she will radiate passion and telegraph her desire.

By a very wide margin, more pictures miss that mark than not, and they do so because the photographer fails to deliver on the only two things that matter: the intimacy and the message. Try this test. Look at the boudoir pictures in this post—or have someone look at one of yours—and ask these questions: (1) What does she want to share with the viewer? (2) What does she want the viewer to know about her? (3) What does she want from her intended audience?

If you felt an answer to at least one of these questions, then it’s the kind of picture your prospective customers may connect with. On the other hand, if the first thing you thought was, “wow, cool lighting,” or “great outfit,” or “that’s interesting, check out those little bird wings on her eyebrow makeup,” then, my friend, you’re looking at an example of photographer-induced style trumping substance. That doesn’t work for boudoir.

Boudoir is all about her and her message. The other elements of the picture—makeup, hair style, wardrobe, and the entire scene around her—serve only as the supporting cast. Lose sight of this, and your pictures will soon be filled with expressionless, over-styled women posing stiffly in make-believe sets that will suck out whatever intimacy might have been left.

Today’s images: At the top is Julie, lit with one beauty light at camera left and one medium gold reflector at camera right; and in the center is Melyssa, lit with a 60” umbrella at camera left.

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And now for something new…

I looked around the Internet for an image that might further illustrate this post. For whatever reason, I was drawn back to a site I first visited several years ago—that of Canadian portrait photographer Lloyd Erlick. I find his work endlessly fascinating. While not boudoir, it is certainly intimate, and there’s much to be learned from studying his portraits and reading his comments. Start with “Naughty Nana”.

I also looked around the Internet for an image that would illustrate what happens when you fail. (I have plenty of my own examples, of course, but hey, why not pick on others when you can.) But then I thought better of the idea. I mean, it is possible that some might not take it in the educational spirit I intended.

If you know of an image, either yours or another’s, that illustrates a concept discussed on this blog, please email me the link (legal attribution is required).

First Things First

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, so you may wonder where I’ve been. I think the photo on the right tells the story pretty well—that’s me with the cellphone camera sitting on the… well, you’ll figure it out.

Since that shot, I’ve reassessed how I waste spend my time. Like a lot of you, I’ve always had a grab bag of things on my plate—this blog being one of them. And I’ve always counted it a good day when my checked-off to-do items reached a new high. But that was wrong-headed thinking. What I should have been doing is concentrating on doing the right things, not just the most things. So, I put aside David Allen’s Getting Things Done and concentrated on Stephen Covey’s First Things First. Things are getting better now.

For those unfamiliar with Covey, he’s all about keeping your life in balance by working on those strategic projects that move you toward your big picture goals. Using his plan, you assign projects and tasks to one of four quadrants: (1) urgent and important; (2) important but not urgent; (3) urgent but not important; and (4) not urgent and not important.

When you find yourself wondering what’s wrong with your life—as I did—it’s usually because you’ve avoided all the stuff that should be in quadrant two (important but not urgent). Things like preparing for known life challenges, clarifying values, and working on important relationships. Of course, these aren’t nearly as easy and fun as “meet so-and-so at camera store,” “check out new TIVO device from Apple,” or “rent that new [fill in your dream camera here] for a day.”

So, what the hell does all this have to do with my blog or boudoir photography? Well, everything, really. I stopped posting because I felt strongly that what I did here fell into quadrant four—that it was neither urgent nor important. So why bother?

And had the need to express myself beyond the photographic print not been rekindled, I wouldn’t be writing this post. As it turns out, that rekindling resulted from the confluence of two recent events. First, preparing for a class I taught recently (The Intimate Female Portrait); and second, a friend’s request to write a quite difficult letter (something I did in my former life on a weekly basis). Midway through these tasks, I realized that while not urgent, writing for me is actually quite important—for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to exercise and discipline my thought processes in ways not afforded by any part of the photographic process.

Writing and teaching moved from quadrant four to quadrant two because they became pathways to self-actualization. As a result, I decided to continue blogging, at least in some form. And I’ll continue to emphasize education while including the personal interactions so necessary for this type of work. I do not consider the blogging effort urgent, however, as others do with their blogs, so I can guarantee neither frequency nor length.

And now, the information you’ve all been waiting for, the lighting setup for the image at the top of this post: unmodified overhead fluorescent. Sexy, huh?