Bali, Portrait

Balinese Child

Have been here in Bali since last Friday and not much in the way of photography - just working mostly and out of the image head.

Yesterday we moved locations and ended up right on the Indian Ocean and all that changed - the east has ocean, beach, clouds, mountains and a totally different vibe from the north.. Peaked my EYE immediately as we made the trek from the north to the east......

This morning I got out at 530AM and the driver took me to a small fishing village about 30 minutes form the hotel - the boats go out at 3AM and return at 9AM so I was not able to catch one coming back in early . But for me the little girl in the photo above made my day...she was sitting as her mother prepared the store that would sell the catch of the day.

How can one not photograph those eyes... And I like that she is looking directly at me .....

Need to get out one more time before leaving Bali on Saturday for Singapore. 

Ireland, Portrait

Couple and Dog, Finny, Ireland

Last winter while traveling in Finny, Ireland we met this couple on a small road just about wide enough for the vehicle we were driving. They stopped our car to let us know the road ended about a mile ahead and I asked about a portrait, to which they agreed. Sometimes you just have to travel the road less traveled......

iPhone Portraiture

Jeff

 

I have been using my iPhone for portraits for quite some time, mostly using the application Hipstamatic as well as various other iPhone camera applications.

My favorite Hipstamatic lens and film combination is the JohnS lens with Kodot Grizzled film. I enjoy the softness of this combination and the way it renders the face. Additionally I like using this in low light situations as in the portrait of Jeff posted today which was done in a hallway in the Tropicana Hotel Theater.

As most of you know I process images in any was that gets them to what I am seeing - this one is no different - I used NIK Snapseed and Old Photo Pro on the iPad and then transferred the image to my laptop and made some global adjustments using NIK Color EFX Pro4 before making local adjustments in Photoshop CS6.

Give it a try - you might like the results....

PS: This lens and film combo works well for landscape, including panorama images and street photography.

Jimmy John's

Jimmy John's Delivery Person

Sometimes you just have to be there......I was shooting at a studio in Denver yesterday and we ordered food from Jimmy John's for lunch. My cell phone rings and this female voice tells me the food is here but she can not find the studio door. So I volunteer to go outside and guide her in, and, immediately upon seeing her my photographic bell starts ringing.....I just loved everything about her right down to the pearls and the pen hanging off her t-shirt...she agrees and the image is posted today.

Sometimes reality does inspire....

Nicoli and Family

Nicoli and Family 

Scanned from a Polaroid Type 55 negative - image was made in my Brooklyn studio circa 1996. The child in the image is probably 14 or 15 years old by now.....quite the reflection on time.

Mime - Copenhagen

Mime, Copenhagen, Denmark

Lately I seem to be attracted to portrait work.....shooting a good deal with prime lenses, specifically the 85MM and 135MM Canon. Have also been making portraits with the iPhone4 using the Hipstamatic Camera which have a completely different more organic feel. You can see the Hipstamatic Portraits on my iPhone blog - http://iPhone-Antics.blogspot.com.

Image photographed using a Canon 5DMKII, 85MM Canon Prime Lens
Image Management in Photoshop CS5

King Henry

As the TV show once said, 'there are 8 million stories in the naked city, this has been one of them'. This portrait.  is a Henry, aka King Henry, a fixture in modern day Coney Island.

As with most of the characters in Coney Island, Henry appears to be from a totally different time and place, other then the year 2011. Is it Coney or is it the person. I believe that Coney Island has a way of stopping time - when I visit it conjures up imagery from special days when as a youth a good deal of time was spent at Nathan's and various other Coney iconic locations.

A friend wrote me this morning and said this image was every bit as detailed as landscape - never quite thought about these portraits in that way and I thank her for opening a new train of thought about the work. I have kept these images around for quite some time and am happy to see them in this new light.

Captured with a Canon 5DMKII, 24-105MM Lens, converted to black and white using a LAB Conversion method

Peter Frampton

Peter Frampton, 1976

Yesterday's post led me back into the music archives and a redux of a portrait I did of Peter Frampton, circa 1976 - this time in Black and White.

Background story is that I had this friend, Robyn, who worked for Peter's record label in New York. One night, very late, she came by the studio unannounced and brought Peter and his then girlfriend Penny over to do some photos. We shot several portraits and a few of Peter and Penny together in about 30 minutes and, poof, they were gone.