Self Portrait :: Self Assignment

I recently picked up a copy of Vanity Fair Magazine.  It contains a great spread by the famed Annie Leibovitz.  I’m not ashamed to say I really don’t know that much about Annie.  I know she is a famous photographer and has photographed pretty much every famous person on earth.  My knowledge stops there.  I don’t know what her contribution is to the photographic community, I don’t know her personal history, how she got her start etc.  What I do know is that when I saw the portraits, I loved them and immediately felt a connection to the style and manner in which they were shot.  Clean, simple, yet powerful.  This is a style that I like and would love to communicate in my own work.  As photographers we absorb everything we see.  We are visual sponges and some of that information gets used in our work and some doesn’t.  Most of the time whether we want to or not.  It becomes engrained in us.  We all strive to be our own artist with our own unique vision, however our vision really becomes layered with how we’ve seen things through others eyes.  Everything influences.  Just as I saw these portraits and knew that I loved the style, I began to withdrawal information from them and add it to the already growing pile of information I already have.  I don’t want to shoot like Annie, I want to shoot like Shawn.  But if I can learn something from her and add those lessons to lessons I have already learned then I move one step closer to creating my own unique perspective.  All artists imitate.  I don’t think of it as stealing, I think of it as imitation with the intent on learning new things.  I set forth to shoot a self portrait much like the shot Annie took of Matt Damon for VF.  It is simple, poignant, and attractive.  You can see her portrait here.  You can see mine below.  The jury is still kinda out on this one.  I think I got the key light fairly close given the shadows on the face, but what I struggled with is the toning and contrast.  The color I think missed as well.  Actually the more I look at it, I pretty much missed.  Is it a good photo?  Sure.  I learned a lot while shooting it and I did identify some distinct differences between my photo and Annie’s.  Background is way different.  I thought it was just a seamless at first but then realized it’s more of a textured painted muslin or canvas. My white balance is off as it tends to be.  That is something I really struggle with and this project confirmed that.  I am definitely not as good looking as Matt, but that’s neither here nor there.  My Key light needed to be a bit more overhead to create more of a shadow under the brow.  In the end I ended up adding layers of crap over it to make more crap.  I have a feeling that Annie’s photo was much more “out of the camera” than mine.  All lessons learned.  I love this type of work and really want to focus towards doing more of it.

Tim Tebow

A lot has been said lately about Tim Tebow and his roller coaster ride this year as the Denver Broncos starting quarterback.  You would be hard pressed to find any sports programming where there wasn’t some mention of Tim and his unbelievable run to the playoffs and beyond.  There are many out there that, quite frankly, were sick of hearing about him and what he was or wasn’t doing.  At first I was flirting with that group, thinking that maybe too much was being made of this kid.  But as the season progressed and he began to orchestrate one incredible comeback after another I was reeled in.  What can I say, I’m a sucker for drama.  Here was a true to life Rocky story.  A kid who was touted as a great college athlete, but would never make it as a pro. What did Tebow do?  In his own words he “did what everyone told him he couldn’t do.”  Seriously.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it is a great story and boy was it fun to watch, especially the way he put it on the Steelers in the playoffs.  Well, the Bronco’s run is over thanks to the tandem that is Belichick and Brady and I found it appropriate to share my own brush with Tebow.  I had the opportunity to photograph Tim during the lockout during one of his trips to Savannah where he sponsors and D1 Training facilitate.  As much as I would have loved to make a real portrait of him, I was happy with the access I was granted to photograph his workout session. They aren’t the greatest images I have ever taken, but it was fun.  All I can say is dude’s a beast.  Truly a physical specimen.  His training regimen is ridiculous.  He is a great guy too. Extremely humble. Well, enough about my man crush.  I think Tim is a great addition to the NFL and I wish him all the best going forward.  I’m looking forward to more magic in 2012.

Reflection

It’s been a while.  A lot has happened since the last time I sat down for a blog entry.  My daughter Jordan was born for starters.  That miracle has taken up a lot of my time to say the least.  I didn’t think someone else could come along and effect me the way Julia did, but I was wrong.  I look at Jordan and feel everything I felt and still feel for Jules.  They are my girls, the most important people in my life.  With all of the commotion that comes along with having a newborn in the house, you would think that photography would have to take a back seat.  As much as I would have liked to have taken a break, I couldn’t.  Clients depend on me to follow through with projects regardless of the circumstances, understandably. I slowed down a bit, but some projects continued to motor.  For example, I ended up taking off for a whole issue at South Magazine.  I didn’t want to do this, but it was the easiest thing for me to set aside for a while.  My commercial projects got the most attention and everything else had to take a back seat for a few weeks.  I did find time however for a few editorial shoots, one of which really moved me.

 Richmond Hill Reflections wanted to profile some of the photographers that work with the magazine.  So myself along with two others were assigned a simple task.  Interpret the word “reflection” through photography.  That’s it.  We could do pretty much anything we wanted to as long as it was our true interpretation of the word reflection.  This was very appealing to me.  I could now develop an original idea, plan it, execute it, and deliver the results without any oversight.  It was also very daunting.  I wouldn’t have an art director or editor to lean on for help or guidance.

My idea came very fast.  Actually it began to form while I was learning of the assignment during the production meeting.  If I was to reflect back on a period in my life, a period of some significance, what or who would I see?  I couldn’t just look back at my whole life and form an image, I needed to find a slice that meant something to me.  A part of my life that contributed to who I am today.  That was more intriguing to me and allowed me to narrow the picture and focus.  After I decided what part I wanted to visualize, I need to figure out the how.  This was going to be a literal look back at myself.  I needed a model/subject to be “me”, I needed a location that spoke to this period in my past, and an action or gesture to communicate how I felt.  I had to move quick on these things because the ever present deadline was looming.  Using the powers of FaceBook and a network of local friends I secured a model.  I found a location nearby that worked well for what I wanted.  Scouted it.  Prepped it.  Scheduled the shoot and everything went off without a hitch.  I speak vaguely in regards to the logistics because I would rather let the images below do the talking.

The model is Dean Harrison, a great local 9 year old who had a blast helping me.  The location is the woods behind the playground in the main-street sub-division in Richmond Hill, GA.  The uniform is mine.  Dean did a fabulous job of conveying my boy hood imagination and competitiveness.  I was so pleased with this photograph and the overall response to it locally is very positive.  What makes me most happy is that this was born completely from my mind with no outside influences other than the assignment word.  I felt a real sense of satisfaction and completeness after finishing this project.  All of this is the essence of personal work and it is clear to me now that I do not do nearly enough of it.  This theme of boyhood adventure and imagination has cultivated a few more ideas in my brain that I can hopefully find time to explore.  Another great side note to this photo is that when developing the ideas and concept for this photo there were two external references I used as inspiration.  Two of the first conversations I had with others about the photo revealed that both of those references are evident and easily communicated.  Can you guess what they are?

For the strobists out there and anyone else keeping score the setup is pretty simple.  One large main light, a AB800 in a large 30×60 softbox camera right very close to Dean.  The softbox was actually bigger than him.  Two AB1600s rear camera left in the trees gelled warm.  Shot with the Nikon D700 and the 24-70mm f/2.8. 1/40sec. @ f/4 ISO 400. Post done in PS CS5.5.

Contrasting Portraits

Recently I was assigned a shoot for a local Restaurant here in Richmond Hill.  The Restaurant just happens to be my absolute favorite restaurant in RH, maybe even in the Southeast, Marker 107.  It is a hike down 144 in RH, 21 miles to be exact.  It is nestled in Kilkenny Marina.  Awesome food, cold beer, and a great view.  Marker is owned by two families and the Mom’s run the restaurant (pictured above).  Dana Lewis and Catherine Bowen.  They are very different people and I needed to capture that when I photographed them.  I could spell it out for you, but I won’t insult your intelligence.  Let’s see if I did my job…  Photographically they are different as well.  Mostly in the lighting setups.  Catherine, shot 1, was shot with 3 lights, and Dana, shot 2, was shot with 1.  Both were shot with the 50 1.4 on the D700.  Along with these shots I also had to shoot some food.  I want to elaborate on that a little more at a later time, because I have some more food shots coming out soon.

www.shawnheifert.com

www.shawnheifert.com.  A re-launch, again.  Some people question why I change my website so often.  I say I really don’t change it that often.  Once a year? Maybe.  But just like advances in everything else in this world, so to is the internet evolving.  Not just how it is seen by your potential clients and customers but how it is used.  I need to keep up and stay current.  My photography and what I offer has changed a lot.  Just like anyone starting in this business I am still trying to define where I stand.  The most important aspect in a photographers website should start and end with the images.  How they are displayed and how the client interacts with them is essential.  I decided to freshen my look by moving to a web design service that specializes in creating dynamic portfolio driven websites for photographers and creatives, Livebooks.  They have been around for some time, but not until recently had their services been accessible by all budgets.  They are a template based design service, with options for full customization. The base mold is very simple and it is up to you to tune it to fit your needs.  I wanted my images to be the biggest and most dominating factor on the site and have everything else be second.  Link for the blog, contact info, bio, and client portal if needed.  I feel I absolutely got what I paid for and then some.  Livebooks is even beginning to roll out support to build companion sites specifically formatted for iPad and iPhone.  Being a fan of Apple and knowing that many people in the creative industry operate on the iOS platform in some respect, I knew that this was a must.  I wanted my site to be clean and to the point.  Here is what I do and what I have done.  If you like what you see, here is how to contact me.  Plus, working with a large company like this, they make sure that I am being seen.  Search Engine Optimization is key and if someone is out there searching for a service that I may be able to provide, I better damn well show up in those results.  And now I do.  So take a look and let me know what you think.  Improvements can always be made and there are always bugs to work out in the early stages of a re-design.

My first “Business Trip”

Sean Tuohy speaks at the Burger King National Franchisee Summit in DC

Last week I had a first.  The first time someone hired me as a photographer and flew me to their location to stay for two days to shoot for them.  I had always envisioned a day where I would be able to travel as a photographer.  I love to travel and I love to take pictures, so a melding of the two was a reasonable expectation at some point.  A while ago I photographed Alex Salguiero, a local entrepreneur who owns multiple Burger Kings in the Savannah area.  After the shoot Alex was extremely complimentary and gave my information to the National Franchisee Association who handles the Burger King franchise Summit in DC every year.  They needed a photographer, and relying solely on Alex’s referral and what they saw on my website and blog, they hired me as the official photographer for the two-day summit on Capitol Hill.  It was going to be a challenge to say the least.  I had never been involved in a project of this scale.  There were a lot of things to work out, like an extensive face-paced schedule, travel, budget, contracts, etc.  I was learning as I went.  If you know me in anyway and have been following my work at all you know that I don’t shoot a lot of events.  I try to stay away from them if I can.  It’s not that I don’t like them, well… yeah, actually it is.  Most of them.  There are some that I enjoy, they are just few and far between.  This event, though demanding would prove to be very interesting and in addition to shooting A LOT, I learned a lot and met some really great people.  I even got to go behind the velvet rope in our nation’s capitol and photograph Burger King franchisees meeting and greeting with some of our Country’s leaders including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky.  The above photo is Sean Tuohy of “The Blind Side” fame.  He is the real life Dad played by Tim McGraw in the movie.  He was the final guest speaker of the event and made for a throughly enjoyable evening.  Photographically speaking most of the event was a nightmare.  Dimly lit rooms filled with moving people interacting with each other.  I had anticipated only needing one body for the event and having one a as a backup. However that changed pretty quickly after I realized exactly what I would be dealing with.  I had my D700 with 70-200 f/2.8 attached in order to capture images like the one you see above and then I had a D5000 with a 24-70 attached to go wider.  I also used an SB900 at the parties and trade show for group shots.  For shooting in the main conference area I was at ISO 1600 and beyond 100% of the time.  When we were on the Hill and in some of the other areas in the Hyatt I was able to knock that down to ISO 800, sometimes.  Overall I shot about 2,000 photos and delivered them in their entirety to my client, as per the contract.  I also edited a selection of photos that I thought worked well as a chronological photo log of the event.  I am already in talks to shoot another one of these franchise events out west.  I have to be honest, shooting one of these every couple of months would be a nice gig in addition to all of my steady work.

The Megateeth Hunter

A while back I was contacted by local “Megateeth” hunter, Bill Eberlein.  Bill is a resident of the Richmond Hill area and has perhaps one of the coolest or dangerous jobs around.  The riverine waters encircling Richmond Hill and the coastal areas of Bryan County are littered with pre-historic fossils, most specifically Megalodon teeth.  These teeth are difficult to find and require long dives at pitch black depths.  Their age and beauty attract collectors world-wide and Bill is happy to provide.  Bill got in touch with me because a South African magazine called Stywe Lyne – Tight Lines picked up his story and was looking to feature it in an upcoming issue.  However it was up to Bill to provide the images that tell his story. We worked out a time and day and off we went.  Now if you have been following my Blog at all you know that me and the river doesn’t really mix.  Catastrophic results some time before.  I was nervous to say the least.  But I knew I had to get back on the horse.  I came way over prepared for the amount of room and footing I would have on the small vessel.  I ended up for the most part shooting the D700/24-70 f/2.8and a SB900 via SC29 cable.  It was late in the morning, so high speed sync was essential to get separation and avoid overexposure at low shutter speeds and small apertures.  There wasn’t any cloud cover and the sun was blaring.  That combined with the refections off the water made for some bright conditions to say the least.  My other obstacle was the fact that Bill’s work is done in the pitch black bottom of the river.  I wasn’t going down there and neither was my gear (again).  So I needed to create some images topside that would communicate what was going on below.  The most impressive part of Bill’s work besides the actual finding of the fossils is the massive amount of gear he dons before plunging into the darkness.  I absolutely sought out these visuals as part of my story telling.  Below is a sampling of my favorites.  None of which were used in the article.  Actually in the interest of full disclosure, the only image that was actually used in the article was a extremely small cropped headshot of Bill smiling for the camera.  Oh well.  Some of the images were also used in Richmond Hill Reflections latest issue. You’ll also find a feature here about Bill and his good friend Ray.  Enjoy.

 

 

Stars of The South

Another large feature from the last issue of South Magazine that I shot was their most recent installment of “The Stars of The South”.  Every issue South features some real movers and shakers, all excelling in their perspective fields and drawing a lot of attention to Savannah and the outlying communities.  This issue was all about coaches at the High School level.  Coaches today do more than just teach the game.  They are leaders, mentors, role models, and in some cases parental figures in the lives of their athletes.  They play an important role in the upbringing of todays youth through the school system.  It was my job to get out there and capture these stars in their environment along with some of the kids that are benefiting from their dedication and commitment.  I had five coaches on the docket, but I will only profile three here.  First up, my favorite of all the shoots. Coach Ronald Booker and the HS girls basketball team.  After getting past the overly protective security guard (this was all setup with the school in advance mind you), we went to work.  Because of the size of this shoot compared to the others I had an assistant with me.  Betty Ospina of Serendipity Photography in Richmond Hill helped me out.  Like I said before, production wise this was the largest of the the bunch.  I actually ended up using a mix of 3 Alien Bee mono lights and 2 Nikon Speedlights.  (See Diagram)  The shoot went extremely well overall and after we had everything keyed in, we only took about 10 frames.  Done deal.  Post was fairly simple.  White balance correction, selective sharpening using high pass filter, some cloning in the background for distracting elements, and image and profile conversion for exporting.  I won’t go into great depth on the other two shots featured here, but they give you a sample of the different environments and subjects I had to shoot.  Thanks again to Betty from Serendipity.

 

 

Urgent Care all Around Me

For the last issue of Richmond Hill Reflections I worked with the doctors at the local Richmond Hill Urgent Care center on an ad.  The ad was specifically for Reflections, however they expressed interest in the photos to use in future advertising.  So it was important for me to produce something that could be used in a variety of ways.  The best way to accomplish this was to photograph them on the white seamless backdrop so they could be selected out in Photoshop and then placed in any type of layout.  Fortunately Catherine, one of the doctors at Urgent Care, had a very large living room and I was able to setup a satellite studio right there.  We shot and then I retouched and provided them to Reflections.  Soon thereafter I was contacted by Urgent Care’s PR and marketing team to use the images on both a standard billboard and an electronic billboard.  What you see here are the results.  Photographically these are pretty straight forward.  A large main light (Large Octa), and low fill (translucent umbrella) and two kickers (right and left rear through strip boxes). All shot with the D700 and 24-70 f/2.8.  If you are in RH check out the electronic billboard on the corner of Route 17 and 144 and the standard billboard is just north of Exit 87 of I95 Northbound.

iHouse Efficiency

The August/September issue of South Magazine has just hit news stands and once again it is an explosion of some of the highest quality photography the low-country has to offer.  Friends of mine like Tim Johnson, Andy Silvers, and Josh Branstetter have truly outdone themselves.  Please please check out their work.  Not only in South but take a peek at their websites, you will not be disappointed.  My contributions this time really came down to two larger pieces.  The “Stars of the South” and a feature entitled “Is Charles Davis the most efficient man in the South”, and in short, yeah… he is.  He owns one of the coolest houses I have ever photographed.  But what makes it so cool is that it actually produces all of it’s own energy.  Wind, Solar, Geo-Thermal, rain-water collection, it’s all there.  In fact some months Georgia Power pays him.  Oh and did I mention he drives 1 of only 2 Chevy Volts in the State of Georgia? My task?  Capture this house and the man living within the walls for South.  Let’s just say after 4 attempts, I got it right and I got the images I needed.  The exterior shot was the most difficult.  Shot on a 12′ ladder with 4 off camera flashes doing the heavy lifting.  Bracketed Exposures merged and blended in photoshop complete the final product.  I had a blast working on this project (most of the time) and I am quite happy with the results.  You can have a look for yourself below.  Click to enlarge.  You can also check out the full story about Charles and his house here.