All of my photos have been shot on a white background recently. The reason being… I’m just too lazy to switch back to the black background. I honestly am. The background rolls are roughly 9 feet long, and it’s quite a hassle to set up the studio, especially for someone who’s only 5′ 4″ tall! But on the bright side, I can always turn a white background gray with the proper lighting.

Here’s a picture of my friend Robyn. She’ll be applying for the 2009 Ballet Hispanico summer program and needed some photos to hand in for the judges. Considering that she loves me so very much and I was the cheapest (can’t beat free!) photographer in the area, she had me take shots.

Here’s my second favorite group picture, second only to my more recent Senior Year group photo which you can view [here]. The photograph was inspired by the movie Ghost Rider where actor Nicholas Cage ate jelly beans from his wine glass. The photograph was taken during the summer before our Senior Year.

The photograph represents two ideas. Me and my friends are growing up. We’re in our final year in high school and will be attending college soon. We’re becoming adults and so we decided to dress up for the photo. Despite this, we’re still kids at heart and the jelly beans are basically an ironic symbol of that.

The photo is actually pretty heavily edited. It was one of my first photos and was done before I was able to afford proper lighting and a decent backdrop. In the original version, you could see a wall behind the models head because my backdrop was not tall enough to completely envelop the subjects. There was also harsh shadows directly behind everyone.

Not very pretty is it? A lot of work was done trying to extend the background in Photoshop to completely cover the subjects. Unfortunately, there was really nothing I could do to achieve an evenly colored background in the photo.

Because saving the background seemed completely impossible at the time, I decided the easiest solution would be to hide the imperfections. In order to do this I created a quick graphic by throwing together some Photoshop filters and playing around with a few settings and elapsed the graphic over the edited image. I then then proceeded to fade certain areas of the graphic to make the models completely visible but still manage to hide aspects of the background.

The other day I received a client request for an unscheduled meeting. For whatever the circumstances at that moment, I had roughly 5-10 minutes to get to the meeting location. Obviously, I was limited in the amount of time I had to get myself together. In fact, I had virtually no time at all. So I attended the meeting… completely unprepared.

I did not have a hard copy portfolio to bring the meeting, then again I never carry a hardy copy portfolio to begin with. I work freelance and therefore assume that a portfolio is not necessary for my workload or client base. Not to mention that my website is my main source of traffic so anyone who is interested in my services has probably already seen my online portfolio anyway, and therefore would not require to see a hard copy version.

I had no printed information concerning packages and prices available to customer, but regardless, I despise working around concrete numbers anyways. I prefer to simply have my clients tell me exactly what they want and I’ll create a price at that point based on the level of work and post-editing that would be required of me within a specified time frame. After all, who wants to pay $400 knowing they will be receiving a 50 photo package when they only need 10-15 photos? By eliminating packages in my business, I give the client more freedom in my services.

I was not dressed in business attire, however now that I think about it, I never am. Of course in some businesses, a professional attire is required, especially when meeting clients. In the art field however, it seems that there is generally a wider range of acceptance as far as what an expected attire may consist of. At this particular meeting, I did not have time to change my graphic-print t-shirt or remove my lip ring. I think I may have pushed the bar a little in this particular instance, especially with the lip ring. In most cases however, I believe a pair of jeans, a plain t-shirt, and either shoes or clean sneakers are perfectly acceptable when meeting clients in my field of work. Hell, I used to do some work with a photographer who would meet his clients in a pair of sweat pants.

So exactly how much freedom does an artist have in achieving professionalism in his presentability? Is he expected to conform to the typical business attire, briefcase-in-hand approach? Or can he get away with a more comfortable outfit and laid back attitude?

Personally I think my casual attire and lack of hard-copy information gives off a somewhat Bohemian artist look. This may be a good thing considering who the clientele is. Of course there are instances where a slightly more professional outfit is needed. Usually I don’t change my clothes unless I’m meeting with a wedding client or any other formal party client.

Heh, let’s hope this attitude isn’t losing me any clients.

I’ve been completely swamped with various projects between photography, freelance assignments, and school work that I’ve decided to close up on my appointments for the rest of April. This is the second to last scheduled client photo shoot I have for April. My last client session for the month will be in 2 weeks. Other than that, any other photographs I take this month will be for my own enjoyment.

In terms of updates to my website and blog, you can expect one final client photo shoot towards the end of April and one of my own personal projects coming up soon.

I recently purchased a glossy floorboard for my studio to cast a reflection of my models onto the floor. Most photographer’s use plexiglass for this effect, however plexiglass is not only expensive, but requires a lot of buffering and cleaning in order to ensure the glass stays clean and scratch free.

I decided to use a cheap, high-gloss flooring. It’s roughly an 1/8th of the price of plexiglass and requires minimal upkeep. The downside of course (there’s always a downside when choosing the more economic route) is that the reflection cast by the flooring is not as noticeable. The floorboard only gives a slight reflection, which can actually become noticeable depending on your lighting set up.

I needed a test model for my new set up, and considering I haven’t updated my Facebook picture in months, I figured “hell, why not do it myself?” In the first picture I’m sitting down with a faint reflection cast underneath my body. In the second picture, you can see a silhouette of my body with a barely distinguishable reflection cast underneath and my shadow angled towards the left of my body.

I worked with Andrea Castillo and Shakiera Walker of Femme Royale [www.femmeroyale.com] for this spring-wear photo shoot.

Details
Location: Prospect Park, Brooklyn NY
Clothing Designer: Priestess NYC [www.priestessnyc.com/collections.html]
Jewelry: Ripe Jewelry [www.ripejewelry.com] Montgomery Boutique [www.montgomeryboutique.com] Melody Ehsani [www.melodyehsani.com]
Makeup: Shakiera Walker [www.femmeroyale.com]
Model: Tricia Damas
Hair: Cathy Prime, Modiffiny Hair Salon, Brooklyn NY
Styling: Andrea K. Castillo and Shakiera Walker [www.femmeroyale.com]