Archive for March, 2009
Lingerie Preview
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 31st, 2009
A quick preview of shots from today in the studio.
Amanda
Heidi
Emilie & Jahir
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 30th, 2009
Way back in August, I attended Emilie and Jahir’s wedding in Montreal. I was there purely as a guest, not a photographer, but I couldn’t resist bringing my camera along.
Shortly after I got back to Toronto, I made this cute little 2″x3″ photobook with Apple’s iPhoto software and mailed it to the newlyweds as a surprise.
To say they were ecstatic is an understatement. They quickly asked for a dozen more to send to friends and family, for which I was happy to oblige.
A thank you card arrived in the mail recently from Emilie and Jahir, and lo and behold, my images were staring back at me on the front of the card!
I was super flattered by this and still a bit speechless, even now.
Emilie and Jahir are expecting their first child, and I hope to get to Montreal sometime soon to see (and photograph!) all three of them.
Enjoy more photos from the wedding below!
One Light Wonders
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 25th, 2009
I shoot almost everything with just one light. Whether that light is sunlight, a window, a bounced hotshoe flash, or a studio strobe with an umbrella or a softbox… it’s almost always just one.
It’s not that I can’t or won’t shoot with more lights, but as I’ve described here before, I keep things as simple as possible when I shoot. I’d rather spend time interacting with the subject than spend gluttonous amounts of time setting up half a dozen lights, only to use them for five minutes worth of shooting. Some might say that means I care stunningly little about the process and just want the quickest means to the end. But for the type of photos I do, it simply wouldn’t benefit the final product.
Randall, above, was lit with one Alien Bees strobe in a Photoflex softbox. In fact, most of everything on the blog so far has been lit with a single source. It wraps her face nicely and there’s just enough light to highlight the exposed eye, which I love.
Christine, below, has called me out on her blog. We’re gonna have a bit of a blogging war it seems. Stay tuned…
Christine
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 17th, 2009
Though you can’t tell in this photo, Christine is a ginger kid. Pale skin, freckles, and red hair. In the three years or so that I’ve known Christine, she’s successfully transitioned from a popular nude art model in Halifax, Nova Scotia to a popular photographer. I feel lucky to have photographed Christine three times before she got out of modeling, and this shot was done the last time I saw her in Halifax.
I very much adhere to the “keep it simple, stupid” philosophy while shooting. I shy away from studios, large sets, assistants and even lights. These shots with Christine were done in a university dorm that I was renting, and I laid down a giant plastic tarp purchased from a local home improvement store. I got a ridiculously large bag of flour from Sobey’s across the street (they had no small ones!) and then poured it on Christine to get her battered like chicken. Or something. As I wasn’t traveling with any sort of lighting set up beyond a hotshoe flash, Christine brought over her Octabox for lighting. I fussed over the position of the light so much that Christine was ready to punch me by the time I actually started shooting photos.
Clean up was a breeze! Christine showered off the flour; I just folded up the tarp and threw it away, and left the bag of flour behind in the dorm for someone else to wonder, “what the hell was going on here?”.
Lauren
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 15th, 2009
There’s a couple photos from this series on vtography.com, but I’ve never showed this one before. It’s always fun to go back and look at old photoshoots — often times there are photos that jump out at me that I didn’t notice the first time around. Yet another reason why I never delete images, even the duds.
Lauren, like many of my subjects, is not a “model”, but she does a damn fine job pretending to be.
Technical details: Nikon D200 with 17-55mm lens zoomed to 45mm @ f/2.8, 1/40, ISO 640, natural light from an adjacent window. Makeup: Lucy Dekranian.
Erika
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 13th, 2009
This is Erika, wearing my shirt, from three years ago this month. Beautiful, ain’t she? I hadn’t seen Erika in a while until recently, and it reminded me of how great she looked in front of the camera. In turn, she reminded me that I had no photos of her on my website! Hence this blog post.
If I revealed the contact sheets from this shoot, it would be obvious that I was not a tremendous photographer three years ago. I hope Erika gives me a second chance to shoot her, even though she doesn’t fancy herself a “model”. She’s tall and thin and just look at that face! I’d say she qualifies.
Technical details: Nikon D70 with 24-85mm lens @ f/8, 1/250, ISO 200, one Alien Bees strobe bounced into an umbrella.
Coming soon…
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 9th, 2009
This is fitness competitor and personal trainer Brandi Lee Latimer, seen on this blog previously. Our plans for world domination will be revealed shortly.
More Where This Came From
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 6th, 2009
Model: Randall Lome
Mask: Catherine Skinner
From my first time in a studio, ever.
Making Money as a Photographer
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 4th, 2009
Photographers have a plethora of different ways to sell themselves, their services, and their products. Focusing on one way of selling your stuff and being extraordinarily good at it is better than spreading yourself too thin. I haven’t really settled on one method that’s good for me yet.
Some photographers strictly sell their services — shooter for hire. Some make a living by printing their photos on just about any surface they can and selling them via galleries and websites like Etsy. You can put a photo on almost anything these days, from plain prints to calendars to blankets to coffee mugs to coffee tables. Others shoot stock, self-publish photobooks, or license images for use on commercial products.
Recently I purchased some GelaSkins for my new iPod Touch and BlackBerry (see photo below). GelaSkins are these great sticky protectors that prevent the surfaces of your gear from getting all dinged up. While I was perusing the gallery on the GelaSkins site, it struck me that there was an opportunity here. All the designs I looked at were either drawings or paintings — but absolutely no photography anywhere. Of course I’m biased, but I, for one, would love to see Andreea’s porcelain skin adorning the back of iPhones everywhere. How cool would Peggy’s Cove look on the back of your laptop?
Sadly, the FAQ and other sections of the GelaSkins website don’t reveal their method of artist selection, so it remains to be seen if they’ll ever add photography to their impressive selection of designs. Fingers crossed!
P.S. GelaSkins are made in Canada and their regular shipping was crazy fast (less than 24 hours from email notification to delivery of product!) since I live reasonably close.
Les Coquettes (Again)
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 4th, 2009
I’ve blogged twice before about Toronto’s Les Coquettes, and wanted to share with you images from their latest production, The Beautiful and the Damned.
If you missed the show, there’s good news: they’re doing it all over again on March 29th May 31st! Check out the details of the second run of The Beautiful and the Damned on the Facebook event page, and buy your tickets here. Perhaps they should switch the name to The Damned and the Beautiful?
I’ve had a great time covering these performances and was quite proud to see the Toronto Star ran my photo to promote the last show.
