One of the fun things about not being forced to make my rent through my picturers is I get to work with poeple I would’t normally. In this case a friend of Erin’s, Politoni who wanted to put together a portfolio so he could try his luck in the world of modelling.

Hit the jump for more toned manly-ness
(more…)

On Sunday I was pleased to be the official photographer for the inaugrial Events BJJ tournament. I had a great, if a little hot and sweaty time, and made some great captures. I’ve spent the past two days sorting anf processing the pictures and now they are finally finished and online.

Prints and downloads are available for purchase over here

The weather here in Sydney has been most changable recently going from over 30 degrees in the shade to pouring with rain with gale force winds. Obviously when Erin and I went out to the coast on Sunday we were blessed with the latter, we still had fun and I think I have found a nice location I’d like to explore on a day when I didn’t fear having my model blown into the sea…

In other news Jill Greenberg (of crying baby fame) has been whipping up a new storm after she used some outtakes from a magazine shoot to produce less than flattering composites of John McCain. While I defended Greenberg over her baby photos I fear this time she has pushed a bit too far. Whilst I can see that Jill needs controversy to support her own career as an artist I worry what her actions will mean for everyone else working in the portrait world. Will this see magazines requiring *all* images be presented to them with only the shots they approve being usable for portfolio purposes? Will it result in more “sophisticated” handlers being with subjects demanding to see shots as they are taken? Will this see more subjects refusing to try anything different to be sure as to not get “Greenberged”?

One thing I say to everyone whose portrait I’m going to take is “My job is to make you look awesome, help me do my job”. Jill obviously views her job differently, I just hope she doesn’t live to regret it because I think she may struggle to get many celebrities to sit for her in future…

Thanks to Robert Benson for the heads up on the breaking Greenberg story.

Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua seems to have gone out on a limb by supporting Jill.

Vincent La Foret is old enough and wise enough to roll his eyes and mutter “kids…” under his breath.

While American Digest seem to weigh in against Madam Greenberg as well as keeping up to speed on the inevitable threats of lawsuit…

“Believe in yourself. Believe in your own potential for greatness. Believe that you can change the world. It is something that is within each of us. Believe in the Power of One” -Evan Tanner

Today’s post was going to be about me making soup, which while a delicious endeavour pales in comparison to the news of the passing of Evan Tanner. Many of you will have no idea who Evan was, so I would first direct you to the wikipedia link. However it was his life away from MMA which made him so loved by so many.

Evan was a man who thought well outside of the box and lived a very personal spiritual life. I think he sums up a lot of what people, myself included, respected him for when he wrote:

“It is a shame that in this society we’ve been taught to judge a man’s worth by what he owns instead of who he is. Everything is surface, and so few look beyond it. A man will sell his soul, he will lie, cheat and steal, for money. If he has it, he can buy respect. Wear the right clothes, drive the right car, have the right friends, that’s all that matters. Our lives are consumed in a selfish, self absorbed quest for possessions, the latest and the best in a never-ending cycle until the day we die. We forget what it means to be truly human. We forget the things that really matter. We lose the magic of what life should be.

I won’t live by rules that make no sense to me.

- Evan Tanner “

Evan was a great believer in everyone’s ability to make a difference, his refusal to conform to the rules which shackle so many of us in our day to day lives. Evan was not without his demons but his strength and honesty in confronting them was of great motivation to me at least…

My thoughts are with his family and friends on what must be a terrible day.

Today’s picture came from the same setup as yesterday’s. I think this picture better illustrates the effect of the flag on the left hand backlight. You can clearly see how the light from the unflagged strobe falls onto the left hand side of the model’s face giving it a greater sense of form.

In other news the weather here in Sydney is forcast to be wrecthed for the next few days so I’m pondering some indoor projects, which might well include an update to the site. Any parts of it which you love and I shouldn’t touch? Or any which you hate and think definitely need attention? As always head to the comments…

Many people want to know about creating a pure white background for their images, as it is a really useful tool in a photographer’s bag of tricks. The key thing I find is to not make the background too hot or you will struggle to control the light as it trys to bleed around your subject.

For the picture above I used a pair of lights into shoot through umbrellas, which gave the white backcloth a nice even light. I wanted to have a little light fall onto the back of the model and so only flagged the light from the left hand light. The model was then lit with a third light which in this case was being fired into a reflective umbrella. I found that I needed a large white panel under the umbrella to stop the light falling off down the model’s body.

The biggest thing I love about the white background is the feeling of space it gives. The picture above was taken in a small community centre hall, yet has this airy feel that would have been missing had the background been visible.

If anyone has an questions, please do ask away in the comments…