Damage in Cville - Which way to LA!

Outer Banks Outer Limits, a Portrait of a Virginian Woman and some Beauty Photography for Bristles Hair Design and Day Spa...

A swell and creative time in Charlottesville, VA.

The idea behind this photograph was to simulate walking on water. As sunset loomed, the shoot evolved into a Vitruvian Woman concept as well.

Cool to let ideas run the direction of a shoot!

Above, two "Portraits of a Virginian Woman", the setting is her home, a very chic pad in the heart of the old town of Cville...

Here above are 3 images shot for a cool large hair design and day spa in Charlottesville named Bristles. The idea obviously was to avoid using stock, emphasizing inner and outer beauty as well as claiming Bristles is the BEST Hair Design and Day Spa this side of the Blue Ridge, maybe Mars.

Shot some wonderful stuff here in Charlottesville and points nearby enroute to LA.

From a full wall size portrait which will act as a "come on and get a tattoo, like mine" to a cool looking Town and Country inspired Portrait of a Virginian, to an all out Beauty cool Photo shoot for my pals at Bristles Hair Design and Day Spa here in town.

For all shoots, I used at least 2 lights, mostly several more. You will see a more "equitable approach" than normal in the Portrait of a Virginian as the sitter knew she wanted me to shoot her portrait but we agreed the final photograph had to suit her expectations for herself as well as having it meet mine. Cool!

Check these out with a particular eye to the lighting and how the subjects are separated from their backgrounds. I like that as a concept as well a a portrait technique- all I really want to convey is the subject but I love placing them in their own environments.

Next Post will be coming at you from West of the Mississippi River- spell it!

Brought to you by Wick Beavers Photographer, LA

Lighting it up in August

It's hot I heard her mutter as she stepped out of the door and into the mid day glare.

Sheesh, for sure. It must be 94 with 98% humidity... in the shade.

Well, good lordy lad!

WAKE UP!

You think the cowboy gunslingers left Tombstone in August?

You think the Satellite TV installer stops working for the summer in Death Valley?

It ain't just the cubans who love this weather down here in Miami, it ought to be us photographers, too!

Why?

Light, dude, light.

Glare? Cool. Heat? Cool.

Remember my mantra? USE it, just like Marlon Brando and Jimmy Switts. Any good method actor, methodist minister or methodology practitioner ought to get outside in the middle of a white hot damp day and fire away.

Just keep the sweat out of the little openings and away from the joints in your electronics.

Happy Hot Hunting!

Damn Hasselblad cut out on me...

Well, things do work out... after all.

Snapping my 56,267 actuized H2 Hasselblad at a cute girl, I SUDDENLY get an error message::: mirror screwed up, then autofocus error, then t buzzes and cuts off- DOA.

So, whaddya do?

My pal Bico just shot a playmate of the Year shoot for Brazilian Playboy and did the whole thing is iPhone 4. Same with a campaign for FLOR.

Considering he's a real good photo boy and I;m a big fan? I run with it. And the girl is a little perturbed but she's gonna stand in cuz she's got some soul.

Snap snap snap. Just a few and we pull it off I believe.So does she.

Check out the latest greatest and get over to my site, then hire me to snap your coolest imagery requirements.

Best

Wick

Editorial Portrait Photography IMPROVISE Wick Beavers Photographer

bare bulb hard light makes it happen!

photo of a rockin' power couple, where the hard light rocks with them

Bare Bulb Editorial Portrait Photographer Wick Beavers Photography --- keywords but more importantly, USE it all, even the stuff you forgot. The cliches, the rain, the skies, the weather,

the mood all add up to collaborating with you POSITIVELY if you USE it.

It all adds up to inspiration , redirection and new horizons.Sheesh, times are busy busy so I move stuff I like to keep handy and suddenly along comes the call. The nod outta nowhere: "I have a deadline and need some great pictures of a power couple in YOUR town today..." well, that's not true, closer to a paraphrase. But I rush to get the gear and sometimes a battery tests low, a modeling bulb gives out or the ladder just doesn't make it into the SUV. So

IMPROVISE.

That's really what we do all the time anyways.

No reflectors, no softboxes, no aa batteries, no remote triggers/pocket wizards? No worries.

Just don't forget the camera or the sensor!

For this reason, my editorial pack is always loaded with charged battery grips and handy cam batteries for the digital back and camera power, the camera body and 2 lenses. The image bank, the cable...

1) No reflectors? Feather the bare bulbs away untl you get just a small crescent visible to the model, use the major light source as a bounce back mostly, the small crescent as a hard edge.

Remember to place the other lights in the same way. Closer is softer so get them in tight.

You may never bring another reflector with you once you get this dialed!

2) No wizards? Use the dinky little and heretofore ne'er used on camera flash set at -2 under so it puts nice little catchlights in the eyeballs AND so it triggers your strobes set as SLAVEs.

Little tiny pop = BIG POP! You're back in business w/o triggers. Yeah, you might have to move the packs so they're out in front of you so they "see" the little pop...

3) No softboxes? If you haven't figured out how to soften hard light you might ought to not be playing with cameras, but here are 3 quickies: a) get the barebulbs right up tight (closer is softer), b) place another light set down at -1.5 or -2 below the main light close for fill and to calm the gradient from light to dark, c) bounce your hard light at a big wall. Sometimes, a colorful wall can kick things up, often a white wall is more better! I've used the sides of cars,

buildings across the street, and even a line of green leaves such as a hedge row. Obviously, remember the darker a color the MORE it absorbs light (so the LESS it reflects). Darker bounce surfaces need more light!

hard light is great and usually handled beautifully by young people

Finally, if you forgot the background, thanks be to Allah and Jesus! DO!!

Those things ought to all be burned at the stake for holy sacrelige!

Try this: Put a bare bulb strobe right in the subject's small of the back and aim it straight up. Dial it up to starting +2.5. You can make yourself a real nice white background with the subject stepping out of a "white closet" just like That!

You want a black background on a bright day in the jungle? Use full power strobes (pro ones, please) and shoot at highest shutter speeds possible. You can make night time happen midday with strong enough lights. Oh and that might require minimum 2400 watts. Minimum!

To drive the packs out in the wild, get yourself a Honda EU2000i or better, 2 to wire up in series.

Now you're lighting!

Gotta go but check the hard bulb pics out- you'll like the look (the little old lady from Lincoln, NE might be a little irked with the brutal honesty, though!).

Best Wick

author Erik Calonius, hard light lit editorial portrait

Inspiration from... the Ages (and great masters)

Alice in the Looking Glass

The Thinker... thinking

The Hand of God Giving Life to Eve

When things start to burn, frazzle or chill off, ponder what you've been struck by and ingest, regest and digest the feeling you got- and have- made by that little moment of thunder-struckedness.

Put it into a project or your next produced photo shoot.

You'll be glad you did- you'll make more friends, eat less food, and probably feel a whole lot less bleak about the times we live in.

See, I just forgot about the highland gorillas, the coal fired plant in Craig and even the assassination of John F Kennedy there for a second.

Nothing comes from nothing is about all I can tell you that is absolutely true. Stir things up, make a little noise, put that rim light way over there in the bushes. Make something!

Great week,

Wick

The Making of a Model Portfolio in Artsy Ghetto Land

You Need a Model Portfolio?

Here's what you might ponder...

Pedro Salado, Model

When an up and coming Person, who has a little knowledge (yes, a good portfolio costs money and it has a far better chance to work) about the business and their place in it, shows up and asks "what do I need to do to get my mug in front of a lot of people to show them I'm serious about my commitment?" I tell them 5 great pictures. Full body, dressed up, formal, to nearlynaked so all can see your self, a fun shot where you're kicking back that shows whoyou are to work with, and a couple of you doing something "in the act" that might express your abilities, your uniqueness, your physicality.

And please- studio shots up against a white or black- read, PLAIN- BACKGROUND HAS NO PLACE in your portfolio.

Get outside in the woods, the streets, the canyons of some big city and rock it!

Ahhhh, Life to you!

Nobody has time to look at more than 5... and if the first 1 is dullsville, they ain't gonna leaf through the rest. Too many fish in the sea. And don't forget- their job depends on YOU showing up and looking good and working hard. If you blow it- "OMG, sorry I slept late", or "yeah, I was out til 4 last night, can't you just photoshop these eyeballs back to normal?", not only do you

look bad, the agency that reps you looks bad, real bad. So YOU have a BIG responsibility to think about your rep as your partner. You're in it together and that's the way it works.

If you want a great portfolio, talk to agencies, talk to photographers, and talk to other models. The ones that are working are probably the ones you want to talk to, duh.

So, this guy, Pedro, from Madrid, calls me up and he wants to shoot a portfolio and he sends along some pix he likes and he also wants to do a Zombie Boy look. Cool- the guy is serious, is willing to pay for a great job, is easily convinced he needs to include a great make up artist for the airbrushing and off we go to the Wynwood Arts District, generator, lights, airbrush, and gas mask!

Here are some shots from said shoot.

If you're interested, feel free to call or email me. Its not cheap, but the pictures don't show that either.

What you need and what it might cost:

1) 1/2 day of photography $500 volkswagen to $3500 top of the line rolls royce

2) 1/2 day Hair and Make Up $150 volksy to $450 rolls

3) clothes- an assortment of clothes ranging from casual to undies to black tie/ evening dress $0 to $5000

4) 1/2 day Stylist who might or may not contribute clothes and/or accessories $100 volksy to $2000 over the rainbow

5) Prints of your top 7 or 8 selects- 5x7 from Target $48 to custom printed 11x14 at $350 is happening these days.

6) a book to stick the prints in to pass around ranges from $23 piece of junk to $2500 or so custom etched leather or metal portfolio from any few of a group of top end portfolio case makers (names on request).

7) a good haircut a few days before your shoot at $12 to $250

8) come showered and clean, no make up, ready to spring happily into action.

Remember: you need to let it go, and jump for this. Nothing held back because there are 1 million 289 thousand 349 happy and competitive people ready and clamoring to take your place.

Best for the new week,

Wick

all photography by me

hair make up and airbrush by Teresa Morgan

Executive Portraits- a cooler hipper more connecting style

Warren Newton, Executive Portrait

People (not as in "the amerikun peeepul", here- we're not making a polidikull speech) generally think of their executive portrait, their corporate headshot, their work photo, their most irritating event of the month picture, as nothing more than an incrementally little baby step up from a passport picture.

And it's only gonna say, "Let me in your country, can't you see I have a state issued Visa here?" or even more, "damn this thorn in my foot is really starting to throb, I think it's infected, it feels like it looks like Curt Shilling's (now in the Baseball Hall of Fame) bloody sock, say, can you spare some tweezers?"

Tweezers/Headshot

Bloody Sock/Corporate Portrait

Frontal Lobotomy/Executive Photograph

I'd Really Rather Have Cosmetic Dentistry/Company Picture

NOT no way, no more-

NEVER

Hey, what if your portrait was actually fun, cool and it ended up conveying who you really are (or think you ought to be) and it actually helps make the first connection for your next business deal and all that future income, maybe even laying the foundation for a great long term business partnership where you and your new client get together every spring break and fish together off Punta Negra for Hemingway sized Black Marlin?

And they pay? And you get the bonus, the fish and the BIG signing award?

And what if you could also use that "corporate headshot" as your main photo on Match.com and connect with all those right people?

And your mum wants a printed and polished pewter framed 11x14 copy for Christmas?

And, when asked for a new picture for your South Dakota DL, you proffer "the dreaded headshot"? Can I please use this one?

Well, NIAO it can be FUN, cool, hip, painless and it will reflect all that and get you the open doors, the connections, the friends, the deals, the awards, the income you want.

Guaranteed! (unabashedly extracted from late night tv's, "stop eating so much and win allies" campaign-3.2 hours or 100 feet)

Hold up to the screen now, in your right hand, a 4x6 print of your present executive headshot and eyeball it against the WICK BEAVERS corporate portrait below.

No corporate portrait?

Open up your wallet and hold up your Driver's License:

Who is more fun? Honestly.

Who is the person you more want to meet? Honestly.

Who would you rather meet- for an hour in a bank, a law office, a shareholder's meeting? Honestly.

WHICH PORTRAIT IS BETTER?

If you used to think your corporate portrait sounded like less fun than Curt Shilling's sock, then we need to talk- and shoot your next portrait.

It will open doors and help make deals.

Like I said- Guaranteed!

Unlike no other.

www.wickbeavers.com

Warren Newton- Mr Miami, Man of Steel or Chief Dealmaker to be?

A cool portrait no matter how you slice it.

Better than most for a look at my work.

Great week!

Wick

Tired of the fight? Yearn for the good OLD Days? YOU were the one that used to Yell EXPAND YOUR MIND! Or, the Making of an Old Photograph

Vincent Chooses a Brush, Arles, late 1888

Wick Beavers Photographer, 2011

The Making of an Old Photograph

It's a fight, getting people out of their ruts- especially when they learned it right the first time.

Talk good photography, talk the masters, talk the history and you're talking:

1) 10 stops from totally Black to totally White (the Zone system of Ansel Adams),

2) Blown out whites, major black in the shadows, what choice is made by the artist? To allow the high end to blow out or the low to go to black. Sometimes, there is no choice, it ALL goes.

3) Use of so-called black and white spaces as the artist's "compositional elements" in a masters print,

4) Lack of color,

5) In studio lit photographs, are the images dancing in the high key end or stumbling like a dullard in the low? Or did the Photographer strive to get it all within the limited 10 stop histogram (what? you snuck this word in to describe the gamut of old film based photographs? yeah, it works and we all know what it means).

What about my beloved GRAIN?

So, this week I gave up defending the amazing dynamicism of the new age in Photography.

And I'm not talking about digital. But a realm of photography as we knew it that is falling fast.

Which I have talked about for a few years now. HDR.

And Dan Margulis' super sharpening using hi radius low amp

litude (hiraloam) to control blooming and other artifacts derived from sharpening in the traditional manner. Which, if I were really speaking tradition, we'd be talking about UNSharpening, right?

So, here are two pictures in the love it left it and came back department from a couple of portraits shot yesterday and recently.

See if you see what I mean.

Best

Wick

Grant Wood's

"American Gothic, Post Divorce"

Wick Beavers Photographer, 2011

Tops Motel, Calle Ocho, Little Havana, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas from Wick Beavers Editorial Portrait fashion Photographer

Happy Days are Here Again!

BUT, we should (have, as its passe now I sit down and blog on to you, dear reader) all stop counting the seconds til we get what we want and give a little to others less fortunate.

Less fortunate than I (using proper engleesh), you say?

You got 2 legs and they both work (most of the time)?

You living an unknown time and space here on this planet?

You got ears, eyes and maybe one mouth?

You paying rent or a mortgage by the month and NOT the night?

You're much more fortunate than many and thanks be to allah, the chosen one, hayzeus, Jesus, Buddha or maybe even just your mum.

In thinking about those folk, and imagining

the people who live in the cheapest motels around, I went to the Tops Motel on Calle Ocho in Little Havana and got Ernesto Fernandez, the proprietor to give me a room for ... 2 hours for $15 is our standard rate.

!

"No Prostitution" signs above the heavily barred in receptionist's cage, I mean office.

$15 for 2 hours it was, and the room came with a bedside full length (horizontal) mirror, a single towel and a very thin but full roll of pale blue toilet paper.

So, no more BS or blather, I just gotta say thanks to Ernesto and my two valiant models.

Thanks and Merry Hannuka, Happy Daze and Molested Infested New Years!

Til we hang 'em in the stunt gear,

Wick

Photographic Rhythm, or visual Keith Richards

I heard the Terry Gross podcast of her npr radio talk show "Fresh Air" featuring the interview with Keith Richards. Smith. Jones? Edwards??

Google him. One of the most common names in the language... yet. YET.

YET!!

The greatest electric rhythm guitar player ever (and it's probably because he sleeps with his axe, pounded the H and smothered his inhale with barbies, cross tops and meth).

It struck me I'd like to try to photograph like he plays.

And so another bit of fertile cross pollination, strum the nation, exclamation. The THE situation. Cocknee knee bend side swipe.

Idea is cool- play a backing riff that's cool to the goings on that's bright light and focussed.

That hits a note...

I shot editorial at Rick Scott's election night victory non announcement cuz it was so close and got this: