have more models that I'm looking to do the Norma Desmond shoot with...
Starting to plan shooting boards...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Dance card filling up
have more models that I'm looking to do the Norma Desmond shoot with...
Starting to plan shooting boards...
This could be an expensive hobby
So today I decide to go out and get myself a couple of simple things for the camera (I buy it gifts)... wanted something that could blow off the dust (think repurposed douche basically) and a brush small enough to get the skin that flakes from my hands, eyes and forehead in this dry weather off the body and lens ('cause it's stomach churning to look at)
Drove through to Dexter and Huron Photo and they have a huge display case of Minolta lenses. They fit with Sony. Hmmmmm. Surely they couldn't have a used Minolta 50mm f/1.4 lens? Yes they could. Perfect condition. Less than half the new price. Better built than the new Sony. And perfect for portraits and low light.
It really is gorgeous.
Spent the afternoon playing with getting the tip of my nose in focus and the mustache nicely blurred. Then at getting a single hair in focus.
It's been much fun.
Wanted to do some self portraits... but the one thing that I'm missing now is a remote controlled shutter. That way I could sit in a chair with the camera and a tripod and have it focus and shoot - rather than having to find a proxy for where I'll be sitting; focus on that (auto or manually) and run like hell to be looking relaxed in the chair before the 10 second timer pings.
But that will be it (for now).... no more... I'm about to be jobless in Canada for God's sake.
This wasn't the best of today's pics. But for some reason I like it. Think it's the color.
Drove through to Dexter and Huron Photo and they have a huge display case of Minolta lenses. They fit with Sony. Hmmmmm. Surely they couldn't have a used Minolta 50mm f/1.4 lens? Yes they could. Perfect condition. Less than half the new price. Better built than the new Sony. And perfect for portraits and low light.
It really is gorgeous.
Spent the afternoon playing with getting the tip of my nose in focus and the mustache nicely blurred. Then at getting a single hair in focus.
It's been much fun.
Wanted to do some self portraits... but the one thing that I'm missing now is a remote controlled shutter. That way I could sit in a chair with the camera and a tripod and have it focus and shoot - rather than having to find a proxy for where I'll be sitting; focus on that (auto or manually) and run like hell to be looking relaxed in the chair before the 10 second timer pings.
But that will be it (for now).... no more... I'm about to be jobless in Canada for God's sake.
This wasn't the best of today's pics. But for some reason I like it. Think it's the color.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Well equipped
I just bought a Minolta wireless flash from a guy at work. It's nice. You can hide it in corners and surprise granny. Or use it for artistic purposes. It even has it's own little umbrella. I swear one day this camera will be as well equipped as I am...
Perhaps I should post something other than my face on Facebook - it seems that the way I look is my biggest weakness. Other than the fact that I'm not particularly nice.
Here's how my friends (ahem) voted me
STRENGTHS:
best to hang out with for a day
most tech-savvy
most fashionable
WEAKNESSES:
person with the best profile picture
nicest
All I have to say to that is the body dysmorphia had already lowered my self esteem to almost zero - now that I know I'm also a complete tit I can almost smell the oil on the rope of the noose. Thanks 'friends'
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A murder of crows
There is a large Murder of Crows that have taken residence in the trees behind our house. Hundreds, maybe a thousand of them. They're noisy - all of the dogs in the building are freaked. They're messy - my car, my skylight and my patio are covered in crow shit. And they're scary - I understand now why it's a murder of crows.
I'm wondering whether they're also significant,
For the Celts, the crow was sacred and meant the flesh torn by fighting. "The crow pierced him" was a way to to say "he died".
The Bible has a different take. After Adam and Eve were driven away from the Paradise, the crows started to eat carrion - and they became black-feathered. At the end of time, the crows will find their beauty again and sing harmoniously to praise God.
In Africa the crow is a sent as a sign to tell men that menace is on the way.
The Greeks has the crow as a white messenger bird, until it delivered bad news and was turned black by an angry Apollo.
So it's bad news basically. One because it's black. Two because it feeds on carrion.
Bugger.
Wonder if there's a 'loose bowel' crow legend anywhere
I'm wondering whether they're also significant,
For the Celts, the crow was sacred and meant the flesh torn by fighting. "The crow pierced him" was a way to to say "he died".
The Bible has a different take. After Adam and Eve were driven away from the Paradise, the crows started to eat carrion - and they became black-feathered. At the end of time, the crows will find their beauty again and sing harmoniously to praise God.
In Africa the crow is a sent as a sign to tell men that menace is on the way.
The Greeks has the crow as a white messenger bird, until it delivered bad news and was turned black by an angry Apollo.
So it's bad news basically. One because it's black. Two because it feeds on carrion.
Bugger.
Wonder if there's a 'loose bowel' crow legend anywhere
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Step two en route to better pics
Decided that it was time that I stepped up to the plate in terms of the kind of pictures that I want to take and to get a little more excited by the kind of thing that I'm doing.
Luckily I got an invitation to shoot here which seemed like a good thing to me.
The concept is really simple... I'm going to update Sunset Blvd. with a little angst to go with the melodrama. Imagine that Norma Desmond had been a Suicide Girl or perhaps a Pussycat Doll and then spent 30 years waiting for phone to ring.
This is the venue that I'm going to be using...
And this is the first model that I have confirmed
It's going to be great (or a disaster)... but hey if I can arrive in Canada as a member of the Detroit Photo Fetish scene then I'm a happy man
Luckily I got an invitation to shoot here which seemed like a good thing to me.
The concept is really simple... I'm going to update Sunset Blvd. with a little angst to go with the melodrama. Imagine that Norma Desmond had been a Suicide Girl or perhaps a Pussycat Doll and then spent 30 years waiting for phone to ring.
This is the venue that I'm going to be using...
And this is the first model that I have confirmed
It's going to be great (or a disaster)... but hey if I can arrive in Canada as a member of the Detroit Photo Fetish scene then I'm a happy man
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
It's President Obama to you
If you're British and you're reading this that's
O-bam-a
Not
O-bahm-maah
think african chanting O-bam-a, O-bam-a, O-bam-a
Anyway today the new President is sworn in and the country will watch the edited highlights.
I'm on the look out for "Shaving Parties" - there have to be people who are celebrating the end of Bush with a "lose yours" themed event - doesn't there?
O-bam-a
Not
O-bahm-maah
think african chanting O-bam-a, O-bam-a, O-bam-a
Anyway today the new President is sworn in and the country will watch the edited highlights.
I'm on the look out for "Shaving Parties" - there have to be people who are celebrating the end of Bush with a "lose yours" themed event - doesn't there?
Monday, January 19, 2009
Brrrrrr
So the cold of yesterday's shoot took its toll on the number of models that showed up.
It was supposed to be four... then two... then one (and her mom)
Mom carried hairspray and blankets.
Model was sweet and professional.
My pics still have to be 'developed' from RAW (or ARW as Sony call it)
The best are still to come... but I am in love with this lens (a shame as I can't afford it) even though it was perhaps too good (look closely and you'll see that our model has pets)
Today is Martin Luther King day - so we have a break. Jude of course isn't here. We're bad with American holidays. And always seem to have something booked when one occurs. She's off in Whistler for ten days, skiing with 'another man' as I'm sure previous generations would have put it. Very garden fency that statement.
I blame the death of the garden fence conversation for our obsession with celebrity. It used to be that we could tut-tut about our neighbors - the woman that worked, the elderly spinster and her 'sister' in the post office, that Marjory with ideas above her station. But as time to gossip, higher fences and bigger gardens brought seclusion we moved our aim -- to Angelina and jennifer, to J-Lo, to Madge and to all of those women doing the things that we lambasted our neighbors for.
Anyway I'm home alone... and this morning I woke up with a zebra.
Better than a moose I guess
It was supposed to be four... then two... then one (and her mom)
Mom carried hairspray and blankets.
Model was sweet and professional.
My pics still have to be 'developed' from RAW (or ARW as Sony call it)
The best are still to come... but I am in love with this lens (a shame as I can't afford it) even though it was perhaps too good (look closely and you'll see that our model has pets)
Today is Martin Luther King day - so we have a break. Jude of course isn't here. We're bad with American holidays. And always seem to have something booked when one occurs. She's off in Whistler for ten days, skiing with 'another man' as I'm sure previous generations would have put it. Very garden fency that statement.
I blame the death of the garden fence conversation for our obsession with celebrity. It used to be that we could tut-tut about our neighbors - the woman that worked, the elderly spinster and her 'sister' in the post office, that Marjory with ideas above her station. But as time to gossip, higher fences and bigger gardens brought seclusion we moved our aim -- to Angelina and jennifer, to J-Lo, to Madge and to all of those women doing the things that we lambasted our neighbors for.
Anyway I'm home alone... and this morning I woke up with a zebra.
Better than a moose I guess
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