Inessential Stuff

One day last June, I was driving around the back roads and I discovered this beautiful old house, abandoned, in the middle of no where, desolate and lonely and kind of spooky:

It was about an hour away from Spokane, but I knew right then that I wanted to do a shoot there–late evening, maybe towards dark–play around with some off-camera lighting.

I also knew the look I wanted:  desolate, bleak, hopelessly lonely.  I even had some ideas for props:  old suitcases, maybe a hat case.  My wife was able to procure those from the theater department at her school.  I just needed a model.

I was after a certain look:  someone who could look haunted, abandoned, cold, as if she had been waiting for a ride, but the ride had never come, and here she was, years later, stuck in time, still waiting.

I had one shoot set up.   But the model never committed to a time.  Then another model was interested, but had to cancel at the last minute.  I thought Elly might be perfect, and we had a shoot set up, but then something came up and the shoot was postponed for several months.

But finally–finally!–the day came.  I was afraid the weather might be inappropriately cheerful, but we “lucked out” by scheduling what turned out to be the coldest day in a couple of weeks.  On the hour drive out there, we rain pelted the car.  And then we arrived.

No house.

Maybe I hadn’t remembered right.  I drove up and down the road.  But I was sure I was in the right place.  Finally, I called my wife, who looked up at the old images I had taken, and the time-stamps on them, and I was able to determine that I was very, very close indeed.  But there was no house.  And then we saw it:  a bit of rubble around a foundation.  The house had been razed.

The light was dying.  We were an hour away from Spokane.  More rain seemed on the way.  So we improvised.  I knew of another abandoned house, another 30 miles or so away.  So we drove like crazy to get there.

And we pulled off this shoot.

It was cold, especially with the wind, and Elly was a super-trooper who only asked for a single coat-break (the high-resolution images reveal goosebumps throughout).  She was patient while I fidgeted (in my warm fleece) with the lights.  And she delivered exactly what I was hoping for.

So all’s well that ends well, I suppose.  But wish they hadn’t torn down the house, just the same.

I received news this week that I’m really excited about. I was accepted into the Wedding Photojournalist Association! It’s a discriminating organization that only accepts photographers using a true photojournalistic approach and whose images “reflect exceptional skill, originality and creativity”. I am the first (and so far only) photographer in Spokane to be accepted (pats self on back).

My wife and son and I were up in Seattle visiting my sis and bro-in-law and nephews, and we took in an Angles’ game (not to be confused with a Mariner’s game).  I decided at the last minute it might be a fun idea to do a shoot in the stadium, so I did a quick casting call, and managed to find the talented Brittney Burke (much thanks) the day before the game.  So we did a shoot up in the far, high, nose-bleed seats at Safeco Field.  Here are the results.

I did another fashion shoot with Ronnie from Glamarita. Our last shoot had been a bit chilly, so we scheduled this one for April 5. You know, Spring. For an outdoor shoot. Only it was snowing on April 5. Ronnie pulled some strings and arranged access to The Blvd, a BBQ house and music venue, so much thanks to them for helping out in a pinch.

So here are the results of the shoot. For those interested, it was done entirely with off-camera lighting, with a 580EX II flash through a transparent umbrella (plus a bit of natural light around the pool table). Take a peek at the pics, leave comments, and be sure to stop by the Glamarita store to buy some clothes.

So here is the third and final installment of the photoshoot with Valerie.

I’m not sure Valerie was convinced these would turn out, and she maintained (obviously incorrectly) that she didn’t look good when she looked “playful”, and it’s true that only one in three pictures was usable, and it’s true that the shoot kind of messed up Valerie’s hair, but . . . . in spite of it all, I think some of the pictures are a lot of fun.

For those of you interested in technical kinds of things, this was more playing around with my wide-angle lens, all of these being between 12-24mm shots. I used a strobe behind a shoot-through umbrella that was over the bed and triggered by my PocketWizards. I tried some on-camera fill-flash on some, but most of those were dismal failures. Live and learn.

I mentioned that when Valerie and I did our shoot, we got lots of good pictures. So many, that I decided to break them into several different galleries. This first was “Valerie against the Wall.” Now it’s time for “Valerie on the Bed.” There will be another one in a few days.

I did a shoot a couple weeks ago with Valerie, and we got a lot of good stuff. I decided to split the images into several different galleries. So this is the first set–the first shots we took. Kind of warm-up shots. We took them against a wall. Thus the name.
I was also playing around with some new equipment I picked up from the WPPI trade show I had attended the week before, including an umbrella, some pocket wizards, and my new 12-24 mm lens. With this wide-angle, I discovered that when setting up a vertical shot, I had to make sure my toes were out of the frame. Delightful! I would also, unknowingly, get so close to Valerie that she would say, “How close do I look, anyway!” I love the new lens.

Early on a foggy Sunday morning, Carrie and James and I met up at Riverfront Park for their engagement pictures. We had a good time, leisurely strolling the park and trying out different locations. It was great fun to watch their affection for each other. If, after a long while of shooting, their smiles started to seem a little less than authentic, all I had to do was ask them to look at each other, and the natural, glowing smiles returned. Here’s a little slideshow of some of my favorites.

Lindsi and Ronnie are clothes designers in the area. They wanted to do a fashion shoot to showcase some of their creations, and I was honored when they called upon me. We decided to shoot in an alley and on the beautiful old loading dock of the Barrister Winery, whose owners were so kind and interested in what we were doing, that they invited us to take some pictures down among the barrels in the wine cellar.

The results of the photoshoot are in this gallery. However, you should swing by Lindsi’s store, The KnottyMuse, and Ronnie’s Store, Glamarita, and check out their clothes there. And maybe buy and thing or two while you’re at it.

The keen observer who has been following my blog (and thanks, Richard, Diego, and Mum) might notice some subtle differences. In fact, I’ve made the big leap: from a blogger site to my own-hosted blog on WordPress. There were some glitches along the way (and may still be more), but it mostly went well, with one major exception …

I lost all the comments.

So please, please, pretty-please, feel free to browse (or re-browse) and scatter comments crazy-loco all over the place. And bookmark me. And subscribe to the RSS feed. And make liberal use of the “ShareThis” feature. And invite your friends and neighbors over for an InessentialStuff Blog Party.

If, when commenting, you leave your signature as a link back to your own site, I will be sure to follow and say hello (and it’d be much appreciated it).

So here we go, into the WordPress world! Welcome aboard!