I’m a little all over the board when it comes to photography, and love the diversity of assignments that I’ve been fortunate to have.  I would find picking a “favourite” genre of photography an extremely difficult process, as they all interest me.  Thankfully, I don’t have to.

As much as I love many different genres of photography, I find myself “love loving” creative/fashion type photography.  There’s something to be said about taking this little 6 foot by 8 foot square space (“the background” or “the scene”) – which is what I’m usually limited to in my current studio for white background work – and trying to make something unique, over and over again.  Different angles.  Different props.  Different expressions.

Oh, I love getting the expressions.  It’s very often a bit of work – back and forth between me and the model.  The model and the creative director.  Me and the creative director.  Many of the models I’ve worked with are first time models, and what many would consider “non-traditional” models (to wit, this model, the very talented and beautiful Karin Vanonen, was 6 months pregnant).  Coming in to a studio and being asked to pose, to express themselves, in a way that they’ve never been asked to do…isn’t an easy thing.  I love the process of working with a model to overcome their initial hesitation and become, well, a model.

I also love the creative process of post-production with fashion images.  It was mentioned the other day in my Facebook group that I must have my post-processing workflow down to a science to be able to keep on top of the processing demands of my career.  I responded that I pretty much do:  on the average image I spend only seconds in post-production.  But here, with fashion photography, I’ll contradict that.  These images take way longer…10 or 15 minutes at times.  I’m not ashamed to admit that a lot of these are touched up a lot.  The objective of a fashion image is to sell something, essentially.  I want to make sure the images do the job they’re supposed to.

Closely related to the processing of the images (ie – skin touch ups, exposure adjustments, etc) there’s an entirely different part of these images that I also love working on:  making the overall design of the image – with the logo – present itself in a strong, clean fashion.  I am not a graphic designer, but I spend a lot of time doing tasks of a graphic designer.  Would the logo look better here…or over here?  Should I add more white space around the model?  What colour treatment should I give the image?

All of the above is what I love about doing fashion work, and working on this particular shoot – which showcases Jamie Look’s latest creations – was all about expressing that passion.  Jamie is pretty much a northern rock star, and one of the few “name brands” up here.  Her work is in high demand, and Jamie, well, is the fashion goddess of the north.  In addition to designing pieces, she has produced some very visible fashion shows.  When she approached me about doing a “white, glowy” theme, I was happy to work with her again and knew it was right up my alley.  Add  “rotund” to “white and glowy” and you’ve described me to a tee.

Now, for the usual, well-deserved “shout-outs” on the shoot:

Photographer:  Dave Brosha

Concept/Creative Director:  Jamie Look

Model:  Karin Vanonen

Make-up:  Melissa Pettes

Hair:  Samantha Kidston

Assistant:  Andrea Nilson

When: Saturday, May 22, 2010 (Group #1)

Saturday, June 5th, 2010 (Group #2)

Time: 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Fee: $100+tax  ($105)

Description: This intensive, full-day workshop – designed for all skill levels – will see our group (limited to 10 participants) journey to various Yellowknife locations to practice and discuss a wide range of photographic techniques and styles.

Meeting at 7:30 AM in the morning, we’ll first make introductions over coffee – in a relaxed setting – and discuss specific topics of interest to the group.  From there, we’ll head out to a minimum of five different locations through the day  (with a one-hour lunch break) covering both user questions and pre-defined topics, which include low-light techniques, using flash outdoors, environmental portraits, landscape photography, and the creation of abstract/detail images.

This workshop will allow participants a lot of one-on-one time to allow for specific, individualized instruction, and will also allow participants to work with and discuss topics with other passionate photographers of all skill levels.

Workshop participation is limited to 10 people for each date on a first-come basis.  The fee must be paid in full at the time of reserving your spot (I accept debit/credit cards, cheques, and cash) and is non-refundable.

If you are interested in participating in this fun, engaging day of Yellowknife photography, please contact me .

Thanks, and I look forward to creating with you!

Dave

Fantastic day.  Cold but sunny.  The racers were tough as hell.  True northern grit.

Thanks to Geoff Fandrick for his “second shooter” duties for me today!

What does this have to do with the images below, which are quite obviously one heck of a fierce contradiction to a family portrait?  Well, everything.  This photoshoot, which I affectionately call my “Warrior” shoot, was probably one of my favourite shoots, ever.  And it was born out of a family portrait session.

The “model”, aka “The Warrior”, aka “The Dancer”, aka “The Amazingly Talented Aboriginal Dancer Who Will Perform at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver” came into my life through a – you guessed it – a family portrait session.  It was pre-Christmas, and not only did I photograph him (let’s call him Daniel Stephens) and his beautiful girlfriend, but I also photographed his bulldog.  Yes, that’s right.  The only thing more feared than family portraits, in some circles, are photos of dogs.

After photographing his small “family”, and after he saw some of my images from some of my conceptual shoots on the wall of the studio, he casually mentioned that he had this thing that he did – and that it would probably make for a cool shoot.  And did it ever.  Over the course of doing family portraits I have made countless connections with people, connections that I wouldn’t trade with the world.  And these connections have lead to, well, amazing opportunities, good friends, and incredibly interesting conversations with people from all walks of life.  It forms a huge part of why I love what I do.

But enough with the soapbox.  On to the images.  These were photographed on Vee Lake – which continually finds its way into my photos – on probably the only -10C and calm winter day that we’ll ever have in January.  For the most part, these were light with one studio Elinchrom light (with softbox), although some use a combination of Elinchrom for the foreground, and Canon Speedlite for the background.  For a glimpse of the “man behind the warrior”, check out the last photo.  And stay tuned for another post in the weeks to come detailing a studio session I had with Daniel the same day.

Until next time….

The following 17 images were taken in a 24-hour span…in mid-September!  That’s right – no snow!  No mosquitoes the size of golf balls.  Only sun, fishing, incredible displays of the Aurora Borealis, fantastic fall colours, and amazing aerial views.  Did I mention that we went out to check out the Aurora wearing shorts and t-shirts?  And again, that these were all taken within 24 hours?

Hawaii, you can have your lush green hills, tropical beaches, and scantily glad shore-mongers.  We have Northern Pike.  Big Northern Pike.  And even if I haven’t mastered how to hold the arm-length fish, I can still catch them, dammit!

So nevermind I’ve chosen to forget about the brutal moments for the sake of this post…or that this was a freak occurrence (t-shirt weather in mid-September), this is my blog and I can do what I want with it.  Come visit, and then blog yourself.

When I traveled to the BHP Billiton’s Ekati Diamond Mine site last month to photograph, amongst other things, their underground mining operations, I’ll be the first to admit that I was somewhat nervous.  Not nervous about going underground – I don’t mind the dark – but more nervous from a “don’t screw this up sense”. It’s not like someone just casually says to another, “oh, let’s head underground for a few snaps”; there were procedures, safety orientations, and meticulous double and triple-checking of gear on my part (I didn’t think the old “hmm…forgot my batteries” line would work).

So I was nervous about getting something good – I mean, it’s pretty much pitch black down there, and unless you have a plan you’re going to capture a whole lot of black; not the stuff of award-winning photos.  But this is where all my years of night photography came into full practice; photographing the Aurora Borealis around Yellowknife has allowed me to perfect my technique of shooting in almost no-light conditions, including the very helpful memorization of all my camera controls so that I can operate in the darkness.

But knowing the location of your camera controls and the proper settings to shoot in low/no light is still only half the battle.  You have to light the scene, under pressure (you only have so much time), and light it in a way that doesn’t just look like harsh flash bouncing off reflective vests.  Really, those images look terrible.  I took a few just to tell myself how bad they are.

So this is where, once again, my Joe McNally training (by means of his great books, instructional videos, and blog) kicked in. Dozens of lighting options ran through my mine in each scene, and some of the techniques I used included off-camera flash, held by my geotechnical engineer/guide, to “painting in” light using a flashlight or head lamp, to just using available light (the light thrown off by machinery, however limited, can over a long exposure produce some dramatic results), or using a combination of stuff.  The name of the game was experimentation – and I was able to get a number of “keepers”.

This first image was a result of a lot of experimentation, and I believe this was the 5th take.  This is about a 30-second exposure, taken in near-dark conditions.  It was long enough for the small beacon on his truck (the only light in the space) to throw off some interesting reddish colour on the rocks. Everything else is light by me and my small team.  I have an off-camera flash outside the right side of the frame on a light stand, trigged by my on-camera master.  That light up the truck nicely, but was throwing a nasty shadow on my “model”, who did a great job of staying still for 30 seconds.  To fix that, I had my guide flash his flashlight on the model for a few seconds, just long enough to light him up and counter the shadows.

This second image used the only available light (coming off their headlamps) combined with a soft hit of light from my flash, which was stationed off-camera to the right.

Off-camera flash, over to the left.   Loved this shot.

Entirely available light.

About a 7-second exposure using natural light.  These two mine workers weren’t asked to stay still – but remarkably they did, otherwise their silhouettes would have been nothing but a blur.  One of my favourite shots from the morning.

My strongest shot, I think, but one of the most challenging.  This used available light, a hit from my flash (which lit up the ceiling and walls), and then our headlamps were used to paint in the side of the truck. A fish eye lens allowed me to “see around the corner”.

Cool distortion here caused by the fish eye.  He’s not really 8-feet tall and that skinny.

Wow – what a place.  Incredible to think the engineering/expertise behind this.

Not my “technically best” shot, but I found this so interesting – the things we don’t think of.  Like “where do underground miners eat?  Do they take coffee breaks?”  Here, a nice lunch room (primary purpose is a safety bay) carved into the underground.

,..the light at the end of the tunnel.

This is the last in this set of blog posts featuring the models of last month’s Circumpolar Fashion show.  It’s been a blast….but watch for more from Yellowknife’s fashion diva Jamie Look, as she preps for next year’s Olympics as one of the featured northern artists.

PS – I asked her at one point during the shoot to let loose with a smile.  She deadpanned, “it hurts”.  Enough said…

With a look as stunning and unique as her name, she was a pleasure to work with…