Spring "Selfie"

I almost forgot: I got really tired of staring at my previous profile shots on all my social networks every time I logged it.

So, I had to photograph a new one. Of course, I currently have neither the time, nor the motivation to create something worthwhile, so my poor friends are stuck with yet another "casual" image. :)

A Portrait of a Little Man

Whenever I create portraits (this excludes models posing as someone else), I prefer the natural approach that both presents the subject in an aesthetically pleasing manner and accurately portrays his or her personality. This means photographing either without the subject's knowledge or capturing their non-posed interactions. 

It also helps if I am photographing a tiny East Asian baby. Is there anything cuter than they are?

Not much!

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Testing out the K3

Few things excite this night owl in the morning.

Cameras are one of those things. I received a wonderful gift last night, a K3, one of Pentax's newer models. Needless to say, I was beyond ready to test it out, even if only on half-dressed mirror "selfies."

I'm still playing around with the features that my K7 lacks. For now, I get to experience the horror of staring at images of myself in an oversized 24 megapixel format. ;)

This is obviously a mirror shot, so I flipped it.

This is obviously a mirror shot, so I flipped it.

Chiaroscuro Self

Recently, I've noticed that certain portrait photographers, who rely on studio lighting, harshly criticize the natural kind. 

Context is everything, of course--there is something to be said about excessive facial shadows. Yet my general aesthetic preference for indoor shooting has always been chiaroscuro since it makes the subjects appear painterly.

So this self-portrait was my small challenge to their assertion.

December Self-Portrait

Photographing myself is always a strange experience even in the age of daily smartphone "selfies" among the female part of the population. There is, of course, that cognitive dissonance between the way you are used to seeing yourself in the mirror and the way you really look to other people. 

At the same time, you are your own best model, because you're always available, and because you know exactly what crazy (or simple) idea you have in your head for photographic execution. Perhaps, that's the problem, then: the fact that when it doesn't turn out exactly as envisioned (and it never does), you have no one to blame but yourself! :)

Of course, there is no profound idea behind this self-portrait either, beyond the fact that I got a haircut (!), and I am still attracted to Baroque-type imagery when it comes to portraiture. 

Another version (and I won't pretend that the slightly messed up focus was deliberate!):

Liopleurodonning

I try to keep this blog limited to my creative pursuits--professional and personal. Even my mobile self-portraits are often taken when I'm out photographing landscapes and wildlife. Of course, at times, a glimpse of my personal life comes through, for better or for worse. 

So, I am posting these candid shots--rather, screen shots from a smartphone video of me swimming--solely because this is an activity that brings me joy. A sense of achievement (even if small) follows a challenge (even if small). 

Solitary. And out in Nature. 

(We shot the video, because I wanted to see my form, and was pleased to find small mistakes only. Of course, I'm just an amateur.) 

It's difficult not to sound sappy or trivial, but I'm a firm believer that it's physical labor and/or exercise that function as the best "anti-depressant" when things are tough.  

That and music. 

 

And further away: 

I call this LIOPLEURODONNING!

Where Did All the Bubbles Go?

Considering what I normally post to this blog, seeing the following images might come as a bit of a surprise. However, I really enjoy recording interactions between people and their children (and, of course, people and their pets!). 

Unlike most photography of this nature, my preference is, by and large, documentary, that is, no posing is involved.  I believe that it's both possible to depict people at their best and their most authentic at the same time.

Of these, my favorite shows the two children, because it resembles something between Renoir and Degas.