Not Your Olin-Mills, Sears Portrait Series

For my second assignment, I was teamed up with Laura Herring. It was my first official foray into studio lighting. I don't know exactly how I feel about it. Not because photographing Laura wasn't fun (because she was great as far as not being too conscious of the camera), but because it's my normal dilemma of seeing something and not quite knowing how to reproduce it with the camera. And who - besides photographers - ever knew lighting could be so challenging? It looks all so easy...

Our assignment: (1) picture using a single light AND (1) picture using multiple lights.



For my single light, I lit Laura from the side and tried to use the gold reflector to light the other side. I could never seem to figure out how to get rid of the dark shadow on her right side.

I chose this one to submit.

Who knew that Laura was so talented?

I find this picture amusing (beyond the obvious) because of the little wisp of hair that drove Laura crazy...





My multi-light photo, I used a gel for the background to light it pink. We originally tried to create a purple background, but putting 2 gels together didn't allow for enough light. It might work if we upped the wattage on the lamp, but I don't know. So, we've got the pinkish background - which I thought went well with Laura's coloring and clothing. Then, I used a key light on the left (her right) and used a gobo to block the light from shining and washing out the backdrop. Finally, at about a 90* angle to the right I used a softbox.

With both of these shots, I was trying to show the playfulness of Laura's personality. I did try to get some of her being serious, but somehow, they kept coming out like she was stoned...

My First Assignment

A new year, another semester. And this semester I am taking J7558, Advanced Techniques in Photojournalism. This class is all about light, lighting. Which is kinda cool - because that's been a conumdrum of mine since I really got interested in photography. For my first assignment, I photographed 2 images that I found, both taken from the annals of National Geographic. The images were supposed to use light to convey a feeling or tone and one was meant to "Stump the Chump," aka Catalin (our TA) and Rita (our professor).

My first choice was a picture taken by Chris John in the July 1987 issue of National Geographic. Its caption read: A painted and powdered maiko (geisha-in-training) parts her lips to ingest a slippery piece of tofu with practiced delicacy - she cannot let it touch her lips. To attain true geisha status, she must master the traditional arts of music, dance, song, and conversation.


The way it was lit, to me, accentuated the detatchment of the maiko from the viewer.

My second choice (my "Stump the Chump") was a picture taken by Martha Cooper in the July 1988 issue. Its caption read: Tragedy frozen in time, the remains of a man, woman, and child locked in an embrace were discovered by archeologist David Soren while excavating the ancient port city of Kourion, Cyprus. An earthquake devastated the settlement in AD 365, entombing its citizens in a time capsule.

I look at this picture, I look at the skeleton of the man, with his body curled around the woman and child, trying to protect them, and it's sad, tragic. But at the same time, the way that it's lit, it seems really peaceful and warm.