Seattle

Shooting Model & Seniors in Washington (Evergreen Workshop part II)

Usually I only get to post the images I create. At this event, one of the photographers in attendance, Joanne Murray took a number of images of me working and was kind enough to provided them to me. I really appreciate that and am posting them here so that you can see another view of this workshop.

Having so many out-of-town jobs in a row, I was sporting a trip beard.

If you compare these images of me working to the previous post of finished portraits, you can see how I created the images. this one below was one that I featured on the last post. I wanted a unique angle and balanced on the tip of the bench, then held my light out at the right angle with one hand and photographed her with the other hand.

Here we are after dinner, setting up for the night shoot.

Here’s me using a reflector to help control the natural light.

You should see the image I created here too in the previous post. what you can barely see here is that the flash I’m using is off to the side. I don’t like using just pure natural light, as it is never coming in at the correct direction that I need it. I always need to correct it somewhat to get a spectacular image.

And finally, Joanne was kind enough to be my ride and escort from Seattle to Port Townsend. We had a long and lovely drive that included a ferry ride. Here is one of her images of me on the ferry.

If you’re looking to attend one of my photographic workshops, please check out my workshop site, at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com. There are new events being announced all the time. I hope to see you at one soon.

Until next time, America! 🙂

 

Shooting Model & Seniors in Washington (Evergreen Workshop part I)

I taught a weeklong photographic workshop called ‘Evergreen’ outside of Seattle in a small town called Port Townsend. Here are some of the images from that event.

Usually as I travel and move, I create images — it’s like a part of my brain that doesn’t turn off. I see abstract shapes in everything around me.

For a while now, I’ve created some of these images on my iPhone because it makes it extra fun. You see, the iPhone in its simplicity, doesn’t have any exposure controls, so so I have to think around its limitations. That particular method of thought makes me think differently and I tend to create different images than I normally would.

While teaching, I demonstrate various types of equipment and techniques. All of these image were created in front of the group, from the initial creation, to the workflow and the final retouching.

We also used a minimal amount of equipment, staying as mobile as possible, and used backgrounds and locations right there within walking distance. When I’m shooting at a workshop, I specifically like to focus on teaching three things:

1) Make the most of what you’ve got. For instance, instead of wondering if there’s a better place nearby, instead ask yourself how you can make a particular area work as a cool background?

2) We don’t want just good images, we want to create fantastic images that have punch and emotion.

3) We want all the work to be done in camera so that we don’t have to fix anything later. The images should be perfectly exposed, have the perfect color balance, have a strong emotion and believable expression, and be lit with control from the right angles. That way anything we do to the image later will be for fun instead of to fix it.

Most of these images have very little work done to them, and what work was done was done quickly in front of the class using special techniques and some of my specific products. In fact, using these techniques it seems that it actually takes more time to pick favorites than it does to finish them up.

So these girls told us that a lot of local photographers use the area for senior shoots, so we really wanted to create unique images, find cool nooks, and use the area in new ways.

I think you can tell that the shoot was a lot of fun for everyone.

Hopefully you can see that we really created a lot of variety, and used all sorts of areas to our advantage. We wanted to create a lot of different looks as quickly as possible, and make something wonderful from each spot.

That night after dinner, we invited the girls to come meet us in town for some night shooting. Instead of the normal dark or flat images that are typical at night, instead I showed how to create depth and how to get perfect exposures while working with various off-camera flashes.

The challenge here was to show that no situation is difficult when we really understand light. Below, is a mulit-light setup using a streetlight for interest. I angled her so that the wind was working with her hair, and I really like how these turned out.

And finally we took our model Lane, out on the pier, looking out towards the water. The first image is a photograph, and the second is a painting that I created from another photograph in the series.

If you’re looking to attend one ofmy photographic workshops, please check out my workshop site, at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com. There are new ones being announced all the time. I hope to see you at one soon.

Until next time, America! 🙂

Lighthouses of the Seattle Washington Area, Part 2

Part 2 of my trip was spent in a little coastal town called Port Townsend. I was at Fort Warden which had it’s own lighthouse about a mile down the beach. I made it my goal to get some amazing shot of it, and I woke up most mornings that I was there around 4:30 am in order to walk down the beach, set up, and wait for sunrise. On this particular morning the sky was so socked in that I never got a sunrise, so I did a self portrait before going back and getting a quick nap before work.

Even though there wasn’t a directional sunrise, I still really liked the look of the Port Wilson lighthouse in the foggy mist. I photographed it various ways each morning.

One morning I also photographed this ship wreck on my walk back. I really liked the detail in this image, and split-toned the final piece so that the white would really stand out.

Each walk back was quiet and serene. Sometime there would be a sailboat out in the water, anchored for the night, and other times there would be a few fisherman out in row boats. On one occasion I ran into someone on a morning walk, but other than that I never saw anyone else on these early mornings.

On my last morning, I caught the sunrise. Once I could see the sun peaking, I set up in a different spot than in other mornings, and began to work trying to capture all the detail, watching for the sun rays to come shining in the image.

Once the sun peaked, all the little rocks on the sand lit up. It was really exciting to finally see the warm directional light and get something different than the other mornings.

I had to hurry and get different angles quickly, as the sun really travels fast. I really liked this one below, with the grass blowing in the morning breeze.

And here’s one last one from set up from the far side, with me very low in the grass. I wanted one with the sun lighting up the lighthouse with the warm morning light without any sun flares.

So which images are your favorites? All of these have such different looks and different feelings, it’s hard to pick a favorite but I’m curious what you all like.

In my next blog entries I’ll talk about some of the work I did while I was out there, but before I got to that, I wanted to first show you some of these images that I created during my free time. I really like to find lighthouses and photograph them. They’re beautiful and inspiring, and a real challenge to photograph in interesting ways. I hope you enjoyed looking at these.

Until next time, America. 🙂

Lighthouses of the Seattle Washington Area, Part 1

Coming home from the east coast, I went straight on over to the west coast to do a job in the Seattle area. I got there a day and a half early to relax and take some photographs. Upon arriving, I caught this sunset behind the Space Needle.

The next day I went into town to hang out at Pike Street Market and eat some fried fish and chowder.

I then took a ferry out to Vashon Island to find and photograph the Point Robinson lighthouse that I had read about. I got there early in the afternoon, and the sun was already setting on it. I made it just in time. It’s not just enough to photograph it, I really want to create something amazing and that means lighting it just the right way. Since I can’t move the sun I have to time my schedule around the sun to shoot it when it’s lit the best.

Here are some of the images I created that late afternoon, starting with this panorama with the shadows touching the bottom of the building.

By the time I set up for a straight-on shot, the shadows were already half-way up the lighthouse.

After getting that I just worked quickly to get a few more options. I switched to a Lens Baby tilt-shift lens and set up a shot with the tip still in the sun.

And then to another lens from the side catching one more with just the tip still in sunlight.

After that I hiked back through the woods back to my car, packed up, and called my girlfriend to chat while making my way back into the main part of Vashon to find some dinner. After eating I caught one of the last ferries off the island and headed back to my hotel to get ready for work the next day. Spending time on Vashon was amazing. It was a very fun and cool night. The air was perfect, the island was serene, and I met some very nice and colorful locals along the way, and the ferry ride in the cool dark air was invigorating.

Coming up in part 2 of Seattle, more images of another beautiful lighthouse. See you then.