The ground's a bit wet from the recent rains, we're shooting in between storm systems, there's more people around than expected, folks are taking advantage of the one sunny day to get a bit of hiking in.
We ignore the couple taking product shots on a rock, but I can't seem to find my way into a creative space, it all feels rote, feels like every step I take is into a footprint I've already made.
As a practical matter, I'd left my heavy medium format camera at home, instead electing to bring two far smaller, far lighter cameras.
Ends up saving the day. I switch from my Canon to my little Sony, start taking the weirdest shots I can, silly angles, lifting it high above me, dropping it way low, near my ankles, and soon the ideas are coming again. Nothing crazy, I've yet to access that truly unique space, but shots I'm digging, we're having fun.
Had no idea I'd gotten this shot until I returned home. Jada is ordinarily so controlled, even when expressing joy, this bit of surprise on her face, even after the several years of shooting her, is an expression I'd never seen on her, before. Solid gold.
Tags: 1.6.23 Jada Selexman WPD23People portrait
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Right at the edge of visible exposure, and I love it.
It's not some grand desire to be totally experimental, but I do get the urge to push things past where I'm comfortable...every once in awhile.
Probably a Great artist would be pushing constantly, I think that's wise for those trying to stay vital, trying to continue to improve.
But me, as always, I'm just out there having fun. If the urge strikes me, I'll mix it up, but there's no pressure.
Here, forcing my eye to do a little bit of work to see Jada's face...I get a kick out of it.
Tags: 1.6.23 Jada Selexman portrait
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I photographed a model yesterday, she was excitedly describing a big shoot she was setting up for this weekend. Four photographers, nine models, four make-up artists, she's bought a bunch of outfits (to be returned after the shoot), she'd even rented a studio downtown for a full day.
That's the part that got me.
I've begun to relax around Covid. Ate indoors for the first time since November 2021, just this week. I let people into the house without a mask. But the idea of being indoors with a bunch of people, taking pictures, presumably with no masks...not quite ready for that, yet.
I told her I shoot exclusively outside right now. It's more dynamic, it has more surprises. Hell, while we were talking, clouds passed right in front of the sun, changing the light, a big old diffuser in the sky.
But three years inside a pandemic also has me admittedly skittish about being indoors without a mask, I'm now hyper-aware of airflow and other people and the way we used to live, getting sick without giving any thought as to what was actually happening.
Up in the hills with Jada on the day this picture was taken, people were walking in front of us, around us, behind us. I notice I'm more sensitive to that now, too. Proximity to others.
I'm left wondering how long I'll feel the effects of the last few years, if it's the kind of thing that'll ever go away.
Tags: 1.6.23 Jada Selexman portrait
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I used to fuck with light more.
I was in the water yesterday morning with a buddy, talking about my Costa Rica trip, telling him one of the few good things was, I caught a lot of waves, got a lot of "reps", lots of chances to get my timing right, to get my pop up right, to work on my form. Building that muscle memory.
Before the pandemic...before getting a good career, really, I would get in lots of reps, taking pictures. Photo shoot after photo shoot, several in a day, several in a week, fucking with light, fucking with composition, doing it all so often, working things out, watching ideas mutate like they were in a Petri dish.
Not to say I miss it, having done it all at that pace for years, I'm grateful to be taking it slower, nowadays. But I recognize the utility of all those reps. Developing muscle memory for recognizing how light moves and operates through a camera lens. Knowing how this flare would work out.
I used to fuck with light more...but now I don't have to.
Tags: 1.6.23 Jada Selexman portrait
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Right here is the kind of silliness that helped warm up the shoot, get my brain to a place where I could start seeing the Good shots.
My little Sony, purchased two years ago for a trip to Portland, has continued to justify its own existence.
I was concerned, at first. Bought it on a whim, I was flush with cash, about to embark on several small trips around the country, felt like a smart toy.
Then I got to Portland's Japanese gardens and had a crisis of confidence. "Where does this fit! What's it even for!" My girlfriend nodded calmly, let me work it out. Took the better part of the day to answer my own questions.
With a big digital, an iPhone, three different film cameras...what use is a small digital? What can it do that the others can't?
This. It's got a view screen that can flip around, face its subject. I can adjust it so it's set up like a TLR, I can shoot from way down below, I can shoot from up high, I can position the camera in ways and places that would be incredibly uncomfortable with other cameras.
It's not for getting the best shot, it's for getting a weird one...which is often what I need to see when I'm getting ready to make some art.
Tags: 1.6.23 Jada Selexman portrait
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