Bill Lawson

Bill, as a personal opinion, I like this image very much. It is an intriguing photograph to study.

The image has a lack of depth in both color and contrast that seems to put everything on the same plane, thereby making an interesting comparison between the modern cell phone and the ancient upright typewriter as methods of personal communication. Is that to make a comment on changes in technology that you have witnessed during your life or just a comment on communication technology in general?. Or, does it have nothing to do with technology? It is simply a time line in the life and growth of Bill Lawson? Rather than eliminating all but the essential elements for a self portrait, you have populated the image with elements elevated to a level of equal importance to the person (yourself);from the cell phone and the typewriter to the distant room with it's unidentifiable elements. This breaks the rules but makes for an image that is well above the mundane or formulated.

I also like the mixed tungsten and daylight. Although it is difficult to tell just where you had the white balance set. The cool areas look like tungsten exposed to daylight and the warm areas look like daylight exposed to tungsten. I am curious how your achieved the flatness of the color. Was it done in PS or possibly another software like Painter? I also love the outfit for New Jersey. It's more African safari or Australian Out Back leaving the question is it simply a preferred way of dressing or does it relate to a life style, your work or other element in the life of Bill Lawson. It is a wonderful photograph that asks questions to hold the viewers attention. One that you should be very proud of.

Gary, this is the longest comment i have ever received. I'll do my best to answer your questions... I'm not really a very deep thinker or skilled typer as you seem to be..

1st question... changes in technology? during my life or just a comment on communication technology in general? ANSWER: my cell phone rang during the shoot and i thought it would make a good prop.

Lighting, mixed tungsten and daylight. It's actually 3 remote flashes and daylight. the daylight streamed in from my front and left. (viewer right) I used it to reduce the shadows. i had a flash on my right, that one is obvious to see. i had a flash to my left pointing at the typewriter it had a green gel over it. My left face is lit by daylight. The daylight was coming out of a wooded area. So it has a lot of green in it (leaves). The room in the back is lit by the 3rd flash. So in summary, 3 flashes and day light, one flash had a green gel over it.

The white balance was set at 6400. Flatness of color? actually with the green gel over the flash, this image was one of the more colorful ones. Flash and day light tend to be similar in color temperature, so the OTHER images from the shoot are even more flat in color. This image was not altered in a software program. I would like to suggest the image looks unique not because of color or composition, but rather the shallow depth of field. I used a 25 year old Nikon 50 mm lens set at F1.8

My clothes? ummmm... Gap clearance rack, I like them. They're my favorites so i wore them for the shoot. They sorta match don't they. yea it does look like a safari outfit, cool.

Thank you very much for your comment. The shoot took me about 5 hours. Hopefully I can sell a few.

Bill :)