brian_reeves1

I once witnessed a bizarre exchange in the Galleria shopping mall in Houston, TX. A guy with a 35mm camera taking pictures at the mall happened to get a pic or two of some Arab women (veils and all). Immediately several large men surrounded that guy, a hurried discussion ensued, a large wad of bills appeared and many were exchanged for the roll of film. The 'bodyguard' then pulled the film out of the canister, exposing it, then tossed it in a trash can.

 

Everyone went their separate ways. The scene was over in about a minute. If I had a camera I would have been tempted to shoot the interaction, but alas I was unarmed.

 

BTW, this was years ago, not recent.

I have only "done" one wedding. It was for a sister-in-law who could not afford to get married, much less hire a photog. I used my trusty Nikon FE-2, 85/1.8; and a borrowed plasticy Nikon (don't remember the number) loaded with black and white film.

 

I rented a Metz flash and bracket, which was a big, big improvement over my Sunpak. NPH for the color shots, Delta 400 for the black and whites, used a tripod for the (few) formal shots. If you are shooting in the church, ask ahead of time if flash (or photography itself) is permitted during the service.

 

Everyone has given lots of excellent advice here. Relax and have fun. I was only frustrated a couple of times when various guests (mostly family members) would order me around, insisting I get this shot or that shot. I, for one, didn't really enjoy the reception. But that is a risk you take when you shoot a family member's wedding for free <grin>.

 

I'd upload a pic but my in-laws stole my negatives. That's another thread, though...

Yes, his appearance is probably what triggered the 'fairy tale' response from me. Let's see: grey hair, glasses on the nose, suspenders, beard, striped shirt. Also (to a lesser extent) the room he is in reminds me of a castle or at least an old building. "Old" is a relative term - to many people, the room may not look old at all, but to me (born and raised in Texas) there <b>are</b> no old buildings to see here, just about everything has been built in the last hundred years (and most of it in the last thirty). For example, my office building was built just after WWII, but remodeled a year ago so the inside looks brand new :-;

 

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Sorry to ramble off topic. The light is awesome, I didn't really 'see' the spray can until it was pointed out. I'd love to see more of this man.

I don't know what it's about, but the instant the image appeared on my screen I thought "fairy tale" for some reason. Almost expected him to be carving a little boy puppet or something...

Don - this would depend on what you are wanting to accomplish. If you want an 'industrial' background there are plenty of places. (train yards, airports, etc)

 

Downtown Ft. Worth has some (OK, a little) interesting architecture.

 

You could always go for the Water Gardens (as seen on Logan's Run). Usually an interesting cross-section of humanity there, especially on weekends, so don't expect privacy.

 

If you want a "country" background there are plenty of farms, windmills, etc just out of town. Or go to Forest Park or the Botanical Gardens and use the big trees / open green spaces as background.

 

Go early (be there at dawn) to beat the heat and get the best light. I wouldn't plan on getting any humane pictures after about 11 AM, depending on the day <G> Good luck!

The last time our family was photographed at a studio, the photog had us all take our shoes off. We spent almost an hour sitting on various props, together, separate, etc.

 

One photo that I just <b>love</b> is of my son sitting down, kicking his feet in the air. I cannot believe it would have looked right if I saw the soles of shoes instead of the bottom of his feet.

 

The other pics look great, you wouldn't notice that everyone was barefoot unless I pointed it out.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture to put up here, but in case anybody likes her work Sally Mann is on the PBS show "Art in the 21st Century."

 

<p>Apparently, the timetable has been messed up from the 'original' airdates but she is on the first program of the series. Details are <a href="http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/index.html">here</a>.

 

<p>I didn't know about this and during a commercial from Quantum Trek (or whatever the latest Trek show is) I flipped channels and saw a woman preparing photographic plates in the back of her suburban, talking about how they were not perfect and that's why she liked them.

 

<p>Throughout the piece she and two of her kids were flipping through boxes and boxes of 8x10's and commenting on them; many of these pics are the type pulled from web sites because of issues with children being photographed naked. Her kids did say it was a bit of a relief when she moved on to doing landscapes since they felt they had been photographed enough (my paraphrasing). Her daughter emphasized that the landscapes were harder to do and better technically than her family photos.

 

<p>Interesting stuff. I want a large format camera now (except I have zero patience).

My favorite subjects continue to be my children. Probably because they are usually underfoot when I have a camera handy.

 

<p>This is one from the beach last month:

 

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<img src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=348823&size=md">

<br>Joshua

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If I did all of this right, I managed to a)link to the photo instead of the photo.net page and b)close my center tag. BTW, pic was taken with a Yashica pointy shoot and I'm pretty sure that's fill in flash on his face.

I suppose you <i>could</i> crop it, but would it help to crop an equal

amount from the other side, to keep the proportions right? I'm not

sure what that would do to the composition as a whole, though.

 

<p>I don't have Gimp or PS here at work to play with, so I've been

holding my hands up over the monitor to try and see what it would look

like.

 

<p>Overall I like the shot but would like to see a bit more detail of

his face. It's hard to get closer on a steam engine, huh? I have a

couple of shots I took last summer on a train near here but I think

they are too dark to scan properly.

Just because I like to challenge the odds, here I am to post another

pic from the same roll. Both kids, this time.

 

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<img

src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=336505&size=md">

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<p>And this time I closed the bloody center tag!

Once more, with feeling:

 

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<img

src="http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-display?photo_id=336493&size=m

d">

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We somehow wound up with a whole bag of cheap-o swim goggles, and the boys were out playing with them. Here's a shot of Ryan when he actually sat still long enough for me to focus:

 

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<a href="http://geocities.com/bri1217/album/summer01/ryan_flat.htm">

<img src="http://geocities.com/bri1217/album/summer01/ryan_flatonswing_goggle-tn.jpg" width="217" height="139" alt="Ryan">

</a>

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Nikon, 85mm, Tri-x, cloudy day.

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(I'm not really that pleased with the scan, btw).

I find the entire web-cam thing interesting, dating back (of course)

to <a href="http://www.jennicam.org">Jennicam</a> and others. In part

I find it interesting because the internet is at once anonymous -

where your screen name can have a lot or a little to do with you - and

at the same time you can post very personal things like pictures from

your couch or bedroom. Gee, when I was in high school we never did

anything like this :-)

 

<p>On the subject of people photography:<br>

From a self-portrait perspective, at Charmcam's club, I liked the ones

in this folder: "%^august" She switched a few to black and white and

I think they are pretty good, especially for a self-portrait. If you

look at enough folders you'll see that most of the photos are the

same, although you get a few good expressions.

I love this picture, for one reason: it reminds me of my grandfather.

 

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He would walk with his hands behind his back like that when he was

contemplating something. Or when we were in a store and he wanted to

resist the impulse to pick everything up and look at it.

 

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This photo brought back a flood of memories; it's a shame he isn't

here to share them now. Heck, this photo could <i>be</i> my

grandfather... where was it taken?