What I did notice is that I had a number of people very interested in the thought process and the technical process of achieving the photograph.
So I thought I would take the time to put together a post that explored the inspiration and the technical side.
First and foremost, I owe my entire inspiration to Paul Caponigro. He was in that generation of Art Photographers after Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Paul Strand that really continued to define photography as an art. His image “Running White Deer” was the inspiration for the photograph I created.

I feel very deeply that photographers should have an education in Photographic History. We as the “new breed” of artists can only do what we do because we have seen what the “masters” have created before us. I hope that doesn’t come across as an arrogant statement. I myself will be the first to admit that even with 18 years of photographic experience, I know very little. In fact I feel like I’m just starting to develop my own voice.
But I do know that if it weren’t for the Caponigro’s, the Strand’s, the Weston’s and Adam’s I would still be years away from where I am now. So if you pick up anything from this blog post, please let it be that history is important for our growth.

OK… Let’s have a look at the image and where I started.

The original subject of Running White Deer was obviously White Deer. We don’t really have that great of an access to White Deer in the States. But while I was living in Austin and taking my afternoon walks on Town Lake, I noticed a few white dogs running along the limestone one day at Auditorium Shores right before dark.
It made me think, “Maybe there is something here…”  And so the idea formed that I would use white dogs instead of white deer. And Austin is weird anyway, so it all made sense… (or none at all – which was probably better).

I’d like to say that there was a lot of forethought put into the image, but when I came to Austin, I had yet to hear from anyone with a white dog to put in this image, or even book a model. And I was so thankful to have the dress on loan from La Chatuise and Elle Couture Designs for the shoot (which only came to me about 5 days before leaving as well!!!). And as the week progressed and more rain began to fall on Austin, it looked like the shoot was not going to happen. In fact the morning of the shoot I was very close to calling the whole thing off.

But, I knew that if I didn’t at least try, nothing would happen for sure, and I would be flying back to San Diego a couple days later even more depressed for lack of trying.

I met my assistant Chris Lin at Auditorium Shores and we quickly went through how the shoot would progress. It had been raining, so we needed to keep painter’s plastic down to keep the dress clean, I knew I would obviously have to remove it in Photoshop later.
We got the camera set-up on a ladder and gorilla pod (thanks to Nathan Johns). Chris Lin also grabbed that shot of me lining up the shot above and right.

So in the first shot, you can see it was very straightforward. Because I had to remove the plastic in post, that gave me some freedom to do some things I normally wouldn’t do, like have Chris Lin be in the photo holding the strobe to make our model Kareena stand out more than with natural lighting.

Chris Lin, the plastic and the additional strobe were easily removed by using an additional photograph that was taken after all the elements were removed, by using a Layer Mask and brushing them out. If you are unfamiliar with Layer Masks in Photoshop, I highly encourage you to learn about them. It is a very important skill to know, even if you consider yourself a “purist.”

Now with a clean slate I can focus on finishing off the theme of the image. Obviously we need the dogs to represent Paul Caponigro’s White Deer. Unfortunately due to rain, all the Craigslist ads, and flyers I handed out didn’t really result in any turnouts. So I waited and waited. And hoped and hoped that a cool dog would show up. Fortunately we had the most amazing White German Shepard walk up with her owner, at just the right time, with the right light. And the owner hadn’t seen any of our ads, and had no idea what we were doing! It was truly a blessing.
The Shepard had the most beautiful wolf-like appearance and fit perfectly with the haunting, and moody feel I wanted. Her owner must have thrown the ball 15 times while I just sat up on my ladder and snapped away in Burst Mode. Originally Caponigro used a 1 second exposure. But I found that dogs run faster than deer, and had to shorten my exposure to 1/20th of a second to get the right amount of blur in the camera.

The Palmer Event Center is a very cool building, however, I felt that a very stormy and grand sky would more fit the mood of the image. I was fortunate enough to have been in Telluride a month before and got a great panorama of the local mountains and passing storm that would fit perfectly into the picture.
The dogs were brought in one at a time, and placed exactly where they were in the original photographs. I wanted to try to stay as true to the original location and moment as possible, rather than just grabbing dogs and placing them where ever I felt was best. So when you look at the position of the dogs, it is actually where she was when the camera fired.

The next thing was to convert to Black and White and do tonal corrections with Curves and Levels to make the image really sing, as well as cleaning up some bare spots in the grass and getting rid of any signs of “Photoshopping.” (A paradox if there ever was one – using Photoshop to make it look like it wasn’t Photoshopped).

And this is the final image.

While this is not my typical style, I do believe that this is some of the finest work I’ve ever done. From a technical standpoint it really challenged me to think about how to accomplish such a complex image and make it simple for the viewer.

I may have sounded like a sore loser because I didn’t place in the PPSDC Print Competition the other night.
But I am so proud of this photo nonetheless. It represents something that I planned and really thought out for many months and it still took a lot of good luck and faith, I believe I achieved very close to what was in my head when the idea came to me.

Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to use the comment form below.

Honestly I was hoping to be writing this blog post in celebration. And maybe I should warn you, I may come off as a whiny, spoiled and misunderstood artist as you read this. And, I know a lot of you have been waiting to see this big secret I’ve been brewing since I was in Austin

But… I’m incredibly upset by what happened at Tuesday night’s PPSDC, (Professional Photographers of San Diego County), Print Competition…

Maybe it’s my fault for expecting to walk out with Best In Show, but I received the highest score out of all entries. I thought it was a sure thing. Then I find I get bumped in the first round of the “play-offs” like my Green Bay Packers… Only I had scoreboard…

I suppose I was way too close to the image. I had this planned for about at least 9 months and was only just able to execute it when I was in Austin back in November. And I was so wrapped up in this image I’ve had in my head… It just really stings to see it lose so badly after scoring so well. And, not to take anything away from the Photographers that received Best of Class and Best of Show that beat it, but when multiple members and one of the Judges comes up and says that I was “robbed,” it really hurts.

So… I’m going to finish my beer that I’m crying into, and move onto “what’s next” tomorrow.
I would like to say a quick “Thank You” to Kareena (my model in this photo), Chris Lin for assisting, and BWC for printing the exquisite print I entered in competition. I don’t care what the judges say, this is a great photograph, and there is no way I could have done this without you guys.

My original concept for Jessa was the first shot you see here.  A “Trash The Dress” idea, (one in a series of Bridal Portraits I will be sending to Grace Ormonde’s Wedding Style), with tuule being representative of the dress. The Congress Street Bridge in the background making this iconically Austin, and I wanted to stretch my own ideas and concepts to something grander than I had before.
Unfortunately for Jessa, I was not around Austin this summer when the water would have been twenty degrees warmer in Town Lake. She was a popsickle in about 10 minutes… not to mention she CAN’T SWIM!

She was a trooper though and after she thawed out, she stuck around for some more photos which you’ll see below. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did making them!

That being said, I’d like to take the time to say “Thank You” to a number of people that made my trip, and the soon to come photos, possible.

First and formost I’d like to thank Huong and Ben Crouch, (pictured above), my clients in Houston for having me photograph their wedding. That extends to the Crouch and Nguyen families for their hospitality. The Nguyen’s were so accommodating and looking out for anything we needed. And the Crouch’s, for whom this is my second wedding (I photographed Meg’s wedding to Don Lichay on July 17, 2004), are a family full of love. And I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Thank you to Maria Bernal and her husband Eric for putting me up in their house in Austin for the week. They were incredible hosts and took care of every need I had while in town. Eric is a rediculously great guy who bent over backwards for me when I needed help. And Maria has always been there for me as a friend/mentor, and this trip was no different.

Thank you to Chris Lin who not only second shot for me in Houston, but also assisted me with three of my conceptual fine art bridal shots in Austin. He was outstanding as a technical and lighting advisor, worked like a madman to help me get the shots and had the endurance to go Friday, Saturday and Sunday on just few hours of sleep. If you are a photographer in Austin, Chris is the man and you should grab him up quick.

Thank you to Gina at La Chatuise Couture and Lori at Elle Couture Designs for the dresses. I’m very honored to have them on loan for my shoots.

Thank you to Edythe Blackwell at BWC Photo Imaging for the insanely fast turnaround of the 20×40 canvas of the above image. Edythe, I will be ordering another print from you for my next print comp.

Thank you to Carissa at Flora and Fauna for the bouquets, (cross your fingers Carissa).

Thank you to my models; Jessa, Kareena and Max. I put them through freezing cold tempertures, long wait times and situations that often made no sense at the time. The girls were troopers the whole time.

Thank you to Mike, Trevin and the whole bunch at Spider House for letting me take over and do a full photoshoot in front of their bar.

Thank you to Nathan Johns for loaning out his ladder and Gorilla Pod.

Thank you to Sarah Limerick for letting me use her Montero while in Austin.

Last but not least are two special women in San Diego, my Mom has been there from the start and has always will be a great source of support.
And my Dear Friend, Marne who was always there by phone or text message for inspiration when the road got rough.

On a final note, I had the privilege to see Maria kick off her speaking tour at the Austin PPA meeting while in town. She said something that really stuck with me: No one accomplishes anything solely by themselves, and that she is where she is now because of the people she has around her, she then thanked her hair and make-up artists, model, and her core group of photographer friends at the end.
This has rung with me all week long. In my 18 years of photography, I’m confident that I’m doing the best work ever, and I owe it all to these people… Thank you all, from the bottom, to the very top of my heart.

Last night was the bi-monthly Professional Photographers of San Diego County print competition night. I had entered a photo I took while in Telluride, CO a couple weeks ago. If you follow the blog, you might have seen another version of it in another post.
Well it received a “Merit” last night at the competition, which means that it scored at least an “80″ from the judges on the panel. And believe me… These guys are TOUGH! The judging is the same level as the national PPA judging, so now I have a good idea of how tough things will be when I start entering on the National Level.
What’s great is that my Merit goes towards becoming Photographer of the Year. That may be a bit of a stretch right now, but as I get better, maybe a possibility.

Here’s the image. The title is “Riding the Storm Out Together” Let me know what you think.

Let Me Tell You About Texas Radio and the Big Beat…

I will be heading back to Austin for a week! I’m so excited for a number of reasons:

• November is my favorite time of year in Austin
• My photo BFF Maria Bernal is doing a studio fashion lighting demonstration at the Austin PPA
• I’ll be shooting a wedding in Houston for Huong and Ben on the 21st (Ben is the brother of one of my Brides from way back in 2003! – How Cool is that?!!!!)
• I’ll be shooting a big range of stuff during the week, from holiday family photos to a nude commission, to some conceptual/arty Bridal photos I want to submit to Grace Ormonde magazine. Whew boy, my compact flash cards are gonna get a workout!!! I’m shooting everyday I’m in Texas except one!!!
• I’m gonna get to hang out with some of my 512 area code friends and hang at some of my old haunts like Spiderhouse.
• Texas Barbecue!!! Say no more!

Amazing Dresses

I am super blessed to have on loan to me while in Austin, two AMAZING Bridal gowns designed by La Chatuise Couture for my Grace Ormonde shoot. The dresses (below) have been loaned to me by Lori Davis at Elle Couture Designs in Costa Mesa. Elle Couture is the exclusive representatives for the La Chatuise line for Southern California. So I am tremendously grateful for them to loan out these dresses.

What do you think of these dresses? Are they HAWT or what?