We did the reshoot in La Jolla where I know of a little cove that provides some nice privacy. I’ve got the film back and I’m absolutely in love! With both the stunning beauty of Tamara, and with the Hasselblad! It’s an amazing camera, and I can’t wait to shoot more film. What’s more, to see these images full size, you can see why Carl Zeiss lenses are the best in the game.

Have a look at these beauties we shot at my secret spot in La Jolla. What do you think? She’s amazing huh?

Film was T-Max 400, and Fuji Pro-H 400.

William Bay is a Tamara’s Fine Art Portraits.

While I was photographing Tamara in the Windansea area of La Jolla (photos to come), we stopped at a house with a beautiful old door and lovely clay tube brick archways for a photo op.

Gloria, the owner of the house came out to speak to us, and we were promptly invited into her house to see her old music box. As it turns out it was an original turn-of-the-century Polyphon music box (seen here in the background), that takes big brass discs for each song and creates music by striking a steel comb. It resides in the front atrium, that couldn’t have been designed any better to boom and resonate so amazingly as the music box struck each note.

We stuck around a little longer to find out what a full life Gloria has led and is still leading. She let me play with her 1950′s era Kodak Retina rangefinder camera and talked about photographing the pyramids on camelback with that particular camera. Talked about her documentation of the effects of acid at Harvard during the Timothy Leary days. She filled us in about her family, and what her days are like, with coffee in the morning and tea in the afternoon.

Our visit with Gloria was surely fascinating. And as Tamara and I made our way to our next location we argued over which version of Gloria we should sing in tribute to our gracious impromptu host. I wanted to go with U2′s version, while Tamara was rather insistent on Olivia Newton John’s. Being a gentlemen, I of course let her sing her version.

I think it’s rather remarkable what we find about other people when we slow down for 20 minutes and become interested in someone other than ourselves. I’m really glad we took some time out of our photoshoot.

The above image and the two below were taken with a Hasselblad 501cm with an 80mm lens. The indoor shots were exposed at f2.8 at 1/30th of a second if I remember correctly, with only natural light from the doorway. And the outdoor shot was probably f8 at 1/125th.
Film was Fuji Pro 400h.

William Bay is a Gloria and Her Music Box.

Truly a good heart. And I think it shows in the images we created the other morning at Torrey Pines.

William Bay is a Tamara’s Beach Portrait Session at Torrey Pines.

This is from a session I did with her when she was visiting over Christmas time. I couldn’t be prouder of my lil sis, or the result I got last night.

William Bay is a A Very Special Award of Merit.

She had to drive back today, but before she left, I woke her butt up to go take some pictures. I wasn’t really sure where we were gonna go, but we found ourselves at Sunset Cliffs and we explored an area that I had never been, which was quite excellent spot for photos. The storm was clearing off, so I knew we would have exceptional clouds for her portraits.

The first two portraits were done with my neutral density filter/composite technique.

What do you think? She’s good looking huh?

Love you Bonnie. Drive safe.

William Bay is a My Lil’ Sister Bonnie.

I love winter time in San Diego. The sun gets low enough in the sky for the full day, and I can photograph almost all day long if I want to. The above photo was taken at about three o’clock in the afternoon at Windansea Beach. The rich surfing history has always made it one of my favorite beaches in San Diego. The palm-frond shack behind me has been there since the 40′s and has always fascinated me for the brotherhood that surfers share. Some surfer built a shelter for his brothers to gather and story-tell about travels and life, waves ridden and poundings received.

This is more Neutral Density compositing I’m working with. The first photograph was 15 seconds long which allowed the waves to blur out into a hazy soup, and the clouds moved slightly as well. The second photograph was 1/15th of a second, and I didn’t have a beautiful model to stick in the photo today, so I stepped in.

I need to check my lens and see if I broke it.

William Bay is a Self-Portrait, Windansea.

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!

William Bay is a Jessa – Austin Shoot.

I’m really just kidding, but there were three guys and two gals on the judging panel at last night’s PPSDC Print/Album competition. I had entered one of my Leather Craftsmen albums that showcases a series of highly unique Fine Art Portraits, a few of which were full nudes. So maybe they were swayed a little.

(One interesting thing of note, the other albums that were entered were Leather Craftsmen too. I keep telling everyone they’re the best around, go check out their stuff and then give them a call.)

I didn’t do so well with the print I submitted, so when they announced my score and that I had received Best in Class, I was Super Stoked!!!

The judges were a very strong group of photographers too. Three were from Orange County: Bleu Cotton, Janel Pahl and Frank Salas. There were two local judges as well Wendy Porter Francis and Doyle Terry.

I had a chance to meet and speak to Bleu and Frank, and they had some very encouraging things to say about my album and improvements I can make to my print. So if you happen to read this Bleu and Frank, Thank you!

Oh… and I can’t forget to mention that I met Dennis Nezbit from Bay Photo Labs, (which I don’t own). I joked that we should do some Co-Branding though. But he must have been impressed with my showing cause he told me to call him for a free gift!!!Woo Hoo!

I think it was a decent showing for my first real judged competition in quite some time, and I made some great connections, and learned where I can make some positive improvements to my work. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

William Bay is a I won Best of Class Award for one of my Albums.

The other photos below are of Laura and Seasha’s wee ones. The little ones were playing in the mud puddles right after a big lightning storm passed through. And I was lubed up enough with beer to go and play and photograph them.

Enjoy!

William Bay is a The Wee Ones.

I tried to capture that same cinematic approach in some recent photographs. In the photo to the left, the hotel room was lit from just the window to my right casting an amazingly deep shadow on Brian’s side, he is a groom, preparing for his wedding. There is such depth and drama and emotion available to the viewer that would not be there if it were a simple photograph with flat lighting.

The use of dramatic lighting goes back to the Renaissance and a term called “Chiaroscuro.” It’s effectively the relation or contrast to light and dark. It was used significantly by artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, Carvaggio, Goya and Rubens. There are many fine examples, but most people would recognize “Girl With The Pearl Earring” by Vermeer because of the recent movie (which is a little too chick flick-ish for me, sorry).
The picture to the left is a Rembrandt entitled St. Peter in Prison. All light appears to be coming from one lights source. Possibly a skylight or oculus above. As simple of a painting as this appears to be, the use of shadow gives the painting such depth, life and clarity that had not existed before the Renaissance.

Chiaroscuro, along with the use of perspective in drawings and paintings were two of the biggest impacts on the art world to come out of the Renaissance. It is certainly one of my favorite methods in art. I’m not sure when I learned the term or saw the technique, it could possibly be when I was researching a paper my senior year on the impact Picasso’s Cubist movement had on the art world in the early 20th century.

It’s taken on a re-birth for me. A personal renaissance if you will. I want to see everything in terms of light and shadow now. Not in a good vs evil sense, (I actually don’t believe in good or evil), but in an attempt to awaken senses in the viewers that weren’t there before. To create photos that come alive themselves and reach to people.

In this photo of the girl, I worked with a real film crew using continuous or “hot” lights. The crew was so good at what they did, I would just tell them what I wanted or show them a picture of what I was hoping to get and they knew exactly how to get it. All my career, I’ve always worked with natural light, so to see the ease in which they worked these lights and the results we got, I was quite surprised. This was accomplished with just one big light to the left that was bounced off the wall to the right, leaving a beautiful deep shadow on the left side of the models body.

As a photographer you aren’t very good for your first ten years. And it may take additional time for you to find a real voice and a true focus. I think I am just now coming to that point. While my focus will always be on natural lighting, I am now very open to experimenting with lighting techniques to get the right look. It’s been 17-18 years since I first picked up a camera with serious intentions of producing art, and I’m finding that cinematic lighting, and chiaroscuro are now firmly in my vocabulary as a part of that voice. And I love where it’s leading me.

William Bay is a Cinematic Lighting.