A Tribute to My Inspirations

Having a pregnant wife at home means less time shooting/blogging and more time cuddling and checking out the latest baby movements, which I like.  I haven't gone into a hiatus yet (maybe in 2 months time), but future posts will be short and maternity/baby related.  For now I'll leave you with some of my favorite photographers and their blogs to read.  Some I have featured here before, and some new for you to read.  This gives me more time to rub my wife's baby bump and play music to my baby. :)


John Keatley

I absolutely love this man's work and the way he lights people.  Subtle but with impact.  Love to read his blog too. 

Drew Gardner

I featured Drew here before, so make sure you check out his blog.

Bert Stephani

I love his blog and his behind the scenes videos.  Here's one for your viewing pleasure:

JoeyL

Yeah sure, he got really famous for his work on the Twilight, but don't let that fool you.  He's more talented (and younger) than you might think.

That's it for now.  We will be getting our baby's 4d ultrasound video sooner than expected, so hopefully I can post that next time.

rb

On Location Photography by Drew Gardner BTS video

Drew Gardner Workshop at Bert Stephani HQ Belgium from drew gardner on Vimeo.

 If you don't know who this guy is yet, then you better drop by his excellent site and blog now!  Drew is one of my favorite photographers and was the inspiration for the Mythology shoot I did a month ago.  I grabbed this video from his site, which is also available in Bert Stephani's blog, who himself is an excellent photographer and one of my faves as well. Drew had a on location photography seminar in Belgium (where Bert lives) and the video was a little behind the scene look at how Drew works.  Drew has done a series of photos with a forest theme which are absolutely my favorites.  Here's a  BTS video of some of his recent Forest shoots:


Drew Gardner Zebra Shoot Teaser from drew gardner on Vimeo.

You'll see in the video that he uses a fog machine, some big light modifiers and real animals (that's right, animals).  I love that look, but I don't have any of the above mentioned gear (not counting that he uses a $10,000++ phase one camera), so I just added my fog/smoke in Photoshop. Here's some more of Drew's forest photos compared to my Mythology photos:

Drew:

Copyright Drew Gardner

 Me:

Drew:

 Copyright Drew Gardner

Me:

 



Drew:

Copyright Drew Gardner

Me:

Okay, I know that my photos are way, way out of Drew's league (in all aspects), but the point is the lack of gear shouldn't stop you from trying.  After a few Photoshop "fog tests", I was happy with the results then applied it to the photos.  And besides, during the seminar in Belgium in the top most video, it seems that they just added the fog/smoke in Photoshop as well. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that you're happy with your results.  Have fun shooting!

Related:

Drew Gardner's Site and Blog - favorites are the Epic Fashion series, as well as the Fairy tale themed ones
Bert Stephani's site - very informative and very cool "strobist" related videos