New Website for the Scribners

I just finished a website for some dear friends of mine, Sara and Shane Scribner.

www.scribnersgallery.com

They are amazing artist and wonderful people. Check them out, be their fans on Facebook, follow their blog, do whatever they tell you to...........

The Launch of Modern Dwellings

About four months ago I started looking into additional ways to make a few bucks as a photographer. I wanted to be able to freely promote myself without conflicting business wise with the studio. So I made up Modern Dwellings Real Estate Photography. I made a website for it and some postcards and started talking to realtors and home builders. I really hate to talk to much about it right now because I get sort of superstitious about it, but so far it's been going pretty well. I'm getting some pretty big jobs that I can't wait to share in that typical photographer's blog BTS video stuff.

What this project has really opened my eyes up to, is that I know NOTHING about business. But I'm fixing that. Reading, reading and more reading.

However, here's the conundrum that I came up against this week. I no longer have the conflict between me and the studio, but now that I've set this up as it's own entity, do I roll with it, and treat the real estate stuff independently of the portrait, wedding and family photography or what? I don't want one to suffer because of the other and if one really takes off I hope to pull the other along with it. I gotta think more on that....

*Bonk* Knocked Out for a While

Well, it's been over a year, nearly two, since I've written anything in this blog. If I didn't write something now there would be no post under the 2010 category. I can't have that. So, here's the sum-up...

In the June after my last post I started working for a wonderful studio in Tulsa called Montag Photography. This started me in a frenzy of non-stop shooting. High school seniors, weddings, the entire ORU student body, faculty and staff... lot of shooting.

Now, just this summer I moved over to Edmond, which will be giving me a lot more time and opportunities to chase after my own work and take the steps back to the work that I love to do, which is landscape and editorial.

So I will keep you posted.

A New Day, A New Town.

Nicole
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

So, in December I moved to Tulsa. I left the magazine work that I loved so much to be closer to the girl I love even more. An easy trade off. But what this means as a photographer is that I have to start all over again. Knowing no one.

Here's the plan: I thought that while I'm getting settled, trying to find a day job, I would offer up my services to a certain group of people that might could use a hand. (might could... heh) Musicians and Actors. I decided to do this for a specific reason. One, I've been wanting to work with musicians on promo shots for quite a while, but there are no musicians in Enid, and now that I'm in Tulsa the time is neigh. Two, these groups of people kinda come it three sets. 1. Those who don't need help. 2. Those that no amount of help will help. 3. Those who are just on the brink and a little push might get them a leg up.

So, I put an ad in Craigslist offering free promo/headshots to bands and actors. I have stipulations and I think I've turned down more than I've shot. No cover bands (they make more money than any other kind of musical act), no live shooting and they must be somewhere less than known. AND I must kinda like it, if I'm going to do it for free. Actors kind of fall under this title for me too. But not models, there are a million shooters out there that would love to work with models. If you are even a slightly good model, you won't have any trouble finding work at a local level.

One of my first responses was from Nicole. She is an aspiring actress that has done some work in the past but she needs an updated headshot for some audition coming up in the near future. We met at Cherry Street Coffee and talked about what kind of look we wanted to go for. We talked around a shot that looked like it would be for "Twilight". Right when she said that, I pictured this place that I saw downtown that has these great vines climbing this wall. So, we headed out there.

On most all of my other shoots I would carry around my light kit. A large duffle bag (more or less, maybe a little less) with stands, umbrellas, snoots, lights, cords, clips, softbox and on and on. It dawned on me that this might be a bit overpacked because I pretty much use one stand, umbrella and a reflector for most of what I do. So I took those three things, bungied them together, put a strap from an old camera bag on there and now I have a perfect little sling that I can carry anywhere and it doesn't weigh anything. I have the strobe in my camera bag anyway, so why not?

It worked perfectly. I am so glad I did that. I could go hiking with a set up like that without issue. That's one of the things that I love most about doing this, realizations about the way I do things and the way that things should be done. Always learning, even if the lesson is a long time coming and sinks in very slowly.

Senior shoots

Robbie
Originally uploaded by Cody Lee Dopps

Well, jeez.

I keep meaning to blog out what's going on but I never actually sit down and do it. It's not that hard and it doesn't take that long but in my mind it's a huge task that I would rather leave till some other day. I will try to be better about it because I've got a lot going on and someone should be writing this shit down.

I will have to go back a ways and try to catch up in steps.

In or around the end of November I was asked to do a senior shoot. The client had seen my work at the gallery and really wanted me to work with their son who just came back from basic training in the ROTC. Initially, I wasn't all that into it but the more I thought about it the more I thought it might be fun. I've met Robbie before and I knew that he wouldn't want to do the "hugging the tree" pose that most seniors do.

I met with Robbie a few days before to talk about what he liked and disliked to get a better feel for who he was. I really think that this is a critical step. No camera, just talking. It makes the shoot go so much smoother if you develop some sort of relationship before hand. Common sense, right.

He really wanted to do some shots in his camo fatigues and his class A's. I was cool with that.

On the day of the shoot, I picked him up at his house and we drove thought the country. I had some area's in mind for a nice outside shot but I thought we would just drive until we saw something cool.

Here we stopped, on a dirt road, because of this little group of trees on a small hill. We didn't even have to jump a fence or anything. We walked into the thicket a few steps with my camera, SB600 strobe on a stand with a white umbrella and I told him to crouch down like his laying in wait. A few shots for exposure, stop down, then dial in the light and bam! The sun acting as a kick-ass rim light tops it all off for me. An awesome shot, in my opinion.

After this, I am more than willing to take on more senior pictures.

A Lesson at Every Shoot

You know, I think I've said this before and if I haven't than I really
should have, but I learn something at every shoot. Sometimes it's
something small but more often than not it's something rather big. And
more often than not it's something technical like, I should watch this
more carefully or THAT'S what happens when you put a light here or
there or set this like that.

Here's something for the log books: This is typically how I set up my
lights.... I set the a light where I think I might like it, but leave
it off. Then get an ambient reading through the camera and manually
zero in on that (I try to get the fastest sync speed with an aperture
of F7 or 8 or something in that area. Then I dial down two full stops,
then turn on the strobe and then only work with the light output until
the image looks right. BUT I learned that (and it's very subtle) that
if you stop down using your aperture you will get a general darkening
of the image but if you stop down with your shutter speed you will get
a darker image but with more fall off. Maybe every photographer out
there already knows this and there is probably a technical term for
it, but this is just what I've found out on my own.

Anyway, something that I just learned is that you just can't count on
people to love everything you do. Every once in a while you will get
someone that is just not on the same page with what your vision is.

Just recently I was assigned to take some corprate head-shots for a
website. I was pretty nervous because it was the most formal thing
that I have ever done to date. But I was looking forward to the
challenge and I bought a softbox to help with the task (I bought the
softbox because I've been unhappy with how much spill there is with
the umbrella).

The shoot itself was so painless. The easiest. I set the softbox up at
a forty-five at camera left close in with a white reflector on a table
sitting right in front of the subjects. Then placed a snooted strobe
set at it's lowest power aimed at the wall behind the subject. I got
the first guy in the chair, worked out a very simple pose, got my
exposure and clicked a few frames... well... maybe ten or so, because
I like to be sure I got a good expression. Then I had the next guy
come it, do the same pose and he's out. I was in and out of the office
within a half hour. Awesome. Then, when I got back home, I find that
the images are better than I thought that they would be. I don't
really ever do these kind of shots so I really liked what I saw. I
processed them and sent the proofs out.

Then a day later I get an email that they want them all reshot.

What?!

Why?!

Is it the quality of the work? Is it the lighting? Does something
totally suck and I just don't see it?

I thought they were really winners but the clients thought that almost
all of the guys had strange looks on their faces and it turns out
that's about as far as the gripes go.

Admittedly, as of this writing, I am not the best director in the
posing department so I was happy to go back and reshoot a couple until
they were happy with it.

And, technically, I might not have let the shadows get as heavy but at
the same time I think that it looks great so.... I just can't guess on
what to expect anymore.

But I'm okay with that.

Nearly Blew It.

This was a shoot that I did in October for E-Town. I got the assignment right before I left for Colorado, I mean, RIGHT before. Like, as I'm shutting down the computer for the week. So, when I returned home, I relaxed for a couple days without a care in the world. Then one Saturday morning, I'm drinking my coffee and cleaning out my email inbox when I come across a vaguely familiar email about a photo assignment... something to do with a native american in full dress.... yeah, what was that... "Oh, crap! I was supposed to do that!" I said to myself, "I'd better see check the date on that... S**t! It's today... What time? ... IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!"

Luckily, I keep my gear packed up and ready to go. I change out of my Coffee-Drinking-Morning-House clothes and with tires screeching and smoking drove off to the appointment.

It was a seminar on the Native Americans in the Western Oklahoma area. The seminar started at 12:30 and Mr. Childs would be in full dress by 12:00. I'm sure some pros could knock this out without issue, but for me... I really felt the pressure of time. I set up the lights as fast as I could in the only area that really would lend something to the photos and that was a bare and dark corner of the room. Everything else was a bit too cafeteria looking, which I personally don't think goes too well with Indian warriors.

I would love to say that Mr. Childs was such a great model and everything was going great, but... I'm a bit too honest for that. He was nice and he looked great but everything else was a real chore. Given: he was hot as hell under all that stuff and the AC was not working that morning. Given: We was really trying to play up the stoic indian persona, but there came a point when I just felt like I was torturing him to get him to look at the camera, or not have such sleepy eyes. Sleeeeepy.

However, they were really grateful that I was there and that the magazine was giving them attention. They were so nice, and at the end of if all, I do think I got a couple shots that I think are good.

Is that what counts?

Half.