I just finished doing a photo shoot in Connecticut yesterday. I greatly enjoy dusk shots. It takes a lot of planning for such a short window of opportunity when the lighting hits that perfect balance. I love how the light and colors changes from shot to shot.
Residential Architecture
Residential Architecture
Residential Architecture
I must have photographed close to 20 buildings in Hoboken, NJ over the past 4 years. It’s a great city with incredible places to eat and scenic views along the Hudson River of the Manhattan skyline. Two things I wish could be improved are power lines and parking. I managed to find parking but I guess the power line issue poses the challenge my client will see. This building was designed by Dean Marchetto Architects. They are among my favorite people to work with and their work can be seen all over Hoboken and Jersey City. I think most of the projects I photographed for them had power lines and poles distracting the facades. We’re not always talking about straight poles but nasty crooked ones too. Below are the “after” and “before” versions of the most recent project I did touch-ups on. The new features of Adobe Photoshop CS5 do save hours of time such as Content Aware Fill but they aren’t perfect and require some learning to get the best results. I still think chopping down poles is a faster solution.
It’s been 4 months on the waiting list but the Leica M9 has arrived and I’m very excited. Ever since digital took over my workflow I couldn’t see myself using the Leica M7 film camera much other than travel photography. Many years have passed with my favorite lenses sitting on the shelf. I could have purchased the Leica M8 but I decided to wait for a full frame sensor and another generation of improvement for the M system. It was worth the wait.
The Leica M9 will be used for many new projects I have in mind and I also plan on testing it for some of my architectural projects. Looks can be deceiving because this little camera can compete with the best of them. So what projects do I have in mind and why this unique camera? I’ve been thinking a lot about my work and how I started in photography. It’s interesting because I never thought of myself photographing one kind of subject matter such as architecture. I realized that I developed as an architectural photographer but left a lot of potential behind. I evolved in a certain direction and I love architecture but I think I could be doing more with it and also pursuing other interests in photography that may relate to what I already do.
One thing that had to change was my mindset and have my camera with me everywhere I go. I must me exercising my eye and experimenting. I must be curious and explore beyond what my commercial work presents to me. I also can’t be lugging around huge camera equipment that is a burden and often left at home. I’ll be honest, after a busy week I often don’t want to bring my camera with me on days off. My camera equipment is meant for high-end commercial work and is often very formal. The Leica M9 will create a separation from the formal realm, at least for me it will. Working with a rangefinder is a different way of thinking, it’s a tool that brings another dimension to my work.
So, what are the projects I have in mind? I’ll be pursuing more of the human element in my work along with fine art and culinary environments. I want to photograph people in their environments without them being aware so much. Have you ever tried taking photos with a big Nikon SLR system? As soon as I take the camera out people will notice, they react and they are no longer acting natural. I get a lot of comments and questions when I’m out with a Nikon because it screams “professional photographer”. The Leica is super small and most people think its an amateur camera, so they don’t think much else. The idea is to blend in and not be noticeable. Ever draw attention to yourself because of the camera clicking? The Leica M9 solves that issue too because it’s super quiet and has no mirror inside that flips up and clicks. Really nice!
Of course the first photo is my favorite setup with the Leica 24mm Elmarit-M lens, I had to show a photo of the M9 right? I had a busy week and managed to get out for some test photos at Washington Crossing Historic Park nearby. I thought a good technical test would be to photograph different textures and details. The 2nd and 3rd photos are good examples but I’ll have much more to share under different lighting conditions as I progress. These are only jpegs at low monitor resolution and sRGB color space so the true impact is best seen with the full res files. Kind of pointless even showing the test shots if you can’t see the quality on screen but I had to show something right? I’ll make some full res files available for download in a future post once I have some more stuff to show.
Leica M9 Camera With 24mm Elmarit-M Lens
Test Photo With The Leica M9 Camera At Washington Crossing Historic Park
Test Photo With The Leica M9 Camera At Washington Crossing Historic Park
I had the opportunity to photograph Friends Center in Philadelphia last fall and it was great to see a building that achieved LEED Platinum. Since it was late fall the vegetative roof wasn’t showing much green. Another issue was sunlight. The client (UJMN Architects + Designers) wished to see buildings in the background to give the project some context but unfortunately the buildings face northeast and didn’t get direct sunlight that time of year. I did a set of photos just to have something temporarily and hoped to return early summer when the sun rises from the northeast and vegetation is at it’s prime.
Here is one of the photos from the return visit. It was well worth photographing at 6AM to get nice warm lighting but I’d say it’s even nicer to see lush vegetation that I missed in the fall season. I won’t even show the older images, I’ll pretend they didn’t happen.
Vegetated Roof
This is one of those projects that make my brain hurt. Great subject matter but very difficult to capture. Not only was this a difficult project, but it was also the first photo shoot with this client. Lots of pressure!
Here is the situation. Daylight will ruin the lighting because of the reflections, light falloff and major color temperature issues. How do I know? Scouting. I can’t stress this enough, if the project is within a reasonable distance I always try to scout first. I found that the best option for the photography was in the evening when I can work with the situation with lighting controls, additional photographic lighting and multiple exposures. Yes, this could be photographed during the day with strobes and/or hot lights all over the place, but why would I want to kill the atmosphere?
My style and approach is to capture the subject matter in a natural way. I would like to point out that this doesn’t mean I don’t use additional lighting. Most of my interior photography requires help but the idea is to not overwhelm the lighting. Supplementing is the word I guess. Some photographers have a different approach but this is personal and the reason why some clients hire one photographer over another. Interior design and architectural clients have a vision they wish for me to articulate for the world to see. Lighting is crucial to the design’s identity, if I’m not true to the atmosphere then I feel it becomes less credible, especially to those who have seen the design in person.
The lighting in this place is extreme, especially with the glowing light panels and monitors all over. So how do I capture this as natural as possible? Sometimes you need help from Photoshop and this adds a lot more post-production time. I probably spent 2 days working on the post-production. Normally I bracket exposures in a 3 stop range, the light panels and monitors required about 2-3 extra stops darker. I always recommend taking lots of extra exposures in extreme situations, this is digital not film. In post-production I look for the image that shows the most accurate exposure. This exposure will have lots of faults but it’s meant to be the foundation. Secondary exposures that bring back highlight and shadow areas are then layered in and fine tuned. This takes lots of practice when you need to mask areas and use selection tools but experience will make things go faster and better over time.
I get a lot of questions asking if I use HDR (High Dynamic Range). I have used HDR and have a few different tools for it but it isn’t natural looking to me and I can’t find a use for it other than fine art. By using a combination of natural lighting, photographic lighting and exposure layering I get what I desire. No magic shortcuts, sorry.
Evening Interior Design Photography
Southeast of Paris is a great medieval city called Provins. The Earls of Champagne made the fortified city their capital during the 12th & 13th centuries and it was a significant place for trade. Today, it’s well preserved with rustic buildings within its walls and has scenic views of the surrounding countryside. I always find myself attracted to buildings that have such character. Perhaps character is created from the passage of time and the resulting imperfections? Maybe it’s the uniqueness of the architecture and the small details that add up? It’s almost like these structures have something to tell us considering they stood a long time in history.
To me this city is a gold mine of inspiration. Since I was using my Leica M7, I had a limited supply of film with me so I had to ration. I think it’s time to go back with a digital M9 and take photos till I black out from excitement. I started out with images of the walls that fortify the city and later visited the Tour César that has great views of all around. It’s an easy place to walk with plenty to see if you like to meander away from the primary streets to see the residences and less touristy areas. I was surprised that not many tourist were around and it was nice to take photos without distractions.
Below are photos starting with the wall fortification. The rest are scenics and door details. Keep in mind that these are 35mm film scans, I’m not entirely happy with the sharpness and color. The film got zapped in the airport during the many security checks.
Provins Wall Fortification
View From Tour César in Provins
Door Detail Shot In Provins, France
Door Detail Shot In Provins, France
Door Detail Shot In Provins, France
Door Detail Shot In Provins, France
Door Detail Shot In Provins, France
