Portfolio Shoot: Renee Cataldo (Part 2)

Second session with Renee. The empahsis on this shoot was to do a bunch of headshots and then do a shot down on Lambton Quay with her running in the dress. In the end I didn't want to rush the Lambton Quay shoot, plus traffic in the city was pretty heavy that day due to several events along the waterfront and it being an awesome day weather-wise, so we ended up just staying indoors doing headshots and other fun shots. I couldn't have asked for a better location to shoot than her apartment as it's totally amazing for photos. Big, lots of clear wallspace to shoot against, BIG, amazing light in every room...even the bathroom had wicked light!!! Did I mention BIG? Plus it was just so convenient for the both of us to be able to be in our own space with nobody bothering us, and the comfort of being in her own apartment with all her wardrobe and makeup options.

This is now one of my favourite processed black and white looks for headshots. While processing a black and white shot from one of Laura Surrich's shoots last year, I ended up with a look that resembled a pencil sketch that I thought was interesting. The shot above is a further refinement of that style.

Man I love Renee's long hair, there's just so many things you can do with it :) Unfortunately I didn't remember to try any of the other quirky hair shots I had wanted to do...maybe next time.

Slightly alternative colour toning. I like it as a 'stylized portrait' but I'll have to wait and see what she thinks of it. No she's not naked, it's just cropped to look that way for a clean and uncluttered headshot.

I had mentioned doing a compilation of different expressions but this isn't it, we didn't really shoot any specifically, these are just some that I caught along the way.

For the past year or so I've been in love with backlit shots after seeing a couple really talented photogs on flickr rocking them (Kevin Russ and MGM). There's just something very etheral about them. I don't get to shoot them very often though as it requires either very early morning or very late afternoon sunlight, low in the sky which means you also need a somewhat clear line of sight to the horizon or at least no downtown office buildings or local mountains getting in the way. You can do similar things in studio but it usually requires a lot of light output. In the case of Renee's apartment though, an entire west facing wall of floor to ceiling frosted glass will do the trick! So nice how the blown out light source from behind wraps around all sides of your subject...except in this case there's no bonus lens flare...oh well.

Alternate processing of two nearly identical shots.

...more to come...

Portfolio Shoot: Renee Cataldo

It's been quite a while since I first met Renee on the set of Simon Brown's short film First Light, almost one year ago, and I've wanted to do a proper photoshoot with her ever since. She's super nice and totally fun to shoot with...and I guess it doesn't hurt either that she's pretty and has gorgeous long brown hair :)

Beach Volleyball: McEntee Hire NZ Tour 2009 (Wellington)

Congratulations to Susan Blundell and Anna Scarlett for winning the women's division at this weekend's McEntee Hire NZ Tour beach volleyball tournament. This was round two from Oriental Beach, Wellington NZ. Blundell and Scarlett are the number 1 ranked Kiwi women's team and have won the first two stops on tour so far this year. After all their press interviews and prior to the mandatory drug tests for winners, they were kind enough to pose for me for a couple minutes.

...more photos to come...

Random Pics (January 2009)

Just cleaning up my desktop and getting rid of some random photos I took over the last couple weeks but didn't end up posting anywhere...til now.

I went to see the Leonardo DaVinci Machines exhibition in town a few weeks ago. Modern reconstructions of many of his inventions. This was a miniature version of his "mirror box", an octagonal contraption which allowed the artist to peer through a small hole and see "all" sides of an object at once. This was me peeking over the top, there was no peephole on the miniature.

Leftovers from Christmas Holidays. This was my Christmas card to my family...written with a small LED flashlight.

North Island Roadtrip

Snaps from my road trip North. Words to come...

100 Strangers #39: John Assyriaan

This is number 39 of 100 in my 100 Strangers photo project.

This is John Assyriaan from Wellington, NZ, Hair Stylist. Born in Iraq, he moved to Wellington 6 years ago where he went to school for Hair Styling, and now works in the city at one of the hair salons. He's the second Hair Stylist in my 100 Strangers project.

Having a couple weeks off work for the holidays I decided to venture down into the business district as it's not often I get to wander around there during the day when the city is busy. Midland Park is a popular spot for people to spend their lunchtime and just generally chill and soak up a bit of sun during their work breaks. It's next to a busy shopping street on one side, and several office buildings on the other. There's a grass lawn surrounded by trees and benches offering plenty of room to sit and relax. It was a nice sunny day (it's summer down here in the Southern Hemisphere) so I wanted to find a Stranger out on the lawn.

John was out having a smoke break and out of everyone on the lawn he was the one that stood out due to his shiny bold patterned shirt. He had a bit of time on his break, so he lit up another one and sat back while I snapped a few shots.

"What was the last thing you ate before becoming Stranger #39 John?" ...mixed meat kebab.

Thanks for participating John.

You can see the alternate portraits of John in my 100 Strangers Alternates set, and you can see my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set, and strangers from other participating photographers in the 100 Strangers flickr pool. Learn more about the 100 Strangers photo project here.

100 Strangers #38: Moarigunkami

This is number 38 of 100 in my 100 Strangers photo project.

This is Moarigunkami from Wellington, NZ, Barrista at People's Coffee. No that's not his real name as you might have guessed, it's his Japanese persona. It's an amalgamation of several entities. Primarily based off the name of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami who's works he likes, and also a play off the "Maori" the native people of New Zealand. But also with the letters transposed to that of the "Moa" bird, a flightless bird native to New Zealand once believed to be extinct but possibly making a comeback? The "gun" part in the middle was a suggestion by a friend that to make it more 'fantastic' like an anime character he needed a gun or a sword, and hence put it in the name. Complex yes, but interesting conversation no doubt.

Moarigunkami hails not from the mouth of a fiery volcano but from all over the lands of New Zealand, calling Wellington his home of the past 8 years. He was headhunted to People's Coffee after working with his now boss at several coffee tastings at a local food market.

I met Moarigunkami at the same time I met Stranger#37 Henry, while picking up some ground espresso beans for a colleague. Not wanting to shoot the same background twice, I opted to use the decorative wall behind Moarigunkami instead. Oddly enough it turns out that Moarigunkami intends to enter into the same industry as I'm in, and in fact is a friend to one of my friends at work. That's the 3rd or 4th Stranger now that has known someone at my work. Crazy small world.

"What was the last thing you ate before becoming Stranger #38 Moarigunkami?" ...spanokopita (greek pastry filled with spinach and feta).

Thanks for participating Moarigunkami.

You can see the alternate portraits of Henry in my 100 Strangers Alternates set, and you can see my other strangers in my 100 Strangers set, and strangers from other participating photographers in the 100 Strangers flickr pool. Learn more about the 100 Strangers photo project here.