Week 20 of my 52 Portraits Project
I met my former co-worker Zuzana at the Saratoga Spa State Park on Monday night. It was great to be back in Saratoga and to catch up with Zuz at the same time. She was great to shoot and even did a yoga pose before the night was over. She made it look easy that I gave a thought to trying it before I remembered how much I’d hurt myself.
Looking forward to next week…
Week 19 of my 52 Portraits Project - Samantha
I met Samantha at the Ten Broeck Mansion here in Albany on Monday evening. I emailed Wendy at The Mansion after seeing a shoot another photographer did there, and she was nice enough to let us shoot in their awesome space for more than an hour. There were so many great locations to choose from, it’s really a photographer’s paradise. If you’re looking for a place to shoot in Albany, definitely check it out.
All the furniture is from the early 1800’s and is preserved really well, giving a unique chance to have modern clash with vintage. There’s great window light all over the place and even a garden outside that I still need to explore. It’s awesome to find new corners of the city that you didn’t know about before.
I met Sam through the Meetup group a year or so ago during an off-camera flash workshop. Judging by the time it took to get my flash set-up, I may need more workshops. Sam was a pro then and now and took my fumblings in stride. Then she went and worked overnight on airplanes. For real. I went to bed.
Onto next week!
Week 18 of my 52 Portraits Project
Got up early on Sunday morning and shot Ian at the abandoned Engel Farm in Albany. Pretty crazy place with not too much left of the original farmstand. A couple buildings that won’t be standing for long it seems, and a couple of unused trucks with the keys in them. It’s a shame it’s been left to waste, but does make for good photos.
Ian and I had a fun time rummaging through what was left of the place. Stepping over the broken glass bottles, knives and random and rusty farm-related things. Got some good shots with some good light and were just finishing up when someone showed up on a farm tractor. Not sure what they were doing there since it didn’t seem like anything happened there in awhile, but gave us a good sign to scram at least.
I had the pleasure of shooting Samantha and Frank’s engagement shoot at Olana on Saturday morning. It’s such a beautiful venue and we had a nice warm and sunny morning. Somehow the weather has been really great to us lately. I wonder when we’ll pay for all this sun?
Sam and Frank were up for roaming all over Olana and we had a great time finding spots to shoot in. We even included a little hike into our adventures to get to the top of a hill overlooking the whole estate. A workman at the site had directed us to it, I love when passers-by help out a shoot!
I’m excited to shoot Sam and Frank’s wedding in July, and it was great to get to work together beforehand. I always like to have shot the couple before the wedding day if possible. Makes the beginning of the wedding a little less stressful, hopefully!
Can’t wait for July!
Week 17 of my 52 Portraits Project
I met up with Lily at Union College and walked around their beautiful campus. It was odd being back on a campus, I haven’t even been back to Maine since 2005. Interesting to see how much time has passed since then. Too much. A kid walking around blasting Green Day from his phone it all to apparent. I saw them live in 1994. Anyway…
I met Lily through the photo Meetup group that I belong to and she was kind enough to participate in my project. She’s an aspiring model/actress in the Capital Region. I got in early and I’m thankful because I don’t think she’ll be cheap much longer. She was great to work with and hope we get to work together again in the future. Hopefully next time someone will be paying both of us. :)
And now back to editing…
Week 16 of my 52 Portraits Project
Met up with Aviva in downtown Albany near Corning Preserve a little before sunset yesterday evening. Thankfully the sun stayed out and we got some great light to work with. Later on when the sun went down we busted out the flash for a few shots at the end. It was a really fun shoot and nature’s wind machine was in full force.
Big thanks to Aviva’s beau Patrick (and their dog Peanut) for holding the reflector and the flash. Always nice to have another pair of hands around!
Week Fifteen of my 52 Portraits Project
This was my first shoot using Model Mayhem to find a subject. I’ve heard some good stories, and even more horror stories, about finding models through this site. Lucky for me, Katrina was awesome! We walked around Center Square in Albany for an hour or so, finding little nooks and crannies along the way.
We just beat the rain, thankfully, and without the sun (usual Albany weather) I thought the black and white fit the mood of the photos. This was a really great experience and I’m hopeful that future Model Mayhem shoots will be the same way!
Week Fourteen of my 52 Portraits Project
Hooray for warm weather! Got back from a weekend in NJ at about 3pm to clouds, a bit of rain and 30-40mph wind gusts. Not pretty. Thankfully when Sara and I met up at 6pm it was warmer and the clouds and rain were gone!
We met up near the Watervliet Reservoir at the end of French’s Hollow Rd. where the pedestrian bridge is and quickly scampered down to the rocks below the bridge. Sara was awesome and jumped from rock to rock, walked through puddles and oh yea, posed for pictures too. It was a lot of fun exploring everything there and was definitely one of my favorite places to shoot so far.
Week Thirteen of my 52 Portraits Project
I shot Lau at the Rensselaer Lake portion of the Albany Pine Bush, which has a section that runs under the Adirondack Northway. I’d wanted to shoot here before, but Jen hadn’t been able to. Which was good, because a creepy old guy followed me around that day.
This day went much better, no creepy old guys, and Lau brought a friend along whom I quickly turned into my photo assistant. If you come along, you’re getting put to work! :) It’s better than just standing around, right? Maybe.
The sunlight was gorgeous and I recommend everyone check out suncalc.net if you want to see where the sun will be on any given day. Certainly helps out when picking locations!
Have to admire this photog’s hustle. Getting to photograph the Beatles with a fake press pass. Unbelievable. Something like this couldn’t happen today, there’d already be 5,000 photos on Facebook and a video of every song on YouTube.
A rare set of photos taken by an amateur photographer of the Beatles’ 1965 concert at the Shea Stadium, New York have been sold at an auction for £30000 (~ $47000).
Photographer Marc Weinstein used a fake press pass to get a spot next to the stage. According to Weinsten, the only other photographer present at the show ran out of film during the concert.
