Studio J

I’ve been thrilled with the early feedback on this website. Special credit has to go to my friend Laurie Skantzos, the artist who painted the background just for this site.

Laurie also finishes my custom studio cabinets with paintings and finishes that become objects of art themselves. She has been instrumental in my photography. The comfort and ease I felt working with Laurie on her promotional portraits turned a switch on in me that has changed my interactions and creativity as a photographer ever since. Overnight, I became a much better photographer. More relaxed, comfortable and easy-going with my subjects. More creative. More confident. More playful.

It was her beautiful paintings that 1st stirred my interest in abstract art (something I avoided whenever I could, before then). That is no small change of heart; my mind was closed!

I don’t think it’s in many lists of what a friend does but I’d like to add to my list that a friend helps change you, without consciously trying, to become a better person. Here’s some pictures of my good friend, Laurie Skantzos and some samples from her work:

If you love art, put on your favourite walking shoes and get yourself to Toronto this weekend for the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition at Nathan Philips Square (Fri July 11th – Sun July 13th, 2008 – rain or shine). This is Canada’s biggest outdoor art event, featuring over 500 artists of all mediums.

Laurie Skantzos will be featured there at booth 132 in the Pink section (it’s a corner booth near the pool).

Artist Locator Map for the show

laurieskantzos.com

I owe some thanks to dizzain.com in New York for taking my design and reproducing it down to every detail as a working wordpress site. This was a unique and difficult design to do with some big technical hurdles. I don’t think there’s many web developers out there with this level of wordpress design expertise. I’m so happy they pulled it off! My apologies to internet explorer users during some of these early days. I kept breaking the site in IE with sloppy code in my posts and then asking Nicole James at Dizzain if they were having problems! She was probably forming a Neanderthal brow ridge from rolling her eyes at my emails! Thanks for patiently pointing out my mistakes Nicole!

I recently had a family in my studio but not for family portraits. Karoline brought her sister Charlotte and her mother Esther in for her session. She also brought her friend Melissa. I didn’t arrange for permission to post Melissa’s images, so I won’t be showing those. This family made a strong impression on me. They’re all thinkers and achievers. They’re socially adept and outgoing, they each have their own strong character, and, what interests me the most, they are all kind, caring and interested in others.

They also let me experiment on them as my guinea pigs when I wanted to attempt a simple, casual meal with clients half-way through our session.

Karoline was leaving for Jr. national training camp in BC for 3 weeks after our session. She’s taken up serious rowing as a high school career. She also plays cello. and flute. …. and she still has the energy to be in laughing high spirits, a contagious condition around her.

Esther was teaching at Brock University when I was studying psychology there!

I was compelled to discreetly ask Esther if there was a secret to her obvious success with her daughters.

God, home schooling and early self-responsibility.

There’s her simple, short and sweet version of it. I know, behind that short sentence lies years of great effort, skull sweat, patience and love. Excellence at anything takes a large and ongoing effort. God. Home schooling. Significant early effort, significant freedom to make choices. The person Karoline has become is mainly to Karoline’s credit. The person Charlotte has become is primarily Charlotte’s doing. They made it this far with someone great behind them.

I admire what you’ve done Esther. You’re one of the great moms.
Thanks for a fun day you guys! I’ll have a post very soon featuring Charlotte.

The video of Karoline’s session:

This is my friend Rene.  He’s a Kitchener wedding photographer.  Rene and I meet regularly to practice together.

We delve into the deep, arcane secrets of location photography:

- seeing and finding light

- scouting locations

- developing an eye for interest and beauty

- operating the camera effortlessly

This can all be learned.  Even developing an eye for interest and beauty can be learned (and having ‘taste’), though that is a longer, harder lesson that might take months or years for some.

If you told your photographer,

Wow, your pictures are beautiful, you must have a nice camera.

… it would be like saying to the cook,

Mmmm, that pad thai was delicious, you must have great pots and pans.

… or to the musician,

That performance was wonderful, you must have a nice piano.

The musician probably does have a nice piano.  The nice piano did play an important part in the wonderful performance.

But what was more important?

- their ‘ear’ for great music

- their dedicated study of music

- the guidance and teaching from instructors

- the inspiration from other musicians

…. and most of all, continual practice and improvement of their craft.

Professional lenses, camera bodies and lights are only a small part of capturing interesting, attractive images.  Practice is very important for photographing people.

With enough practice,

- camera controls become 2nd nature

- correct exposure and sharp focus become 2nd nature

- avoiding composition mistakes becomes habit

- seeing and recognizing beautiful lighting and locations becomes a fast habit.

That frees a large part of your attention for the most important things you can do when capturing people;  observing and interacting with them.

Rene practices like a one-legged man at a kick-butt contest!  He puts in more practice in a week than most photographers manage in a month.  He is always ready with his camera.  When he was shooting professional motorsports, he developed a quickness and a sense of timing that are more useful to wedding photography than you might guess.  Capturing candid moments and real interactions at a wedding requires keen observation and fast reflexes.

You can see samples of Rene’s work at his new website;  rskrodzkiphotography.ca

…… and his blog;  rskrodzkiphotography.ca/blog

Last minute brides who haven’t booked a photographer for their wedding this summer might want to keep an eye on Rene’s blog for a special announcement coming soon.

For people looking to improve their people photography, here’s my 1st tip:

Put the camera down and speak with them.  The comfort level of your subject and how at ease they feel around you will contribute more to good images than all the technical camera mastery you could gain from months of study.

OK, I know, that’s a really short tip.   …..but it’s very important  –> read it 2 or 3 times; that will make it seem longer.

Would my loyal readers (either of you) like me to continue with posting tips on improving your photography?  Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you like that idea.