Date Night - John & Kay

Date Night with John & Kay

Back in November I had just got my 'full frame' camera and boy was I excited about it. I was now shooting the same camera as the big guys. First assignment? Shoot a 'date night' theme downtown. So I asked Kay, who has modeled for me before, to polish up John (the boyfriend, who needed no polishing) for the shoot.

Now, if you know anything about me at all it's one thing; I'm a tortured soul with OCD tendencies and shooting just takes it to a whole nother level. Epic.  Here's the ingredients, new camera, night shoot, night shoot with couple, have I tried this yet?  And was I planning on shooting 2 people with no added light? One person was doable, but two? Uhmmm, come to think of it no. No I haven't. So twice the embarrassment potential. The night time temperature that night was maybe 88 with 300% humidity. Oh and we got one of those new 5 foot reflectors - the kind you might forget how to fold up and springs back to life with such force your heart just falls out of your chest. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First up. Preshoot a couple nights before hand. We'll meticulously check all the areas we want to shoot and make sure we are pitch-perfect ahead of time. To give this shoot a date night feel with a story line, it needed dark shadows and lights. We went downtown and nabbed a couple standing under the bridge to pose for us. We explained what we were doing and they happily posed for us and I wish I would have asked permission to post their photos but at the time they had nothing to do with the story and I had no idea I'd want to have a blog.  So use your imagination and make sure it appeals to the romantic part of you, when I tell you that the poses got more and more romantic to where I had the husband holding her leg in the hair, summer dress fluttering in the hot wind and all while gazing deeply into each other eyes. I was sure to focus on getting good hand placement to elevate emotion and tell the story. In hindsight, it was adorable and so trusting of them.

And we learned that we might have to convert the shots to B&W because of the powerful yellow flood lights under the bridge.

Ok, lights, camera.... Hubby and I sat with John and Kay at a restaurant at the foot of the bridge and they told us their love story. It's a beautiful story because they found love later in life and to see them now you just couldn't imagine either one of them with anyone else, ever. When they looked at each other they looked deeply. They held each other with emotion.  We walked to the end of the dock from the restaurant and decided to take our first shots right there. And we got these.

They look perfectly relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera but neither are true. It didn't help that a family walked right up and asked,

'Who are they?' Their little son kept tugging at Dad's arm, 'What are they doing, what are they doing? Dad? Dad? DAD!" Dad never glanced at his son and advised me if we needed a security detail he "does that." "I used to body guard for a bunch of famous people, Sylvestor Stallone. Robert Deniro. Al Pacino. One of them he went on to say was a complete Richard. Total drainhole." He wanted a conversation and wasn't stopping no matter how much attention I paid to John & Kay.  So we moved our hollywood act back toward the restaurant. Here are some of those shots.

John and Kay really do look special. I don't blame anyone for stopping and asking who are they.

I told them to flirt with each other. I walked him back through time, finding this amazing girl and when it occurred to him that he was madly in love with her. What was it like to kiss her the first time?  Was he nervous? Kay jumped in and said. "I did it." She laughed, that she just couldn't wait any longer and kissed him. (So cute.) I just keep narrating their own story back to them and they in turn harnessed those memories and brought them fresh in their minds, to the shoot.

You can see the energy between them. There is nothing dead or empty here. There is no frozen posing. The life between them is jumping out.

I work hard figuring out how to get people into a different 'head space' so that these emotions can come out for the camera. Harder than it looks.

A mile down the road is Stuart's town hall pavillion park.  I hand John a bottle of blowing bubbles and they look at me unsure. I assure them they are to walk up the step and blow bubbles. And to forget about me and hubby.

Techy Stuff for photogs:  This is when Chay (hubby) and I start getting a barometer on how each other's shoot is coming along. It's often crude and choppy. "What ISO?  What ISO you at? Back and forth comparing settings REALLY?! What aperture you at? It's okay?" Translation What the hell happened to our pre-shoot light? OMG! I've got wrinkles. Nobody likes wrinkles. 


Not even old weather worn sailors accept their wrinkles. You'd think they would wear them with honor and implied tales of the sea. Nope. Don't even think about. Nobody, and I mean nobody likes wrinkles. And, I had wrinkles. More wrinkles than they normally have. I take the time to understand what my subjects like and don't like about themself, whether it's real or imagined. It's imperative to understand their facial structure and body and what they like and what they don't. And I know Kay, she's picky and at 50 this girl is a total knockout. No make that at 20. Any age.


Why didn't we see wrinkles in our pre-shoot?" Well, the more frustrated I got the more Hubby and I changed shooting angles. What about 1/30 of second shutter speed? uh, that's a negative. Blur....when the shots just aren't coming out I"m thinking, 'What am I doing wrong? What haven't I thought about?   


I never shot faster than 1/25th of a second that night and got as low as 1/8th of a second. That's a far cry from my 1/160th comfort level. I really sweated it out.  I look back at this as a key shoot and pivotal in our technique and the process. Months later I would acknowledge this shoot as invaluable. 


A photographer is suppose to always behave as if everything is wonderful and not show when things are less than par. Fortunately, this was a TFP gig, meaning nobody gets paid and everyone is doing the shoot for their own reasons. And since John and Kay knew that Hubby and I were vetting our business with shoots like this it wasn't too bad. The pressure isn't the same when you have a paying customer, obviously. But I try to shoot every shoot like it's the cover of a magazine.  I shared with them my fear that we weren't going to have much to show for this night and felt the rare need to remind them this is why we are still vetting our business, because we are learning.

But hubby and I kept shooting and moving, our brains fighting through a maze of settings and options and fear. Fear of what? Fear of not being ready to be professionals yet. But wasn't that really ok? Okay because that is exactly what this was. It was a shoot to try something we'd never done before. We never shot 'Date Night' or 'Engagement' shoots. The camera was new. We were shooting at night with no flash. (yes, no flash).

I could talk endlessly about this shoot. Any shoot really. To me a shoot is a series of epic moments of great breath taking beauty and white hot fear of why isn't this or that working. Emotionally we are so spent after a shoot it's all we can do to get everything back home. The camera gear, props, our hearts and a dizzy headiness that is equal parts high and exhaustion.

Here is a link to a video I made for them in what was suppose to be the beginning of a 2 phase shoot, we had planned to do another before John left for the summer. But we didn't. Life isn't perfect. Fast forward to the present.

Dear John,

It's May 2011 and you've since snow-birded back to New York for the summer. I've chatted with Kay who asks that these pictures be sent to you guys in email no matter the resolution. I had been so reluctant to send them because I felt they weren't enough and made a video of the shots but was afraid of the individual shots.

She updates me that the cancer tumor in your tummy is now more concerning than it was originally thought. That doctors have recommended surgery. That you are torn what to do and thus far deciding against the surgery. 

Now Kay is here and you are 1500 miles apart. These photographs that seemed subpar have taken on a deeper meaning. Their poignancy and joyful love add a sharpness that I never saw in them originally. I thought they weren't good enough. Now, I realize they are plenty good enough. 

John, I know you walk close to God. That you are a man of God with deep faith and conviction, that all the decisions in your life are met with slow calculation.  Looking, looking for a decisive sign somewhere from God before, before doing the big things in your life. I pray feverently for your health and happiness and a future shoot, where the lights won't again be perfect, nor the focus perfect, nor Kay's hair, or your glasses, it'll never be perfect. I'm learning to accept that most of my life's moments have been imperfect and that the sum of those imperfect moments is my whole life as is with everyone. Thank you for giving me an important photographic lesson and a deep life lesson.

~Lini in Florida

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:
When nobody is looking do you leave the refrigerator door open?

While making a peanut butter & jelly sandwhich, yes, I like PB&J, at 4:30 A.M. I began to feel a little guilty. Not about eating in the middle of the night, but about using the refrigerator light to make my sandwich. So how long is too long? I considered this at length while I got my Gobbers jar and bread and a long shadow from the fridge made the knife I used look ominous.

What is the acceptable length of time for leaving the door open? Or is it what I did during that time that makes this bigger crime?

Husband Post

I guess I confused a few people with my “Sunrise” post yesterday.  

I am “the husband,” Tom.  Thats right, we are a husband and wife team and both love shooting pictures.

I played with a little home dark-room as a kid and my wife got me back into photography about a year ago.  It is wonderful that we have this to share and watching my wife grow in her photography is truly amazing.  She has developed an eye that really gives me a run for my money...(and often wins).

Some mornings we go off for a sunrise shoot and have a competition to see who can take the best picture.  Below are a couple of my recent favorites.

Signed

“The Husband”

Sunrise Photography

One of my favorite times of the day is sunrise.  This is especially true if I have either a camera in my hand or a fishing rod.  Today, I’ll talk about the former and leave the latter to another post.

Photography at sunrise is magical for a number of reasons.   It is a “magic hour” when the light is filtered through miles of atmosphere making models look their very best.  When the model is posing with the brilliantly colored morning sky behind her, it creates unforgettable moments for the camera.

But there is also amazing energy when shooting pictures in the early morning hours.  Each time the energy of the day is compressed leaving one feeling the promise of eternity in every photo.

The challenge to early morning photography is that the light changes moment by moment.  So one can capture great shots only if one is prepared to act fast with the camera settings and subject positioning.

Furthermore, there is a brightness and happiness to sunrise photography.  It could be my imagination, but some people just look their best at that time of the day.

If you are a morning person, maybe you can inspire that one in a million magical shot!.... but even if the photography gods are not smiling that morning, you will still have a great time rejoicing in the beauty of God's creation.

Greeting the Sunrise

Linifotto is the New Company Name. Progress strikes again!

Seems like I forgot to mention that I changed the name of the company.  Yep.
All that lamenting and whining and I forget to even mention it? <sigh>

Lini-fotto.  Think Motorola's 'Hello Motto'.
The thought process was simple.  Find a name that is unique, short and simple.  Beauty & the Beach Photography was fitting but too many Beauty & the Beach companies. So finding me on Facebook became a maze of Beauty & the Beach pages.  Thirty letters became too long, I felt people would get lost in the hunt for me.

Criteria was simple name. Short.  Easy to spell.  I didn't want a .NET or .BIZ I wanted a .COM. So Linifotto came fell into place.

On Facebook and trying to find my galleries?  Here's the map.

LJ Masty = personal page
Linifotto = new business page -
Beauty & the Beach Photography = Original business page

Eventually, all photos will be in albums on Facebook until I build a website.

Anatomy of a Jamine's Mega Shoot- Part 1

These are the many faces of Jasmine Harper from our 2nd shoot in April, 2011.

This is what my thumbnails look like in Aperture 3, after culling, editing, cropping, studying, repeat.  


When I first met Jasmine in February she surprised me, she was tiny. Without her halo probably 59 inches.  We did a small shoot at that time and scheduled a full senior's session for April. 

On the left is before tanning, makeup and new hair color.


Her skin is the color and texture of what every red-blooded anglo saxon woman in America wants. It's olive and tanned to perfection. It's fresh and dewy with youth and vitality. 


Her smile? Huge. Big white teeth and after getting blinded with that she pops out a dimple or two just to crush your heart. I feel sorry for all the hearts she's going to break without even realizing her effect on people. Such is life when you are seventeen, beautiful and reaching your first major accomplishment in life. 

You didn't happen to notice the eyes, right? (Told ya they were gorge!)  But look closely at the catch lights. See yellow?  Thats my top.  I do INDEED choose my clothing with that in mind. I also bring an alternate top for that reason.  Blues, purple, green or white. Hmmm, I never thought about pink. I wonder what a fuschia top would have done with her green eyes?  Going to make a note on that one.




Other Information & Links:

See the Animoto video of Jasmine link here for the pictures from that session.

Subscribe to all Linifotto videos on Youtube here.

A word on the videos. The narration in the video have thus far been essentially fictional yet based on what I imagine.  The idea thus far is to see how far I can take the videos - the storyline I believe adds interest and humor and might be more valuable than originally thought. 

It's not pitch perfect, but the 'Sami Loves' video clearly shows promo potential and the second,  'Sami Plays' video has a personal viewpoint that shows the same controlled elegant person laid back and having fun.  There is something here that's working. 


There must be a way to have a catalog of my videos on the blog. Maybe I just need a website?  Nah....time to go to bed....


nite lini

Noodle-ing, Waffle-ing & Stuttering

So much to learn!  Banners, pictures, websites.....pdf's, links....I never I knew there was so much to this blogging thing. I'm not trying to be a blogger.

(Blogger are very cool people who are very clever with words and are great grammatical writers and even speakers. I'm not. I just want to be a photographer, and told I need to blog in order to have a market for my work. To shoot.  That from blogging I will attract and repel, by design, clients. The right clients. People who see things the world similiary to me. If I  repel you, that just means we wouldn't make a good business transaction anyways.  And all the more so for an artistic relationship. So, that's my blog-orientation.) And, I love to start a sentence with, 'And'.  

My husband just walked by, I saw him peek at my screen.  I know what he's thinking.  'She's on the same screen she was hours ago. She's noodle-ing and waffle-ing. Ahh-gain.'  

But does he say anything?  Nope.  Does he remind me I might be obsessive?  Nope. 

A couple minutes later a long arm reaches over with a toasted bagel on a tiny plate. The arm disappears as quickly as it appeared. I'm thrilled, num num. He smacks an audible air kiss and I hear it trail behind him as walks down the hall. That's the 'All Clear' sign we ping to each other in passing.  It says different things,  tonight it said, "I love you and it's totally fine that you've been on the computer for 16 hours, I hadn't noticed.'

Well, how many brownie points do you think he earned for those 5 minutes?  Oh, baby, lots! And, no he doesn't read my blog. Which let's me know it's not good enough yet, because if this can keep his attention, then it's a 'Go'! (He has narcolepsy.)

So, focus!!!  I know. I know. I'm noodling. I'm rolling the issues over and over in my head. The issues? Where was I?  Ok, what is troubling me with this new 'business of photography'?  Same ones; branding, who am I, whats my style?, etc. So, I need a tagline to put on my first printing of promotional material.

I want convey 3 things, ok more than 3 things:  I don't know.

Well hell, the things clients have told me are always the same. (Wonderful things, but the same message.) They are always happy. I have never had anyone wish they hadn't done it, regretted it, only regretted not having done it sooner. 

"I feel sooooo beautiful." 

"I feel gorgeous.'

"I've never felt more beautiful." 

"I'm so glad we have it captured forever. I will never look this good again." (not true, but often said.) 

"I needed this so bad. I was feeling down on myself, but now I'm on a high."  

"Finally I feel different, like me but better."   

"Every woman needs to do this." 

"It's better than a day at the spa." 

"I've always wanted to do this but felt I was being selfish." 

"My husband can't believe I did it.  He's sooooo happy."  

"You have a special gift and will go far." 

"You are so talented."

"You are an amazing photographer." 

"I never knew I could look so good."

"I feel like I'm in love with myself. Is that bad?" 

Yes, good stuff but I need a tagline. 

Words that describe Linifotto from others and from how I want to be projected:

Liberating

Magical

Powerful

Original

Unique

Fresh

Exciting

Fun

Colorful

Feminine

Gorgeous

Empowering

Celebratory

Exclusive

Unforgettable

Refined primalness

I want a certain vibe that says all the above through imagery and words. 

"Linifotto, a new brand of photography for ladies who run with wolves and other creatures."   (Okay, okay, it's a little cheezy, right? Is this too contrived?  Too staged?  Straining to be cool?)

"Linifotto, is a photographer, a brand, a vision, a feeling, an emotion a private artist.

"Be the muse for Linifotto and acquire a collection of fine art."  Hmmmmm...that has some potential.  It kinda goes along with the promo card 'Catch up on the charactures, become one..' thing kinda works.

Playing the idea of making videos that have fictional and imaginative narration. Which is a good idea but needs a lot of fleshing out.

I want to appeal to women who have a strong sense of self. A need for adventure and love being a woman. Not afraid to step out from norm. And she definitely had Barbies. And likes to twirl. She sees pictures like these and her mind sails forward with a rush of ideas and inspiration. She. Is. Inspired.

She.

Is.

Inspiring. 

Full Stop.

How cool is this QR Scan?  I wonder if anyone will ever tell me where it takes them?  The technology is sooo cool. (Note to self, need to create the reverse code to bring them back!)

So, this is Lini in Floria.  Good nite Inkernet.
Glod Bless

Past Meets Present

Ok, it seems my Tylenol PM is kicking in...rats!  I so wanted to get this post done before falling out.

Quicky post. Who doesn't like to see pictures on a blog anyways, right?  Besides, these posts don't really count.  So I left off when I was pretending to be Sami's wedding photographer and retrieving her from the past.

Here is baby daddy Chad with 5 month old Zack. And Momi pics.  Details on the shoot will follow.

Then we tucked lil Zack in her giant nest made of tulle (I wish I would have just pulled it out before I shot him because it kept springing back up.

How amazing are these?

Momma Bear and Baby Bear.

Go ahead and say it.  'Awwww....'

Goodnite Inkernet!

Sami's Past Meets Present Shoot

Ok, that's it.  I'm out of excuses.  I have to blog now.  The new iMac is here and she's a bit of smart ass. So, no more, 'Oh I'm so skerred thing'.  We're doing this blogging thing. Period.  We are shooting pictures.   Period. 

RETRIEVING THE BRIDE 

Looking over her shoulder I watched Chad doing the new baby daddy thing. He did the step, rock, bounce thing like a pro and little five month old Zach was limp. Little legs dangling.  I tugged the lacing that ran up the back of Sami's wedding gown - we were just about ready to shoot and Dad had the baby covered so we were good to go. After the dress I took her outside and sat her down.

                                                                                                     

 I built a nest of tulle and hay her lay down in the middle of it. She looked up at me and we got these.

Wow!  Ok, let's just make things more difficult. (why oh why do I do these things?) In my head I wanted to pretend I was her wedding photographer, so I went back in time and retrieved Sami on her wedding day. And like a magic trick there she was in front of me. Bloomed. Gorgeous. Stunningly. 

I pretended she never got her gorgeous 'cover of Bride Magazine shot' and it was up to me to deliver it.  That if it didn't happen right now with me shooting it was never going to happen for her. That she would forever be left with no killer bridal portrait.

I got amped. I started to feel the burden. The full weight of this bride's hopes and dreams in my hands and if I screwed it up she would forever tell the tale of her wedding photographer from hell for the rest of her life. 

I looked harder through the lens. I stepped back.  Forward.  Walked around.  I took more time casing the set in front of me. That despite the imaginary pressure to hurry up, I needed to keep my cool and maybe even slow it down. I needed to really look at her so I could capture all that gorgeousness.  And I did. 

And it worked. The rest is history. This is the shoot that marked the change. It marked a regular day as a special day. A day that would separate all the things before it as the Before.  See my last post.

This was an important shoot for me and I love that I was able to recognize it immediately for what it was, even before the next shoot.  More pictures from this shoot coming up.

Lini in Florida, goodnight inkernet.