Sunday, October 24, 2010

What a weekend.

This last weekend i went to the latest Halloween Bash group photo-shoot down in Racine. While i'll get to the actual shoot in a bit, lets just say some things i found "funny" about the trip.

I saw a car with the plates "I Carly", and this sooo confused me. Isn't it a young kids show? Appealing to very young (younger than teen?) kids? So... if the owner could drive and get a car, they must really, really love that show. Oh...kay.

Got a visual aura migraine at the exact moment of check in at the Marriott hotel. Like at the exact moment i asked for a room, i started to lose sight. Timing, win, even though it did suck, much better than getting one while driving. Speaking of getting there, my trip odometer was at exactly, 333.3 miles from my garage, and i got placed in room 123. (which amused me a bit, seeing as the whole place was deserted, two other guests or so?) Speaking of which, again, it's creepy being the only one at a breakfast buffet, and in the evening for food. There seemed to be a wedding party saturday at some point, but probably after i left. Nice hotel, probably the first hotel bed that was actually comfortable. I got some pictures of it, but not handy, so you will probably see them later. Also, when did hotels stop accepting cash? Seriously, it's good. I do want to complain that the vending machines were empty though, so you had to go get overpriced stuff from the desk, five bucks for two bottles. Funny thing, while at the breakfast buffet, two workers (there were five workers i could see, and me, in the whole place) asked me "Why would anyone come to Racine??" It was amusing. They really didn't have a high opinion of the place. I haven't seen much of it honestly, kind of reminds me of LaCrosse, but close to Milwaukee, and about an hour and half from Chicago or so, not far from everything like LaCrosse.

Both times i have gone down, i have brought precipitation down with me.

On the way back, near Eau Claire, in the fog, four cop cars had a car surrounded and lit up. It was beautiful, with blue, red and white lights all in the fog. Whatever he did, sure pissed them off, that seems sure.

There are some things i am sure i'm missing, but can't seem to think of them off hand, if i think of them i'll talk more about them i'm sure.

On to the shoot. It was similar to the Painted Muse shoot i went to, same place, some of the same people. Less people, models, photographers, make up artists, etc. though. Seems less than half the models showed up, which is always a let down, but seemed to flow okay, with most photographers shooting steady. I wasn't feeling so hot, not sure if i was coming down with something or just left over from the migraine, but i kept having to take breaks and sit down for a while. Kept getting light headed and weak feeling. Probably didn't help that i was shooting with a new setup, ring flash and portable power. Gets heavy and doesn't have the best handle, so my hands started hurting and was afraid i was going to drop it. Got about nine different looks shot, pretty good all of them. Missed a couple models/looks, partly because of not feeling hot and partly some had arrangements with other shooters. I did feel bad for the two make up artists though, they seemed bored, with so much free time and not much to do. There was a third, but she kept pretty active. I do have to say i loved her hoodie with the cat ears and her apparently new blue and purple color in her hair.

Sadly one of the models who as listed as coming didn't come, and i loved her look and was curious what she was going to wear and looked forward to shooting with her. I hear a lot of complaints about what they call "flakes" on Model Mayhem. Models who don't show up, and usually because of "dead grandmother syndrome". That would be depressing, have a team ready to shoot, and the model not showing up for whatever reason.

One of the shoots i did was hands down my favorite, her look, the lighting, the set just clicked. Flapper on a fainting couch, it was awesome. Seems too she came farther than i did for this, north of the cities too. She was at Painted Muse, but lived down there i think then. I did get down though when she mentioned "my camera taking good photos". I know she probably didn't mean it bad, or as an insult, but it's one of the things i don't like people saying. It's like all you have to do is point the camera and it does all the work. It's worth noting that if you give several photographers the same model, you get all different shots, it's more the person behind the camera. Oh well. I did love the shots just looking at the back of the camera after i shot them, and love them even more on the 'puter. Very little "needs" to be done, minor touch up really if that. The funny thing worth noting here, i used a ring light on these, just like "uncle Terry" does, but got a very different look. It does make me laugh though that one of the models and shots i did looks like something out of American Apparel. heh. The awesome shoot though made me want a fainting couch, although it would probably be in all my shots after that, heh.

While the shoot was going on, several guys with studded leather and tall boots came in. I kept thinking they looked familiar, but i guess not. They are in a band called LockJaw. Funny things again, i kept looking at them funny, trying to place them, and one of the friends came up and told me not to be afraid of them, heh. Seeing as i was dressed pretty plain that day, i can understand them not knowing i was more scary looking than them at a point, heh. I didn't get any shots of them, but it looked like they had some good shots, they had a ton of props and great photographers shooting them. One had a paintball gun that looked like a huge sniper rifle, and kept telling me "not to worry", because i kept looking at it, but it was more i was trying to figure out where the paintballs went. I know some people who would have loved it. They also had swords and other guns, some with bayonets too. Talked to a couple of them, asked them if they ever played the Warehouse in LaCrosse, one did and said only about 30 people showed up for a sunday show. Sadly that's kind of how people in LaCrosse are with shows, kind of in the middle of  nowhere, so your best bet is getting as many from even from the Twin Cities to get more people, especially if you have a more niche sound.

The shoot was interesting and fun, but i do need to learn to communicate with models better and be more willing to shoot longer. I tend to let them go nuts, and shoot away, and when i see i have a handful of good shots i let them go. I think this is from doing more event, nature and macro photography, it's a different mind set where things happen and you have to capture it and can't ask them to repeat it or tell them what to do. I also have a hard time thinking up poses for the models to do or describing to them what i'm thinking even. Then i get nervous, and that never helps.

One of the organizers mentioned how there are so many events down there that it's not seeming to be worth it anymore. Sad as i'm only now getting into it, and there rarely seems to be anything like that up here. There are plenty of meetups, but most are like photo walks, and things like that. Not model shoots, with awesome body painters and such. Oh well, now that i'm getting better, i just have to focus and come up with ideas and build my own team and shoots.

Side note of interest to me, it seemed every photographer there had an iPad, with their portfolios and an awesome app that has model and other releases on it. Peer pressure finally won out, and now i have my own iPad. Now to stick all my photos on it and all that jazz. I'm such a techno-whore (only techno? lol).

So that's the thrilling story of my weekend. Try to contain your excitement. The pictures will be up on my flickr as soon as i go through them and do all the stuff needed. I do think i am getting better, and really like a lot of them. Hopefully so will others.

3 comments:

Andrea said...

Wow, it sounds like your weekend shooting was amazing. I'm sorry you got the migraine, though. :( I can't wait to see the pics!!! <3

Zannnie said...

Still sounds like a good weekend you had! :) Can't wait to see the new sets of photos by you!

eveelagenius said...

Like!