I needed a model to help me illustrate various lighting techniques for my fifth book, LED Lighting. I did a little casting call and Jana got in touch. We set up a test shoot making photos in the street and my favorite coffee shops. We scheduled the test for a Saturday afternoon and Jana, having never met me before, and being smart, brought along a friend to chaperone. We all ended up having a great time that day and, in the weeks following, I made lots of lovely images of Jana for the book.
Testing was a thing back then. Maybe it still is. Maybe it will be again.
I was shooting with a Canon 5D Mk2 at the time and almost all of our images that day were done with the 100mm f2.0 Canon lens. The fit and finish on the lens was nothing to write home about; a lot of plastic and a construction that felt....loose. But the image quality of the lens was right up my alley = sharp enough but not too sharp.
Everything I shot that day was as a raw file so I'm sure this test image started life in color but I kept seeing it (in my mind) in black and white. It's fun to look at older work as it reminds you that maybe, at one point, you actually had mastered the rudiments of both photography and also portraiture.
Last time I heard from Jana she was on her way to becoming a very good photographer. When I first met her she was a communications/advertising major. She was a first rate talent, for sure.
The focus fall-off is fascinating, and in a good way. I'm usually not fond of such a quick transition, but this one I like everything about. I'd be curious to compare the color version, but share your take that some just beg to be seen in B&W.
ReplyDeleteYour March 1 post ended with a reference to a book, How to Train a Wild Elephant. I don't lack for things to read, but the description on Amazon grabbed me, so I bought it. Read the intro this morning.
ReplyDelete"Wallpaper" is a word I use to explain the effect of everyday surroundings, home, work, the neighborhood, the city, becoming invisible because you've seen it again and again.
Your posts, photos of Austin, shop windows, construction sites, Barton Springs, the pedestrian bridge, perhaps all are things that you see anew each time you venture forth camera in hand.
Dorothea Lange: “A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.”
If that ain't mindfulness, I don't know what is.
The 5DII from 2008, still a great camera.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about this photograph, I'd imagine, is that once you'd taken it you didn't have to do any more test shots of anyone else. I mean, why would you?
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