Chris Waind's Epic NZSO Compositions

Photos ©Chris Waind. Click on any pic to embiggen.



Wellington, New Zealand-based photographer/illustrator Chris Waind used a motley crew of inexpensive lights -- along with some Photoshop and a lot of creativity -- to create a visual campaign for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.



The goal: to lower the age demo of the audience and raise ticket sales. When the dust had settled, ticket sales were up 20% during a recession.



Keep reading for sketches, final images, a BTS vid and a full interview with Chris. Read more »

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Ikeya Tomohide: Drawn to Water

Photos ©Ikeya Tomohide

By Irwin Wong -- Tokyo-based commercial/advertising photographer Ikeya Tomohide [池谷友秀] creates images that feature people in the context of water. He uses simple, dramatic lighting and execution -- combined with complex themes -- to create powerful photos.



A scuba diver before he was a photographer, Ikeya's series of Wave, Breath and Moon demonstrate the value of using personal experience to fuel own your creative process. Read more »

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Introducing Your Asia Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming Irwin Wong to Strobist. He specializes in editorial, portrait and commercial photography. And as the new Asia correspondent, his job will be to search out photographers in that region doing kickass work for profiles and BTS's.



Bilingual in English and Japanese, Irwin's first task will be to dive into the rich and vibrant photo culture in Japan. Case in point: Did you know you can walk up to a newsstand in Japan and buy any one of a number of photo mags that specialize in feature after feature of behind-the-scenes lighting breakdowns?



I'm thinking there is a lot of cool stuff waiting to come out of Japan, and Irwin is our "in".



Please feel free to help him out with any tips (especially you Japanese readers) via Twitter @IrwinWong. You can check out some of Irwin's own work at IrwinWong.com.



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On Assignment: Tweaking Dusk

All throughout the '1990s if it was the second week in August I knew exactly where I would be -- at the Howard County Fair.

I was a staffer at Patuxent Publishing, a (then) photo-conscious chain of weekly papers. Issues were commonly over 200 pages. And since they ran the results of every 4H judging in the fair, I knew I would have 28(!) pages of listings to fill with photography.

They gave me most of the week to shoot, print and caption, and ran the photos huge in B&W. I was happy as a pig in mud.

So when choosing photos for the culture section of my Howard County Guide project, I knew I wanted to go back and include something from the fair. Read more »

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BC3 Assignment #3: Think Big

The subject for assignment #2 was nice and small in size; very manageable. This will not be the case for assignment #3.



In fact, the subject for this assignment will almost certainly be too big to light completely with your small flashes. Read more »

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This Is Your Brain, On Light

Lest anyone doubt the ability of lighting to manipulate our minds, here's a quick little illusion to scramble your brain. I read the full explanation on the YouTube page (you'll have to click 'show more' under the video there) and I think I understand it. Maybe.



But my brain is still a little scrambled by the fact that what looks like a shadow in the checkerboard isn't actually a shadow. It's a tone.



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[BrussPup via Giz]

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Christoph Martin Schmid BTS: Scream

©Christoph Martin Schmid

By Sara Lando -- There is something about Berlin photographer Christoph Martin Schmid's work that makes the viewer uneasy. His images are suspended, eerie and polished to the point they seem to transcend reality. His ability to compress a whole story into one single frame has allowed him to land international advertising campaigns and become widely recognized.



Today we go behind the scenes with this image from his Scream!! series. Read more »

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Introducing Your Europe Correspondent

Please join me in welcoming Sara Lando to Strobist. Sara is a commercial/editorial photographer based near Venice, Italy. But this winter she will be spending four months in Los Angeles to broaden her exposure. So you LA photogs might wanna include her in your gatherings.



If the name rings a bell it may be because she was profiled on this site back in 2007.



Sara's mission is to seek out kickass photographers in Europe and to interview them about the images they are producing. You can help her by tweeting to her (@Bruko) any tips and suggestions for story ideas. (She's well worth a follow, too.)



You can check out her photography at SaraLando.com.



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Chris Buck on Subject Interaction

After last week's post on taking control during a shoot, a quick follow-up from one of the best in the business when it comes to subject rapport -- editorial photographer Chris Buck.



His approach: Embrace vulnerability over hero worship, then win your subjects over with enthusiasm.



As a bonus after the jump, a second video from one of Buck's more imaginative projects: Isn't. Read more »

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On Assignment: Open Air Home Studio

I don't shoot in a studio often enough to merit owning one, and renting one is usually more of a pain than it is worth. So I usually cobble something together at home.

Downstairs works for head shots and table tops, and the garage is used for stuff than needs more space. But as often as not, it makes more sense to cart a light and some background paper outside and just work in the driveway. Such was the case for Ramona and Jessica, who I shot to promote a fundraiser for a local domestic violence center. Read more »

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Q&A: Seven Words to Expect

Amateur, pro, editorial photographer, hobbyist -- it really doesn't matter. As often as not, your subject is going to this question:

"What do you want me to do?"

How you respond will affect your shoot as much as setting, lens or light. Read more »

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An Interview with Arnold Newman

If you make environmental portraits, you can trace your photographic lineage to this man. Arnold Newman is widely recognized as the father of the genre. In fact, a young Greg Heisler famously camped out on Newman's doorstep until he agreed to take him on as an assistant.

It's not every day that you get to spend half an hour listening to the photographic equivalent of an Old Master. He's seen here circa 1981 as interviewed by Barbaralee Diamonstein, with much wisdom to be had.

(Many thanks to Michael for the tip.)

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Boot Camp III Assignment #2: Results

Results from Assignment #2, in which you were asked to choose a local object, significant to your community to photograph.

In addition to a plethora of beer photos (quelle surprise!) some pretty cool stuff came back upstream from all over the world. I'm also guessing some of you have newfound respect for the NatGeo photographers who often have to tell the story of a place with photos of things… Read more »

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Q&A on Crisman's Blog

For those interested, Philly-based photog Chris Crisman had me answer a set of ten questions on his blog, in a series he has modestly named The Meaning of Life.
__________

Related:

:: On Finding Inspiration at Home ::
:: On Self-Investment and Reinvention ::

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