“RNP the Blog”

I setup to take a shot on the deck of my in-laws lake house this past weekend but I never got the combination of clouds and boats that I was hoping for. Sometimes the elements don’t align in your favor but I think it was a good lesson in letting go of the things that you can’t control (and it also makes you appreciate when the elements do align in your favor so much more).

Heading back to Phoenix in a couple weeks for a few days of shooting and will pack the Deardorff along with my usual assortment of digital gear. Hoping to squeeze in some portraits with the camera while I am in the desert. Stay tuned…

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I was commissioned recently to shoot an environmental portrait of Shelly Petz in the labyrinth she helped design and build at Grace United Methodist Church in Olathe, Kansas for Drew Magazine.

The location presented some challenges which is just one of the things that I enjoy about shooting on location. I really like it when I am challenged because it forces me to stretch in new ways to find answers to problems that I haven’t faced before.

Needless to say I hadn’t shot someone in a labyrinth before and since the location was close to my home base in Kansas City I had the ability to do some advance scouting. If I have the option to scout the location in advance I will always take advantage of that opportunity. I have found taking some shots of the location with the camera and lens choice that I am going to use on the job is really beneficial. I have also become a fan of shooting some video (and recording “voiceover” details as I shoot) while I scout a location so I have to rely on my memory as little as possible afterwards.

Here is a couple shots of the Labyrinth from my initial scout:

One of the challenges presented by the location is the fact that it is basically in a field with no shade cover to work with for most of the day. Obviously the answer to that issue was to shoot at the end of the day when the sun would be low enough that the trees to the west of the labyrinth would provide some shade to work with.

The more difficult challenge was dealing with the size of the labyrinth. The magazine wanted this to be an environmental portrait so the labyrinth had to be shown and since we didn’t have a consistent light level to work with we had to try and light the labyrinth ourselves. Needless to say lighting a location of that size out in a field with no direct access to power meant a trip to Home Depot to rent a portable generator. We also had to deal with the fact that lights and stands can’t be in the shot themselves and again because of the size of the location I knew we were going to have to throw light a bit of a distance.

The solution? We waited to start shooting until 7:30 p.m. In our initial setup we ended running three separate packs with six separate heads to sufficiently cover the labyrinth. Here is a crude diagram of our initial setup (please excuse my complete lack of drawing skills):

After shooting until I was content with the first setup we switched to a much more portable option and shot Shelly in a few different spots in the labyrinth using a hand held boom with a Nikon SB-26 overhead.

My assistant Jeff managed to shot some behind the scenes footage that I have put together and I added some of the video from my scout so you could see as much of the process as possible.

For the photographers out there here are some of the things that I learned from watching myself on the video:

Carefully pick the people that you work with. My “assistant” Jeff is actually my oldest brother and we obviously are very comfortable working together and his sense of humor added a great deal to the shoot. My advice is to only include people in your crew that you are a good personality match with it will make everyone on set much happier.

As silly as it sounds I learned quite a bit watching video of myself shooting. If you can the next time you are shooting have a friend/assistant (or put a camera on a tripod) record you as you shot. Watch to see if your energy good. Did you keep the subject engaged? The video shows you how the subject sees you and for me it was a great learning tool.

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Spent most of the past week with some dear friends in Rochester, NY. Got a chance to spend a good portion of one day at the Eastman House. If you are ever in the area do yourself a favor and visit the museum.

They currently are exhibiting “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape.” To give a little background it is a recreation of an old show that became one of the most-talked about shows in the history of photography. The original show was held in 1975 at George Eastman House and it signaled the beginning of a new approach to landscape photography.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was interesting to view it in the context of the times we are living in, which has some similarities to the times they show was originally launched. If you have an wider interest in the work there is an interview with curator Alison Nordstrom here.

I also have to say that I have a man crush on Stephen Shore. His prints (which in fairness to the other works were significantly larger and in color while all the other images were “8 x 10″ black and white prints) really took my breath away. On a side note I saw an exhibition of Shore’s work about a year ago at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art here in Kansas City and it totally rocked my world, so in any context Shore’s work just speaks to me.

I felt like I was buzzing when I left the Eastman House, after viewing work that really connects with me I always feel like I see the world a little clearer. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone but as I walked back to my friend’s house after viewing the work I felt like I was seeing the world in HD.

I drug the “polar bear” all the way to New York with me. Shot two frames which I will share once I have them back from the lab. I am still very much enjoying working with the large format system, but traveling with an “8 x 10″ view camera requires some determination. I did enjoy looking at the faces of the TSA folks when my camera bag went through the x-ray machine. Three of them gathered around their monitor and shared a puzzled look with each other. Sometimes the best pictures are the ones you don’ take.

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