I hate sitting still.

I hate not moving forward with something. If I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels, I will get irritated quickly. So to keep myself busy and to keep myself always thinking of what to do next I have added more pots to the fire. In addition to doing portrait photography for clients near and far (always wanted to use that in a sentence), I am also expanding my web presence with new sites.

You Are Beautiful Project

This is a project that has been floating around in my head for months on end. Like most photographers I probably photograph three women to every one guy. I've been around women from every walk of life, from mom's to models, to bank presidents, and more. As a guy getting paid to photograph women its not a bad day's work. Yet in this I have noticed something about women. It does not matter if she is a model or a house wife they all have this thing where they are critical of themselves. No matter how attractive the woman is, in my experience most of them have not seen themselves as being beautiful. Most see themselves as flawed or I'm pretty just not as pretty as she is. Now being a guy and guys just being guys, I don't get it. I see them and think what can you possibly see wrong with you, but time and time again I meet fantastic women with some aspect either small or large where they don't see themselves as beautiful. So to explore this idea and to hopefully get women to see what others see the You Are Beautiful Project was born.

The plan for this is simple. Photograph women, any woman, model, mom, business person, grandmother, young, old, curvy, or small. Ask them to some personal questions, then get them to pose in an implied topless portrait. Why implied topless? Two reasons: One I don't want anyone to focus on anything but their faces, so the portrait will be done just below the shoulder and up. So there is no jewelry or anything else that might draw attention. Secondly I want them to be a little uncomfortable. I want them to feel a little vulnerable. Not to torment or embarrass but to get honest answers to questions and honest expressions. This will be different than my normal work so I am setting this up at timskipperphotography.net. This blog site will feature the photos and their stories. I expect that this will take time to shoot enough images to create a true gallery so I am expecting this to go at least a year maybe more. 

I will officially kick off the project on June 9th with a large group shot of women who have volunteered to come have their portrait made and share a little about themselves.

Light & Shadow Workshops

For the last year I've been teaching small workshops. I've done numerous online tutorials and even an interview or two about creating images. So to continue with this and still leave this site for clients and my random thoughts I have opened an additional site that will focus strictly on photography education and promoting upcoming workshops.

The name Light & Shadow Workshops comes from the way I put together images. Having a background in illustration I know that to make a flat object look like it has depth and range you need contrast between light and shadow. So when I'm lighting a portrait I think about not only where my light is going but also where my shadows are falling (and all this time you thought that was an accident). So timskipperphotography.blogspot.com will feature tutorials, walkthroughs, and marketing for upcoming workshops. If your into photography be sure to go to the site and subscribe. Also if your on Facebook (which you probably are) make sure you go and like the Light & Shadow Workshop page. I will be posting quick tips, videos, and more there.

Well that's about it for now. If your not a fan of my photography page on Facebook, become one today. I'm giving away 10 2099 Mustangs (that's a joke, I'm not giving away anything, its not even 2099). I do however post all types of work there that doesn't always make it to this website or blog. So be sure to become a fan. That way I can barrage you with millions of useless inbox messages (I'm joking of course, I bet it's no more that a few thousand). 

Till later, stay focused.

I have decided to write a book. Not a book on photography, lighting, cameras, or anything you might expect. Instead I am writing a book on being a creative and having faith to pursue your goals and dreams. It is a book I am personally living out. It has not been easy to write. When completed it will be a collection of essays. This is one of them:

It happens. Doesn't matter if your a seasoned professional or just starting out, it happens. It can be brought on by a few projects not going the way you wanted, or not getting an assignment you hoped for. It may be nothing more than an unanswered email. The cause varies, but the result if your not careful is the same, creative fear. Which is really just fear but when you have a creative mindset fears can seem really, really big. After all creative minds have big imaginations so if the imagination leads down a path that is frighting, the monsters get real big. Before you know it your thinking about that job you should have applied for, turning your workspace into a gym, and disconnecting from social media just so you don't have to be embarrassed by your total and complete failure.

Well before you do all that, let's take a moment, relax and breathe. Remember your imagination is a gift but if you don't reign it in when it heads down dark paths it can also be a curse. Despite what you may be feeling your not at the end of your road. In fact you can't even see the end of your road. So before we go any further let me remind you, your too gifted to quit. Yes, you. Doesn't matter if you haven't painted or even sketched a picture for weeks. Doesn't matter if the novel your working on still only has a title. Doesn't matter if you can't find the melody when you set down to play. Every creative faces these moments of self doubt, your not alone and it will not last forever. What you need to do is turn your creative fear into creative faith. True its is simple in concept and hard to carry out, but its just hard, not impossible. Yes your going to have to battle your own mind, your own fears, and maybe a few nay sayers. The fact is that you were never promised an easy road being a creative person. In fact if you study history ever person who has had creative ideas, and creative goals has had to go through their own hell on earth to get it. Ever wonder why? Why do creative people have to fight to be what is in them naturally?

Here are a few reasons. One not everyone is creative. Now everyone can have faith, but not everyone can have a creative faith. A creative faith is faith to not only see impossible things come into existence, but to actually have the talent and the insight to put your hand to that creation. When you have creative faith you can expect that their will be those that don't get you. Think your stupid, crazy, arrogant, out of touch. There will always be those that want to pull you down to their comfort zone. Secondly when your creative your too much like the Creator and the fact is you have an enemy that doesn't want you to be anything like the Creator. The Creator placed that creativity inside of you. That's why when you think about quitting, when you think about giving up, you start to fee sick deep down. Its as if when you harbor those thoughts part of you is dying. Truth is when you harbor those thoughts part of you is truly dying. You can no more separate yourself from creativity than you can separate yourself from breathing. Your enemy know this. He does not want you to be creative, at least not in honor of the Creator. So he works to block, hinder, and discourage you at every opportunity. He knows if you give up. If you quit. If you let that creative part on the inside of you die, he will have destroyed the part of you that touches the great Creator.

Everyone can touch the Creator. Everyone can know Him. Fellowship with Him. Love Him. But only a creative person like you can experience what its like to be like Him. Think about it, there was nothing until the Creator spoke and created it. Just the same as there is nothing on the canvas, screen, or sheet of music until you create it. Not everyone has been blessed with this experience. Not everyone can understand that there is something within a creative mind that touches the Creator in a special way. Out of the billions of people on the earth, you were selected to be one of the few who can create something out of nothing. Its doesn't matter what area you creative ability lies, what matters is what are you doing with it. Remember the story of the men giving talents? One was given five, one was given two, another given one. Each went out and returned later. The one with the five and created five more talents. The one with the two had created two more talents. They were each rewarded. Not for how much, but what they did. They didn't let their talent die. They didn't do the same as the one that had one talent and instead of creating more, he buried it. Developing talent brings reward.

Since developing talent brings reward, how can you quit? How can you burry it? Why would you? Yes there may be some struggle. There may be times it hurts. There may be times it seems you will never make it, but you can't quit. Too much is at stake. Too much is hanging on what is inside of you to create. Your going to have to push through this and your going to have to exercise your creative faith muscles. Start by declaring whose you are, what you are, and what you are meant to do. Say it out loud. Let yourself hear your own voice. Speak what your supposed to be until you are what your supposed to be. Speak to the Creator. Tell Him who you know in your heart your supposed to be and thank Him for trusting you enough to become that. He could have gave it to someone else, but He gave it to you. Placed on the inside you to accomplish. Its not a punishment, even though it may feel like it at times. It is an opportunity for great reward. A reward mentally, spiritually, financially, but most importantly a reward in being more like Him. He wouldn't have given it to you, if you couldn't do it. Its ok to tell Him your afraid, just make sure when you leave that place of talking to Him you leave your fear at His feet. He gave this gift to you, so the only way you will fail is if you bury it. 

When you've finished declaring who and what you are. When you finished talking to the Creator. Pick up that paint brush, grab your writing tablet, sit behind that piano and start creating. Create what is inside of you so that others can see what you see. So others can know what you know. So others can hear what you hear. It is too precious, too valuable, and too important to remain buried inside. Create it. Share it. Believe. Do not be afraid.

Shooting personal projects is one of the most important things I do. I talk to so many photographers who don't have "time." Personal projects give a chance to clean out the creative cobwebs that build up over time. Its during these projects that I have the opportunity to experiment and develop ideas and techniques that will be useful when shooting on assignment. Also they are a heck of a lot of fun. Personal projects are not hard, not taking pictures is what is hard.

My most recent personal photo shoot was inspired by my childhood hero Batman. As a nerdy kid growing up Batman was very appealing because he had no powers but also because he had the coolest villains. With enemies such as the Joker, Two-Face, and Scarecrow there was plenty of dark and dangerous adversaries. Every month I would run down to the local store and spend my .25 cents to see who Batman would face this time and how in the world would he escape from that death trap.

Today comics still have an influence on my art with the way I use color, light, and shadow. I have wanted to do a comic book theme for months but every time I would start to work on it, someone else had done it before me. Everyone was focusing on the heroes so I decided to go with the bad guys. Everyone knows they are more fun anyway. With an idea in mind I set out to create a series of images that portrayed these dark villains. With the release of several blockbuster movies I knew we could leave behind the sixties version of these characters and make a more menacing image. To do this I chose to light the images using blues and greens. If your interested in the lighting, check out the companion blog at my Light & Shadow Workshop site.

As with all personal projects the goal is to push myself to push myself. Developing new ideas, improving skills, and learning more about communicating ideas make help be become better at what I do. Getting to play dress up with the world’s scariest villains is just icing on the cake.

Be sure to check out the gallery and video. Then tune in again at the same bat time on the same bat channel!

In 2010 I was in Nashville for meetings with art directors of various recording labels. I had taken the trip in order to have a chance for a face to face meeting with directors that I had only previously met by email or phone. During one such meeting an art director told me the biggest problem for them when shooting in Nashville was that all the locations had been used. That their were so many images being produced that there was nothing that hadn’t been shot in front of already.

Since I was a guest in their office I retrained myself from arguing (which is harder than you can even imagine). I thought to myself “Are you sure there is no more space?” I mean in a city of over 600,000 people and over 520 square miles there has to be something no one has shot at. I know what they meant was there was no popular places left to shoot at. In other words the places that scream Nashville.

The same is true here at home when I’m shooting for myself. The popular places have all been used many times over. This kind of thing happens no matter how large the city. Photographers tend to be drawn to the same types of looks. So we ask each other things like “Where did you take that?” It doesn’t take long for there to appear to be no more space for taking photos.

Which is exactly why when I had the urge to shoot a few weeks ago I drove to a hole in the wall town north of me. I had been through the town a few years earlier and was familiar with it. I knew that for the most part all the businesses had shut down and the buildings were looking worn and old. Which is the perfect environment for taking pictures. So grabbing a local model Azurea, we headed up to shoot some pics. Since small towns are not accustomed to photographers working on the street we received more than a few odd looks. But Azurea was a trooper and went about following my muddle directions. I kept the work simple using only one light so we were able to shoot quickly.

The town is extremely small and is made up entirely of a few buildings on either side of the road that passes through. Given the time of day we arrived I had to stick to the side shaded from the sun but we still managed to pull off a neat portrait or two. When we finished we headed back towards home where we snapped a few more pictures off an alley in downtown.

All in all it turned out to be a decent morning of shooting. I couldn’t help but remember that art director back in 2010 though. I thought sometimes you just have to get out of your normal comfort zone. Sometimes you just need to look at something old with a fresh perspective. Sometimes you just need to put a pretty girl in a dress and take a picture.

One of the great things about photography today is the number of photographers that are shooting on location. The old model of shooting in a studio has had to make room for photographers that are turning their town, parks, beaches, and back alley’s into a studio. From portrait photographers to commercial photographers the idea of getting outside of same old four walls is hopefully here to stay.

With that comes great opportunity for creativity and a whole new set of problems. In a studio you have your subject and the background to light. On location you can have a myriad of options and problems with them. Everything from color shifts to having to shoot in a giant room that is dark enough to be a cave with only two lights. These are just the tip of the ice burg facing photographers who have ventured outside of their studio. To the old wedding photographer this is nothing new, but even for them what clients want is changing. Inspired by magazines and television the wedding client is no longer satisfied with just status-quo pictures. In the commercial world the demand for creative and marketable pictures is as high as ever. With so many photographers in the work force you have to stand out from the masses.

Add to this the camera manufacturing machine is churning out new equipment at break neck speeds and of course they tell you that you need all of it to be a great photographer. The truth of the matter is you just need to have a vision and some knowledge to get you there. An understanding of how to work with light in any given situation combined with a personal vision for your work will radically change the way you photograph on location. This isn’t rocket science, its a few simple facts that once you learn them, then practice them, will become part of your arsenal to create the photos you want to create.

Over the last several years I have been learning these principles. Practicing and applying them to a wide variety of locations. On May 18th I am hosting my next Light and Shadow Workshop: Lighting Portraits On Location. For this workshop we will be looking at taking portraits inside and out using natural light, flash, and strobes. We will be discussing modifiers, color balance, working with sunlight and over powering sunlight. The class will be at the Cultural Arts Center in Dothan, AL which is an old building with lots of its own problems for photographers so it is a great location to address some of the issues.

The class is limited to 15 students and is $150 to reserve a spot, but if you register by May 4th you can take the class for $125. You will need your camera, at least one lens, a hot shoe flash, and either an extension cable or wireless trigger. There will be lecture, examples, and practical application. If you want to do location photography of any kind I encourage you to attend the class. I promise you this, when you leave you will have the knowledge you need to shoot on location. The vision you will have to supply for yourself.

Sometime life just seemingly sucks. I know that's not proper language, but that is just the way it is. Sometimes so many things are coming at you, going wrong, that life seems to suck. Your buried under a mountain of debt with no end in sight. You are trying to pursue goals that seem too big. Money's tight. Your not eating healthy. Exercise? Too tired, too busy. Things start weighing you down and you think this is it. This is the sum total of my life. You have made too many mistakes, missed too many opportunities. You had talent but you failed to pursue it. Maybe you can sing, or write. Maybe your an illustrator or photographer. You wanted to pursue it. Maybe as a profession, maybe as a hobby, but you didn't. Too many real life issues to pursue dreams. Too many excuses. Now you watch as people pursue and achieve their dreams, while you watch your dreams for life pass you by.

It's a bleak out look. On the surface it seems hopeless, or does it? The good news for you is that this is not the period of your life. Every person who has ever pursued a dream had to go through crisis to get there. Everyone had to face financial crisis, mockers, health problems, and depression. They all had feelings of self doubt, self incrimination, and rejection. In fact some of the greatest creative minds that you often only see as a success failed miserably at the very thing you think their successful for. Jack Canfield is a motivational speaker and author. He is co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. These books consist of short inspirational stories. When they presented their idea to the publishers they were rejected, not once, not twice, but one 140 times. Publisher after publisher rejected the book saying people would not be interested in a random collection of short stories. Jack and his partner did not quit. They did not loose hope. They persisted and kept submitting the book until finally the book was published. Today the series consist of over 200 titles, has been translated into 40 different languages, has sold over 112 million copies in the US and Canada alone, and has earned in excess of $2 billion dollars in sales. The biggest accomplishment is that the books have touched and inspired millions of people. 

Ever hear of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney World? The creator and dreamer of these great family entertainment, Walt Disney, was fired from the Kansas City Star newspaper for a lack of imagination and not having new ideas. He went on to work in commercial art specifically animation. Here he started creating animated films, but his money started running out and he was on his way to being bankrupt. He kept pushing forward going to Hollywood with his films and dreams which landed him a job in the motion picture industry. Here he created Mickey Mouse in the film "Steamboat Willy." He began developing color cartoons and held the patens for about two years. Yet still tragedy struck with the death of his mother followed by the start of World War II. It wasn't until in the mid twentieth century that he began to realize his dream of a an amusement park. Even then he faced challenges after the park was rejected by the city of Anaheim. Today Walt Disney World is recognized all around the world as the place where dreams come true. So why did these people succeed? Did they have some special quality known only to a select few? Where they endowed with special power to accomplish the impossible? No and no. They simply refused to quit.

They decided that despite the hardship, the disappointments and the pain their life they had not come to an end with a period. Instead they discovered that they had more story to tell. More things to accomplish and more dreams to fulfill. If this holds true for them why not you? Does not the ability to do and be great things exist in you at this very moment? Why can others accomplish great things, yet you are trapped by circumstance? If circumstance was the deciding factor in success no one would succeed. I often tell my sons when things go wrong, "Life happens." It really is that simple, life happens. Things go wrong sometimes. Even in the midst of great things happening, bad things can occur. The question is where is your focus? Where are looking? At the problems? The failures? Your fears? What is it holding you back? People? There will always be people to try and stand in the way. Go around them. Move past them. If one says no, someone else may say yes. Les Brown is quoted as saying, "Make no your vitamin." Choose to take each no and let it create fuel for the fire to move ahead. There is over 6 billion people on Earth and your going to stop after one no? Two? Three? Keep going to  you get a yes. Sound simple that's because in principle it  is. It's not rocket science, you just don't quit trying.

Living out this attitude is different. If you focus on the negative events, the negative agendas, you will give up before you even get started. You will accept failure as your position. So let me surprise you, your not a failure. You only can fail one way, and that is by never trying again. You were given something special. It is yours and only yours. Of all the people past, present, and future you are unique. To let what is inside of you go to waste because of circumstance is a crime to mankind and sin before God. What was given to you was meant to be shared. Shared to inspire. Shared to give hope. Shared to bring joy. Your gift was not given to you bury or hide, it was givens to be developed and used for purpose. Les Brown said, "You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great." You owe your talent to those around you. Just because you face circumstance, doubt, and fear is no reason not to share what you have within you. The circumstances do not define you, but your reaction to the circumstances do. 

In ever aspect of life you have the choice to roll under or run over. Inside of you is the greatest potential to not only pursue your dreams but achieve them. As you pursue your dreams your going to have more circumstances stand between you and them, but it is not what will define you. You can choose to move towards the goals and dreams of your heart. When you achieved, when you have become what you have dreamed of being you will discover that what you have achieved is not nearly has valuable has what you've become through the process. 

If not familiar with it you may not realize how photographers make (or at least attempt to make) a living. Of course there is the obvious thing of taking portraits and shooting weddings. In fact that is what most think of when you say photographer. Then you get people like me. People who can do those things but don’t actively seek them out. Instead we pursue other forms of work in other areas such a commercial. Here my job is to create an image to sell a product or idea. Maybe it is to illustrate a story or just show who a person in a magazine article is. Regardless of what a photographer shoots most look for ways to add additional income to their bank account.

Its just good business sense to have more than one stream of income so you see photographers teaching, selling instruction books and videos, or shooting in an area that is not part of their main body of work. One such area for photographers, particularly commercial photographers is stock photography. Now years ago stock photography could be big money and for some it still may be.  But with the buy cheap pictures sites that came along selling photos license for a few dollars the aspect of making a living on stock for many became a nightmare. See the photographer is paid a percentage of the sell of his image. So if an image is sold 100 times, he gets a payment off each individual sell. It creates a residual on going income. If the site only sell images for two dollars then well you get the idea.

Years ago I submitted some work to stock agencies and was told no thank you. My style just didn’t blend with what their idea of stock was. Too editorial, it leaned to much to the creative concept vs. a photo that was simple and straight forward. Most of the stock companies just wanted people in bright surroundings talking on cell phones or working on a computer. Kind of boring but practical business application photos. The truth was I just didn’t want to shoot that stuff just so I could generate a few extra dollars. The time vs. money didn’t add up. Then a few months ago a photographer mentioned to me he was shooting some stock for a company based in the UK. I wasn’t familiar with it but didn’t give much more thought either. When he mentioned it again I got curious enough to look at the site. Like the others it was full of what I thought was boring business oriented photographs. In fact they even stated in their submission guidelines minimum digital manipulation. Seriously? Have you seen my work? It doesn’t come out the camera looking like that. So reading that I forgot about them and moved on. That was until two days ago.

I don’t know why but I ended up on their page again. I noticed they had opened a new style of stock called creative. I looked at some of the work and thought, “Hey I’m somewhat creative, I’ll send in four pictures for review.” Honestly I thought they wouldn’t be able to send a rejection letter fast enough. But to my surprise they accepted them. Still at this point I was like no big deal. I will get around to it eventually. Then the next morning as I am checking my email I get a letter from the art director. This guy had been on my site, loved my work, and biggest surprise of all wanted to feature me on their site. Now if your not into photography this sounds HUGE, but trust me it is not that big of deal. It is a great compliment and certainly something I’m going to pursue but it doesn’t make me a famous international photographer, though technically it does make me international (well actually I was already that, but that’s another story). While not every photographer is featured (which is where the great compliment comes in), I am still one of thousands that will be shooting for this site. The cool part for me is that since I shoot a lot of personal work anyway, I now have an outlet to sell those images and make a little green. A little mad money so to speak. While I am very grateful for the recognition I am practical in where stock sells are. The cool part for those around me is now I have a slightly larger motivation to shoot stuff for fun. For those that I work for, nothing changes. I am still pursuing and shooting for clients. Images I shoot for them will still be regulated by the contract which means the vast majority will never make it to stock. Well guess I better get to writing some keywords. 

Have a blessed and happy Easter.

For the last several weeks I've been working on putting a new book together for a portfolio review in May. I wanted to create images that were more reflective where my work as a photographer has gone in the last few months. To do this required asking a lot of favors and shooting a ton of images to create a large enough selection to choose from. Once the shooting was done and postproduction completed came time to edit the pictures down. To do this I called in one more favor and asked another photographer to help me cull down the images to my final selections. With all that done I organized the pictures and ordered my book both in hard copy and pdf versions. With all that done its time to send it off to New York for the review.

I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me produce and create this book. There were a lot of early mornings going out before sunrise and late afternoons in freezing cold wind to create many of these images. In the end though I hope I created a good looking book for art directors. You can view the PDF version of it here. 

When I first began in photography I became obsessed with getting color right. I thought every photo had to have the perfect skin, the perfect red, greens, and blues. It was what everything I read taught. Make sure your color balance is correct. They were right. It good basic knowledge to know how to make you color true, but that is the beginning not the end of color in a photograph.

I have been preparing some work for a portfolio review in May. In doing this I’ve shot some new work to put in the portfolio. During this process I have really started enjoying finding a creative voice in color.  I started playing with the color of photographs a few years ago, but recently I have gone a little color crazy. Using color just as I use light to set mood and tell a story. There are of course times color still has to be spot on. Certain types of work requires it. In between those jobs however let the color games begin.

I talk to many new and upcoming photographers. Those that are picking up a camera for the first time, or those that are learning to use strobes for the first time. They all have one thing in common, every time they look at one of my photos they ask, “What was your exposure?” My answer, “Who cares?” Somewhere someone told new photographers if you know what the ISO, shutter speed, and f-stop of a photo is you can recreate the photo exactly. Balderdash! It’s impossible. Do you know why? Because you are not them, they are not you, and no two situations are exactly the same.

Lighting a photo is more than just exposure. Its more than just copying someone else’s numbers. Lighting is a language made of highlights, mid-tones, color, and shadows. It speaks, it describes, it builds or it destroys. Setting the f-stop on your camera is not lighting. Its just how your going to interpret that light. Light should wrap, mold, and create depth in your image. It should force someone to look twice, imagine, and speculate. Light should scream at your viewer one minute and then whisper for them to come closer the next. It should be a raging band and a soft melody at the same time.

Light is not just about exposing an image. It is the essence of creating an image. No light, no picture. Boring light, then why even bother. Light is the heartbeat of a photo yet most photographers resign it to a series of numbers and settings. Incorrectly believing that the magic happens inside the camera, when all the while the magic is directly in front of them. The job of a photographer is to capture that magic. To wrap their hands around it and pull it into the lens either gently or by force. It doesn’t matter if the light is natural to the scene or introduced by the photographer. It is the light that will make the scene live or die. Become something of interest or be lost in the hull drum of boredom. 

Light is the greatest aspect of a photograph and at one moment should be the one thing that the average viewer doesn’t see. It should move into the their imagination and fill it with amazement, yet do so without them realizing it’s there. Other times light should bash them across the head. Screaming and hollering as it penetrates their subconscious and makes them stop to look. Which is right? At what times is light quite and what times does it scream? That’s your job to determine. You, the photographer, are responsible to be sure it does exactly what you want it to do. And for the love of all things good, the love of art, your art, please let it do more than expose your image. Let your light do more than make yet another picture. Let your light touch, move, push, call, stroke, strike, kiss, or spit at your viewer. Let your light be what it was mean to be, illumination. Not just of a person or a scene but of imagination and thought. When the earth was void the first thing created was light. Light is the essence of life. Light moves us forward. We move towards light. We are attracted to light. Stand a group of people in a dark room and turn on a small light and they will all move towards it. It is in our very nature to seek out light, to seek out that illumination. 

As photographers we play with light, we mold it. We create shadows where we want them and remove them when we want them to go away. We tug at light, talk about light, see light. We estimate and evaluate light. We cultivate and commemorate light. We hold it in the highest of esteem, we curse it and love it. We strive to understand it and we try to explain it. It is in our soul yet many treat it with contempt, ignorance, and folly. Too many treat it with analytical detachment never understanding its value. Light is our life blood as artist. We cannot create without it. Too much and we create a flat and lifeless tomb image, too little and it is a deep cavern that we cannot escape.  A flick here, a splash there, wrapped over here. Light beckons us to come in or pushes us to get out. Light combined with shadow creates the depth. The color of light sets the mood. Together they tell our story. What story are you creating? What story do you have to tell? Light it, don’t expose it.

Want to know more about lighting? Then join me on March 16th for my first Light and Shadow workshop of 2013 Lighting the Human Form. We will discuss an attempt to learn together why light wraps, moves, and creates our stories.

“Too late, I found you can’t wait to become perfect, you got to go out and fall down and get up with everybody else.” - Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

When I was a teenager I read the novel “Something Wicked This Way Comes” by Ray Bradbury. There was something about the book that has stayed with me through the years. The enigma Mr. Dark was seared into my imagination as the quintessential villain. The tattoos of his victims seared into his skin.

Now some thirty years later I still had the images of this book floating in my head. Then about a year ago those images started forming the bases of a photo shoot that was loosely based on the characters of the book. It took a long time to put it together but then on a Sunday afternoon it finally came into existence. I called on make-up artist Jon Paul to help me put together an ensemble a cast of characters. I designed a set taking advantage of some props from a fellow photographer. My goal was to make it look like a tent up against a dead end ally. To light the scene I used four lights, I had three lights with blue gels, one was overhead lighting the top of the walls, a second had a snoot and skimmed down the stone wall, the third with a grid aimed at the corner of the tent. A fourth light was a beauty dish with grid and barn doors fitted with an orange gel was cast on the back wall to establish an orange glow.

For the cast we had the ringmaster, gypsy sorceress, the angry strong man, the not quite human snake handler, the seductive lady in red, and cruel mistress enforcer. Costumes were assembled from thrift and costume shops while our make-up artist made sure everyone looked their part. For lighting the cast I used a simple one light set-up of a beauty dish with a  silver reflector to fill in shadow if they looked to dark in certain frames. For the gypsy sorceress floating crystal ball I used a ring light to give a glow from below.

The goal of the series was to express the feel of the book of dark foreboding. It took everyone working together to pull this off. I couldn’t had done it on my own. I owe a special thanks to my make-up artist Jon, models Eric, Jeremy, Mandy, Jessica, and Crystal. I owe a special thank you to my son Dalton who spent eight hours helping build the set plus another eight hours setting up lights and shooting the project. With this behind me now its time to move on to other ideas. I’ve been thinking about a story involving a girl and a wolf. Guess we will just have to see.

A few weeks back I shot with Jennifer, a female figure competitor, for her portfolio. Most of the pictures were standard portfolio style images. The kind of thing agencies and art directors look at when hiring models. Before we ended the set though I wanted to shoot something that was more artistic than the commercial style we had been shooting earlier in the day.

As with all shoots my first goal is to get my client what they have asked for. With that complete I then want to shoot something you didn’t expect, something extra. With Jennifer being in such great shape I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the last set. I had her put on one of her competition swimsuits and then set up a split lighting setup. Using two soft light sources on either side of her gave me clear definition of her muscle tone. Then it was just a matter of taking her through a series of poses that would accent your figure and muscle tone.

As with any figure photography the idea here is the way light wraps around your subject. This is a premise I teach in my Light & Shadow workshops such as the one on figure photography March 16 (insert shameless plug here). Light in any kind or portraiture is not just for the purpose of exposing your subject. It also helps tell their story. For Jennifer this tells the story of a beautiful woman without weakness. She is strong and powerful while still maintaining her femininity and beauty.

She will be seeing her pictures for the first time this week. I hope she is going to be very happy, because if not she is strong enough to break me. Also remember her face, she is about to become a spokes model for a nutritional supplement company. She is already well on her way.

I approach lighting a little different than most. When I’m setting up lighting I think in terms of lighting for shadows. In other words I plan lighting based on where I want shadows to fall. I think this way because I started art as an illustrator. In illustration you have a flat object on paper that you have to make look three dimensional. To do this you you have to imagine where the light is coming from and how that light will create shadows on your subject. When I started learning how to light I first learned the technical side but then once I had that I started applying light to create shadow. Contrast between light and shadow is what gives depth to any image no matter if it is illustration or a photograph. Shadows recede and highlights come forward. This is exactly what I teach in my Light & Shadow Workshops.

Last year I wanted to do one of these workshops but didn’t get to, this year I’m starting with it. I am a lover of the human form in art. So this year’s first workshop is going to focus on how to photography the human figure. I’m very excited about this class because it is the first of its kind in this area. The class will look at all aspects of figure photography such as implied, nude, light modifiers, posing, composition, finding models, working with a model, and even your needed paperwork. I have enlisted one of my favorite figure models Marla (screen name Kila Jager) to be our model.

As another first I am taking this class on the road to Panama City, FL. where we will be hosted by Lana Williams Photography studio. The class will consist of a lecture period to discuss lighting, light modifiers, etc. and a practical period where students will get to apply what we discussed and their own ideas to photographing our model. 

Because of the nature of the class all students must be 18 years or older. This is also a mid-level or higher photography class. This is not for someone who is trying to learn to use a camera, but instead for those that want to learn lighting or wish to experiment in figure photography. The class size is smaller due to space and to give everyone ample time to photograph. You will need to bring your camera, your memory card, at least one lens but I recommend bringing more. I will have lights and wireless triggers. If you wish to bring your own triggers feel free to. 

My goal is that by the time the class ends you will have a strong understanding of lighting the human figure that you can then apply to any type of photography you wish. Payments reserves your spot and is non-refundable so please make sure your going to attend if you sign up. Payments can be made by credit card, check, or Pay-Pal. You can email me at timskipper at timskipperphotography.com or call me at 334.797.1389 to ask questions or reserve your spot.

See you there!

Red House Bookstore as been in our community for as long as I can remember. It was here long before my family and I moved here. I imagine it will be here long after we leave. Made up of narrow rows of books arranged by subject and author the store is a maze of literature and education. If there’s a topic you want to read on they most likely have it or can get it. Like many used book stores they offer trade on books. So if your in the store there is a steady stream of people trading in books they’ve read towards books they want to read. Red House even creates a customer register and will tell you if you’ve read a book before just in case you read so many you forget.

Just after Christmas I took advantage of Red House’s trade in and the fact I had both boys at the house for the holidays. I had them help me rearrange and clean out my office. It was an all day affair, the more we did the more stuff we found that needed to be done. One of the things I wanted to do was empty out my bookshelves of books I had read. I had a little of everything from applying business plans to Star Wars. Books shelves were so full they had books stacked on top of books. So I needed to clear out these shelves to make room. I don’t read as much fiction as I used to and I’ve gotten to where I buy business related books on the iPad, I wasn’t sure what to do with the books. I knew I could take them to Red House, but I didn’t want to bring more books home, that would defeat the purpose. As I was pondering this I had an idea. I would trade the books for the opportunity to shoot in the store. I had wanted to do a shoot in the store for a very long time but never pursued it. Now I had the perfect opportunity to ask to set up there. The owners agreed and a few weeks later my model Jess and I are in the back of the store shooting away. 

Remember when I said they had narrow rows of books. The rows get real narrow when your trying to set up lights. I wanted the light to seem to be part of the store for most of the pictures. With the others being a little more dramatic. For the first set I placed a beauty dish on a boom arm above Jess. A second light in a shoot through umbrella behind the camera acted as fill. With the confined space and customers in the store we set up in a section that was hopefully out of the way of everyone. To enhance the tight feel of the store I shot with a 70-200 lens to compress the scene. I chose an aperture that gave me a shallow depth of field but still enough to see what was around Jess.

Most of the shots I allowed Jess to pose as she wanted giving her suggestions along the way. By pure coincidence we had set up right next to the erotic and supernatural sections. So I decided to shoot a few images that spoke to those genres. I asked Jess to grab a book from the erotic section and pretend to read. The book she picked worked perfect with its pink cover matching Jess’s pink nails. I then had Jess pose in what at the time I’m sure she thought was foolish. Jess then held books out at different angles so I could capture them to insert later. At the time it didn’t dawn on me that I was developing a Ghostbuster feel. I wonder if Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis would have been as quick to run away if the library ghost looked like Jess.

A few weeks ago I received a phone call from Christina at Cutting Edge Media about taking some pictures for an upcoming issue. Cutting Edge Media produces a magazine called Home Business Connection, which focuses on work from home opportunities. They were doing a feature article on a local entrepreneur Tony Rush. As with most of these assignments they needed the work two days before they call, they don’t have a clear vision of what they want, and of course they are on a tight budget. So after some minor adjustments to the contract we had an agreement and I was reaching out to Tony and his wife Jessica to set up the shoot.

The magazine had some vague ideas they wanted which Tony and Jessica hated. So we ditched the notes and took a different approach. Tony’s biggest thing is his business gives him more free time with his family, which is a fairly tight knit group. We decided to focus on things that looked like fun. The big problem, other than sports, dining out, and a movie theater our community doesn’t have any real “family entertainment.” We didn’t have time to head to the beach, there was no sporting events going on, and no way was the theater going to let me in with lights and camera. So I had to come up with activities that would be fun. They had three boys, the youngest of which was the perfect age to want to play on a playground. I chose a playground in the area that has lots of things for kids to climb on and lots of bright colors.

Here we did the first set of pictures with the family. I knew as a business magazine they would want bright and exciting pictures, not the moody images I produce when playing around. So I set up a large light source and placed a light behind them to create interesting shadows for the first group shot. After shooting a variations on the theme we moved to another part of the play park and did the second set with them standing on part of an obstacle course. Now what you don’t see in this is this park was full of parents with children. So I would have to hold them in a pose while waiting for people to walk out of the frame. I only had to remove someone from the far background in two different pictures.

When we finished this I took them down the road to a local miniature golf course. We borrowed some clubs and a ball and staged a game of miniature golf. This is all staged cause there was no way I was going to let Tony hit a ball in my direction. He had already shown a capacity for playing a joke. The magazine did specify a business shot. One where Tony was working on a computer or talking on the phone. Since we didn’t have a computer we opted for an iPad instead. I placed a light behind Tony to provide a rim light and separation while my son held the key light in front of him. Tony let slip he was a Star Wars fan (which of course is cool) so while he and my son were discussing Star Wars I grabbed a few candid pictures of him. In the end the magazine didn’t even use them so go figure.

I normally shoot a lot of urban locations, but recently I had been looking at a photographers work out of Germany who had done some amazing work in a forrest. Now the forrest he used was manicured and pristine looking. I didn’t have that. All the woods near me are overgrown with underbrush which makes them havens for snakes, insects, and to make matters worse create way to busy of backgrounds for photos. But I was inspired so I drove out to a local park that I knew had some “forrest like” areas near a lake.

The goal was dark and moody. The sun was cooperating until I got set up to shoot. Then like magic every cloud vanished. Figures, but nothing to be done about it, just going to have to make it work. So with the clouds moving on to help some other photographer (cause I am exactly sure that’s what they were doing), I had to come up with another plan to get to my goal. So, Mr. Sun let me introduce you to my little friends neutral destiny filters. I carry three of these wonderful toys in my camera bag; a -2 stops, -4 stops, and a whopping -9 stops.

For the shots at the top I chose the -9 ND filter. This reduces all light by nine stops. So I could easily set my shutter speed fast enough to darken the ambient without going over my sync speed. The problem was it also reduced the light coming from my strobe. To beat this I set up on a tripod and placed the light almost touching my subject at full power. I took a few frames with the strobe and its attached softbox in frame. Then I moved the softbox and my model out of the frame and took a picture of just the scene at the same settings. This gave me the easy task of removing what I didn’t want later with a layer mask.

Moving on from that I decided to experiment with some movement having the model spin during a slow shutter speed and using a flash to freeze her. I quickly discovered you can only ask a model to spin so many times, so we moved on to some other ideas. In the back of my truck I had placed a bag of scraps of cloth, one of which was a black sheer fabric with a highly reflective sheen to it. Cutting off a corner I wrapped this around my lens along with a -4 ND filter. I then cut a diagonal hole in the cloth giving me a vignette effect. Placing my model in some shade the sun at my back I surrounded her with three lights, two rim lights and one key with softbox.

As we begin shooting I came across a happy accident, the reflective quality of the sheer cloth covering my lens started causing some strange and totally unpredictable lens flare. My model moved about with semi translucent green fabric while I shot low so as to allow the sky to be in my background. Within a few hours we has shot several hundred photos most of which were with the cloth over the lens (I was becoming addicted). 

This series was strictly for the fun of it. Getting out to shoot just for the sake of it is one of my favorite things. I love the fact that during these times I can find my happy accidents that  will give me the unexpected results. Its the creative food that builds me up for clients that I will be working with later.

I did some experimentation a few weeks ago. It was a day that things just went wrong:

First my son, who often times is my assistant, fell into freezing cold the creek (but managed to keep the light he was holding out of the water).

It was way too windy and for my son way too cold.

Triggers which normally work perfectly would not work.

I had accidentally picked up the wrong light stand when packing and taken the one with a broken lock. This meant the light that was supposed to give me a rim light on my model was usually pointing the wrong direction, thanks to the priorly mentioned wind.

It smelled bad. This patch of woods is near a water treatment plant.

It was a bad day in the field, but as my mentor says, "A bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office." 

My model was doing her part, my son had done more than he’s fair share, but I couldn’t find my Mojo. It happens. Some days you just can’t get it to come together no matter how hard you try. The funny part. Everyone else has loved the pictures. They think they are great. I mean their not horrible but I didn’t get it the way I saw it. No one’s fault but my own. Suck it up, move on, and know that tomorrow will be a new opportunity.

A philosophy that works in life and photography.

There is nothing like early morning light. That light just as the sun crest the horizon is my favorite light of the day. The downside is that its the early part of the morning. Getting up before the sunrises is never much fun but the light is worth every bit of the extra effort.

For this particular morning I was combining my favorite things old derelict buildings and people. Give me those two elements and I’m in my true element. My home town has a treasure trove of such buildings in the downtown area. During this shoot I managed to find my way into a area I had never been before. The sun was coming up behind my model coming over the roof tops which gave me great rim light.

For my lighting I used a strobe with a portable power pack and a medium size softbox. Additional light came from a hot shoe flash fired by wireless remote. We shot for about an hour and never walked more than a few yards from one location to another.

I’ve set a personal goal to shoot an average of once each week this year. Not just to create a new portfolio but to keep my personal vision focused. I just hope I can sleep in at least a few days.

Let’s face it. Photography has lost a lot of it’s value. The days of “I don’t know how they did that” are gone. Today even if you don’t know exactly how you know the basics. “They put it in Photoshop. You can do anything in Photoshop.” Today anyone and smilingly everyone is a photographer. Cameras are affordable and everywhere. You probably have one either in your pocket or laying near you right now.

Snap it, Photoshop it, Instragram filter, slap it on Facebook and Flickr. Check back and see how many likes you got. How many “Wow! Your an awesome photographer” comments and gets some self validation. Buy a entry level camera, print some business cards and whamo! Your a photographer! Don’t believe me? Visit any photo sharing site and see for yourself. I did. I am a lover of fine art figures in photography and artwork (paintings, drawings, etc..). I love the human form in art. I love seeing it, I love creating it. To me the human form is the most exciting sculpture ever made. After all as the saying goes “God made it and He don’t make no junk.” Now its been a very long time since I did any fine art figure work. So I decided I would go online and see what others were doing.

Here is what I found. Fine art figure photos are rare and far between. Now there is lots of naked people. Tons of them in fact. There is more pictures of boobs on the internet than their is people alive or dead since the dawn of time (I have no stats to prove that statement, just consider it for dramatic effect). The sad part is all the pictures look the same. Nude women outweigh nude men by an enormous amount which is not a big surprise. Most of these are not what I personally would define as fine art figure work but rather as glamour, provocative, or fashion nudes. Now I understand that “art is in the eye of the beholder,” I also understand that there is “art” even in a glamour photo. My problem isn’t what style of photo, but the repetition of photos.

Image after image was the same thing. Pretty girl next to window in bra/panties, lingerie, topless, or fully nude looking at camera with seductive yet amazingly innocent eyes. (Please read previous sentence with a touch of sarcasm). Another is hot chick with oil and water on her skin to give that “wet look” tearing off her tank top. Need a little variety well lets throw in two girls for twice the fun. Repetitive. Now many were technically correct. Some of them from a photographer’s point of view were nice photos. What they were not was anything different. Key light with a fill light one stop below. (If your not a photographer forgive the photo jargon, key light is the main light while fill keeps the shadows from going too dark). And you know what? Its not just in nude photography, its in all of it. I’ve looked at commercial, fashion, portrait, and wedding photographers. All of them doing the same thing. Running the same post processing, using the same filters, same lighting, same everything. Why? Because many of us have learned by copying. Nothing wrong with it until that is all that is produced, a bunch of copies. You want to know the worst part? The part that really got me? I’ve been guilty of it. I’ve done the same exact thing. Seen a picture and thought, “I want to do that.” Then went out and copied it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

We’ve been stupid. We took the easy route rather than push ourselves in any direction. Let’s face a simple truth right up front. Unless you have the funds to buy a camera that no one else in the world has, there is going to be some repetition. I’m not arrogant enough to think I can come up with something that another talented photographer can’t come up with. It is said best in  Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” What I am saying is for me I want to be inspired, but I don’t want to copy. 

I recently read a few books on photography. One was more of why take a picture the other was on lighting. Both inspired me. Both slapped me out of dull-drum of this is how to take a picture. After reading them I made a promises to myself and set a goal to accomplish it. I’m reshooting everything. My entire portfolio. I’m pushing myself in 2013 to do more than my status-quo. Am I going to create something that no one has ever seen before? Probably not, but I am going to try. Les Brown says, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss at least you will be among the stars.” These last two years I’ve skated by. I did good work. Quality work. I just didn’t push myself. I played it safe. Do what the client wants and that is enough. Well not anymore.

This year I’m aiming for the moon. I don’t want to be another in a long line of acceptable photographers. I’m getting out of my comfort zones. Exposing myself to criticism not empty praise. I want to screw up and totally blow it while learning something along the way. I want to photograph somethings I normally wouldn’t photograph, in ways I haven’t photographed before. I’m going to do some new editorial work like what I shot with Eric here on a blistering cold morning. I’m going to return to my roots and shoot some new fine art figure photography that will push my imagination. I’m even going to work a few weddings this year and light them like I would a commercial shoot. To keep me humble and focused I’m going to enter contest against people who are better than me just so I can have a new one tore into me. Then I’m going to take that experience and grow from it. I’m going to impress art directors and commercial clients not with just photos that meet the need, but passion that pushes their idea in a direction they hadn’t considered. I’m getting back to being an artist and stop chasing popularity and money.

Inside of me and inside of you is greatness. We are not meant for mediocrity, we are not meant to be part of the faceless masses producing carbon copies of ourselves and our talents. We are meant to shine to push ourselves to places that no one thought we could reach. Its time to get out of mass swirling gutters of commonality and shoot for the  moon. Its time to be what we are meant to be as people, artist, fathers, mothers, students, employers, teachers. Its time to excel at whatever it is you do. This is my year. Make it yours as well.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light sine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson