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03/30/2006 01:44:19 PM · #1 |
...a little background...
a couple weeks ago, i shot a public forum hosted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch (my assignment was to shoot headshots of all the speakers). one of the speakers was the president and publisher of Virginia Business Magazine (which is also owned by the RTD's parent company, Media General). i have been a subscriber for years, and knowing that most of the contributor credits belonged to writers and photographers for the RTD, i never thought there was a chance for me to get in the door there.
anyways, i decided to strike up a conversation with the gentleman, and he basically informed me that my perception was wrong, and that they were looking for freelancers, and that i should come in and have a chat with them.
so, this past monday, i called the editor who penciled me in for an interview on tuesday. i went down tuesday with a stack of my RTD tearsheets, as well as some of my best weekly tearsheets (including the "bubble" shot). we hit it off, and he told me he would keep me in mind. i told him all i wanted was an opportunity...
no sooner had i said that, we were "interrupted" by the managing editor who had a predicament. a writer had scheduled to go out on a story and needed a photographer...THAT NIGHT! they were wondering where they could find someone on such short notice...
and they asked me if i would be interested.
how sweet is that?!
the assignment
there's a woman here in richmond who dropped out of corporate life and put herself through culinary school. after working around the food business, she decided to open her own kitchen and offer cooking classes. one of the programs she has put together is a corporate team-building excercise; people come in and work together, cooking a gourmet meal. they share in the food prep and the cooking, then sit down to eat while she serves them.
my assignment was to shoot the cooking part of the excercise. what i would have given to have stayed for dinner. oh well, at least i got a great idea as to what i'm going to surprise my wife with for her birthday.
something out of the ordinary
typical newspaper assignments are shot as is, where is. you might use a flash, you might not. it just depends. sometimes you have assignments that require carrying out a complete lighting setup (since i don't have lights, i haven't done any of those--yet). on the other hand, for feature magazines (unlike editorial magazines), those shoots are typically planned out with lighting kept very much under control. this was not the case. i had an hour to get in and get my shots. there wasn't time to scope it out or anything. basically, all i could do was show up and shoot.
almost like shooting a wedding...not much chance for do-overs. somehow, though, i've come to love this type of stress. it was a blast, and even though i haven't gotten feedback, yet, i'm really happy with the way the shoot turned out.
see the slideshow
cheers,
skip
Message edited by author 2006-03-30 13:46:43. |
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03/30/2006 01:46:58 PM · #2 |
Haha! I do have dreams about food shoots, but they tend to be nightmares. That was a part of our business I got out of for stress reasons. Nice work, as always, Skip!
Robt.
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03/30/2006 01:50:09 PM · #3 |
The photos came out great!
Congrats to you, and good luck!
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03/30/2006 01:58:03 PM · #4 |
| Very nice work Skip! Shame you didn't get a chance to eat some of that yummy looking food! |
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03/30/2006 02:02:22 PM · #5 |
| Great shots. I noticed hardly anyone is smiling. So much for the joy of cooking! |
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03/30/2006 02:06:45 PM · #6 |
knock knock...
skiprow..."whose there?"
"opportunity"
skiprow..."I'll take two please!"
Dude that totally rocks and so do the pictures. What a wonderful opportunity and timing. This should also be a motivator to all those that have trouble going up and talking to strangers, just think if you hadn't taken that chance.
Good job and congratulations.
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03/30/2006 02:12:16 PM · #7 |
| Well done Skip. Congratulations - It is offen about seizing opportunities when they appear. Glad it's worked out so well. |
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03/30/2006 02:24:05 PM · #8 |
| Great work as usual Skip. That 10-22mm worked nicely for you there. What shutter/iso settings were you using? That looked like tricky lighting, but you handled it very well. |
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03/30/2006 02:33:38 PM · #9 |
You're on fire. What a streak of great luck... can you pass some this way? Congratulations too!
edit to add - of course your obvious talent has something to do with this too :)
Message edited by author 2006-03-30 14:34:45. |
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03/30/2006 02:37:01 PM · #10 |
The shots look great, Skip. Looks like you got lucky with lighting there - nice & bright. Great work.
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03/30/2006 03:19:45 PM · #11 |
| Skip you never cease to amaze! The shots look great; I especially like the ones from overhead. And although I didn't post in the other thread, big WAY TO GO on your recents award! All the best, Ray |
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03/30/2006 10:44:08 PM · #12 |
thanks, ya'll! boy, that comment about the smiles--what an eye-opener, that! thanks! i'm going to have to dig back in and take another look to see what i have that stands out with smiles!
i shot most of these at iso800, with some at iso1600. tried using the flash, but even with the lightsphere, i wasn't to psyched about the way they were turning out (a little too snap-shotty). i was also shooting in av mode, sometimes going down to f/2.8, but trying to keep it up around f/5.6 and f/6.3.
yes, the 10-22 was put to use, but i also made use of the 24-70 and the 16-35. the 70-200, for once, was absolutely useless for the assignment (i did use it some, and got a few nice candids, but not really anything that would have added to the story.). it really would have been nice to have had an extra body.
my only real concern is the distortion that comes with the 10-22 when used in close quarters like this. i haven't quite decided how i feel about it, yet.
thanks again!
skip
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03/30/2006 10:48:57 PM · #13 |
Wow, that's awesome man! Congrats :-)
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03/30/2006 11:15:36 PM · #14 |
Congrats Skip. Looks like you may be doing more work for them....awesome!!
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03/30/2006 11:26:00 PM · #15 |
| That is just awesome and couldn't happen to a nicer guy! It's fun to hear about you getting paid to do something you really enjoy. Congratulations! |
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03/31/2006 12:40:34 AM · #16 |
Skip, good friend, your empathy comes out in your photographs and your photographs shine because of that.
You can only rise in your field because of your relationship with your subjects - and oh, yes - because of your talent for seeing. |
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