The other day I was reading an article in Rangefinder Magazine and it spoke of the beauty of Italy’s Lake Country. It reminded me of the time my wife and I spent there on our honeymoon, which seems a lifetime ago.  We enjoyed our time in Italy but like the article spoke of we were taken with the great beauty of Lake Como.Believe it or not the town we stayed in was Bellagio…yes like the hotel in Las Vegas but I think this was probably the original.  =) 

 

 Bellagio, Italy

 

 

 

 

This all made me dig back in my pictures and truly made me realize how long ago that was especially in my photography life.  As I may have mentioned previously I havealways been an artistic type person so through the years I had taken pictures with my old cheapo cameras but all I hoped to capture were things around me and my life.  When looking at my old pictures I completely realized how very limited my knowledge of photography really wasback then.  I did not know how to properly use my camera and I had almost no knowledge of how to see and best uselight.  On top of that I was using myfirst digital camera, an old Nikon Coolpix 950, it shot whopping 2 MPimages. 

 

 

 

Could my pictures have been better if I had a better camera?  Yes, in one respect but what truly would have made my imagery better back then was if I actually knew what Iwas doing.  I would like to think that I had a bit of an artistic eye but I believe many people may have a vision but totruly become a photographer one must also learn and expand their knowledge sothey can achieve and create that vision. Honestly as I took my pictures back then, what I saw was not what I ended up capturing.  Today I know so much more, like I said it has been a lifetime.  I hope to one day have a chance to go back to Italy as it was there with my little Nikon Coolpix that I believe was the birth of the desire that would one day lead me to where I am now and hope to go.  I think maybe next time I go my images will look more like what I envision.

 

Here are a few more shots from our adventure in Italy; it was so remarkable there not even I could mess up all the pictures. 

 

 Santa Margherita, Italy

 

 

 

 

Portofino, Italy

 

 

 

Cinque Terra, Italy

 

 

Florence, Italy

 

 

Venice, Italy  

 

I have been so busy with stuff that I have not had a chance to post much but I will try and make more of an effort to do so.  Recently I did a shoot with one of my talented stylist friends.  I met Diana when we were both working on a wedding and then later on realized that we had some other friends in common.  But we both thought we would love to collaborate on something together so we put a little shoot together.

 

Well as we were shooting we realized that one of our models had some nice ink work on her back.  We decided that it would be nice if we got a shot of it but of course it begged the question…What to do?  I could have shot just a standard little shot of her artwork but where would the fun in that be.  So instead we embarked on the task of trying to create something with some romance and mystery to it.  Diana’s bed made for a nice start and withour lovely model in place things were off to a good start but really the light in the room was not right for the shot. 

 

 

Here is a shot snapped of us setting up, it lets you see what the room looks like.

 

People often ask why it is important to know how to use lighting.  This is one of those instances.  Sure I could have shot something with natural light but it would not have had nearly the same feel or impact.  And really we could not just sit around until the effect we wanted magically appeared.  So I started by seeing that there were some louvers on the windows so I could make use of those to give the scene atropical look like light coming in through plantation shutters.  That ended up being my main light but it left some dark spots and holes it the image. So I continued to build the image and by the time it was all done there were four flashes used to create this image. 

 

Also of interest to some might be that I used a set of Scott Robert Tiny Triggers to shoot this image. I have been testing them next to my Pocket Wizards.  The SR Triggers all worked perfectly, including the one outside the building, and they were very easy to use as all that you have to do is slide a receiver on the hotshoe of each flash and then the trigger on the hotshoe of the camera. It of course takes time to build an image like this but the use of the SR Triggers makes it a much faster process than using my beloved Pocket Wizard Plus IIs since I don’t have to deal with plugging in the cables on the flashes.  Overall I have been very satisfied with the performance of the SR Triggers.

 

 Here is the final image produced.

 

In summary, my point to all this is that often while shooting opportunities present themselves, therefore, we (photographers) should arm ourselves with knowledge and equipment that allow us to develop and capture the images we and our clients imagine. Sure we all have our preferences for doing things but really being versatile can only make us better.  Andas a client wouldn’t you want someone that can bring your vision alive and hopefully even exceed your expectations?