Inspirational fashion photographer Giuliano Bekor video.
Please enjoy, never stop shooting,
The Caterpillar
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I found this nice little video on fashion and beauty lighting techniques. He really doesn’t go into a lot of detail but he gives us some good ideas. Enjoy and Never Stop Shooting, The Caterpillar
A look into a Magazine Photo Production. Please enjoy. Never Stop Shooting, The Caterpillar
So here we are, 2K10, as some have come to call it (not sure why but they are) is upon us and as always I start to reflect on the past year. This year has been a bed of roses, with plenty of thorns. True I have a number of things in the works including a television show and a number of shoots with various models and all that ground work has all been done in the past months but I am prone to put this last year behind me due to the challenges it has brought me. I lost my job to start with and twisted my back and had a misunderstanding of some type with a potentially great customer that wouldn’t talk to me about it. As life happens we need to remember that no matter how hard it is, we need to try to see the positive side of our situations. This may seem impossible at times as we can be dealt some serious blows but as long as we breath we have things to be thankful for. I have been trying to remember this lately as we enter into a new decade. The job market is slim, jobs (photoshoots) are scarce and since I fell on the ice a couple of weeks ago I am spending a lot of time on my couch and can’t get out to go find the photo jobs that are out there. Of course my circumstances aren’t really that extreme, after all, I’m getting better (I think I’ll go for a walk now) and I still have my family and friends. I also, for the most part, still have my health and there are a couple of projects in the works that have great potential to put bread, with butter, on the table. Of course as I sit here watching daytime television I begin to let doubt creep into my brain at which time I try to think about those family and friends again. They have been constantly sending me well wishes as well as the preverbal ”as soon as you are better we’re going to do …”, I love my friends. My friends remind me that I really don’t have so bad. In fact, I’ve got it pretty easy. So with them and my family I’m going to go into this new decade with a new conviction and know that all things will work out and I am loved and cared for and as the Rolling Stones once put it “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you can get what you need.” and I invite all of you to join me in this new year to find the positive in life and revel in it. I know this entry is a little late and a little short but I’m off to plan for the coming week. Happy New Year and remember, Never stop shooting, The Caterpillar Sorry guys. Due to laws in the US my web host advises me that this set of pictures should be kept behind closed doors. You can easily register to the left though to see them. Feel free, it doesn’t cost a thing. Ashley Sometimes it happens that a reader will contribute something that goes beyond the standard thank you. On occasion the people that read my meandering babblings gift me with their own thoughts that spur me to create a dissertation that I was not prone to before that moment. In other words the sharing of thoughts is very advantageous to the creative process. With that in mind, thank you Christine, this is all your doing. Yesterday I posted an article on the smile as a photographic tool. One of my friends and readers sent me an article she wrote awhile back that among other things said “The smile. It’s a universal sign of good will and friendship, yet so few people use it.” and that made me think, does art imitate life or is it the other way around? What came first, the chicken or the egg? We as artists and photographers take our inspirations from the life around us. In many cases in fact photographers actually use their surroundings for their creations. So then are we as society influenced by the imagery we see in advertising, news and television, or on the other hand do we as photographers look to life around us and recreate what we see? It is often said that beauty is determined by Paris and New York within the fashion industry. While few would argue that this industry does have an influence over our views on this subject we have to ask ourselves “where do the creative minds in the fashion industry get their inspiration”? I would tend to believe that they get their inspiration from the same place that any creative mind does, the world around them. If you were surrounded by what is clinically considered “perfect people” every day, what would your inspiration be? Of course then you might ask yourself where did these people that tell us what beauty is “supposed too be” get their clues? If your a fan of documentary television you may have seen shows that will tell you that beauty cues come from traits pasted down through the gene pool. So then where do designers get the idea that androgynous anorexics are sexy? The recent trend in the “beauty” industry towards larger sized models (Paris is contemplating regulating the size of models allowed on the catwalks) and the use of celebrities to advertise there fashions is very interesting especially with the not so resent direction towards obesity of our population. We are even seeing trends towards specialized advertising towards the baby boomers and larger body types. So again, which came first? It is interesting to ponder the chicken or the egg but I fear that this philosophical banter will only ever be just that, banter. I do hope that I have given you reason to think the next time you hit that shutter. What inspires you? What gives you your creative voice? These are things you should always aware of and constantly considering. If I’ve influenced your creative process just a little then I’m happy. Remember, never stop shooting, The Caterpillar
I found this and thought you all might think it pretty useful… Never stop shooting, The Caterpillar
As a photographic tool the smile can quickly become tedious or at the very best monotonous. The fact is the models we employ to help us create our visual meanderings can rarely create a true smile that doesn’t immediately appear contrived, in fact, I can’t recall a single model that was capable of this feat without some ludicrous antics on my part. I feel that this is at least in part due to the fact that in general we don’t smile as a rule. If you think about it ,most of us don’t walk around with a silly grin on our face all day long. (There are exceptions to that rule of course, but we would generally wonder what was up with those folks) If we take this as fact then why would we wish to create imagery depicting a generally unnatural state? The human face is so expressive and molds itself to the current emotional state it finds itself in and a smile and all it’s variants are only a small portion of the masks we don in the occasions of our lives.
So why is it then, you may wonder, that we seem to be able to contrive other emotional values with relative ease? It is one possibility that happiness is generally perceived as a smile on one’s face while other emotional states are actually more accurately created by the body in concert with facial expressions that or more vague. Slumped shoulders and back, a down turned head, and eyes to the floor with straight lips could be seen as despair or sadness but then these have much more complex set of variables than what we readily view as happiness. In fact I would challenge you that happiness is more than just a mere grin I feel that it is our duty as artists and photographers to create visceral representations of life, even if over exaggerated by being empathetic to humanity and a smile is too quick a solution. We have such a rich treasury to draw upon to limit ourselves to one emotion that is so easily imitated, albeit rarely well. We need to continuously stretch and flex our skills the same as any artisan or athlete would to continue to grow and better our craft. Next time you want to engender joy, look at a joyful subject and examine that visage. What are it’s parts? What makes it what it is? You might find that there is more than a mere smile there.
Never Stop Shooting, Yesterdays video feed was pretty heavy so I thought today we would lighten it up with something inspirational. I found a video covering Lady Gaga’s January cover shoot for Elle shot by Tom Munro. Always Remember, never stop shooting, The Caterpillar.
We as photographers often take the talent in front of our lens for granted but every once in awhile we find a talent that we recognize as a leader in their field. Kumi is one of these souls and even though I have never had the opportunity to work with her I have followed her work for quite awhile now and hopefully one day I will have the opportunity to have her in front of my lens. As you look at these images I think you will agree that she can add something so special to an image that her skill qualifies as an art form in and of itself. Please enjoy and have a great day.
Always remember, never stop shooting,
The Caterpillar.
 GillesB Diable
 Henna'd
 Skyview
 club ed
 robo wind |
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