Several years later, my good friend Howard and Ronda and I experimented with light painting with our digital cameras in my old downtown photography studio near Lachine Canal Montreal. We used flash lights and created portraits of each other.
I have always wanted to push the technical and artistic envelope when it came to do things beyond a snap shot, beyond what just comes out of a camera.
I have always said that styling your images sets apart a visionary photographer from a photo snapper.
But that alone it isn't enough in the industry today.
Few weeks ago I photographed this barn on the way to Toronto. Bright day light. Hand held shot. Nothing extraordinary. Here is the unedited version as it came out of the flash card. The RAW file size is reduced.
Karima and her daughter Mimi were in my studio as my clients 7 years ago. We did a mother and daughter photo session. Since then we have kept in touch. Karima is an art lover.
Last Monday, Mimi and Karima were in my West Island photo studio. 7 years later they were as beautiful as they were back then.
The entire session although happened in studio in front of a backdrop, the final images were going to be digitally transported to other locations.
I could have very easily transport the Lady In Red to the day light shot of the barn. It had to be much more different. I wanted the drama.
Everything was re-created in Photoshop. And it did take me less then 20 minutes. Much like in the old era darkroom, I burnt selectively to create the night shot.
Voila... Lady In Red Under The Moon Light...
In real life, no luxury glamour portrait client would pay you and stand at night in the middle of a field, infested with bugs, just to get photographed.
Yes models would do it for a portfolio shot. Fashion magazine editorial art directors would do it, because they have the budget to hire the models, photographers and teams to make their vision possible.
But why slave around photography? The only thing you need is to have the artistic vision and the technical know how to create the same vision in Photoshop.
Convenience versus inconvenience... Convenience would always win.
