The DecisiveDesign Blog

I know it’s been a while, again… and honestly, while I haven’t been doing a bunch of shooting, I have several things I need to post up – I just haven’t had time while finishing up my degree this summer.

But! I finished this last week and have a few pictures to share of Jess, a great model I met through ModelMayhem. I setup my new black/white backdrop & stand in the garage, borrowed a lighting kit from the school, and we shot for most of a Saturday.

The pics in the gallery below are a sampling, and I think we turned out some cool stuff! I definitely liked the black background and got to spend some time with constant lighting, which is good. My paintball gun and vest, along with my Springfield XD-9 made very cool props! We did some artistic nudes, as well, which I’ve decided should stay on my ModelMayhem profile. They turned out well, and portfolio-worthy, I think, so I’ll chalk that up as another first and a success!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

 

Ok guys! I know it’s been a little slow lately, but I took a week off for the US MotoGP Races (pics coming soon!) at the Mazda Raceway – Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA, and am now recharged and back in Texas to get rolling again.

These pics have been a long time coming, but I really like how they turned out. If you recall the DFW Supras Dragstrip Event that I posted some pictures about a while back, these pics are from the Dyno Day at MVP Motorsports.

Unfortunately the weather was terrible, and we ended up getting rained on all day. Mel, the owner’s girlfriend, and Yoshi, stopping by on her way to Dallas from Oklahoma, graced us with their beauty for a few shots when the weather wasn’t being ridiculous and we were able to get some pretty good shots.

The black Supra is Mel’s, and I’m not 100% finished adding the MVP logo, etc to the car, but I thought the images were ready for the blog and I really need to update, so enjoy!

Also, please forgive the sort order, for some reason it’s not saving my changes!

 

I wasn’t 100% sure what to think when I received an e-mail from Xoe saying that she liked my work and wanted me to photograph her while she was seven months pregnant. Luckily we were having some fantastic weather that week and Halford Park, the same place I photographed Melissa, hosted us perfectly.

I enjoyed the shoot, Xoe was great, and it wasn’t weird at all. I actually had fun capturing the natural beauty of the pregnant form and think we got some really great shots.

Check them out and let me know what you think.

 

It’s been tough to organize shoots as of late, with school, work, and some freelance stuff breathing down my neck, but I did manage to get out and accomplish one of the shoots i’ve been wanting to do since I stumbled across the location a few months ago.  If you recall, I found this beautiful old car pretty deep in a local park. It struck me, and from that moment I wanted to do do a shoot with a classy model in that unconventional environment.

I was fortunate enough to work with a great model. Melissa was communicative, punctual, fun to be around, and of course beautiful. We also brought out a new friend of mine, and makeup artist, Alison, to add a little extra beautification, which turned out fantastic. Alison’s husband, John, helped me out with the reflector since Mr. Hawes couldn’t make it out, so it was practically a full on production!

As you’ll see in the gallery below, the place has grown up quite a bit, so we actually had a hard time finding it again.  That was fine by me, however, because we didn’t have to worry about anyone bothering us! It was a very fun shoot; hopefully we can get together with everyone in the future and do something else – something even crazier!

 

• Yeah – you’re going to need that reflector… the big one… and pray for sunlight through those trees.
• Also… if you haven’t visited the location in a month or so… its probably grown up a bit, especially if the seasons have changed!
• You know better than this, but add at least 3 different outfits if shooting in similar locations to diversify the shoot – otherwise you’ve got a lot of images with the same clothing and you don’t really want to use more than a couple in a portfolio or profile, unfortunately

I recently met a fellow photographer that seems to have taken the same path that I am currently following.  I really enjoy her work, and hope to become as successful as she has.  She was awesome enough to grant me an interview, so here we go!

Emily Rusk of DigitalPixels.org

Photographer: Emily Rusk - DigitalPixels.org

Q. You seem to have followed the same path that I am currently on. Tell me a little more about your beginnings in photography. Why, when, where, etc. How long have you been into it?

A. ” I found photography completely by accident. I think that’s what makes it so special for me – it wasn’t planned, it just happened. My dad always had a camera around, film and digital. He mostly liked landscapes, nature, wildflowers, macro photography. We went to visit Fredericksburg one Spring Break in 2003, and he lent me one of his Nikon point & shoots. I took some pics, not thinking anything would come of it, just for the heck of it. Turned out I was halfway decent, and after that, I got my own little point & shoot, and just started shooting anything and everything.

Why do I do this? Photography is an art form, as many things are. I was never good at painting or drawing… but I like to see the beauty in this world. There’s beauty in many things, whether its a beaten up old car or a pretty model. Many people don’t stop and look at the beauty all around us – but being able to capture that with a lens, makes it worth it. With a camera, I’m able to make an art form, one that is beautiful to me. “

Photographer: Emily Rusk - DigitalPixels.org

Q. What were some of the challenges you faced when you decided to pursue it to a more professional level?

A. “ There are many, many challenges. Photography is incredibly hard to make money out of sometimes. The kind of photography that pays isn’t the kind that lets you be creative. I could probably go out there and make money if I wanted to, if I wanted to do weddings and that sort. But I don’t feel like you can be creative in wedding photography. You have a set list of shots that have to be done, and there isn’t much time to be creative. And the basis of most of my photography is the drive to be creative, whether its an idea in my head before a shoot is even planned or in post-production.

Another struggle is having to spend much more than I take in. Equipment is not cheap. And in model photography, the expenses just gets larger and larger. Makeup artists, hairstylist, wardrobe stylists. After that, there’s not much left for a photographer! It’s also quite hard to go from doing shoots for free to get experience to being a paid, experienced photographer. “

Q. What was your first paying gig and what type of experience was it for you?

A. ” I unfortunately haven’t had that many paid gigs. I have had some referrals that turned out to be paid. One was an actor headshot, which resulted in me possibly venturing out that opportunity for future paying opportunities. The session was only half an hour, and I got some good headshots, as well as some cash. “

Q. Do you usually seek out subjects/gigs, or do they find you? What is your process?

A. ” Both. At first, it was all about finding things myself. Every learning opportunity in photography I have found myself, such as workshops. My process is manic networking, which can be time-consuming. It’s browsing many model websites to find possible ideas, and in the beginning, models that are starting out. As I get more experience, so do the subjects that I photograph, and the ideas. I am starting to get inquiries from people that find me – once your work gets to a certain level, the work does speak for itself. “

Photographer: Emily Rusk - DigitalPixels.org

Q. What is your standard load out on a normal shoot? What equipment is on your dream list right now?

A. “ Less is more, and I don’t really like lugging around a bunch of equipment. For a typical, outdoor portrait shoot, I will bring the following: camera & accessories, sometimes I will bring 2 lenses, but rarely do I use both. I always have some kind of reflector with me. I have a large 5-in-1 circular reflector that I have, as well as a smaller one. I also have a very large lite panel, that can be used as a large diffuser or reflector, and is great for full body shots. I also have a tripod around, but I rarely use it.

Equipment on my dream list would be a studio with studio lighting. I would love some backdrops, a ringlight, and 1 or 2 Alien Bee 800’s, with some softboxes. I also am eyeing the 100 mm f/2.8 Macro lens right now, for when I want to do some serious macro work. “

Q. What processes or techniques do think you need or want to perfect or work on?

A. ” Lighting. I understand it better than I used to, but lighting is still hard to grasp. Mostly studio lighting is what is hardest to learn. Outdoor lighting I can handle, but studio lighting makes me head throb at times. I want to really for once actually understand it all, instead of just somewhat grasp it. “

Q. Have you considered going full time with photography? What holds you back or pushes you forward? Will it ever happen? What is your end-all be-all goal?

Photographer: Emily Rusk - DigitalPixels.org

A. “Of course. I haven’t, simply because photography can be an instable income, and I like a stable paycheck. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, that’s okay too. Above all, I do this for me. Not for money, or fame, or anything like that. It’s my creative outlet. Sure, if I got paid for it, that would be awesome. But realistically, that may or may not happen, so I like to have a backup plan.

I would love to have my own studio one day, or even teach photography. I would love to be a photographer for a major modeling agency, such as Kim Dawson or Campbell here in Dallas. “

Thanks Emily!

Note: All images in this post are property of Emily Rusk and have been posted with her permission.

Well, I did my first paid shoot this past Thursday!

Those of you reading this that are around me daily are likely tired of hearing about it… but hey, its exciting. It wasn’t anything huge, only a few portraits for the Office of Environmental Health and Safety at UT Dallas, but it’s a foot in the door, and it was, as always, a learning experience.

After receiving an anonymous tip from an old friend, I recently contacted the Office of Communications at UTD and inquired whether they were utilizing a photographer to chronicle all of the new campus improvement projects that are under way.  They contacted me shortly thereafter, I met with Lauraine O’Neil, the Marketing Director, and we discussed working for the university on a freelance/intern basis.  This portrait assignment was presented to me about two weeks after our first meeting.

Utilizing the conference room in the Office of Communications, which is clad with extremely reflective whiteboard walls on three sides and open windows on the other, proved to be a challenge for the university’s strobe lights and my limited knowledge of studio and strobe lighting.  Having that much reflection in a white room doesn’t lend itself to easy, clean, continuous lighting.

The backdrop I used was a 5′x6′ fold-out “cloudy day” muslin that the department owns, which turned out to work pretty well.  I lit the “scene” with two 160W strobes, bouncing one off of a white umbrella and the other off a silver umbrella and through my 42″ Quantaray 5-in-1 reflector’s diffuser.  That’s what they had, so I made it work, even though it wasn’t ideal.  Unfortunately I had to use the on-camera flash to trigger the external strobes because there wasn’t compatible sync cable with the equipment… going to have to pick one of those up – it noticeably hurt the image, causing a hard shadow behind the subjects’ heads.

I went in Tuesday morning to do some test shots and check out the setup, then again on Thursday morning to get it ready for the actual shoot.  My day consisted of two midterms, with the portraits being taken between them… luckily I am pretty good at wingin’ it, and everything, including the midterms, went well. I actually only spent about an hour taking pictures; I was amazed how quick the subjects wanted to get out of there… it’s like they had work to do or something.

UTD doesn’t exactly want me posting any of the images, and they aren’t particularly interesting, but editing them did give me some more experience with retouching skin tones, removing wrinkles, etc. Overall, it was another great experience, even though I don’t want to become stuck in the realm of portrait photography.

Since I can’t show you the portraits, here’s a picture of my awesome pit bull, Harely… enjoy.

• If you don’t know the equipment, always find time to play with it before a shoot (A+ to me for doing so!)
• If you want people to sit down for portraits, you’re likely going to have to force them to do so…
• On camera flash really hurts a multi-strobe setup by causing a hard shadow around the subject’s head – I would recommend purchasing a sync/trigger cable or wireless system if you will be using random equipment often
• Editing portraits can take longer than expected, especially if you’re a perfectionist that can’t stand to leave something untouched
• Jumping into something, and “shooting for broke” does pay off… maybe not every time, but how are you going to know unless you try!