Is That Photoshop?

"Is That Photoshop?" seems to be the question as photographers we get very often these days. The other comment we hear as a question is "You must have a really good camera?". Both are interesting comments based on the commonality of digital photography. And of course it discounts the actual consequence of actually being capable of and having the vision to take a good photograph.


"Is That Photoshop?" Well the answer for almost every photograph taken in the last few years is YES! Whether shooting film or digital almost every photo ends up on a computer where the Photoshop program is used to process it for one reason or another. This is not unlike what was done in a darkroom. Film was pushed, cross processed, prints were burned and dodged, even hand colored. It is and was all part of the creative process and shooting a photograph. When I shoot certain photos, I take into consideration how I am going to want it to look, how I will light it, expose it and then what I will be doing in final editing to finish the photograph as I imagine it.

"You must have a really good camera?" Yes I do, a few and I rent even better ones when I need them. But what is better? It is the camera you use for the purpose for which you are shooting? The very capable and creative photographer, Helmut Newton, said (to paraphrase)... "It is the same camera that any amateur would use, it is all up here" (pointing to his head while he said that).

So is it Photoshop or is it a really good camera? Makes no difference, it is the photographer that makes the difference.

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Bodybuilding and Family!

We often think of professional bodybuilders as just those big guys on stage. But in actuality they are just people too with hopes, aspirations, businesses, jobs and families. And that is the story of Moe Moussawi, one of the top professional bodybuilders in the world. I had the chance to shoot with Moe and his family for New Zealand Fitness Magazine. I usually don’t do much in the way of families or kids but this was great fun!



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What Do I Do?

I am very often asked by clients what can I do to make my photos different, better, more interesting for them. As you can see I do a lot of work in the bodybuilding and fitness business and shooting bicep curls and such can get routine looking across the dozen or so magazines on the shelves. Sometimes it takes a little courage to go outside the box of megapixels and sensors and studio lighting but I pride myself in always getting it done.

Here are two photos from a series I just shot at Anytime Fitness here in the Palm Springs area in California. I had a great new model, Brad Gwinn, and decided to go backwards in technology. Using a Contax G1 rangefinder camera designed in 1994 and Kodak Tri-X film I think I gave this workout a series a new "old" look that is much fun!



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Ali, No Not That One...

Muhammad Ali was certainly a figure I grew up with in my life and he is part of my history. But this is my Ali as in Ali Harris. A few photos from a photo shoot we did recently for a magazine. Can't tell you which one until we get closer to publication date.







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A Wonderful Compliment...

Although I have posted this photo just recently I am posting it again for good reason so please allow me this. And it isn't a difficult photo to look at! This is American Gladiator "Fury" from a photo shoot she did with me recently. As part of a discussion the photo was posted by myself on OpenPhotographyForums.com. I received back a comment, one of the most articulate compliments I could not have imagined. Authored by the founder Asher Kelman, it is even more greatly received because of the standards and quality that are demanded at OpenPhotographyForums.com. Please read the remarks following the photo...


"...I enjoy the fact that although she is handsome and has a beautiful figure, she is not presented as someone's tittitillation or plaything. I'm amazed by the extensively different ways we can portray beautiful women. Frank Doorhoff's glamorously lit women leaping into the air, Doug Earle's nudes behind what seems like a confessional curtain or Nikolai's brazenly provovative young women, all present a different value of the fairer sex. Imagine we go from a grandmother who climbs mount Everest or tends to an infant to a friend imaged with a 100 year old soft-focus lens as if she's a movie star like Lauren Bacall!

Your own pictures are so different from anything we've had before in that the woman is strong, physically strong and shown for her physique and yet still is feminine. There's no fawning for nature, but everything she does defines her body more as a perfect muscular machine, rather than a sensual trap, the source of nurture or drama we have not seen till now in OPF..."

"In this picture, she has a leather jacket over her shoulders, a heavy chain taught over her breasts with no submission to any simple sexual tease, (even with one soft shadow of the chain traversing her pants), rather to show that like the chain, she can hold her weight, guard her own person and is substantial and a partner worthy of respect, but on her equal terms."

"The chain and her arms cover her nipples allowing her full breasts to be seen but not displaying any tawdry cheap thrills are available. This is not about the sex, but rather about the power of the women despite her being of the weaker sex..."

"...I never imagined that someone could present a partially naked woman in such a pose and I'd not brush it off as trivial...."

"I look forward to seeing more of your work with her."

Thank You Asher!

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Pro Bodybuilder Moe ElMoussawi

Moe ElMoussawi is one of the top ten bodybuilders in the world and on his way to the 2009 "Arnold" competition this weekend in Columbus Ohio. From our photo shoot two weeks ago...






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American Gladiator "Fury"

Some photos from my recent shoot with American Gladiator "Fury"...








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