B 3 M 6 C 5

I apologize to all of you who've stuck with me so far...but I need to end this project now.

2010-03-21T09:59:00.000-04:00

When I started this project, I really thought it would make me a better photographer to go through the experience. But honestly, I've found just the opposite to be the case. Instead of working on producing an image each day that is the result of planning, previsualization, and execution, I find that I don't have the time to do things that way. Many evenings, I sit here sifting through a bunch of hastily taken images and try to find one that works-- that can be processed at least to the point of being postable.

Even on the days when I have time to really plan and execute an image, the drag of the daily grind eats into it and I don't seem to have the energy to work at making an image the way I want to. I know I've produced some images that people like, but I've produced few that I am proud to have made. And I just can't continue, settling for mediocrity just to get it done. That wasn't what I set out to do, and it isn't something that I can keep doing. It takes too much effort and that effort is being directed at expediency and not at creating the kind of photos I want to make.

So I am going to shut this project down, go back to shooting the way I used to...trying to work at my craft and make good images. Trying to improve as a photographer.

I appreciate all the support I've gotten from so many of you. And I am sorry I am not able to continue. But I'd rather have people reading my main blog, where I post only images I want to share...not just the best of a mediocre roundup each day. The link to the main blog is below. I don't post there daily, but will post at least once a week. Please subscribe there and stay with me.

Thanks. Brian

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Eight: What a difference 68 days makes

2010-03-19T15:47:00.000-04:00

Way back on Day 10 I took a picture (The Intepids) of some golfers at Hope Valley who were out on a bitterly cold day...in wool hats and jackets. Today, along that same stretch of golf course, I saw this gentleman in shorts playing a run up from about 20 yards short of the green.

Spring is here. Even if the flowers don't seem to want to cooperate just yet. Apparently they don't have half the cabin fever all the rest of us did as the weather finally broke to the good. They are on the way though.

That's it for today.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Seven: Bridge

2010-03-18T20:06:00.000-04:00

It was warm and spring like today and I got some time to head off to Duke Gardens, a fvorite spot of mine to take pictures. Unfortunately, my desire for Spring to be fully here after a long cold Winter is a bit ahead of mother nature and there was little in bloom at the gardens. There are buds everywhere, and even a week from now, the rich pallete of pinks and purples, whites and reds will be spread out in all their magnificent glory. But today, I had to settle for a picture of one of the many bridges that criss cross the gardens.

Still, you can get a sense of sping the grass now turned back from brown to green. So, a bridge to Spring for today...and flowers not far behind.
Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Six: Worn and Weathered

2010-03-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

The textures dominate here as the various woods from which this log outbuilding and its small shuttered window have all been made monochromatic from long years of weathering.

And, like the subject of today's photo, I am a bit worn right now. My abnormally busy schedule, coupled with the loss of an hour of sleep, have me exhausted. Short post today so I can catch up on the backlog that's been steadily building behind me. I need to clear the decks so that I can spend more time on my blog photos. It's been more than a week since I've found more than 45 minutes to shoot on any day. That just isn't enough time to really work on an image. These days I've found myself shooting a lot of photos in a short period of time and then making something work back at the computer. That isn't the way I like to work, but sometimes it's just the only way I can get the project photo of the day done.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Five: Wore my Green a Day Early

2010-03-17T19:19:00.000-04:00

I had a number of commitments yesterday-- which barely gave me time to shoot for the project, and no time to post last night. I love forsythia, and growing up in NJ, they were the first strong sign of spring to me each year. Here in Durham, NC lots of stuff gets budding and blooming early, and the forsythia, which always was a favorite of mine growing up are now often lost among all the early blooming trees and early spring daffodils that are everywhere now.

I wore this green shirt yesterday (March 16) without thinking about the holiday today (and I'm 1/4 Irish) and left myself with no green to wear today on St. Pat's. This is getting confusing. This picture is for yesterday...which was not St. Pat's but was the day I wore green. Ok...enough babble. I am having more trouble than usual adjusting to the time change and being more busy than usual to boot is making me punchy and I still have today's post, and two client jobs I need to get out the door.

Til...well...a little later this evening this time.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Four: Spring

2010-03-15T17:55:00.001-04:00

While I was away for the weekend, the trees in the Triangle bloomed. To me, that's the real start of Spring here. The redbuds, dogwoods and bradford pears are all blooming now. Didn't see any blossoms (just buds) last week and now the colors are everywhere. And things in Greensboro were barely budding it seemed.

It seems only fair to get Spring for real now that we've all lost an hour's sleep after Springing foward. Can't wait for the cone flowers and camelias, big dogwood blooms, magnolias...the magic time is just ahead here. In just a few weeks wildflowers will be everywhere. My favorite time of year for photography...and doubly so this year as finding photos for the blog will be easy for the next month or two.

Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Three: Garland of Gumballs

2010-03-14T19:54:00.000-04:00

Photographically, I am fascinated by guumballs. Their intricate shapes and pointy tips always seem such a strong natural statement. I've tried to take macros of them...to capture the intricacy and interest I see in them, but as yet have not made an image that accomplishes that.

I noticed this string of gumballs hanging out over a small lake not far from home. I liked the way they seemed to form a garland on the branches of the tree and the way the light was playing on the lake behind them. Not the picture of gumballs I want to make, but one I was happy to discover today.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks and it's been more of a challenge than usual to take pictures for this project. And there's another fairly busy week ahead. But I've made 73 straight days and that's 1/5th of the way. Not that much of a milestone, but I can only achieve them as they come. For today, I'm happy with this image and with getting this far with an unblemished record (andonly a couple of near misses).

Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-Two: Guilford College

2010-03-14T13:17:00.000-04:00

During a break between family events yesterday I was able to get out to take pictures for a little while before it rained. The clouds were coming in and the light was (briefly) spectactular. Lasted all of 10 minutes and this is one of the few photos I got before it just went to gray.

Not much else to say, other than that brings the blog current. Now...off to shoot for today. Glad to have some time and a beautiful day here to work with. Hope I get something good.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy-One: Almost missed today

2010-03-14T13:05:00.000-04:00

Friday was a busy day and between travel, a family event and visiting with friends and family I very nearly forgot to take a picture. I meant to bring the camera in to the party, but never even thought of it when I got there. I took this picture of Molly just before she (and, honestly, I) went to bed Friday night. Not much of a photo...but I took one and that means I've still kept the streak going.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

No Posts Til Sunday

2010-03-12T13:20:00.002-05:00

Going to be without my laptop for a few days, so won't be able to post for today or tomorrow. I'll shoot em on time, and share em on Sunday.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventy: Morning Fog

2010-03-11T17:37:00.000-05:00

The fog on my way to work this morning was thick. Visibility was short, and my recent deer encounter had me white knuckling much of the way in. As I came down to the last traffic light I pass on the way in, the way the red light, car headlights, and the lights of the building all bled into the fog led me to sit through a light cycle and grab this photo.

I did take a few others today...but this one, before dawn, is the one that I like best.

Been a long and busy day and still more to attend to this evening so keeping things short. Do need to add however a Happy Birthday wish to Mike Miller (who some of you readers know). And also just a shout out to Schaulis...hope you make it out (down) in June.

Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Nine: Penned Up

2010-03-10T17:31:00.000-05:00

I visit this horse on my photographic travels from time to time. I wanted to take pictures of spring flowers coming up today...but didn't find any on the paths I took. Hoped to find some gardenias, or camelias, both starting to bloom here now. But struck out.

So I went to see the horses. They are stuck behind their railing, but they come out to see me when I stop there. Don't know why, but the sense that they are penned in spoke to me. Maybe it's the long winter (now slowly ebbing away)...or maybe something else. But it was the separation, the fence between us, that spoke to me. Whatever the reason.

We stayed on our own sides of the fence...looking at one another. And somehow that's just a metaphor for my day.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Eight: A New Perspective

2010-03-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is another long term photo subject of mine. I've photographed this (always empty) swing many times over the last few years. But the composition has always been the same...and boring. Then today, it was the reflection of the tree across the lake that got my attention. So I composed to capture that, and got this image. Nothing extraordinary about it on its face. But it shows me that I am learning to look more closely, even at the familiar.

It's been a crazy week...with more craziness just ahead through a long weekend family event. It's time (more than drive) that is lacking right now. Took this on the way home from work, posted, then eating dinner and off to a meeting this evening. But I've made it 68 days without a miss so far, and have a little more time (and an idea for) tomorrow. See you then.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Seven: One from the mental rolodex

2010-03-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

This weather worn, white wash building is right next to the swing that appeared on Day Sixty-Three. When I was out there shooting the swing the other day, I took some detail closeups of this building (and a few others littered about the site) and noticed that the shadows that get cast on the wall by the afternoon sun are conflicting. The shadow of the tree suggests the sun is camera left, while my shadow clearly shows it is actually camera right. Just a trick of the light based on the way the building, sun and trees line up in the afternoon. I made a mental note to return for a self portrait.

Today I was pressed for time (again) and decided I'd go an knock this one out. As I move around shooting for the 365 project I make mental notes of pictures I want to come back for. It helps a lot when time is short to have a list in my head of ideas...especially a gimme one like this. The sun was perfect..the shadows are crisp and the hard light brings out the texture in the wood planks.

Not certain I atoned for yesterday (as this took about 5 minutes total). But unlike yesterday when anything I got would do, today I had a plan and I executed. That's something at least.

I asked permission from Alisha, the videographer from Saturday's Uvo shoot to post a few pics of her and her husband and their Stella (classic Vespa) on my (other) blog. That's her in the heels on the Stella in my pic from Day Sixty-Five and I thought I'd post one here to entice you to click over. And while you're clicking, be sure to check out Alisha's website. She is awesome.

See the rest at BMC Portraits Blog

Day Sixty-Six: Whatever.....

2010-03-07T15:37:00.000-05:00

After nearly 2500 pictures yesterday for my Uvo Designs shoot, I just don't have the motivation to go take pictures today. It's a shame, becuase it is a warm, sunshine filled day. But I'm exhausted. And between taking all those photos yesterday, and having spent the last 6 hours digging into the processing and editing of the shoot, I just want to be done with photography for the day. So I walked out to the studio, grabbed the camera, took 7 pictures walking back from the studio to the office. Chose this one. I am taking the rest of the day off.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another beautiful day, so I'll plan on atoning for today.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Five: Heels

2010-03-07T09:14:00.000-05:00

Day sixty-five was the day of the big Uvo Designs shoot. I took over 2400 photos at the shoot yesterday and we got some awesome stuff. I shot for nearly 9 hours before packing it in yesterday and then had some computer issues when I got home so didn't manage to get this post up til today. First time I missed a post...but there will be others. I won't miss a day of taking pictures (which is what the project is about) but there will be days when I won't be able to post a shot.

I have tons and tons of editing and processing to do today, but wanted to put this up this morning since it's yesterday's shot, and I'll have a post of something shot today later. This photo of Alisha (our videographer for the day) on her Vespa was the one I knew I was going to use for by picture of the day. I knew it as soon as I took it.

We had a BLAST yesterday and everyone was just terrific and worked hard to pull off a major production. Want to thank everyone for all their hard work and help.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Four: Point, Shoot, Done at Dawn

2010-03-05T13:27:00.001-05:00

I happened to be outside the building where I work this morning just as the sun peaked over some distant trees. The shadows on the wall when the sun is at that low angle are always really cool and I always think about taking a self portrait with them but can't really justify pulling a tripod and remote out of my trunk and setting up in the parking lot. But today I happened to have Molly's little Canon point and shoot with me.

I grabbed it out of the car and set it on the hood of gold car parked nearby. Then I just had to figue out where to stand so that my shadow would be cast into the wedge between all the others and how much of the reflection in the hood to leave. Then I set the self timer, got in position, and was done just after dawn.

Good, because I have a lot of packing to do for tomorrow's big Uvo Designs shoot. You'll see at least one of those here tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Three: Swing Is in the Air

2010-03-04T18:47:00.000-05:00

It wasn't exactly warm today, but it was fairly sunny much of the day and it was warmer than yesterday-- a trend that is forecast to continue, culminating with a high in the mid 60's on Monday. While we'll see more cold weather in the weeks ahead, we are in for a taste of Spring and it's just the pick-me-up we need around here right now. And very soon, children will be playing on swings like this and not inside playing Wii.

Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-Two: Warm and Peaceful

2010-03-03T17:56:00.000-05:00

This glass lantern sits in the yard of a house nearby to mine. It's been a frequent photographic subject for me over the last year, especially when the flowers in the yard where it lives are in bloom. And there is lots and lots of Asian yard art there, and I love that they move the items around from time to time so all my pictures of this lantern and their other art are not all from the same angle nor set against the same backdrop.

I had a few pictures I was considering today. That's the way it is most days. Donna came in the office while I was deciding and she liked this one best, so this one it is. Once I narrow down to a half dozen possibilities, I am always happy if a member of the household has a clear favorite. Then I just go with that.

Today was kind of a raw and chilly day and what little sun poked through the clouds did so for only a few minutes at a time. This is the type of day when it's hardest to get pictures outside along my travels. But as I was driving home I decided to drive by the yard here and see if there were any early signs of spring. There were, but nothing that stood out in the low contrast light. But this lantern was on a small slab of slate right near the street this time and that gave me an angle I'd not seen before on it. One of my other choices was also from this yard. If you want to see it (and tons of my work not on this or the main blog) you can on my Flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmcphoto/

You'll see something I've seen again tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty-One: Who You Gonna Call

2010-03-02T15:16:00.000-05:00

I had a small incident with a deer on the way to work this morning, which necessitated a trip to the dealer to see about getting my fender repaired, which led me to the Ghost Busters hearse. I've seen this vehicle around town a couple of times over the years, but there it was, sitting right outside the bodyshop at the car dealerr. I grabbed the camera and started shooting.

Yucky gray day and the light is flat and boring. But some things just stand for themselves and I think the Ghost Busters hearse is one of those things. The top photo is not my favorite of the series, but it's the one that gives the clearest picture of the vehicle and I needed that so I could name this post "Who You Gonna
Call."

Here are a few of the others:

And one of the minor damage done to my car:

While the Ghost Busters hearse was a great find on a gray day when I really had no idea what to shoot, would have sooner avoided the deer, missed the hearse, and took a picture of one of the dogs. Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixty: March 1st and winter is hanging on

2010-03-01T22:54:00.000-05:00

It's March 1st and winter is still well entrenched here in Durham, NC. We are expecting a wintry mix again tomorrow. But things are looking up for the coming weekend with temps in the low 60s. Excellent. Parts of my shoot this Saturday is expected to be outside and if the weather is delivered as advertised, we'll all be styling. Of course if it's colder than expected it's really the models who will suffer the cold. Behind the camaera, I can wear whatever will keep me warm.

It's been an exceedingly long day which began when I left the hosue at 5:30am this morning and didn't get home from my creative meeting for the shoot until 10:30 this evening. Had just a short time this afternoon between work and meetings to get out and take a few photos. This one, posted at the club house of a development on Glenwood Ave in Raleigh pretty much sums up where we are weather wise (for tomorrow at least).

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Nine: Hit the Bricks, Frosty

2010-02-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

It's nearly March and I am MORE than ready for the end of this long, cold Winter. It's bright and sunny today, but still unseasonably cool and there's more of Frosty's kind in the forecst for the week ahead. Enough.

Short post again today. I am working on my upcoming fashion shoot this coming Saturday. Big production (including a videographer documenting the shoot). Going to be fun. Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Eight: Teething Biscuit

2010-02-27T16:36:00.000-05:00

We bought Isaac (5 months) some teething biscuits this week. He LOVES them. He likes to grab things and put them in his mouth anyway, and he's teething, so these biscuits are great. Of course, they make an unholy mess, but he is loving them and he's very cute (and surprisingly coordinated) with them. I had planned on trying to set up something to take pictures of him this afternoon, but when I got home he was gumming a biscuit and I just grabbed the camera and shot this.

I like it becuase it's real...it's who he is today and remembering things like this are a part of what this project is about. It's a snapshot...but he's cute enough (I think) for a snapshot to stand as today's post.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Seven: The Fabulous Dr. Freud

2010-02-26T14:27:00.001-05:00

"A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world." Sigmund Freud.

Don't really know what I can add to that. See you tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Six: My Flower Child

2010-02-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

No, the lawn jockeys from the other day did not get me nostalgic for the 60's. This is the costume Molly wore to school today for 60's Day. We had a lot of fun finding all the pieces for the costume and everyone at school agreed Molly had the best 60s costume of all. When she got home we went out to the studio and set up the flower background. It's pretty sheer, so we lit it from behind which gives a nice glow around Molly that I think adds to the feel of the image.

We did a few with a super wide angle lens as well (those glasses cried out for a distorted upclose perspective and we got a few good ones):

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Five: Tia

2010-02-25T00:05:00.001-05:00

I am getting this in just under the gun of midnight tonight. This is Tia, who is going to be my model for the upcoming Uvo bag shoot. I really am geting this in just under the deadline so that's it. But look for more of Tia (and the Uvo bag) in the weeks ahead.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Four: Gone Fishin and Other Yard Art(?)

2010-02-23T19:59:00.000-05:00

Off and about a few new neighborhoods today as part of my ongoing Suburban project. Caught a few today, including the one above, that I wanted for this post.

And then there's yard art(?) you don't see every day...or nearly anyday these days:

And one to remind us that Spring is nearly here:

Nice colors today, because tomorrow is going to be cold and rainy (and may have flurries). Though I have an evening engagement that may turn up a shot for the day. Otherwise, it will be a studio night. Tune in tomorrow to see.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty Three: Love is....sharing an umbrella

2010-02-22T18:22:00.000-05:00

It was a rainy and miserable day here today and I barely had time to shoot at all. I came across this couple sharing and umbrella in a parking lot while I was running out to get a quick lunch to bring back to work and eat at my desk. And the afternoon and evening were full with other responsibilities so I was counting on this image to work for the 365 and, happily, it did.

I like the atmosphere here which I feel captured both the look and feel of the day and the arm in arm closeness of this couple who clearly share more than just an umbrella when it rains.

That's it for today...still have a bunch to get done. Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-Two: Self Portriat in the Park

2010-02-21T18:11:00.000-05:00

It was a busy Sunday for us. Molly and I had a lot of shopping to do for costume week at her school She'll be dressing up as her favorite character on Tuesday, what she wants to be when she grows up on Wednesday, and it's 60's on Thursday. That's a lot of costumes to pull together in a hurry. Plus, she had a birthday party to go to in Chapel Hill this afternoon.

While she was at the birthday party, I went off to take a self portrait for today's post. Took a bunch and chose this one, set in a park in Chapel Hill not far from the party. Sunlight was streaming through the trees from behind me and so I needed to add a little light on the front of me to stand out from the background.

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm (FINALLY) and I'd been carrying lights and stands arond in my trunk the last month but it was nearly always too cold and/or windy to break them out and light a self portrait...something I was doing a lot of last year before I started this project and found myself in the midddle of unquestionably the coldest winter I've seen in my 13 years here in North Carolina.

So I knew all day I was going to find a place to take a self portrait.

Strobist: SB800 at 1/2 power in a small (Lumiquest SBIII) softbox camera left at 30 degrees. It's set up just above head height to let it fall off on the lower half of me.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty-One: Sneak Peak at the Uvo Bag

2010-02-20T20:03:00.000-05:00

This is my friend Lisa wearing an Uvo Bag from Uvo Designs (http://www.uvodesigns.com/). Lisa and I met with the owneres of Uvo designs this afternoon to work on concepts for an upcoming ad campaign I'll be shooting for them. After the meeting we got a few quick shots of Lisa with the bag, mostly to let me start thinking about the ad campaign.

This is a very cool bag, both as a fashion statement and in its utility. I'm excited about the upcoming shoots featruing the Uvo product line and I'm sure some of that will be back up here in the 365 over the next month or two.

Thatt's it for today. See you tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Fifty: Just Monkeying Around

2010-02-19T18:25:00.000-05:00

I found this little fellow in the parking lot at work this morning. Not sure where he came from, but I expect that he will be a recurring character here on teh 365. I have some plans for the little guy. But today didn't allow a lot of time for shooting and it's family movie night here at the homestead, so his innaugural appearance is merely an introduction. He'll need a name. Suggetions are welcome.

Time for Despereaux (which Molly just finished reading at school). Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Nine: Red

2010-02-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

In addition to the stuff I shoot for this 365 project, and the stuff that goes on my main blog (link below) I am also working on some longer term projects. One that I have been concentrating on a lot lately is pictures of yards and porches around Durham. I am not certain yet what it is I am trying to show. It's more of an exploratory exercise...to take a thousand or more photos with a common subject matter and to see what it tells me about the way I see the world through a lens. I've been calling it my Suburban project, though not sure that's even a working title...it's just a way to refer to the work at this point.

That series is all in black and white. Today's photo won't make the cut for the project. It's all bout the color. Red.

I've thought about featuring a photo that I've taken for the Suburban project here on the 365, but for the most part it's not the individual photographs but rather the compilation that is what I hope will make the final presentation compelling. That is not to say that the individual photos aren't good. I think they are. But my intention is to portray them as a series of diptychs (two photos side by side) where the images either reinforce or contradict each other. And while I could put up a diptych as my photo for the day, it's rare to find two photos on the same day for a diptych.

I have a mental catalog of the images that I've shot for the Suburban project and I look for the second photos that I think will be interesting side by side with them. Or start new diptychs when I find new subjects that don't fit against something currently in the catalog.

But while I was out driving today shooting stuff for the Suburban project, I came across this singular pair of red pants drying on a clothes line strung across a porch on a house with red shutters. I circled the block to come back and get the shot. I knew it wouldn't work for that project, but would be my 365 for today.

Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Eight: Molly in Costume

2010-02-17T20:32:00.000-05:00

Molly hans't been on the blog in a while. I was thinking I would try to get Isaac on here this week and Molly next week, but Molly wore this costume to a school event earlier in the week and I wanted to get a picture of it for our scrapbook. Usually shooting Molly in the studio is quick and easy. But not today. I struggled with lighting the portrait because of the contrast between the bright flower and hat and the navy blazer. It made me tense, which made Molly tense, and made it hard for us to get into our usual relaxed way of collaborating on a portrait. She was a trooper though and really stuck it out. I owe her a treat this weekend for putting up with me tonight.

This project actually takes a good bit of time most days. There's the shooting (fit between work, after school activities, dinner, bedtime, etc.) and then editing, selection, processing and posting. I appreciate the sacrifice the family makes to give me the time to get things done each day. When the weather gets warmer, and the days get longer, it will be a lot easier to fit all this in each day.

Anyway, wanted to thank Donna and Molly (and Isaac) for the sacrifice they make for this project. I couldnt' do without their support and patience.

Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Seven: St Barbara Greek Orthodox Church

2010-02-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

Today is Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras is underway...fresh on the heals of a Superbowl victory for the hometown Saints. All very good for New Orleans. And I guess why I thought about going to take photos Saint Barbara's today. It was completed only in the last year or so and I love it's dome and arches. I've photographed it many times over the last few years. Construction took more than a year and I first shot just the steel scaffoldings that came to hold the dome.

I don't honestly know very much about Greek Orthodoxy, other than that it has no connection whatsoever to Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday or Mardi Gras. And that they build beautiful churches. St. Michaels, in my hometown of Clifton, NJ was a beautiful church, and I've seen others in Boston and the DC area that are also gorgeous.

You can learn more about Saint Barbara's and Greek Orthodoxy at the Church's website: http://www.stbarbarachurchnc.org/NewsandEvents.dsp

Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Six: Seagull

2010-02-15T18:44:00.000-05:00

Well...I had a lot to say yesterday about my photo. Today, I got nothing. I came across about a half dozen seagulls fighting over the remnants of some litterbug's lunch in the parking lot of Target. I sat there in my car with the window rolled down, trying to find interesting photos. This is my favorite. There's no great meaning here...just a photo for day forty-six.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Five: Untitled

2010-02-14T14:59:00.000-05:00

I chose this to be the image for today the moment I took it. It is SOOC (straight out of camera). I saw it, and it spoke to me a million little ways. I wanted to capture it on the chip just exactly the way I saw it with my own eyes. Like back in the days of shooting slides...you nailed it or you didn't. No fixes. Of course digital images are so maleable. Too much so for my taste really. We are taught to "shoot to the right" over exposing (but not clipping highlights) images to capture the most digital information possible. But I don't want to capture digital information...I want to capture things that speak to me.

I confess that there are days (some that show, some better hidden) when I work hard on a marginal capture to make a bloggable photograph. Every day isn't easy. I look back at the accumulation from start to present (and you can see it that way if you go to my 365 set in Flickr) and I know the days I cheated. One or two of my cheats have actually proved to be among the most popular of my posts. Not sure how to feel about that?!?

But today, this image grabbed me the moment I saw it and I made sure to get it just the way I saw it.

I struggled for a long time trying to come up with the right title. And, as you can see, eventually gave up. I thought of calling it "the unbearable lightness of being," "higher plane," "Up," -- or something Valentinesy like "Billy Bob Loves Rita."

But none of those quite fit. I see this image as one of hope, and possibility. Of serenity and stillness. Of journey and ascension. It tells me that there is beauty to be found both here and there at the end of the ladder. And it speaks of respite at the end of what has been a somewhat chaotic week for me.

And all that's just too much to put in a title. But if you feel you want to have something to call this image, I'd go with "Billy Bob Loves Rita."

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Four: Moody Morning

2010-02-13T13:54:00.000-05:00

We got a dusting of snow overnight not amounting to more than a couple of inches, and that only on the grass. The streets were clear and that made getting around easy. The storm that brought the snow overnight was clearing slowly throughout the morning, making for dramatic light at times. I will post several more photos to the main blog (but not until tomorrow at the earliest).

The image I chose for today is not dramatically lit. The lighting is fairly flat and the sky is gray and slightly ominous looking. But I love the strong contrast of the bright snow and dark trees and paths. The path crossing low in the scene helps to define the main subject and give it some extra separation from the background. The path on the right side of the image brings they eye deep into the image's vanishing point which is just a bit off center low and left. This invites the viewer deeper into the scene than the image itself can deliver.

I am quite proud of this image (to toot my own horn). I have never been much of a landscape photographer. Shooting for this project, landscapes have been a frequent subject of my work on a nearly daily basis. Though not too many have made it to the blog (like I said, I've never been very good at the genre) I am seeing progress in my attempts and here, I've produced the kind of photograph I see in my head when I look at a landscape scene, but only rarely am able to produce in an image.

I hope you like it too. Til tomorrow....

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Three: Vivid Colors and Strong Shapes

2010-02-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

I was driving through the Target parking lot this afternoon on my way to an appointment when I came across this bright yellow older model Chevy pickup. The bold color and strong lines caught my eye and I zoomed in tight to get this composition. When I'm not shooting people, I have become very drawn to the interplay of shape and color. My second choice for today's photo was this Mondrianesque composition comprised of a white wall and read door being framed withing the opening of a green dumpster.

I like the abstract "found art" feel of this shot and I very nearly made it the shot of the day. In the end, it came down to this photo being one I can recreate anytime, but the Music of the Triangle pickup was something I saw today I might never see again. I did take a more abstract shot of the truck as well, again using line and color for the composition.

See you tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty-Two: One Light Portrait

2010-02-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight our small local photo group gathered in my studio (those not currently infirm at least) for a short tutorial on one light portraits. While portrait lighting setups using 3,4 or 5 or more lights are not uncommon (in modern or classic portraiture) they are certainly not necessary to good portraits.

When I work in the studio I typically use 2 to 4 lights depending on the look I am trying to achieve. But on location, one light and a reflector is almost all I ever use. Increasingly, that one light is a flash on top of the camera that is bounced in a way to give soft directional light. Honestly, anyone who has a hot shoe flash and wants to learn how to take better pictures should start by reading Neil VanNiekerk's blog and/or his book, On-Camera Flash: Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photographers.

While there are many sites and blogs dedicated to teaching use of OFF camera flash (Strobist and Lighting Essentials being, in my opinion, the two best) they really appeal to serious hobbyists. In some cases, mine for example, they can lead to becoming a serious hobbyist and beyond. But a lot of people have neither the time nor inclination to deal with the triggers, wires, and light stands it takes to do that kind of work. If you own the most rudimentary DSLR and a dedicated system flash (e.g. Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc,) you can vastly improve your photography quickly reading Neil's blog and book.

But the studio is about setting up lights and backgrounds and being creative with light. And even with one light, you can get quite a few different looks.

Thanks to Jeromie (pictured above) who sat for a few quick shots just as we were ending the program tonight. I'd planned on shooting more throughout the session, but we had a lot of discussion and not that much shooting. But we learned techniques and approaches that will serve us all again and again.

Teach a man to fish...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty One: Shape and Color

2010-02-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

As many of you may have noticed, I had a bit of a dip in motivation yesterday. It was a long day and really the first time since the project began that I had to make myself go take a picture. If my motivation dips only once every 40 days I'll be happy.

Today I wanted to atone for yesterday. So I went out looking for abstracts that blended line and color. Here, the weathered top of a red fire hydrant is set against a an out of focus background. The distinctive circles you see in the background are known as "bokeh" and gets it shape from the diaphram in the lens. Different lenses have different diaphrams (comprised of 5 to 9 blades) which give differnt bokehs. Some lenses are prized for their bokeh, The lens I used for thsi shot is not one them. But it's not bad either.

Tomorrow I am giving a tutorial on portrait photography for my local photo group. So I am set for tomorrow's shoot already. It's nice to have a day off from trying to figure out what to shoot. Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Forty: Cherub

2010-02-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

Today has been a long day. I was up late (for no reason at all) and have been dragging all day. And the weather, cold and rainy, wasn't much help. After work I had a commercial shoot. And while I might have asked for permission to use one of the photos from this afternoon for today's post, one of the rules I set out for myself was that this was going to be a wholly personal project. Even with permission, I don't want to use paid work to satisfy the requirement of a photo a day for this blog.

So, dragging and slightly under inspired, I set up a background and a light and took pictures of a cherub reading a book. Not much else to say. Til tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Nine: Spring is in the (COLD) air

2010-02-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

Today only hit a high in the low 40's and it's still only early February, but signs of the upcoming Spring are all over in Durham now. Trees and early blooming bushes are starting to bud, and flocks of birds are moving through on their way from South to North. I saw birds all over today, on wires, and lawns and, as here, on fence posts.

The sun was pretty directly behind this little fellow as I was driving by the golf course and was in an area where there wasn't any place to park so I just stopped the car in the middle of the road (it's a Southern thing) and took a few quick frames.

While not taken under ideal circumstances, and needing quite a bit of TLC in post processing, I chose this image because it will remind me that today was the day I saw the first signs of Spring.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Eight: Super Bowl Sunday!!!

2010-02-07T13:50:00.000-05:00

I am a huge football (NYG) fan and I am ready for some football.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Seven: Lunch (a Movie)

2010-02-06T19:05:00.005-05:00

While technically this project is about taking photos, today Molly and I made the first of a series of movies we have planned. As you can see, our film making is pretty rudimentary, however we figured out how to use the software that comes with the Flip camcorder and know how to do things better the next go round. The still at the top here is a frame taken from the movie, so the photo-a-day requirement is sastisfied. While the photo is somewhat boring, our short film is, we hope, entertaining. Please check it out on our brand new Flip Channel: Molly & Me Productions

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Six: Head in Hand

2010-02-05T21:42:00.000-05:00

Literally.

This is a photo of a stature we've had around our various houses for the last 12 years. It's always been a conversation piece of sorts, and I've photographed it a number of times over the years. I used a very classic lighting, using just the beauty dish high and and right in front of the statue. You can tell by the way the light drives the shadow of the nose directly down. This is called butterfly lightting and it's the same lighting used in the Mona Lisa.

My goal was to try and produce a 3-D effect. It was a rather long process to work the image to this state, and while I'm fairly happy with it, it falls short of my vision for it. I usually try to keep my post processing to a minimum, or at least toward a realistic (if slightly poppy) rendition of colors and tones. But another goal of mine in doing this project is to improve my post processing skills and that includes using creative effects. I think I can do better in processing this image to get what I pictured. But not tonight. It's late.
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Day Thirty-Five: The Amazing Molly

2010-02-04T19:07:00.000-05:00

Molly performed a magic act in her school's talent show this morning. I took pictures at the event, but also wanted to get a picture of her as "The Amazing Molly" for the project.

I shot this photo with a new (to me) lens. The Nikon 24-70mm 2.8. It is one of the finest lenses made today, and of all time. It's been my tradition since I started taking pictures seriously again about 2 years ago that I christen every new lens (and camera) I get with a picture of Molly. And today was no exception.

Short and sweet today. Til tomorrow...

Strobist: Alien Bees 800 with a 20 degree grid camera left at abount 30 degrees. Set to 1/4 power. Fill is from Alien Bees 800 in 22 in AB beauty dish, on axis and just above the lens set to 1/16th power. Here the fill is only 2/3 of a stop under exposed and the gridded key serves more like a broad kicker, bringing up the exposures on the face, hat and wand.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Four: Found along the way

2010-02-03T19:20:00.000-05:00

I had a definite plan for today's shoot. The weather was great and I packed my super wide angle lens and my tripod and planned on shooting at a park I know. The blue sky, white clouds, and the unique architechture at the park were all on my mind when I set off to shoot this afternoon. Then..along the way, I passed this solitary tree. It was on a berm right along side an apartment complex, but from the street angle I noticed that it looked great against the sky and that, from this one single angle, I could isolate it from all of the lamp posts and buildings that were all around it.

So I stopped the car and took a few shots. Then went off to the park. But the place I'd intended to shoot was a swamp today. And there were some construction verhicles in my planned shot. Ok. Change of plan.

One thing the 365 has taught me is to pay better attention to my surroundings. Each day I have to find something to photograph, try to photograph it well, try to think of what I want to say about the subject, or the circumstances. Somedays it's hard. Other days, something just jumps out at me and serves itself up as the photo of the day-- like this tree.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Three: Well dressed on a dreary day.

2010-02-02T18:14:00.001-05:00

Cold and gray today in Durham. It drizzled off and on throughout the afternoon. I had hoped (again) for some real rain because I have an idea for a rainy day picture. But I need a real downpour for what I've got in mind. It will come. At least with the only occasional rain, I was able to get out and take pictures for an hour or so this afternoon. This time, on one of the Duke campuses.

I knew when I saw the gray skies this morning that it was going to be a black and white day. While it was rainy, it wasn't terribly dark and all the snow lying around everywhere works like a big reflector to bounce a lot of light around. So I saw the possiblity of getting some good, high constrast black and whites today.

While I was walking, I came upon this gentleman who was quite well dressed and walking along the snowy sidewalk next to the campus path where I was. I jumped over the stone wall and moved off into the street to get a quick couple of shots of him as he was coming toward me. Only had about 10 seconds til the light chagned and I needed to be out of the street. But I got what I came for.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-Two: It's been a while

2010-02-01T19:25:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since my last self portrait. Technically, of course, the shot from day Twenty-Two http://b3m6c5.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-twenty-two-lady-bug-umbrella.html of me holding the lady bug umbrella is a self portrait. And before that there was the goofy wideangle shot of me on Day Fourteen http://b3m6c5.blogspot.com/2010/01/day-fourteen-things-are-looking-up.html. But those are whimsical.

I've been waiting to shoot a self portrait in the studio using my new Alien Bees beauty dish, a 22 inch round reflector that looks sorta like a large white bowl. It's called a beauty dish because, when you light someone beautiful, someone with the skin of Kate Winslet, for example, it brings out the beauty with a bang. It's hard light, like the light from an on camera flash. Except 1, It's off to my right (camera left) and high, and therefore it's not lighting all of me; 2, it's much bigger and 3, it's not working alone. There is also a very long softbox (60 inches tall by 12 inches wide) that is filling in some of the hard shadows (a beauty dish will really bring out the pores in the skin) and softening the light overall.

It is an axiom of photography that if you want something to look interesting, you don't light all of it. The mix of highlights and shadows are what gives depth and dimension to the subject. The hard light of the beauty dish gives crispness and pop to my eyes, while the soft fill of the strip box softens the light on my face overall. But keeping both on the same side lets the camera right side of my face sit mostly in shadow. And the shadow of my nose across my camera right cheek gives depth to the image.

In addition, I've processed this image to a kind of grunge look. I watned a cool feeling, with the textures of my shirt standing out more than the color and so I added some sharpening (clarity, actually) and brought the saturation of the blues down and added a bit of saturation to the greens and yellows to give some color to my eyes. I didn't really manage to get exactly the look I had in mind, but it's a start. I am going to be shooting some senior portraits in the Spring and I am working with some different looks to bring to those portraits.

Another great thing about the 365 is that it lets me work on styles for my paid work, while letting me fufill my photo-a-day pledge. See you tomorrow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty-One: Best Snow Day EVER!!!

2010-01-31T15:49:00.001-05:00

I know yesterday's post was also sledding...but yesterday was cold and sleeting when Molly and I (and very few others) took to the hill. Today is 35 degrees and sunny and we've had a whole bunch of neighbors out sledding the hill at the top of our street. In this photo are Sunny and Nick. They are across the street neighbors and were out with us for most of the early afternoon. My self imposed rule is that I pick one photo to be the photo of the day, and this one is it. But we had lots of folks and lots of fun today, so I'll post a bunch more on the main blog (link below),

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Thirty: All down hill from here.

2010-01-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

We got a good six inches of snow and Molly's been sledding since shortly after she woke me up (too early) to go out for the first time. It's very cold (23 degrees) so we do four or five runs then come back inside to get warm for a bit. Dryer has been running pretty much non stop all day.

Molly is having a BLAST!! Have to admit, I am too. We'll be going back out soon, and taking more pictures, but I like this one because you can see snow getting sprayed up at the front of the toboggan. And...with my post out of the way for the day...it's all down hill from here.
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Day Twenty Nine: Let it Snow, Let it Snow, PLEASE Let it Snow

2010-01-29T18:18:00.000-05:00

Molly and I are ready for some SNOW!!! Looks like we're getting 6-8 inches starting soon. We are both very excited...though Molly chose this picture instead of one where she's holding her sled and looking excited. When she models, she gets to choose. She also gets to shoot. Here are a few she took of me:

That's it til tomorrow. When, with any luck, we'll be taking pics out in the snow.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-Eight: Bright Sunshiney Day

2010-01-28T18:17:00.000-05:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in Durham. It was 60 degrees and sunny with great clouds in the sky all over. I went for a ride in the country (which is about 10 minutes from my suburban home) and took pictures of farms and fields. The weather report calls for a "wintry mix" the next two days, so I really wanted to capture how beautiful a day it was today.

Hoping we get snow...fun to play (and shoot) in the snow. Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-Seven: The Decisive Moment

2010-01-27T20:25:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I drove out to Chapel Hill to shoot on Franklin Street and on the quad there. The light was filtering through the enormous old trees and making interesting shadows on the paths and lawns. So I found myself a spot into which life would move, and I waited. I liked the balance of the lamposts on the left and windows on the right. And I wanted the figure in my photo to be moving perpendicular to the point of view, which creates tension in the composition. Then I waited for life to stroll by.

I had groups, singles, people walking dogs and pushing bikes. I shot some of them, but none of that was what I was looking for. I was waiting for the "decisive moment." That term (coined by Henri Cartier Bresson) has always seemed somewhat limited to me. While I understand the objective, to me, it's not necessarily that the moment be decisive, but rather that the elements in the composition be caught at the apogee of their action within the frame.

Here, the gentlemen striding down the path interplays with the girl in the background, His stride is long and purposeful, moving along his path. Her stride is more casaul. He is moving across the frame, she deeper into it. While there are two figures in the frame, they are isolated from each other. The eye is drawn to the path into the photo by the placement of the subjects-- the static lamposts and windows, and the dynamic figures. Neither has crossed into the plane of the vertical path...in an instant, both will. And an instant ago, they were not yet in the frame.

This is the apogee, or, if you prefer, the decisive moment.

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Day Twenty-Six: Today is January 26, 2010

2010-01-26T18:58:00.001-05:00

I'm not exactly sure why this photograph captures my day. It could be the sense of marching in place that these towers give me from this perspective. It could be the connectivity they represent. It could be the bleakness of their industrial architechture. Or the disconnected mazes the lines create.

I guess all those things spoke to me today. I took a bunch of pretty pictures. The sun was out and the sky was bright with puffy white clouds. I looked for vivid colors as I usually do on a day like that. But what spoke to me today was something darker...more menacing.

I struggled with this post. Picked a nice picture with lots of rich colors. But found I didn't have anything to say about it. Then I thought about this image. I hadn't priocessed it yet, but I remembered taking it. I remember visualizing it in my head to look like it does in this post. I remember I made an illegal U-turn and parked in some mud on the side of the road to take it. One of the things about the 365 is that it's a chance to chronicle a year in my life. I've talked to people who've done one before and many of them have remarked about going back and looking at the images and remembering the day they took it. And that made me realize that this image and this day are linked. And I want to record that, so when I look back at the end of the road, and see this image, I'll remember why it's there. It's January 26, 2010. And this is how my day was.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-Five: KISS

2010-01-25T18:47:00.000-05:00

As in Keep It Simple Stupid. I am three weeks into this project and each day I have a plan to go somewhere, set something up, find someone to sit in front of my camera...But part of being a good photographer is being able to use the simplest of subjects in compelling ways. Here, some dry brown foliage, sitting against the bright sky and some distant branches makes a simple sketch. I used split toning (an old process for adding color to monochrome prints) in Lightroom to get the green tones which are soothing and seem well suited to the subject and composition.

So much of being a better photographer is embedded in seeing the possibilities and then composing to realize them. And my goal for today was to shoot something simple in a compelling way. I am quite pleased with the result. Hope you like it too.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-Four: A morning ride

2010-01-24T18:33:00.000-05:00

I managed to make it out for about an hour this morning while breakfast was being made and the baby was sleeping. I still had the big lens on the camera from my rugby shoot yeseterday and went off to see about photographing some nearby horses. But the horses had blankets on and were all on the far side of field and I just couldn't get anything interested. Giving up on that plan, I was just about to pull off when a bicyclist came up the road. I liked the strong graphic element of her hat and knew it would make a nice black and white photograph. The light was gray and flat, though bright enough to give nice crisp lighting to the cyclist.

Molly and I also set up a quick studio shoot (actually in the hallway in our basement) with a background and lights and I shot both Molly and Isaac for a bit this afternoon. Some nice stuff. You can see it on my main blog. Thought about using one of Isaac for today's official photo, but I am trying to limit the number of times I photograph the kids for the blog, and with something I liked already in the can, decided that shoot would be just for fun. http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty Three: Rugby

2010-01-23T19:01:00.000-05:00

I got an email from my buddy James (Flickr: Jimbo N http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimbon/) yesterday asking if I wanted to go shoot his son's Rugby match in Chapel Hill today. Jim's son, Cole, plays for State and they kicked off their season (with a win) against UNC this afternoon. Cole, unfortunately wasn't able to make the game, but James and I had some fun and got some nice stuff. I am way out of my element shooting sports. But being out of my element is a lot of what this project is intended to be about. I have a plan to go shoot some Duke Women's tennis soon with another buddy and if anyone has suggestions for sporting events I can shoot for the project, please let me know. I'd never shot Club Rugby (or any kind of Rugby) before, but I've seen it played and the great thing was that we were pretty much free to roam the sidelines, even wander out onto the field during timeouts. We minded our manners, of course. I love how accessible it was. I will definitely shoot more rugby there at UNC.

I was going to post some additional images from the match, but am going to make a post about today's shoot with all my keeper images on my main blog instead. Please come check it out: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-Two: Lady Bug Umbrella

2010-01-22T16:46:00.001-05:00

It was cold and gray today so I decided to head into the studio to shoot. This was just a quickie, with fluoresent strip lights from the left front and right rear. Simple. Need to help make dinner and then it's family movie night. Til tomorrow...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty-One: Not much to see here

2010-01-21T18:18:00.001-05:00

It was a rainy and gray afternoon here in Durham. Hoped it would rain hard as I had a few locations in mind where I could shoot from under cover and wait for a colorful umbrella to come along. But it just rained lightly off and on...enough to make the day gray, but not enough to prompt that many umbrellas. I gave up on my original plan and headed off to the bus station. It was all but deserted, with one lone passenger waiting for a bus. In the end I decided it was a good representation of the kind of day it was.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Twenty: Pandering to Interestingness

2010-01-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

This photo is a somewhat canned attempt to mimic the type of works that get on Explore in Flickr. Flickr calls it interestingness. While the mysterious algorithm that determines interstingness can be frustrating for those of us aspiring to be included, I have to admit it is one of the (very few) things I like about Flickr. The images that make it, while a seemingly random assortment, all have something special about them. Sometimes it jumps out at you...somtimes it's far more subtle.

Two of my images have made it to date. One of Molly:

And one abstract::

And I did once before make a deliberate photo with the express thought of it being Explore-like:

Anyway, aside from being a bit of a cliche, I do like today's image. I like the motion, the colors and that her boot is the only part of her that is sharp. I also like the baskets inside the door which gives another plane to the image and the way the doors frame her and reinforce the sense of motion.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Nineteen: Cool Under Pressure

2010-01-19T23:01:00.004-05:00

Went to a Triangle Strobist meetup tonight at Mojo's Billiards in Apex. Had fun...but got home late. Got lots of good stuff and will add some more to this post tomorrow once I have a chance to process my images. Dyvo (Flickr name) modeled for me (and others) some and also got a bunch of candids of people playing pool and just generally in the bar. More later...

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Eighteen: We're not in Kansas...never were.

2010-01-18T20:20:00.003-05:00

Today was a long day at work and all day I couldn't figure out what I was going to shoot for today's shot. I had nothing. Usually I go for a couple of short walks during the day with the point-n-shoot at least just getting some suff that I could use in a pinch. But today, didn't even manage to do that. I had about 45 minutes when I left work and decided I'd shoot Molly's Wizard of Oz figurines. They've been living in a pocket of my camera bag for the last two weeks, and I've posed them in various places for my idea file I've been keeping to draw back on when things get to feeling stale.

I remembered seeing yellow bricks at a location I was shooting at last week. The picture of the castle at the bottom of this post is also from that location. It was one of last weeks runner-ups. I brought a flash and reflectors with me, but the light was nicely broken up and interesting looking filtering through trees, some high grass, and the castle and I was able to position Dorothy and the Witch to take advantage of the natural light. I under exposed to give an ominous feel and pumped the saturation up a good bit (the yellow bricks are kind of pale and faded) to get rich warm tones.

One of the concepts I really want to learn to develop is having a good sense of visual weight for the subjects in my photos. After years of practicing classic rule-of-thirds composition, producing relatively boring photos that weren't snapshots...but weren't much better, I started reading some ebooks by David duChemin, (http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/) Drawing the Eye, in particular, and learning to think not in terms of thirds of the frame but rather about the visual weight given to the subject matter. In the past, I've tried to shoot stuff like this and have always been disappointed. But it occurred to me today that all I needed to do was to apply the same principles to make a shot like this work.

Here is the castle which is also at this same (abandoned) location:

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Seventeen: Donna

2010-01-17T16:48:00.000-05:00

It rained off and on today. During one of the breaks between showers the family went down to the side driveway to take a picture of my wife, Donna, for today's post. Molly assisted, holding a flash and small softbox on a painter's extension pole and keeping the light on Donna while staying out of the shot. She's become a valuable assistant, and knows her stuff. And she was thrilled to help with a photo of mommy for the blog. And of the three candidates I had for today's post, Molly chose this one. I would have chosen the first of the two below, a candid moment when Molly coached Donna to "move around" while posing.

Strobist: Shot with D300 in manual mode with the background underexposed by about 1.5 stops. Light on Donna is from an SB900 in a small (12x18) softbox, held on a Shurline extension pole and fired CLS set on 1/8th power, camera left.

Please check out my main blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/

Day Sixteen: Wendy

2010-01-16T19:22:00.004-05:00

My friend Wendy came by the studio today to pick up a softbox I had for her and to get a look at processing in Adobe Lightroom. We spent about 5 minutes in the studio shooting two quick setups. I'd calibrated my lights with Molly earlier in the afternoon and when Wendy got there, I sat her down in the first setup (the one this picture comes from) and shot 10 or so shots, then moved to a second setup to shoot some 3/4 lengths portraits on black. I will post the others from the session to my main blog (http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/) tomorrow.

Getting settled in to watch the Ravens-Colts game, so that's it for today.

Strobist: AB800 in AB beauty dish with blocker in place and diffusion sock on. The BD is high and about 18 in from Wendy's face. Fill from a silver 48in reflector held just out of shot low. Kicker light, from the back at camera left is an AB800 with 20 degree grid and barndoors (keeping it from hitting the background and from creating lens flare.

Added Sunday: Here is my other favorite of Wendy yesterday. I had a hard time deciding between the two. Also, wanted to let the readers know that I need people to shoot for this project. Wendy told me she looked terrible in pictures...but I think our collaboration yesterday, which took all of 10 minutes, produced images she can proudly use on her Facebook page, in other social media, and on her website. If anyone wants to get 3-5 free digital portraits they can use for any electronic use they want, for FREE, just email me at bmcportraits@gmail.com and we can set something up...on location or at my studio. All I ask in exchange is the right to use an image of you on this and my other blog and Flicrk stream. So..if you need a new profile picture for work, Facebook, etc. get in touch.

Day Fifteen: Warm and Sunny

2010-01-15T19:01:00.002-05:00

Today was a beautiful day, with afternoon temps in the low 60s and a clear blue sky. My only time to shoot today was mid afternoon which left me out in the kind of harsh light photographers are taught to avoid. And it's true that it's not a good time to photograph people (unless you can find some open shade or create some of your own). But a day with a clear blue sky is a day I go looking for vivid colors. I don't mind the deep shadows caused by the strong front lighting on a sunny day. As long as the colors pop, the contrast in the shadows just gives them even a bit more life.

This is part of the facade at Sitar, an Indian restaurant (and a good one at that) in Durham. I love the Indian architechture they added when they took over the building from the Lone Star. And the bright red trim, against the bright blue sky, makes this image my favorite from the day.

But it was tough to choose, as I went to a few different locations and got images I liked at all of them. Here are the rejects and also-rans that I considered for today's post. Guess they all won in a way.

Day Fourteen: Things are looking up.

2010-01-14T18:11:00.001-05:00

Finally today it was warm enough to actually enjoy some time shooting outside. I went off this afternoon with my 10-20mm zoom lens, a flash and a plan. And I executed...got some perfectly pleasant self portraits of me lit against a darkened background and dramatic sky. Nice. But kind of boring, and kind of in my niche. And I need to save the things I know I can do quickly and easily for the days when I am up against it. I have a few favorite places and favorite approaches that I am saving for days when I need to pull something out...days when my motivation may be low or I'm pressed for time.

So instead today, I am using this image. I took it under an archway at St. Barnabas Greek Orthodox Church on Fayetteville Road. It's an architechtually beautiful new church and I've been shooting there since it was just an unshelled steel structure. For this image, I put my camera with the zoom set to 10mm on the ground pointing up at the arch and then leaned over into the frame. I took about 10 of these from sligtly differenn angles. This is the one I liked the best.

Strobist: Natural light (again).

Day Thirteen: Getting (a little) warmer

2010-01-13T18:24:00.001-05:00

Had some time to get to downtown (Durham) this afternoon and went up to the top floor of a parking deck to get an aerial perspective on the new bus station. Unfortunately, didn't have the right lens with me and wasn't able to get what I went there for. But I walked around the permieter of the parking deck taking pictures of people on the sidewalks and courtyards below. In the end though, I liked this shot of the warm sun on the bricks of one of the facades of the American Tobacco development. The 200mm lens compresses the distance between the brick spires and makes for a strong pattern which stands out against the gray wall of windows that sits in shadow across the street.

Day Twelve: A Warm Portrait on a Chilly Day

2010-01-12T18:26:00.002-05:00

It was another raw day outside today and once again I decided to shoot in the warm studio. This time, a warm feeling and warm toned portrait of Molly. It's been a busy day and I still have a meeting tonight, so this is going to be short today.

Strobist: AB1600 in Westcott Apollo 28in softbox, camera left and above with its lower half flagged by black foamcore to increase fall-oof. 48in gold reflector camera right and slightly behind just out of frame. SB800 with 10 degree grid camera left as "hair" light set at 1/16th to just keep separation and not highlight the camera left side of the hood.

Day Eleven: Alien Landscape Abstract

2010-01-11T18:36:00.001-05:00

I went for a walk at lunchtime around my building and the adjoining one...now empty due to the struggling economy. I had my "real" camera in the car and just took the Canon point-n-shoot (which is technically Molly's) and took shots in the full harsh light of the afternoon. Looking for contrast and color. Walking along the backside of the vacant building, I came across this arrangement on the wall and took the picture because I liked the minimalist composition. The one drawback of shooting with the point-n-shoot for a high contrast shot is that the JPG it creates is not as workable as a raw file would be. So I had to go a little beyond my usual post processing.

To me (and to my wife, who first mentioned it) it lloks like an alien landscape. The conduit, spigot, and rust stain on the lower wall looks like a person (to me, a shepherd with staff; to my wife, something from Star Wars). Wish I could say that I saw the potential when I took the image...but it took a lot of post processing to get to this point. I did like the simplicity and strength of the composition and it's component parts...and in the end, was rewarded with a happy accident.

Strobist: Natural light. LR, CS4, OnOne Phototools 2

Day Ten: The Intrepids

2010-01-10T18:11:00.001-05:00

I was driving home late morning along the golf course near my house and saw this group of golfers hit their balls off the tee. The thermometer in my car said it was 33 degrees. I parked and waited for them at the top of the hill and struck up a conversation with them while I was photographing. They, like many of us here, were just plain tired of being holed up inside through 2 plus weeks of temperatures 20 degrees below our winter norm. So they dressed warm and went out to play a round.

The weather forecast is looking much more pleasant for the days ahead with temps back in the 50s by midweek. It's about time. Maybe I'll play some golf myself.

Day Nine: The patio is closed for dining.

2010-01-09T20:03:00.002-05:00

Day nine was another cold one but I managed to get out (and even get out of the car) for a little while this afternoon. I was looking to take some street photos of people looking cold (to emphasize the point) but it was cold enough by Durham standards for very few people to be out at all this afternoon. So, I thought this photo of the closed up patio umbrellas and empty tables at a local eatery managed to tell the story in more subtle way.

Strobist: Natural light.

Inside the house, later in the afternoon, Molly took some pictures of me playing with my son, Isaac. We call this game superbaby. Molly (age 7 1/2) got the better photo of the day.

Actually, Molly has taken a good number of excellent photos in the last year. I am working on a post of Molly's stuff on my BMC Portraits blog:

I'll post a link here when I do.

Day Eight: Batman

2010-01-08T18:11:00.001-05:00

Had some time to play in the studio this afternoon and decided to use my fluorescent strip work lights and a black background. I shot several different setups over the course of 90 minutes, eventually adding in two Nikon flashes to give my face and the batman logo some pop and to light the black background up to a pleasant gray. Not much else to say. Friday night is family movie night around here, so this is short and sweet.

Strobist: Fluorsecent work lights hung from light stands in vertical orientation, right and left and behind. These define the sides of my face and keep separation of my black turtleneck from the background. There are two large silver refelectors camera righ and left front just out of frame bouncing the worklights on the front of my face. Key is an SB800 with a grid (ala Zack Arias, I painted in the insdie of a Fong diffuser black and then bungeed a Buff 10 degree grid over the top.) this is on a boom and about a foot off the floor firing up at my face at 1/16th power. There are a few strips of black gaffer tape over parts of the grid to break the light up a little and keep dimension on my face. The background (in addition to spill from the worklights) is lit by an SB900 with a stofen on the floor behind me at 1/4 power.

Day Seven: This is Isaac

2010-01-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

After an aborted attempt the other night (Day 5) Molly and I went to Buy Buy Baby after school today and bought a Bumbo. At 14 weeks, he can't sit up by himself for more than about 10 seconds before losing his balance and falling over on his side. But the Bumbo sits him up and finally let's me photograph him from angles I understand. I am terrible at newborn portraits...I see people put peacefully sleeping newborns in things that look like the macrame plant holders I made at summer camp as a kid. I tried to put Isaac in a basket to photograph him once. Once.

The Bumbo let's him sit up and move his arms, kick his feet and play while safe and secure. Shot this in a quick 10 minute session this evvening. I set up the Bumbo on the couch in the nursery, bounced my on camera flash around til I found nice directional light on the Bumbo, then put Isaac in and shot. Got a handful I like, and let Molly choose the one for today's post.

You can see the also-rans on my primary blog: http://bmcportraits.wordpress.com/
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000147498632
or in my Flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmcphoto/

Strobist: On camera SB800 bounced into the corner camera left and behind Isaac. I used a black foam flag on the flash to keep any direct light from falling on Isaac. This gave soft diretional light with no more than a stop difference on the shadow side (which seems about right to me for babies and young children). There was an overhead light above and behind camera position but at f5.6 and 1/200th of a second it barely registered, though it can be seen in the catchlights in his eyse. FEV +0.3 shot with a D300 in manual mode.

Day Six: Mesa

2010-01-06T20:29:00.000-05:00

This evening my friend Mesa came by to get some help with processing some images she took last week. She's far more accomplished in Photoshop than I am and I have the edge when it comes to Lightroom. We worked on the images together...me showing her ways to process in Lightroom...her showing me some Photoshop tricks I didn't know. Give and take. The community of photographers locally, nationally and even internationally is great at sharing techniques, advice and inspiration. There's always more to learn...no matter what level you're at. Me...I have plenty to learn and then some...but this project will certainly move me along the path.

Mesa and I found a combination of Photoshop actions for a grainy warm black and white look that we both really liked. We used it on two of her images, and I've used it on the image above I took of Mesa before she left this evening. I'd set the lights and background up this afternoon so I'd be ready when she was here and we shot for less than 5 minutes. I planned on black and white and finding a combination of actions that produced a warm black and white I really like was serendipity.

Strobist: 2 AB800 at 1/16th power on background. Key is AB1600 at 1/8th power in 24x36 softbox with a grid, high camera left. There is a 4x8 reflector camera right to add a bit of fill to the shadow side. It's also flagging the AB800 camera right to keep it from spilling on to the shadow side of Mesa's face. The AB800 camera left is spilling a little on the camera left shoulder.

Day Five: Plan C (meet Flash)

2010-01-05T21:07:00.001-05:00

This morning I really planned on going out to a park this afternoon to shoot a self portrait I've been thinking about doing for awhile. But it was cold and by 4:30 the light I was hoping for had slipped below a row of trees. So...Plan B. Plan B was shooting my son, Isaac, who's about 14 weeks old. But he's not feeling quite himself these last two days and while we did shoot for about 15 minutes, with the whole family pitching in, I really didn't get anything I liked.

Plan C. This is Flash. He's lived with me for over 20 years...sitting on this shelf or that in my various offices, dens, shops and now studio. So Flash and I put our heads together and this is what we came up with.

Strobist: Key is SB900 with ~10 degree grid, fired CLS at 0EV. Background is gridded and snooted SB800 with a blue gel, fired CLS at -.7EV. On camera (D300) flash is firing as well at -1.7EV to just keep any of the shadows on the front from getting too deep. Shot with 35mm F2.

Day Four: Expanding Horizons

2010-01-04T17:18:00.000-05:00

One of the primary goals of this project for me is to photograph subjects that are not within my usual work. Mostly I shoot well lit people, whether kids, friends, or myself. So today I took my cameras (my D300 and my daughter's point and shoot Canon SD750) and went off in search of interesting compositions of line and form. I shot in black and white on both cameras (though I shot raw too on the D300). My goal was to find a strong composition based on line, shadow and found-framing.

I have to admit that I'm not the best judge of this type of photo. I look at the work done by others and am inspired...but when I shoot my own attempts at this genre, I am often conflicted as to whether or not I like the photo. This entry is no exception. What I do like is that I set a goal for the day's photo and I executed and that is a big big part of what I want to get out of this project.

I'd love to hear your comments. Thanks.

I've posted a few other candidates from the day's shooting to my Flickr stream. You can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bmcphoto/sets/72157623124995328

Day Three: One more (sorta) out of the blue

2010-01-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Here, I've shot on the same background as yesterday. Lazy? In part. But after working on some of the images from yesterday, I discovered that I really liked the blue backdrop in black and white. And since this has a very different feel from Day Two's post...and since it WAS already setup...

Strobist: AB1600 in Westcott Apollo (with bottom half masked, making it a 28 in wide by 14 in tall lightbox) camera right and low. AB800 camera with 40 degree grid camera left and behind to separate and highlight side of face and brim of hat.

Here is one of Day Two's rejects processed in black and white that I like:

Day Two: Blue Sky in the Studio

2010-01-02T19:43:00.000-05:00

Molly and I worked hard on getting the studio organized today. Once we got the studio in order, we set up a new blue muslin that arrived via UPS while we were away for the Christmas holiday and I broke out the big lens (Nikkor 70-200/2.8 VR) and she put on her colorful scarf and hat and we had some fun. The goal was sharp, poppy colors...I think we got what we set out to get.

Two done, a lot lot lot more to go...

Strobist info: SB800 at 1/2 power camera left into a 40 in Photoflex silver bounce umbrella. Fill from camera right with a Westcott 40in square silver reflector. Fired with Buff CSTs.

Day One: No Pressure

2010-01-01T15:09:00.001-05:00

I've been trying to think about the photo I'd use to start this project. Our New Year's Day tradition around here is to tackle the clutter. We spent the morning and early afternoon organizing the storage area and the garage, with a little cleaning up in the studio as well. I thought about trying to photograph that process, but wanted to get it done and get it behind me and then turn to taking the kick-off photo. I gave some thought to going down town, and to a host of other locations, but in the end I decided to just take a self portrait of me relaxing, beer in hand, after finishing our organizational mission for the day. I know it's been noted that a journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. My journey of 365 days, apparently, starts sitting down. Who knew?

A quick administrative note: There is a link at the bottom of the page by which you can subscribe to this blog via email (you can also add it to a Reader if you use one. I use Google Reader and highly recommend it.) You can subscribe using the reader of your choice through the gadget on the bottom of the right hand panel.

If you like my work (here or on the main blog at www.bmcportraits.wordpress.com/) please subscribe and leave me comments when you like (or don't like) a photo. Thanks, and I hope you enjoy...and have a GREAT new year.

Introduction

2010-01-01T03:01:00.001-05:00

This is me. Taken a few months ago. Later today (January 1, 2010) I'll be posting my first photo to kick off my 365 project. My main blog is on Wordpress (www.bmcportraits.wordpress.com/) but I wanted to try Blogger for this project. Anyway...they'll likely be a lot of self portraits (as 365 days is a big commitment and there will no doubt be days that I either shoot me, or drop the ball. I expect to learn a lot and to be a better photographer at the other end. I hope you'll take the journey with me and offer words of support now and again...a little encouragement will no doubt be a great help during the slumps that must inevitably come. Dustin Diaz (http://photography.dustindiaz.com/) has just completed an impressive 365 for which he has earned (and deserved) great kudos. The quality level from end to end is the daunting thing for me...he delivered and I am inspired (and a tad awed) by that. Still, there are a number of similar images of him, at night, in SF, on the street/sidewalk. And I don't live in SF...here in Durham, it isn't that easy to find big city bokeh to carry a self portrait.

Back in a few hours....