Food Porn

When I first started interning at the Weekly back in Fall 2006, I received food and drink assignments a few times a month. Back then I really didn't enjoy shooting still life images at all (I was craving moments and spontaneous spot news). I would show up to restaurants not really knowing what the heck I was doing; hoping the chef just made something colorful and well presented that would be easy to photograph- something that would require little creativity on my part. But my how things have changed. The more and more I delve into studying studio lighting and trying to replicate it, the more and more I relish the occasional food photo assignment as an opportunity to explore my photographic identity. It's starting to become a passion for me: the composition, the lighting (now I have 2 light stands, whoo hoo!), the choice to include background details-or not, and the best angles to make food look at its best. It's a nice change from being the recorder of a scene to its creator; a newfound ability to imagine and produce.

High school filmmaker

A few weeks ago I was assigned to get a portrait of David Harris, a 16-year-old filmmaker who recently just directed a short film which has won all these awards at various youth film festivals. His film is about a kid who works at a funeral home, so I really wanted the portrait to reflect the dark and moody subject matter David took on in his film. When I told him my idea, he supplied all the props. I shot all these images at his school, the location I chose was down a hallway leading to the boy's bathroom. I was really attracted to the window at the end of the hall, and also that there were no lights. Believe it or not, this was taken right after school in the middle of the day. I used two lights most of the time, at the beginning I had them both shining on David from opposite sides (which you can see in the second photo below). Although I loved how his shadow was coming out on both walls and how illuminated he was, the lighting just wasn't as dramatic as I wanted. So in the end, I settled for one light (held up by his dad) with a gobo attached shining from the far right, then I placed the second light behind to add in the hair light and give him that rim light. If I had to do it again, I would have definetely had a third light for fill on the left side, and really bring out those lights and the chair better. Oh well. Anyways, this was a really fun assignment especially since I had the time and patient model to really work with it on. He is a very driven teenager; I am certain he will succeed well with film in the near future.

Not nearly as dramatic, but I wanted to show the school setting too.

Apples to Apples

I just bought a new toy to play with; my new foldable lightstand with umbrella mount. I think it was my last assignment in which I photographed a 16-year-old filmmaker using 2 lights which had to be held up by boxes and the filmaker's dad that finally pushed me to just go out and get a stand already. I will post the filmmaker photos soon...they turned out really cool I think. So, with my newfound freedom with being to able to shoot with 2 lights, I feel my creativity is just getting started. When I got assigned my latest Food&Drink assignment which was just asking for photos of apples, I thought I'd try out my luck and really take advantage of my flashes. For the shot above, I actually used 3 lights. I cross-lit a row of apples from the sides and used my master flash to fill in the direct highlights. I used CTO gells to give it more of that "autumn" glow. I've also included my set-up shots and technical info in case anyone is interested in how I shot this. Disregard my ghetto studio which is actually a desk in the newsroom that is always overflowing with newspapers and books.

Technical Info:
camera:Canon 20d using lens @20 mm, Iso 100, f5 @1/250.
strobes: Left Canon 550ex, snooted and gelled with full CTO@ 1/64 power
right Canon 430, snooted and gelled with full CTO@1/64 power
Master strobe on camera, Canon 550ex @1/128 power

this one is my favorite, I'm glad I decided to spritz on some water to really give it more texture and eye appeal.

technical info:
camera: lens @35mm zoom, Iso 100, f4 @1/250
strobes: left 550ex snooted and gelled with full CTO @1/64 power
right 430ex snooted and gelled with full CTO @1/64 power

found objects

soon to be nonexistent

Whoa, it's been forever since I posted on here. I don't really know why it has taken me 5 months to finally post something new. I figure indifference, laziness, and self-doubt are the main reasons to blame. But that's changing. I'm trying to push myself into new directions of photography...getting better moments, becoming more patient with assignments and seeking out better composition, and seeing objects in a different light. So, in between my assignments I've started looking out for interesting lines, shapes and shadows found in stationary objects. This is all personal work I'm just doing for fun and posting on here. I don't know what it is about lines and symmetry but I seem to be gravitating towards it with my lens sometimes.

21 colors of the same shoe


imprints on the pavement

patterns repeated

Robots!

Somedays when I'm working down here I'm reminded that I'm in the smack dab of Silicon Valley, completely surrounded by incredibly smart people. While teaming up with a reporter on his story about local robotic-engineering (ok, so it's probably officially referred to as "artificial intelligence") we got a sneak peak at the robots of the soon-to-be future. This includes the all robotic operating room, which is controlled by a surgeon who could be as far away as space, using voice-recognizable 3-D virtual reality technology that controls the bots. They even thought so far ahead that there are several robots in the operating room who duplicate the tasks of their human counterparts, such as a scrub nurse, and a supply nurse. The all robotic operating room is currently being used for simple surgeries -although you won't be able to sign me up for one anytime soon. Do you think you could picture yourself lying on this gurney? Of course they tell us there will be actual humans to supervise the whole process....lest something terrible happens, like the robots taking control.

The O.R. of the future?

Robotic fingers that can even sew stitches

A week in the life of a small town photojournalist

Ok, so really these were not all taken in the same week, more like the last two weeks. But they give you a general idea as to the types of assignments I get every week. Just thought I'd share.

Some kids goofing off in auto shop class

Taking a break for a second while working on a car in auto shop class

At the newly built rehabilitation and physical therapy center for horses, using a water filled treadmill to get a racehorse's legs strengthened after a previous injury.

A portrait of a mortgage broker for the Real Estate section

Sixth graders all dressed in togas during "Greek Fest" day

A fisherman at Half Moon Bay who is now solely relying on catching crabs for income now that all ocean salmon fishing has been cancelled for the whole season.

On the Farm

Back in late February I was trying to come up with a photo story idea for a two-three page spread I would have in April. I'm not sure how it came about but I suddenly got the inspiration to focus on some of the local farmers here who sell at the Menlo Park Farmer's Market every Sunday. It really was like one of those moments in which a little light bulb inside my head flicked on. (Farms, produce, and sunshine...cool!) I was on a weekend assignment anyway so I decided to check out the market and talk to the vendors, see who was selling what and where they hailed from. Most of these farmers come all the way out here from places like Hollister, Stockton, King City, and Modesto. That's a lot of traveling and labor involved every weekend. I wanted to stay focused to a 40-mile radius from our area, so luckily enough the market manager gave me some names of farmers in the zone. I got in touch with two farms, Happy Quail and Mellow's, who were nice enough to go along with my vision and actually take time to talk to me during their 12-14 hour-long days. By the end of the two weeks I spent on this project, I had developed a new sense of awe and respect for farmers and all the work that they put into their crops. Tony, who runs Mellow's farms, has 40 acres spread out all over the Morgan Hill area. A few days a week, his shift usually starts at around 2am to load all the produce into the truck and haul it up to the city where he unloads it at the Farmer's Market, sells until about 5pm, and usually gets home around 8pm or so. That is a looooooong day. And he works seven days a week! And on the Happy Quail Farm, they are truly making the most of the one acre that they have that is located inside two greenhouses in East Palo Alto of all places. I couldn't believe that they have to plant all those peppers one by one bending their backs....it even made my back hurt just watching them. This story has been one of my favorites by far and made me open my eyes as to the amount of work we take for granted that goes into providing us our food. And I got to see how broccoli grows (how sad is that, that I had no clue before?) Farming must be one of the most labor intensive professions out there...yet the farmers seem to love it. I guess it must be that excitement and pride you get from seeing something start as a tiny little seed grow to six feet tall producing pounds and pounds of tasty food.

Thousands of tomato seedlings being planted

Watering the tomato seedlings

Cauliflower

Backbreaking work planting pepper plants

Pepper plant seedlings waiting to get transplanted

The Menlo Park Farmer's Market

A rainbow of bell peppers

Speeches

Hmmm...how to make an assignment about a pyschiatrist speaking to local parents go above and beyond the standard talking head photo? Race backstage and get shots of the speaker getting her notes ready of course! I'm trying to really push myself on otherwise boring assignments, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think it is helping me start to develop my style and become more confident with my work. I thought these turned out okay.

Futbol

You know, lately I have developed a real love for this job. Every day is something new, a chance to meet new people and hear their stories, a chance to get a peek into some previously unfamiliar territory. On Tuesday, this is how my day went:
Assignment #1 was spent wandering around a native plant garden, feeling the sun warm my face, hearing the bees buzz around me, smelling the wonderful scents of the sage plants. Not the most thrilling of assignments, sure, but not a bad way to spend half an hour in the day.
Assignment #2 was spent photographing an after school soccer club created to provide "at risk" kids with an alternative, all including, less expensive, and definetely less snobby then AYSO, chance to play soccer. Sure I got hit in the head, hard, with the soccer ball. And sure I almost got kicked 10 times and narrowly escaped being pushed down with the camera smashed to my face...but hey, I got to spend an hour and a half, in a park, hanging out with funny kids who say things like...."Oh, he's got skittles (instead of skills)". Pretty cool.

Moodiness

I was feeling pretty moody last week, so I decided to try shooting some more abstract-y shots. I'm a sucker for dramatic lighting and silouhettes, so whenever I find a situation that gives way to them, I jump on it. Both of these were shot while working on an assignment about the new local theatre troupe. While I was waiting around for rehearsal to begin, I played around and this is was I got. To me, they suggest something sort of sinister and dark. What do you think? -leave me a comment.

Random shots

This was shot for the new monthly section being featured in our paper concerning stories centered solely on the environment and "being green". This woman (on the left) is completely rebuilding her house with all green features and recycled items. The wood from the old house was salvaged. The windows, cabinets, and bathtub will be reused in the new house. The house was built around existing trees. There will be solar panels. The furnace is 98% efficient. The wood is FSC certified (comes from managed forests, not rainforests) Even the countertops will be made of recycled glass.



This was shot to illustrate a story about "Nature Deficit Disorder" and why some kids of the current generation aren't getting outside in the woods anymore. I shot these kids playing in the creek which runs right behind their home.


Spanish Day. Remember those styrofoam Mission projects you had to do in fourth grade? Well this was that taken one step further. In an effort to get the kids excited about their projects, the local elementary school had them dress up either as Native Americans, Spaniard Settlers/Priests, or "Explorers" and present their projects to fellow students and their parents. I'm still wondering why I saw a bunch of cowboys and pirates though. Maybe they should read up on their history a little more :)