It’s so obvious why I’m not a model……

Richard Charpentier Arizona, Notes from Rich, Photography, Prescott Leave a Comment

Today I’d hoped to do a little experimenting with concepts I’ve recently learned.  Specifically I wanted to toy with some of the ideas from the “One Light” DVD.  You know.  Girl in field of dead weeds with a softbox and a sunset.  Or a grid spot.  Maybe both.  Try out what you’ve learned.

Of course, this is all about experimentation.  Remaking one of the neat shots from Zack’s DVD doesn’t mean I’m all the way there.  But it’s just a test while I work out some ideas of my own (I do have a lot of them).

Unfortunately, nobody was available to stand in weeds in front of an amazing sunset.  Nobody was available to be out on a raw December day here in AZ.  Yes, it does get cold here.  Also the amazing sunset failed to show up due to heavy cloud cover.  So, what could I possibly do?

Use myself as the model.

As you can clearly see, I don’t belong in front of the camera.  I do so much better behind it.  And while attempting to give some concepts a try I realized I’m a very difficult model to work with.  I only seem to have one look…… Blue Steel, Ferrari, La Tigra!  They’re all the same!  Doesn’t anyone notice this?  I feel like I’m taking crazy pills……. Sorry, Zoolander moment slipped out and onto the keyboard!  🙂

If you’ve ever read Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography books he goes into a great amount of detail about photographing people.  I think it’s in Volume 2 where he discusses the fact that models are models for a reason.  They photograph well.  And everyone else falls somewhere between Mr. Bean and Jabba the Hut.  He’s right.  I think I’m circling somewhere in the Mr. Bean category.  That’s okay though, there are much worse things than Mr. Bean.

I also tend to want to wave at the camera.  What’s that about?  Who waves at the camera?  Oh, I do.  Goofy but true.  If you ever need someone to wave at a camera, I’m your guy.  Mr. Bean, camera waving, one look, with crazy pills and a cherry on top!

Finally after about 30 minutes of getting cold and having my hands start to tingle I figured it was time to return to the Airstream and see what I’d wrought.  Sure enough, one look over and over.  And yes, I actually do smile often.  Just not in front of a lens.  I get all self conscious about the fact that I’ve never pulled Blue Steel off, and I may never get it right.

So, to all my fellow photographers out there…..  Have you ever experimented on yourself?  Do you have more than one look.  Please tell me I’m not the only one.  Going through these shots makes me think that some therapy might be in order this week.

At least I was happy with what I was trying out with the light.  There is that plus.  But it’s clear that my dream of being featured on the cover of GQ died tonight……eh hemmm.  Sorry, trying to take that last one seriously just gave me heart burn.  Okay, I’d better wrap up now!  🙂

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