Another FCC video!

FCC Fashion Show from Bill Heffley on Vimeo.

The guys at Groovy Like a Movie rocked it again. I think I am up to a minute and thirty seconds of fame ;)

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Good food, good wine.

-nate

B Roll from Groovy Like A Movie

I thought I would share this b roll from GLAM and FCC.

My 1 minute of fame...

FCC Shot on RED from Bill Heffley on Vimeo.

-nate

Overly Sexy?

OK this is a rant, I'll put that out there right now.

Models what are you doing? Or should I say those that want to be models, what are you doing? The world doesn't revolve around sexy images. Most publications and advertisements out there don't require overly sexy. STOP!

Take a real look at your portfolio. Do you really want to work as a model? If not by all means keep up the wanna be Maxim/Playboy shoots. It takes more then T&A to be a model.

I've been trying to help a friend of mine find a model to do a life style product shoot and every portfolio I showed her she comes to the same conclusion. She comments something to the effect of "I can't see them doing the shoot. They are so sexxxy...." I have to agree they are.

My suggestions to you from a nobody like me.

• Have a clean none touched-up head shot. People really need to see what you look like.
• Do more then just sexy. Look at real adds in magazines other then Playboy.
• Build portfolios (multiple) that shows different looks; life style, fashion, editorial, and yes even sexy if you choose.

I don't know where I've heard this from and I'll probably quote it wrong:

"If you aren't happy with the results you're getting then change what you're doing..."

Maybe I am completely off base, I don't know. That's it....

-nate

A Proud Grandpa

What is your style...

A friend of mine asked "Do you think you have your own distinguished look to your pictures" I immediately replied "No".

What is my style, my look? I hate that question! (Don't take it personal, you know who you are.)

What is your style? I don't even know what that means. I've been thinking about this question a lot. Some professionals say you have to have a style. My question to them is what about change? Everything is always changing. So by defining yourself or your style then you stop changing? I am sure they would answer with a big "No!", but really that is what you are doing... You are saying this is me. This is what I do. This is my style...

So, after struggling with this I've come to the following conclusion.

Every situation requires its own style. The "style" should be representative of my interpretation of the situation. Somethings require edgy with attitude, kinda a big fuck you. Sometimes a soft and airy feel is more appropriate. It all depends on what the situation requires to create the vision.

So at the end of the day my style is whatever I feel the situation calls for.

There you have it, my style....

-nate

...

Here are some images from a concert at the Firehouse Brewing Co. in Mission Valley. It was a charity event held to honor and celebrate the heros and victims of 9/11.

It was a very cool event and of course I took some photos :)

Here is a link

Drink beer, take photos...

-nate

Is Fashion Blind?

The answer is a big NO! But love is... That is another topic for another time...

I had a chance to go to the Art of Fashion Show at the Timken Art Museum last weekend and it was amazing!

The designers from FCC used pieces from the museum as inspiration to create an outfit.

Here is a link to the images.

-nate

PS I know its been a million years since my last post. A lot has been going on, some good, some not...

I'll try and back fill some posts over the next few weeks.

iPhone New York

On this trip to New York I used my iPhone to create photos. I used an application call Camera Bag to edit the photos on the phone then I was able to post to them to facebook. It was really cool getting feedback from people while I was in New York. Gotta love technology...

 Here is a link to some of the images

-nate

Photobadassery at Met Museum

There is so much I can say about New York. It was a great vacation. It was inspiring, so much creativity. While in front of Bergdorf Goodman admiring the great window display I notice the mention of an exhibition at the Met called The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion. It was a great exhibit. So inspiring so many great ideas, great poses, and amazing designs. Of course I had to take the opportunity to have Stacy snapped a photo of me and Photobadassery in front of a 1955 Harper's Bazaar cover of a Dior shot by Avedon.

I have lots more to come about New York. I just have so many photo sessions to edit. 

-nate

New York

Well today is our third day and New York and so far it's been great!
The photo ops are amazing. 2 days in and 10 gigs down. I may have to
by more memory. Speaking of which I went by B&H photo yesterday and
they where closed :(. Not that I have any money to be spending on a
new camera. I've also been using my iphone camera to post photos on
facebook. Which have been turning out well. My biggest bitch with the
phone is the battery life. I can kill the phone's battery before
dinner. Off for another day of adventure and photo.

-nate

Just another image

Nothing really to say...

-nate

My day in photos

Seth Rogen, Stacy & PhotoBadAssery...

Today I was finishing up a run and my wife sent me this photo. It's her and Seth Rogen and she is sport'n a PhotoBadAssery cap. They were doing a fund raiser for Alzheimers. Some day I really hope they find a cure...

That reminds me I also just got a bunch of PhotoBadAssery shawg. 

-nate

Tutu

What kinda word is tutu? I am sure there is a long wiki about the history of the tutu but I don't really want to get into it.

A friend of mine, Janet, wanted to do a shoot with tutus. So here is one of the images from that shoot. There are so many great images from the session. Funny thing is a friend of my commented that I alway say "more to come" and I never post more... Well I won't say it this time ;)

So busy right now, so much going on... I wish it was all good but it's not. I guess if it was always good then I would never really appreciate it when things are good.

I am lucky to have the problems I have...

-nate

Just another day...

I didn't get a recent booking and I was kinda pissed. Not at the client but at myself for not getting it. For not being the photographer they needed. I guess I can't be everything for everyone. This wasn't a bad thing the reality is I've got plenty on my plate right now.

This photo to the right was another shoot with Kindra I was using a beauty dish just left of the camera and a large reflector camera right.

I did get some new photobadassery stickers. I'll hopefully get some more incriminating photos ;)

-nate

Button Eyes...

OMG, I can't believe how busy I am! Unfortunately it's noting to do with photography. Oh-well that how it goes...

Nothing really to say just thought this was an interesting series of images.

Button Eyes.

-nate

Another day another shoot

Some shoots are easier then others and this was one of them. This makeup artist Janet had a concept for a shoot and this is one of the images we came up with.  On the technical side of things, I used (rented)  a Profoto 7a pack and a ProRing light. Which was very cool, bulky, but cool. My biggest challenge was controlling all the light in the studio space because it was so small and I could only turn down the lights so far. The background lights were spilling  over. We made the best of it. I also did some images with my beauty dish and I think I like the light a little better. I'll post some of those images later.

-nate

Free Styling...

Well it started out that I was going to do a street studio with a friend. He had invited a model, Kindra, that I worked with before. So it wasn't really a street studio but its crazy how things just kinda work out. I did some fashion style shots with Kindra that were OK, I may post some later. Back to the point I was trying to get to. After I finished up shooting Kindra and we were talking; she was horsing around, doing cart wheels and free styling. Here was one of the images from that. I've heard a saying "It's the photos between the photos" I think this was one of those times. 

On a technical note, I using a single light source (a beauty dish) and a reflector out of frame trying to fill her face in.

The day ended well ;)

-nate

Street Studio is back!

It's been a long time since I've done a street studio. So, this weekend I am meeting a friend, Ken, downtown and we're going to see what we can come up with. If your are in Downtown San Diego come visit us and strike a pose. It'll be fun. We'll be at 10th Ave and Park Blvd  around noon.

Come see us.

-nate

You think it will never happen to you...

I never thought is would happen to me... I was shooting some family editorial portraits (I made that up). On the way there I needed to pickup another compact flash (CF), I forgot to bring enough of mine... :(

Anyways, I formated the CF in the camera and went on my merry way shooting.  When I got home I uploaded into Light Room and I got an error message about not reading some files. I put the CF back into the camera and tried to look at the images. Half of them weren't there... Yep, not there... FUCK!!! I tried running a recovery program; nothing... FUCK! So there you have it, FUCK! I lost half the images. I was chimping  some of the photos on the back of the camera during the shoot and they were there. I even showed them to the client, they were there. Did I say FUCK? There you go... "They" say it can happen and it did... "They" were right.

Backup often don't put all your eggs in one basket. All that good stuff. I hope it doesn't happen to you.

-nate

My new favorite lens

This is going on my "I wanta list..."I had a chance to use the Canon 85mm L II lens for a photo shoot, and it is amazing. It was a fashion shoot and I've had a problem using a 50mm lens in the past. It's just a bit too wide. A side note, I am using a Canon 5d body.
The lens does focus slow, but you can't really blame it there is a lot of glass moving around in that lens. The images are tack sharp! Unfortunately I really didn't get to mess with the DoF (f1.2) I need a bit more in focus for the client. Ahh, side note it cost $1,800.00. Ouch- I guess I'll stick with renting.
Unfortunately I can't show the images from the photo shoot right now. The client hasn't release them. That is another post.
Below is a test image I shot the week before while testing out the lens. Its not great but not bad...

Anyways, have a goodnight

-nate

Togetherness

I can't believe 2009 is in full effect, and unfortunately I haven't even BLOG'd this year. I've already taken so many photos. Some aren't bad. I've been so busy, which is a good thing, but today I was at a funeral in LA for one of my wife's family members. The minister recited the following poem.

"Togetherness

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room.

Whatever we were to each other, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.

Speak to me in the same easy way you always have.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.

Play, smile, think of me, and pray for me.

Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it always was.

There is absolute unbroken continuity.

Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight?

I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well. Nothing is past. Nothing has been lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before - only better.

Infinitely happier. We will be one, together forever."

-author unknown

I know this has nothing to do with photography but it is to good not too share. More photo adventures to come.

-nate