Corruption II

It's funny, with a title like "Corruption" you'd think I'd be talking about the philosophical corruption of the soul or how the industry is corrupt or we're corrupting young girls by feeding them eating disorders.

Nope.

This is a followup to Corruption.

Opened up one of my full TIFFs with layers yesterday and found this:

Magic: But Then I Wouldn't Be Me

Against the Wall. Holly. D3/50mm. 1/200th, f/2.8, ISO3200.
Shot and retouched live at the Magic Fashion-Editorial Master Class.

Over this past weekend I had a great opportunity to discuss Magic and the philosophy behind Magic with the workshop photographers. Each one of the photographers brought a unique perspective to the class that made this a truly unique experience.

A truly unique experience...

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These were on my computer from years ago and I wanted to share them with you before I deleted them. Cheers!

Nikon D4 and Canon 1Dx

Workhorse

My considerations here are written only from the perspective of my needs and not from a general review viewpoint.

While I own both Canons and Nikons, I would most heavily consider the D4 to replace the D3 if I were to upgrade.

The key words being "if I were to upgrade".

I was thinking about this last night as I thought about the ergonomics of the Nikons versus Canons and also what the D4 would do better. Small differences here and there but nothing that makes this decision a no-brainer.

Magic: Model Interaction - Niche Focus

Couch Surfing. Roarie. D3/50mm, 1/200th, f/1.8, ISO2500.

At first I didn't think that the subject of niche and focus would be relevant to Magic. Then when I thought about it, I realized that having a specific style and genre of photography really focuses your ability to pull certain models; models for (your type of) Magic. When I thought about it further I realized that this was all part of Model Interaction. That models look at photographers' work and then decide whether or not to work with you based upon your genre, your niche, your focus, and of course your abilities in that particular niche.

Take me for example, you'll find a lot of fashion nudes in my recent work. I shoot fashion nudes because I like shooting fashion nudes. It's that simple. So my very first recommendation to any photographer is to first find your passion and then shoot your passion. Don't get sidetracked with all the wonderful sub-genres of photography; glamour, beauty, lifestyle, fashion, etc. If you like something more than anything else, shoot that.

It will do wonders for your portfolio and your ability to pull the right models.

Magic: Model Interaction - Market Perception

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A big part of capturing and creating Magic is finding the right model to shoot. Finding the right model to shoot hinges greatly upon how your models perceive you before they even meet you. Much of that perception is built on what people say about you, either through direct interactions, through the grapevine and/or how you present yourself on the interwebz. All those perceptions create certain expectations of who you are, what you are, and what you can do.

The flip side of having no "market perception" is having no work to show for yourself and no reputation. If you are relatively new to photography and you want to shoot better models, you'll find that it's difficult to convince good models to shoot with you. And for good reason. You can't expect people to decide purely on faith that they'll get good images from a photographer that doesn't have a proven track record of generating good images. This is a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma because getting Magic can depend greatly on the quality of the models that you use.

Magic: Model Interaction - What You Don't Say

Listening. Cody. D3/50mm. 1/250th, f/2.8, ISO1250.

Continuing on Model Interaction, it's important that we discuss the boundaries of conversation etiquette. Why? Because some photographers have diarrhea of the mouth. Put them in front of a pretty girl and they fall apart. They say whatever comes to mind. About things that have no relevance to the matter at hand (shooting). Or worse, they become inappropriate and talk about things that are socially unacceptable and/or make the model uncomfortable.

No, no, no and no.

Some of these photographers lack social interaction on a regular basis. And when they get the chance to work with models, they run their mouth and talk about things that they shouldn't be talking about. Their excuse is that they're just excited. But little do they know, by running their mouth the photographer can destroy what little respect the model had for him/her in the first place.

Magic: Model Interaction - Don't Be A Douchebag

I've outlined the Model Interaction post and it's going to be impossible to put it all in one post so I'm going to break it down. This one is called "Don't Be A Douchebag".

One of the fundamental principles about being able to create Magic (or just being a decent person) is to not be a douchebag. You'd think this were obvious, but not so! The problem with douchebags is that they can't help being douchebags. For them, it's a way of life. They don't know how to be normal human being.