A Fresh Look at Old Photos

It has been a while since I have done a post on my photography because it has been a while since I was truly invested and focused on my photography.  Yes, we have been amid a worldwide pandemic for the past year, and a lot of the assignments that I had booked last year were postponed or canceled.  But for the most part, it is on my lack of creativity and drive during it all for very… human reasons.  I have had an insecurity with my photography weighing me down unconsciously that has shut my camera down more so than Covid-19 has.  But what the shutdown has brought to the surface more so is how I have been unconsciously questioning myself with “am I really good enough?”

 

Well, I began to examine the work I have done up to this point just to assess for myself directly how my photography is instead of just going with the story in my head of “I’m not as good as I should be at this point.”  Now not to get too deep and psychological about this but I am aware that my insecurities have a lot more to do about other stories in my head about my self-worth than it is about my actual photography.  In general, I get compliments and at the very least approval for my shoots, and seldom have I received critical feedback (even indirectly) so it is not based upon external evidence.  So let me take another look at it myself to see just how good I am now and see how true those stories the gremlins in my head are telling me!

I first looked at some of my favorite shots from some of my favorite shoots that I could remember. I have been doing photography now with professional-level equipment since 2005 and my skills, style, and composition have all advanced along with my equipment upgrades.  My camera upgrades since 2005 were:

 

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Nikon D80           to    Nikon D300      to   Nikon D700      to       Nikon D750

 

But what I did with less back then tended to impress me more than not when I took my insecurity filters off.  I then began to look at how some of these photos would look with my current style of editing than the inconsistent, Lightroom preset heavy editing style I had coming out into the world of photography.  Let’s look at some samples, shall we?

Early in my photo editing, I was obsessed with putting vignettes on my portraits, especially WHITE vignettes for some reason.  I am glad that I am out of that phase.

 

 

I also enjoyed a variety of preset styles for the same shoot.  I went with a “how does this photo feel and what preset will emphasize that feeling” approach to my editing.  Lots of inconsistency.

 

Yes, these are all from the same shoot.

 

 

I am also finding some gems with photos that I originally did not have as selections to edit as I look with an updated perspective on editing.  I like to show a wider range of the person’s personality now than I used to.

 

 

These photos at the time of the shoots did not make the cut of my selections.  I now see them with evolved eyes.

 

My conclusion is that my passion is always shown through whatever skill level I was at during the shoots and that I am proud of the photographer I was at every phase I experienced.  Now I can confidently continue my evolution to the photographer I want to be with my next shoot… then my next shoot… and then my next shoot.

Coral Gables Couple Shoot

I recently did an engagement shoot for a very cool couple the day before Valentine’s Day that was a hoot to do.  I loved Cristina & Manny with their well-balanced personalities; she was passionate and very excitable and he was calm, cool and collected with his adoration of his soon-to-be bride.  I loved their story as they ended up together after knowing each other for many years and Manny finally captured Cristina’s heart.

We had an Urban Scene on the streets of Coral Gables right off of Ponce De Leon where we captured just how they were as a couple with Cristina being the expressive, life-embracing fairy and Manny being the grounded yet captivated knight in shining armor.

Then we ended the day with a walk in the park with a picnic thrown in for good measure.

I tried something new for the first time with capturing the couple as one using Double Exposure in camera.  It was a great start and I hope to evolve in this area because it was so fun to compose and create with them!

I actually did this shoot from a donation to a charitable event as one of the silent bid auction submissions that I totally forgot that I had donated my time for because it had been so long since they asked me to do it.  I felt even better that my time and talents were going to a good cause.  Gracias Cristina & Manny for an awesome morning!

Bendable Beauty

I love doing Yogatography because it is fascinating and so very artistic seeing the limitless ways a body expresses itself.  I get to just go along for the ride and capture the essence of the mind, body, and spiritual experience.  Recently I got to shoot with Kiki Attonito, one of my wife’s yoga students, who is beautifully fierce on her mat and wanted to get some shots that capture her at her physical best.  I got about 700 shots because I got to watch her work her spineless wizardry and I had no idea what I was eventually going to get.  I just wanted to make sure that whoever saw these photos could feel her ferocity and grace at first glance.

Thankfully I had my wife Shanté the Yoga instructor there as a creative director.  She was able to support both of us with the best way to capture Kiki’s bendiness, as well as be my model for test shots for exposure...

As thorough as this shoot was, I was sweating profusely throughout because Kiki was giving her all with beautiful poses but with our limited space I was clearly missing a lot of shots because of my limitations in getting good angles and not much backdrop to work with.  Here are some of my misses or great poses but not great angles…

We eventually got into a rhythm and I got the idea during to shoot to capture the evolution of each pose and somehow I can put them together artistically.

I also began to see that if I can somehow combine the sequence of some of her poses that could be a cool artistic shot... if I can get it to work...  

Overall the shoot was about 700 shots, so it is a good thing that my Yoga wife was there for input on the peak of each pose and support me in what Kiki was looking for.  Here are a few final products!

Overall Kiki was just awesome to work with.  She was simply incredible on her mat, she was very patient as we worked out the shot with our limited space, and she has loads of energy and stamina.  I am now looking forward to see where my "Yogatography" takes me next, thank you Kiki!

Maternity At Unity on the Bay

I have done at this point quite a few maternity shoots and they are always special treats to me.  To capture a glowing mother-to-be as she symbolizes all of the love and possibilities of bringing a new life to this world.  To witness even at times the loving and connected couple as they bask in the midst of what their union created.  Well, every shoot up to this point has NOTHING on shooting my own expecting wife, Shanté, and capturing her beauty and sharing it with the world.  In many ways it is an invitation to my inner sanctum as I share my family with you all.  We shot this brief little shoot at our Spiritual Community home, Unity on the Bay, in the courtyard and little garden area they have.  This was the shoot before our official maternity shoot together with another fine photographer, Rhonda Gutierrez, who has a different style entirely than my own.

First I wanted to capture the spiritual essence for us with the impending arrival of our Little Buddy, aka Chocolate Chip or CC.  I wanted to utilize our environment at Unity and have Angels watching over Mommy and Little Buddy as our initial theme…

Next Scene I just wanted to capture Shanté in the courtyard being who she naturally is during this wonderful period, a happy and grateful Momma-to-be!

Then we made our way over to the courtyard where she was really warmed up, literally and figuratively, so I got to see my woman’s sultry eyes work my lens…

She generally always wants to add some essence of Yoga into the shoot so I let her get her Goddess on…

And we ended the day with a portrait near the fountain and I have the water as representing the essence of life coming forth…

So we wrapped up our warm and humid Miami afternoon with a shout out to our little Chocolate Chip that she is so fond of referring to him as.  For the record, we will be surprised along with the rest of the world as to what our baby’s gender will be when they arrive but for now we are rolling with the general consensus that it will be a bouncing baby boy but who knows…