Three Is Better Than One

Yesterday was my first REAL client shoot for LOOKS Salon and Spa in Columbia, Maryland (I even signed my first contract). The purpose of the shoot was to get a variety of images to use for the price list, website and other marketing/advertising materials. I had a meeting with the owners of the Salon and the advertising agency in change of rebranding the salon. They had very specific shots in mind–an overall environmental shot empty and with clients, a shot of someone getting shampooed, a man getting a massage ect…They had even mockup of the Price list with 6 stock photos as examples for what they wanted. It was a little intimidating for them to have something so specific in mind.

Going into it I was super nervous. It was only the second shoot using strobes alone, and because of the variety of shots I had to get, I had to rearrange the lighting setup for each. I had also come up with a schedule earlier in the week so there was an expectation to keep on track and not waste too much time getting one shot. If there is one thing I hate it’s being rushed. Looking like I don’t know what I’m doing and producing mediocre work I would consider to be more along the lines of fear.

Luckily I convinced my roommate to come along as an assistant at the last minute. For some reason I didn’t take into account that there was no way I could keep to the shooting schedule if I had to keep making adjustments to the lights….not to mention I needed someone to hold the reflector. The moral support wasn’t so bad either, god knows I needed it.

Even though I felt like I was under a ton of pressure, and came very close to panicking during the first half of the shoot (until I announced I was taking a break and then drove to go get cigarettes) everything went smoothly and I managed to light (almost) all the shots really well.

Here is a screen shot of the samples I sent to the advertising agency this afternoon.(Click to full view)

Besides the shots that I got for LOOKS, I ended up coming out of the shoot with a few images that were perfect to use for personal work and have a little fun with.

I was in love with the pictures I got of the girl flipping her hair in front of the red wall (I was about two feet away from her face and hunched under the strobe because the only red walls were the hallway by the front door. The wall must’ve been a grand total of 5 feet wide). Because I was using such a high-powered strobe I was able to use a fast shutter speed 1/ 320 and an aperture of  f/13 for a wide depth of field.

I ended up coming home from the shoot and immediately editing the photos of the girl flipping her hair that I knew the agency wouldn’t want to use because her face is covered by hair, which is why I loved them.

I had alot of fun editing those photos, it made me realize how much I need to start doing personal projects again!

This last picture was a happy result of Sam standing against the wall so I could do a lighting test. Her face is priceless

Looking Back

I live vicariously through my camera. To me, being a photographer goes beyond being able to classifying it as art, hobby or occupation. To me, being a photographer is a state of mind, it’s a way of seeing the world, and more importantly, showing the world how I see it through my eyes.

My first encounter with a digital SLR was nearly three years ago. As a child I was always creative and artistic but I was never drawn to one particular medium over another. I did, however, always have a sentimental relationship with pictures, I always thought that there was something precious about how a photograph could preserve a time and place.
Picking up that original Digital Rebel was like discovering that I had a sixth sense. In the three years since I have gone from a casual hobbyist to a semiprofessional getting ready to launch a new studio with hopes of becoming a fashion photographer.

Through the camera I have found my voice, and more importantly, myself. Photography is a source of continual growth, as I’m sure it will always be. Each photo shoot I aim to make better than the one before, and I’m never satisfied unless I’m certain that the photos are the best that I am capable of producing.

In three years I have come unimaginable distances both as a person and a photographer. Photography provided me with the perfect outlet; it has given me an excuse to approach the world with childlike curiosity, a reason to treat life like an adventure and method to forget fear and social boundaries.

Nothing lasts forever—but a picture can take you back.

Photo of the Day #2

“Day Dreamer”

I took this photo of my younger brother Matt in the summer of 2007. I had edited previously and to say that it was sloppy would be an understatement, I’m glad I came across the original photo. I really like this photo of him because he is such a huge day dreamer, all day long….

A New Year

It’s already been a good start to a new year. Today I finished up a photo I’ve been working on for the past few weeks, it had about 15 hours behind it, which is definitely a record for me. It was nice to be able to devote the time to trying out and learning some new things.

I am absolutely in love with Abduzeedos blog, I always learn something useful in the tutorials.  Also worth noting in the photoshop category is Computer Arts list of the top 30 photoshop tutorials of 2009. Lots of neat stuff in there.

Also, as one of my new years resolutions I decided to start doing “a photo a day” again. Hoping this time it lasts more than a month. So on that note, here is Photo of the Day #1

For this photo I used some stock photos from Stock Exchange and a few brushes I found on Brusheezy. I found this tutorial particularly helpful when I was creating the lighting effects. The shopping cart, balloons and model were all in the original picture.

Updates!!!

I can’t believe how much has happened since my last blog post! I completed my undergraduate degree in public relations (good riddance!), had my first show at Cafe Latte’da, shot a full page advertisement in a national magazine and have another coming in February, photographed an entire bead catalog by myself, shot my first editorial fashion spread and band feature for Gutter Magazine,  just completed a badass multimedia photo story and of course, continued to go to abandoned buildings.

Here’s what I’ve been up to—–>Advertisement for Trollbeads in Lucky Magazine Oct. 2009.

Editorial fashion spread for Gutter Magazine

Band feature for Gutter Magazine

Appearing in the February 2010 issue of Bon Appetite

A shot from inside the abandoned Richmond Power Station in Philadelphia

A self portrait I did for fun and to try out some new things

Part of a photo story I worked on for about a month
The artist is Samuel Tefcon, a Baltimore-based painter, illustrator and street artist who is definitely super talented and is undoubtedly going places.
This is the first multimedia I have done for a personal project. Check out the multimedia junks on Vimeo.

His website and blog are also worth checking out.

If you’re interested in seeing more you can always swing by my Flickr page.

As much as I have done over the past few months, I am so excited to be able to focus on things that I want to for a change. My head is spinning with ideas and I’m so happy that I finally have the time to spend learning the things I want to learn and taking better photos.

I have a few things planned right now. At the top of the list are redoing my website completely, finding freelance gigs and getting a show for my abandoned building series. Mastering lighting, particularly strobes is also pretty high on my list. I also want to reinstate my “photo of the day,” blog regularly and read all the books that have been piling up over the past two years.

With so many goals I have to keep telling myself that I’m only 21 and that there is plenty of time. But for some reason everything feels so urgent.

Maybe yoga would be beneficial.

Official Website Launch!

So after months of work, and then weeks of working out the kinks my website is officially up and running. Yup, that’s right there is now a NicoleFallek.com

Check it out, let me know what you think and come to the exhibition which is now May 29th at Cafe Latte’da in Fells Point.

Grunge Photo Tutorial

Whenever I start to get sick of editing photos the same way over and over I take a look at tutorials to help me develop new skills or achieve a look I’m going for.

I just recently used a tutorial that I found on Photoshop Frenzy to create a dramatic and gritty effect in my photo.

Click the picture to go to the tutorial.
Here is my original photo:

And here is the final version:

I didn’t follow the tutorial exactly….I opted out of doing the second high pass layer and I cropped, played with the curves and levels and finally used the gaussian blur filter with a layer mask so the focus was on the sink. 

It’s All About Perspective 2

More action shots from the Urban Jungle series.

It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do.
He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child
who looks at the world for the first time or of the traveler who enters a strange country.
– Bill Brandt-

Pretty classic pose if you ask me. This was at the first place we ever shot together. An old ice factory.

Trying to figure out how to get inside of the rubber factory and if it was safe to do so. (It wasn’t but we
went in anyways)

Ditto

In the moment

Also in the moment 🙂

Just a really awesome picture anyways.

THIS is what we were romping around in….and I was in flip flops.
At one point there was a lightbulb literally wrapped around my toe
but amazing no damage was done

Up to the roof.

And from my perspective

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s All About Perspective

I have always loved pictures of me taking pictures and I think that nearly every photographer does. Especially when you know exactly what you were shooting and how different it looks from the photo of you taking it. Thanks to my recent outings with Andre we have been getting alot of action shots of one another. So I’m going to show you some pictures of both of us in action or at the various places we have been and also some of the finished pieces from our side of the lens. 

What is of value is that a particular photographer sees the subject differently.
A good picture must be a completely individual expression which
intrigues the viewer and forces him to think.

– Alexey Brodovitch-

We couldn’t quite figure out what this thing was or why it was there. It appearned to be the body of an old airplane or trainMy Photo of Andre in the plane/train

Now you may be asking yourself “how could this ever be something beautiful and artistic?” 

 

 

 

 

Me taking a picture of Andre

 

Andre taking a picture of me

The picture I was taking

My Personal Favorite, climbing in through the window

Thank god for remotes :)–Taking a quick break in our first location

 

 

 

 

Be Inspired

So I came across a ton of awesome photography quotes on on Photoquotes.com and not only did I find them inspiring but also an explanation of the unconscious processes of photographer and how each photographer is so different. Shooting with another photographer has definitely taught me alot about the different ways that people see things and how they interpret them. Photography is an unconscious assertion of a personal reality. Photography gives me a way of saying the unspeakable.

At the root of creativity is an impulse to understand, to make sense of random and often unrelated details. For me, photography provides an intersection of time, space, light, and emotional stance. One needs to be still enough, observant enough, and aware enough to recognize the life of the materials, to be able to ‘hear through the eyes. ‘

– Paul Caponigro –

I profoundly believe that a photographer worthy of the name is first and foremost a human being, a person deeply concerned
with the human predicament. Such a person will want to make his photography do a job of work for the particular cause he has espoused
To my mind it is this dedication which gives the photographer the moral right to stand in front of otherhumans with a camera in his hand.
I consider any alternative an unwarranted imposition upon the rights and privacy of the subject
– Jozef Gross –

The photographer sees the world as a child sees the bits of glass in a kaleidoscope.
If he has a camera with which he can secure these ever-changing combinations,
he is then able to look on them again and again, and he has the further pleasure of pleasing others
with the sight of things which he, with perhapsunusual opportunities, was able to see, which his friends
would otherwise not ever be able to.
– Frank Meadow Sutcliffe-

Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the
present, is linked to a sense of the past.
– Susan Sontag-

What is of value is that a particular photographer sees the subject differently. A good picture must be a completely
individual expression which intrigues the viewer and forces him to think.
– Alexey Brodovitch-

I realize more and more what it takes to be a really good photographer.
You go in over your head, not just up to your neck.
– Dorothea Lange-

The unconscious obsession that we photographers have is that wherever we go we want
to find the theme that we carry inside ourselves.
– Graciela-

…the only things that distinguish the photographer from everybody else are his pictures:
they alone are the basis for our special interest in him.
If pictures cannot be understood without knowing details of the artist’s private life, then that is a reason for
faulting them; major art,by definition, can stand independent of its maker.
– Robert Adams – “Beauty in Photography” 1996-

We look at the world and see what we have learned to believe is there.
We have been conditioned to expect…. but, as photographers, we must learn
to relax our beliefs.
– Aaron Siskind

The photographer projects himself into everything he sees, identifying himself
with everything in order to know it and to feel it better.
– Minor White

I believe that photographs – especially good photographs that compel our interest – help us to remember;
and even more importantly, they help us to decide what is worth remembering.
– John Rosenthal

It is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do.
He must have and keep in him something of the receptiveness of the child who looks at the world
for the first timeor of the traveler who enters a strange country.
– Bill Brandt

Nowadays, of course, it’s standard behavior for lots of people to photograph anything that is considered unusual or –
as it used to be said – out of the ordinary. Photographs help us to fortify our memory and reconstruct the
narrative of our personal adventures. They’re a way of proving to ourselves, especially when we’re feeling dull,
that we’ve led interesting lives and have always been surrounded by people who cared for us.
They’re also a way of keeping at bay the perception that life is fleeting and we can’t hold onto the past.
– John Rosenthal – NPR Commentary

One could think of a person who seems to have two opposing and contradictory sides to his personality;
but it turns out that in the end the two sides are complementary. The same happens with an artist’s work:
deep down, what appear as contradictory sides are merely different registers, different aspects of the reality
that the artist inhabits…
– Manuel Alvarez Bravo-