The Blog O’ Luke

 When I was 18 years old and first started in photography, I preferred nature and landscapes, because I was very uneasy photographing people.  God forbid I try to photograph someone who was as uneasy as I was.  To be honest, I’d rather lock myself in my parent’s living room and watch Dukes of Hazzard all night.

When Tricia came in for her portrait consultation a little over a week ago, I was told that she was quiet, shy and wasn’t really looking forward to having her portrait taken.  Years ago, my mind would have gone haywire as I tried to figure out what to do.  As a matter of fact, I probably wouldn’t have slept very well the night before…probably less so than the person I was photographing.

Now I look forward to meeting each and every person that I’m going to photograph.  And this meeting with Tricia is a perfect example of why I prefer to have a consultation before the actual portrait session.  After spending this valuable half hour with her, she was actually looking forward to having her portrait taken.  When she came back for her portrait session, she bounded in the door and was all smiles and all ready to go.  This makes my job alot easier, and the images always come out better than if the person I’m photographing is uneasy and a little stiff.  This often happens without the benefit of having this initial consultation.  So she’s happy, I’m happy, and I can rest happy and go watch a little TV.  Anyone know what cable station is carrying the Dukes of Hazzard marathon?

Heaven 

I had the pleasure this past weekend of photographing a retired deacon at a local parish.  He requested a formal portait in front of a painted backdrop, which we did first thing.  After those shots were done, and we were happy with the results, I asked him if he had some time for some more portraits, using the church as a background.

Using the ambient light in the church, which was streaming through multi-colored stained glass windows, I captured several images, of which this one was my favorite.  How does this all relate to the title of this blog post? 

Last year I created an image that I entered in the international print competition through the Professional Photographers of America (PPA).  The photograph was of a fiend of mine who had a certain look that I liked.  During this session, I requested a particular demonic stare, which he gave me frighteningly easily.  I named the image “Emerging From Hell”, which is shown below.  While I’m happy to say that I won a ribbon with this image, I think I can say that maybe I’ve garned longer-lasting, maybe even eternal redemption with my new image.  Maybe I’ll stay away from the dark side for a little while, just to stay on the safe side.

Hell

I had the extreme pleasure of photographing a large family reunion this weekend that included four generations of my neighbor’s maternal family.  As I scouted out the location the day before, I had to take into account that there were going to be over 100 people involved in the large group photograph.

After seeing the location, and if budget was not an issue, my shopping list would have been like this:
1.  Rent a helicopter.
2.  That pretty much does it.

I think renting a helicopter would pretty much blow the photography budget for most jobs.  So…knowing this wasn’t an option, I thought about mountain climbing gear.  See, the only way that I was going to see all 113 faces was if I got up as high as I could and shoot down on them.  So I went vertical.  No, really….I did.  Not in the way Spiderman or Superman would have done it; I simply used a ladder to get up onto the roof of the pavillion and framed the group in between two perfectly placed trees.

And how do I know there were 113 people there?  It’s like the old joke: two men were driving past a herd of cows and the first man said,”Wow… a herd of 45 cows”.  When the 2nd man asked how he knew that, the first man replied,” I counted the 180 legs and divided by four.”*

* Luke Photography cannot gurantee that this joke will be funny to everyone…or “anyone”, for that matter.

I had the pleasure of photographing Aaron last weekend.  He is a high schoool senior from Fairport and has the easiest smile of any high school boy that I’ve photographed.  It came so natural and easy for him, and I got scads of photos of him smiling, which is his real personality.  But the image shown above is one of my favorites from the session, and both he and his mother agreed.  I decided to use the new lighting set-up that I created and took advantage of the fact that Aaron is an athlete. 

I kept thinking of Sport Illustrated photographs as I was setting this up.  The photographers from SI took some of the most dramatic photos as lead-in photos for many of their stories.  I tried to emulate the photos from the great Walter Iooss, who photographed countless SI covers over many, many years.  Now, my dream of chances of having a photo on the cover of SI are slim to none…but I think Aaron and his family will agree….this is cool enough for him. 

It’s the middle of July, the mercury in the thermometer hit 90 degrees this weekend, and I’m thinking about…..hockey???
No, I didn’t spend too much time in the sun, and I didn’t hit the strawberry daiquiris too hard.  I had to try out a new background and lighting set up.  I am fortunate that I have a family with three good-looking boys living next to me, and a really nice couple with beautiful grandchildren living on the other side of me.  The three boys each play hockey, and I asked their parents if I could have a slave  um…model for a little while to try out my new setup.

The setup is too big for my studio, so I set it up in my garage.  For those of you who do not have garages, you may not realize that a garage that is closed up all day in 90 degree heat actually becomes a convection oven if properly outfitted with a rotisserie.  I asked this kid to wear his hockey uniform, which is meant to keep the player warm and protected on a frozen rink.  Does anyone see a problem here?  Knowing that his parents would be upset if I returned him home with heat stroke, I made sure I opened the garage and aired it out a little before we started.

Armed with my new background, a couple of flashes, a small piece of red acetate, a fog machine holdover from Halloween, a sweaty 10-year old kid, and a vivid imagination, I proceeded to snap off about 6 test shots before landing this keeper.  It’s got the right blend of dramatic lighting, pose and expression that makes it a photo worthy of Lord Stanley’s Cup.  Any more time, and I would have returned my slave neighbor back to his parents a few pounds lighter with a jersey dripping with sweat.  It worked out great, and I’m grateful to my neighbors for being so understanding when I call and say, “I’ve got a great new idea…are your kids free?”  That is, until the “For Sale” sign shows up on their lawn.  May be a pitcher of daiquiris would help persuade them to stay.

We just celebrated the 232nd birthday of our country in great style.  The weather here in upstate New York was perfect, and like many other people, I packed 4 days of activities into the 3-day holiday weekend.  Why is it that most of the time we all feel rested after a “normal” 2-day weekend, but we’re all exhausted after a longer 3-day weekend?  Monday mornings at work are pretty slow for most people after a holiday weekend, and this one was no exception.

One great thing about trying to write this blog is that it is getting me to shoot more photographs than just during my portrait sessions.  I am taking my camera out more often and recording what I see around me, which is what got me really into this whole photography “thing” in the first place, almost 25 years ago.  This holiday weekend, I brought my camera along to our local Independence Day parade in the village of Fairport.  I have really enjoyed becoming a part of this community and especially love these activities when the whole town comes out for a celebration. 

Can you imagine the salesman saying, “Lime green is the new “black”.  Everyone’s going to have one of these this summer”.

Does your town have a Lawn Chair Brigade? 
No?  Only in Small Town America…

I guess the Dept. of Motor Vehicles will give any clown a driver’s license nowadays.

A couple of parade patrons tearing up the asphalt to the tune of
The Doobie Brothers’ 1976 classic “Takin’ it to the Streets”.

A great persective shot of the Towpath Volunteers fife and drum corps.

My daughter Holly and a young friend enjoying the parade.

“…I do believe it…I do believe it’s true.”  So goes the Simon & Garfunkle song.  Kids are finishing up school this week, teachers are wildly celebrating, and parents are starting to look for things to do with their kid’s free time.  Many families will head off to the zoo for some family fun, which is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, especially with my 9-yr. old daughter.

If I have the opportunity, I try to visit the zoos when I’m visiting different cities.  My favorite experience from the Philadelphia Zoo occurred several years ago as I was photographing their white rhinos.  The male rhino suddenly felt a little horny (sorry, that joke was too easy) with his female counterpart standing right in front of him, and I sat listening to a flustered teacher trying to explain to a very young student why “that rhino is climbing on top of the other one”.  I just smiled at the teacher and moved on to the lions. 

The best time to visit a zoo is early in the morning… as early as they’ll allow you to arrive.  Animals tend to be more active during the morning and also later in the evening.  This is especially true in the summertime when it’s so terribly hot in the middle of the day.  You’d take a siesta in the shade all afternoon too if you were covered in fur, standing out in 95 degree heat in a pen that you’ve already walked around 46,203 times.  Most of the animals get fed first thing in the morning, which tends to get them up and moving around.

The African Penguin in this shot was an exception to this mid-day snooze rule, however.  Unfortunately, my wife and I were only able to take my daughter to our local zoo in the middle of the afternoon this particular day.  I assumed that most of the animals would be sleeping, but I brought my camera anyway, at least so it could get some fresh air.  Cameras and lenses can get a little cranky when stuffed in a dark, hot, camera bag all the time.  Much to my surprise, these African Penguins were more active than I had ever seen them.  They were swimming in their pool and walking all around their enclosure.  It’s really amazing to see a penguin up close swim underwater so gracefully and quickly, when usually you only see them standing on land, barely moving.  When men stand around doing nothing like that, their wives call them lazy.  However, those same men call it “conserving energy”.  You be the judge.  I’ll be back at the zoo, listening to teachers explain the “birds and the bees” regarding the monkeys and lions.

One of my favorite lines from the Pixar animated movie “Cars”, is when ”Sarge”, the Army jeep, is raising the American flag and his neighbor, an old 60’s VW bus voiced by the perpetually burned-out Tommy Chong, is loudly playing Jimmy Hendrix’s version of the Star-Spangled Banner.  Sarge yells for him to “turn that disrespectful junk off”.  The VW bus replies with, “Respect the classics, man.  You’re living in the past”.

Old classic photographs like the one on the left above often show the wear and tear of years of viewing by family members.  This photograph was from the late 1800’s, and this man’s grandaughter, a grown woman, brought this and several other images to me to have them digitally restored.  I really enjoy the challenge of restoring images like this back to their glory.  It feeds the artistic side of me, as I often feel like I’m creating a brand new piece of work, even though I’m just bringing an old one back to life.

Another great satisfaction is that these jobs often come to me following the death of a loved one, and I’m asked to restore a favorite image of that person for the remainder of the family members.  I recently completed a similar restoration of a formal military portait from the 1940’s of an American soldier from World War I.  The man has just passed away, and his son wanted a restored version of the image for the funeral service and the family.  I even scanned the man’s dog tags, then digitally added them to the image, which added just the right touch for a beautiful restored piece of work.  The man’s expression and gratitude when he picked up the images was just priceless.  And that really keeps me living in the past…repecting the classics. Read the rest of this entry »

When planning any kind of portrait, whether it’s a small child, a H.S. Senior, or a whole family, the coordination of clothing is sometimes the most difficult decision to make.  When faced with this decision, people many times have no clue what they’re doing.  When photographing a large multi-family group like the one shown above, it is sometimes difficult to get everyone coordinated.  As long as the kids (or the adults, for that matter) don’t have their Garanimals underwear showing, everyone is happy.  But look at the difference that coordinating the clothing between the groups makes in these two images.  This family worked with me to make good clothing choices, and the difference is obvious.  Almost every one of the most successful portrait sessions that I’ve had have resulted from a well thought out and planned wardrobe. 

The wardrobe doesn’t necessarily have to match in color, either.  In multi-family groups the like the one above, each individual family could wear a matching color, as long as it coordinated well with the other families.  I’ve had families wear matching pants (e.g. denim or khaki-colored cargo pants), but each family wore different colored polo shirts, such as light blue, light green, and light purple.  Solid colors tend to work best….please leave the bold stripes and paisley at home.

As long as the camera doesn’t swing around to show me in my striped Bermuda shorts and SpongeBob t-shirt with black shoes,  then I’m all set.  Well…at least photography-wise I am.

As I said previously in the May 2008 posting “Show the Bond”, I can think of no better way to photograph a young child than to show the bond with one of both of his or her parents.  Especially when the child is less than 6 months, when they can do nothing for themselves.  This 6-week old little boy, who already has more hair than his father, is a perfect example.  I love showing little kids peering over their parent’s shoulder.  Very young kids do not have the strength in their neck muscles yet, so sometimes they end up moving their heads like a bobblehead.   Cute and loveable as that is, sometimes it takes 8-10 photos to get the correct pose and expression.  This little guy held this pose for several seconds and made my job very easy. 

I love showing images like this in black-and-white, which tends to focus all of your attention on the boy’s expression, and helps to make this image timeless, which means that it will look as good 30 years from now as it does today.  I’m sure those groovy dudes from the 70’s wish that was the case as they see photos of themselves in their burgundy or powder blue tuxedos.  There’s just no amount of Photoshop expertise that is going to solve that, no matter how black-and-white you make it.

 I’ve had very good luck lately with children’s portraits, like this little tyke here.  I am looking forward to some warmer weather here in Rochester to be able to do some outdoor shooting with children, families and high school seniors.  We just had our warmest day of the season today, reaching into the upper 70’s (degrees, not the decade).  For any of you that have lived in Upstate New York know, that only means that it’ll be snowing soon.  As they say here, if you don’t like the weather, wait an hour, it’ll change.  If it does, that just means I go back into the studio to photograph beautiful kids like my friend Tyler here.