NEXT WEEK! February 28, 2013

AZ/ASMP Presents: FOURTH Thursday – Specialists Series: “Masters of Production – Photo shoots; big and bigger.”

Our parents used to say, “don’t make it a big production, just get it done.” Well, what does does it take to ‘just get it done?’

What skills do you need to support the project? 

   When is less more and when is it not nearly enough?  

How do you really determine the “right size” production for your photo shoot?

Chapter Members and Valley based, Paul Markow and Christopher Barr are outstanding, experienced and accomplished photographers who will share what it takes to produce high quality images for editorial and advertising clients from around the world in today’s market when expectations are high.

Also participating will be Chris’s producer, Jane Janssen, whose experience in getting things done is essential to his process. Jane will share the studio’s production forms so you can really see how they break down a production’s needs.

What can you learn from “Masters of Production?” Plenty!

Join AZ/ASMP on Thurs, Feb 28th and find out how to apply “right size” production evaluation to your photo shoots.

Costs:
$0.00—ASMP member
$10.00—Non-member
$5.00—Student

When:    
Thursday 2/28/2013 
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM 
(Social time starts at 5

:30 PM)

Where :
Markow Southwest; 2222 E McDowell Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85006
View map


Register NOW!
(Seating is limited)

About Our Presenters:

Paul Markow  is a commercial advertising photographer, based in Phoenix, Arizona. He has traveled the world shooting from helicopters, hot air balloons, and vintage aircraft. He has spelunked through caves, rafted down the Grand Canyon and hung precariously on the side of cliffs. He has shot at some of the finest resorts from Carmel to Puerto Rico. He’s photographed hundreds of celebrities and thousands of executives. Paul has always said, that he gets paid to do what others do on vacation.

Christopher Barr has been a internationally syndicated still photographer specializing in advertising and editorial work since 1990.  His Phoenix based business is a well known resource in the Southwest for agencies, publications and corporate clients requiring complex and large scope productions.

Jane Janssen has been Christopher’s in house Production Manager since 1995.  Her knowledge and experience coordinating productions of every size and shape is the back bone of his operation and has also made her a “go to” line producer for out of area photographers and commercial film/video productions.

___________________________________________________

Chapter Sponsor:

The post Chris & Jane to Speak at ASMP/Phoenix Event appeared first on Christopher Barr.

Portrait of Jane during a lighting check at the Long Bow Country Club in Arizona in July.

Lighting check at Long Bow Country Club, Arizona                                                                                                                © CBP 2012

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Jane & Chris @ Casa Barr / North Phoenix, Arizona / February 2012                                                                                                                       Photographer: Susan Luther © CBP 2012

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We did a very cool project for  the 2012  Sassoon Cut & Color Photo Competition held in Los Angeles earlier this year.   We knocked out about 50 individually lit head shots of amatuer models in about 14 hours of shooting at the Brillare Academies in Scottsdale and Chandler.   The all amateur component of the shoot made this one of the most challenging and exciting headshot photography shoots I have done in a long time although I must say that in a few cases, the student’s work rivaled that of seasoned pros.

The goal of the photography was to sell the hair and make-up while keeping the photoshop to a minimum (blemishes and scarring were fair game).  Photographically, we were always striking a balance between what I thought would make the strongest image given the specific features of the model and the stylist’s preferences with regards to emphasis on make-up, hair or both.  Because of the imposed photoshop limitations, the lighting choices became challenging…pulling out the soft box and running with straight butterfly lighting became problematic because although it softens everything up nicely, it still leaves little to the imagination.  Because the models were unfamiliar with the process I kept the energy relaxed and chose angles and lighting based on the basic gestalt of the face towards oval or specific feature emphasis.  In the shot of Aimee (below), we wanted to balance her naturally triangular shape by accentuating the lower bands of her face and strong jaw line while demphasizing her high forehead.  In post production, we used surgical diffusion to smooth out the skin detail a little.  Canon 5d MKII, 70-200 f2.8 L.

Over the next month or so I will release a handful of the best shots we did as they make their way to our headshot portfolios.  Here is Aimee….

Sassoon / Billaire Academies – Aimee / Before & After © CBP 2012

Headshot Make-Over Aimee R. “BEFORE” for Brillare/Sassoon Academies © Christopher Barr Photography 2012

Headshot MakeOver Aimee R. for Brillare/Sassoon Academies © Christopher Barr Photography 2012

Headshot MakeOver Aimee R. for Brillare/Sassoon Academies © Christopher Barr Photography 2012

The post Vidal Sassoon Competition – Brillare Academies / Glamour Headshot Photography Make Overs appeared first on Christopher Barr.

We shot this commercial and theatrical headshot session for Pedram in June.  This was his first shoot with a professional headshot photographer.  I included a cell phone pic he sent us when he first contacted us.  Pedram provided clear examples illustrating the look and feel of the lighting he liked.  What is noteworthy here is that the photography he showed us that he liked required some important discussions about what he liked about the pics he submitted.  Note that for the most part his examples reflected broad lighting with a camera angle of attack at eye level or above.  While we would normally use lighting and camera angles to shape his basic facial shape more towards oval, if we gave him what he asked for, we would be reshaping his face in the opposite direction, exaggerating his high forehead and generally triangular/square shape with broad lighting and a higher camera angle.  After going over these considerations with him, we discovered it was the shadow ratios he really like more than anything else.  We ended up short lighting him with a below eye level camera angle to reshape the features closer to oval but still played with similar shadow to highlight ratios that he requested.

Production Coordination & Styling / Jane Janssen.   Ty Wilda Assisted.

Pedram Abbassi Theatrical Headshot © CBP 2012

Pedrum Abassi Commercial Headshot / Styling: Jane Janssen © CBP 2012

 

PAbassi Headshot lighting preferences June/12

PA cell phone capture.

The post Theatrical & Commercial Headshot Photography appeared first on Christopher Barr.

This is a industrial video Frank Salle and I produced for Solon Energy GmbH (Germany).  It includes still,  aerial and time lapse photography of a solar panel array installation at the Biosphere 2 in Tucson, Arizona.    The BioSphere folks were kind enough to put our entire crew up for the night in one of their guest cottages and give Jane and Sophia a tour too.  If you have never visited the BioSphere it is just outside of Tucson and worth the drive.  Watch out for the speed traps….I sure didn’t.  :-)

The aerial photography was shot by, Jennifer Stewart.  This was Jennifer’s first aerial photography assignment for our corporate photography division, there was a lot of pressure on her (she was a intern for us at that time) and she slammed it right out of the park.  All the still, video and time lapse was shot with MKIIs and GoPros.   © Christopher Barr Photography / Frank Salle - Time Lapse Systems 2012.

The post Biosphere 2 – Corporate Video & Time lapse Photography appeared first on Christopher Barr.

Anthony Robbins / Vanua Levu, Fiji © CBP 2008

We are cleaning and reorganizing our archives this month and I came across these BTS images and some unpublished editorial photography from a shoot we did in Fiji with Anthony & Sage Robbins.

Being in this business is not without it perks and benes…there is a reason why unrealistic stereotypes associated with being a photographer exist…thats because every once in a while the fantasy is true .  In late 2008 Mark Perlstein, the photo editor at Success Magazine called and asked if I was available to fly to Fiji to shoot the Robbins for a cover story …I didn’t have to check my schedule to answer.   The Robbins’ invited Jane and I to stay in one of the honeymoon bures at Namale, the resort they own and operate on their property on Vanau Levu.   During that week, Tony was also holding a seminar on the property and our actual time shooting was going to be limited to a scant 90 minutes of face time with them split over three different days.  In addition, we expected to have only a couple of hours notice of when these shooting windows would take place.

The shot list included a cover of Tony, a couple of double trucks for the inside spread and a family portrait of Tony and Sage.

Anthony & Sage Robbins / Namale, Fiji © CBP 2008

It was a ambitious shot list under these circumstances.   While the location options were all ideal, the weather was unpredictable..sunny one moment, overcast the next.  In addition, our “crew” was a rotating group of resort staff that were generously made available to us as needed.  They actually did a pretty terrific job.

This might sound like a dream shoot…and make no mistake, it was…but at the same time, I was there on assignment with unscheduled shooting windows, a overly ambitious shot list, untrained crew and unpredictable weather conditions.

Our Namale Crew © CBP 2008

The trick of shooting in these conditions is to keep it simple, flexbile and mobile.  We moved with a couple of heads on stands and a few sun swatters.

Basically, the battle plan was to back light and fill, work in open or closed shade or simply scrim the sun off the subjects when back lighting wasn’t a good option.  The time we got to spend with Tony was punctuated with a couple of quiet moments shared during a driving tour he gave us around the island which included a trip to the Oneness University which he founded.  Experiencing his dynamic personality and passion for the love of this island, its people and the little bit of paradise he has carved out of the lava flow Namale rests on is the best memory I took away from this gig.  This guy has got some stories on him.

Location scouting in Namale, Fiji. © CBP 2008

It was pretty crazy but in the end, we got our shots and only lost 2 strobes and one battery to the waters of the South Pacific.

Anthony Robbins / Vanua Levu, Fiji © CBP 2008

This set-up was tricky.  The blow hole was spectacular but unpredictable not only in its timing but also its intensity.  Every so often it could reach out well beyond the 25′ we were from it.  We used a single 1600 Alien Bee powered by a Vagabond battery to fill while the sun back lit the water.  The day before this shoot I met a some newlyweds on the reef that were happy to stand in for us while we tested and prepped for this set-up.  We lost one of the strobe units here when one of the water spouts drenched the unit our assistant was holding.

 

Light Test / Robbins / blow hole / Fiji © CBP 2008

 

Location Scout / Robbins / West Shore / Vanua Levu, Fiji © CBP 2008

 

 

The post Behind the Scenes: Tony and Sage Robbins / Fiji appeared first on Christopher Barr.

You may have heard the sad news that Andy Williams passed earlier this week.  I had the pleasure to shoot Andy in the late 80′s and early 90′s.  He was a consumate gentleman… creative, professional, and a pleasure to work with.  We broke bread at his home in Hollywood a couple of times where he shared stories related to his love of fine art, wine, politics and romance too.  I remember he sent flowers to my wife during a shoot when I mentioned she was home alone sick with the flu.

The last shot we did together was for a country music album he cut with Curb Records in 1990-91.  I dug this CD out of my archives to share here.  There are also some production notes I noticed I had with the images referencing issues I had with the final reproduction I thought might be interesting.

Andy Williams / Nashville CD Art © Christopher Barr 1991

We had originally conceived this album having a gritty, retro kind of “adobe” feel to the portraiture.  The AD and I came up with the idea to use a polaroid transfer process, projecting a medium format chrome onto 8×10 color negative polaroids and then transferring the negative image immediately to water color paper for the texture and aesthetic we were looking for.  It is a head spinner to me remembering how expensive and laborious this work was relative to how easy it is now with a simple PS plug in.  Each transfer was handmade and one of kind.  The emulsion would rarely transfer perfectly and that was part of the beauty and excitement of the process.  The AD and I and even our crew happily took turns experimenting with it.  We had a blast.  We must have had 75 to 100 sheets of paper all over the studio drying on towels on the floor.  The look was, by it very nature suppose to be soft allowing the texture of the watercolor paper to do a lot of talking.  Out of the box, the images looked great and the transfer process was everything we wanted.   I remember this shoot well because it was the last time I allowed a record label to complete facial retouching without my participation and approval.  This was at a time when retouching was done via air brushing on a large print or (as in this case) on 8×10 or 11×14 transparencies with bleach and dyes…. difficult, tedious and challenging work even for the best retouchers of the day.  Andy had a well known penchant of wanting add’l sharpening and saturation done on his eyes….When the album was released, sure enough…it was clear that the label completed add’l retouching and unfortunately the work done was pretty obvious.  The funny thing is, this habit of over hitting the eyes is probably even more common today. 

The post Remembering Andy Williams appeared first on Christopher Barr.

To make a long story short this consulting gig requires that we produce a schematic and instructions on how users should light the sets and recommend the best equipment to supply with each set for that purpose.  The sets are surprisingly elaborate and present some challenging problems to overcome.    I will need a couple of assistants to help me with the testing, shooting and production of the schematics & instructions that must be delivered.

Wednesday 10-3-12.  Contact Jane or Chris for scheduling details.

The post Intern Call: Photography Consulting and Lighting Solution appeared first on Christopher Barr.

You generally won’t find me shooting pictures out the window on plane flights…Im usually asleep before the plane leaves the terminal.  We were on our way back from Charlotte last January, it was raining heavily and our crew was soaked and exhausted from 3 days of shooting.  As the plane broke through the cloud cover above Douglas airport, my beauty sleep was disturbed by people up a down the west side of the plane squealing about the view, Jane nudged me awake and said “Take a look at this…”  when I leaned over her, I saw rain clouds looking smoky and ashen back lit by one of the most intense orange glows I had ever seen…my initial thought was that something very big was ablaze on the ground ..it was spectacular effect.  Canon G12 on auto.

Sunset over Charlotte, N.Carolina Jan 2012                                                                                        © CBP 2012

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