A New Face In The Crowd....getting ahead.
I formed
21st Century Photo Group almost 9 years ago. We are local photographers, ranging from newbies to pros.
There are about 180 members and 15-20 meet each month on the 2nd Wednesday. Others join our frequent photo walks.
We are fortunate to meet in the Conference Room at the
Carolina Ice Palace by Northwoods Mall in North Charleston.
It's perfect! We can adjust the lights and sound, move things around and have good sessions.
I had invited a good buddy
Joseph Nienstedt to pack up his mini-studio and show how he makes really great Head Shots.
"
The key thing is the communications between me and the subject, " Joe explained to the
members.
"Get him or her relaxed, comfortable, adjust the pose for the best results and try to capture his best image," he added.
Joe answered questions as he made adjustments, explaining how to maximize or minimize the subject's features.
In front of the camera is a long-time member - and a co-Coordinator for the Group - Andy Reilly.
He laughed when Joe asked which was his best side.
Then he turned his back to the camera and said,
"how about this?"
Clearly, Andy was relaxed and enjoying his Head Shot session.
After he finished shooting many, many images, he would show the results on our big screen, demonstrating how a tweak here or there would adjust the outcome of the finished product.
There are many software programs available and Joseph has a few favorites he likes to use.
He showed how one would whiten the look of teeth or adjust the facial color in the image.
He said Andy did not need a lot of manipulation but did point out that a 2-dimensional look of a 3-D face often "squashes" somewhat and he uses tools to correct that mistaken effect.
He had shown me that when he took pictures of my face a few months ago, one smiling and one serious.
On the screen, he gently pushed both sides of my face back to my actual look and I could see the difference.
Joseph knows how to catch the "best side" of his clients...even though my English major taught me it should be called the "better" side.
(Click on the images and links for more details.)
AND, if you are interesting in photography and would like to hang out with some friendly and talented folks, click on the link and join.
It's easy to join and it's FREE.
Hope to see you as a new member soon.
We are going to the
Second Sunday on King Street event
this weekend Nov. 13.
We'll meet in the Francis Marion lobby at 2 pm. Bring your camera and join us.
Labels: #Andy Reilly, #Joseph Nienstedt, 2nd Sunday, Francis Marion Hotel, Head shots, JWNphoto
It's Second Sunday again? Duh, May has just started.
Second Sunday has become a paradise for
Street Photographers.
We meet in front of the Starbucks on King at Calhoun around 2 and spend several hours roaming up and down King Street with our cameras.
Looking for a single shot that tells a story.
Our members include nature lovers, landscape and architectural fanciers, pet lovers, wedding photographers, portrait shooters, and wannabes with their first camera or phone cam.
With my background in news photography, my eye lights on different scenes.
I sometimes write the caption in my head while I'm taking the picture.
This one would be
"Ready, Get set...GO-Pro." Actually, I had no idea what Gregg Hoffman was doing but it looked interesting.
He was holding a $400 GO-PRO camera up in the air, attached to a clamp-on tripod.
His phone has an app(lication) that lets him see what the camera is seeing. Gregg was shooting video but also could do still shots.
He's with the marketing group that promotes Second Sunday.
One of the newest members of our Photo Group is Sam who recently moved here from Virginia.
She had staff from Fire Street Food restaurant
posing in the doorway and made sure she had her picture before they could get back to work.
It's a friendly King Street Sunday crowd as seen by this youngster eager to pet the puppy.
The caption I was putting with this shot was "Is it OK for this little girl to touch me?"
The temps had dropped a bit, the humidity was tolerable and there was some spotty cloud cover.
Good weather for the crowd and not bad for photography.
Bright sunlight can produce harsh shadows that need to be lightened.
I spotted a family wandering along and saw the boy was wearing a patriotic red, white and blue outfit.
All he lacked was a shield to portray a young Captain America.
A small crowd was gathered around a stand serving up Italian Ice and I moved around to get an angle that featured him.
His expression changed, I clicked and the caption wrote itself:
"What, there is no AMERICAN ice here?"
Stopped to listen while a salesman explained the advantages of buying a new LEAF.
It's the battery-powered car that goes about 110 miles on a single charge.
"Battery charging stations are already popping up around the state and GPS in the car locates where they are," we were assured.
Unlike the Prius and other Hybrid cars, the Leaf runs on a plug-in battery only and there is no gasoline engine as a backup. One person asked how many miles to the gallon it gets and was told "zero gasoline, zero emissions."
As predicted, darker clouds rolled in late in the afternoon and some thunder was heard.
No rain fell though.
At least not on King Street.
Certainly not on the marketing people.
(Click on the photos for more details.)
I was out on Savannah Highway Wednesday night for the Bessinger Bar-B-Q classic car show.
I'll post some pictures later and remind you to mark another item on your calendar:
First Wednesday means Car Show 6 pm to 9 pm.
Thanks for walking along with me today.
Labels: 1st Wednesday, 2nd Sunday, Bessinger's Bar-B-Q, Captain America, Classic Car Show, Fire Street Food restaurant, Go-Pro cameras, Gregg Hoffman, Leaf plug-in car, Rat Terrier
