I run past this tree nearly every day. From the moment I first saw it I knew I’d have to get it in a shot someday.
Chelsea Rose is a signed model in the city and she contacted me a year ago (during a time when I was too busy for testing) about shooting “active” shots. We finally had the chance to do that shoot a couple of weeks ago. These are a few shots from the day:
I love kids. Period. Who doesn’t?? A few months back, a close friend asked if I’d be into shooting a friend’s child (as a Christmas present). I said, “sure!!”
Anyone who’s raised children or have spent enough time with them knows that there’s a period (right around toddler age) where they’re curious about strangers but not sure if they’re friend or foe. This was the case this past Saturday.
I took a gazillion shots but this is the one that caught my eye (soon after we started). Without seeing all of the images (and how she reacted to me otherwise), you might not know this facial expression from the next but that’s *pure* curiosity in her eyes!! (heart melts all over the floor . . . )
These are from my first engagement shoot with Liz and Matt. Let me know what you think!! :)
Liz and Matt near Fort Point and the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.
Liz and Matt near Fort Point and the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California.
Liz and Matt, San Francisco, California.
Working closely with a friend, we came up with an update i am pretty excited about. Some new and old imagery (re-imagined). Update to headshot pricing, as well.
Have a look. Let me know what you think. Thanks!!
http://www.kenthwang.com
look for these other "new" images to my latest website update
Running along, bad weather all around, surf pounding to one side of me, I kept thinking WHAT is that sound?
I’m just a few blocks from the beach so every night over the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking my dog, Kula, running out along this nearby public path–a large berm that separates the beach from a public golf course. We follow the path, circling up the hill about a mile out, and then, recently, run back through the golf course, across what I’m guessing is the eighth and ninth fairways. There are signs saying that dogs aren’t allowed on the golf course but I think that’s part of the excitement for me. Actually, the best part is seeing my Kula zigzag in front of me, back and forth, with a little burst of speed every now and then. I think I get way too much joy out of seeing her love life, tongue all hanging out, sprinting back and forth, sniffing and smelling.
I’d taken a hiatus from running and hadn’t put on my running shoes for nearly six months, but things being as they are it seemed about the right time to revisit my stride. Normally, I prefer to run in Golden Gate Park but having recently relocated I realized I had such a nice area to run in where I live so now do our runs mostly at the aforementioned public space.
After passing by all of the breaks in the golf course fence for so many months before, walking Kula, my plan to run across whatever-fairway-we-run-on, hatched long before I pulled my running shoes off the shelf. When we were kids we liked to hangout on any green we could sit on at the public course, late at night and do what teenagers do, so it seemed only fitting. It was the storm and time of day that worked with us on this particular occasion.
The storm (if you call foggy/blustery/misty/rainy kind of weather a storm) came in the day before and just kinda of spat a little, made some noise. Don’t get me wrong: the surf was pounding and the wind blew hard enough to vibrate the walls–hard enough to make me look in that direction. It was hairier than normal.
I felt like running the next afternoon because that kind of weather makes me feel a little more alive, like you’re taking a little more chance by running through that rubbish than any other beautiful sunny afternoon. Crazy weather scares the jeepers out of me much like blasting down a mountain on a snowboard or a mountain bike (both of which I love!) makes any adrenaline/endorphin junkie do anything . . . just because.
There was a loud vibrating kind of sound coming from the swampy land that surrounds the western-most edge of the golf course and it got so loud as we got closer I had to stop and walk over to see what it was . . . thousands of frogs sending out mating calls. It was about the most amazing thing i’ve witnessed in a long time. A wall of sound. Sure, I’ve seen a toad swarm on Guam, where it was so hard to walk or drive anywhere without stepping on a toad, a couple of decades ago but wasn’t as moving as it was just a nuisance.
I haven’t heard them like that on any of our runs since. We need to run just after the sun sets so that we avoid the groundskeepers, and I’ve heard a few scattered frog “trumpets” and frog “French horns” but nothing like that whole mess we heard in the stormy twilight. I am glad baby girl and I decided to run that evening because we wouldn’t have heard the frog symphony, as my friend so aptly named the acoustic masterpiece we heard that night. I’m sure it would be hard to top that experience in any case.
We run along the berm in the distance and end right where I'm standing for the shot.
every now and then a movie will be so good visually and thematically it’ll make me clap and smile or tear-up because everything just worked. great story (and very likely a happy ending in my case) and great lighting, most importantly, go a long way with me. honestly, even if the movie didn’t have a happy ending, if the lighting was amazing, i’d still remember it. i’m drawn to the ones with the “beautiful light.” (but of course. said with the finest french accent. but of course.) i just finished watching midnight in paris, the woody allen film. beautifully lit. and i’d been meaning to speak about my love affair with great light . . .
i had to pause the movie so that i could make a few notes for this blog.
my love of that beautiful hollywood light and still photography happily met one day on a large movie set in kuuloa ranch. though, not in that order. as i’d mentioned in a previous post i was a paramedic. for extra money, a lot of part-time paramedics would work special events: rock concerts, escorting heads of state (a crown prince, once) and feature film productions. all of those were the good medical details.
once i went part-time, i hate to say this, i was lucky enough to get any of those details. because of my interest in film and photography, working those movie productions, was ideal.
on set, i’d keep my eyes on a few key people: camera department, lighting, director of photography, grips and the gaffer. the gaffer. my hero. the name (the first one i’d met told me this) comes from the days when a gaffer used a gaff (a long rod with a hook at one end) to move the lights, up high, around the set. and the name stuck, apparently. works for me.
i learned to spot the gaffer right off so that i could see how he worked and what his concerns were (at a respectable distance, of course). outside, when light from the sky mattered, the gaffer would be the one looking up through a small handheld piece of welder’s glass, looking for breaks in clouds and such. find the carts with all of the rolls of different colored film gels and large lights, find the gaffer. if those clouds decided to stay, and the shots planned for that day called for beautiful golden late afternoon light . . . gaffer.
at the time, for the novice eye i still had, i had little clue what they were doing but remembered nearly everything, asking one of the assistants (or best boy) about something if i couldn’t work it out in my head. i had to remember because i needed to know how their setup affected the picture when the movie finally came out. i could recall how shots were lit, what gels they’d used and finally see the beautiful work on the screen. sure, there was post-processing but i could still see what made what, why that did that, and how it all came together into a beautiful visual.
and don’t forget, most feature films still shoot with film. good old film but that’s probably a blog that would NOT get written, at least not soon. shooting film back then lead me to buy a color meter, which, like the film blog, is a story for another not-to-be written blog.
i have a stack of books on lighting i’ve read but i think i learned the most on those movie sets. and from what i saw the gaffer do. if i didn’t love still photography so much can you guess what movie job i’d want? . . .
you probably guessed it. yep, director.
from top left to bottom right: 50-first dates, tears of the sun, the rundown, windtalkers, 50-first dates, the rundown, 50-first dates, tears of the sun, windtalkers, windtalkers, 50-first dates, 50-first dates.
i left the paramedic field because i was a little burnt, my creative work became more plentiful and partly because i’d had enough of the stress and pain that comes with twelve or sixteen hour days–not that any shoot doesn’t have stress but it IS a very different (and often life-threatening). my shooting career started with advertising and editorial work with a special emphasis on food photography–which makes a ton of sense as there were always food magazines scattered around the house.
my initial response to starting any new genre (and i’ve tried most) is that you will need to develop enough of that type of work to show people. i’d done a couple of weddings for friends long ago but i didn’t feel like they matched my style of shooting (or my vision) five or six years later–there had to be more to show.
back in october, through a friend of a friend, i was able to hook up with natalie (who’d gotten the okay from their “official” photographer: hannah suh) to take pictures whenever i could. my big thing was that i didn’t want to get in hannah’s way but i also didn’t want to waste an eight hour day getting nothing but hannah’s elbow or the side of her head . . .
i did get a lot of that but i also got some really good shots. that had to be one of the grandest weddings in sf last year and i feel lucky to have been able to gather images for this “new” genre i’ve adopted.
while i am not new to photography, i still feel like i’ll be developing my style a little further with weddings and will welcome ideas from brides-to-be. i’ve already gotten a few bookings this year and hopefully much more this time next year!
stress on any photography shoot is not unlike that of a “bad” call at medical scene. it all comes down to planning, communication, thinking ahead for the unexpected and proficiency. a great EMS crew can work all day long without any apparent stress if they’re both in tune with each other. i feel any kind of ease can be realized on shoot day as long as every aspect of a shoot is addressed ahead of time . . . communication and expectations addressed. i imagine that’s the same for nearly any job, really.
these are some of my favorites from that day.
you can also see these and more at: http://kenthwang.com/bridal.htm.
aloha
some of my favorites from the Kao wedding . . . go to the wedding/bridal section of my website to see more from this day
lots happening since i blogged last. first, i’ll need to learn a bit more about this new wordpress theme i’m using!! and i’ll try to talk about things you’re interested in as well as show you what i’ve been up to. this is sort-of a new year’s resolution: be more social with my audience!! 
oh, and one other thing: i’ve picked up wedding shoots, which is kinda of huge for me and will be one of my next blog posts.
this was shot for runner’s world magazine about three hours outside of san francisco, just above freezing, nice strong breeze, blowing in from the east but
© 2012 kent s. hwang
