Whenever I photograph retail products at Graphic Works, I try to standardize my workflow to save me time and our clients money. This may include setting up a single lighting rig that works for each similar object individually. In the case of this group photo, I shot each bottle alone and then created several versions of group photos and single product shots for print and web use.
This technique is often faster and much more versatile than shooting a group photo to begin with. This is because I can modify the spacing or composition “after the fact”. Plus, I don’t have to worry about nasty reflections of other bottles or complex lighting set-ups. Knowing this in advance can save a lot of headaches in post production.
I am fascinated by the origin of products and the processes used to create them. I’m kinda nerdy that way, but this blog is not a confession. It is about creating photos of a natural raw material named Trona and also the refined product named sodium carbonate. The photos were made for OCI Chemical which is one of the world’s largest producers of this material.
Sodium Carbonate is used in countless ways including glass making, baking, casting and scores of other manufacturing processes. It looks like white sand or maybe a movie prop from the set of Scarface.
Trona rocks are interesting things to photograph since they can literally dry and flake on the spot turning their gorgeous amber hue into a less interesting chalky brown. This rock below is on the verge of flaking. What is interesting to me about this one is the reflected yellow shadow which gives the illusion of the light passing through the rock like a crystal.
I used a technique of vigorously scrubbing the scaly flakes from the sample rocks and photographing them before they became cloudy again. I might not have tried this if my client had not shown me this trick, and told me it would not damage the sample.
It was important to show the striations of amber color and not the darker “root beer” seen on the first photo… even though I think that lends some visual interest. I photographed several configurations of the rocks for the client including single hero shots. I also took photos of several together so now I can say that I have taken photos of “rock groups”.
Finally, I combined the Trona rock with the sodium carbonate end product for a beginning-to-end style photo.
Later in 2013, I contacted them to see if they would return to the same spot where we took the previous pictures for a followup session.
My plan was to take the photos in the same location so when Lukas grew up he could see himself in a unique series of photo shoots…. “in the belly” and “in the world”. I would like to say at this time that I am not responsible if these photos lead to the “where do babies come from?” question.
Young Lukas was not even a year old and already that boy had so much charm and charisma that he wowed me during the photo shoot. He is incredibly smart and alert for his age.
He would almost smile on command and respond to all the silly noises I was making. Getting the attention of a child this young is not always successful.
Lukas is the perfect blend between Mom and Dad.
The kid was a dream to work with, but that is what one might expect from a child who has a model-like mother and a photographer for a father?
In fact, if Lukas picks up at camera he will be the
third generation of photographer in the Bartkevicius family.
Dad is a giant so you gotta wonder how tall Lukas will be.
When I was packing up, I showed Lukas my camera. He knowingly touched the shutter button, and I swear that kid winked at me. This just proves that my photographic competition just gets younger every year.
Maybe we will keep shooting a new portrait set annually until it is time for me to hand the camera over to him.
I think this is how Lukas drives his dad around. Just tug the ears to steer in the right direction…
Ever since Ken and Anna had their first born daughter, we have been trying to get together for some family portraits. The scheduling was not helped by the fact that they lived in both Canada and the USA at different times… like migrating snow geese.
Now that daughter number two was several months old… this was getting out of control.
We needed to put a date on the calendar.
On one of the last good fall weekends, we spent some time making portraits. Ellie, who was terrified of me as a younger child came out of her shell and was hilarious.
She would go between super-adorable to silly.
Contrary to what you mom might have told you, your face will not permanently stay that way if you make a funny face.
I love Atlanta in the Fall, even more than the Spring, because it is much more colorful… and no pollen. This would have been a great day for a family picnic.
Just the girls…
Daddy’s girl…
Mom and the new gal, Juniper…
Who wouldn’t want a miniature clone of themselves?
Some people that I meet leave a great impression. This was the case with Maureen who contacted me to have portraits made.
I knew right away that I liked her kind disposition and easy going personality. Hopefully, that comes through in the photos.
Her plan was to use the photos for her astrology business, social media, and maybe even for some online dating.
We spent our time trying different settings, backgrounds and arrangements. I try to give clients the variety they want, and as a photographer, this allows me to experiment with different techniques along the way. The next photo was made with a special doughnut-shaped ringflash which makes interesting catch lights.
The amethyst ring was a personal gift from her mother that was important to Maureen so we included it. The matching background color ties it all together.
A scarf can be used in so many ways in a photoshoot. No woman should be without one.
My prediction came true… working with Maureen was a pleasure.
Making photos of glass products can be challenging since the surface reflects everything including lights, reflectors, the surrounding studio and even the guy behind the camera. To avoid this, the lights can be moved from the front of the product to the sides or behind. This allows the strobes to shape the edges of the glass product, not the center. Doing this allows the glass to maintain the appearance of transparency while also showing the shape of the object.
The photos were made for www.etchintoperfection.com, a company that makes customized chemical etched art on glassware for special occasions. Their artistic process creates unique keepsakes for weddings, showers, parties or just about any event you can imagine.
My plan was to set up one rig that would accommodate most of the different shaped glasses without having to make a custom shot for each one. This was important since I priced this job as bulk photography, and it was not in the budget to have a custom lighting solution for each style.
Here are a few examples of the glassware for weddings…
How many times have we all missed the true purpose of Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day? For many of us, it seems like a good chance to enjoy a super sale or have a cook out. But have you ever really stopped to think that those seemingly small freedoms were paid for by somebody else?
It is said that freedom is not free and that is true. The lives of our armed service men and women are risked, spent and lost to help maintain our way of life and protect our strategic interests abroad. You cannot fight a war with just robots and drones… yet anyway.
For someone like me who has never served in the military, I may truly never understand what is sacrificed by our soldiers. How could I? I have not seen what they have or lost friends that are like brothers. Talking to some veterans makes it clear to me that the memories of those passed friends are still fresh many years later… like ghosts that visit the edge of their mind.
The 80+ year old airmen that I met when shooting photos for the Liberty Foundation (who flew a WWII era Boeing B-17 bomber) are ones that I frankly cannot forget. The stories they told me were epic, sad, funny or terrifying. The one thing that was repeated by every single one of them… “I am not a hero. The true heroes were my friends that died.”
In honor of those soldiers on this Memorial Day, I would like to share some of the photos that I took of these humble Americans who did their duty and should be honored. Hopefully, I have all the facts correct.
Joe, the Ball Turret Gunner
Meet Joe Walters, a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress named the Chug a Lug Choo Choo. On a bombing run over occupied France, the plane was shot down. Joe was able to get out of claustrophobic ball turrest and parachute to the ground…only he did not make it all the way down. He got hung up in a tree. A farmer and his son found him.
Joe was rushed away to the French Resistance who eventually got him back to the the Allied forces. Many years later, the families of Joe and the farmer reunited to celebrate.
When I took the photos of Joe, his facial features were amazingly the same. Below is a rare photo showing Joe being led off by the farmer. My guess is that being photographed stealing a prisoner away from the Nazis was a pretty dangerous game, and he was taking a great risk.
Photographer: unknown
Bob, the Pilot
Even at his age, Bob still looks like a strapping flyboy full of confidence and swagger.
Below he is signing the Liberty Belle’s door that was reserved for World War Two veterans only. There was even some signatures from the German Luftwaffe present.
Charlie, the 3 Star General
Charlie was a pretty high ranking officer later in his career. I think he also few a Northrop P-61 Black Widow, one of the first night interceptors of the war.
Roy Reid, Shot Down at Pearl Harbor
I met Roy shortly before his 90th birthday and was there to witness him getting to fly again in a World War Two era warbird. Read my previous blog about him here.
To make a amazing story short, Roy was supposed to land his B-17 at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and got shot down by Japanese fighters. The B-17 crews were not fully aware that the base was under attack due to radio silence. Some of his friends did not survive the crash landing and the ensuing strafing. Roy said that armor plating welded to the back of his chair a few days prior saved his bacon. The photo below may be of his actual plane, but I cannot confirm it.
Photographer: unknown
Roy’s log book is filled with entries of flying exotic military machines from the 1940s.
Sam, the tailgunner from the Shiftless Skunk
The first thing I noticed about Sam was that he wore his pants very high, and that he was a character!
The next thing I noticed was his original bomber jacket with 28 missions recorded on it. The third mission had a parachute indicated instead of a bomb, which means he had to bail out. He said a fire on plane full of bombs during take off was “exciting, but not in a good way.”
Though there are usually many people walking around a plane like this on display, I asked Sam to hang back when everyone walked off so I can get a simple photo of man and machine. Ten men crewed each B-17, and you can see how large these flying pans were. I call them this because many were scrapped after the war to become pots and pans.
Michael Gold, the Jewish P.O.W.
Think about it… a Jewish prisoner of war in Nazi Germany. I am a little amazed that Dr. Gold survived that ordeal. I photographed him in the nose of the B-17 and I swear for a moment, he was really back in the 1940s. I could see it in his eyes.
He was a handsome devil back in the day… ladies beware.
Victory on so many levels… enough said.
Richard, back on the B-17 sixty three years later
This man held up a slip of paper showing the last time he was in a B-17 bomber, which was March 26, 1944 exactly 63 years to the day earlier. The only mission data that I found for that date that looks like the writing was a V-Weapon site in La Sorellerie France. The V-Weapons were the first long range missiles used in war.
The rest of the photos have fewer details to share. I did not catch their names, but it was an honor to meet them nonetheless.
“It’s all coming back… “
I always felt honored to have these men in my presence. They are MY heroes.
The next time you meet a veteran, thank him or her for what they have given you, whether you know it or not.
When I found out that my work friend, Barbie, had 2 Great Danes, I just had to take their portraits. Her dogs were different than the tan “Marmaduke” Danes that I knew. Instead, their fur is an amazing pattern of white and black splotches. In person, they are absolutely stunning creatures.
My sister had a 180 lb. great dane and she loved that dog. He was fiercely loyal, protective and looked like a small deer running around their farm. He could easily look you in the eye if he put his front legs on the window to look in. With his pointed ears, dark shiny eyes and long face, he looked like an alien scanning the room before making an abduction. I’ll admit that he was a bit scary to me. The snapshot to the right shows him with my dog, Winston.
The build of these dogs is unlike the average canine. Look how long those legs are.
Bella is a beautiful lady and less than 2 years old. Jackson is her half brother sharing the same father.
“Jax” was only 3 months old at the time of these photos, and very much a puppy despite his size.
I am told that since these photos, he has eaten lots of food, and he is on the fast track to becoming a big man.
To me, showing the dogs in “puppihood” is something that should make people exclaim “Awww… too cute!’ They they will never be this small again… especially this breed.
The other thing that I like to capture is the love between the owner and the” adopted child”. Any dog lover will tell you that this can be a strong unbreakable thread that lasts a lifetime and beyond.
The affection between Barbie, Bella and Jackson cannot be hidden.
Little Jax is still labeled a puppy, enven though at 50 lbs., he would be considered pretty large for a normal family dog. He could easily grow to be 150 lbs. or more when he grows into his enormous paws.
For convenience, we met outside the Graphic Works studio. My plan was to take some outdoor shots since the weather was unseasonably warm. The advantage was two-fold. This would allow the dogs to unwind from the car ride and get used to me pointing a big camera at them. Also, it would give a chance for them to empty their bladders which Jax did on my shoe in the first minute he saw me. I avoided an in-office disaster with a a little pre-planning.
Even though we were in the middle of an office park. I wanted the photos to look like we were in a city park. By strategically shooting up from a low angle, I was able to hide much of the parking lot and busy street in the background.
When I sensed that hey were tiring, we went inside to try some studio portraits. I had photographed dogs on paper rolls before, but not this heavy. They poked holes in the paper in no-time flat, but that is what Photoshop is for. Next time, I’ll use a muslin backdrop.
I wanted to emphasize the size difference between the two dogs which will disappear in a matter of months.
I also wanted to capture the unique personality of each animal. Talk about charisma… these two have it in spades. Here they were having a beautiful tongue contest.
I thought a speckled background might look good with our spotted doggies.
To me, this angle only makes Jaskson cuter!
As a photographer I cover the basic angles, and then I try to make images that are not what you would expect. A little experimentation can yield some interesting results.
Call me strange, but this last one is my favorite.
Check back again soon. There will be followup photos.
Rusty is a cycloptic Canis familiaris with an indomitable “can-do” spirit. As a puppy, he lost his eye in a freak mowing accident (that will teach him to mow the yard), and recently almost died with a mystery illness. Luckily, he bounced back.
I have a feeling that Rusty did not realize that having just one eye was supposed to slow him down, because he is very active running and swimming on “his farm”.
Oops. Where is the tail? Too bad, I liked the look on his face.
I had traveled to Cartersville, Georgia to take photos for a Boy Scout promo and Rusty lived in the house where I did the photoshoot. In between the human photos, we coaxed Rusty onto the set to see if I could make a portrait of him.
I find that dogs who love treats can be easier to photograph compared to ones who could care less. Rusty likes cheese… enough said. The photos below were taken at an angle that makes it easy to imagine Rusty whole again.
A few minutes before these photos he decided to take a swim in the river even though it was 40 degrees outside. I think he would have jumped in even if there was ice on the surface. Rusty was not going to let anything stop him from having a fun. Good boy!
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