SMOKIN'!

I have a hard time going through my old pictures.  I've learned a lot over the years and sometimes I look at old pictures and think "man... what was I thinking!?"  But sometimes there are projects where I look back and think "man... what was I thinking?  How did I do that and how can I repeat it!?"  One of those projects was from the Summer of 2014.  Some friends of mine have been painstakingly working on a comic book.  But it's not just like any ol' comic book you'll find at your favorite store.  This one is a massive project.  Painted by hand in an oversize book.  The artist was feeling uneasy about how his smoke was turning out and needed some reference material.  Instead of just looking online we decided to photograph some incense smoke ourselves so we could try different effects to see how the smoke moved and responded to different situations.  I had never done anything like it so of course I was on board to give it a shot.  What we came up with blew my mind.

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                                                                                                                ISO 200 - 70mm - f/5.6 - 1/125 sec

That is the test picture I took while the painter and writer where in the other room talking.  It's completely unedited (if you read my last blog post you'll see me say I never show unedited pictures, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite right now but I'm showing this for a reason) and it came as a complete shock to me.  I literally gasped and called for the others to take a look at this.  We were all incredibly excited for the project and started working immediately.  So, what'd I do to take this picture?

I spent a lot of time planning for this project.  As I said before, I had never done anything like it.  First thing I thought was - how do you isolate smoke from the background?  I thought, well, smoke is white, we need a black background.  But it couldn't be just any sort of black background.  Black construction paper?  I would need a big piece, or many pieces taped together.  I don't know, that sounds like too much trouble and it probably wouldn't work.  I could paint my wall black?  But returning it to a lighter color would take a lot of paint.  Also, I would need matte black, any reflection would be tough to deal with.

Then it hit me.  Black velvet!  Black velvet is known for being a deep dark black and absorbs light.  I went to a local craft store and was expecting to spend a small fortune, I have no idea how much black velvet costs or if it's even easy to come by.  Turns out, it's cheap, and most stores have it.  $30 for 3 yards.  It's easily one of the best purchases I've made to enhance my photography.  Every photographer should have a roll of black velvet stashed away, it's incredible.

So that was step 1 - black background complete.  Now I need to light my subject.  The answer to me was simple - use a flash.  A good flash will be bright enough to illuminate your subject no problem.  The problem is that most flashes spread the light out in a cone shape.  I needed a solid beam.  I didn't want the velvet to get lit up at all, so I made what's called a "snoot" to fit on the end of my flash.  I had some black construction paper (I used it after all!) and made a tube out of it, taped it to my flash, and voila!  A snoot is born!  I also used an off-camera flash cord, so I could hold the flash out to my left and fire the beam left to right through the smoke.  I had one of the other guys hold up a board so the light would go die in the corner rather than bounce around the room.

                                                                                                                ISO 200 - 70mm - f/5.6 - 1/125 sec

This is one of my favorite images to come from that project.  As you can see, I didn't adjust my settings from the first picture.  Part of me wonders why I did that.  I didn't experiment with faster/slower shutter speed.  I didn't change the aperture at all, I didn't try a wide angle.  I want to go back and try all these things to see what sort of differences they make.  But, we were on a roll and I am still very pleased with how the images turned out.  

What have I done?

A few months ago I quit my day job.  It wasn't a high paying job but it was something I had been doing for a long time and took seriously.  I always referred to myself as "a photographer with a day job."  But there comes a certain point in time where you can't refer to your "day job" as such.  The day job had become just... my job.  A few months before quitting I had gotten a couple photography gigs that paid more in a single day's work than an entire week at my job and I thought "man, I only need to work like 4 times a month to match my month's pay..."

So I started making moves to quit my job and do photography full time.  I checked over my gear to make sure it was all clean and working properly.  With the help of my brothers I got this very website up and running and set up a professional sounding email address for all of my photography correspondence.  I rearranged my room in a way to be more office-like, knowing I'd be at the computer more either hustling for more work or editing for hours.  I sent emails to everyone I had worked with in the past announcing I'd be available more often.  Then I put in my one months notice at my job.  While they were upset I was leaving, they were proud of me for making the move.  I told my friends and family and they were all supportive and excited for my future.  I was excited too, but terrified.  I had never quit a job before.  I had never even been fired.  Every job I had I got laid off from because business was slowing or was being sold.  I'm a model employee!  I had tried freelance in the mid 2000s but I ended up settling for a day job because I was too stressed out.  What have I done?  I'm throwing myself back in to that same fire I had crawled out of in 2006.

But on my final day of work I was excited.  The fear had subsided and I was ready to open a new door.  I began hustling for work immediately.  It wasn't until the first day of "unemployment" when it hit me.  Where do photographers find work?  It's been a few months and I still can't answer that question.  I have learned that there's no one source for finding work.  You have to email, call, refresh websites, do whatever you can, and eventually you will see something that sounds interesting and will actually pay you.  Oh, that's the other thing.  A lot of people think photography is easy and you don't deserve to get paid.  "No editing is necessary!"  But that's not how that sentence should go. "No, editing is necessary" I say.  I don't know about you, but capturing an image is only half the process.  I don't like sending out unedited pictures.  It's like a chef sending out a meal that has been prepared, spiced, sliced, but never actually cooked.  Editing is the cooking part for me.  But I digress - finding work is easily the hardest part of freelance and I still don't know how I've gotten half the jobs I've done.  They just sorta happen.

Becoming a freelance artist is easily the most challenging and stressful things I've done to myself.  I worry about where money is coming from all the time.  How am I going to pay rent?  Is my phone bill late?  Does my dog have food?  Do I have food?  Luckily, my brothers carry my torch for me and pick me up when I'm falling down with words of encouragement.  They're artists too and I see their work daily online.  Their spirit is an inspiration, I am forever grateful for them.  My friends here in NYC cheer me on passionately, often jealous of my freedom.  If only they could see my bank account!  

So, what have I done?  I'm taking the road less traveled.  I've got a compass and a map but I don't need 'em.  I'm going to make my own road instead and see where it leads.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This is my first entry to my (hopefully) daily blog where I share my thoughts as a freelance photographer.  I plan on examining my own photographs, explaining the scenarios in which they were taken, how I took them, what sort of post processing I did, and what I would do differently if I could go back and retake the same image.  I might even talk about board games every now and then when I need a break from photography.