Posts Tagged ‘portraits’

Body Fit DC

©TimeLine Media - Orlando of Body Fit DC

Body Fit DC is the creation of Orlando, a certified personal fitness trainer. He is committed to encouraging others to make fitness a part of their life. Especially as we get older, it is important to make exercise a regular part of our routine. It helps to avoid health problems associated with lowered mobility and gained weight. If you have one conversation with Orlando, you can feel the drive he has to help people. He has an especially positive message to help the people he trains, and he will be supportive of your fitness goals.

Washington, DC

©TimeLine Media - Orlando of Body Fit DC
©TimeLine Media – Orlando of Body Fit DC

In my own push to expand my athletic portraiture portfolio, I took some photos of Orlando. At this time we met at the beautiful Meridian Hill Park in the heart of Washington, DC. Following our trip to Jones Point where the first boundary for DC was placed, Meridian Hill is on a line directly north of that point. The original marker on this hill was made directly from the White House which was made from Jones Point – clearly where the name “Meridian Hill” originated.

The park has a large flat field at the top and descends with cascading fountains in the center. On either side of the large fountain are steps and stairs of differing lengths which gives runners a changing elevation to challenge them on their runs. At this time, this is a great spot for getting outside to do some exercise – Orlando picked a perfect spot. At the bottom of the fountain, he stood on the last ledge which made for a nice background for him to show off his boot camp venue. Visit his web page and contact him to get more information on his on-going programs.

©TimeLine Media - Orlando of Body Fit DC
©TimeLine Media – Orlando of Body Fit DC

Just a reminder there is a contest going on from this post. The prize is a $50 coupon from the proofing website to the best guess as to how the below photo was made. If you have any other need for environmental portraits, or updated headshots, please contact me! My email address is: rassi @ timelinedc.com

©TimeLine Media - DC South Boundary Stone
©TimeLine Media – DC South Boundary Stone

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Selfie

©TimeLine Media - self portrait

This photography term has become popular with the explosion of social media in the last few years. Back when film was the more popular medium for photos, I only saw a handful of instances where people made self-portraits with their cameras. Most of these would not be in focus. Or the subjects would not be in the frame, which would mean a wasted frame from your roll of film. Each frame was thought out more back then. With this in mind it would not be wise to use these for “throw-away” images that you attempt without looking through the viewfinder at the back of the camera.

Turning the Camera Around

I clearly remember the very first time I ever tried a “selfie”. It was at a big transition time in my life – just after college, and during the time when family was in town to pay final respects to my father. He had recently passed away, and we were surrounded by so many family and friends. It was a time where many photos were taken, and many trips were made to the drug store to get enlargements and copies. While taking photos with family outside, I turned an Advantix film camera (a graduation gift from my girlfriend’s mom) to me and my cousin, Vic. It is hard to take a bad photo of Vic – a talented singer that is used to working in front of an audience. For my first time, it actually worked!

©TimeLine Media - first "selfie"
©TimeLine Media – first “selfie”

I’m glad it turned out – so I kept trying.

©TimeLine Media - self portrait
©TimeLine Media – self portrait

With digital, I still take selfies. I do not own a mannequin head that photographers use test lighting, so I just put myself in the scene. I laugh like a madman at myself sometimes especially considering no one else is around. Thankfully it has helped to make shoots go smoother once the subjects arrive, and has helped me to be a better photographer by experimenting with a model that won’t stop posing until the shot is perfect.

©TimeLine Media - self portrait
©TimeLine Media – self portrait

Large Camera Selfies

©TimeLine Media - self portrait
©TimeLine Media – self portrait
©TimeLine Media - self portrait
©TimeLine Media – self portrait
©TimeLine Media - self portrait
Author self-portrait ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Working with Memory Cards – Tech Thursday

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dancer portraits

When photographing ballroom dance events, the action on the dance floor is the focus. Especially at a Showcase event where there are choreographed routines that are performed by solo couples, the action photos take priority over all the other photos of the day. Other photos that I make during the day include the decorations, the table centerpieces, and posed portraits. Some dancers like to have their photos taken while not under the pressure of being in front of the audience and judges during their routines. I can understand! You can face the camera exactly how you want to be angled, and you can hold lines perfectly for the camera which is difficult to do while dancing.

Event Workflow

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dancer portraits
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dancer portraits

This brings me to the point of the post today regarding memory cards. I took some photos off the floor of some couples at the event. In the hustle and bustle of the day, I did not download the card with these photo right away, and kept them in my Nikon D4. I then went back to photographing action with my other camera, a Nikon D700. When I started to run out of space on the card in the D700, I reached for the card in the D4 to continue shooting. One of the limitations of the older D700 is that this camera cannot display files created by the D4. It is also a good practice to format cards prior to using a new card to ensure that files are not corrupted when re-writing to a memory card. Well this is where my problem started. When I checked the D4 card in the D700, it said that there were no images on the card. So I reformatted the memory card before starting to use it in the D700. GONE! Of course, I did not discover this until yesterday as I was editing the photos from the event.

Sandisk-8GB-cards
©TimeLine Media – SanDisk Compact Flash cards

Is this still a common practice by photographers? Am I being too cautious by always reformatting cards prior to using them in a camera? If I had not done this to the card prior to shooting, I would likely still have the images. I am trying to see if any data recovery software could possibly get any of the images back, but I am not hopeful. Please let me know your thoughts on the subject!

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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