You're all fired up, motivated and can't wait to start working towards your big shoot. The only problem is you don't know where to start.
What is the image you want to achieve? Sometimes the image will be crystal clear in your mind. Often it's just a vague concept waiting for you to fill in the details.
Start by writing down a basic outline. For example the basic idea for the image above was "a young woman lying on a couch holding a baby, with guns etc on a table next to her."
I knew I wanted the image to be a fairly high contrast black and white. Which meant that I needed things that were reflective and would pick up the light. This influences both my choice of model and props.
A blonde model in light coloured clothing would be much easier to back light than a brunette or red-head in dark clothing.
Silver guns would reflect the light and therefore be easy to see in the image than black or matt grey.
I choose the small lacquered coffee table for its shiny surface. Already elements of the image were starting to fall into place.
The lighting is a very important part of this image. It took a while to get the lighting that felt right and this is often the hardest part of the image to visualize.
I'm always happy to try different lighting; I find the more I play around and learn, the more instinctive my lighting becomes.
Not that I get it right first time every time. Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much. But that's okay too. Creating the image is the goal I'm working towards but I want to have fun along the way too.
Hopefully this will help you find somewhere to start. Please feel free to drop me a line with any feedback or comments. :)
Since our last interview back in October last year, Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong has been doing all sorts of amazing thing, including organizing a crowd funding for a photography tour of Europe. [See video above :)]
Often we see someone "living the dream" and wonder how the hell they manage it. This time I decided to find out...
1. How did you know you were ready to make the jump from day job to full time photographer?
I do not think I was ready haha! I decided to quit my job because I had finally figured out that although my job was comfortable and happy, it was NOT something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
It was a spontaneous decision and being myself, I didn't quite bother thinking too much about what I was doing. Initially, I had planned to pursue an MBA so I actually sat down and power-studied for a couple months and got a pretty decent GMAT score but by then, life had thrown me a couple curveballs and I realized that pursuing an MBA was not something I yet wanted or was ready for.
2. You always seem to face each new challenge full on with no fear. Where do you find the courage and the motivaton?
I think that when you think too much you give the opportunity for fear and doubt to creep in. I'm not sure if I would consider myself courageous so much as just being blindly optimistic! I believe that life has a way of working itself out and good things come out of the bad ones, you just have to be able to see the opportunities when they come waving! I don't know, I don't really have very much to loose right now since I'm young with no responsibilities so... why not try something new?
3. Von Wong does Europe is a very exciting project. How did you come up with the idea? Do you prefer for projects like this to be planned in detail or more general with room for last minute inclusion?
I think the idea came to me spontaneously one day and was forgotten in the back of my mind... it resurfaced when chatting with a friend in Toronto while studying for an MBA and she encoraged me by saying that I really had the potential to do something like that. Since I was going through a breakup, quit my job and generally had nothing scheduled for the next couple months it seemed like the perfect thing to do.
I pitched the project to Erwan, we wrote the project blurb, contacted artists and filmed the intro video within a week and I ran off to Israel (check the poor planning right there) where I continued to plan things long distance for the two following weeks.
Upon my return, we met up, got the whole thing finalized and running within 3 days. There was maybe one month of planning that went in before the launch of the project and we are still putting things together now (we have no itinerary settled for the middle of the trip yet!!)
So... no. Nothing's planned. I don't think I am capable of planning. Do I think it's going to work out? Hell yeah! Do I think things could change? Definitely. Am I worried? Nope.
4. What is the one piece of photographic equipment [besides your camera] that you'd never want to be without?
My laptop lol... with the internet. It connects me to everything and everyone.
5. Your images [and attitude in general] are inspiring for a lot of photographers. Who inspires you?
I'm afraid I don't have any รง model to share. That being said, I saw this video online today thanks to one of my fans Dan Pham which I think sums up my view on life right now:
This is a photo I took of my wonderful husband Martin on our trip to the UK back in 2003. Shot on an old film SLR, technically I really had no idea what I was doing; but I knew exactly in my mind what I was trying to capture.
This was the very first time I ever composed an image, and I remember being so pleased with it weeks later back in Australia when the film was finally developed. [Yikes I also remember how much the developing cost - thanks goodness for digital :)]
I didn't seriously get into photography for another couple of years. Music was my big passion back then, and photography was not even a consideration. Much easier to stay with something that I knew I was good at, than to try something new and intimidating that I was sure to fail.
Until the day that Martin encouraged me to try his new digital SLR, and patiently showed me the very basics. It didn't take long before I was totally addicted. Looking back at my very first portrait shoots back then I pretty much sucked, but for someone reason it didn't matter. I was doing the best that I could and having a ball.
It's really easy to forget how far we have come, be it in photography, music, life in general. So easy to look at people who seem to be further down the road, who seem to be living the life that we desperately want.
Grass is always greener and all that.
So consider this; if you're own patch is looking a little worn and uncared for, do something about it NOW. Don't wait until you have better gear/more time/the stars are aligned. There will always be a million excuse why you can't. Don't listen to any of them. Do it anyway.
I know I missed out on a lot of photos those couple of years between picking up a camera. I'm not going to miss any more. :)
