A week ago I met up with a great group of people for a shoot out. I’m not sure if that’s even the technical term, but that’s what we called it. Lindsay, a friend from college, organized most of it as she wanted to get together photographers and models so we could practice and learn from each other. While there was no set schedule to the event, we started out at Andre’s Wine + Cheese Bar in downtown Doylestown. We shot indoors and practiced off camera lighting, but what was most interesting was seeing what each person did. While I like to travel a little bit lighter I was impressed by Keesha’s umbrella and flash set up… and I was also eyeing Lindsay’s external battery pack for a near instant recycle time on her flash. It’s always good to see what other people are doing – not so you can just copy – but when you’re in an environment that’s open to learn from… you can learn!
Part two of the shoot out took place outside. I decided to try something new and only used the lensbaby I bought at Imaging USA for my lens. If you’re not familiar with lensbabies, they are basically a variation on a tilt shift lens. Instead of a constant plane of focus, you can move around the lens so that there are only specific points of focus. This can do some really cool things, but of course it takes more than just an interesting lens to create a great image. I’m still working on it, and you really have to slow down and take your time since it’s manual focus. While it’s a different look for me, if you’ve seen any of the abstract work I did in college you’ll know it’s right up my alley. I’m looking forward to working it in to some of my shoots – let me know what you think!
by Mary Dougherty
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