Nicki's Portraits...and the birth of our new portrait genre
As a portrait photographer it's sometimes hardest photographing those the closest to us. And yet it can be the most rewarding.
In this blog post I'm pleased to share, in her own words, my wife Nicki's story about her portrait session -- how it came about and the effect it had on her. ENJOY!
"I am Nicki. Mother of two. Wife of photographer.
People always tell me how lucky I am to be married to a photographer, and of course I agree. Thing is, I myself am rarely in the photos - I do not really like my photo being taken unless I am prepared for it - hair looking good, make-up good, clothing good, and of course never the right weight for it. Most days, I do not look "good enough" to be in photos. Yes, there are the annual Christmas card photos that my kids will likely cherish when they themselves are grown up. Mostly, however, they will find a gazillion photos of themselves photographed by dad (his most precious and ongoing project is documenting our kids). Not many of their parents.
I have a photograph of my mum in her youth, looking glam and gorgeous, posing in a lifebuoy (I guess that was the fashion then) - those photos you want to always remember them by, because they are so beautiful.
I have recently been introduced to the lovely portrait photographer, Sue Bryce, and was immediately infatuated with her photos of everyday women, transformed into glamorous movie-star types - photos that could appear on the pages of Vanity Fair or Vogue.
I asked Paul to do a photo shoot like that of me. He readily agreed - then while we were chatting about it, we both looked at each other and like a bolt of lightning, were struck with the idea of transforming his business to this kind of portraiture. No, I did not want to lounge on a bed in my lingerie (I am not THAT comfortable with my body for that), but in a glorious evening gown, or LBD - something I would be proud of to share with my kids, my friends, the world. Something that would transform me from regular mother of two, making school lunches every morning in my pjs, glasses and hair in a bun, playing taxi to and from school and sports most often in yoga pants and that same bun in my hair, doing 20 loads of laundry a week…..you get the picture, to a beautiful woman ready to walk the red carpet for her debut!
“It was a pampering I will not easily forget - something I wish I could do every time I have to leave the house.”
We researched hair and make up artists and found someone who was eager to come to the studio to get me dolled up. What an experience that was. It has been many years since I had someone doing my hair and makeup. Most women tell me they haven’t had it done since their wedding! It was a pampering I will not easily forget - something I wish i could do every time I have to leave the house. I had no idea what I would look like - until she was done and I was given the mirror. WOW! I didn’t even look like me!
Then we started on the portraits - Paul was so masterful at posing me and telling me what to do, where to place my arms, my hands, my legs, for the best angle of me. We had various backdrops, standing, sitting, lounging on a chaise - it was so much fun. I was a total model for a day. Music pumping (a little champagne too) to relax me.
Paul showed me one photo on the back of the camera while I was modeling for him. WOW - I looked like a model! What a feeling! When I saw the edits, it was very emotional. I was beautiful. Something I definitely do not feel most days of my life. Since then, I look at the photos almost daily - just to remind myself what I can be and it makes me feel beautiful all over again.
Thank you, Paul, for giving me this gift. This gift of ME. This gift that will outlive me and be my legacy to our children and theirs. something that they too, can display with pride and love, just like the photo I have of my mum in her lifebuoy."
Behind the scenes....
New Site Launches!!
It's live! And we couldn't be more proud!
Please check out the galleries -- there will be more to come and we're excited to go live and share with the new direction we're taking for 2017!
Enjoy!
A Documentary Worth Watching....
Last night after the Thursday night NFL football game I watched a powerful documentary on former NFL player Pat Tillman.
It will be broadcast tonight on the NFL Network at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST.
It is a fantastic documentary that tells the story behind one of the NFL’s most enigmatic players.
Following 911 Pat walked away from a lucrative multi-million dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals in 2002 to enlist in the Army and become a Ranger.
Pat was subsequently killed in 2004 in a friendly-fire incident in Afghanistan. Controversy swirled around his death because of a military cover-up to hide the fact it was friendly-fire.
I’m very proud and pleased that some photographs that I made, including the one with this email, are included in the documentary.
The photographs were originally made in 1997 on my very first assignment for Sports Illustrated (the pinnacle, at the time, of magazine sports journalism) and Pat gave me this photograph.
Briefly, the story was about how Pat was the Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year despite being undersized and how well he was doing in his academics. Pat graduated in 3 1/2 years with a GPA of over 3.85 in marketing. The concept was to capture, in one photograph, that aspect of student/athlete.
I proposed an idea to Pat and he shot it down, though very nicely and politely.
“Mr. Gero, I don’t mean to be difficult. But that doesn’t sound like me."
That’s okay Pat, is there something that you do that incorporates that notion of student/athlete?
“Well, sometimes I climb up into the light towers and I just think."
I nearly dropped my cel phone as I envisioned the possible photograph.
The next day at the portrait session Pat climbed into the light tower on top of the press box wearing Rainbow flip flops.
As I was making the photograph I had the distinct sense that this could be a double truck, or a full two-page spread. The vision I had in my head from the day before when he suggested it had now become a reality.
And in the next issue it did run as a full bleed, two page double truck. That was all Pat.
The documentary is wonderful because it shows how he affected people (even when he was a young boy) in such a memorable and heartfelt way.
He defied the odds (he was too small to play in college, the pros), was loyal to the folks who took a chance on him (he turned down a $6 million paycheck from the St. Louis Rams and instead took a salary of the league minimum to stay with the Cardinals because they took a chance on him when they drafted him) — a real throwback.
And became, finally, a true American hero.
I hope you will watch this documentary about Pat if you knew of him, or even if you might never have heard of him. I think you will be impressed with the man he was and the huge sacrifice he made for our country.
I will always be grateful to him for that and also for the kindness he extended to me when he let me photograph him in his own private space and helped me look like a hero to my editors on my first start out of the blocks.
Thank you somehow seems insufficient.
Shape Shifter v2 Backpacks from Think Tank Photo debut!
The great folks at Think Tank Photo just released three new versions of its award-winning Shape Shifter backpack.
These backpacks essential feature is that you can expand them to hold your gear and then contract them when empty, thus decreasing their profile.
They come sized for 15” and 17” laptops. The new Naked Shape Shifter is an entirely new concept in backpack in that you can configure its interior using your existing Think Tank modular components.
This way you can transport your belt system inside the backpack. Don’t forget that with our Think Tank partnership you receive free gear with your orders and free shipping ordering from this link:
https://www.thinktankphoto.com/collections/shape-shifter?rfsn=140905.1cb641
The new Think Tank Shape Shifter v2 backpacks have arrived!
Sony 70-200 f2.8 G Master paired with the Sony a6300 photographing football
In 2014 and 2015 I documented the Tesoro H.S. Football Titans and the have always been very gracious to allow me to come by to photograph, and in this case, to test out this new lens which is sure to please sports photographers, wedding photographers, portrait photographers and photojournalists alike. (You can learn more about the project here: http://shifter.media/print-a-season-with-the-titans-by-paul-gero/ ).
Yesterday was Day One of Tesoro Football's Fall Practice. No pads, but helmets. Thankfully there was a lot of cloud cover which kept the temperature down.
It was also my first opportunity to put the Sony 70-200 f2.8 G Master lens through the paces for action (using the a6300 camera) and it did incredibly well.
All of these images were made at the maximum aperture and using Lock-On Expand AF focus mode (I know, it's a mouth-full) and it tracks focus like a camera far more expensive.
Tracking runners coming AT the lens is vital for me when photographing sports and this lens does that incredibly fast and accurately. Non native FE lenses have frustrated me in the past, and now I have the answer to that frustration. It seems every bit as fast to me as my previous DSLR system did (though I don't have a way to measure that empirically).
I am VERY happy with the quality of the lens (the smoothest zoom mechanism I have used in any zoom by any brand (and my first was in the 80s - yikes!).
Plus manual focus is smooth and instant even while in set to AF modes. That's the first lens in the E mount line up that I noticed that happening.
While the lens is in the same size and weight category as the DSLR competitors it pairs very nicely with the tiny a6300 (I was using it on a Benro video monopod which is what I normally use for shooting at Tesoro. I would recommend, though, supporting it via a strap that mounts to the tripod collar if not using it on a monopod). I have not yet tried it with action on the a7R II (but have for portraits and it works well -- and Eye AF is right on the money even at f2.8).
If you've been "waiting to see" about mirrorless in general or Sony in particular, or waiting to see if they would come out with f2.8 glass and you need or want that aperture...this lens delivers on all fronts.
It's world class.
A Tesoro player listens to head coach Matt Poston in the school's weight room just after 7:30 AM on Monday. 155mm, 1600 ISO, 1/60th at f2.8.
A Tesoro player helps set up the field on Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 250 ISO, 1/500th at f2.8.
Tesoro players set up the field on Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 144 mm, 250 ISO, 1/500th at f2.8.
Tesoro players listen to their coach as they prepare to move the blocking sled during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 122mm, 250 ISO, 1/500th at f2.8.
Tesoro players run during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 181mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
Tesoro highly recruited wide receiver Shane Coleman runs during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
Tesoro players run during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
Tesoro assistant coach Al Nichols smiles during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
Tesoro players run during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
Tesoro QB Chase Petersen warms up during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. Petersen, a transfer to the school, hopes to replace Devon Modster at QB who graduated and now plays for UCLA. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
A Tesoro player does agility drills during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
A Tesoro player talks with a teammate during a water break at Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 200mm, 400 ISO, 1/1600th at f2.8.
Tesoro Offensive Coordinator Preston King looks a bit like an orchestra conductor as he sends in signals from the side during Day One of Fall Camp at the school on Monday. 143mm, 400 ISO, 1/1000th at f2.8.
All images photographed with the a6300 and 70-200 f2.8 G Master lens. Captured in RAW + jpeg and edited using Photo Mechanic, and then processed in Adobe Lightroom CS using Totally Rad's Replichrome presets.