Category Archives: Photography

Black and White, Cameras, Lenses, Medium Format Cameras, Washington DC

Washington DC in the Snow

January 20, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

We had a snowstorm a couple weeks ago. I know, bad me for taking so long to getting around to developing the pictures. And I have another roll from the snowstorm to go, as part of a batch. In any case, I decided I wanted to take pictures during the snowfall, so I bundled myself up and got out and about with the Rollei. This, and rain, are perhaps the two things the Rollei is less than ideal for, because the waist-level finder does nothing to prevent snow (or rain) from falling on the focusing screen. Unless of course it’s blowing sideways, at which point you have bigger problems.

I took the camera and my Induro carbon-fiber tripod out for a short walk up the street on my way to get dinner. It’s proof of the adage about finding interesting things to photograph in your own backyard. You just have to be willing to see them.

The bikeshare is a great source of material, especially if you like repeating shapes and patterns. The bike seats both break and reinforce the pattern as they are all set to slightly different heights.

The Wonderland Ballroom is a neighborhood bar and grill. Until 2004, it was the Nob Hill, DC’s oldest continuously operating gay bar (opened in 1954), catering to a primarily African-American (and in the end, elderly) clientele. Now it serves a young, ethnically and sexually diverse crowd of urban hipsters. Plus ca change, as the French say – a side-effect of gentrification.

In a long time exposure (somewhere in the region of 30 seconds) I caught the lights of a passing city bus, under the flare of a street lamp. The awesome and dramatic flare from the street lamp is a combination of the lens on my particular camera, which is prone to strange flare artifacts when you put a light source directly in the scene pointed at the lens (due in part to some loss of coating on the front element of the lens) and the specular reflections from the falling snow. In some cases I’d find lens flare like this to be highly objectionable and would consider the shot ruined. In this case, though, I think it makes the image.

"gay interest", Cabinet Cards, Collecting, Military, Photography

Two British Soldiers Cabinet Card

January 15, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Into every life a little rain must fall now and again. Here is the latest arrival to my collection – a pair of British soldiers posing atop a cheetah skin rug. I’m not sure of the date – perhaps some military history buffs out there will be able to identify the time period more precisely (my best guess is between 1890-1910, perhaps as old as the 1880s) but more likely in the 19th century. In any case, the seller shipped it in a plastic sleeve that was loose, and held down with tape. The card either through direct action of the seller or carelessness got attached to the tape, and a big chunk of the emulsion lifted off the card. FORTUNATELY, A: I didn’t pay a lot for the image, and B: the big chunk stayed intact, so it is possible it can be re-attached without being too terribly obvious.

This ‘restoration’ is a purely photoshop restoration, quick-and-dirty with my limited photoshop skills. You can see what the card SHOULD look like with the chunk re-attached.

When I bought this, I saw it as a wonderful example of that genre of homosocial images of men being affectionate that you saw so very much of in the 19th century but faded out by World War I and pretty much disappeared by World War II. This very much has the feel of two soldiers of the Raj, or given the cheetah pelt, somewhere in Imperial Africa. Although probably it was in a London studio. These kinds of photos disappeared as changing attitudes toward men and women and their relationships evolved. The rise of urbanization, factory work, and the buddings of gender equality transformed the personal social sphere, particularly for unmarried people, and what had previously been mono-gendered changed to become heterogenous. With that heterogeneity came the rising expectation of directing your affections, at least in public, toward the “appropriate” gender. Even if the homosocial relationships didn’t go away, the practice of documenting them was suppressed.

Classes, Events, Photography, Studio Photography, Washington DC

Website Editing, and Vickie Lewis Marketing Seminar

January 13, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Ok – it was overdue for a variety of reasons, so I went in last night and did a major edit of my personal website, the “static” online gallery I have at www.theflyingcamera.com. I trimmed the categories down, got rid of some images that were old/weak, and generally aimed to make the site look and feel more professional. I’m getting ready to launch my portrait business, and pending some research into good site hosting services that will let me customize my page, this will have to do as an online presence. I would love some feedback from my readership as to what you think of the overall look and feel, and the image flow and selection.

Part of what spurred the interest in this overhaul was attending a photography business marketing seminar taught by Vickie Lewis, a Washington DC based photographer who is a certified business coach in addition to being a past president of the regional chapter of the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), a Pulitzer Prize winner and currently represented by National Geographic. She teaches small group seminars on the business of photography – how to market yourself as a service, how to sell your artwork. She also teaches technique classes. Her website is: http://www.vickielewis.com if you’d like to read more about this terrific woman and her work. She gave me a lot of fantastic ideas on how to market myself and the work that I do.

As a result, I’ve overhauled my photographic mission statement and my elevator pitch:

The typical portrait photographer produces workmanlike images that function as documentation. My goal is to use my creativity and vision to produce images that go beyond to become iconic representations of your spirit and character. You do not have your portrait taken by me; rather you make your portrait with me. I use antique techniques and processes in a contemporary style to create not mere photographs but tangible art objects you will be proud to display in your home and pass on to future generations.

My new “About the Artist” blurb:

Scott Davis is a Resident Photographer at Washington School of Photography and an Instructor at Glen Echo Photoworks where he teaches antique and historic processes. When not teaching or shooting for private clients, he exhibits his personal projects around the Washington DC area. His publication credits include Metropolitan Home, Metalsmith, Creative Image Maker, Rice Paper and Rangefinder. He counts Stephen John Philips and John Dugdale as mentors and influences.

That sounds like a pretty good set of credentials, doesn’t it? And it has the added benefit of being accurate. It’s something that she told me about how to put these things together in a short bullet point concept. I knew all this stuff about me but I had never put it in a concise, condensed thought so I wasn’t able to articulate it.

And my inspirational quote – the reason I love photography and the reason you should want me as your photographer:

I fell in love with the magic of photography when I made my first darkroom print. My original goal was to just learn enough to use photographs as subject matter for painting and drawing. But when that first print emerged in the developer under the red glow of the safelight, I was hooked and I knew right then the camera would be my companion for the rest of my life.

Cameras, Digital cameras, Fashion, Lenses, Photography, Portraits, Washington DC

More Model Photos from Sunday’s Shoot

January 8, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Too often you only see models with that vacant, fashion-model stare, or the “I’m trying to seduce you” gaze. I think it’s important to show a range of emotions in a portfolio, so potential clients can see you giving different moods.

Bo is a pretty serious guy, but he does know how to relax and laugh (but you have to catch him between official shots – otherwise he reverts back to staring directly at the camera).

A few more from the underwear series – he looks really good in red.

Another from the plaid shirt set. Actually, he looks good in anything! I suspect you could put him in a Soviet potato sack and he’d make it rock (although good luck trying to get him to do that – he wasn’t crazy about trying on my ex-Soviet Army surplus winter hat with the red star insignia on it).

Here are some more candidates for the headshot –

On this one, especially because it’s a horizontal shot, I wanted to emphasize the face, so I selected it in Photoshop and masked it out, then applied a little bit of blur to the rest, so the face pops out more, like I had used a much wider aperture (my lights are actually at times TOO powerful and it’s hard to not stop down too much).

I really like this last one because it gives great shape and definition to his face – his previous head shot, although it was square on, was basically lit flat from directly in front, and had no contouring, so it made him look like an Asian chipmunk. He actually has a very shapely face, and I think this does him justice.

Cameras, Color, Digital cameras, Fashion, Photography, Portraits, Washington DC

Headshot for Bo, Revisited

January 7, 2014 dcphotoartist 1 Comment

This is what happens when you shoot two days in a row, then go work at the office for a full day, then come home and edit photos until 11pm. Your judgment gets a bit off. I posted the original version of this headshot with the studio background intact (well, minus a broom handle I cloned out). Looking at it again in the clarity of new morning light, I realized that the background stuff, while cool, was a serious distraction from the goal of the photo – getting you to focus on the model’s face. So I got rid of the background altogether in a remake – What do you think? Much better, no?

Cameras, Digital cameras, Fashion, Lenses, Photography, Portraits, Washington DC

Busy Weekend – Two Model Portfolios part 2

January 6, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Sunday was my shoot with Bo. Bo is also a trainer and a bartender. I know he works VERY hard to keep the body he has but I still get jealous. Bo already had a bit of a portfolio so we were expanding his look. He needed new head shots first and foremost, so I concentrated on getting good full face images in each of the looks we did.

These are the prime candidates for head shots so far.

See what I mean about a body to be jealous of? It’s like there’s not an ounce of fat anywhere to be found.

Here’s body movement for you – Bo is quite good at shaping his body to give it natural visual dynamic.

Several from the underwear series we shot.

What I was thinking when I put Bo against a black backdrop I’ll never know, as he has jet black hair that wants to disappear into the black velvet. Keeping the hair light on the top of his head to pick it out from the background was a constant fight. But I think we got some very useable shots out of it in the end.

For the first hundred or so shots we did, there was an issue with his forehead being much darker than the rest of his face in the photos. He’s got naturally very even skin tone but for some reason, the forehead was photographing darker than his face, which made it look like he had a sunburn, or he was wearing big ski goggles while outside that kept his eyes lighter. But as the shoot progressed, the problem went away.

For the fashion look, we did a bit of a rock-n-roll styling with a leather jacket, jeans, unlaced boots and a belt with a spinner in the buckle.

Yes, that belt buckle actually spins.

We did another casual look with a red checkered shirt – I do have more of these but I haven’t edited through all of them yet – this was just one that popped out for the pose as well as the splash of color.

I thought I’d play around with turning a couple of the underwear shots black-and-white. I’m not terribly fond of digital black-and-white conversions – if I’m shooting personal work, and I want black-and-white, there’s no substitute for real film. Here is the one I’m happiest with so far.

In this case, I think the black-and-white conversion does add something to the sensuality, and it could be a nice touch to diversify his portfolio. I have even more images to edit through from this shoot – I think the grand total was 489 in three hours. This is the time you do thank god for digital.

Cameras, Digital cameras, Fashion, Lenses, Photography, Portraits, Washington DC

Busy Weekend – Two Model Portfolios

January 6, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Among the many things I do photographically, I shoot model portfolios. I did back-to-back shoots on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. This is one where you do shoot digital because of the volume of shots required, the usual turnaround time, and the delivery methods. It would be beyond a pain in the ass to have to get the film back from the lab, edit the shots, then scan, then edit again, then do post-production clean-up. So I brought out the Canon 5D and shot away. All images were made with either the Canon 50mm f1.4 or the Canon 135 f2 L lens. While zooms have their convenience, when you’re working in a small studio, there’s little call for something very telephoto, and you can always take a couple steps back or forward if you need.

My first model is Bucky. He’s a professional trainer at a high-end gym here in DC. The goal was to get him a decent headshot and a couple different looks to flesh out his portfolio and modeling card. I’ve got a couple prime candidates for his headshot:

This could also be a head shot, but in a horizontal composition, for something a bit different.

Which one do you like best? Don’t worry, I shot around 350 images of him, so there’s plenty more to choose from if these don’t cut the mustard.

Then comes the formal look. The shoot stylist pulled together a suit and tie look for him from the studio’s stock wardrobe. That was a hoot because someone had mismatched the pants with the jacket and at first, there was a size 36 waist with a 38 short jacket (that should have had a 30 inch waist pant to go with it). We were afraid he’d have to wear the pants pinned up with binder clips and gaffers’ tape, but shortly the proper pants were found and we were off to the races.

I snagged a candid of the stylist adjusting his shirt for a series of somewhat more casual shots.

These two are showing winter styling with a sexy twist. The first shot shows off his ability to shape his body, as well as the shape his body is in.

This one is about giving a different mood to the same outfit.

We also shot the obligatory underwear shoot. The underwear shots are as much about showing off a model’s ability to move and sculpt their body in poses as they are about underwear – after all, there isn’t very much to underwear itself, is there?

You want to make sure a model looks as good out of clothes as in them because it’s about their ability to SELL whatever it is they’re wearing.

And last but not least is a bit of a crossover – we paired a tuxedo shirt with red underwear to add a different kind of sexy to the shot.

Cameras, Color, Large Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Mono Lake

January 4, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Another panorama taken from a 4×5 Fujicrhome transparency shot on my trip to the eastern Sierra. This view is from the north, looking down at the lake from the top of that volcanic upthrust where the fissures are that I mentioned in the previous post.

Mono Lake is like the Great Salt Lake in Utah or the Dead Sea in Israel – it has no natural drainage, so over time, the waters have become super alkaline with all the minerals that leach out of the rocks and soil around it. I wouldn’t drink it, and although you can swim in it if you’re so inclined, it’s not a pleasant feeling. The mineral content makes it such that it is easy to float on the surface – the ducks and other aquatic birds seem to float on top of the water, instead of in it. I have a few photos of the tufa formations for which the lake is famous that I’ll scan and post later. The tufas are formed when pure freshwater from underground springs enters the lake, causing the minerals in the water around it to sediment out and form hollow columns in fantastic shapes.

Cameras, Color, Large Format, Large Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

High Desert, Mono Lake

January 2, 2014 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

A few scenes from the high desert around Mono Lake. You’ll forgive my ignorance of desert flora and not naming the plants properly, but I’m an east coast city boy at heart, so I’m lucky I can tell an oak tree from a blade of grass. Well, not entirely true, but you get the point – a horticulturalist I’m not.

Thinking of horticulture, that reminds me of an old joke about Dorothy Parker – she was invited to speak at a meeting of the Ladies Auxiliary of the New York Botanical Gardens. Knowing of her penchant for a quick wit, one of the more naive members of the group asked her to use “horticulture” in a sentence. Her response? “You can lead a horticulture but you can’t make her think”. For repeating the joke in this context, the quip is probably about me, but I have a good sense of humor about such things. More scrub brush on the top of the plateau:

These are taken in the scrublands atop the volcanic uplift plateau on the north edge of Mono Lake. For geology buffs, the plateau was uplifted perhaps 10 to 15,000 years ago in an event so rapid and violent it created fissures resembling miniature slot canyons. I went out in search of said fissures and hiked around on top of this plateau for perhaps two hours, looking for them, not finding any, all the while wary that I would miss one and inadvertently plummet down into one and get stuck. As it turns out, they’re on and near the leading edge of the plateau, and had I stuck to the edge, I would have found them perhaps fifteen minutes after ascending to the top of the plateau. But I had a lovely time all to my self, communing with the great open spaces, and I saw these scenes, so no great regrets.

I think I goofed the movements on the camera with this one, as there is some out of focus in the foreground that in retrospect really shouldn’t be there, but I’ll blame it on the altitude getting to me – I was fat and out of shape, and hiking at nearly 9000 feet of elevation with 30+ lbs of camera gear on my back.

Cameras, Color, Large Format Cameras, Photography, Travel

Tioga Pass, Yosemite

January 2, 2014 dcphotoartist 2 Comments

I was doing some clean-up in my library after doing the book inventory and came across something I’ve been looking for for a very long time: a box of 4×5 Fujichrome Velvia 100F transparencies (slide film). No scan on the internet will do the actual chromes justice – they need to be viewed on a lightbox with a loupe or even better, projected. Not that I have a projector that could handle a 4×5 chrome. But here are two favorites that I think come pretty close to conveying the majesty of a big slide:

These are both views of the eastern end of the Tioga Pass, on the way in to Yosemite National Park from Lee Vining. If memory serves, these are even before you get to the ranger station at the park entrance. I took a vacation back in I think 2004 to the east side of the California Sierra. I drove from San Francisco up through gold rush country – Sutter Creek, Volcano, and Sonora to take 108 around the north side of Yosemite through the Sonora Pass to get to Lee Vining, where I eventually stayed for a couple nights to explore the landscape. Photographers, like fishermen, have tales of “the one that got away” – this is mine, “the shot I couldn’t take”. Coming up through the Sonora Pass, I reached the peak of the pass, 9980 feet of elevation, just at sunset. The road that climbs up through the pass becomes a series of hairpin switchbacks as it approaches the apex. Ascending the penultimate stretch, I glanced out the window to see the setting sun painting the mountain faces to the west brilliant oranges and reds, like they were on fire. There was no place to stop, even if I didn’t get out of the car, let alone set up a tripod and squeeze off a frame or two with a 4×5 field camera. So the image has to live in my memory, and hopefully in retelling it, I’ll encourage some of you to get out there and drive that route yourselves, and time your trip so that you climb the pass at sunset and can see it for yourselves.

I’ll close with a panorama shot cropped from a 4×5 ‘chrome I shot of the Tioga Inn where I stayed. The two white buildings of the inn are actually salvaged structures in whole or in part from Bodie, the famous ghost town up the road a little ways. The more modern cabins on the left are some of the rooms – there are more cabins on the right, up in the trees, some of which are also made of Bodie salvage materials.

I’ll have more to tell of the road trip in future posts.

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